Jia Ke was still a little unwilling and continued to say to the emperor: "Your Majesty, we can raise this money from other places. There is no need to touch the silver in these rivers. This is life-saving money for people everywhere."
Liu Wan looked at Jia Ke arguing below and felt a little confused. Could it be that the governor of Hedao also gave Jia Ke a lot of money? Otherwise, why would Jia Ke work so hard to fight for Hedao's interests?
At this time, the emperor heard Jia Ke talk about other ways to make money, and he also became interested. If there was another way to make money, then the river's silver would not be used. After all, the emperor still knew how to use it, but this time he was a little reluctant to give it up.
The silver in the inner treasury.
Seeing that the emperor was already a little shaken, Jia Ke quickly said: "Your Majesty, the way is to suspend the salary of all officials this year. The money saved in this way will be enough to make up for the loss of the river. What do you think, Your Majesty?"
Tian Ye listened to this method below and couldn't help but applaud in his heart. Nowadays, several officials at all levels rely on salaries to survive. If the money is saved, it can be used to make up for the river.
When the emperor heard what Jia Ke said, his heart was spinning. He actually knew that corruption was common among officials in various places, and he originally wanted to vigorously rectify it. But now that the emperor is still here, he cannot change the emperor's national policy because of this, otherwise he will be labeled as unfilial.
If you take it down, he won't look good in the history books of later generations.
But if the salaries of all officials are stopped at this time, then they have more reason to start robbing the people. If they stop paying them one hundred taels, they can extract one thousand taels from the people. This is absolutely impossible.
OK.
Besides, if you really raise this money, how will you deal with Jia Ke?
So the emperor could only tactfully say to Jia Ke: "Jia Aiqing was born in a noble family. Who knows how hard it is for officials who come from poor families? Without their salaries, how will they live? This matter will never be mentioned again."
Jia Ke had long known that this method would not work, but he just wanted to pave the way for the following method, so he immediately said: "Your Majesty, since this method does not work, then I still have a way to solve the problem."
The emperor was very impatient with Jia Ke nagging here, but as the foreman of the Military Aircraft Department, Jia Ke had to listen to his words, so he said with an unhappy face: "It's already getting late.
, if you have anything to say, just say it quickly."
"Your Majesty can't stop the salaries of civil and military officials all over the world, so you can ask the salt gangs in Jianghuai and the merchant gangs in Huizhou and Shanxi to contribute. With their financial resources, it is easy to collect more than one million taels of silver. I don't know that the emperor
What do you think?" Jia Ke finally stated the purpose in his heart. Since he became the foreman of the Military Aircraft Department, he has paid great attention to these business gangs. The taxes paid by these people every year are very little. And
Their incomes are seriously inconsistent. Now it is appropriate for the court to ask them to contribute some silver. If they agree to pay it back, then they will pay it back. If they don't agree, they will directly send troops to the door to ransack their homes. As long as one or two houses are ransacked, the money will be lost.
We have it all. By then, let alone one or two million, we can get it even one or two million.
Jia Ke reiterated his words like this, firstly because he wanted to test the emperor's attitude. The emperor was too decisive in rejecting Liu Yu just now. This made Jia Ke wonder if the emperor had any connection with these business gangs.
If the emperor really had secret deals with these business gangs, it would be a big trouble for Jia Ke to rule the world in the future.
The power of these merchant gangs is not only money, but the most important thing is that they exchange what they have. The north-south transportation allows the wealth of the world to flow. Even if Jia Ke is in charge of the world, he can't do anything to them at once. He can only support them slowly.
One faction suppresses the other to achieve their goals.
Another one is that Liu Yu's method is considered the best solution now. If it can be realized, Jia Ke will not have to pay out of his own pocket to supplement the food and salary of his direct troops.
Before Jia Ke finished speaking, before the emperor could react, Liu Wan, the Minister of Household Affairs next to him, had already jumped out. He had now put aside his fear of Jia Ke and said directly to Jia Ke indignantly.
: "Jia Ke, what do you want to do? Do you want to seize the people's property for nothing? If every minister is like you, why do you need the laws of the dynasty? The emperor has no money, just go and rob it. The world is really
It's a big mess." Especially the last sentence, his tone was very serious.
At that time, Liu Wan was really afraid that the emperor would agree to Jia Ke. Liu Wan knew how powerful these three business gangs were in the court. Almost every official in the court received and sent a large number of gifts from them every year. If the emperor opened the
If you follow this precedent, you will probably become an enemy of the civil servants in the world.
The emperor originally thought that if there was really no other way, his plan would not succeed, and Jia Ke would fight to the death not to reduce the military pay of his direct troops. When the time came, he, the emperor, would really have nothing to do with him, so he had to compromise in the end.
When the time comes, it will be difficult to collect the water. Since it is short, we can't talk about the three hundred taels of silver. Even if we are just pretending, we still have to collect these 3 million silver cars. At that time, we can only eliminate the Jianghuai salt merchants and let the other two major merchants help out.
After all, this money will further increase the burden on the people without compromising the salaries of officials all over the world. It is indeed a solution that has the best of both worlds.
But now that Liu Wan suddenly made a statement that disturbed her, she immediately understood what Liu Wan meant. Liu Wan was reminding herself of the power of the three major business gangs. These three major business gangs were the main chaebols in the Central Plains and had connections with them.
