"You tend to avoid the important and take the easy. Your good apprentice said it was a preface to discuss with Gu Chengyu. However, I asked him some questions related to the law, but he couldn't answer them. I believe you have already made up your mind about the facts.
.Xia Aiqing! The character of your disciple is not good!"
The emperor glanced at Xia Qing and said seriously.
Xia Qing hurriedly kowtowed to the emperor and admitted his mistake, "Please forgive me! Mr. Min Feng has done nothing, and it is inevitable that his character will be affected when he first entered the officialdom. Please forgive him for the sake of the old minister."
Xia Qing naturally didn't dare to get up if the emperor didn't wake him up. Besides, Min Feng still needs to change his mind.
When the emperor saw that Xia Qing had surrendered, he also sighed in his heart. Xia Qing was somewhat sincere towards Min Feng and could even intercede for Min Feng.
He looked at Xia Qing who was kneeling down and saw that there were already silver threads on his temples. He couldn't help but think of Xia Qing who followed him when he was still the prince.
After he ascended the throne, he was diligent and conscientious. Although he was now arrogant, he never colluded with the princes.
"Xia Aiqing, you are an old minister, and you have shared a lot of my worries over the years. But you should know how to deal with the crime of deceiving the emperor."
Even though the emperor has softened his heart, he will never allow anyone to despise the imperial power.
Although there is no basis for this matter, he is the emperor. If he says it is a crime of deceiving the emperor, then it is a crime of deceiving the emperor. Who dares to object?
When Xia Qing heard this, he knew that a big price had to be paid. If the emperor really wanted to punish Min Feng for deceiving the emperor, he didn't need to wait for him to come over and made the decree directly.
Xia Qing thought for a while and remembered that the Minister of War had presented a book to the court a few days ago.
It is said that the soldiers guarding the border have been delayed for more than four months. If the imperial court does not pay them, those soldiers will even run out of food.
After hearing this, the emperor became furious and asked the Ministry of Revenue why the salary was not paid. However, the Ministry of Revenue said there was no salary and kept crying about poverty. The emperor was so angry that he almost fell ill.
Everyone in the government knows that the Ministry of Finance has no money. But it is impossible to say that there is no money at all. Instead of making up for everything, just two months is enough.
However, the salary of the soldiers guarding the border is not a small amount, it requires millions of taels.
As the imperial court's purse, if all the money was given to the soldiers guarding the frontiers, how would the Ministry of Hubu be able to get the money if something happened to the imperial court and needed the money?
It was May at this time, and it was also the season in Daxing when the grass was growing and the orioles were flying. Everyone had food and drink, so the possibility of war was very small.
Therefore, the Ministry of Revenue kept delaying and was not in a hurry.
Xia Qing thought for a while, if he could solve this matter for the emperor, the emperor would not only spare Min Feng, but also Long Yan would be very happy for it.
However, this matter is somewhat difficult to handle.
First of all, the emptiness of the national treasury needs to be solved. Secondly, Shen Shikang, the Minister of Household Affairs, has a bad relationship with him. If he goes to find Shen Shikang, it goes without saying that he will definitely come back disappointed.
He had to think carefully and see who in the court could open this mouth.
If Shen Shikang could be caught, the matter would naturally be solved. But Shen Shikang is a cunning and cunning person. They have been officials in the same court for so many years, but no one has been able to catch Shen Shikang.
The second prince has a pure character. He seems to be mediocre and incompetent, but there is nothing that anyone can do to catch him.
For those trivial matters, just putting eye drops in front of the emperor on weekdays would not work here.
For a moment, Xia Qing suddenly felt that he had no idea what to do.
At present, the emperor's biggest headache is payment, and everything else has to be put aside.
Xia Qing was cruel, and even if he racked his brains, he still had to solve the matter for the emperor. Besides, the emperor had become more and more indifferent to him recently, so it was time to make some achievements.
After thinking about this, Xia Qing thought about it for a while and then said: "Please forgive me, Your Majesty! It was Wei Chen's incompetent teaching that made him do such wrong things. Please give Wei Chen a chance to atone for his sins."
."
The emperor took a deep look at Xia Qing. Since Xia Qing has surrendered, don't blame him for passing the blame.
It happened that he was worried about border wages. Although Hu Bu was crying about poverty, it was also a fact, so he did not force Hu Bu to provide money.
He didn't care what method Xia Qing used, as long as he didn't plunder people's wealth and money, he could find a way to settle the one-month silver owed by the border officials.
He only needed to make up for one month and use the remaining money to send some food to the soldiers guarding the border, and he would no longer pursue Min Feng's fault.
As for the other three months, we can only postpone it any longer.
The emperor sat down in front of the royal cabinet, feeling exhausted physically and mentally. He had been unable to sleep at night for the past few days, all because of this matter.
If border pay continues to be delayed like this, it will definitely arouse dissatisfaction among the soldiers guarding the border. This matter is already imminent.
"Now the treasury is empty, as you know. The Ministry of Revenue cannot come up with any money, so they come here to complain to me about poverty. The soldiers guarding the border are already owed several months of pay. Do you have any good ideas?"
The emperor looked at Xia Qing, stopped beating around the bush and spoke directly.
Xia Qing did not expect that the emperor would raise this matter directly. It seemed that the emperor was also very anxious.
"Reporting to the Emperor, I think we still have to find a solution from the Ministry of Revenue. The Ministry of Revenue is not without money, but Shen Shangshu refuses to take it out. Wei Chen feels that the top priority is to ask the Ministry of Revenue to come up with the money first and send it as a gift.
We should go to the frontier to solve our urgent needs."
The emperor frowned. Xia Qing didn't know that the Ministry of Revenue had no money.
But they also said that the Ministry of Revenue should come up with emergency measures first. But if the national treasury is empty and something big happens, such as a local flood, wouldn't it mean that we can only watch it?
"There is no money in the treasury, don't you know? If the Ministry of Household Affairs can get the money, then why should I worry?"
Before he could think of a way to replenish the treasury, the remaining money in the treasury must not be touched. The emperor couldn't help but feel disappointed with Xia Qing.
After all, there is no sure way.
"Your Majesty! The reason why the treasury is not full is because the imperial court does not have much income, and the ministers thought it would be better to raise the taxes on the merchants. Those merchants are extremely rich, so they have to do their best for the imperial court."
Xia Qing had long criticized the taxation of merchants. It was easy for merchants to make money, but the tax money collected by the court was not as much as the tax revenue from land.
It is absolutely impossible to raise taxes on land. Originally, the taxes on the people were only about 50%. Without going through famine years, they could still barely make ends meet.
So up to now, land property tax, capitation tax and salt and iron tax have become the main taxes of this dynasty.
But those merchants were all full of fat, and he had long wanted to bite off a piece of fat from their bodies.
However, it is not easy to raise taxes. Most of the big businessmen have backers, and I don’t know which officials are standing behind them.
Besides, there must be a reason for raising taxes. If the tax is raised on the original basis, it will naturally make those merchants lament. Therefore, the name must be cleverly established.
The emperor thought about it after hearing this. The merchants naturally had money, but if they wanted to get money from them, they had to have a name.
It's not that I haven't thought about it before, but five years ago, various commercial taxes were already increased by 10% compared with the original level. If they were to increase further, it would be unjustifiable.
"Do you have a plan for this matter?" The officials in the Manchu Dynasty were at a loss what to do. He wanted to see what good ideas Xia Qing could come up with.