The eldest son of the red mansion

Chapter 359 Countermeasures 1
After Jia Ke and the others waited at the military plane for a short time, the young eunuch came to deliver a message, and the emperor ordered them to go to Dongnuan Pavilion to answer the message.

Then Jia Ke cupped his hands and said to the crowd: "Since the emperor has ordered us to go, all of you can follow me to see the emperor."

After Jia Ke finished speaking, she picked up the memorial from the table, and went out of the military plane first.The others followed behind Jia Ke.

Everyone followed the little eunuch all the way to the courtyard of Dongnuange, and waited there, while the little eunuch went in to report.

The little eunuch entered the Dongnuan Pavilion, came to the emperor's case with his own hands, knelt down on his knees, touched his head to the ground, and said: "Long live Lord, the five ministers of military affairs and the minister of the household department are waiting for the emperor's order outside the courtyard." summoned."

The emperor still looked at the memorial pretendingly, but nodded slightly.Xia Shouzhong next to him immediately understood, and left the emperor's side gently, waved at the little eunuch to let him back, and then went out of Dongnuan Pavilion himself.

As soon as Xia Shouzhong came outside Dongnuange, he saw six people standing there respectfully.Immediately walked a few steps forward and came to them and said: "Six adults, the emperor ordered me to come and lead the six adults in."

Everyone hurriedly cupped their hands and said, "Then there will be Mr. Lao."

So Xia Shouzhong was in front, and Jia Ke and others followed behind and entered the East Nuan Pavilion.

As soon as Jia Ke entered the Dongguan Pavilion and saw the emperor, she quickly knelt down and saluted.And Xia Shouzhong returned to the emperor, and whispered in the emperor's ear: "Long Live Lord, the six ministers are already kneeling below."

At this time, the emperor seemed to have noticed the six people kneeling on the ground. He raised his head to look at them, and then said, "Since you are here, don't keep kneeling all the time. Get up and answer."

At this time, the six dared to stand up.

"You guys are arguing about something. You are all officials of the imperial court, the pillars of the country, and you are farming at the military plane. You almost got into a fight. Do you still have the dignity of an important court official?" The emperor said to the following with a blank expression He even reprimanded him.

Jia Ke and the others knelt there, and could only listen to the emperor's reprimand.

The emperor reprimanded his subordinates, and then asked Liu Yu, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, "Liu Yu, what happened to you?"

Liu Yu took a few steps forward, and then said: "Long live the report, it's only because Mrs. Jia Kejia found that last year's tax revenue was 300 million taels less when checking the accounts. Confrontation. The dispute arose because several other ministers were dissatisfied with the explanation given by Liu Wan, Shangshu of the Household Department."

The emperor frowned and said to Liu Wan next to him, "What's the matter? The weather was good last year, and there were no Tatar invasions. How could there be so much less tax money?"

Liu Wan had recovered his gentleness at this time. When he heard the emperor's question, he came out unhurriedly and replied, "Your Majesty, it's not that the tax revenue decreased last year. The boat capsized, so only 300 million taels of silver were lost.”

The emperor was furious when he heard this, "How could such a bastard happen? After so many adaptations, how will the court be maintained next year."

Liu Wan hurriedly knelt down to plead guilty, "It's because I was a little negligent in this matter. I wanted to transport the tax money to the capital as soon as possible, and didn't take into account the danger of sailing. That's why I made this mistake. I can't absolve myself of death. Your Majesty, please punish me." At this moment Liu Wan bumped his head against the ground.

Seeing that Liu Wan had taken all the responsibilities on himself, the emperor felt that he could not neglect his loyal ministers, so he comforted him and said, "Liu Aiqing, get up, sailing has been risky since ancient times, and this incident can't be entirely blamed. On you. But after all, you are the Minister of the Household Department, so you cannot escape the blame. I will punish you for one year, as a warning to others. Are you convinced?"

When Liu Wan heard the emperor's punishment for him, it couldn't be more light. He didn't know that the emperor was protecting himself, and he was moved to tears. I can’t repay my kindness in everything. There’s no reason to be dissatisfied.”

He said so, but someone below was unwilling, and this person was Lao Mengming.When this old Meng Ming was not in power, he was just an old cynic who could only complain every day.Now, as the minister of the Military Aircraft Department, it can be said that he holds great power. Under such circumstances, he can speak freely about things that he was not used to seeing before.

Now he heard the emperor's light-headedness, so he let Liu Wan go, and his beard was shaking with anger, so he came out of the shift and said to the emperor: "Your Majesty, this is impossible. This tax and silver is of great importance. How can it be just a mere amount?" One year's salary can make up for it. Chen Jianyi took Liu Wan to the big prison, and then brought the relevant people into the capital for interrogation. We must find out the whereabouts of these silver taels."

After hearing what old Mengming said, the emperor felt annoyed.This matter cannot withstand investigation. If you send one of your own people to perfunctory, maybe you can get away with it.But now Jia Ke has paid attention to it, as long as this matter is carefully checked, there are flaws everywhere.Isn't that old man embarrassing himself?
But this Meng Ming represented the Supreme Emperor, and he was the spokesperson that the Supreme Emperor had found for himself in the court after Jia Ke left. The emperor himself really had nothing to do with him.

