The struggle for the throne among nine princes—I really don't want to be the crown prince.

Chapter 127 The Ultimate Art of Delaying

Shen Ye was unaware of Emperor Qianxi's opinion on his planting of sweet potatoes.

Of course, even if he knew, he would just pretend he didn't.

After all, if the Crown Prince planted sweet potatoes, Emperor Qianxi would never send someone to pull up all the perfectly good sweet potato seedlings.

As the emperor, he still had to maintain the crown prince's reputation.

At this moment, the Crown Prince was summoning Ma Qi to the main hall of Yuqing Palace.

Mazi is reporting on how to recover the treasury's debts.

In fact, Ma Qi's approach was very simple, consisting of only one thing: directly sending people to the homes of each debtor to collect the debts.

As for how much we can get back, that's up to fate!
Judging from this plan, Shen Ye felt that the Minister of Revenue was not very enthusiastic about it.

Of course, this is understandable, after all, his predecessor retired and returned to his hometown for no apparent reason because of these debts.

Xiong Cilu is no ordinary person!

Emperor Qianxi trusted this man immensely, yet this very man returned to his hometown to collect debts owed by the Ministry of Revenue. One can imagine how deep the waters ran in this situation.

Shen Ye glanced at Ma Qi and said, "Ma Qi, your recovery plan is still not comprehensive enough."

When Ma Qi presented this plan, he was already prepared to have the Crown Prince revise it.

After all, his plan does have some drawbacks.

However, neither he nor the Ministry of Revenue wanted to be the bad guys, so they didn't want to go too far in some things.

Be a man to stay on the line and meet each other in the future.

If they bring up certain things, others will hold a grudge against them.

However, if the Crown Prince or Emperor Qianxi brings it up, even if they do it, they will only be acting on orders and will not hold a grudge against them.

He wasn't particularly concerned about how much money he could get back.

"Please give your orders, Your Highness." Ma Qi looked utterly honest and unassuming.

Although Shen Ye knew that Ma Qi was dishonest, he couldn't just do nothing.

He calmly said, "Lord Maqi, getting people to repay money is not an easy task. I think we can proceed with this in stages."

"After all, money is not something else; if you don't have enough, you'll need to find other ways to make ends meet."

"So, we need to give them some time."

"I think we can proceed in four stages."

"The first stage is the preparation stage for debtors."

As Shen Ye spoke of this, he recalled his memories of his past life, and his smile deepened.

"This preparation stage is very simple. It is to tell everyone that Taicang has no money and that everyone needs to repay the money they owe to the Ministry of Revenue."

"Let everyone actively raise money, and at this stage, we can extend the time a bit, give us a month to prepare, do you think that's enough?"

With a month to prepare, His Majesty the Emperor's inspection tour of the Yongding River, not the Yangtze River, would take less than half a month, let alone a month, before he returned.

The Crown Prince is...

Ma Qi understood immediately.

The Crown Prince is stalling for time!

Once Emperor Qianxi returns, he will no longer need to serve as regent.

If the crown prince is not in charge of overseeing the country, why would he need to manage the Ministry of Revenue?
That's a matter for the Qianxi Emperor.

The crown prince didn't have to suffer or do anything else; he simply handed over the matter.

Moreover, the Crown Prince's reason was also quite high-sounding: it's normal for you to ask for money back, but you can't just ask for money back whenever you think of it.

As a series of thoughts flashed through his mind, Ma Qi felt a surge of admiration.

I also wanted to stall for time, but I couldn't stall as confidently as the Crown Prince.

"The Crown Prince is wise!" Ma Qi's words were filled with admiration.

Shen Ye ignored Ma Qi's thoughts and continued, "The second stage is the automatic repayment stage. This stage can be shorter, ten days will be enough."

"As for the third stage, it is naturally to collect the debts. In the process of collecting the debts, the Ministry of Revenue alone is not enough."

Upon hearing the Crown Prince's words, Ma Qi felt as if he had met a kindred spirit.

Yes, this is a big deal.

How could the Ministry of Revenue alone accomplish this?
The more people share the blame with me, the easier it is for me!

“Your Highness is wise. With the resources of our Ministry of Revenue alone, we are simply too weak to accomplish these tasks.”

"Only by pooling our wisdom and efforts can we recover these debts!"

Shen Ye simply ignored Ma Qi's flattery.

This person is a staunch supporter of Emperor Qianxi and will not choose to support him in the short term.

Besides, I don't need his support.

I can't become emperor myself!

Shen Ye said with a smile, "So, for this collection, a special team will be set up to be responsible for collection... collection team."

Unable to think of any words to express it, Shen Ye simply spoke plainly.

Anyway, Ma Qi wouldn't be able to detect anything unusual in it.

Upon hearing the word "group," Ma Qi frowned. He didn't quite understand what it meant, but after thinking about it carefully, he felt it was quite appropriate.

He didn't care what was established; as long as the Ministry of Revenue wasn't made to bear the responsibility, that would be a great blessing for him.

Just as Ma Qi was pondering the group, Shen Ye continued, "The heads of the Six Ministries, the Imperial Study, and the Imperial Clan Court will all participate in this group."

"When it's time to collect the payment, let them each take responsibility for their own area."

"We must go all out this time to collect the payment."

At this point, Shen Ye continued, "As for the collection period, it will be about a month."

"The final stage is to summarize the rewards and punishments. How should those who repay the debts in full be rewarded?"

"As for those who refuse to repay their debts, Ma Qi, your Ministry of Revenue should devise a plan for punishment, which can be jointly formulated with the Ministry of Personnel."

Ma Qi listened to this plan and felt that it was much better than the one his Ministry of Revenue had come up with.

Why didn't I think of that?
He was only thinking about what the Ministry of Revenue should do, but the Crown Prince not only successfully delayed the situation, but also dragged other bigwigs into the mess.

Nobody should say this has nothing to do with me!
As for whether Emperor Qianxi would investigate the Crown Prince for being lazy, that was simply impossible, because there was absolutely no fault with the Crown Prince's plan.

In this situation, the crown prince not only got the job done, but also bore no responsibility whatsoever.

The Crown Prince is really...

Could it be that the Crown Prince has a highly skilled person by his side?

He pondered for a moment, then said very readily, "Your Highness is wise. Hearing your words, I feel as if the clouds have parted and the sun has shone through."

"I will go and organize the confiscated documents and then ask the Crown Prince to review them."

Shen Ye waved his hand and said, "Lord Ma, go ahead and get busy."

Ma Qi glanced at the Crown Prince and thought to himself that the Crown Prince was even more brilliant than he had imagined. If the Crown Prince became emperor, would he be more wise than His Majesty?
This thought flashed through Ma Qi's mind for a moment before he quickly dismissed it.

Such a thought is utterly rebellious; even if he were Emperor Qianxi's childhood friend, he wouldn't dare to do such a thing.

That's suicide!

Shen Ye had no idea what Ma Qi was thinking; he was thinking about himself. The matter of recovering the debt had finally come to an end, and he could say he had given Emperor Qianxi some explanation.

As for how much money he gets back, what does that have to do with him?
Because at that time, he would no longer be in charge of the country.

However, he thought everything was fine, but trouble was coming for him soon, and there was no escaping it!

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(End of this chapter)