I stole divine power in Daxia

Chapter 459: One wave comes after another

Hubu Yamen.

Although night has fallen, the end of the year is approaching day by day.

The year-end is difficult, not only for the common people, but also for the officials in the Ministry of Revenue this year.

This year, there have been many disasters, including drought, flood, and war. In addition, the money that the emperor needs to spend on building the Taoist temple has to be added. Even if the surplus from previous years is used to make up for it, there is still a shortfall of nearly 20 million taels of silver. Not to mention that the Left General's Mansion submitted a letter some time ago, requesting the construction of railways in the five northern provinces. In the initial stage, an additional 10 million taels of silver will be required, and it is not known how much will be needed to make up for it later.

At the same time, in the imperial study, Zhou Tieyi proposed that the western provinces might be in chaos due to Buddhism at the end of this year. This would require not only the preparation of troops but also money and food, which would require tens of millions of taels of silver.

All these things added up to make the officials of the Ministry of Revenue overwhelmed, and they could only come up with the old method of cutting spending and increasing military and disaster taxes.

However, it is easy to cut officials' expenses and increase taxes, but someone needs to bear the blame. Most people in the Ministry of Revenue are Confucianists, so they are extremely hesitant in this matter. They just let Shi Changsheng send this method to the Simin Mansion. In the end, Simin Dong Xingshu has to bear the responsibility.

Afterwards, things suddenly took a turn for the better. Zhou Tieyi returned to Beijing after investigating the Moshi case. He not only confiscated a batch of silver, but also proposed that the central bank issue bonds, stocks, and silver bills to make up for the deficit.

So among the many ministries in the court these two days, the Ministry of Revenue is the one that wants Zhou Tieyi to succeed the most.

The floor lights were on. Although the weather was extremely cold and snow was falling from the sky, the officials of the Ministry of Revenue no longer had the sad expressions they usually had. Shi Changsheng temporarily set up his office in the flower hall. While enjoying the snow, he talked about the exchange which was still very busy today.

"Today, the closing price of the Railway Chamber of Commerce is six taels of silver per share. If we calculate based on two million shares, the entire Railway Chamber of Commerce is worth twelve million taels of silver. Although Lord Zhou values ​​some strange and ingenious means, this method of making money is really admirable."

The newly appointed Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue sighed.

These officials are a little different from the Confucian scholars who like to recite scriptures. Especially when they are in charge of a household, they know how expensive money, rice, oil and salt are, and people cannot be educated by morality alone.

"More than that!" Yang Guangzhen, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was delighted. "Although the Railway Chamber of Commerce is now worth 12 million taels of silver, everyone knows that even if it is 80 million taels of silver, it is still very cheap!"

Although Yang Guangzhen and Zhou Tieyi had not gotten along before, he bought a lot of Railway Chamber of Commerce stocks at high prices yesterday and today. As the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, he was more certain of the value of the Railway Chamber of Commerce than anyone else.

"Eighty million taels of silver!"

A clerk in the Ministry of Revenue exclaimed and immediately beat his chest and stamped his feet. He thought the price of the Railway Chamber of Commerce was too high today, so he asked his servant to buy some other stocks.

"Isn't it just the shares of the Railway Chamber of Commerce that can easily offset this year's deficit?"

Another chief clerk could not help but show his joy. With more silver, the power of their Ministry of Revenue would naturally be greater.

"That's not how it works."

Seeing that everyone was getting more and more unreasonable, Shi Changsheng interrupted, "The Railway Chamber of Commerce is the Railway Chamber of Commerce, and the Ministry of Revenue is the Ministry of Revenue. Do you have the ability to take the Railway Chamber of Commerce from Marquis Zhou? If anyone has this ability, I will abdicate my position as the Minister of State and let someone more capable do the job."

Hearing Shi Changsheng's words, the officials present smiled awkwardly.

They knew that Shi Changsheng was reminding them not to be happy too soon. Although the prices of Railway Chamber of Commerce and the other four stocks had skyrocketed, none of the money from the increase went into the pocket of the Ministry of Households. Instead, it allowed those who bought and sold the stocks to make a profit.

Until now, their Ministry of Revenue is still watching the gold mountain and cannot move an inch.

"You are joking, Mr. Shi. We still need you to take charge of the overall situation."

The Right Vice Minister Yang Guangzhen hurriedly laughed and said, "But dragging it out like this is not a solution. We must collect the money this year before we can distribute it. We can't just watch the stock market soar while our Ministry of Revenue doesn't take a penny. Besides, didn't Marquis Zhou establish the Central Bank to solve this year's fiscal deficit?"

"what do you mean?"

Seeing Shi Changsheng asking, Yang Guangzhen said what he was thinking, "All the income in the world belongs to Daxia. Since the people have to pay household tax, and Zhou Hou also proposed business tax before, why don't we implement it on stock trading first!"

Zhou Tieyi had previously reformed the Zhushen Division, and one of the important reforms was to give the Zhushen Division the power to collect commercial taxes.

