Ming Dynasty: A mere unruly commoner is rebelling against the heaven?

Chapter 56: These two ministers are a disaster to the country!
There was complete silence in Xu Pu's house.

Dozens of high-ranking officials of the fourth rank and above in the court were all dumbfounded, standing there in a daze, lost in thought.

The reactions of all the officials present were almost the same as those of Xu Pu, Liu Jian and Jia Jun when they first heard the order several hours ago.

No one could believe that Zhu Youtang could be so domineering and unreasonable.

Let these officials and ministers raise money to build a palace for the emperor.

If they cannot raise enough silver, they will have to investigate these ministers, not only in the capital, but also in their hometowns.

If problems were discovered, the entire family would be executed.

God!

Is there any royal law? !

Are there any laws? !

Unprecedented, unprecedented!!!

After a moment of silence, Wang Shu was so angry that his face turned blue, his lips trembled, and he spoke with a trembling voice.

"This...this kind of thing is unheard of...unheard of!"

"How can your majesty be so willful and act so overbearingly?!"

Li Dongyang, the Grand Secretary of Wenyuan Pavilion, also looked incredulous: "Is this... is this all true? Did His Majesty really say that?"

Liu Jian sighed and said, "It's absolutely true. It's true."

Wang Ji, the Minister of the Dali Temple, collapsed: "Your Majesty first did not allow us to use silver and money, and then forced us to exchange it for Hongzhi Baochao."

"Now you are forcing us to raise money to build a palace for your majesty. Your majesty is forcing us to death!"

Xie Qian, who was also a cabinet minister, was full of resentment and anger at this moment, staring at Xu Pu and Liu Jian.

"My two ministers, His Majesty originally wanted the Ministry of Revenue and the Imperial Treasury to each contribute half of the money to repair the palace."

"Now, after your persuasion, it's us officials who have to raise the money."

"You two...really, really made me suffer!"

Xie Qian's words immediately attracted support from the six ministries and nine ministers.

"That's right! Lords Xu and Liu, you really brought trouble to all the civil and military officials!"

"Two ministers, this matter is caused by you two, you must give an explanation to the officials!"

"Having you two in the cabinet is a disaster for the dynasty and the country!"

"..."

Xu Pu and Liu Jian were scolded so badly by the six ministries and nine officials that they could not even raise their heads.

These officials are well-read, and although they are not good at anything else, they are really mean when it comes to scolding people.

The last second, they were the blessing of the Ming Dynasty and the country.

The next second, they would become a disaster to the dynasty and a disaster to the country.

The parallelism is neat, and the tones and rhythms are well-matched. He is truly worthy of being a scholar, and his insults are so cultured.

"That's how it should be. Elder Xu, Elder Liu, you must pay the lion's share of the money!"

Jia Jun, who had originally faded out of the sight of all officials, could not help but complain to Xu Pu and Liu Jian.

Faced with Jia Jun's accusations, both Xu Pu and Liu Jian were unhappy.

This matter was originally caused by you. The two of us took the blame for you, and you still want to bite back?!

This time, Jia Jun offended Xu Pu and Liu Jian, and they began to expose Jia Jun's past.

Xu Pu looked at Jia Jun with a dark face and said coldly: "Minister Jia, don't pretend to be so innocent."

"When you first gave His Majesty the offer, Xixian and I were outside the Imperial Study and heard it clearly."

"Just to repair the roofs of the three main halls of Fengtian, you dare to ask His Majesty for six million taels of silver!"

"Jia Jun, you have such a big appetite!"

Liu Jian also said sinisterly: "Six million taels of silver is enough to rebuild the three main halls of Fengtian!"

"If you hadn't quoted such a high price, His Majesty might have already allocated money from the treasury to repair it, and wouldn't have needed the money from the Ministry of Revenue at all."

Now, the angry gazes of the six ministries and nine officials shifted to Jia Jun.

Everyone present here is not someone who can be easily fooled.

Many of them even had worked in the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Works, and other places.

They were all familiar with the cost of building the palace. Six million taels of silver was a huge sum of money. Jia Jun was really too wicked.

The left supervisor of the Ministry of Works suppressed his anger and said, "To repair the roofs of the three main halls of Fengtian, the Ministry of Works dared to ask for six million taels."

"Minister Jia, why don't you just go and rob His Majesty's treasury?"

Now that things were out of the question, Jia Jun stopped pretending.

Jia Jun also felt wronged: "Did these six million taels of silver all go into my pocket alone?"

"This silver has to go through the Ministry of Revenue, the local governor, and the governor-general of the southwest. The Maritime Customs Office cannot be left out..."

"After all the money is collected, how much money will be left in the hands of our Ministry of Industry?"

"There are thousands of officials in the Ministry of Works, both high and low, so who wouldn't want to take a piece of the pie?"

"The last Minister of Works, Liu Zhao, dared to ask Emperor Xianzong for eight million taels of silver to repair the roof. What's wrong with me asking for six million taels?!"

"You could do this before, but you can't do it here?"

"What's the point?!"

"There are so many people in the court who are waiting for this money to make a living!"

"You guys are blaming me instead?!"

Wang Shu was heartbroken and slammed the table, angrily saying: "Jia Jun, are you the same as before?!"

"Don't you understand what kind of personality the current emperor has?!"

"It's only been a few days since those corrupt officials who were investigated died outside the city? Have you forgotten all that?!"

"You have to kill us all before you'll be satisfied?!"

"I..." Jia Jun's lips trembled, but he didn't say anything to refute.

After all, that bloody nightmare was still echoing in his mind.

But the officials of the Ming Dynasty were so strange. Although they knew that there was a high possibility that they would be investigated, arrested and beheaded if they embezzled money.

However, when there is an opportunity to embezzle, they will seize every opportunity and use all means to embezzle money on a large scale.

Even if real examples happen right before their eyes, they will not wake up.

As long as the knife doesn't fall on their heads, they will not stop and would rather die than be greedy!

Therefore, throughout the Ming Dynasty, corruption could not be stopped despite repeated bans.

The topic became serious, everyone fell silent, and the yard was dead silent.

Finally, it was Xu Pu who broke the silence: "Now that things have come to this, there is no point in talking any more."

"Let's think about how much money we need to raise."

"Minister Jia, please tell me a number first."

Jia Jun also calmed down: "Yes, Prime Minister Xu."

As he pondered, he reported the amount: "One million and two hundred thousand taels are enough just to repair the three main halls of Fengtian."

"But your majesty, in addition to repairing the three main Fengtian halls, you also need to build a Yangxin Hall and rebuild the West Garden again."

"It will cost about 800,000 taels to cultivate the Heart Palace."

"But if we want to rebuild the West Garden, it will cost at least three million taels."

"If you calculate it this way, we will probably need to raise at least five million taels of silver."

"Five million taels..."

When the ministers from the six ministries and nine departments heard this astronomical figure, they were so angry that they almost fainted.

"Five million taels of silver, that's more than the Ming Dynasty's annual tax revenue!"

"Where can we get these five million taels of silver?"

"Minister Jia, we are not the emperor, please don't falsify the numbers!"

"That's right, Minister Jia, our money is hard-earned, don't even think about making money from us!"

Jia Jun felt aggrieved: "This is really the lowest price."

"If this garden is not repaired, we will all be in trouble. How can I dare to have other thoughts?"

　Please read the data!!! Get rid of all the big guys!!!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)