Wu Yusheng's actions made Changsheng quite pleased. The huge losses suffered by the Ministry of Household Affairs were irreparable, but they could not be broken because of this. Some remedial measures had to be taken. Whatever could be saved was a little, and a little was better than nothing. powerful.
Before, Changsheng had never wanted the courtiers to know that Wu Yusheng was very close to him, but by this time, he no longer cared and talked quietly to Wu Yusheng from the corner of the inner corridor where he was waiting to go to court. He had been away from the court for some time. During this period, Wu Yusheng had been in charge of the household department as the left minister of the household department, so Wu Yusheng knew the current situation of the household department better than him.
Changsheng doesn't go around too much and gets straight to the point, "How much money is needed to get through the current difficulties?"
Opportunities are always reserved for those who are prepared. Wu Yusheng guessed that Changsheng would definitely summon him and ask this question, so he sorted out the financial needs of various departments of the Ministry of Revenue last night. When Changsheng asked this question, he immediately answered He said, "Back to the prince, I have made a rough calculation. If I want to maintain the tax revenue until this autumn, I will need at least 130 million taels of silver."
"Huh?" The number Wu Yusheng said was far more than Changsheng expected.
Changsheng's surprise seemed to be expected by Wu Yusheng, and he whispered, "One hundred and thirty million taels can only guarantee basic military equipment and disaster relief needs, and it does not include the salaries of officials at all levels and the construction of embankments during the summer rain season." cost."
"Are you sure your calculation is correct?" Changsheng confirmed. He had also been in charge of the household department. In his opinion, the number Wu Yusheng said was obviously too high.
"Sure," Wu Yusheng nodded and said, "My lord, you have overlooked one point. The 70 million taels of silver deposited in the Ministry of Household Affairs were stolen by traitors. With so much silver flowing into the private sector, food prices will inevitably rise."
Hearing Wu Yusheng's words, Changsheng nodded slowly. Wu Yusheng said that it did make sense. Before, he had ignored the rice grain premium caused by the large amount of money flowing into the private sector.
Seeing Changsheng's solemn expression, Wu Yusheng looked ashamed, "He is incompetent in his humble position and cannot share the Lord's worries."
Although there is a difference in words between "sharing worries for the king" and "sharing worries for the Lord", the meanings are completely different. Wu Yusheng's words are equivalent to regarding longevity as the main priority. Although this sentence is not high-level, it is full of gratitude for the support of longevity.
Factions have existed since ancient times. It is human nature for subordinates to be grateful when their superiors support them. They cannot be unappreciative to their superiors who support and care for them, but instead be grateful to those who suppress and exclude them.
"As a minister of household affairs, if you don't go to the middle hall or join the nine ministers, what you can do is very limited." Changsheng said casually.
"My lord." Wu Yusheng bowed his head with emotion. He is a smart man, and Changsheng is also a smart man. Sometimes you don't need to say things clearly, just listen to the implication. Since Changsheng said these words, he will definitely fight for the Ministry of Household Affairs for him. Shangshu.
"Nine million taels will be put into the treasury within 20 days, of which 5 million taels will be allocated to the Ministry of Internal Affairs," Chang Sheng said sternly, "Try to reduce expenses as much as possible during this period, and the next month will be the fastest, and the subsequent silver taels will be sent one after another. "
Hearing Changsheng's words, Wu Yusheng nodded heavily. Although he didn't know where Changsheng got the money, he knew that it was not easy to get the money.
The time for going to court has passed, but everyone did not wait for the emperor to come. They only waited for Eunuch Zhou who delivered the decree. The emperor had decreed that the court should be suspended today.
It was expected by all the officials that the emperor would not go to court today. After hearing the edict from Eunuch Zhou, they all retreated.
Seeing Eunuch Zhou waving to him, Changsheng walked over. When Changsheng approached, Eunuch Zhou whispered, "Your Majesty, the emperor has said that if you are going to court this morning, please go to the back hall to speak."
Chang Sheng nodded and then turned around and waved to Yang Kai and Wu Yusheng, indicating that they should go back first, and then went to the back hall with Eunuch Zhou.
Eunuch Zhou had not slept all night and was very tired. However, a sudden change occurred. The emperor did not speak, and he did not dare to keep his shift.
"How is the emperor?" Changsheng asked casually.
"I woke up several times last night and am not in good spirits today," Eunuch Zhou said in a low voice, "I wanted to announce the arrival of the imperial doctor, but the emperor stopped me."
Changsheng nodded. As the saying goes, once bitten by a snake, he is afraid of well ropes for ten years. The emperor was already suspicious, but after this incident, no one would dare to believe it.
Going to the back hall, the emperor stood up and sat on the soft couch to talk to Changsheng.
In fact, the emperor summoned him today because he just wanted to know what should be done next, but it was naturally inconvenient for the emperor to ask, so Chang Sheng could only take the initiative to say it.
The emperor was in low spirits, and he did not talk nonsense about longevity. His thoughts were concise and concise. First, Zhang Shan's attack on Hanzhong was tragic, and the new army he led was severely reduced in number. He was determined to join forces with Tongchen and take Hanzhong first.
Second, when the Ni family left for the Western Regions, they left behind some properties in China, which could solve the urgent needs of the new army. At this time, Long Haotian was storming Xichuan. At this juncture, it was not appropriate to issue orders to correct deviations. He could only wait and see how the war in Xichuan would develop before making further calculations.
Third, he finally led the main force of the Japanese pirates back to Japan and gained a little advantage. It was urgent to find the Earthly Branches for protection. Yang Kai, Shi Xuanming and the others went to Hebei Province today to continue searching for the Earthly Branches.
