Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 3: In the name of the emperor and my father, my money!
To the cabinet's surprise, the copper inkstone box on the table piled with account books and documents was filled with black ink.

It was originally the regulation of the Silijian, but now it has become the position of the Cabinet. For the first time, the Cabinet is above the Silijian.

After three bows, the chief minister of the cabinet, Yan Song, led the four cabinet members present to stand behind the long table on the left.

Different positions, different angles, different distances.

Everyone's breathing held. First, the Cabinet Chief Yan Song looked towards the passage with heavy gauze curtains on the east side of the hall, and then several people slowly looked towards that passage.

The guess outside the palace was wrong. The emperor did not bypass the cabinet and discuss expenditures with the Imperial Household Department.

On the contrary, the position of Silijian was no longer in Yuxi Palace, and he was left out of the imperial financial meeting.

The reason why the Imperial Household Department lost its power was probably in the opened brocade box on the other side of the river.

And the brocade box.

There was also one on the table in front of the people in the cabinet, but this brocade box was closed.

No one knows what's inside.

The sound of bronze chimes rang out.

It immediately interrupted everyone's thoughts, and it was a signal to start discussing the matter.

In the past, when the eunuch Lü Fang was in charge of the Imperial Household Department, he would always preside over the meeting. But since Lü Fang was not here today, Yan Song had to take over. "Shao Hu (Xu Jie, courtesy name Zisheng, alias Shao Hu, also alias Cun Zhai), you are in charge of the Ministry of Revenue. All the expenditures and actual expenses of the various ministries, the two capitals and 13 provinces last year are in your charge. What should be settled and what should not be settled? Let's talk about it today.

I will also discuss the several major expenditures proposed by various ministries this year and submit them to the emperor for his decision."

Passing through the passage on the east side and entering the monastery on the north side, the first thing you can see is the tablets of the Three Pure Ones on the altar on the main wall. Below the tablets is a Bagua-shaped platform covered with bright yellow futon cushions. At this time, Zhu Houcong, who is tall and thin, wearing a light silk and wide robe, a Taoist bun, and has a flowing black beard, is sitting there.

On the rosewood stand next to the platform, there was a bronze chime and a bronze chime pestle placed diagonally inside the chime. Obviously, the crisp sound of the bronze chime came from here.

Zhu Houcong, who was given three great titles, heard Yan Song's words clearly.

Now, he was waiting for Xu Jie's reply.

"Last year, the total tax revenue of the two capitals and 13 provinces was 45,367,000 taels. The budget for various expenditures at the beginning of last year was 39,800,000 taels. However, the bills reported by the various ministries yesterday totaled 53,800,000 taels. After deducting the revenue and expenditure, the court's deficit last year was 8,433,000 taels."

In the hall, Xu Jie, the cabinet's deputy minister and the minister of the Ministry of Revenue, silently read the total account of the 39th year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty, and continued: "If compared with the expenditure budget at the beginning of last year, the court's overspending last year was more than 14 million taels of silver.

The expenditures of the Ministry of Revenue, Ministry of Rites, and Ministry of Justice were consistent with the budget. After verification, the court and the cabinet settled the accounts.

Of those overspending, the Ministry of War accounted for 3 million taels of silver, and the remaining 11 million taels of silver were overspending by the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Personnel.

However, the 3 million taels of silver overspent by the Ministry of War were also used by the Ministry of Works. It can be said that the 14 million taels of silver overspent by the court last year were all overspent by the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Personnel.

Young Lord, you are the Minister of the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Personnel, so perhaps you should give an explanation."

In a flash, everyone in the hall looked at Yan Shifan. Yan Shifan was furious. "When I sent the account of the three million taels of silver from the Ministry of War to the Ministry of Revenue, you, Lord Xu and Lord Gao, one of you holds the title of Minister of Revenue, and the other holds the title of Vice Minister of Revenue, and both of you were there and saw it. At that time, you said nothing, like a great Buddha. If you were a great Buddha, he would not say a word either. But you are so good, now you are talking openly. What are you doing? Are you playing a double act here?
The overspending of the Ministry of War is the overspending of the Ministry of War. What does it have to do with my Ministry of Industry?"

