At the end of the hour, the emperor came out of his bedroom and pressed his forehead, feeling drowsy.
"Your Majesty." Zhang Huaide saluted him.
The emperor squinted his eyes and nodded, opened his mouth to yawn, and took the bird's nest soup from the palace maid.
After all, it's no better than when I was younger. I only ordered two new beauties last night, and today I feel as tired as anything.
However, Zhang Huaide also brought a stack of memorials and said: "Your Majesty, this is today's memorial. The prime ministers are eager to get it!"
The emperor glanced at him and complained: "The world says that the emperor is good, but I feel that the emperor is like a donkey on the grindstone. He goes round and round day after day without any rest."
Zhang Huaide laughed with him: "Who said that this world cannot be separated from you! You are the real Dragon Emperor. You are responsible for the great responsibilities of all the people, so you will inevitably be busy."
He always spoke comfortably, but the emperor was still full of resistance: "If it's nothing important, just reply to them."
Zhang Huaide looked embarrassed and said: "Your Majesty, these memorials have been picked by the servants. They are all important."
The emperor became more and more bored and did not want to work after eating the bird's nest.
Seeing him like this, Zhang Huaide cautiously put forward his opinion: "If your majesty is feeling unwell, why not ask the prince to come and take a look? You also said that the prince has made a lot of progress recently, and I think I can help."
The emperor's eyes lit up. That's right! It's not appropriate to hand over the memorial to others, so it's just right for the prince to do it.
That kid is already eighteen years old. If he doesn’t learn to handle government affairs now, then when will he?
"Summon the prince."
"yes."
The prince came soon. Hearing what the emperor asked him to do, he was completely confused. He had just understood the lessons given by the master, and he was dealing with government affairs? He couldn't do it!
"If you don't understand, just ask someone." The emperor felt uncomfortable and his temper was a bit irritable. "I have chosen so many subordinate officials for you. What are they for?"
The prince had no choice but to go back holding the stack of memorials.
When Yan Ling entered the palace, what he saw was the prince biting his pen and frowning in worry.
"What's wrong, Your Highness? Is the homework difficult?" Yan Ling took the orange from the chamberlain, peeled it and kept half of it for herself, and handed the other half to the prince.
The prince put down his pen, took the orange and ate it with him.
"It's not a question of whether it's difficult or not, but it's just that I can't understand it at all!" He pushed the memorial over and vaguely clicked on the words while eating, "Look, what's the tax, what's the racecourse, what's the official examination..."
I know every word, but I can’t understand them when put together.”
Yan Ling glanced twice and suddenly realized: "It turns out to be a memorial that His Majesty wants to review!"
The prince complained to him: "I don't know what my father is thinking. A few months ago, he thought that my homework was not good, but now he asks me to review the memorial. Hey, why don't you help me take a look?"
His homework has always been taken care of by his companions. Recently, Yan Ling trusts him the most and always asks him to discuss it.
Yan Ling refused: "I can't help Your Highness this time. This is a memorial. How can I just read it?"
The prince made a bitter face and sighed: "Father said that there are so many subordinate officials in the East Palace, so if you don't understand, just ask. Gu listened to his father's words and summoned them as soon as he came back. As a result, they started to quarrel after talking to each other.
He said this, and the other said that, and in a fit of rage he drove them all away."
Yan Ling smiled silently in her heart.
The emperor thought too well. It is true that there are many subordinate officials in the East Palace, but the prince has been a fool for more than ten years, so how can they be used? Knives will get rusty if not used for a long time, and people will naturally become dull after being around for many years.
.What’s more, he really didn’t trust the emperor’s vision.
"If you don't help, I won't know who to turn to!" The prince looked at him expectantly.
Yan Ling made a suggestion: "Otherwise, your Highness, go and ask the Taifu? This is your master. If you don't understand, it's always right to ask him, right?"
This is true, but when the prince thought of Taifu Lu's serious look, his heart beat: "Isn't Taifu going to scold you all over again?"
"No, no." Yan Ling encouraged him, "The Tutor likes honest and hard-working children most. You are doing this for business, how can he be angry? Besides, I have no experience in this kind of government affairs!"
The prince thought for a while and realized that this was what happened, so he packed up his things and went to the museum to find Mrs. Lu.
Taifu Lu looked at the memorial he brought over, with an angry look on his face, and cursed: "These are useless people who have nothing to do but raise taxes if they don't have money. If they add more people, they won't be able to survive! The season was not good last year, and the harvest was already bad.
It’s only summer this year, and the food hasn’t been harvested yet, so why should we ask them to raise taxes? Shuo Shu! Shameless!”
The prince was startled, and when he heard that Taifu Lu was not scolding him, he breathed a sigh of relief and asked: "So, according to Taifu's opinion, this memorial cannot be approved?"
"Of course we can't criticize it!" Taifu Lu said flatly, "Your Highness, the people's life is miserable! If you have nothing to do, go out of the city and take a look. Only ten miles away from the emperor's feet, the people are already sallow and thin, and their clothes are ragged. If this tax is increased,
They will definitely have to sell their sons and daughters, and their lives will be difficult to survive!"
The prince scratched his head, pointed to the memorial and asked: "But they said that if they don't increase taxes, there will be no money to build the dam. If it is not repaired this year, I am afraid it will flood again next year, and the harvest will be even worse..."
Taifu Lu sneered: "The dam is repaired every year, but which year has it been really repaired? They never take it seriously!"
"Then just dismiss it?"
Seeing the prince lift the pen, Mr. Lu quickly said: "Wait!"
The prince looked at him.
Taifu Lu frowned and pinched his beard and muttered: "It's not good to dismiss it just like that. It seems that His Highness is too harsh. After all, if the dam is not repaired, the people will indeed suffer disasters, and we have to get money even if we don't increase taxes."
That’s all…”
According to Yan Ling's idea, this money is easy to get. As long as the palace saves half of the expenses and encourages dignitaries to donate some, it will probably be enough. Otherwise, it can make a deal with Jiang Yi from Jiangbei, and at least the money for reinforcements can be collected
. However, neither of these two methods worked for the emperor. The former one made him frugal, and he might as well have been killed. The latter method was the same, as all Jiang Yi's money went into the emperor's private treasury.
Seeing the sad faces of the old man and the young man, Yan Ling couldn't help but said: "Your Highness, the Zhenbei Protector's Mansion originally had several horse farms, but the imperial court hasn't sent anyone to take over them, right?"
This was about the next memorial. The prince picked it out, looked at it, and nodded.
"They said that these racecourses have been abandoned for more than half a year and they need to allocate funds for reconstruction."
At the end of last year, Baersi, the governor of Zhenbei, suddenly rebelled and took advantage of the chaos in Zhaoguo to attack the capital. Only then did Yan Ling come to his rescue.
After the incident, the Yan family sent troops to guard the original territory of the Zhenbei Duhufu, but some properties near the capital were taken back by the court, including these horse farms.
Yan Ling said: "My father said in his letter at home that a large number of horses were lost in the battle with Xirong, and it is necessary to find a way to replace them. If your Majesty agrees, he will hand over the management of the horse farm to us, and we will make up for it and deliver it a few years in advance."
Taxes. In this way, the court does not have to pay for the reconstruction of the racecourse, but also has money to repair the embankment."