In the Qigong Nanyuan study room, Xiao Shiyu sat in front of the imperial desk and kept reading the memorials presented by the ministries; he frowned and coughed lightly from time to time, covering his mouth, obviously feeling sick.
"Your Majesty, is it time to take the medicine?" Gao Xian flicked his fly whisk, took the tray sent by the chamberlain from the imperial pharmacy and placed it on the imperial desk.
"Ahem!" Xiao Shiyu put down the memorial in his hand, put the medicine bowl to his nose, smelled it, and drank it in one gulp: "This tastes really bitter."
"I hope your Majesty will take care of the dragon body and not work too hard!" Gao Xian waved his hand aside, and the waiter took the medicine bowl from Xiao Shiyu's hand and put it on the tray and slowly left.
"I can still hold on!" After Xiao Shiyu circled one memorial with a red pen, he picked up another memorial and browsed: "Others think that being an emperor is a happy thing, but look at these mountains of piles. Memorial? The hours of the day always feel like they’re not enough.”
"That's because Your Majesty is one of the few holy masters in history." Gao Xian lost no time in boasting: "Under your rule, Da Qi is growing stronger and stronger!"
"Haha!" Xiao Shiyu smiled and pointed at Gao Xian: "You, you! Although I know these are comforting words, I am still very happy; by the way, have Salba and the Minister of War Shen Zhaochen arrived? "
"Your Majesty, the two of you are already outside the study!" Gao Xian bowed to Xiao Shiyu and said, "You are ready to be called upon at any time."
"Xuan." Xiao Shiyu waved his hand and continued to read the memorial in his hand.
"The Minister of Household Affairs, Salba, comes to see Your Majesty."
"Shen Zhaochen, Minister of the Ministry of War, comes to see Your Majesty."
"You two gentlemen are of normal age." Xiao Shiyu took out a memorial with a varnish from the pile of memorials and displayed it in front of the two of them: "The cold winter is approaching. I wonder how the frontier army's military pay, ordnance, and war horses have been prepared. ?”
"This?" Shen Zhaochen and Salba looked at each other, both of them seemed troubled.
"What's wrong?" Seeing the two of them lowering their heads and saying nothing, Xiao Shiyu said in a deep voice, "If you have anything to say, just say it. I forgive you and others for not being guilty."
"Your Majesty, I will only prepare 50%." Shen Zhaochen felt his body trembling when he reported.
"Why are there so few?" Xiao Shiyu was unhappy in his heart: "I have already reported to Polu General Lin Zhen several times!"
"Your Majesty, it is because all the Fire Seal Silver allocated by the Ministry of Revenue to the Ministry of War has been used up." Shen Zhaochen glanced sideways at Salba and said truthfully: "If you want to continue purchasing, according to the rules of the imperial court, you have to wait until next year to allocate it. Only a few taels of silver will do.”
"Why is there not enough?" Xiao Shiyu stared at Salba coldly: "Didn't the Ministry of Finance allocate the Fire Seal Silver according to the quantity?"
"Your Majesty, one tael of Fire Seal Silver has been allocated to the Ministry of War." Sharba's eyelids kept blinking: "But prices have skyrocketed recently, and the originally distributed silver taels are far from meeting the needs of each ministry. If necessary, I would like to request your Majesty to seal the Fire Seal Silver to relieve the court's difficulties."
"You two gentlemen, please step aside first and let me think again." Xiao Shiyu signaled Gao Xian with his eyes.
"My lords, please." Gao Xian received Xiao Shiyu's signal and flicked his fly whisk towards Salba and Shen Zhaochen.
"I'll take your leave!" The two bowed and exited the Nanyuan study.
"You guys should go down first and see Xuan Su Xing." Xiao Shiyu waved his hand towards Gao Xian and other chamberlains.
"Su Xing, the common man, comes to see your majesty." Shortly after Gao Xian and others exited the study, Su Xing, dressed in a black cloth robe, knelt in front of Xiao Shiyu's imperial case.
"Su Qingping." Seeing Su Xing's simple and low-key clothes, Xiao Shiyu couldn't help but nodded secretly: "You must have heard clearly what the two adults said just now outside the study, right?"
"All the civilians heard it." Su Xing slowly stood up and bowed towards Xiao Shiyu.
"Well! Tell me, what do you think?" Xiao Shiyu didn't even look at Su Xing, but just flipped through the memorial casually.
