prosperous age

Chapter 268
"The evidence is ready. Have the money been located?"

Lu Bing sat there and asked indifferently, while the two guards in front of him stood respectfully with their hands down.

Only after hearing Lu Bing's question, one of them took a half step forward and replied in a low voice: "Master Commander, we have investigated more than 20 cases according to the files, thirteen of which have obtained solid evidence, and the rest are either The officials involved in the case are dead, or there is no evidence, so it can only be used as supplementary evidence of Li Bin's corruption."

After saying this, the hundred household officer returned to his original position. He was in charge of investigating the case.

After retreating, the other person stepped forward and clasped his fists half a step back and said, "Commander, Li Bin's money is stored in three places, and all of them have been confirmed. The subordinates have sent people to keep an eye on it, and don't let a single mosquito go." Want to fly out."

"Do you have all the witnesses and evidence in your hand?"

Lu Bing didn't show any expression, and asked in a very flat tone.

"It's all there, there will be absolutely no problem."

The person who answered first immediately bowed and said.

"How much money is involved in the verified case?"

Lu Bing asked.

"More than four hundred thousand taels of silver."

"Well, keep things here, you have done a good job, and there will be no less rewards when you come down."

As he spoke, Lu Bing's hands unconsciously rested on the stack of files on the desk in front of him.

Seeing the two people salute and leave the courtyard, Lu Bing looked at the stack of files. This is the evidence of Li Bin's embezzlement, but how to present it depends on the timing.

According to the report, if the timing is not grasped well and the Emperor Jiajing doesn't like it, big things will turn into small things.

As the eunuch Li Bin, the supervisor of rites and the eunuch of Bingbi, naturally he still has some sympathy with Emperor Jiajing.

Lu Bing quickly calculated in his mind, in fact, for this kind of corruption case, when it comes to impeachment, it is naturally when the emperor is worrying about money, and only at this time will the effect be maximized.

Lu Bing would not leave any future troubles for himself, if he didn't move, if he chose to do something, he would definitely put his opponent to death.

"Four 10,000+, hehe"

Lu Bing couldn't help laughing when he thought of the amount of money involved in the case of Li Bin's embezzlement and perverting the law that was reported by his subordinates just now.

This amount of money is not too much, just enough for the palace to live happily through this year.

Most of the money that came out of the dirty punishment treasury went back to the dirty punishment treasury in the end, which is also clear.

Lu Bing thought it was funny, and so did the eunuchs. They were too stupid to cling to the pile of silver when they were greedy and couldn't enjoy it. In the end, it either flowed back to the palace or went into other people's pockets.

Picking up a copybook that he copied from the desk, crumpled it up and threw it aside, and took out a blank memorial from the side of the desk, Lu Bing reached out and picked out a pen from the pen hill, silently thinking about how to do this impeachment memorial to write.

And Wei Guangde was also worried when he returned home. The worry was not that Lu Bing didn't take any action to impeach Li Bin, but that it was the end of the year and he should prepare some gifts for his family.

The canal has been frozen and suspended, and this winter has come.

As soon as he returned home, a family member came to report that the shopkeeper of the Jiujiang Guild Hall sent a letter to deliver a letter. In two days, a caravan will return to Jiujiang by land. After calculating the time, they will be able to go back a few years ago. They asked Wei Guangde if he had any letters. And things to take back.

In fact, this is not aimed at Wei Guangde alone, but officials and businessmen from Jiujiang in Beijing will entrust this caravan to bring back things.

The guest roads don't know the metabolism of flowers, and the letters from home only report that the bamboo is safe.

Wei Guangde has never returned home since he went to the capital to take the imperial examination. Although there were correspondences during the period, Wei Guangde still woke up in his dreams from time to time, recalling the past at home, the love of his parents, and the care of his brother.

There are past lives and present lives.

But at this time, Wei Guangde was standing in front of the desk, holding a pen in his hand, but he felt a little like "someone returns his hometown every day, and it is difficult for a writer to write a book".

Thinking that since I entered the capital and got my background, my family must be happy, and I can see from the letters, although most of the letters teach myself not to be arrogant and indulgent, and the road to officialdom is dangerous and you need to be careful at all times, but the writing The joy I felt when I wrote the letter was beyond words.

But after he won the official position, he didn't seem to keep a low profile. He worked in a low-key manner. He went to Xuan Mansion to fight and impeached the prince. It is estimated that when the mansion report was sent to Jiujiang Mansion, the family members might have been worried for a long time.

Or write a letter to report that you are safe, and pick a few good ginseng from home to send back.

Now Wei Guangde is most able to sell those hundreds of years old ginseng. He is about to buy out the supply of such high-quality goods in the capital, but the money is not short.

