Li Zhi nodded, understanding that the current situation was complicated and it was better to be still than to move, lest he become even more difficult to get off.
But he also has his own worries and extravagant hopes: "Did the Shandong Aristocratic Family... reveal anything to you?"
The Guanlong clan was completely defeated and had to completely withdraw from the court in exchange for His Majesty Li Er's forgiveness. As a result, many real power departments above the court were vacant. In order to avoid the stagnation of the central government, they began to allow outstanding descendants of Shandong aristocratic families and Jiangnan gentry to enter the court in large numbers, completely reversing this situation.
The two powerful alliances have been suppressed since entering the Tang Dynasty.
Since the end of the Sui Dynasty, nearly thirty years of exclusion and suppression have made the two powerful alliances closely connected in private, holding together for warmth. Now that they have suddenly revived, they naturally support and help each other.
But with current interests, no one can guarantee that this unity can continue forever. For example, when the Jiangnan gentry supports him as the king of Jin, whether the Shandong family will follow suit...
This is extremely important to Li Zhi. Once the two upstarts form a unified opinion, advance and retreat together, and fully support his fight for the reserve, there will be great hope for success.
Even if the father no longer allows ministers to collude with the prince in private to participate in the fight for the throne, it is impossible to ignore the momentum of the two powerful forces joining forces.
Xiao Yu had a worried look on his face, shook his head, and said in a deep voice: "Those people in Shandong are probably used to living in remote areas. They are full of pedantry, stubborn, conceited, and have high self-esteem. They are more of a silent profiteer, and may not be willing to do so.
Be of the same mind as us."
Li Zhi said nothing.
This is actually normal. As the saying goes, "If a man does not work for himself, he will be punished by heaven and earth." The Shandong family has been excluded from the center for too long, and its desire for power is beyond reach. "One bird in the hand is worse than a hundred birds in the forest." Instead of looking forward to the future, It is better to take the power of the dragon than to have real power in your hands now.
For example, Zhang Xingcheng is in charge of one of the six ministries such as the Ministry of War. The most important thing for the real power department is to seize all the power in the ministry. How can he risk offending His Majesty and angering the King of Wei to support him, the King of Jin?
*****
Just as Li Zhi and Xiao Yu feared, the entire Shandong family is now focusing on obtaining imperial positions and consolidating the power they have obtained.
The first to bear the brunt was Zhang Xingcheng.
Although the Ministry of War was originally one of the six ministries, due to the lack of the power to mobilize troops, its name was not worthy of its name. It has been reduced to a support department focusing on logistics and equipment, even inferior to the Ministry of Works. After all, the latter is in charge of the construction and maintenance of palaces and cities all over the world.
, is extremely fat, and although the Ministry of War has departments such as weapons supervision, they are subject to supervision from many parties, which is really useless.
However, since Fang Jun took office, he began to drastically reform the internal affairs of the Ministry of War. At the same time, relying on His Majesty Li Er's favor and his own strong strength, he gradually expanded the power of the Ministry of War. He even proposed the establishment of a "Military Aircraft Department" and became one of the Ministers of Military Aircraft with the position of Minister of War.
.
As a result, the Ministry of War suddenly became the most powerful yamen after the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
As long as the power of the Minister of War is completely consolidated, not only will the strength of the Shandong family be greatly increased, but Zhang Xingcheng will also become the banner figure of the Shandong family. While holding the power, he will also receive the full support of the Shandong family, and he will be only one step away from being the prime minister.
However, it is extremely difficult to grasp the power of the Ministry of War...
…
Early in the morning, Zhang Xingcheng drove to the Yamen of the Ministry of War.
The original yamen had been destroyed by the war, and the new bureau was built on the original site. It did not cut corners and was built very grandly. However, due to the short construction time, many places had not yet been decorated, so it looked grand and majestic. , in fact, everything is crude...
Arriving at the check-in room, Zhang Xingcheng straightened his clothes, sat behind the desk meticulously, and handed over several powerful figures in the ministry.
Soon, Cui Dunli, Guo Fushan, Liu Shi and others came one after another.
The clerk served fragrant tea and left the door...
Zhang Xingcheng smiled warmly, invited everyone to drink tea, and briefly discussed a few ministry matters. All his subordinates also cooperated, and they seemed to get along well with each other.
But he knew that this was because he had not yet touched upon his core interests, otherwise it would surely cause rejection and backlash. He, the Minister of the Ministry of War, looked majestic, but in fact he was just a puppet...
After drinking a cup of tea, Zhang Xingcheng coughed lightly and looked at Liu Shi: "Now that most of the foundry bureau has been rebuilt, and some workshops have resumed production. I wonder what types and quantities of ordnance are produced every day?"
Liu Shi quickly put down his tea cup, with a respectful expression: "Previously, the foundry was almost razed to the ground, the craftsmen were dispersed, and the equipment was damaged. In fact, can it be restored to the previous situation in a moment? The daily production volume is almost negligible."
Zhang Xingcheng's face froze, and as expected, as soon as his core interests were touched, he began to resist and reject...
He held back his anger: "No matter how small it is, there must be a number, right? I am the Minister of the Ministry of War, and I have the right to investigate any affairs within the ministry. I must not only know the situation of ordnance production, but also reasonably distribute the produced ordnance to various military units.中. Now you are being vague, what do you really want?"
He knew that the Ministry of War was Fang Jun's territory. Even if he became the Minister of the Ministry of War, he could not do what he said and follow the rules. It was necessary for his subordinates to violate the rules, but he still did not expect that the entire Ministry of War was completely monolithic. He, the Minister of the Ministry of War, Even in ordinary times, you have to think twice when instructing a scribe, otherwise you may be rejected in person and lose face...