"Your Majesty, the common people believe that Master Sha's suggestion is not advisable." Su Xing shook his head and bowed: "Not only cannot the Fire Seal Silver be printed, but the role of the Fire Seal Silver system must be gradually weakened."
"Oh? The system of Fire Seal Silver was decreed by the late Emperor!" Xiao Shiyu knew this system very well: "In order to unify the ministries and separate the spending of silver from the people, the imperial court specially made Fire Seal Silver."
"Your Majesty, the problem lies in the exchange of Fire Seal Silver and ordinary silver." Su Xing was a businessman.
The head of the family hated the fire-seal silver system deeply: "One tael of fire-seal silver can be exchanged for one and a half ordinary silver taels; that is to say, for shops that are qualified to supply supplies to the imperial court, the silver price is one and a half times higher than other shops. When the goods are sold, the extra silver will be borne by the imperial court; over time, how can the national treasury not be stretched thin?"
"When the imperial court felt that it was unsustainable, it must have adopted the method of increasing taxes; it is the common people who suffer in this way." Su Xing continued: "The method proposed by Lord Sha to print more silver coins is only temporary. It alleviated the crisis, but in essence it increased the burden on the court."
"Hey! What Su Qing said is absolutely true!" Xiao Shiyu deeply agreed with what Su Xing said: "But I also have a hidden secret! Back then, when the late emperor succeeded to the throne, the court was still unstable due to internal and external troubles; in order to exchange for necessary support, I had no choice but to agree to the Fire Seal Silver System, and this has led to the current trend of becoming the most powerful force in the world."
"Your Majesty, Xing Yu sees that this matter can only be postponed and cannot be taken seriously!" Su Xing pointed out the key point in one sentence: "The most important thing is that Sanshun Bank is the one who prints the Huoyin Silver. There must be something in it. Shameful
Tricky! "
"Your Majesty, Master Zhi Shanzhi would like to see you." Gao Xian's high-pitched voice came in from outside the study.
"Your Majesty, do the common people need to avoid it?" Su Xing felt worried when he saw someone coming.
"It doesn't matter! Master Zhi was deeply trusted by the late Emperor and is worthy of trust." Xiao Shiyu shouted: "Let him come in."
"I, Zhi Shan, kowtow to Your Majesty." Zhi Shan lifted up his robe and knelt down.
"No courtesy, Mr. Zhi." Xiao Shiyu waved his hand towards Zhi Shan: "I don't know why you came to see me so early."
"Your Majesty, Jinling ordered Mr. Qin to encounter a difficult case that seems to be related to the case investigated by our Tingwei Mansion." Zhi Shanzuo bowed and said: "This matter is serious, I think it is better to report it to Your Majesty first, and then make a decision. .”
"What case is it? Tell me?" Xiao Shiyu put down the memorial in his hand and just looked at Zhi Shan; he also wanted to hear what happened again.
"The shopkeeper of Sanshun Bank died in Wanfo Temple!" There was no smile on Zhi Shan's face, and he looked as serious as ever: "And this person seems to be inextricably related to Li Shu, who framed the head of the Su family."
"What do you mean, Master Zhi?" Su Xing looked at Zhi Shan expectantly. He had been carrying this unjust injustice for a long time.
"Li Shu first falsely accused the chief protector, and then the head of the Su family." Zhi Shan talked to Xiao Shiyu: "I think this person has repeated his confession three times, but there is no conclusive evidence. In addition, he escaped from prison and escaped, so it can be proved The head of the Su family is innocent."
"Well! In your opinion, how should this matter be handled?" Xiao Shiyu thoughtfully asked Zhi Shan for his opinion.
"The guard of the Xuanwu Academy, Chang'an Dafang, and the head of the Su family, Su Xing, were both acquitted." Zhi Shan was obviously extremely dissatisfied with Li Shu, and his eyes were full of chills: "And Li Shu also brought thirty taels of fake fire seal silver. The Tingwei Mansion has slandered Sanshun Qianzhuang and Baihuyuan guard Ye Hu, and I have issued an arrest warrant to the whole city to capture this person."
"Thank you, Mr. Zhi, for clearing Su's name." Su Xing couldn't hide his excitement and made a series of remarks to Zhi Shan.