However, the formulation and reform of commercial taxes is not a one-day job, especially because merchants are highly mobile and their income cannot be accurately determined like farmers.

Therefore, the commercial tax reform proposed by Zhou Tieyi in the past few months was first limited to Tianjing in terms of location, and then mainly took the form of politically suppressing hostile merchants and supporting one's own merchants.

When the merchants of the Southeast Chamber of Commerce, led by Qian Guangyun, swallowed up the property of other merchants, they then asked the merchants of their own faction to voluntarily declare taxes.

This reform was indeed effective in the short term. For the merchants who paid taxes, they viewed it more as a token of their loyalty to Zhou Tieyi and their willingness to annex other people's property than as a tax levied by the state.

Although the people below had problems understanding, the effectiveness was not a problem. The financial surplus of the Zhushen Division was extremely high in the past few months due to the investigation of merchants and commercial tax reforms.

However, this money was intercepted by Zhou Tieyi in the God-Slaying Division and did not flow into the Ministry of Revenue.

But it is different now. Stocks can only be traded on exchanges, and all accounts can be traced, so collecting commercial taxes is at least much easier than collecting commercial taxes on stocks.

Yang Guangzhen calculated that today the daily trading volume of the two major exchanges, Tianjing Exchange and Liuhuan Machinery City Exchange, has reached a staggering 2.5 million taels!
And tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, the price might increase several times!

Even if only 1% of the commercial tax was collected, the income would be tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of taels of silver a day, which would be tens of millions of taels of silver a year, and this was still the direct income of the Ministry of Revenue.

Neither Zhou Tieyi's Central Bank nor the God-Slaying Division has the right to rob this part of the income!

After Yang Guangzhen finished speaking, the officials present had already been moved, including Shi Changsheng. The silver had to be received by the Ministry of Revenue so that this year's accounts could be settled.

He thought for a moment, then instructed the civil servant next to him, "Send an invitation to Marquis Zhou's mansion for me, and invite him to come and enjoy the snow tonight."

As soon as Shi Changsheng finished speaking, he saw the civil servant from the Simin Mansion hurriedly walk in, "Shangshu Sir, Simin Mansion invites you to enjoy the snow."

Shi Changsheng saw the other party's nervous look and immediately knew that something serious had happened. He quickly said to the civil servant who had not yet left, "Don't rush to send the invitation. Wait until I come back."

After getting on the carriage prepared by the Silu Mansion, Shi Changsheng asked the official who came to greet him, "What's the important matter?"

The civil servant, who was the clerk of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, thought for a moment and said in a low voice, "There are changes in the Moshi case." "There are changes in the Moshi case? Wasn't it closed?"

Shi Changsheng frowned and said that according to his understanding, Zhou Tieyi had achieved his goal, and the emperor was ready to pick it up high and put it down gently. Now was the time when everyone was united and prepared to spend the new year together, so why did something change suddenly happen?

An idea suddenly occurred to him, "It was Zhou Tieyi who caused it."

The clerk nodded slightly.

Shi Changsheng let out a breath of foul air.

When the carriage arrived at the Simin Mansion, there were already many carriages parked in the courtyard outside, and all the people who were supposed to come had already arrived.

Shi Changsheng and several people who arrived with him walked through the corridor and came to Dong Xingshu's study. They took off their cloaks and handed them to the servants. The room was warm, but Dong Xingshu's expression was particularly solemn.

After the door was closed, Dong Xingshu spoke up, "The Ministry of Justice has reached a conclusion on the Moshi case, and the attorney general has already put pen to paper. Now I am waiting for him to put pen to paper, and it will be delivered to His Majesty for inspection tomorrow."

Wang Jizhen, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Elephants, had already sensed that things were about to get turbulent again. He connected it with the divination that the Ministry of Elephants had sent to the emperor half a month ago, and got comments from the emperor and the empress on two other divinations.

He sighed softly, "It's really one thing after another, one wave after another."

Tang Anshi asked, "Did you tell fortunes?"

Wang Jizhen shook his head and thought for a moment before speaking, "This year, the hexagram sent to Your Majesty by the Xiang Department is Kan on top and Li on bottom, which means water and fire complement each other."

Everyone present nodded slightly. The hexagrams for the end of the year are usually based on pleasing statements, so even if something bad happens, the Xiang Department will try to say it in a positive way.

There have been too many and too big changes this year. The situation in the government and the country has been changing so rapidly that no one can be sure whether it is good or bad. Therefore, the phrase "water and fire complement each other" is used to describe the mutual assistance between the ruler and his subjects and the common people.

No matter how many rifts there are between the monarch and his subjects, they are still the monarch and his subjects of Daxia, and should first work together to deal with foreign enemies. There are too many hexagrams and images of this kind of compromise.

So when Zhou Tieyi, following the order, and Feng Zikuan went out of the Zhengwu Gate and indeed pulled up Mei Qingchen, who had been kneeling for half a year, the Xiang Department promptly delivered the hexagram to the Emperor of Daxia, hoping to ask for a good start.

