After the banquet, Xiaopang took six ministers and three treasures and went to the East Palace together.
"The previous money transfer does not count." Xiaopang got straight to the point, "We must save some money."
"Your Highness the Crown Prince means that our Ministry of Punishment also has funding?" The Minister of Punishment was overjoyed. This is really a bright future.
Unexpectedly, Xiaopang shook his head decisively: "Forget it about the Ministry of Punishment. You all know that the national treasury is tight. When you get rich in the future, you will have everything you should have."
After drawing a big cake, Xiaopang asked again: "Sambo, how much does it cost to add ten more ships?"
Sanbao silently calculated it and said, "If it is a large ship, it will cost about five hundred thousand taels."
"Can't you use it?" Xia Yuanji said, "As far as I know, the previous ships did not have such a high cost if they were evenly divided."
"Xia Shangshu didn't know something. It was made in large quantities before, and many of the ship's planks were borrowed from old ships, so that's why the price was so high." Sanbao said, "To build a treasure ship now, everything has to be done all over again. It takes a lot of manpower and material resources to find wood and transport it to the capital.”
Xia Yuanji frowned and was about to speak when Li Qing interrupted, "Shipbuilding is a kind of investment. Once you go to sea, you can make up for the investment and make a lot of money. You can't save this money."
Hearing this, Xia Yuanji said nothing more.
Xiaopang nodded: "Xia Aiqing, how much can your household department squeeze out?"
"This... can squeeze out at most 200,000 taels." Xia Yuanji looked embarrassed, "Your Highness, the people are greater than the sky..."
"Haha." Little Fatty teased, "It's true that several places in Shanhe and Shanhe provinces have been hit by drought, but taxes have been adjusted. There may be famines, but we can't use that much anyway.
One tael of silver, two stones of rice, four million stones of grain used to relieve the victims? "
Xia Yuanji's face became hot and he was speechless.
Zhu Di was focused on the military and building the capital, and he didn't know much about these things, but the fat boy had a clean family and couldn't fool him at all.
"Okay, the Ministry of Household Affairs will provide one million taels." Xiaopang said, "Leave one million taels for grain purchase and disaster relief. There will definitely be a lot left over."
Xia Yuanji nodded helplessly: "Yes, Your Highness."
Xiaopang added: "Jian Aiqing, please say a few words."
Jian Yi was a man who knew current affairs well and knew how to be an official. He immediately said: "The official department can squeeze out one million!"
"No, 1.5 million." Xiaopang said, "The taxes in the first half of the year are about to come to Beijing, and even if the old system is restored and the salary is paid in kind, it won't be so much;
As far as I know, even when the Ming Dynasty was at its most prosperous, not all of the salary was given to rice grains. Moreover, the finances will improve in the second half of next year, which is not what you said at all. "
Jian Yi smiled bitterly and said, "What does the prince mean...?"
"Officials' salaries have been changed to 70% of rice, 20% of silk, cotton and linen..., and 10% of banknotes." Xiaopang said, "This is already better than the best days of the Hongwu Dynasty. As a person, you must be content."
"...Yes, Your Highness." Jian Yi nodded in agreement.
Then, everyone's eyes were focused on the Minister of Industry.
"Prince, what I want is really not too much." Minister of the Ministry of Industry said bravely, "The two river embankments need at least one million taels. This is still under the most ideal situation. Just in case, we will squeeze out 400,000 taels." .”
Xiaopang frowned and thought for a moment, "In this case, I won't make it difficult for you, just give out 300,000, but the quality of the project must be guaranteed. If there are mistakes..."
"Your Highness, rest assured, there will definitely be no problem with the quality." The Minister of Industry vowed.
In fact, 1.2 million taels of silver are still somewhat wealthy. These fat guys know that, but they also know that it is unrealistic not to allow people to get a little bit of oil and water. If they do that, things will not work out at all.
At this time, the Minister of Rites sighed and said: "Since the national treasury is tight, let's forget about the money allocated by the Ministry of Rites!"
The total is only ten thousand taels, which is a lot of money. Even if the Ministry of Rites doesn’t want this money!
"You misunderstood. What I meant was to allocate more money to the Ministry of Rites." Xiaopang pondered for a moment and said, "In this way, the funding will be increased to 30,000 taels."
After a pause, he added: "The finances have been tight in the past two years. Fortunately, you all have worked hard and made the decision. Each of you will be rewarded with fifty taels of silver as encouragement."
"Thank you, Your Highness, for the reward."
Xiaopang smiled and nodded, "Xia Aiqing still needs to sell overseas goods to the wealthy gentry at a reasonable price as soon as possible to facilitate the operation of the court."