The original 2000 taels had already been used up, and another 2000 taels of silver were transferred from Huitong Commercial Bank. Now Wei Guangde only has 8000 taels of silver left over there.

Do you want some from Nanjing?

Master Sun also planned one. If Wei Guangde hadn't been frightened by being beaten with a ruler by Master Sun, Wei Guangde's handwriting would not have been able to pass the Jinshi examination.

When the time entered December, the restaurant business in the capital was booming. Most of the officials in Beijing left their hometowns and came here. In the same year, colleagues and fellow villagers from the provincial capital and counties gradually formed a small circle.

After each banquet, Wei Guangde felt dizzy for more than ten days in a row, all because of drinking.

Wei Guangde is like this, and it is even more so for his colleagues, same year and fellow countrymen. Don't forget, Wei Guangde has also practiced before.

Unlike many Jinshi with military registration, the family has already completely got rid of the military household career and mixed into the powerful local gentry, but the household registration is still on the military household.

At this time, the household department is busy with the year-end settlement, and the other yamen are already half-closed, and the officials have no intention of working. They just stare at the household department, waiting for the hall officials to get back the money and distribute it for the New Year. .

Forbidden City, East Pavilion.

Although the various bureaus under the Ministry of Household Affairs have not cleared the account sets for the whole year, there are still a lot of major expenses, so the Minister of the Ministry of Accounting, Fang Tong, took the time to come to the cabinet today to discuss the year-end with the two cabinet elders. How to get through it.

Fang Dun has been in charge of taxation, money and food throughout the Ming Dynasty since he became Minister of the Household Department.

He not only had to face the intrusion from the Mongolian Alta Khan tribe and the Japanese pirates along the southern coast, but also because of the traitor Yan Song's father and son's corruption and perversion of the law, and Emperor Jiajing's obsession with Taoism, he set up fasting and praying for many years. There is no household that cannot be taken.

Faced with such a complicated and difficult situation, Fang Dun listened to people's opinions, listened to his subordinates' good financial management strategies, planned in many ways, and made sure to help them in every possible way. Money and food were embezzled, trying to maintain the operation of the country.

After a few years, even though he had tried his best, the household department was empty.

At the end of this year, no matter how he tried to do it, he still couldn't get enough money. He had no choice but to go to the cabinet to find Yan Song and Xu Jie to solve the matter. He was powerless.

"Mr. Yan Ge, this year's major import and export items are all here. Even if the tax increase in the south of the Yangtze River has relieved a lot of pressure on money and food, but this year the disaster situation in various places has continued unabated. The reduction of money and food will cover this part of the increased money and food. This year The deficit will not be less than last year, perhaps more than [-] taels, and the annual deficit is nearly one million taels."

Fang Dun sat on the chair and began to complain to Yan Song and Xu Jie above him. The Ministry of Finance really couldn't get rid of it, otherwise he, who has always been strong, would not have said these words in front of Yan Song.

Yes, when it comes to financial issues, what Yan Song has always pursued is to meet the requirements of Emperor Jiajing and provide him with all the material resources he needs. He does not have the courage to be the chief minister at all, especially when the court's finances are so difficult. It is absurd to export a large amount of money every year to satisfy the emperor's feast.

It is also because of this that the conflict between Fang Dun and Yan Song is very deep.

Yan Song also knew very well that Fang Dun was dissatisfied with him, but the court's financial problems had been going on for a long time, and he couldn't find a financial expert to replace him for a while, so he could only continue to appoint Fang Dun as the Minister of the Household Department.

Yan Song listened to Fang Dun's words while flipping through the booklet in his hand.

This pamphlet should have been written by Fang Dun himself. It mainly records the main income and large expenditure items of the imperial court this year. As for the unstated minor expenditures, they are actually not important.

Although Yan Song, who is over 70 years old, had a hard time reading this booklet, he still looked at the numbers on it very seriously.

It took a long time before Yan Song put down the booklet in his hand and handed it to Xu Jie.

"According to the practice of previous years, I remember that at the end of the year, it takes about 70 to [-] taels of silver to spend, right?"

Yan Song sighed at this time and said that what he paid most attention to in the booklet just now was the last number, which is the number of money that the Ministry of Accounting can still use.

7 taels.

What can 7 taels of silver do?
That is, the Aoshan Lantern Festival organized by the palace requires more than 10 taels of silver. The remaining money of the Ministry of Households can't even hold the Aoshan Lantern Festival. What else can it do?
It's no wonder that Fang Dun came to the cabinet, there was nothing he could do.

