The Prodigal Son

Tiangongfang?

Trial production of a new weapon?

Zhao Luan looked at Qin Yu with some surprise, "You can do this too?"

This was Qin Yu's first time submitting a memorial to the throne!

Moreover, he even took the initiative to propose the trial production of new weapons?

Has he finally figured it out?

"This humble servant is also indulging in wishful thinking."

Qin Yu chuckled, "This humble subject doesn't know if this thing can actually be made; I just have this idea."

"Oh?"

Zhao Luan became interested and immediately took the memorial.

However, Zhao Luan was stunned as soon as he opened the memorial.

After a moment, Zhao Luan pointed to the punctuation marks on the memorial and asked Qin Yu curiously, "What do these mean?"

Qin Yu was taken aback by Zhao Luan's question.

When he came to his senses, he suddenly realized that he had unconsciously added punctuation marks when writing his first memorial to the throne.

After regaining his senses, Qin Yu explained, "These are called punctuation marks, mainly used for punctuation..."

As he spoke, Qin Yu began to explain the meanings of various punctuation marks to Zhao Luan.

Upon hearing Qin Yu's explanation, Zhao Luan's eyes lit up. She immediately took a previously reviewed memorial and handed it to Qin Yu, saying, "Add punctuation marks to this memorial according to your instructions!"

Qin Yu had no choice but to accept the order.

He quickly added punctuation to a memorial and handed it to Zhao Luan.

When Zhao Luan reread the memorial with added punctuation, he felt much more relaxed.

Zhao Luan immediately realized the great use of these small punctuation marks and instructed, "I will have someone from the Academy of Literature find you later. Explain the meaning of these punctuation marks in detail to them, and I will have the Academy compile and promote them!"

That bastard is a real talent!

It will pop up every now and then to give you a little surprise.

If we put Qin Yu to good use, who knows what surprises he might bring us!

Unfortunately, this bastard is too lazy and unwilling to carry any loads!

She was willing to mentor Qin Yu, hoping he would shoulder important responsibilities in the future, but this bastard kept making excuses.

She's been thinking for the past few days about how to make good use of Qin Yu.

But after thinking it over and over, I couldn't come up with a good solution.

"yes!"

Qin Yu accepted the order, then urged, "Your Majesty, please take a look at my memorial first!"

"I'm watching, aren't I? Why are you in such a hurry?"

Zhao Luan glared at him and picked up Qin Yu's memorial again to examine it.

With the help of those punctuation marks, Zhao Luan looked very relaxed.

Qin Yu did not specify what weapon he wanted to test-produce in his memorial; he only asked himself for manpower and money.

However, he didn't ask for much in terms of personnel or money.

Zhao Luan pondered for a moment, then picked up a brush, dipped it in vermilion ink, and wrote a character on it.

quasi!

"Your Majesty didn't even ask what weapon I wanted to test-produce?"

Qin Yu looked at Zhao Luan with surprise.

"Since you haven't said anything, I'm too lazy to ask!"

Zhao Luan smiled calmly, "Someone as lazy as you rarely takes the initiative to do anything productive. I can't very well discourage you!"

Qin Yu knew that Zhao Luan was demonstrating her trust in him through her actions, so he bowed and said, "Thank you for your trust, Your Majesty!"

"Alright, stop being so pretentious with me!"

Zhao Luan glanced at him with a smile, then picked out a memorial from the pile and handed it to Qin Yu. "You and Shangguan take a look at this memorial first, then go aside and discuss it. We'll discuss it further after I've finished reviewing all these memorials..."

"yes!"

Qin Yu and Shangguan Youyi took the memorial and went to the side.

This is a memorial submitted by Du Zhiwen and Song Zhuo together.

The memorial provided a detailed analysis of the court's financial situation and also included some preliminary budget estimates.

Some are negotiable, while others are already at the minimum budget and can't be cut any further.

The memorial was very detailed, but because it lacked punctuation, it was a little difficult to read.

When he saw the military expenditure of 25 million taels of silver, his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

Holy crap!

