Liu Mingzhi read out three names in succession, shaking the rice paper in his hand with a look of sadness.
"Both the Ministry of Husbandry and the Ministry of War are under the jurisdiction of my auxiliary minister, but among the names of the three colleagues I read out, two of them are officials in the Ministry of Household and War under my control."
"Remember the two colleagues I have controlled under my control. How can you bear this?"
When Liu Mingzhi said these words, many officials who were close to him could clearly hear the sound of Liu Dashao's teeth grinding. It was obvious that the anger in King Bingjian's heart had accumulated to a certain extent.
"Master He Zhanghe, the right minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and Master Cui Xingtian, the doctor of the Ministry of War, you two are really good enough for me, you are really good enough for me!"
Hearing King Bingjian read the names of the three of them, He Zhang, Cui Xingtian, and Fan Si'an trembled involuntarily as they held the Chao Hut with their hands.
Gao Jingyuan and Wen Changfeng were by their side, and now the three of them could see their situation clearly.
Since King Bingjian named his three names in court, it means that he must have found something wrong in the accounts.
The three people turned their stiff necks and looked at each other silently, and they all saw the fear and uneasiness in each other's eyes.
"What? Didn't the three adults come to court?"
"The official is here!"
"Your Majesty, Cui Xingtian, is here to see Your Majesty Qian Shui."
"The lower official Fan Sian comes to see King Bingjian."
"Hehehe, it turns out that the three adults are all in the palace. You haven't made any movement for a long time. I thought you three were sick and recuperating at home."
"Especially Mr. He Zhanghe. I have just seen with my own eyes that you led the officials from the Hubu Branch into the palace. You have not responded for a long time. I am still thinking that there are indeed talents in our Dalong court.
There are many people, a land of crouching tigers and hidden dragons.”
"The dignified Right Minister of the Household Department, a second-rank official, is actually a master of both civil and military skills. When he left the court, I didn't even notice it."
"It turns out that I was wrong. Master He didn't leave, but didn't hear."
"That's all. The only fault is that my voice was too low for the three adults to hear clearly."
The three of them were not fools, and they could naturally hear the sarcasm in Young Master Liu's words. However, the three of them no longer cared about the issue of face at this moment, and subconsciously glanced at the rice paper that Young Master Liu held in his hand.
, I want to take a look at what is recorded on it.
Liu Mingzhi noticed the small movements of the three people and did not put away the rice paper in his hands. Instead, he waved the rice paper in front of the three people's eyes intentionally or unintentionally, whetting their appetites.
"One of the three of you is responsible for supervising the purchase of poets, wood, and stones for the imperial mausoleum."
"One is responsible for escorting these materials to the capital and transporting them to the imperial mausoleum."
"One supervises the stone mining and timber felling matters in various places."
"For such a big project, the hard work put in by Master Gao, Master Wen and the two of them is probably more than ten times greater."
"Of course, although there are officials from various ministries and prefectures below to provide you with dispatches, which can reduce some of the burden, you three are still in charge of the matter. You have contributed a lot to repairing the imperial tomb."
"I boldly thank the three adults for their sweat and hard work in the renovation of the imperial mausoleum on behalf of my father and the late emperor."
"No, I don't dare. These are the duties of the three lower officials."
"The three adults are being modest. However, what the three adults said is reasonable and is just a matter of duty."
"As the saying goes, eating the emperor's salary and sharing the emperor's worries. Since the three adults have the salary from the court, they will naturally do their best to serve the court."
"Then it's a matter of duty."
"Sir, Mr. He Zhanghe, regarding the selection of high-quality stones that are suitable for the renovation of imperial tombs by various state governments, Mr. He Zhanghe, can you explain to me why the mountainous and steep Yanzhou is qualified, and the land of fish and rice, Yangzhou, Suzhou and other places are qualified
Why are the prices of these stones and timbers the same as those of qualified stones and timbers in Danju, Gwangju and other places?”
"As the saying goes, the same rice feeds all kinds of people. Could it be that the stones mined by a dragon are all exactly the same and have the same price?"
"Yanzhou and Yangzhou have many mountains and rivers, and qualified stones are everywhere. The price is so cheap. Why are the stones used in imperial mausoleums the same price as those in Dizhou and Guangzhou, which have less mountains and rivers? This is very puzzling to me."
