At the court meeting the next day, Yun Dingxing took the initiative to stand up and asked to be exempted from the money for purchasing tools. He made a rough calculation and found that it was about 600,000 yuan, maybe more.
Wei Jin, the minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, stood up and said: "Other people say that the broken leg of the Ministry of Civil Affairs costs more than 600,000 yuan. If you say it will be waived, don't Yun Shaoqing think that the money from the treasury belongs to your family?"
Yun Dingxing said: "After repeated inspections, the treasury now has a large balance. The people in the north are exhausted due to continuous labor use. Wei Gong should support some measures to benefit the people."
"The Ministry of Civil Affairs is in charge of the national treasury, and there is no room for error in each expenditure," Wei Jin said: "When we move the abacus, every particle must be weighed and considered over and over again. Yun Shaoqing opened his mouth. It’s just 600,000, isn’t that a big statement?”
In the early days of the Sui Dynasty, the calculation tool was called suanchi, which was calculated by placing small wooden sticks in a certain shape, like this: 〣, 〦, 〨, 〨.
Yang Ming thought it was too rough, so when he was very young, he used a pile of pebbles to show the appearance of an abacus and the carrying method in front of his teacher Xiao Gai, a doctor from the Imperial College, and deliberately let Xiao Gai see it.
As a result, Xiao Gai, together with the Taishi Ling Zhang Zhouxuan, Dr. Liu Zhuo, Wang Xiaotong, Zhen Zu and others from the Secretariat Province, really invented the abacus.
The abacus that just came out had a base plate on the back, and the carrying method was very backward, so Yang Ming secretly wrote down the formula for abacus addition and subtraction behind the base plate. Now that it was done, these people started to fight for it, and they all said that the formula was his. It was written, but later the commotion was too big, so Liu Zhuo was dismissed from office.
Therefore, abacus has existed for fifteen years in the Sui Dynasty, and has begun to become popular among the people.
When Wei Jin finished saying this, he looked at the other two big bosses of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Cui Zhongfang, the minister, and Pei Yun, the censor and minister.
Cui Zhongfang looked at his nose and heart, while Pei Yun had no expression on his face.
Cui Zhongfang knew that Yun Dingxing was left alone by the prince last night. As a result, at today's court meeting, Yun Dingxing came up with such an idea. Needless to say, it must have been the prince's instruction. So why should I get involved?
As for Pei Yun, he was more cautious. He still couldn't understand what was going on, so it was better not to say anything.
Wei Jin felt that something was wrong. The Ministry of Civil Affairs does not belong to me alone. What do you mean by pretending to be deaf and dumb?
At this time, Yun Dingxing continued:
"In road construction, the loss of tools is a huge number. A pickaxe and a spade are nothing to the court, but they are what the people rely on to make a living. I believe that by reducing this item, I can show your majesty and the prince's kindness. Love for the people.”
After saying this, Wei Jin looked at Yang Ming, observing the changes in Yang Ming's expression.
Yang Ming also looked at Wei Jin at this time and asked: "How much is the current balance of the national treasury?"
Before Wei Jin had time to speak, Cui Zhongfang said first:
"Prince, the national treasury currently has 31.25 million guan. Discounting all the budget expenses that have been reported this year, there should be a balance of 14.5 million guan. According to the system, 7 million is the national treasury. The emergency reserve cannot be touched, so the available balance is 7.45 million guan."
Yang Ming nodded and said, "Is it appropriate to allocate 600,000 yuan to Taifu Temple to make up for this shortfall?"
"Of course it's appropriate," Cui Zhongfang said, "The prince cares about the people, so this money should be spent."
Wei Jin wished he could go over and kick him over. Old man, have you received any news in advance? Why don't you even say hello to me, just a wink?
So he quickly turned the wheel and stood up and said: "The prince's kindness is really a blessing to the people."
"Then it's settled," Yang Ming looked at Yun Dingxing and said, "I will discuss the specific matters with the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The priority in everything is to reduce the pressure on the people. The Hebei family still knows that the people are in difficulty, and some people don't seem to want to reduce or reduce debts. Understand the suffering of the people."
One praise and one disgrace.
Wei Jin's heart skipped a beat, knowing that Yang Ming was scolding him.
Cui Zhongfang took the opportunity and hurriedly said some good words for the family, probably those two sentences, about relieving the king's worries, cherishing the people, and so on.
After the dispersion of the dynasty, the three leaders of the Ministry of Civil Affairs left together to discuss funding matters on the road.
Not long after Cui Zhongfang returned to Beijing, he asked the two people beside him:
"I think that although the crown prince is young, he is rigorous in handling affairs, mature and capable, resourceful and good at making decisions. It is a blessing for the country to be the crown prince."
You haven't seen the cruel side of people yet. You just came back, so you should gain experience slowly. Pei Yun nodded and said:
"But he is not an ordinary person. The prince came to the court to attend the meeting. He seems to be fifteen years old, right?"
Wei Jin shook his head and said: "No, at the age of fifteen he only participated in court meetings sporadically. He officially participated in the meeting at the age of seventeen. When the prince came of age, he went to Jingzhou to serve as the general manager. Almost two years later, he came back to serve as the governor of the province and concurrently as the right officer. The leading general is now twenty-three years old. In six years, the prince has done a lot of great things."
"I don't know the prince very well, and I will have to rely on the two of you from now on. Remember to remind me when it's critical," Cui Zhongfang said with a smile.
Remind Ni Ma Tou, have you reminded me today? Wei Jin smiled and said, "That's natural."
