On the way to court, Changsheng kept thinking about it in his mind. He only had 40 million taels of cash on hand, plus the 20 million taels from the sale of the guilty minister's property, a total of 60 million taels, deducting the five million taels needed by the palace this year. Two, there are still 55 million taels, and military pay and disaster relief require 50 million taels each. There are many monks and little rice, so it is difficult to allocate. It must also be considered that if military pay is not paid, there will be no self-respecting Jiedu envoys in various places. An excuse for rebellion. Once the military pay was allocated, the disloyal Jiedu envoys would have more money to recruit soldiers.
Concealing the amount of silver in the national treasury seems to be the simplest way, but the amount of silver in the national treasury cannot be concealed at all, because he is not the only insider. The ministers and doctors in the household department all know how much money is in the national treasury.
In addition, the emperor's thoughts must be considered. The method of distributing these silver coins must be taken by the Ministry of Revenue. To put it bluntly, it must be taken by him, and the emperor is only responsible for expressing his approval or disapproval of the distribution method he proposed. Since he became an official He has never been alone with the emperor, and the relationship with the emperor is only maintained by the tacit understanding before. He sent away the Ni family yesterday, and the emperor is already dissatisfied. If he can't get the emperor again this time with the method of allocating deposits, With recognition, the relationship between monarch and ministers will cool down sharply.
Unexpectedly, the sedan chariot he was riding in had already arrived outside the palace gate. Changsheng bowed down from the sedan chair and entered the palace together with the civil and military officials for the morning court meeting.
He was the Minister of the Ministry of Finance and the Imperial Censor, with great power. The officials who entered the palace in the early morning were in awe of him, but they were only polite to him. After saying hello, they left with excuses and did not talk to him for a long time. .
This kind of reaction from the civil and military officials was also expected by Changsheng. The imperial court's intention to attack the Ni family was very obvious, but he blatantly sent everyone away from the Ni family yesterday. This move was tantamount to confronting the emperor. What will the emperor do today? It is still unknown whether he will be punished, and it is not a wise move to get too close to him at this time.
Chang Sheng did not feel disappointed that everyone kept a distance from him, because he had no intention of pursuing an official career and did not want to have anything to do with these officials.
When the time comes, go to the palace and pay homage early in the morning.
Even though Changsheng had ten thousand unwillingnesses in his heart, he could only kneel down and kowtow like other officials, because the emperor had previously ordered him to withdraw from the Taoist sect. Although Zhang Shan secretly retained his Taoist membership, he was no longer visible to the outside world. If you are a Taoist priest, since you are not a Taoist priest, you can naturally no longer perform rituals.
When he stood up after the ceremony, Changsheng raised his head and glanced at the emperor who was sitting on the dragon chair in the north. As an emperor, naturally he would not show all his emotions, anger, sorrow, and joy. It was impossible to judge his mood just by looking at his expression.
There is no decree issued today, so the next step is for officials from various ministries to come out to report. Changsheng originally wanted to hear what the civil and military officials said today before going out to report, but there were no civil and military officials in the Manchu Dynasty who came out to report.
Seeing that the eunuch was going to announce his resignation if he waited any longer, Changsheng had no choice but to step out of the queue and said, "I have something to report to you."
The eunuch turned around when he heard the sound. Seeing the emperor nodding, he said sharply, "It's accurate."
At the critical juncture, Chang Sheng instantly regained his composure and quickly entered the state of mind, "Report to the Emperor, Wei Chen was appointed to be in charge of the Household Department. At the beginning of taking office, the national inventory of silver was about two million taels. When Wei Chen was in charge of the Yushitai, he checked for corruption. All the proceeds of four million taels were turned over to the state treasury, and the six million taels donated by Ni Ni, the Duke of Jiguo, have also been put into the treasury. In the past few days, the eunuchs' property has been confiscated and 32 million taels of silver have been obtained. Other properties should be equivalent to 20 million taels of silver. , excluding the three million taels allocated yesterday to recruit soldiers and military supplies, the national bank balance is about 61 million taels."
Chang Sheng paused for a moment before continuing, "It has been decided by the Ministry of Household Affairs that these sixty million taels should be used for the following purposes. The Emperor is the most powerful person in the world and the co-owner of the world. It is indispensable for the needs of the imperial palace and the inner court. The full amount should be used." Allocate 5 million taels for the whole year, which leaves 56 million taels of silver in reserve. The current disaster is serious, and there are many victims in various states, counties, and counties. Human lives are at stake, and relief is urgently needed. A total of 5 million taels of silver are needed for disaster relief in various places. Ten million taels, and the Ministry of Household Affairs plans to allocate 28 million taels to purchase grain and provide disaster relief, so as to meet urgent needs first. In addition, the officers and soldiers stationed in various places are also in urgent need of military supplies. The Ministry of War has also urged many times before that soldiers are a major matter for the country and military supplies. It should be handled as a priority. The garrison also needs 50 million taels of silver for military pay and military supplies. However, the Ministry of Revenue currently does not have that much silver taels. Therefore, the Ministry of Revenue plans to allocate all the remaining 28,200,000 taels in the national treasury to purchase grain and grass and send them to Troops are stationed everywhere.”