Qin Yu spoke up instinctively.

Shangguan Youyi looked at him blankly and asked in a low voice, "Doctor Qin, what does 'damn' mean?"

"It doesn't mean anything, it's just an expression of shock."

Qin Yu gave a casual, perfunctory answer, then asked in surprise, "Military expenses...do we really need this much?"

He knew war was expensive, but he didn't expect it to be this expensive.

Twenty-five million taels of silver, and that's the bare minimum!

The key point is that this is the military budget for first using a strategy to throw the Yan state into chaos before actually fighting the war!

"This should indeed be the minimum budget."

Shangguan Youyi replied in a low voice, "Last year, the imperial court didn't have many wars, and the annual military expenditure was around 20 million taels..."

During the reign of the late emperor, the annual military expenditure of Daming was basically maintained at around 15 million taels of silver.

This is considered a relatively low level.

It was precisely for this reason that the late emperor was able to leave Zhao Luan more than 70 million taels of silver.

However, since the great war a few years ago, Da Ning has been licking the wounds left by that war. Many troops need to replenish their weapons, armor, and horses, and the annual military expenditure is basically maintained at around 20 million taels of silver.

If the imperial court launches a military campaign against the Yan Kingdom next year, the military expenditure will only increase by five million taels of silver, which is truly the most extreme amount of budget cut!

If she were to do the budget, she estimated she could come up with a budget of 28 million taels of silver.

Qin Yu was taken aback, then asked in a low voice, "How much silver is in the national treasury right now?"

"Around twenty million taels."

Shangguan Youyi replied.

"..."

Qin Yu's lips twitched, inwardly cursing Zhao Luan as a spendthrift woman.

The national treasury, which had held over seven thousand taels of silver, was squandered by her in just a few years, leaving only this little bit.

"Is the imperial court's annual tax revenue sufficient to cover its expenses?"

Qin Yu asked again.

Shangguan Youyi smiled wryly and shook his head slightly.

Since that battle a few years ago, the golden age of Da Ning has come to an end, and it has been living off its past achievements every year.

For now, there's still food to eat!

If things continue like this, we might really run out of savings to live off.

Upon learning of the imperial court's financial situation, Qin Yu couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Ugh!

Being an emperor isn't easy!

It's still better to be on my own; with just over a million taels of silver, I've already achieved financial freedom!

With a sigh, Qin Yu glanced at Zhao Luan, who was engrossed in reviewing memorials.

Should we help her get money?

But if I help him make money, what benefits will she give me?

silver?

I wouldn't even give you enough if I didn't have it, and even if I did, the she-devil wouldn't give you any more!

Official position?

This is practically a punishment for me.

beautiful?

He really doesn't find ordinary beauties attractive.

Moreover, given his current physical condition, he wouldn't dare to act recklessly even if you offered him a few beautiful women!

reputation?

He's not someone who cares about his reputation!

After thinking it over, he really didn't know what benefits Zhao Luan could offer him.

But I definitely can't do things that don't bring me any benefit.

Shangguan Youyi followed Qin Yu's gaze and remained silent to herself.

His Majesty asked him to look at the memorials, and instead of doing so, he openly started looking at His Majesty.

He wasn't afraid that His Majesty would charge him with offense!

Shangguan Youyi wanted to remind Qin Yu, but she swallowed the words back.

She wanted to see how long this bastard could keep watching.

Let's see how His Majesty punishes him!

I must say, watching His Majesty punish Qin Yu was quite amusing.

Consider this just to amuse His Majesty!

With that in mind, Shangguan Youyi stopped reminding Qin Yu and continued to ponder Song Zhuo's budget in her mind.

Time passed little by little.

Just as Qin Yu was deep in thought, Zhao Luan seemed to notice someone spying on her. She immediately glanced over out of the corner of her eye and saw Qin Yu staring straight at her with a lewd smile on his face.

Zhao Luan was secretly annoyed. She quickly finished reviewing the memorial in her hand, then suddenly turned to look at Qin Yu...