The Prosperous Era of Longwan

"Have you prepared all the evidence? Have you determined the location of the money?"

Lu Bing sat there and asked calmly, while the two royal guards in front of him stood respectfully with their hands lowered.

It was only after hearing Lu Bing's question that one of them took a half step forward and whispered: "Your Majesty Commander, we have verified more than 20 cases according to the files. Thirteen of them have obtained conclusive evidence, and the remaining Either the official involved in the case is dead, or there is no evidence, so it can only be used as supporting evidence for Li Bin’s corruption.”

After saying this, the Baihu official returned to his original position. He was responsible for investigating the case.

After retreating, another person also stepped forward and clasped his fists to report back: "Your Majesty, Commander, the cash collected by Li Bin has been stored in three places. They have all been confirmed. My subordinates have sent people to keep an eye on them. There is not even a mosquito." I want to fly out.”

"Do you have all the witnesses and physical evidence in your hands?"

Lu Bing asked without any expression and his tone was still very calm.

"Everyone is here, there will definitely be no problem."

The person who answered first bowed immediately.

"How much money was involved in the verified case?"

Lu Bing asked.

"More than four hundred thousand taels of silver."

"Well, leave the things here. You have done a good job, and the rewards you deserve will not be less if you come down."

As he spoke, Lu Bing's hand unconsciously rested on the pile of files on the desk in front of him.

Seeing the two people bowing and leaving the yard, Lu Bing looked at the pile of files. This was Li Bin's evidence of embezzlement, but how to present it depended on the timing.

When the report is submitted, if the timing is not grasped well and Emperor Jiajing is not in his heart, big things will become trivial.

As the Eunuch Bingbi, the Supervisor of Ceremonies, Li Bin was naturally somewhat sympathetic to Emperor Jiajing.

Lu Bing quickly calculated in his mind that in fact, for this kind of corruption case, when to report for impeachment, it would naturally be when the emperor was worried about money. Only at this time would the effect of reporting it be maximized.

Lu Bing will not leave any trouble for himself. If he doesn't move, he will definitely kill his opponent if he chooses to take action.

"Four hundred thousand, haha"

Lu Bing couldn't help but laugh when he thought of the verified case of Li Bin's corruption and bending of the law that his subordinates had just reported, and the amount of money involved.

This amount of money is not too much or too little, just enough for the palace to spend the new year happily.

Most of the money that comes out of the Zang Punishment Treasury goes around in a circle and eventually returns to the Zang Punishment Treasury. It is also a natural principle.

Lu Bing found it funny. These eunuchs were also stupid. They were greedy and couldn't enjoy anything, so they just clung to the pile of money. In the end, it either went back to the palace or went into other people's pockets. They were stupid enough.

He picked up a copybook that he copied from the desk and crumpled it into a ball and threw it aside. He also took out a blank memorial from the desk. Lu Bing reached out and picked out a pen from the mountain of pens, silently thinking about how to write this impeachment memorial. Go write.

Wei Guangde was also worried when he returned home. The worry was naturally not that Lu Bing had not taken any action to impeach Li Bin, but that it was the end of the year and he should prepare some gifts for his family to send back.

The canal has been frozen, and this year's winter has arrived.

As soon as I returned home, a family member came to report that the shopkeeper of the Jiujiang Guild Hall had come to deliver a letter. In two days, a caravan would return to Jiujiang by land. I calculated the time and could make it back years ago. I asked Wei Guangde if he had any letters. and things to take back.

In fact, this does not refer to Wei Guangde alone, but Jiujiang officials and businessmen in Beijing will entrust this caravan to bring things back.

Passengers do not know the metabolism of flowers, and letters home only report that bamboos are safe.

Wei Guangde has never returned home since he went to the capital to take the imperial examination. Although there were letters exchanged during this period, Wei Guangde still often wakes up in his dreams and recalls the past at home, the love of his parents, and the care of his brother.

There are past lives and there is this life.

But at this moment, Wei Guangde stood in front of the desk, holding a pen in his hand, but he felt a little like "there are people returning to my hometown day and night, and it is difficult for a writer to write a book."

My family must be happy when I think of myself entering the capital and getting my birth certificate. This can also be seen from the letters. Although most of the letters teach me not to be proud and indulgent, and that the road to officialdom is dangerous and need to be careful at all times, but writing When I wrote the letter, my joy was beyond words.