Fourth, Datou stayed in Chang'an to raise money and food. The five million taels of silver would be delivered to the Ministry of Internal Affairs within five days. He left Beijing immediately to try to raise the money and food needed for the follow-up.
Fifth, Wu Yusheng is worthy of a big responsibility and can correct the situation.
Seeing that Changsheng's arrangements were in good order, the emperor was determined that all the requests for his memorial would be fulfilled.
After finishing the business, Changsheng immediately stood up and left. The emperor was exhausted both physically and mentally and urgently needed to rest.
After coming out of the inner room, Changsheng criticized Eunuch Zhou and others a few more times, saying that they were exhausted and lack of energy, so he immediately replaced other eunuchs to serve the emperor.
Although they were criticized by Chang Sheng, Eunuch Zhou and others were full of gratitude. The emperor was in shock and distraught. He didn't care whether they were tired or not, and they did not dare to change shifts normally. If they made the emperor unhappy, they might die at any time. The first difference.
After coming out of the back hall, Changsheng said a few words to Liu Tianlin and others, ordering them to mobilize all the purple energy masters of the Yulin Army to take turns day and night to closely protect the emperor.
Logically speaking, Chang Sheng had no power to command the Yu Lin Army, but Liu Tianlin and others were very grateful to him for speaking at this time, because they could finally take advantage of the opportunity to reply and speak out from the courtyard. This way, the emperor knew that they had been guarding outside the palace. , has not gone far.
Regarding Chang Sheng's order, Liu Tianlin and others did not loudly agree, because if they responded solemnly, it would be equivalent to Chang Sheng mobilizing Yu Lin's army, which would make the emperor suspicious. Therefore, they answered, "Your Highness, don't worry, I'll leave this to you." We', if you answer like this, it doesn't count as officially accepting the order.
People with insufficient intelligence cannot be officials. Even if they become officials, they will be dismissed within three days. As the saying goes, if virtue is not matched, there will be disaster. If the mind is not matched, disaster will come faster.
Back at the palace, almost all the officials from the three provinces, six ministries and major government agencies arrived. There was such a big mess in the court, and they were eager to know what the emperor would do next, but the emperor was not seeing anyone at the moment, so they could only come over. To visit Changsheng, you can not only complete the etiquette and get close, but also get some information.
Although Changsheng was eager to leave for the south, he could only patiently meet with officials from various ministries one by one, mainly encouraging them and supplementing them with criticism. He should not only encourage them to carry out their errands with peace of mind, but also let them know what they were not doing well.
It is actually not good to interview them one by one. It is easy for people to suspect whether they have any personal relationships with these officials and whether there is anything scandalous in the conversation. However, it is not good to interview them all at once, because the division of labor among officials is different, and some are superiors and subordinates. relationship, and cannot criticize their bosses in front of their subordinates.
In order to avoid criticism, his immortality was limited to one cup of tea. After drinking one cup of tea, he stopped adding water and directly served the tea to the guests. He just said that he was eager to raise silver for the court and had no time to talk to them.
The three provinces, six ministries and major government agencies all have their own office expenses. Anyway, he has already said it, and let these people figure out the rest.
Even in an effort to be quick, it was already noon after meeting so many officials. Wu Yusheng did not come to the palace originally, but came just before noon. He had already received the imperial decree and was directly promoted from the left minister of the Ministry of household affairs to the position of minister of the Ministry of household affairs. The minister of household affairs is the fourth rank, the minister of household affairs is the third rank, and there is the third rank of junior minister in between. The promotion from minister of household affairs to minister of household affairs is a leapfrog promotion, an exceptional promotion.
Wu Yusheng naturally knew that his promotion to the position of Minister of the Ministry of Revenue was due to Changsheng's strong recommendation. However, he did not come here to thank Changsheng. Instead, he came to ask for two official documents. One was about the imperial court's additional winter grain collection. Some states and counties The winter grains had been harvested, and he came to ask Changsheng for instructions on what to do with the rice grains. Another thing is that there are still 20,000 dans of grain stored in the Hangzhou treasury. Lizhou, which is close to Hangzhou, is currently affected by the disaster, and the new army led by Tongchen has run out of grain and grass. How to deal with the 20,000 dans of grain stored in Hangzhou?
Wu Yusheng is the real Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and Changsheng is just adding the title of Minister of the Ministry of Revenue at this time. Logically speaking, Wu Yusheng can handle this kind of matter by himself, but he chose to come to ask for instructions. Changsheng also knows why Wu Yusheng came to ask for instructions, because Wu Yusheng wanted to pass His handling of these two matters determines his true thoughts deep inside.
Changsheng thought for a long time, and finally gave instructions on these two official documents. Not a bit of the winter grain that had been collected was retained, and all was returned to the people. The 20,000 dans of rice grain from Hangzhou were urgently distributed to Tongchen.
Wu Yusheng successfully passed Changsheng's handling of these two matters and understood his attitude. If he can save the people, he should try his best to save the people. If there is only one cup of soup but two mouths waiting, then he can only feed it to the soldiers fighting.
It is not easy for Changsheng to make such a decision, but there are always trade-offs in everything. The reason why Wu Yusheng asked unclearly, "If there is not enough food and grass, should it be given to the people first or to the soldiers first?" is because once Changsheng answers such a question directly, he will People will criticize you for not caring about the people.
Now he knows through trial and error what Chang Sheng will focus on when he has no choice. Next, he will implement Chang Sheng's ideas. He is the Minister of the Ministry of Households, and he has to bear the responsibility himself. Don't let Chang Sheng, who has been criticized, do it again. Got a bad reputation.
Wu Yusheng knew that Changsheng was busy with trivial matters, so he didn't take up much of his time. He declined Changsheng's invitation to stay for lunch and left...