"The Su Family Master does not need to say thank you." Zhi Shan said coldly: "A good judge is just to ask the truth, and never follow personal feelings. Things that the Su Family Master has not done will naturally not be invented out of thin air."
"Qing Zhi, what did you mean when you said that Li Shu used thirty taels of fake fire seal silver to slander Sanshun Bank and Ye Hu?" Xiao Shiyu became very interested in this case.
"After Li Shu escaped from Tingwei's Mansion, he suddenly returned to Tingwei's Mansion and took out thirty taels of fire-seal silver, saying that it was exchanged for him by Sanshun Bank. He also claimed that the previous slanders of An Dafang and the head of the Su family were all influenced by Ye Hu. Instigated." Zhi Shan reported to Xiao Shiyu: "And these thirty taels of fire-seal silver have been identified by people from the Ministry of Revenue and Sanshun Bank, and it has been determined that they are not genuine fire-seal silver."
"Oh? Where is the banknote?"
"Your Majesty, please take a look."
Zhi Shan took out the thirty taels of fire-seal silver from his large sleeve robe and walked forward and placed it in front of Xiao Shiyu's imperial case.
"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with this banknote, right? Why do you think it's fake?" Xiao Shiyu picked up the banknote from the imperial case and looked left and right but couldn't see where it was fake.
"Your Majesty, I don't know how to identify this money banker." Zhi Shansuo bowed and said: "Master Sha from the Ministry of Revenue will report it to Your Majesty."
"Well! This Fire Seal Silver Temporary
Leave it to me first. Xiao Shiyu nodded: "As for the relationship between Li Shu, the Fire Seal Silver, and the shopkeeper Qian of Sanshun Bank, I will leave it to Zhi Qing to find out." "
"I obey the order." Zhi Shan kowtowed and thanked him: "I will retire first."
"Su Qing, how are you?" After Zhi Shan walked out of the study, Xiao Shiyu looked at Su Xing: "What do you think of this matter?"
"Your Majesty, there must be something fishy about the death of Shopkeeper Qian." Su Xing said with a bow: "Now that I am worried that there is no reason to cancel the fire-seal silver system, it is better for Master Zhi to investigate clearly; and then send a group of people to investigate secretly to find out the case, maybe we can There is always a bright future.”
"Su Qing's words are very much in line with my wishes!" Xiao Shiyu took out the sealed imperial edict and shouted loudly: "Gao Xian, come in."
"Your Majesty, what are your orders to this old slave?" Gao Xian hurried in from outside the study, swinging his fly whisk.
"The position of Minister of the Ministry of Revenue cannot be vacant for a long time." Xiao Shiyu handed the imperial edict to Gao Xian: "Since the Tingwei Mansion has cleared Su Qing; Gao Xian, please accompany him to the Ministry of Hubu to announce my decree, and Su Qing will start from now on." Xing was appointed Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs."
"Old slave, I obey the order." Gao Xian bowed.
"Your Majesty, Su Xing, kowtows to you for your grace!" Su Xing lifted up his robe and kowtowed heavily to Xiao Shiyu.
There is a work shed in the east of Jinling City. It is not so much a work shed as it is actually just five or six acres of open space enclosed by a fence to the north near the Ministry of Industry. This is at noon, when the sun is at its most fierce, and there are people in twos and threes. The common man had already chosen a shady place to avoid the sun.
"Ningshi, do you think this is here?" In the tea shed not far away, An Dafang, who was already too hot, was sipping water while introducing the situation here to Liu Ningshi: "The workers here work every day. Take the job here because it’s more convenient to be near the Ministry of Industry.”
"Do they only take jobs from the Ministry of Works?" Liu Ningshi was dressed in a white young man's uniform, waving a folding fan lightly, making people look like someone walking out of a big house.
"There are three religions and nine schools here, and the roosters, dogs, and thieves are very complicated!" An Dafang said with all his treasures: "Ning Shi, the person you are looking for is probably here!"
"Brother Da Fang, you seem to know this place very well!" Liu Ningshi's wonderful eyes kept flashing as she looked at An Da Fang.
"I..." An Dafang looked at Liu Ningshi's watery eyes and couldn't help but be fascinated: "Ningshi, you are so beautiful!"
"Brother Da Fang, if you keep talking nonsense, Ning Shi will ignore you." Liu Ningshi said coquettishly towards An Da Fang.
