prosperous age

"However, it would be better to request the imperial decree to allow the Ministry of War to mobilize a troop each from Tianjin and Songjiang Prefecture for this draft proposal."

Wei Guangde suddenly spoke up.

"Is the Prime Minister still worried about the war with Japan?"

Shen Shixing asked with a light laugh.

"Although the battle report said that Ota Castle was impregnable, there were less than 10,000 troops stationed there, which shows that the government troops in Japan were still insufficient and stretched thin."

Even if the garrison is inadequate, I believe that by pooling resources from various places, we can still gather a strong force.

"Let's first gather in Tianjin and Songjiang Prefecture. If needed, we can always cross the sea to Japan to provide support."

Wei Guangde said, "Moreover, so far, Japan has not launched a full-scale counterattack. I am worried that at this point, a real war may have already broken out."

This misunderstanding arose because Wei Guangde was unfamiliar with the Japanese.

In fact, when the Japanese first learned that the Ming army had landed on the Japanese islands, they were filled with righteous indignation and vowed to drive the Ming army back into the sea, just as they had done when facing the Mongol invasion.

However, after a series of battles, the Japanese have clearly realized that their fighting strength is insufficient.

At this point, the Japanese people's mindset changed.

Yes, although they were unwilling to admit it, they accepted it in their hearts: they could not defeat the Ming army.

If they can't win and don't want to die now, the only way is to make peace.

Who says the Japanese aren't afraid of death? In fact, they are just as afraid of dying as the Japanese.

As for the Japanese army's use of sheer numbers to defeat Tsarist Russia in the Russo-Japanese War, it can only be said that it was the result of one fool inciting a group of fools to fight.

When people enter the battlefield, their thoughts change, and they are easily impulsive.

Sure enough, by the afternoon, the memorial submitted by the cabinet had entered the Qianqing Palace.

When Emperor Wanli saw that the Ministry of Revenue opposed his decree and was unwilling to advance funds for the overspending of the Aoshan Lantern Festival, he was very dissatisfied and immediately summoned Wei Guangde.

"Your Majesty, I believe the Ministry of Revenue's decision on this matter is correct."

In the warm pavilion of the Qianqing Palace, Wei Guangde bowed and stood up. Facing the Wanli Emperor's question, he spoke frankly.

"I ordered the Ministry of Revenue to provide this money, but the Ministry disagreed. You think the Ministry of Revenue is not at fault, so does that mean I am wrong?"

Emperor Wanli said in shock.

This was the first time such a situation had occurred between the Wanli Emperor and Wei Guangde.

After all, in similar situations in the past, it was Zhang Juzheng who stepped in.

After that, it seems there was no instance of the court contradicting the emperor's will.

However, such a honeymoon could not last long, and today the situation of the emperor and the court disagreeing has once again arisen.

"Your Majesty is not wrong either."

Wei Guangde had no choice but to admit it.

"Hehe, Master Wei, I am not at fault, nor is the Ministry of Revenue. So who is at fault, and how should we make up for this overspending?"

The Wanli Emperor was amused and said with a smile, "I know that this lantern festival is unprecedented in scale, hence the overspending."
Hmm, that's a lot.

However, after all, it was a time of universal joy, showcasing the prosperity of the imperial court.

During those days, I went up to the city wall every day to enjoy the festivities with the people and could see the scene of people living in peace and contentment under the prosperous era.

I think that although the amount of silver spent was a bit excessive, it was well worth it.

Emperor Wanli only stopped going to see the lanterns these past two days; he was simply getting a bit tired of them.

The surprises Zhang Jing created for him from the very beginning had excited him for many days.

Seeing countless people bowing to him below the city was even more awe-inspiring than seeing the civil and military officials of the imperial court bowing to him.

Therefore, when Zhang Jing reported that the Aoshan Lantern Festival had cost a little more money, he didn't think it was a big deal.

In reality, the emperor wasn't concerned with numbers related to money; what mattered was his own happiness.

When the eunuchs reported to him, they would only briefly mention the expenses and would not emphasize the amount of money involved.

After all, that's something for court officials to consider.

The inner court only needed to periodically request silver from the Ministry of Revenue to subsidize its expenses.

Whether the imperial court is rich or poor seems to have nothing to do with them.

Only a few eunuchs cared about national affairs and the court's finances.

"Your Majesty, so far, the Lantern Festival has exceeded its budget by 300,000 taels of silver. This is not all; there may be further increases later."

Did you know that this year's Aoshan Lantern Festival cost the Imperial Court over 800,000 taels of silver, and perhaps even 900,000 taels?

This is the most expensive lantern festival ever held.

Wei Guangde then reminded him.

"It's only eight or nine hundred thousand taels of silver. The imperial court's annual tax revenue of thirty million taels of silver, can't this amount even cover it?"

Emperor Wanli was not unaware of the overall picture; at least he knew the annual tax revenue of the imperial court.

However, the difference between tens of millions of taels of silver and hundreds of thousands of taels of silver is huge, so naturally he wouldn't take it to heart.

"Your Majesty, the imperial treasury has more than 30 million taels of silver, which seems like a lot, but most of it is in kind, such as grain and cloth, and not all of it is silver."

