Li Baiyu watched curiously as Liu Mingzhi flipped through the account books and wrote all kinds of weird symbols on the pieces of papyrus. He didn't know what his brother-in-law was doing.
However, in order to get the answer he wanted, Li Baiyu sat quietly on the chair and did not disturb Liu Mingzhi's movements.
After about half a stick of incense, Liu Mingzhi put down the pen in his hand and stretched out: "Here comes someone!"
"My lord, what are your orders?"
"Is Mr. Cao from Duzhi Division on duty at the Yamen?"
"Replying to your lord, Sir Cao is not on duty today. It happens to be Lord Cao's turn to repair the mu. If there is something urgent, Sir, I will send you a message immediately to tell Lord Cao to come!"
"Is Mr. Tang Minghao Tang here?"
"Master Tang is not in the office either. He seems to have gone to Hanzhou to handle some official business. I don't know very well, either!"
"Who else is on duty in the office?"
"Your Excellency, Mr. Jiang, the Minister, seems to be settling some old accounts!"
Liu Mingzhi pondered for a while and waved to the yamen servant: "I know, you can go down first!"
"Yes, I am resigning!"
After the Yamen servant left, Li Baiyu looked at Liu Mingzhi in confusion: "Master Liu, what exactly did you see?"
"Your Highness, please sit here for a moment. I'll come back as soon as you go!"
"This..." The prince hesitated and nodded slightly: "I hope Master Liu won't keep me waiting too long!"
"Of course, I will go down first!"
Liu Mingzhi walked out of his office room and walked towards Jiang Yuanming's room, the Minister of Revenue, and gently clicked the door bolt. Jiang Yuanming's angry voice came from the room.
"Come in!"
"Xiaoguan Liu Mingzhi has met Mr. Jiang!"
Jiang Yuanming, who was immersed in the abacus, heard Liu Mingzhi's voice and made a mark on the paper before putting down the brush in his hand.
"Master Liu, it's really strange that you would come to the Yamen to do your work during Xiu Mu. The sun is coming out in the west?"
"My lord, you are joking. I am actually very hard-working. It's just that you always look at me with prejudice. This is very unfair to me!"
Jiang Yuanming shook his head helplessly, patted his waist and walked out: "You, if it weren't for the fact that you have the ability to sit on the position of Zuo Shilang, I would have to read a book about your dereliction of duty, so sit down!"
Knowing that Jiang Yuanming was joking, Liu Mingzhi didn't mind, and sat on the lower position: "My lord, you are really happy to be a lower official. I am a leisurely Hou Ye who is now an official at home.
Standing up from three poles, sleeping on a branch under the moon, wouldn't it be better to be a free and easy lord? It's not a good job to be a noble noble who has to work hard!"
Jiang Yuanming took a sip of tea: "If Your Majesty hears this, he will reprimand you for being too mud to hold up the wall. Tell me, what's the point of coming to my place? If you just miss me, this old man, I'm sorry.
I don’t believe I have this charm!”
After telling the joke, Liu Mingzhi smiled lightly and took out the account book he had just calculated from his arms and placed it on the table between the two of them.
Jiang Yuanming looked at Liu Mingzhi in surprise: "Master Liu, what do you mean? Why did you get so many account books and send them here?"
Liu Mingzhi patted the account book, opened the folded pages and pushed them in front of Jiang Yuanming: "Sir, from the 13th day of July in the autumn of the 58th year of Xuande to the 6th day of July in the first year of Ruian, the national treasury had 600
The whereabouts of the seven hundred and twenty-three thousand, four hundred and seventy-two taels of silver are unknown, and Duzhisi has not indicated the whereabouts of the more than six million taels of silver. These more than six million taels of silver cannot disappear in thin air, right? Sir, you
What do you say?"
Jiang Yuanming looked at Liu Mingzhi with a complicated expression: "Well, it will take seven days for the thirty gentlemen of the branch office to complete the accounting for one year. It seems that you just came to the Yamen today, right?"
"It's been half an hour to be exact!"
"The liquidation was completed in half an hour?"
"Roughly the same!"
Jiang Yuanming sighed deeply: "The waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves ahead. I am right. You are indeed suitable to sit in the position of Zuo Shilang. Why bother to maintain so many accounting offices in the Ministry of Household Affairs with you?"
"No, no, no, please be merciful, my lord. I don't have the ability to replace thirty accountants. I have specializations in the industry. It's better to let them do their job well. Don't embarrass me!"