This is his current situation in the Ministry of War. He is held in high esteem by his subordinates every day and treated with great respect, but he cannot get involved in the affairs of the Ministry of War at all.
Originally, this situation should be solved slowly, but the Fang family held a banquet for Wenju, and he went there uninvited but was humiliated by Fang Jun. This made him feel so angry that he couldn't care too much, and tried to straighten out the internal affairs of the Ministry of War as soon as possible and completely Hold the power.
So today is uncharacteristically a bit aggressive.
Gu Fu/span Liu Xi looked down and lowered his head.
Zhang Xingcheng ignored Liu Shi. This man was the uncle of the wife of the King of Jin, but he was definitely the second-in-law's bastard. Then he looked at Cui Dunli and asked, "What did Cui Shilang say?"
Although his "airborne landing" at the Ministry of War actually blocked Cui Dunli's path, both sides are from Shandong aristocratic families. At this time, shouldn't they abandon their past grudges and deal with the outside world unanimously?
Cui Dunli was drinking tea slowly on the side. When he heard the sound, he put down his tea cup with a respectful attitude and sighed: "Zhang Shangshu, please don't embarrass Mr. Liu. The Foundry Bureau is an important place of the Ministry of War. It is of great importance and is related to the interests and status of our Ministry of War. The Foundry Bureau occupies The land is extremely vast, there are many buildings, and many new water conservancy machines need to be built. Currently, the reconstruction funds are stretched thin. You are our Shangguan, the official Minister of the Ministry of War. At this time, you are duty-bound to solve the funding gap."
Zhang Xingcheng held a breath in his chest and laughed out loud.
I asked you to mediate and help me control the military department. Instead of cooperating, you assigned me an extremely difficult task?
Do you still want me to pay for it?
Mother!
But Qi Guiqi, he also knew that Fang Jun ran the military department like an iron barrel, and he could only try slowly to fully control the military department, but he couldn't rush it. And if the chief officer of a department wants to control everything, establishing prestige is the key.
It is inevitable, and the best way to establish prestige is naturally to solve difficult problems.
Although he didn't know how much money it would cost to rebuild the Foundry Bureau, he also knew that it must be a huge number. After all, it was an important department that developed firearms and equipped the entire army.
Shandong's aristocratic families are very wealthy, each family has a deep foundation and a lot of money. If it can help them control the Ministry of War, they will definitely donate generously.
Furthermore, as long as money and silk are injected into the Foundry Bureau, the reconstruction of the Foundry Bureau will be in hand. It is not difficult to appropriately place cronies to achieve the goal of completely controlling the Foundry Bureau...
In difficulties, there are opportunities.
He cheered up, ignored Cui Dunli's difficulties, and asked: "How much money and silk are needed to rebuild the Foundry Bureau?"
Cui Dunli touched his beard under his chin, avoided answering, and turned to look at Liu Shi: "Since the day the foundry bureau was established, Mr. Liu has been in charge of managing it. He has worked hard and made great achievements, and he is also familiar with all the affairs of the foundry bureau...
You have to ask Dr. Liu for the money needed for reconstruction."
Liu Shi understood and said respectfully: "It will probably take another five hundred thousand guan."
"What?!"
Zhang Xingcheng's eyes widened and he looked directly at Liu Shi: "Five...five hundred thousand guan?"
Are you wrong, or do you think I'm stupid?
Nowadays, relying on the prosperous maritime trade and commercial tax reform, the empire's central finance has made a huge leap, almost five times more than in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China. But even so, the annual central finance income is only more than 40 million yuan... Rebuilding a foundry bureau
, actually costing one-eighty-tenth of the empire’s annual wealth?
Simply ridiculous.
That's too much!
The angry look on his face made his subordinates dissatisfied...
Liu Shi made a sad face: "I dare not lie even half a word. The reconstruction accounts are clear and clear. Every expenditure is well-documented. The account books are neat and tidy. Otherwise, if I are investigated by the censor, how many heads will I have?"
Enough to cut?"
Cui Dunli, who was next to him, put down his tea cup and said with a cold expression: "The account book of the Foundry Bureau has always been supervised by me. Every transaction must be signed by me after reviewing it. Zhang Shangshu didn't believe it. He suspected that I was lining his own pockets and being greedy.
For personal gain? However, although Zhang Shangshu is an official, he does not have the power of supervision. If he is determined to be corrupt, he can report it to the Yushitai, or even file a complaint in front of His Majesty. However, he must not question his character in this way.
Morality and conduct should not be slandered!"
Guo Fushan is a good old man. He was not dissatisfied with being blocked by Cui Dunli before. Now Zhang Xingcheng is parachuted in and has no expression. He only wants to do something in the yamen and support the children of several clans. When he is old, he will retire and no longer care about these officials.
thing.
Seeing the tense situation between the two sides at this moment, he thought for a while and advised: "Zhang Shangshu has just arrived, so he must not know the scale and importance of the foundry bureau. To be honest, this is just a reconstruction. After all, although the foundry bureau was damaged at the beginning, there are still many places in the foundry bureau.
The foundation is still there, so there is no need to re-select the site, level the land, or design the whole thing... I think back then, when Duke Yue led us to establish the foundry, it cost no less than a million dollars."
Zhang Xingcheng was angry and surprised at the same time.
Is it possible that this foundry is really made of copper coins?
Simply appalling.
Several subordinates unanimously expressed their dissatisfaction to him, saying that he was not as good as Fang Jun, which made him more and more angry. When did I accuse you Cui Dunli of being greedy? As the Minister of the Ministry of War, can't you even ask questions about the affairs of the Ministry of War?
?
You can't bully people to this extent!
But faced with such a huge money gap, there is nothing we can do...