Zuo Guangdou admired Yan Chenhao's love for the people.
Sure enough, he is the first assistant! Both in terms of intelligence and kindness, he is far beyond everyone in the court. Zuo Guangdou sighed in his heart, compared with him, he was really far behind.
When I become an official in the future, I should also follow the example of my chief minister! He secretly clenched his fists.
At this time, the sound of horse hooves suddenly came from the gate of the camp. A cavalry galloped in. He stopped and watched for a while. When he saw Zuo Guangdou, he hurriedly dismounted and galloped over.
Seeing this, Zuo Guangdou knew something was wrong and hurried forward to greet him.
The knight, panting, handed him a letter in his hand.
Zuo Guangdou opened it in a hurry, browsed it briefly, and his face suddenly became very gloomy.
In the letter, the official in charge of logistics told him that the supplies allocated from the Ministry of Household Affairs had arrived.
Food is available; construction tools are available; construction materials such as wood are also available.
Only the most important and crucial thing is missing - money.
No money?
how so?
Zuo Guangdou was not a young man either. With a flash of his mind, he had already figured out what this situation meant. In fact, before Yan Chenhao came to power, this was quite common in the Ming Dynasty——
Arrears of wages.
As for corruption, he didn't even think about it - if it was less than 10% or 20%, it could be said that someone was blinded by greed and took huge risks to get the money. But it was all gone. To be honest, with this amount, unless the six ministries and nine ministers of the cabinet were involved in dividing the spoils, it would be absolutely impossible for anyone to be so bold.
So it can only be the court's default.
This is the traditional art of the old Zhu family. Since the Ming Dynasty passed its peak, many places have been in arrears with pay. The most serious and famous one is military pay. From the Jiajing year until Yan Chenhao had not yet taken office, the Wuxing Fourth In 2000, it was normal for the Ming Dynasty to owe military pay. Sometimes it would last for several years, and it was quite common that the Ming Dynasty would not pay until you died.
But the Ming Dynasty never delayed more than military pay. In fact, it often delayed other salaries.
In the past few years that Yan Chenhao has been in power, the national treasury has gradually become more abundant, and all aspects of salary have begun to be distributed on time.
But it’s only been a few years since it got better, why did it start again?
Zuo Guangdou was a little troubled, knowing that he had just said, "The Ming Dynasty will not treat you badly", and he would be in arrears with his salary in the blink of an eye.
And if you keep putting it off, then forget it. To put it bluntly, everyone is used to it, but now that the Ming Dynasty has been under great rule, there has been no payment arrears for several years, and the people are praising it, you suddenly come to him. out.
This contrast is nothing to scold!
He can already imagine how messy those construction sites will be in the future.
Which link is the problem? He knocked his head, his heart a mess, filled with confusion, anger and other emotions.
The treasury is clearly still full! What on earth are those people in the Ministry of Household Affairs doing?
…
"Shilang Ni, please explain what's going on! Why don't you get any of the hundreds of thousands of water conservancy funds? Could it be that you are embezzling?"
Li Ruhua, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, stood in front of Ni Wenhuan, the left minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and asked with a cold face.
He had just learned that there was no pay for this batch of supplies, and the court was forced to pay in arrears. When Zuo Guangdou encountered this situation, of course he immediately consulted the Minister of Revenue.
So he found Ni Wenhuan, who was directly responsible for the matter.
Of course he knew that the other party couldn't be greedy for this money. He said this just to put pressure on him.
After all, for such a big mistake, the left minister of household affairs must give him an explanation.
Ni Wenhuan also had an anxious look on his face. When he heard Li Ruhua's question, his expression changed from worry and confusion to anger, and he said angrily:
"How can you be so slanderous, sir! I have already asked Your Majesty to open the treasury to allocate funds for water conservancy, but the approval for the payment of money has not been issued yet. I did not dare to open the treasury without authorization, so what happened today! I know clearly I have also sent several reports to urge Your Majesty!"
Ni Wenhuan directly passed the blame to Zhu Changxun, which was what they had discussed before.
Seeing his angry look, Li Ruhua trusted him, and his words were also very convincing. It was indeed not something that Ni Wenhuan, a Zuo Shilang, would dare to do such a big thing.
So he frowned and turned around and walked towards the palace.
Thinking of the emperor's series of actions in recent years, Li Ruhua felt a little uneasy.
But he had to go. After all, regardless of its various impacts on the Ming Dynasty, from other aspects, if this problem occurs, the Ministry of Household Affairs will definitely bear the brunt.
Who will the people blame then? It's definitely not Zhu Changxun. Everyone in "Water Margin" knows that anti-corrupt officials are not anti-emperors! Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty was like that. The view in "Water Margin" that "it was Cai Jing and Gao Qiu who caused trouble in the imperial court" still has a large market among the people; Yue Fei was killed, Gou An of the Southern Song Dynasty, and Qin Hui directly took the blame. It shows that few people say bad things about Jiumei.
At that time, the household department closely related to this matter can only face the storm, and the most unlucky one is him, the minister!
Li Ruhua didn't want his reputation to be ruined when he got old, so it would be best if he could resolve this matter as soon as possible.
Especially now that the hundreds of thousands of workers working on water conservancy projects have become agitated. In order to avoid accidents, the Ministry of War has begun to discuss the deployment of troops with the Fifth Army Governor's Office. The matter is getting worse and worse.
Could Ni Wenhuan not know what happened? This was what he suggested to the emperor.
No matter how powerful the cabinet is, no matter how powerful the votes are, some of their opinions still need to get the approval of the emperor and the seal of the Supervisor of Ceremonies. Only in this way can it be a valid official document. Officials Only then will the order be implemented.
The same goes for the note that requires funding for this water conservancy project.
As long as the emperor does not approve the memorial, then even if they transfer a penny of money from the treasury controlled by the Ministry of Revenue, it will be against the laws of the Ming Dynasty.
To put it mildly, it is corruption, but in the worst case, it can lead to losing one's head. The ministers will never dare to tamper with it without permission.
Ni Wenhuan and Zhu Changxun grasped this point. Zhu Changxun simply pretended that he had not seen the note and left it unpublished. He did not want to spend the money anyway.
After all, in Zhu Changxun's eyes, the money in the treasury can be used as a fund for him to conquer all directions in the future! Can you save some money?
Yan Chenhao's benevolent government seemed to him a waste.
Especially this His Majesty is very unreasonable.
He only doesn't approve payment slips.
He approved everything else, such as the purchase of construction materials and tools.
(End of chapter)
