I still met Eunuch Cao outside the imperial study room, and it was still Eunuch Cao who went in to report. When Shao Xi entered the imperial study room and saw Xiao Changyi, he saw Xiao Changyi sitting behind the imperial desk and looking at a book in his hand. His face was not good-looking. It seemed that the contents of the booklet made him a little angry.
After bowing and seeing each other, Shao Xi asked Xiao Changyi in a probing tone: "The Holy One seems a little displeased. I wonder if it's because of the trick in his hand just now? Is there anything I can do to share His Majesty's worries?"
Xiao Changyi glanced at Shao Xi, and he admired Shao Xi's cleverness.
Although as an emperor, he always hopes that his ministers will not always pretend to be flattering, but in fact, who doesn't want to hear more good words? Who doesn’t like people who can speak and do things that suit their own needs?
Speaking of which, Shao Xi shouldn't have asked him about these things just now, but in the end, Shao Xi said that he wanted to share his worries, which really made Xiao Changyi feel very useful.
Ordinary ministers are afraid of getting into trouble, and would be willing to leave things to others if they were not fat servants, but Shao Xi took the initiative to share the worries for himself, which was indeed commendable in Xiao Changyi's opinion.
"It's not something that I can't tell you. What I just read is the document handed over by the Ministry of Revenue. In recent years, there have been wars between our country and the Dongmu Kingdom. Although it is not as fierce as before, there is still constant friction. , now it seems that a war is inevitable within ten years, so I ordered the Ministry of Industry to work with Haian County of Yuzhou to preside over the construction of maritime warships.
"You also know that there are four states in the world that are close to the sea. To the east are the Qi and Lin states of Dongmu Kingdom, and to the south is Bozhou of Southern Zhao Kingdom. The only one in our country that is close to the sea is Yuzhou in the southeast. In the future, we will fight together. In addition to the battles between soldiers and horses on land, sea battles will also inevitably occur.
"So I planned to ask the Ministry of Industry and Hai'an County of Yuzhou to build another hundred warships within ten years to prepare for war. However, Yu Ji, the Minister of Household Affairs, gave me a trick to cry out to me, saying that In recent years, due to the recruitment of soldiers and the purchase of war horses, as well as two major disasters, the amount of money that can be allocated is seriously insufficient, so it is recommended that shipbuilding be delayed for another two years.
"Looking at the current situation, a war with the Dongmu Kingdom will definitely happen sooner or later. If the shipbuilding work is delayed for another two years, how will it be possible to temporarily build warships while the war is going on? But this is what Yu Ji said in the book. , I am annoyed that he is not doing things well but I cannot blame him.
"He knows this matter of money and food better than I do. If he says that this matter is not feasible, I really can't find any reason to refute him. But this matter really can't be delayed any longer. I just ordered someone to announce that he has come to see me. , want to see how he explains it?"
Shao Xi nodded while listening. He already understood the general situation of the matter, and he also understood what Xiao Changyi meant.
Now it is obvious that the emperor Xiao Changyi wants to expand maritime armaments, but the Ministry of Revenue can't get much profit in this matter, so he deliberately wants to cause trouble in this matter.
To put it bluntly, Yu Ji still wants to protect his own personal interests.
The relationship between the six departments should be mutual support, mutual supervision and mutual restriction.
However, officials in various ministries and departments often fail to support each other. Instead, they use their power to supervise and restrict each other to the extreme, and some officials even develop a relationship of collusion with each other.
Among them, the Ministry of Husbandry should be the most popular, and the one that everyone is least willing to offend, because they hold the world's money and food in their hands, and all the expenses of each department are in the hands of the Ministry of Husbandry.
Therefore, when various ministries and departments in the DPRK need to allocate money, in addition to reporting it to Xiao Changyi, they also have to communicate with the Ministry of Household Affairs. Basically, the initiative to get how much money is in the hands of the Ministry of Household Affairs.
It is precisely because of this that the Ministry of Revenue has become the most lucrative department among the six ministries of Shangshu Province, because no matter who approaches the Ministry of Revenue to allocate money, they must give some benefits to the Ministry of Revenue, which is now often referred to as kickbacks.
This time Xiao Changyi asked the Ministry of Industry and Hai'an County to build warships, and the money allocated was personally ordered by Xiao Changyi, which meant that it was earmarked for special use.
In this way, how much money was spent to build as many ships was within Xiao Changyi's control. Not only could Yu Ji, the Minister of Household Affairs, not be able to benefit from the Ministry of Industry and Hai'an County, but he had also drained the national treasury by allocating large sums of money to build warships. The reduction of Bank of China amount.
Therefore, the amount of money that can be transferred to other ministries and departments in the future will definitely be greatly reduced, and then the kickbacks he can receive will also be less.
Therefore, he was naturally unwilling to let Xiao Changyi allocate such a large sum of money to the Ministry of Industry and Haian County to build warships.
But Yu Ji couldn't tell Xiao Changyi directly that he was unwilling to allocate money to the Ministry of Industry. Wouldn't that be a crime of rebellion?
So he simply cried out to Xiao Changyi and said that there was insufficient money on hand to allocate. If a large number of warships were built, it would affect other expenditures of the DPRK. It was better to suppress the matter temporarily to ensure that there was sufficient money to allocate to other ministries.