The emperor originally wanted to get away with this matter, but it was too late when Jia Ke found out.Unexpectedly, the first thing Jia Ke did at the beginning of this year was to check the project.This caught the emperor a little off guard.

The emperor said unhappily to old Meng Ming: "Now the whereabouts of the silver is unknown, whether it can be retrieved or not is another matter. The most important question now is how to get through the difficulties in the next year? Any ideas?"

The emperor directly put the matter aside and didn't discuss it at all. At this time, Lao Mengming had no choice but to stand aside and sulk.

Zuodu Yushi Tianye stood up and said: "Since we have lost so much silver, we must save money next year. Many large projects must be stopped, and the governor's side of the Datou River that uses silver must be reduced. share."

At this time, Liu Wan, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, retorted: "The construction of the river must not be stopped. How many people and the livelihood of the people are related. If the river bursts next year, how many people will be buried in the belly of the fish."

Zuodu Yushi Tianye was already a little annoyed by this Liu Wan, the money was thrown from him, and now he is not allowed to keep it, what does he mean?
"Isn't Master Liu Wan thoughtful when he said this? You don't have enough money, and you don't want to save money. You asked our military aircraft department to change the money for you? Or is it that your household department has extra money to fill this hole?" Tian Ye His face was flushed with anger, and regardless of being in the same camp as Liu Wan at that time, his finger almost poked his nose.

Liu Wan knew that she was in the wrong, and didn't dare to react to his rudeness, so she could only keep backing away, avoiding his annoying finger.

When the emperor saw Zuodu Censor Tianye like this, it seemed that he was going crazy now.So he hurriedly said: "Now is not the time to pursue responsibility, I still think about how to mend this hole next year. You two don't make trouble here."

Hearing the emperor's words, Tian Ye returned to his class in a rage.

The emperor looked at Jia Ke, who had been silent since entering the Hall of Mental Cultivation, and said with a smile, "Jia Aiqing, you are the chief minister of the Military Aircraft Department, what do you think about this matter?"

Jia Ke thought for a while, and finally decided that since the emperor had made a move, he had to respond.

So Jia Ke came out of the shift, cupped her hands and said, "Long Live Lord, if this year's lack of these taels of silver, I'm afraid the court will be unsustainable. Please, Long Live Lord open the internal treasury to allocate the silver taels to make up for this year's tax."

Old Meng Ming who was standing below heard Jia Ke's idea, his eyes lit up.He felt that this idea was really good, and it was time for the emperor to shed some blood, after all, this country belonged to his family.

So old Meng Ming also came out of the class and cupped his hands and said: "Report to the emperor, Mr. Jia is very right. Please open the internal treasury to make up for the lack of tax revenue of the court."

Sitting on the throne, the emperor frowned after hearing what the two of them said.According to the practice of previous years, if the court's tax revenue is not enough, then the emperor will open the internal treasury to make up for the shortage for the court, so as to avoid turmoil in the court.

But this time, the emperor wanted to weaken Jia Ke, a powerful minister. How could he open the internal treasury and let Jia Ke tide over the difficulties?
So the emperor turned his head and asked Xia Shouzhong in a pretentious manner: "How much silver do we have in our internal treasury? Can we allocate some for the imperial court to use?"

Xia Shouzhong, as the emperor's confidant, is also a clever man, so he doesn't understand what the emperor means.Hearing the emperor's question, he quickly knelt down on the ground, and said in a crying voice: "Long Live Lord is the fault of the slave. This year's Huangzhuang harvest is really not good. Many places have been hit by disasters, and the internal treasury needs money to relieve the disaster. The shops here don’t have much income either. Now the internal treasury can’t make ends meet, and I’m afraid there is no money to support the court.”

After hearing this, the emperor said angrily: "Don't tell me these things are useless, how much money do you need for the internal treasury?"

"If you go back to Lord Long Live, there is less than 20 taels of silver in the internal treasury. I'm afraid it won't be able to maintain the expenses of the palace this year. How can there be silver for the court."

After the emperor finished listening, he said to the ministers below: "You have also heard, it's not that I don't give it, but that there is no money in the internal treasury."

Jia Ke looked up at the emperor, then lowered his head again and said, "If I say it, why not stop all the rewards given to the chieftains in the south this year. This will also save a few 10 taels of silver."

The emperor narrowed his eyes when he heard it above. This method seems to be good, but it has great consequences.Over the years, the relationship between the chieftains in the south and the imperial court has improved, and they all respect him as the emperor.And the emperor gave them silver rewards, which can be regarded as a kind of compromise reached by the two sides.But at this time, the rewards are stopped, and I am afraid that the south will be full of wars again.

This Jia Ke wanted to embarrass herself. Once there was a turmoil in the south, I am afraid that soldiers and horses will be needed to quell it in the end.At that time, more silver will be consumed.

(End of this chapter)