The imperial court's cash revenue last year was only a little over four million taels of silver, which included silver retained in local areas and silver exchanged for specific expenditure items.

There were also several hundred thousand taels of silver that did not go to the Ministry of Revenue, but were scattered among various government offices.

In fact, the Ministry of Revenue only received a little over two million taels of silver into its coffers.

Two years ago, the imperial court's annual surplus was only a little over 400,000 taels of silver, which might not even be enough to cover the overspending of this year's Aoshan Lantern Festival.

Wei Guangde could only begin to explain the problems behind the huge fiscal figures. The Ministry of Revenue had an annual income of more than two million taels of silver, and it had to spend hundreds of thousands of taels of silver on the event. What about other expenses?
How much silver did the Aoshan Lantern Festival cost in the past?

The figures listed by Wei Guangde made Emperor Wanli frown slightly, and only then did he begin to care about the issue of this expenditure.

"It's usually around 300,000 to 400,000 taels of silver, but this time it's already 800,000 taels."

Wei Guangde stated frankly.

"So many more."

Emperor Wanli then realized that the expenses had indeed been quite high.

"According to my research, the Aoshan Lantern Festival initially cost only tens of thousands of taels of silver, but then gradually increased to more than 100,000 taels, and now it costs 300,000 to 400,000 taels annually, with the cost continuing to increase."

Although the current lantern festival has introduced more complex lanterns such as Western Region lanterns and palace lanterns compared to the early days, and has added many performances to make the festival more grand.

However, if we don't pay attention to it, the expenses will be huge every year, and in the future, it may not even be enough to cover a million taels of silver.

Therefore, the already meager finances of the imperial court might collapse.

During the Ming Dynasty, the expenses for the Aoshan Lantern Festival continued to increase.

Although the number of lanterns increased from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, this growth was related to factors such as the expansion of the lantern festival, the introduction of lanterns from the Western Regions, and complex performance props. However, compared with the Ming Dynasty's finances, this expenditure was indeed putting increasing pressure on the economy.

What was available last year, must be available this year as well. At the same time, lanterns of different styles from other places will be introduced, resulting in ever-increasing expenses.

If the development of lantern festivals is not restricted earlier, it is feared that even the entire nation's resources may not be able to support such a lantern event in the future.

Wei Guangde naturally spoke in the most extreme terms; who knows what the future holds?

But now that he heard it from Emperor Wanli's ears, he gradually realized what it meant.

The Aoshan Lantern Festival is beautiful, but it's also a money pit.

Moreover, as the scale continues to grow, the expenses can only increase. If this year's expenditure of 800,000 taels is finalized, then next year's expenditure will likely not be much less, and then it will increase year by year, eventually exceeding one million taels of silver.

The Wanli Emperor might not blink an eye at a few hundred thousand taels of silver, but if it really reached a million taels, even the emperor would frown.

A million taels of silver is enough to cover the military expenses of half a border army, which is the cost of paying the salaries of hundreds of thousands of troops.

In fact, the largest expenditure of the Ming Dynasty's finances was on the border troops.

"What can we do then? The inner court can't come up with that much silver either."

The Wanli Emperor immediately jumped up, saying that if the court didn't pay for the overspending, then the inner court would have to pay for it.

How does this work?
That was the emperor's private money; it was absolutely forbidden to spend it.

Moreover, the imperial court allocates two to three hundred thousand taels of silver to host the Aoshan Lantern Festival every year, which already accounts for the majority of the budget.

"Your Majesty, the Aoshan Lantern Festival has exceeded its budget by such a huge amount. I believe there must be some corrupt officials involved."

"Why not have the Ministry of Revenue audit the accounts for the Aoshan Lantern Festival and find out why there is such a huge discrepancy?"

Wei Guangde spoke up at this moment.

"You're saying someone has embezzled my money? I'm checking the accounts?"

The Wanli Emperor frowned slightly and asked.

“In the past, the expenditure was no more than three or four hundred thousand taels of silver. Although the scale of this year is far greater than in the past, Chen does not think that the expenditure will exceed six hundred thousand taels of silver. Obviously, someone is cheating.”

Wei Guangde also spoke frankly.

"Who, who dares?"

Emperor Wanli understood that Wei Guangde believed someone had embezzled 200,000 taels of silver from him during the Aoshan Lantern Festival.

This is no small sum of money; it's almost enough to cover the cost of a lantern festival in the inner palace.

"You have the Ministry of Revenue investigate. I will give Zhang Hong instructions to have the inner court fully cooperate and make sure this person is caught."

Emperor Wanli had already forgotten who might be the one embezzling the money; he was enraged by this man's audacity.

Emperor Wanli hated people who deceived him the most, just like Zhang Juzheng.

Wei Guangde never pretended to be a high-minded person in front of him; in fact, in his early years, he would even chat with him about business.

In Wei Guangde's eyes, governing the court was like doing business, and one had to calculate profits and losses.

The decrees of the imperial court are always two-sided, with both advantages and disadvantages. At this time, it is necessary to weigh the pros and cons and see whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

This tactic is particularly effective for policies that can produce results in the short term.