Although he didn't deal with Fang Dun very well, Yan Song would never put personal grievances into it when dealing with government affairs.

If it is not handled well, Emperor Jiajing's board will eventually fall not only on Fang blunt's head, but also on his own head.

One of the important reasons why Emperor Jiajing chose to trust Yan Song was that he could do things according to the emperor's will, and he could do things well. He would not make mistakes when doing errands well, even if there were mistakes, he would be fine. Disposing of it will never distract the emperor.

In a word, Yan Song is very capable in handling affairs, and Emperor Jiajing trusts him very much.

"Have all the money from the various ministries been withdrawn? Is there any money that has not been withdrawn from the accounting?"

Yan Song asked again at this time.

There is still only the old way, that is to tear down the east wall to make up for the west wall, withhold the money to be handed over to other yamen, and let the year pass first.

After all, money cannot grow by itself, there is only so much, the key is how to distribute it.

Once the allocation is made, the matter will be resolved.

It was just something that disappointed Yan Song, and Fang Dun's answer was very simple: "No."

Yan Song looked at the few clerks in the room who were still busy at the desk, and said, "You all go down first, and you are not allowed to approach this room unless told."

The voice was very old, but with enough deterrent force, several scribes quickly retreated after bowing and saluting.

After everyone left, Yan Song looked at Xu Jie and Fang Dun with cloudy eyes, and then said: "Zhong Min, to be honest, the Ministry of Households really has no money?"

"It's really gone, Mr. Ge, will I be so anxious if I have money? Seeing that it's half a month away, if I don't find the money, I won't be able to live this year."

Fang Dun came here because he had no place to pick up the money. He knew very well that if the money from the Beijing officials could not be distributed before Feng Yamen, he didn't know what would happen, and it was possible to go directly to Xiyuan to make trouble of.

The emperor did not send hungry soldiers, and he worked for the court for a year no matter what, but in the end he didn't even have money for the New Year. How do you let those Qingliu live?
Beijing officials are cowhide, but that also depends on whether they have real power.

Those who hold real power know how to be flexible, and they will not be short of that little money for the New Year.

The Qingliu people believe in death, open their mouths and keep their mouths shut is the way of sages, they love to be stubborn, they live on their salaries on weekdays, and they just look at the rewards from the palace on New Year's Day. If they can't get the money, they can't imagine the consequences.

"Cunzhai, Zhong Min, if you really run out of money, you can only write a note and hand it in to the palace, borrow 70 taels of silver from Taipu Temple for emergency, and make up the tax when you come back next year."

Of course Yan Song knew where the money was, and now he had to use the money turnover there to get through the current difficulties.

If you borrowed it, you will naturally have to pay it back. That is also a matter for next year, let's talk about it after this year.

In fact, this is what Yan Song has been doing for the past nine years as the chief assistant.

Find money to maintain the expenses of the palace and the court.

He also didn't know how long the imperial court's financial deficit could last like this.

Xu Jie was silent at the side, did not express his opinion, only Fang Dun nodded slightly.

Although he didn't know how much silver Taipusi Changyingku had, but he knew that 70 taels of silver was only two years' income of Changyingku, so there must be some silver.

"Cunzhai, do you have any objections?"

Without seeing Xu Jie's statement, Yan Song asked directly.

"No, everything is guided by the old man's wishes."

Xu Jie, who came back to his senses, quickly expressed his opinion. Although he really wanted to pull Yan Song off his horse, the old fox naturally knew what was going on in the Ming Dynasty Hall, and he couldn't handle it.

Just like the saying in Siege, people outside the city want to go in, and people inside the city want to come out.

Outsiders only see the scenery of Ge Lao, but they don't know the responsibilities of sitting in the seat.

"You write a note, I will use the seal, and send it to the palace immediately."

Seeing that neither Xu Jie nor Fang Dun objected to borrowing money from Chang Ying Ku, Yan Song immediately arranged for it.

"Last year, I only borrowed 8 taels of silver, but this year it suddenly became 70 taels."

In the Yongshou Palace in Xiyuan, Emperor Jiajing sat on the throne and looked at the note that had just been delivered in his hand. This is not a memorial, but a request from the cabinet.

Looking at the handwriting, Emperor Jiajing could tell at a glance that the note written by Xu Jie was stamped with Yan Song's stamp on the back.

I thought that after the Jiangnan levy was added, the imperial court's finances could breathe a sigh of relief this year, but I didn't expect that the deficit was still getting worse.

Emperor Jiajing naturally knew how to distribute the 70 taels of silver. He just didn't say a lot of things, but it didn't mean he didn't know.

Footsteps sounded outside the hall, and a little servant came in to report after a while.
(End of this chapter)