Li Liang, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, who had been watching from the sidelines since just now, was full of pain at this moment.
Allowing the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works to build their own treasury and take charge of their respective financial revenues and expenditures is a very remarkable thing.
I remember that after the examination fraud case, the Ministry of Personnel, once the head of the six ministries, suddenly fell from the top of its power and was shattered into pieces: the right to organize the imperial examination was handed over to the Ministry of Rites, and the right to supervise officials was even more severe.
It was completely stripped out and a new Yushitai was built.
Once upon a time, officials in the Ministry of Civil Affairs held a powerful tool for monitoring and evaluating performance.
If any official from the other five ministries offends an official from the Ministry of Personnel, then the official from the Ministry of Personnel will mainly comment on the other party's political performance with one or two comments about "official misconduct", which is enough to make the other party suffer.
.
But now, times have changed. With the rise of the Yushitai, the power of the Ministry of Personnel has been deteriorating. It is no longer the situation in the past when one Ministry of Personnel and Government offices dominated the other five departments.
This makes the officials who once walked with their heads held high and wished they had eyes on their heads can now only behave honestly with their tail between their legs.
While the Ministry of Personnel suffered a setback, the Ministry of Finance gradually began to take the lead.
It is no exaggeration to say that in the past, apart from the officials, the Ministry of Revenue was afraid of no one. After all, the officials of the Ministry of Revenue controlled the treasury, economy, and warehouses of the Wei Dynasty. To put it simply, the officials in the Wei Dynasty were responsible for every year.
The monthly salary is determined by the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Not to mention the big money-consuming households like the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry. Every year when it’s time to prepare new armaments or prepare to build any major projects, officials from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry are like begging grandpa to sue grandma, pleading with officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Be able to pay quickly instead of delaying for a while intentionally or unintentionally.
The Ministry of War has always been aggrieved by this, because they have to ask for huge military expenditures from the Ministry of Household Affairs every year, and part of this military expenditure is used to pay the salaries of the domestic guards and garrison troops, and part of it is used to develop and build new weapons.
Military equipment.
For example, the iron shields held by the Wei soldiers in Junshui Camp were all made by the blacksmiths of the Military Casting Bureau under the Ministry of War.
The garrison troops are fine, but like the Junshui Camp and the Dangshan Camp, the garrison men are not easy to take care of. They have to scold them if they owe military expenses, they have to scold them for being late for military pay, and they have to scold the new equipment for not being good. Anyway, in the eyes of the officials of the Ministry of War
Come on. Those military men in the garrison, besides training all day and night, they scold their military department.
But the most fundamental reason for the problem lies with their Ministry of War? How could it not be because the Ministry of Revenue was slow to pay the military expenditure?
Therefore, although the relationship between the Ministry of War and the military is not good, in fact, the relationship between them and the Ministry of Household Affairs is even worse.
In a word: if they do well, it is what they should do; if they do not do enough, even if the fault lies with the Ministry of Revenue, they can only silently take the blame and be pointed at and scolded by the military bosses in the garrison.
The experience of the Ministry of Industry is even more worthy of sympathy. As the government agency responsible for the country's infrastructure construction, they help the Ministry of War (making iron) and the Ministry of Household (casting large molds for printing copper coins), just like in the Wei Dynasty.
They did all the dirtiest and most tiring work, but as a result, their position in the Work Department was always at the bottom of the Six Departments.
How long has it been since the idea of opening up the wasteland of Sanchuan was proposed? But the Ministry of Works has not yet recruited enough labor. Why?
Apart from the fact that the population of Wei was not as dense as that of Chu, wasn't the main reason the Ministry of Industry lacked money?
Otherwise, if a lot of money is spent, how can the Wei Dynasty, with a population of four to six million, really recruit less than 100,000 laborers?
In a word, both the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry are fed up with the pain of being restricted by the Ministry of Household Affairs in terms of funds. They can't wait for the Ministry of Household Affairs to have all the funds needed for that year at the beginning of every spring, instead of letting them spend time and time again.
I went to urge him again and again, and again and again I was stalled by officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs with various excuses.
Because of this, when Zhao Hongrun put forward this suggestion, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry, two brothers and sisters who were big spenders of money, suddenly changed from the bickering mode just now to sharing the same hatred and staring at the many officials in the Ministry of Household.
.Especially Li Liang, the Minister of Household Affairs.
Seeing this scene, Li Liang, the Minister of Household Affairs, wanted to find a sword and stab his deputy, Zuo Shilang Fan Xiang, to death.
If this guy hadn't provoked trouble against His Highness Prince Su, how would His Highness Prince Su have come up with such a vicious plan to remove the firepower from under the cauldron, as if to peel off the skin from the cramps in the household?
Haha, allow the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry to build treasury and take charge of financial revenue and expenditure respectively?
Then what will their Ministry of Households do in the future? It specializes in raising funds for the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry. It frees up the money handed over from the whole country and immediately transfers it to these two ministries?
Thinking of this, even though Li Liang, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, had already decided to ignore this matter that Fan Xian had instigated, at this moment, he couldn't sit still, because if he couldn't make Zhao Hongrun give up this idea, then not only would
In the future, the Ministry of Household Affairs will not be able to replace the former position of the Ministry of Personnel, and will even "raise" two bosses: the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry.
"Your Highness, this is not appropriate..." Li Liang said with a bitter smile.
"Oh?" Zhao Hongrun smiled slightly, shook his head and said, "But I don't think so. As far as I know, in the past, the way the Ministry of Household Affairs transferred funds to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry was through real-time reports from the two ministries.
