Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 467 Argument
early morning.

Zhang Luan looked particularly tired.

He was so exhausted from receiving and counting nearly 70,000 taels of silver last night that he hasn't even taken the key to keep his appointment at the mansion given by Li Zisheng.

"It's all my son's fault. He insisted that court affairs were important. No matter how important they were, could they be more important than my own affairs?"

When Zhang Luan followed Chen Ban to the Fengtian Palace, he kept complaining in his heart, but soon he felt relieved.

"My son probably didn't cheat me... If I didn't do the job that Li Zisheng entrusted me with, he wouldn't reward me with such a big gift, and I wouldn't get any good things from him... Hehe..."

He was extremely excited at the thought that he would soon have a comfortable and happy life.

At this time, Xu Qiong, who was also walking in the minister's group, deliberately moved closer to Zhang Luan and asked in a low voice, "Laizhan, why don't you see Li Butang?"

Because Xu Qiong was cultivated by Li Zisheng and entered the court as a minister, even if he was tense, there was some respect in his words when he mentioned Li Zisheng.

"do not know."

Zhang Luan looked up at the team ahead and said thoughtfully, "Maybe something is wrong."

But I was thinking about it in my heart.

Could it be that Li Zisheng deliberately didn't come?

If I am allowed to perform on my own and I lose my way and perform poorly, it may cause a backlash from both the government and the opposition. Doesn't this show that the government cannot do without him?
Although we should not think too badly of people, people like Li Zisheng are too cunning. If my son hadn't been advising me behind the scenes, I would have suffered a lot if I had been with him.

……

……

Fengtian Temple.

Morning court scene.

The weather was not very good that day, and when everyone entered the hall, a drizzle had already begun to fall outside.

At the beginning of the morning court session, Huai En said, "The clouds are very thick, and it is estimated that it will rain in the next few days. The court sessions will be held in the Fengtian Hall for a period of time, and the venue here is relatively limited, so the grand court session will be temporarily cancelled. Only civil and military officials above the fourth rank in Beijing can attend the court session."

Everyone felt relieved when they heard this.

After all, it is not a good thing to experience wind and sun during the morning court session. Now the emperor is considerate and allows everyone to hold the meeting in a place covered by tiles, which is a disguised benefit.

"one thing."

Huai En continued, "It needs to be explained before the morning court."

All the ministers looked at Huai En curiously.

The court meeting hasn't officially started yet. Originally, the ministers should have spoken in order of rank from top to bottom. Even if the emperor wanted to speak, he would have made arrangements in advance and have the Imperial Household Department or the Cabinet find people from the relevant government offices to bring up the issue in public at the court meeting to introduce the topic.

As the saying goes, everything must be prepared. Court meetings are not to be held casually. Etiquette and rules must be followed.

But it seems that the new emperor does not care much about these things. He treats the court as a place for listening to lectures in Wenhua Hall. He speaks directly when he has questions and speaks anytime and anywhere. Many times, he does not follow fixed rules.

Originally, this was a situation that civil officials were not allowed to occur. However, the emperor stopped attending court for too long at the end of the Chenghua period, which resulted in civil officials not daring to pursue excessively.

Besides, the little emperor did not make any obvious mistakes in this matter.

Zhu Youtang said in a clear voice: "Huai Daban, let me tell you. This matter...is related to my father-in-law. He had someone send a memorial to the palace early in the morning, saying that he had been preparing for this action for a long time."

After hearing this, everyone realized that it was Zhang Luan, who was even more ignorant of rules and etiquette than the little emperor, who was causing trouble.

The Prime Minister Wan'an walked out of the minister's class and respectfully asked: "Excuse me, Your Majesty, what is the matter? Is there any trouble that I can help you with?"

"No."

Zhu Youtang looked somewhat pleased but he did not smile, because after all, it was the period of mourning for his father, and any action that violated filial piety would be inappropriate.

Especially in front of people.

Zhu Youtang said, "It is like this. Due to the huge expenditure recently, the treasury has run out of silver, and the Ministry of Revenue cannot allocate the corresponding funds to maintain the construction of the imperial mausoleum. Although a large number of soldiers have been transferred from the Beijing camp to build the mausoleum, the expenses are still stretched, and many projects have been stopped."

All the ministers present looked ashamed.

The Ming Dynasty was so poor that they had to scrimp and save money to build a mausoleum for the late emperor.

Zhu Youtang said again: "So my father-in-law raised 70,000 taels of silver on his own to prepare for emergencies."

When the ministers present heard this, they all looked confused.

All the ministers were waiting for the court to pay them their salaries. Once there was a delay in payment, they would basically cry poor, saying that they were so poor that they could barely make ends meet. Some even said that they were so hungry that they could not walk, and that they had no money to support their elderly mothers at home, etc., urging the court to pay them money.

Now there are ministers who are taking the initiative to take out money to fill the holes in the court?

and many more.

Zhang Laizhan has 70,000 taels of silver?
Where is he from?
After hearing what the emperor said, Wan An was also confused. He was stunned for a while before saying, "Your Majesty, these 70,000 taels... are not a small amount."

All the ministers present expressed their deep agreement.

When the Ming Dynasty levied taxes, all payment was in the form of grain. Even the sale of salt permits, which the Northwestern Border Administration relied on for its survival, was exchanged for grain shipped to the Northwestern front. This meant that the most profitable industries in the Ming Dynasty were salt and tea, and the court basically did not see any cash.

Until Ye Qi changed the grain system, the Ming treasury had always been in a state of deficit, which was also related to the fact that the court had too many bad policies in the late Chenghua period. With treacherous officials in power and the emperor spending lavishly, from cabinet ministers to ministers, they were all paper-made and did not do practical work, so it would be strange if the court's financial situation was good.