Although Yan Shifan was only in his early fifties, he had lived in Beijing for more than twenty years. He had gotten rid of his Jiangxi accent and spoke the Beijing accent very authentically.

Of the five people in the hall, except his old father Yan Song, the other three were all under his overwhelming aura.

Zhang Juzheng, the youngest cabinet member and assistant minister of the Ministry of War, who was standing at the end, immediately said, "Young cabinet member, the Ministry of War's expenditures last year were verified and submitted to the Ministry of Revenue on the 27th day of the twelfth lunar month. At that time, the Ministry of War's expenditures were completely in accordance with the budget at the beginning of last year, and not a single cent was overspent.

But yesterday, the Ministry of Revenue suddenly notified me to verify the accounts, saying that the Ministry of War had overspent by three million taels of silver. When I went to take a look, I found that it was the young cabinet minister who had added another false account to the Ministry of War.

According to the accounts, the Ministry of Works built thirty warships and put them under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War, saying that they were intended for Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou to fight against the Japanese pirates in the southeast sea.

But my Ministry of War has never approved a warship, let alone seen a single ship. The Ministry of Works has no idea what the Ministry of War has used these three million taels of silver, or these thirty warships for. Young Lord, do you think this is the Ministry of War's business, or the Ministry of Works' business?"

The Ministry of War is in charge of the selection, appointment, military registration, military affairs, and military orders of military officers across the country.

The increase or decrease of military equipment such as warships should be reported from the southeast, then approved by the Ministry of War, reported to the Cabinet for approval, and approved by the Ministry of Ceremonies. Finally, the Ministry of Revenue will allocate funds and the Ministry of Works will build ships.

However, the Ministry of Works spent three million taels of silver to build the ship without going through the Southeast, the Ministry of War, the Cabinet, or the Imperial Household Department.

The Ministry of War does not know whether the warships have been built or not.

Anyway, the Ministry of War didn't even see the shadow of a ship, but it had an overspend of three million taels of silver out of thin air.

Yan Shifan treated other departments, even the Cabinet and the Imperial Household Department, as nothing.

Despite the two serious crimes of corruption and usurpation, Yan Shifan's momentum did not diminish at all. He stared at Xu Jie and Zhang Juzheng and explained, "The Ministry of Works did build 30 warships last year, and the cost was 3 million taels of silver. They were built simultaneously in two workshops in Zhejiang and Fujian.

Originally, these thirty warships were built for the Ministry of War for use in naval warfare. Later, ten of them were used to transport wood for the construction of several large halls in the palace.

The remaining twenty ships were temporarily borrowed by the Maritime Customs under the Palace Administration."

The ship was built.

There is naturally no mention of corruption.

The purpose of usurping the throne to build ships was to transport wood for the emperor to build the palace, and the remaining ships were also used by the palace.

In short, everything the Ministry of Works does is for the emperor and for the palace.

Gao Gong did not hide his disgust at all and asked, "Young Lord, now that the wood has been transported, where is the boat?"

Yan Shifan's face changed, and he replied, "At the beginning of last year, the budget said that we would transport the wood from the mountains of Yunnan and Guizhou, but after investigation, we found that there were no roads, the mountains were high and the forests were dense, and the large woods could not be transported down the mountain at all. So we changed to transporting the wood from the South China Sea. This year's construction period suddenly added such a big difficulty. Our Ministry of Works rushed to work day and night, and even the big ship capsized. But for the sake of the emperor, the Ministry of Works had to rescue the wood, and people dragged the wood to the capital by horse and foot, and repaired several palaces in the palace before the end of the year.

The Ministry of Industry has suffered so much and endured so much pain without even a single complaint. What else do you want?"

The boat capsized!
All ten ships capsized!