"I obey the prince's order!" Xia Yuanji said yes with his hands raised.
After a lot of operations, Xiaopang took out more than 2.7 million taels, almost half of which was obtained, and several people happily accepted it.
Fatty always has a way!
After solving the problem of uneven distribution of spoils, Xiaopang stood up and said: "Everyone, go and do your work. The rewards will be distributed along with your monthly salary when the time comes."
"Your Majesty, please retire." Everyone bowed their hands and resigned.
"Sambo, Li Aiqing stay."
The two turned back.
Xiaopang said: "Follow me to the imperial study room."
…
Royal study room.
Zhu Di was half leaning on his chair, holding "Yongle Dadian" in his hand, and his facial expression could not be seen.
The three people saluted: "I (son and minister) see the emperor."
The ceremony moved away, and Zhu Di's gloomy face appeared, "Is something wrong?"
"It's okay." Xiaopang nodded.
Li Qing added: "It's a good thing."
Sanbao said, "Your Majesty, you are rich."
The three of them sang together, and Zhu Di looked a little better, "How much does it cost?"
Xiaopang cupped his hands and said, "Father, after careful calculation, the Ministry of Household Affairs can squeeze out one million taels, the Ministry of Personnel can squeeze out 1.5 million, and the Ministry of Works can squeeze out 300,000."
"Oh?" Zhu Di was so surprised that he couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth, then suppressed it again and said hypocritically, "If you squeeze out so much at once, you won't miss anything, right?"
"No, this is all calculated in detail." Xiaopang assured.
Hearing this, Zhu Dicai's smile showed, "Well, not bad."
He put the ceremony on the table casually and said, "Everyone, sit down!"
The three of them thanked and sat down.
Zhu Di asked: "Sambo, can you estimate the approximate value of this trade? How much money will you bring back?"
"More than 270,000 taels of gold, more than 4.7 million taels of silver, in addition to a large amount of rosewood, pepper, musk..." Sanbao considered it for a moment, "Conservatively estimated, the total value is around eight million taels. .”
"Well, it's quite a lot." Zhu Di was quite satisfied and calculated carefully, "After excluding the cost of the goods to go to sea next time, as well as the expenses of the officials, households, and the Ministry of Industry, there should be 3.5 million taels."
Suddenly rich, Zhu Di stiffened up again. "Fifty thousand taels will be used to build ships, and one million will be put into internal funds. The rest will be used for the finishing work of the canal to fully dredge it as soon as possible, and the rest will be used for construction." All;
Gao Chi, please pay more attention to these things. "
"Yes, I obey your orders."
Zhu Di did what he wanted to do and felt happy, "Come here, prepare some food and drinks. I want to reward my great meritorious service."
"Your Majesty, you don't have to be like this." Sanbao said with a smile, "I have already had a celebration banquet."
Li Qing joked: "Sambo, you are not hungry anymore, the emperor hasn't eaten yet."
"No one will treat you as a mute if you don't speak." Zhu Di glared at him, took Sanbao to the front hall and sat down, very affectionate.
Now, the Three Treasures are his treasures, and Li Qing is no longer popular.
"Sambo, come back this time and stay for a while, and wait until you have enough rest before sailing to the West." Zhu Di smiled and said, "If you are bored at home, you can go to Longjiang Shipyard for a stroll."
"I obey the decree." Sanbao nodded happily.
The sea is magnificent, but no matter how beautiful the scenery is, it cannot compare to my hometown.
Not long after, the food and wine were served, and several people raised their glasses to drink together. Only Xiaopang continued to cook as if he was not full, and was finally stopped by Zhu Di.
"Eat, eat, eat, just know how to eat. From tomorrow on, you can lose weight for me!" Zhu Di snorted coldly: "Don't be lazy, I will supervise you."
"...Yes, Father." The little fat man nodded helplessly, feeling that his life had lost all color.
While Li Qing was drinking, he asked Sanbao, "Sambo, have you ever seen a kind of crop, yellow, as big as a fist, buried in the soil..."
Sanbao was confused and shook his head slowly.
"There is another kind of crop. The fruit is also buried in the ground. It is red and can be eaten raw, baked, steamed, or boiled. It can even be ground into powder and used to make cakes. There is fruit in the ground, and it can be eaten on top. It’s vine…”
Sanbao still shook his head, "I haven't seen it before."
Li Qing was a little discouraged, but refused to give up: "There is another crop that grows taller than humans. The fruits it produces are yellow sticks. After threshing, they are golden. Each grain is as big as the nail of your little finger..."
This time, Sanbao did not shake his head, but looked at Li Qing with a surprised look on his face, "Sir, have you seen this crop before?"