Let's make it clear, this guy Yu Ji deliberately obstructed the building of warships for his own selfish interests. He completely ignored the interests of the Jingyuan Empire and only wanted to satisfy his personal greed. This is really a shameful thing.
But for a while, Xiao Changyi couldn't get anything to do with him. After all, all the money and food in the world were in the hands of the Household Department, and the accounts were all done by the Household Department, so everyone understood it.
Xiao Changyi was also at a loss for this matter. It was not that he didn't know what the officials in the court were playing, but there were some things that he couldn't get into.
Otherwise, it would be like pulling out the carrot and bringing out the mud. If we deal with them all, I'm afraid there will be no one available.
Shao Xi just rolled his eyes and already had an idea in his mind, so he smiled and said to Xiao Changyi: "Your Majesty, don't worry too much, maybe I can solve this matter, but I need your Majesty to play a play with me, and I have to The more similar the acting is, the better.”
When Xiao Changyi heard that Shao Xi said he had a way, he immediately became energetic and asked with interest: "You said you had a way, but you don't know what it is?"
Shao Xi took the opportunity to hand the recommendation document he had drawn up in front of Xiao Changyi, with a mysterious smile on his face.
"My method is exactly related to the place where Tao Qingyun, the current governor of Nanshui County recommended in this document, should serve."
With a puzzled look on his face, Xiao Changyi reached out and took the folder handed over by Shao Xi. After opening it, he glanced at it and asked curiously: "The Tao Qingyun you recommended wants him to be transferred from Nanshui County to Fengyang." To replace the current county governor Li Rui, is your method related to Fengyang County?"
"Exactly!"
"Tell me how to use Fengyang County to make Yu Ji stop making excuses and allocate money to the Ministry of Industry honestly?"
Shao Xi told Xiao Changyi about his experience in Lingyu Mountain with a playful smile, focusing on the evil things the Tong family had done in Shimen Town, and even in Fengyang County as a whole over the years.
Finally, it was mentioned that the Tong family colluded with Li Ruixiang, the governor of Fengyang County, and the backer behind the court was Yu Ji, the Minister of Household Affairs.
Xiao Changyi was happy when he heard this, and joked to Shao Xi with a smile: "You kid is doing a good deed to eliminate evil in the local area, but you took the opportunity to swallow up other people's property, and actually transferred all the other people's property to yourself. Under our sect, wouldn’t it be true that if you do this, you are doing something false for public benefit?”
"Hey! I said, Your Majesty, this is unfair. We must speak with conscience!
"Don't care whether I'm in Yujiang County or Fengyang County. I don't take other people's property for nothing. I paid them all. How can this become a false act of public benefit?
"Besides, the more properties I have under my name and the bigger my business is, the more money I will make, so won't your 20% dividend of net profit also increase? Your Majesty, you can't take advantage of me and not be grateful!
"I broke my leg while running desperately outside, and you are just sitting here counting money. We don't have to kill donkeys with you!"
Xiao Changyi was holding a tea cup and taking a sip of tea. After hearing Shao Xi's words, he spat it out with a "pop".
Xin Xin said, this kid is now holding his own, and he actually uses the fact that he is a partner in business to defend himself. It's really a shame that he can think of it.
But thinking about it, what Shao Xi said makes sense. Although he used the power in his hands, there was really nothing worthy of criticism in what he did.
So he put down the tea cup in his hand, picked up the handkerchief on the desk and wiped the tea on his mouth and beard.
He smiled and said to Shao Xi: "Okay, okay! Quan Dang, what you said makes sense, then you are planning to use this matter to intimidate Yu Ji, and force him to evade important matters and transfer the money to the Ministry of Industry.
"But this way we cannot go into the details of his crime of secretly supporting the underworld forces in Fengyang County and harming the local people. Didn't I also make an oversight in this matter?"
When Shao Xi heard what Xiao Changyi said, he shook his head helplessly and looked at Xiao Changyi with an expression that said, "You can't teach me no matter how hard you teach me." Xiao Changyi looked a little confused for a moment.
But just a moment later, Xiao Changyi seemed to understand Shao Xi's intention, and after saying "Oh", he actually raised his head and laughed.
He pointed at Shao Xi with his finger and was speechless for a moment.
Xiao Changyi really didn't expect that this kid would have so many evil ideas. It was really beyond his expectation.
Shao Xi finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Xiao Changyi finally understood what he meant.
If Xiao Changyi couldn't understand something like this that could only be understood but not expressed in words, he could only be anxious.
Because there are some things that even if both parties are aware of and tacitly understand, they cannot express themselves clearly. Once they are expressed, the nature of the matter will change.
Although I had mentioned to Xiao Changyi before that the backer behind the Tong family in the court was Yu Ji, these things were just rumors, and there was no conclusive evidence to confirm whether this was true.
As long as everyone understands this kind of thing, it’s okay to check it or not!
But if he puts the words on the table in front of Yu Ji, then he must investigate. Regardless of whether he can find out or not, the final result should not be what everyone wants.
Shao Xi's bad idea was to knock down the mountain and scare the tiger, but he didn't say he wanted to kill the tiger!