There are officials all over the imperial court. As long as I make this decree, I am afraid that the officials all over the court who are admonishing me will lift the roof of the Qianqing Palace. With such a large force attacking me at the same time, I am afraid I will have to compromise in the end. In the end
It's just a disgrace.
Thinking of this, the emperor glared at Jia Ke fiercely. This Jia Ke was digging holes for himself anytime and anywhere. If he listened to his two methods, his prestige would definitely plummet in the future. If there was a big fuss in the end, the Supreme Emperor would even have
May sacrifice oneself in exchange for peace in the world.
After the emperor thought about this, he said to Jia Ke with a gloomy face: "I have made up my mind, you don't need to say anymore. Since there is nothing to do, you can just retreat."
After the emperor said this, he went directly into the back room of Dongnuan Pavilion and left Jia Ke and several ministers hanging in the main hall.
Everyone looked at each other and could only exit the hall and walk towards the military aircraft.
After the emperor entered the inner palace, Xia Shouzhong followed closely and came to the emperor's side, "Long live your Lord, what should we do with that money?"
The emperor sat on the throne, took the fragrant tea sent by the maid next to him, took a sip, and then said: "What's in this? Since it's in our inner treasury, you can use it without worry."
After Xia Shouzhong heard the emperor's words, he felt a little scared. This money was not easy to get. On the surface, the emperor was behind him, but once the incident came to light, he would not be able to save his head.
"Long live my Lord, my slave has something you don't know whether to say or not?"
"You old man, we are the only ones here who have nothing to say to you."
"Since Lord Long Live said this, I dare to say this. Lord Long Live, it would be better for me to find a way to return this money to the Ministry of Accounts."
After hearing this, the emperor's face became a little gloomy, and he put the teacup in his hand hard on the wooden table next to him.
There was a bang, which made Xia Shouzhong's soul fly away. He quickly fell to his knees and kept kowtowing.
The emperor sat like this until Xia Shouzhong knocked his head until it bled, and then he said to him: "From now on, you must not interfere with the affairs of the previous dynasty, or I will skin you next time."
After the emperor said these words, he ignored Xia Shouzhong who was kneeling on the ground, turned around and went back to the inner palace. Gao Yun, the young eunuch who was following the emperor next to him, glanced at Xia Shouzhong sideways before following the emperor out, wondering what he was doing here.
He said a few slanderous words in front of the emperor and took away half of Xia Shouzhong's power.
Xia Shouzhong didn't dare to stand up until the emperor left for a long time. Then he went back to his room silently. At that time, he was a little disappointed. He had dedicated his whole life for the emperor, but he didn't expect that the emperor was still so ruthless.
On the way out of the Yangxin Hall, Tianye, the censor of Zuodu, came to Jia Ke quickly and said loudly: "Master Jia, I misjudged you before. I didn't expect that among so many military and aircraft ministers,
Only you and I can truly serve the country and the people."
Tian Ye agreed very much with the two suggestions Jia Ke made to the emperor just now in the Golden Palace, but the emperor was afraid of the forces behind these people and compromised, which made Tian Ye very angry. He now felt that if
If there are more treacherous officials like Jia Ke in the world, the world will be more peaceful.
As the censor of Zuodu, Tian Ye has a clear understanding of today's official governance. Now it has reached a point where it must be rectified, otherwise the officials will force the people to rebel in the long run.
The current emperor is also a courageous man, but now all his energy is focused on fighting with Jia Ke. He no longer cares about other things.
After Tian Ye and Jia Ke exchanged a word, they stopped talking and walked silently to the military aircraft.
The other people didn't say anything, especially the emperor's confidants in the Military Aircraft Department. They now understood what happened in Dongnuang Pavilion just now. The emperor had already colluded with the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue at this time, but for such a big matter,
They didn't even discuss it with their confidants. This made them feel a little disappointed.
Their loss is not the most important thing. The most important problem now is that although it seems that this year's tax hole has been filled, the hidden dangers are too great. Whether it is the defense of the north or the problem of the river. These two
As long as a random problem arises, the court may be in turmoil.
Liu Yu, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, really disagrees with the emperor's method. This idea is simply to kill three hundred enemies and lose one thousand. Now his only hope is that the Tatars will not invade, and that this year's rainfall will not be like previous years.
Otherwise, the river embankments built since the founding of the People's Republic of China may not be enough to protect against heavy rains.
And Old Hanlin Meng Ming was also furious now. When they walked to the door of the Military Aircraft Department, Old Hanlin suddenly raised his hands to them and said: "Everyone, today's matter is of great importance. I'm afraid I have to report it to the Supreme Emperor. Today we will I won’t go to the military aircraft department anymore. If there is nothing important for me to deal with, I will take my leave now."
Everyone saw that Old Meng Ming did not hide anything and directly said that he was going to complain to the Supreme Emperor. They all felt a little cute about his character.
After Lao Mengming said goodbye to everyone, he went directly to the outside of Qianqing Palace and asked the eunuch there to inform him of his entry into Ningshou Palace. Soon a eunuch came out and introduced him to the harem.
And Liu Wan, the Minister of Household Affairs, no longer wants to stay here at this time. Now that the five military ministers have opinions about him, his future life can be imagined. His only thought now is to hug the emperor's lap and hope that he will be in the future. When in trouble, the emperor can help him.