Chapter 106 The dimension of good official relations
"You said that the money in the treasury will not be approved without His Highness the Crown Prince's order, so I will tell you in a friendly manner that Xishan Province was hit the hardest this time. Previously, the court really had no money, so repairing the dams could only be postponed, but now there is money.
, I beg you to come together to meet His Highness and discuss the interests and benefits, so that Your Highness can approve the money and repair the dam as soon as possible, so that fewer victims will be affected."
"But what did you say? You said that I was asking for high prices for this batch of papers in order to line my own pockets!"
"I, Guan Zhiwei, passed the imperial examination at the age of twenty-two and entered the official career at the age of twenty-three. It has been eighteen years now. I dare not say that my hard work has made me great achievements, but I have never dared to be greedy or selfish in my career. At least I can be called a breeze with two sleeves.
, if my pure name for the rest of my life is stained by you, how can I have the face to meet His Highness and my fellow villagers!?"
Seeing that the two were about to quarrel again, Li Chen's brows furrowed deeper and deeper.
"Are we going to have another fight?"
Li Chen's cold words made Guan Zhiwei and Xu Changqing calm down.
The two of them were like cocks defeated in a fight, with their heads hanging down and not daring to say a word.
Li Chen had asked Dongchang to investigate Xu Changqing before.
He has abilities and a fairly good character, and is one of the few available people in the court. Therefore, Li Chen's plan is to observe him for a while and then let Xu Changqing take over the position of Minister of Household Affairs.
This is an important position in charge of the treasury and the court's money bag. Li Chen cannot let anyone who is worried go up.
As for Guan Zhiwei, Li Chen didn't know much about him.
Asking Dongchang to investigate will also take time.
However, some details can be seen immediately.
Guan Zhiwei's only remaining boot was very worn. At first glance, it was obvious that he had been wearing this pair of boots all year round. The foot that lost the boot was only wearing a sock. Although the sock was still clean, it was washed out.
, obviously his life is not rich.
In this way, Li Chen's anger calmed down a little.
"Bring me the approval document from the Ministry of Industry."
Upon seeing this, Guan Zhiwei immediately took out the official document and respectfully delivered it to Li Chen's desk.
He also used half of his teeth to explain in a leaky voice: "Your Highness, this time the main purpose is to repair the two dykes that are still standing. Wei Chen has personally visited the site to see that the water is almost parallel to the dykes.
It is under great pressure, and there are cracks and leaks everywhere. Now it is all repaired by the nearby officers and soldiers and the victims."
"But if there is no complete repair and strengthening, it will only be a matter of time before the dam breaks."
"Once these two dams break, the flood will cover at least four to five hundred miles. Three counties, dozens of villages, and the lives of more than 100,000 people are all maintained by these two dams."
Li Chen looked at it carefully, his mood getting heavier and heavier as he looked at it.
The reality is indeed as Guan Zhiwei said. Once these two dam breaches are added, Xishan Province, which has been the most severely affected, may be completely wiped out.
"This report is quite detailed, but it costs 800,000 taels of silver?"
Xu Changqing immediately interjected: "Even Wei Chen also felt that this number was outrageous. The two dams were built by Daxing in three years. Wei Chen went through the transfer department and spent a total of only 300,000 taels of silver.
His repairs cost 800,000 taels, how can this be explained?"
Guan Zhiwei was so angry that he pointed at Xu Changqing's nose and cursed: "You are such a bastard, don't know how to speak carelessly! Three years of Daxing is the time when the country is peaceful and the people are in good weather. What was the price of goods then, and what is the price of goods now?"