One ship was carrying 100,000 taels of silver, and ten ships were carrying 1 million taels of silver. They capsized into the sea and the river.

According to Yan Shifan, the Ministry of Works was working for the emperor, so not only was it not at fault, it was actually meritorious?
Gao Gong immediately thought of the overspending on palace construction and said angrily, "So, at the beginning of last year, the budget for palace wood was three million taels of silver, but the final bill was as high as seven million taels of silver. The shortfall of four million taels of silver was due to the difficulty in transporting wood and the capsizing of the boat?"

"Of course!" Yan Shifan's voice was clear and concise.

At this moment, even though Gao Gong tried his best to calm down, his body was still shaking.

The cost of repairing the palace was three million taels of silver, and the Ministry of Works asked Yan Shifan to spend eight million taels of silver. However, Yan Shifan could still answer so shamelessly, which really exceeded his psychological limit.

Yan Shifan seemed unaware and said, “There is also public funds for river repairs in Yingtian and Zhejiang.

The Ministry of Works reported a cost of two million taels of silver at the beginning of last year for repairing the Baimao River and Wusong River in Yingtian, but when the bill was settled, it turned out to be three and a half million taels of silver.

The Ministry of Works reported at the beginning of last year that the cost of repairing the Xin'an River in Zhejiang was 1 million taels of silver, but this time the bill was 2 million taels of silver. The extra 2.5 million taels of silver can be checked in the detailed accounts of the River Administration Office, so you can't make trouble for these things."

Yan Shifan listed all the deficits of the Ministry of Works in one breath.

The deficit of the Ministry of Works was used to build river embankments in Jiangsu and Zhejiang and palaces for the emperor. Anyone who makes trouble is disregarding the people of Jiangsu and Zhejiang and is settling accounts with the emperor.

Xu Jie, Gao Gong, and Zhang Juzheng remained silent. Even Yan Song did not dare to defend his son this time. He looked towards the passage between the gauze curtains on the east side of the hall.

The hall fell into deathly silence, and time seemed to have stopped at this moment.

Finally, a voice was heard from the passage covered with gauze curtains. "I have practiced to be shaped like a crane, and there are two boxes of scriptures under a thousand pine trees. I came to ask Dao Wu Yu, and he said, 'The clouds are in the blue sky and the water is in the bottle.'"

Everyone knelt down immediately, silently waiting for the emperor to finish reciting a few lines of poetry. Yan Song took the lead in shouting: "Your Highness, I wish you long live! Long live! Long, long live!"

Amid the sounds of praising the emperor and bowing to the emperor, Zhu Houcong appeared with his sleeves fluttering and walked towards the throne in the center.

But when he reached the throne, Zhu Houcong did not sit down. He turned around and looked indifferently at the person kneeling on the ground, "Lord Yan."

"I am here." Yan Song replied.

"Mr. Xu Ge."

"I'm here." Xu Jie replied.

"The deficit of 9.5 million taels of silver in the Ministry of Works last year can be checked in detailed accounts. Have the Cabinet and the Ministry of Revenue checked it?" Zhu Houcong asked.

Hear the words.

Zhang Juzheng, who was bowing his head to the ground, had a tense expression on his face that slowly relaxed.

The Ministry of Works lost 2.5 million taels of silver building river embankments, and another 4 million taels of silver building several palaces. When the Emperor said that the Ministry of Works had a loss of 9.5 million taels of silver, he undoubtedly attributed the 3 million taels of silver loss from building warships to the Ministry of Works.

Now that the Ministry of War is no longer in deficit, it will be easier to deal with Yan Shifan.

"Your Majesty, last year, Yingtian repaired the Baimao River and Wusong River, Zhejiang repaired the Xin'an River, and the palace repaired palaces. The Ministry of Works followed clear accounts, so I think there are no mistakes." Yan Song answered very calmly.

The family knows their own affairs.

It’s hard to say what other abilities Yan Shifan has, but he has never made a mistake in accounting after so many years of doing it.

