"Hey! Where did this henchman come from? He even smashed the official platform of Lord Shangshu?"
Xia Shang was shouting in the hall, and finally someone came out.
This man was about forty or fifty years old. He was wearing a brand-new official uniform. Looking at the patterns on the official uniform, it was exactly the same as that of the missing Jia Shangjie.
Without his own introduction, Xia Shang knew that this person was the new official who had come to take over the position of Minister of Household Affairs.
What he said before had the meaning of accountability, but looking at his smiling face and the way he stared at Xia Shang, it was not clear whether he was joking or taking it seriously.
It's just that this man's appearance is beginning to look old, he looks a bit old-fashioned and gloomy, and his body is very thin, which is completely different from the previous pot-bellied Jia Shangjie.
Xia Shang glanced up and down, but did not reply to his words. Instead, he looked at the young official nearest to him and asked, "Who is he?"
"This is Mr. Xu, the newly appointed Minister of Household Affairs of the imperial court."
"Master Xu?"
"Xu Renjiang, it's a pleasure to meet you..." The other party continued to smile, and he bowed his hand politely to Xia Shang.
Xia Shang also bowed his hand: "Looking at Master Xu, he should know Xiaguan, so Xiaguan doesn't need to introduce himself."
"Master Xia Shangxia, the former head of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, in the capital, apart from the prince, is a big shot who can cover the sky with one hand. He has the courage to offend the entire imperial court with one person. With one order, he killed three parts of the imperial court.
One of the officials, with such a great reputation, in today's capital officialdom, who would not know the name of Lord Xia Shangxia? Even though he is just a small treasury chief, as the saying goes, a hundred-legged insect dies.
Don't be stiff. If anyone dares to offend Mr. Xia, I'm afraid he won't get any good results."
Xia Shang saw that he talked about a lot of his deeds in an understatement, but there was not much emotion on his face, as if he didn't care at all, and he thought to himself that this guy might not be simple either.
"Since your Excellency knows many of Xiaguan's deeds, how about your origin?"
"I don't know where I came from. I just heard last night that Mr. Jia Shangjie left in a hurry. The prince temporarily transferred his official to take over the position of Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. The incident happened suddenly. There was no preparation, so there was nothing to say. Compared with Mr. Xia,
Get up, I, Xu, am just a lonely person
A nameless little character. It's not necessary to ask anything."
Xia Shang understood. It turned out that the other party was directly installed by the prince. With the prince's support behind him, he naturally didn't care about Xia Shang.
"I just heard Mr. Xia clamoring to find Mr. Jia Shangjie. I think this is no longer necessary. From now on, I, Xu Renjiang, will be responsible for all matters in the household department. If Mr. Xia needs advice, just tell me.
That’s it.”
Xia Shang frowned. It was not that he was afraid of such a person he had never heard of before, but his previous plan was to use Jia Shangjie's name to let him promote the New Deal in the court.
Now that Jia Shangjie has left, Xia Shang's position is not enough for him to come forward in person, and there is currently no one to serve as Xia Shang's vanguard.
The Xu Renjiang in front of him was under the command of the prince, so he would naturally not go into battle for Xia Shang's plan. How to find a suitable candidate was a new problem.
Although there is a minister from the Ministry of Rites who will obviously help Xia and Shang, "lending national debt" is a job of the Ministry of Revenue, and cannot be done through officials from other departments. That would be inappropriate.
After much deliberation, I still need to find someone from the household department.
The best choice for this candidate is to be the Minister, because the official is the largest, and when it comes to such serious matters as the New Deal, it is natural for someone with a higher official position to speak, and the more agreeable and appropriate it is.
Now, Xia Shang had two choices before him, either to support someone to take over Xu Renjiang's position as minister, or to bribe Xu Renjiang to make him willing to work for him.
Neither of these two methods can be achieved easily.
Supporting one person to rise to power will inevitably lead to a struggle with the prince. The process is very complicated and will definitely be a long and variable job.
It would be even more difficult to bribe Xu Renjiang. Since the other party was placed by the prince in the Ministry of Household Affairs to monitor Xia Shang, then the other party was naturally trusted by the prince, otherwise he would not have arranged such a job for him.
However, in the world of Xia and Shang, nothing is impossible.
There are only so many cronies around the prince. It is impossible for everyone to be a crony, and it is impossible for everyone to be absolutely loyal.
Because true loyalty must be exchanged for sincerity. How can the prince have so many sincerities for his subordinates?
As the saying goes, as long as the hoe digs well, there is no corner that cannot be dug down.
Xia Shang thought about it, feeling that there was something interesting about this matter, and his face showed a little joy inadvertently. Looking at Xu Renjiang in front of him, both lights were shining, which was particularly strange.
Xu Renjiang is a middle-aged man who is more than halfway through his life. He has never seen a man look at him with such greedy eyes in his life. Xia Shang was instantly made cold hair stand on end by Xia Shang. He wondered if he had any special hobbies?
Even if he has a special hobby, it shouldn't be on me... Could it be that... I look charming and still young and powerful?
"Ahem..." Xu Renjiang coughed twice and inadvertently puffed up his chest, "Mr. Xia, what are you thinking about?"
Xia Shang immediately stopped his expression: "Now that we know each other, there's nothing more to say. I'm going to visit the Xiao family now."
"Wait!" Xu Renjiang hurriedly stopped Xia Shang, "Are you talking about the Xiao family who lent 1.4 million taels to the Ministry of Household Affairs?"
"Exactly."
"I am about to find you because of this! How can you have the final say on such a big matter? Didn't you see in the court yesterday how much opinions the civil and military officials of the entire court had on your new deal? Why?
Did you do it just as you said?"
"This is not something I will do just because I say it. This is also the intention of the former Shangshu Jia Shangjie. Without his official seal, the lower officials would really not dare to do this. If Mr. Xu has any opinions on this, you can go to Jia Shangjie.
Sir, tell me to go."
"Master Jia has resigned and left. Now I am the Minister of Household Affairs, so I have the right to reconsider the matter. I believe that cooperation with the Xiao family should be terminated immediately and everything should be restored to the original state."
"Restore everything to its original state?" Xia Shang sneered, looking at Xu Renjiang as if he were a fool, "Is this suggestion the prince's intention?"
"This is my own intention."
"Then Mr. Xu probably doesn't have a thorough understanding of the situation in the Household Department. Ask your colleagues present, who is willing to stop cooperating with the Xiao family? That's 1.4 million taels of real money, really.
The money not only solved the urgent need of the Ministry of Finance, but also gave the Ministry of Finance a lot of room for maneuver. If you terminate the cooperation with the Xiao family, do you mean to return all the money? Or do you want to steal the money of ordinary people's families?