"Does Master He want to treat a batch of stones equally?"
"This this"
"Oh, Mr. He, don't be in a hurry, think about it slowly, it's still early, don't be in a hurry."
"Mr. Cui from the Ministry of War, you must have been working hard to escort the materials and travel to various places."
"It's a waterway, a land route, and a rugged trail. It must have taken a lot of effort."
"You think it's strange. The price consumed by the waterway and the land route is actually as much as two and sixty-five percent of the silver consumed by the rugged road. It seems that this year when the king is away from the court, I, the dragon, will not be able to control the wind or rain.
Good luck!"
"I think it must be because the waterway is not smooth and the land route is difficult, which adds a lot of difficulty to Mr. Cui's transportation of stone."
"Especially on the construction and deployment side of the Ministry of Industry, Mr. Fan, you have to work even harder."
"Cannonball Kaishan actually cost hundreds of craftsmen the sum of taels of silver spent in a month. The cost of manufacturing one cannonball under the supervision of the military manufacturer is indeed very high."
"Look, this problem has returned to Mr. Cui Xingtian and Mr. He, the doctors of the Ministry of War."
"As expected of being officials in the same dynasty, serving as ministers in the same palace, and working for the imperial court. You are really united and working together."
"Colleagues, the spirit of Mr. He and the three of them is very worthy of our efforts to learn from it. If you have any difficulties, let's all work together."
"It is said that the three stooges are better than Zhuge Liang. The three of them, Mr. He, Mr. Cui and Mr. Fan, are so suitable."
"Thousands of difficult things can always be overcome as long as we work together. Very good. All the civil and military officials in Dalong's court can cooperate sincerely like the three adults. Why worry about the uncertainty of the world?"
"Come on, come on, each of the three adults will have one. Let's see if the amount of money consumed by each of you in supervising the matters above is any different from the accounts of the Accounts Department."
"Think carefully yourself, lest I make a mistake in my calculations."
When the three of them heard Young Master Liu's suddenly cold voice, they took the rice paper handed over by Young Master Liu with trembling hands, but no one really checked whether the accounts on it were true.
"Oh, it looks like the weather is so cold that the three adults can't even move their hands."
"In this case, I reluctantly ask the three adults to do this for you and tell all my colleagues in the court."
"Sir He, the price gap between stone materials in different places is actually not that big, but the renovation of the imperial tomb is a big project, and it cannot stop the consumption of stone materials."
"A few pennies piled up can make a mountain."
"Nine hundred and sixty thousand taels, that's about the amount of taxes the three wealthy prefectures can get for a whole year!"
"Look at Mr. Cui's side again. Hey, it's a little over 730,000 taels. This is too little."
"Master Fan, why is it only about 540,000 taels? This is even less."
"How can this be possible? The three of them work together, how can the difference in money be so huge?"
"Master Fan is a full 320,000 taels less than Master He. This is too unfair."
"I feel sorry for Mr. Fan. We have worked hard together. How can we be so divided? It's unfair, very unfair."
Listening to the cynicism in Young Master Liu's words, the three of them trembled and pinched the rice paper in their hands. Like Wen Changfeng and Gao Jingyuan, they fell to the ground and trembled.
Liu Mingzhi took the rice paper from the hands of the three of them one by one and looked at them with a sneer.
"It seems that all the money didn't allow the three adults to eat and drink well, okay? Why are you still so weak? How can you just fall down?"
"Money makes a man brave. I have given you so much money, not to mention that I can't stand still. I am a tiger whose body is shaken. I can hunt tigers in the mountains, and I dare to catch dragons in the sea."
"Then, can I think that the three adults did not eat the money alone, so they did not keep the three adults fat and strong?"
"So, doesn't it mean that there is a big fish behind the big fish?"
Liu Mingzhi clapped his hands and wandered around the hall with a faint smile.
"Interesting, really interesting."
"In the court room, it is said whether it is big or small, and it looks like it is really a crouching tiger, hidden dragon!"
"Three hundred thousand taels, two hundred thousand taels, nine hundred thousand taels, seven hundred thousand taels, five hundred thousand taels."
"There are 2,600,000 taels of silver after all oddities are removed."
"For a million-strong army, two months' worth of food and fodder is more than enough!"
"A few people ate up two months' worth of food for a million-strong army."