After Chang Sheng finished speaking, there was silence in the palace. After a moment, the emperor said, "According to the report, we will also reduce the needs of the inner court by two million taels, which will be used to provide relief to the victims and purchase military supplies."
"My emperor is a wise man." All civil and military officials flattered him.
Seeing that other officials had nothing to say, the emperor stood up and left. The eunuchs shouted to withdraw from the court.
Everyone thought that Changsheng would be punished today for sending everyone away from the Ni family. Who would have thought that he did not mention this matter at all, and the emperor did not ask about it. Not only did he not convict him, but he also paid all the money he had planned. Sight them all.
The officials were so realistic. Seeing that Chang Sheng had not been punished, they all came over to talk to him. Chang Sheng was too lazy to pay attention to these people. He didn't even bother to show politeness on the surface. After retreating from the court, he turned around and left.
When he came out of the main hall, he breathed a long sigh of relief. His previous words seemed ordinary, but in fact they contained a hidden secret. He could not and did not want to hide the true amount of silver in the national treasury, because it was all his fault. He was very effective in raising money for the imperial court.
In addition, the reason why he mentioned Ni Ni's donation of six million taels was to express his and Ni Ni's attitude. If the Ni family had no fault at all, why would they donate six million taels? The donation itself was to show that they had done something good. There was a fault and it was in the nature of atonement, and the reason why the Ni family did this must have been discussed with him. Therefore, Ni Tuo donated six million taels, which not only showed Ni Tuo's attitude, but also his attitude. To put it bluntly, Ni Tuo donated 6 million taels. It means admitting that what he has done is lacking, and hoping to gain the emperor's understanding. Whether the emperor understands or not depends on the emperor's magnanimity. At least Ni Tuo and his attitude are correct.
Furthermore, he divided the national treasury into two and allocated all the money, half for disaster relief and half for military supplies. This was also a very smart approach. It placed soldiers and people in an equally important position, whether it was the army or the army. No one among the people affected by the disaster can say that the imperial court favors one over the other. It is also a very clever way to use all the silver taels allocated to both parties to purchase grain and grass without discovering the silver. For the affected states, counties and counties, it is the same whether the court distributes silver taels or rice grains. But it is different for the army. If silver is given to the army under Jiedushi, the direct consequence is that Jiedushi will use the money to recruit troops. Distributing food can avoid this to some extent. Of course, it is impossible to completely eliminate this situation, because the grain distributed to the Jiedushi can also be sold for money, but it takes time to sell it, and it also takes time for the court to buy grain and transport it to various military camps. What the court needs most right now is time. After all, recruiting 300,000 new troops cannot be accomplished overnight.
And the most important word in the emperor's sentence, "Reduce the needs of the imperial court by two million taels, and use it to provide relief to the victims and purchase military supplies," is "purchasing military supplies." This shows that the emperor understands his painstaking efforts and knows why he doesn't. He directly distributed money instead of grain and grass, knowing that he was doing this to ease the conflict and buy time for the court.
In addition, the reason why he directly emptied the treasury was to kill two birds with one stone. One was to save as many lives as possible, and the other was to highlight his own importance. The treasury was empty again, and the new army recruited by the court would then need military pay and rice grain. With no place to live, you have to rely on him to raise money. As the saying goes, a clean slate covers a hundred ugly things. Although he violated the holy will in the case of the Ni family, he was ruthless and raised money quickly. Moreover, the Ni family moved away, leaving behind All the property fell into his hands, which was a huge fortune. In critical moments, whether to donate money to help the court or not was only a matter of his thoughts.
This is the court, this is officialdom. Even if he is dedicated to serving the public, everything is still dangerous and every step is startling.
There is a reason why many people don't like officialdom. Being in officialdom requires brains. If you don't have enough brains, it will be difficult to move forward in officialdom.
Datou knew that Changsheng was not used to sitting in a sedan chair, so he led his horse to wait outside the palace gate early. When Changsheng went out, he hurriedly greeted him, "Sir, how are you?"
Changsheng knew that Datou was also worried that he would be punished for sending everyone away from the Ni family, so he casually replied, "Nothing."
Datou was relieved when he heard this. When Changsheng got on his horse, he asked again, "Sir, where are you going?"
Before Chang Sheng could answer, the Minister of War who came out from behind quickly stepped forward and said, "Master Li, can you take a step to speak?"
"Huh?" Changsheng frowned and turned his head.
"I would like to discuss the issue of military pay and supplies separately with Mr. Li," said the Minister of War.
"I'm not free right now, let's talk about it another day," Changsheng said casually. Seeing the Ministry of Revenue officials coming out of the palace gate, he waved to them. After a few people came forward, he said to them, "Go back and allocate the money for disaster relief as soon as possible." Deku.”
The officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs bowed and cupped their hands, and responded in unison.
Chang Sheng shook the reins and urged the horse, leaving the Minister of War behind and heading south quickly.
Da Tou followed up on horseback, "Sir, where are you going?"
"Go to the Taiping Inn to pick out a useful weapon for the four of you..."