At present, the situation of Ming Dynasty officials' arrears in salaries and rice is very serious. Not to mention the discounted rice, even the monthly rice, discounted silk rice and discounted silver rice cannot be paid. Some officials have even been in arrears for years, and even after retirement, their salaries are still on the way.

However, the amount of silver that the Ming court could collect in a year had dropped sharply to less than 1.5 million taels. This situation did not improve much until the salt-to-salt-lease system was implemented.

Of course, the direct consequence of the Zhese system was that the transportation of grain to the northwest border became difficult, leading to the neglect of border farming, so that later the imperial court had to transport military rations to the northwest at a greater cost.

Zhu Youtang said, "I have asked Huai Daban, and he said that according to the expenses reported by the Ministry of Works, the construction of Maoling will probably require 20,000 taels of silver, which is enough."

All the ministers felt ashamed after hearing this.

The emperor spent 20,000 taels of silver to build a tomb...

It doesn't sound like much, but that's after excluding the manual overhead.

After all, the workers were conscripted soldiers from the Beijing Camp, and their expenses and food allowances all came from grants from the court. It was like using the court's money to support a group of people doing private work for the royal family. Even so, the materials and some miscellaneous expenses alone would cost 20,000 taels of silver.

Everyone felt that the emperor could not afford to die.

Wan An smiled and said, "Your Majesty, it is a blessing for the Ming Dynasty to have such a capable minister as Minister Zhang. We are deeply grateful for the Emperor's grace. Long live the Emperor, long live the Emperor, long live the Emperor!"

When these words were spoken, most people present got goosebumps all over their bodies.

Most people would never say such words.

But who is Wan'an?
His nickname is "Long Live the Elder"!
He has no other skills, but he can flatter people without hesitation, and his words are absolutely clear.

Zhu Youtang didn't seem to be fooled by his words, and said calmly: "I also think that these 70,000 taels of silver can do a lot for me. I have already ordered that except for the use of repairing the imperial mausoleum, the rest will be transferred back to the Ministry of Revenue for use by the national treasury."

The ministers present were shocked again.

In the past, emperors would find ways to take money from the court to enrich their own pockets and handle their private affairs.

Now, this emperor, who clearly received private "donations", did not want to keep them for personal use, and actually allocated the bulk of them to the court storage?

Xu Pu walked over and said, "Your Majesty, I think the origin of these 70,000 taels of silver should be investigated in detail and should not be used rashly. I also don't understand where Minister Zhang got such a large amount of silver. If he doesn't explain it clearly, I'm afraid..."

Wan An interrupted Xu Pu and asked, "Why? Someone presented a large sum of money to the court, and you want to cause trouble for them? It's not like they stole it, right?"

Liu Jian stepped out at the right time and refuted Wan An: "The huge amount of wealth is of unknown origin, and it always needs to be clarified."

Zhang Luan walked out of the group of officials under everyone's gaze and said in a serious tone, "I raised the money myself. To be honest, this matter also received strong support from Li Shangshu of the Ministry of Public Administration. The source of the funds reported has been clearly listed in the memorial."

"Minister Zhang, you have just entered the court. Don't you know that the court is not a place for children to play with? Can the court use the money of the people?"

Zhang Shanji, the military censor, came out to support Xu Pu and Liu Jian.

Zhang Luan looked over and found that he did not know this person.

I couldn't help feeling annoyed.

He has participated in court meetings several times and has noticed most of these people. How come there are still so many people whose names he can't remember?

Xu Qiong followed and asked, "Who said this is the people's money? It was given to the court, so it should be used by the court. May I ask you, don't your salaries come from the court treasury? And don't the money and grain in the treasury come from the people?"

"All right!"

Zhu Youtang stretched out his hand to interrupt the argument among the people below.

Zhu Youtang said: "Father-in-law, I wanted to tell you that if this silver is yours, you don't have to take it out. After all, the court does not need help from others."

Zhang Shanji insisted, "Your Majesty, I am just an official who has been in the court for only half a year. Where did such a large amount of money come from? If we don't investigate it, it will be unsettling... Could it be that some people took advantage of their power to make a lot of money?"

Everyone thought that this question was really powerful!
But why does Zhang Luan look as if it has nothing to do with him?
Could it be Li Zisheng who did it?

Yes.

Zhang Luan had just entered the court. How could he get so much silver?
The person Zhang Shanji questioned should be Li Zisheng... No wonder Li was absent today. Could it be that he had already expected that someone would question the origin of his money?
But can you get away with it by avoiding it like this?

Everyone had a series of questions, and seemed to be waiting for Zhang Luan to explain himself.

Zhang Luan, however, seemed to be calm and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, this 70,000 taels of silver is only the first batch. I think there should be better channels to raise another batch..."

"you……"

This immediately left Zhang Shanji speechless. He was almost furious and asked, "Do we have to use some unconventional means to squeeze money from the people?"

Zhang Luan said, "Ah! Let's be frank. Some of the money was earned by my son through business, some was raised from merchants, and some was raised by Minister Li through connections. What is the purpose of doing all this? As long as the law does not prohibit it, it can be done. As long as the source is clean and it can help the court solve problems, everything is possible."

"You guys... stop arguing."

The scene before him made Zhu Youtang very embarrassed.

For a person like him who suffers from social phobia, the sight of a group of people arguing endlessly in the court and the tense atmosphere made him very scared.

Huai En also realized that something was wrong, and immediately stepped forward and said, "My fellow ministers, since the silver has been delivered to the palace and can indeed be used, there is no need to worry about its origin.

"Of course, His Majesty has also instructed that the expenditure of this silver will be carefully checked to ensure that every ounce and even every penny will be spent effectively. At the same time... the source of the relevant funds will also be investigated, and a more specific answer will naturally be given to you at that time."

(End of this chapter)