Xu Jie lowered his eyes and replied in the same way: "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Works' accounts are correct."

"Then it's all my fault."

Zhu Houcong's tone turned cold, and he said, "It's all the fault of the people of Jiangsu and Zhejiang."

In a word.

Everyone was a little surprised, and they subconsciously held their breath, showing the proper panic, and answered in unison: "There is no one better than the emperor!"

"You all have accounts to check. I don't have any accounts. There are just some things in that brocade box."

Zhu Houcong sat on the throne and said, "Gao Gong, open it and read it."

"The minister obeys the order!"

He arched his body, raised his head and looked up, only to meet the smiling dragon's eyes. He was terrified to the extreme.

Long Yan seemed to have returned to the time when he first entered the capital.

Your Majesty, has your cultivation been successful?

Gao Gong was obviously a little excited, but he tried his best to calm down. He opened the brocade box on the table, took out the account paper, and said, "In March of the 39th year of Jiajing, the river embankment construction started. In April, 100,000 civilians from Jiangnan were recruited to build the river embankment in Yingtian Baimao River, Wusong River, and Zhejiang Xin'an River."

"In May of the 39th year of the Jiajing reign, the Yingtian River Administration and the Hangzhou River Administration followed the imperial edict and recruited another 200,000 civilians from the south of the Yangtze River to reinforce the river embankment."

"In June of the 39th year of Jiajing, the palace was rebuilt. In July, the Yunnan Provincial Government Office, Guizhou Provincial Government Office, and Sichuan Provincial Government Office followed the imperial edict and recruited civilians from the three provinces to transport 10,000 pieces of large materials and 100,000 cubic meters of wood to Beijing via the South China Sea and mountain roads."

"In August of the 39th year of the Jiajing reign, five warships in the Nanyang Sea were destroyed, 2,450 pieces of large materials and 25,000 cubic meters of wood sank, and large materials fell off a cliff, destroying 2,450 pieces of large materials and 45,000 cubic meters of wood."

"In September of the 39th year of Jiajing, five warships in Nanyang were destroyed, 2,450 pieces of large materials and 250 million cubic meters of wood sank, and large materials fell off a cliff, destroying 2,450 pieces of large materials and 45,000 cubic meters of wood."

"In October of the 39th year of the Jiajing reign, hundreds of large pieces of timber and tens of thousands of cubic meters of wood were brought into Beijing."

"In November of the 39th year of the Jiajing reign, the Wanshou Palace caught fire. In December, the Ministry of Works issued an imperial edict ordering the provincial governors' offices of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan to transport timber to Beijing." Gao Gong stopped reading this.

He stared blankly at the second account book in the brocade box, his throat rolling but no sound coming out.

Dead silence.

You can hear a needle drop in the hall.

Sweat kept oozing out of Yan Shifan's forehead, but he didn't even dare to wipe it off. The sweat got into his eyes and stung him so much that tears came out.

To build and reinforce three river embankments, 300,000 civilians from Jiangnan were mobilized. Was this building a river embankment or the Great Wall?
There are more than tens of thousands of empty salaries?

Ten thousand pieces of timber and one hundred thousand cubic meters of wood from Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan were transported to the capital, but only a hundred pieces of timber and ten thousand cubic meters of wood were left, and ten warships were lost.

In September and October of the 39th year of Jiajing, as if it were a replica, did those 9,900 large pieces of material and 90,000 cubic meters of wood really "sink" and "crash"?
Of the seven million taels of silver that were spent on building those palaces, six million taels of silver were used for large materials and timber. How much of this six million taels of silver worth of large materials and timber was sold privately?
"A large piece of wood costs fifty thousand taels of silver, and a square piece of wood costs one hundred taels of silver. My Wanshou Palace is larger than all the other palaces in the palace combined. Yan Shifan, have you calculated it?"

Zhu Houcong stared at Yan Shifan, his murderous intent almost solidified into reality.

My money!
(End of this chapter)