However, if it is beneficial in the long term but not in the short term, then it needs to be carefully considered.

Zhang Juzheng, on the other hand, appeared dignified and aloof in his presence, or at least that's what he thought.

Judging from the reports from the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot regarding the Zhang family's wealth, Zhang Juzheng was definitely not as enlightened as he appeared.

Don't forget, with so many mouths to feed in the Zhang family, his meager salary simply couldn't possibly support them all.

Even if the Zhang family has a strong financial foundation, it's impossible.

Moreover, the Zhang family was also acquiring land extensively near Jingzhou. Although they did not have as much land as other wealthy families, their family's financial situation improved significantly after he entered officialdom.

Therefore, he was almost certain that Zhang Juzheng must have also received a considerable amount of benefits.

Zhang Juzheng accepted bribes, but compared to Wei Guangde doing business, he trusted Wei Guangde more.

Although no one told him in front of him that Wei Guangde was probably the richest man in the Ming Dynasty at that time, he could still imagine the Wei family's extravagance.

When a Beijing official retired, the Wei family would present him with a ginseng root as a gift.

The price of ginseng in Beijing is not cheap now; it has increased by more than several dozen times compared to the price when Wei Guangde first came to Beijing.

The ginseng he sent out was worth anywhere from a hundred taels to more than a hundred taels.

When Feng Bao left the capital, Wei Guangde gave him a century-old ginseng, which the Imperial Guard estimated to be worth around 500 taels of silver.

Wei Guangde did all these things openly, so Emperor Wanli felt that Master Wei was more upright than Master Zhang, and never said anything about being frugal in front of him.

That's ridiculous. If an emperor had to be frugal in his daily life, then he wouldn't have been an emperor for anything.

Of course, he also knew that the eunuchs in the inner court were not entirely honest.

The imperial kitchen alone could make a fortune from their daily meals, not to mention the gluttons in the inner palace storerooms.

However, Wei Guangde also told him that if the water is too clear, there will be no fish, and it is fine as long as it is cleaned up when necessary.

Is it time to clean up the fishpond?

Emperor Wanli was pondering this at the moment, while Wei Guangde had not expected the trip to go so smoothly.

Wei Guangde thought the emperor would protect his own, since they were his close associates.

Faced with Wei Guangde's request to audit the accounts, one should certainly do everything possible to protect him, such as having the inner court conduct its own audit and the Ministry of Revenue advance the funds, etc.

Since he couldn't convince them the first time, he would have the Ministry of Revenue submit another memorial the next day, and then he would bring the cabinet and the Ministry of Revenue to the Qianqing Palace to argue his case.

Well, this kind of situation actually only happens when facing a mature emperor.

However, the current Wanli Emperor is still young and capable of distinguishing right from wrong.

On the contrary, emperors with mature political skills may sometimes, in order to maintain the balance between the inner and outer courts, blindly favor the inner court even when they know there are problems.

After all, the emperor at that time knew very well that these corrupt officials in the inner court were actually their weapons against the outer court, and also tools for him to amass wealth.

If they don't amass a fortune, how can he possibly make enough money when he cleans up his own household?

If the emperor himself were to personally embezzle money, it would be an extremely unseemly act.

It's unacceptable that all the benefits go to the civil officials in the outer court, leaving nothing for the inner court.

Anyway, as long as the cabinet has faith in the court, that's fine.

"As you command, I will inform the Ministry of Revenue as soon as I return, and have them find an expert auditor to clean up the accounts as soon as possible."

Wei Guangde hurriedly bowed and said.

"Well, let's look into this before making a decision."

By the way, Master Wei, have you received any battle reports from Japan?

Aside from the one sent before the Lunar New Year, the palace hadn't received any new battle reports for nearly twenty days.

Emperor Wanli was still concerned about the war with Japan. When he met Wei Guangde, he immediately asked about it.

"Thanks to His Majesty's great fortune, the war situation in Japan is currently stable."

A document was delivered yesterday, in which Wang Jinglue reported that recently, about half a month ago, the Japanese army of more than 200,000 men attacked Datian Castle, where Liu Ting, the deputy general of Liaodong, was stationed, and a major battle had already broken out.

Although the government troops in the city numbered less than 10,000, the Japanese pirates failed to achieve anything after attacking the city for half a month and instead suffered heavy casualties at the hands of the government troops.

However, after this battle, most of the gunpowder and weapons in Daejeon Castle were used up. They urgently allocated supplies to replenish them and also requested the court to distribute supplies as soon as possible.

After the memorial arrived in Beijing yesterday, the Ministry of War immediately issued a document to Tianjin overnight, ordering them to allocate supplies and official ships for eastward transport.

Presumably, all the supplies should be loaded onto the ship, and we'll soon be able to set sail for Japan.

In a few simple words, Wei Guangde told Emperor Wanli in detail the contents of the memorial he had just received.

"Very well, if it weren't for the vast territory of our dynasty, which requires a large army to be stationed there, I would love to send another 100,000 troops eastward to completely wipe out Japan."

Upon receiving the good news, the Emperor was overjoyed and immediately smiled. (End of Chapter)