"
"Yes, I don't expect you. Otherwise, given that you have been fishing for three days and drying nets for two days, wouldn't the household department be in chaos? You are here just for the six million taels of silver, right?"
"If your prediction is correct, the missing six million taels of silver have something to do with Your Majesty, right?"
Jiang Yuanming nodded lightly: "Yes! It does have a lot to do with His Majesty!"
"Purchased wood for building sea-going ships and trained personnel to go to sea?"
Jiang Yuanming pondered for a long time before nodding: "As expected, I couldn't hide it from you. His Majesty specifically ordered me not to publicize this matter. Unexpectedly, you still guessed the whereabouts of the money! Just wait!"
"good!"
Jiang Yuanming stood up and walked to the bookshelf full of books behind him. After groping for a long time, he took out an account and placed it in front of Liu Mingzhi: "This is where the six million taels of silver went. Take a look, but don't take this matter seriously."
Spread the word!"
"Don't worry, sir, I still understand!"
Liu Mingzhi carefully looked through the account book in his hand, and after half a stick of incense, Liu Mingzhi looked at Jiang Yuanming with a strange expression: "Sir, the money here is nearly a little over 1.3 million taels, you just need a little
Don’t see it?”
Jiang Yuanming's expression changed sharply and he grabbed the account book in Liu Mingzhi's hand and looked through it: "Impossible, I specially ordered ten accountants to check it three times, and there is no error at all!"
Liu Mingzhi smashed his words: "There is no problem with the accounts, but it doesn't mean that you can't short-sell. You can calculate the quantity of wood, the number of craftsmen, and the materials on page 13. For goods worth 170,000 taels of silver, 70,000
A craftsman with two taels of silver consumes 284,000 taels of materials, of which 44,000 taels of short-selling expenses are spent on what?"
"Fourteen pages, seventeen pages, twenty-two pages...the total is up to 1.3 million taels. If you don't believe it, you can check it yourself. On average, the twelve prefectures each have
People have nearly deducted more than 200,000 taels of silver!"
"this............."
Jiang Yuanming's face turned a little red, and there was a trace of anger in his eyes: "I believe in them too much, but I didn't expect them to be so bold!"
"I'm taking my leave. It's better for you, my lord, to handle this matter yourself!"
"etc............."
"What's wrong, sir?"
Jiang Yuanming closed the account and looked at Mr. Liu happily: "Master Liu, you also know how lacking of excellent war horses there are in Northern Xinjiang. A good war horse can reduce the number of soldiers' bloodshed and sacrifice, and I have to give you some face!"
How about buying Weng Liu's three thousand war horses at market price? Let's leave some for Weng Liu to play with at the head office!"
Mr. Liu rubbed his nose with an embarrassed look on his face. He thought it was watertight, but unexpectedly Jiang Yuanming noticed something was wrong.
Old man, it's not that I won't help you, it's also that I'm powerless.
"Why don't you resign and go back to discuss it with my father?"
"Of course, I and Mr. Liu are all thinking about Dalong. Liu Weng will definitely not be stingy. Besides, we are buying, and we are not forcing you to withhold money. I hope Liu Weng will be more open-minded and use power for personal gain."
Sir, please be careful not to slip out one day, I won’t be able to carry it even if I want to!"
"Okay, I'll take my leave!"
Jiang Yuanming gave himself enough face and he couldn't be dissatisfied. He had no choice but to go back and discuss it with the old man!
After leaving the Hubu Yamen, Liu Mingzhi looked at the Prince's carriage going away, and stretched himself comfortably. The Emperor was indeed a man with a long-term vision, and had already secretly started working on the ship.
If that's the case, why do you need to work so hard?
"It's beautiful again... Hey, hey, hey... Are you brave, do you know that I am... How can you put it politely?
coming!"
The Queen and Hui'er didn't say anything, and each of them carried Young Master Liu towards the distance. Liu Mingzhi knew that the person holding him was the Queen and stopped struggling. He secretly made a gesture and let the two hold him.
Leave by yourself.
"Stop, stop, stop...please tell me where are you going to take me?"
"Hey, hey... Why did you bring me to the inn in broad daylight?"
Hui'er retreated and the door slammed shut.
The Queen looked at the horrified Young Master Liu who was huddled in the corner of the bed and slowly pulled away the ribbon around Liu's waist, and pressed forward step by step towards Young Master Liu with a proud look on his face.
"Please be polite and don't be impulsive. If you have anything to say, say it properly. I haven't been feeling well these days!"