But unfortunately, although the Emperor of Daxia had already softened his actions, he still gave a second hexagram.

Li Shangkanxia, ​​next year there will be no water or fire!
Fortunately, the Queen Mother came to the rescue in time and gave the third hexagram Qian on top and Qian on bottom, which means the sun is at its peak. Otherwise, according to past cases, the turmoil in the Xuanfa Hall hexagram might have caused new waves in the Great Xia Dynasty, which is now facing a storm.

Wang Jizhen smiled bitterly and said, "The emperor said that it is the end of the year, and this year is the harmony of water and fire, so next year the hexagram will move forward, so he gave the second hexagram, water and fire are not yet in harmony."

Everyone's expression became solemn. Before this, the Ministry of Elephants did not dare to speak out, so only the Minister of Elephants, the Vice Minister and the minor official knew about the incident in Xuanfa Hall.

Wang Jizhen was determined to get by as he could and did not want to cause any trouble. Since the Queen Mother had already smoothed things over, he did not tell the Confucianists about it.

But tonight, there was another wave of disturbance in the case of Zhou Tieyi's ink stone, and Dong Xingshu's intentions were unclear, which really fulfilled the comment of the Emperor of Daxia that there would be neither water nor fire next year.

Dong Xingshu also heard this hexagram today. His expression remained unchanged and he continued to ask, "What happened next?"

If it ends with the hexagram of Water and Fire Not Yet in Harmony, this is definitely a big deal and the Xiang Department cannot fail to tell me.

Wang Jizhen said quickly, "The Queen Mother gave the third hexagram, Qian on top and Qian on the bottom, which means the sun is at its peak, so I thought the matter was over at the time, but I didn't expect..."

Wang Jizhen sighed, "The saints make hexagrams and predict the weather, but sometimes the will of heaven plays tricks on us. Even if the secrets of heaven have been revealed, ordinary people like us are still like what the Buddhists say, we have the obstacles of knowledge and perception, and even if we see it, we pretend not to see it."

Dong Xingshu was silent for a while before he said to everyone, "Come and see if I should write on it."

Everyone came forward and gathered around the long table made of golden nanmu wood. There were many files on the table, but Dong Xingshu only left the last one, which was the one with Zhou Tieyi's comments.

When they saw the words "But there is still one crime that I dare not speak out", everyone was slightly stunned, with strange expressions, and turned to look at Dong Xingshu's follower who had not said a word since he came in, Mei Qingchen who is now working in the Central Bank!
This is an attempt to emulate the story of Mei Qingchen!
Everyone is guilty, but you, Your Majesty, are not guilty?

Moreover, Zhou Tieyi is even more ruthless than Mei Qingchen. Everyone now knows that the Emperor of Great Xia uses the "Induction of the Three Elements of Heaven, Saint and People" as an opportunity to establish his own orthodoxy. Now Zhou Tieyi is using the "Induction of the Three Elements of Heaven, Saint and People" to make an argument, which makes it difficult for the Confucians to stay out of the matter and sit back and watch the fight.

Many people present secretly cursed Zhou Tieyi for being nosy. They didn't want to get involved in this matter at all. So many problems had obviously been solved. Isn't it just to force the emperor to make another concession by doing this at this time?

Dong Xingshu saw everyone's expressions and sighed, "Back then he looked at me, today I look at him."

Among the people present, Mei Qingchen was the first to react, "At the beginning I said he didn't understand, but now it seems I don't understand him either."

Wang Jizhen said softly, "Your Majesty is already a third-rank official."

With his words, everyone present came to their senses instantly.

Previously, Confucians were worried that the Great Xia Emperor would practice Taoism, and thus would fall from the throne of the Great Xia Emperor, which would affect the country. So Mei Qingchen went to stop it and talked about the sins of the ministers, fathers, and sons, but did not mention the sins of the monarch, in order to make the Great Xia Emperor give up.

But that was not the time when the Emperor of Great Xia was at his weakest, so through Zhou Tieyi and the Queen of Heaven, he not only defeated Confucianism, but also defeated the evil gods, completely destroying the practice of Taoism.

And now, seeing that His Majesty the Great Xia has entered the third rank and is about to solve all the problems this year, it is actually the time when His Majesty the Great Xia is the weakest.

In terms of strength, due to the conflict on the road, the strength of the Great Xia Emperor is extremely low at this time. In terms of form, military expenses, disaster victims, and deficits are all unresolved, and he needs to rely on the talents of Zhou Tieyi and various forces.

So Zhou Tieyi took advantage of the situation and turned the ink stone case into a sharp sword to stab the imperial power.

If the Emperor of Daxia gets angry at this moment and arrests or even demotes Zhou Tieyi, those present can foresee that the Tianjing Exchange and the Jiguancheng Exchange, which have finally risen, will not only fail to become Daxia's life-saving medicine this year, but will instead become the last dose of poison.

Not only will the central banknotes that have just begun to be recognized by the people be run on, but the banknotes that various banks have already started to exchange will also be run on. Combined with the huge deficit, a storm is imminent.

(End of this chapter)