…”
The so-called real-time report, for example, is that the Ministry of War is currently preparing to build a new armament. If it costs millions of dollars, then the Ministry of War will submit an approximate amount to the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the Ministry of Household Affairs will submit the report after receiving the report.
, transport the required iron, coal, wood and part of the funds to the Ministry of War through the warehouse, which is also responsible for the transportation of national resources. When the materials are in place, the Ministry of War will notify the Ordnance and Casting Bureau to build armaments.
This process can take at least two or three months, or at most half a year, plus the time it takes for the Ministry of War to build armaments and the time to transport this armaments to the garrison. It is no wonder that the garrison troops scold the Ministry of War every time.
The more serious problem is that if the Ministry of War needs another expenditure that year, they will have to repeat the process of submitting statements to the Ministry of Household Affairs. In Zhao Hongrun's view, these can be made more concise.
"... Therefore, I feel that it is better to do this. At the beginning of every spring, the Ministry of Household Affairs will formulate a distribution plan and transfer the tax revenue earned by the Wei Dynasty last year to the treasury of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry according to a certain proportion. And this
The use of the money is decided by the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry through negotiation. However, each expenditure must be recorded in detail and handed over to the Ministry of Household Affairs at the end of the year. The Ministry of Household Affairs, or even an adult from the Yushitai, can help supervise it.
, liquidate the treasury and account books... In addition, if there is a surplus of money in the current year, it will be accumulated to the next year. This is repeated every year."
After hearing Zhao Hongrun's words, Xu Guan, the left minister of the Ministry of War, and Meng Wei, the left minister of the Ministry of Works, were elated.
In their view, regardless of whether Zhao Hongrun's move is considered a "sanction" against the Ministry of Household Affairs, it is undeniable that this method of operation can greatly shorten the time to raise funds before the project. Furthermore, it will not be used during the project.
Furthermore, the project was temporarily shelved due to delays by the Ministry of Revenue, and days were wasted. It can be said that the constraints of the Ministry of Revenue on the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works were completely lifted.
However, Li Liang heard what Zhao Hongrun said. The Minister of the Ministry of Revenue did not agree.
In fact, not only Li Liang, I believe that any household official in the palace at this moment will not willingly accept Zhao Hongrun's suggestion.
After all, once this suggestion is acquiesced, it means that the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry will suddenly become the bosses of their Ministry of Household Affairs, and the status of their Ministry of Household Affairs in the court will plummet, and they will be reduced to serving the two consumption departments of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry.
Moneymakers do the errands of raising funds and transporting necessary supplies.
How can you endure this?
But the problem is that His Highness King Su was so conclusive and logical that they really didn't know how to raise objections.
I believe that at this moment, the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs hated Zuo Shilang Fan Xiang in their hearts. After all, the situation developed to this point because of this guy's instigation of trouble.
However, hate comes back to hate, and we still have to face what we should face.
After a long time, He Yang, the Secretary of the Department of Household Affairs, said bravely: "The suggestion put forward by His Royal Highness Prince Su is indeed unique, but in my opinion, if the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry set up private treasury, then I
What’s the point of the treasury in the Ministry of Revenue? Why does our Ministry of Revenue, which is responsible for coordinating national expenditures, continue to exist?”
"Lord Heyang can rest assured of this." Zhao Hongrun smiled and waved his hand and said: "The treasury controlled by the Ministry of Household Affairs is still unique. I just suggested that part of the military expenses and construction needs be delivered to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry in advance.
Furthermore, the purpose of the existence of the Ministry of Household Affairs is not to just guard the money in the treasury?"
"This..." The officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs looked at each other.
At this time, Zhao Hongrun said with a smile: "Of course, I am not a unilateral person. Why don't we raise our hands and vote to see whether there are more in favor or against... As for the candidates to vote for,
, whether it is limited to three adults who are ministers, or includes ministers, ministers, and officials, all are chosen by the Ministry of Household Affairs, how about it?"
Choice? What a choice! Is there any difference?
After hearing this, the household officials in the palace subconsciously looked at Meng Wei, the left minister of the Ministry of Works, and the minister and minister of the Ministry of War, muttering secretly in their hearts.
Among the six departments of the imperial court, which one does not have one minister, two ministers, four ministers, and twelve ministers?
Even if all the officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs voted against it, the votes in favor from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works were still not one-to-two?
Is it possible for their household department to win?
Being bullied so openly, even Li Liang, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, felt a little uncomfortable. He frowned and said: "Your Highness, this way of voting is unfair to me, the Minister of Revenue... a discerning person.
It can be seen that both the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry will vote in favor..."
"That's it..." Zhao Hongrun touched his chin after hearing this, and there seemed to be a ferocious light flashing in his eyes. He suggested with a smile: "In this case, let's invite the six departments of the imperial court to vote together. This is finally fair.
Alright?"
How fair! Then it’s not just one vote to two votes, but maybe one vote to five votes!!
Li Liang, the Minister of Household Affairs, suddenly had a head as big as a bucket.
You know, right now it can only be regarded as a private discussion between their three ministries, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Industry. But if His Highness King Su calls the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Punishment, and the Ministry of Rites, in the end, every ministry will
If they want to build a headquarters treasury, what meaning does the treasury controlled by their household department still have?
Li Liang secretly glanced at Sheyou, the Minister of Rites, and saw that the latter had a strange look on his face and his eyes were moving, and he suddenly felt something bad in his heart.
After Li Huan, Minister of the Ministry of War, Li Liang finally got a taste of the methods of His Highness Prince Su. (To be continued.)