At this time, a servant came over and called Pei Yun away, saying that the prince had invited him.
Cui Zhongfang quickly pulled Pei Yun's sleeve and whispered: "If the prince has important instructions for the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Doctor Pei must inform him in time."
Pei Yun smiled and nodded, then followed the waiter and left.
"I said, you write," in the palace, besides Yang Ming, there was also the newly appointed Minister of Internal Affairs, Wang Zhou.
Yu Shiji always hindered Lu Chu, making it difficult for the latter to move forward in the Internal History Province, so Yang Ming asked his father to kick Yu Shiji out and replaced him with Wang Zhou, who was born in the Wang family of Langya.
After Pei Yun came in, he did not interrupt, but listened quietly.
"Ordnance is an important weapon of the country. It has suffered a lot of losses over the years. Taifu Temple has been running around so fast that it cannot meet the needs. However, the smelting kiln is old and the technological bottleneck is difficult to overcome. My son, Xiao, the national treasury is in trouble. I asked Yu Wenxi to hire a private smelting kiln. , to dig mines in Zhongtiao to make up for the shortage of stocks and prepare for future needs."
Pei Yun was listening and probably understood.
Private placement, Wenxi, Zhongtiao, this should be the purpose for which the prince summoned him.
After Wang Zhou finished writing, he handed it to Yang Ming for reading, then sealed it and sent someone to Luoyang.
"Sit down, sit down, stop standing," Yang Ming asked Pei Yun to sit down, then asked the waiter to serve tea, and said with a smile:
"Pei Gong is not here, there are some things that I need to discuss with you."
Pei Yun nodded and said, "But what did Your Highness just say about the private sale of the kiln?"
"That's right," Yang Ming said with a smile, "I always need to say hello to you."
Pei Yun quickly waved his hand: "His Highness is too outspoken. The Pei family is very proud of you. You can do whatever you want in Wenxi. The Pei family will definitely support you."
The daughter of the head of the family is married to you, but you are the son-in-law of our Pei family. If we don’t support you, who will we support?
Yang Ming knew that what the other party said was just for the occasion, and he had to be clear about interests. Besides, Pei Yun's status in the Pei family was not good at all. He was not even as good as Pei Xizai in the clan, let alone Pei Renji.
Pei Ju has to think carefully about family interests.
Yang Ming smiled and said, "Some things still need to be made clear. I am building a mine and refining kiln. It is originally a private investment, so I intend to let the Pei family participate. I heard Ayun say that you have many mines in Wenxi?"
Pei Yun nodded and said: "To be fair to Your Highness, there are, but I don't know the exact number."
Yang Ming said: "Let's discuss it with the people in the clan. You raise 500,000 yuan, and I will prepare the rest. Including Dugu Huaien, the three of us will cooperate."
Why does it count as him? What kind of onion is he? Pei Yun asked curiously: "General Dugu also has this intention?"
"He proposed the matter, and I also intend to let him participate. Of course, he holds an important position and cannot go to Hedong," Yang Ming said with a smile: "This kind of thing should be left to experts, we just It’s just a contribution.”
Pei Yun nodded and said: "Okay, I will discuss it with the clan members as soon as possible and give His Highness an answer as soon as possible."
"Okay, then go ahead and get busy," Yang Ming raised his hand.
Zhongtiao Mountain in the Hedong area is the closest to the capital and is where the largest mineral veins are distributed. Along the entire Zhongtiao Mountain, Taifu Temple has at least a dozen mines, but Wenxi has none.
Why? The old Pei family is blocking it.
Whatever the imperial court wants to do in a local area, it's no use if the local wealthy people don't agree.
This kind of obstruction is not done openly, but behind the scenes. For example, a mine has just been built, and bandits come looking for trouble every day. They will burn your barracks and kill your craftsmen at every turn. You send officers and soldiers to arrest you, eh~ ~~Can’t catch it yet.
Over time, the mine in that place will be abandoned. Once the Pei family takes over, there will be no bandits left.
This is local power.
Officials who have always gone to Hedong to take up posts, no matter whether you are a senior official or a junior official, if you have no acquaintances in Pei, Liu, or Xue, your official position will be worse than nothing, unless you are a direct descendant of the royal family like Yang Ming.
Even for a relative like Dou Qing, in his first year as a prefect, he first had to visit the clan bosses of the three families and establish good relations with them.
In this regard, if someone is slightly unhappy, Dou Qing, the prefect, is not easy to do.
But there is no problem for Yang Ming. Pei Shuying is the daughter of Pei Ju and was born in Wenxi. She is a pure and orthodox direct descendant and has sufficient weight.
And Yang Ming now fully controls the Hedong Military Mansion. Whoever dares to cause trouble among the three families is definitely itchy.
After handling some more government affairs, Yang Ming returned to the East Palace to visit Chen Shuyi.
This girl, Yang Yinjiang, and Pei Shuying are the three women who are most important to Yang Ming. Now she is the only one who has no children, so Yang Ming is very happy about her pregnancy.
Give birth to a daughter. I really don’t want any more sons. It seems that one more son means one more trouble.
Chen Shuyi's direct grandmother, Liu Jingyan, is also here. This old woman was born in the East Household of the Liu family in Hedong. Her ancestors were the most powerful people in the Liu family during the entire Northern and Southern Dynasties, let alone generals. Come on, there are many of the three masters and three divisions.
Liu Shu's branch is the West House of Dependents.
(End of chapter)
