History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 710: Fighting with roommates
If you take money from one pocket to pay for another, who will pay for the other? The fiscal deficit is not enough to cover the expenses, and the hole is getting bigger and bigger. Sooner or later, there will be a financial explosion.

The more Chen Kuangfan thought about it, the more frightened he became. He was actually frightened to death.

At Chen Kuangfan's memorial service, Wang Yanxi was even more sad than Chen Kuangfan's descendants. He gave a very generous share of money to mourn this rich man.

The truth could not be hidden anymore, and the accounting fraud could no longer be concealed. Various departments took the IOUs to the Ministry of Finance to demand the repayment of their debts, and presented the evidence of Chen Kuangfan's embezzlement of public funds to Wang Yanxi.

Wang Yanxi was furious. He was making a fuss for a long time. He was just taking money from his left pocket to his right pocket. Wasn't this financial fraud? Wasn't this deceiving the emperor? He ordered Chen Kuangfan's coffin to be opened, his body cut into pieces, and then thrown into the river to vent his anger.

Huang Shaopo was appointed as the Minister of State Affairs by Wang Yanxi after Chen Kuangfan. Wang Yanxi also asked him about his tricks to make a fortune.

Huang Shaopo also had no constructive suggestions on how to make money. He just used the old method. He suggested selling official positions and titles. His only creative suggestion was to make a comprehensive assessment based on the level of the official position and the actual population of the prefectures and counties, and flexibly formulate an official guiding price.

Huang Shaopo calculated that the price of an official post ranged from 100 to 1,000 guan, and Wang Yanxi readily accepted the offer.

Prime Minister Yu Yanying was sent to Quanzhou as governor. After arriving in Quanzhou, Yu Yanying forged an imperial decree, saying that he wanted to select many women to serve as concubines in order to defraud them of money and sex. After the incident was exposed, he was impeached by the censor. Yu Yanying hurried back to Fuzhou to surrender himself and seek leniency.

Wang Yanxi was very angry and summoned Yu Yanying to his side, scolded him, and then prepared to hand him over to the officials for severe punishment. Yu Yanying promptly offered 10,000 strings of cash as "banquet money".

Wang Yanxi immediately changed his attitude and called him back, "Are you just here to show your respect to me? What about the Queen?"

Yu Yanying presented another huge sum of money to the Queen.

Money makes the world go round. No one is perfect, but being able to correct mistakes is the greatest virtue. Wang Yanxi wrote a letter of approval, and the matter of Comrade Yu Yanying falsely conveying the imperial edict and selecting palace maids was no longer pursued, and he continued to be the governor of Quanzhou.

The Yu Yanying incident set an example for officials of all ranks across the country, and they all offered their opinions to the empress.

Wang Yanxi was very happy, this was so interesting! So he ordered Yu Yanying to be reinstated and return to the central government to serve as prime minister again.

Increasing taxes, selling official positions and titles, extortion (buying money for banquets) are all common practices for extortion and require no technical skills.

Wang Yanxi's only technically advanced financial method was to mint large coins, that is, to issue large-denomination currency. This method of extorting money was relatively covert, but very efficient. At the same time, it also had more dangerous hidden dangers and was a form of chronic suicide.

Wang Yanxi ordered the minting of "Yonglong Tongbao", one coin was equivalent to 100 old coins. The previous article has discussed the principle and harm of "minting big coins". The principle of minting big coins is the same as printing large-denomination banknotes today, which is to squeeze wealth invisibly. The most well-known example is the "legal currency" during the Republic of China period, and the currency issued by Zimbabwe in the world today, which is in the unit of "trillions" and is comparable to ghost money. The consequences are obvious.

Friends who like to collect ancient coins must know the words "two-fold", "five-fold", "ten-fold", etc., which are actually large-denomination currencies at that time. One coin is equivalent to two, five, or ten coins. The "Xianfeng Chongbao" in the Qing Dynasty was even more exaggerated, with "one hundred" and "one thousand", which were considered checks at the time. In the later Song Huizong period, large coins were also minted, such as the famous "Chongning Tongbao" and "Chongning Chongbao". But to be honest, the materials and casting of Chongning Tongbao are still very particular, so it is sought after by today's players and the price is rising steadily.

The "Yonglong Tongbao" minted by Wang Yanxi not only adopted a crazy 1:100 exchange rate, but also cut corners in the selection of materials, deliberately "not using refined copper". He really racked his brains to squeeze out wealth.

[A cow is drunk like mud]

Wang Jipeng liked to hold banquets and used wine as a touchstone to make officials and royal family members speak the truth after drinking; Wang Yanxi also liked to drink. He not only tested cadres by getting them drunk, but also enjoyed himself.

According to records, Wang Yanxi "liked to drink like a cow and indulged himself in excess." He worked hard on drinking.

Wang Yanxi used thin silver leaves to make wine cups. Because of their soft texture and the ability to break with a blow, they were called "winter melon slices". Once the cups were filled with wine, they could not be balanced and had to be drunk all at once. Therefore, they were called "drunk as mud" by the ministers. At every banquet, Wang Yanxi would order his ministers to use these special cups to drink heavily, and countless people died from drinking.

Once, Wang Yanxi's nephew Wang Jirou, who was not able to hold his liquor, secretly poured out some of his wine. Wang Yanxi was furious and executed Wang Jirou and the protocol officer who was in charge of pouring the wine.
Another day, Wang Yanxi and Prime Minister Li Guangzhun were both drunk. During the drinking, Li Guangzhun contradicted Wang Yanxi. Wang Yanxi was furious and ordered Li Guangzhun to be dragged to the street and beheaded in public.

When Li Guangzhun was dragged to the execution ground, he was drunk and lying on the ground. He had not yet recovered his consciousness and was shouting the name of his concubine Chunying. The executioners discussed it and did not dare to carry out the execution. They secretly sent Li Guangzhun to prison temporarily and detained him until he sobered up. They would deal with him after both the emperor and he were awake.

The next day, after Wang Yanxi sobered up, he was still wondering why Li Guangzhun didn't come to work. His attendants told him that you dismissed him from the position of prime minister last night and wanted to kill him. Wang Yanxi denied it, saying that he had blacked out and asked Li Guangzhun to return to his post and come back to work.

The executioners wiped the cold sweat from their heads and secretly felt lucky for their disobedience last night.

That night, Wang Yanxi once again hosted a banquet for his ministers and got drunk again. Hanlin scholar Zhou Weiyue angered Wang Yanxi again for some unknown reason and was ordered to be thrown into prison.

The jailers were very humorous. While helping Grand Secretary Zhou clean his single room, they pointed to the bed and comforted him: "Don't worry, Grand Secretary Zhou, this is the bed that Grand Prime Minister Li slept on last night. When the emperor sobers up tomorrow, everything will be fine. We are used to it."

Zhou Weiyue stayed in this "single room exclusively for court officials" for a whole night. The next morning, Wang Yanxi indeed withdrew the punishment order again.

Zhou Weiyue will get used to it slowly, because a minister with a king is like a sheep with a tiger.

Zhou Weiyue could drink a lot, so Wang Yanxi often asked him to drink with him. At a banquet, all the ministers got drunk one after another, but Zhou Weiyue was the only one who could still fight. Wang Yanxi stared at Zhou Weiyue and said to the people around him, "This guy is short and thin, he doesn't look like a drinker, but why can he drink so much?"

(End of this chapter)