But after taking office, he seemed to have kept a low profile and kept a low profile. He went to the Xuan Mansion to fight and impeach the prince. It is estimated that when the report was sent to Jiujiang Mansion, the family would be on tenterhooks for a long time.

It's better to write a letter to say that you are safe, and pick some good ginseng from home to send back.

The best thing Wei Guangde has now is naturally the ginseng that is hundreds of years old. He is about to buy out the supply of such high-quality goods in Beijing, but he still has money to spend.

The initial two thousand taels have long been used up, and another two thousand taels of silver have been transferred from Huitong Commercial Bank. Now Wei Guangde only has eight thousand taels of silver left there.

Would you like to send some to Nanjing as well?

Master Sun also had to plan something. If Master Sun hadn't beaten him with a ruler and made Wei Guangde scared, Wei Guangde wouldn't have been able to pass the Jinshi examination even with his handwriting.

As time enters December, the restaurant business in the capital is booming. Most of the officials in Beijing have left their hometowns to come here. In the same year, colleagues and fellow villagers from the provinces and counties have gradually formed small circles.

After the banquets, Wei Guangde felt dizzy for more than ten days in a row, all from drinking.

Wei Guangde is like this, and his colleagues, contemporaries, and fellow villagers are even more like this. Don't forget, Wei Guangde has also practiced.

Unlike many military-registered scholars, their family had already completely escaped from the military household life and merged into the powerful local gentry class, but their household registration was still classified as a military household.

At this time, the Ministry of Accounts is busy with the year-end settlement, and other yamen are almost half-closed. The officials have no intention of working. They just stare at the Ministry of Accounts, waiting for the officials to collect the money and pay for the New Year. .

Forbidden City, East Pavilion.

Although the various cleaning and official departments under the Ministry of Revenue have not settled the accounts for the whole year, there are still a lot of major expenses, so Fang Rui, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, took the time to come to the cabinet today to discuss this new year with the two cabinet ministers. How to get through it.

Since Fang Pu became the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, he has been in charge of the national taxation, money and grain of the Ming Dynasty.

He not only had to face the invasion from the Mongolian Ada Khan tribe and the Japanese pirates along the southern coast, but also had to deal with the treacherous prime minister Yan Song and his son's corruption and perversion of the law, as well as Emperor Jiajing's obsession with Taoism. Take everything from the household department.

Faced with such a complicated and difficult situation, Fang Bui listened to people's opinions, listened to his subordinates' financial management advice, planned in many ways, and ensured relief in advance. He also gave impartial and direct advice, frankly stated the difficulties of the household department, dealt with Emperor Jiajing, Yan Song and his son, and minimized the problem as much as possible. Their money and food were misappropriated, and they struggled to keep the country running.

After a few years, despite all his efforts, the household department was already empty.

At the end of this year, no matter how hard he tried, he could not get enough money. He had no choice but to go to the cabinet to find Yan Song and Xu Jie to resolve the matter. There was nothing he could do.

"Mr. Yan Ge, this year's major import and export items are all here. Even though the increase in taxes and levies in Jiangnan has alleviated a lot of the pressure on money and food, the disasters in various places have continued to increase this year. The reduction in money and food has covered this increase in money and food. This year The deficit will not be less than last year, perhaps more than 200,000 taels, and the annual deficit will be nearly one million taels."

Fang Pu sat on the chair and began to complain to Yan Song and Xu Jie above. Hu Bu really couldn't bring himself to reveal the blame, otherwise he, who was always strong, would not have said these words in front of Yan Song.

Yes, when it comes to financial issues, what Yan Song has always pursued is to meet the requirements of Emperor Jiajing and provide him with all the material resources he needs. He does not have the courage he should have as a chief minister, especially when the court's finances are so difficult. It is ridiculous to export large sums of money every year to satisfy the emperor's fasting.

Because of this, the conflict between Fang Rui and Yan Song is very deep.

Yan Song also knew very well that Fang Rui was dissatisfied with him, but the imperial court had long-standing financial problems and could not find a financial expert to take his place, so he could only continue to appoint Fang Rui as the Minister of Household Affairs.

Yan Song listened to Fang Blun's words and flipped through the booklet in his hand.

This booklet should have been written by Fang Blun himself. It mainly records the main income and large expenditures of the court this year. As for the uncounted fragmentary expenditures, it is actually unimportant.

Although Yan Song, who was in his seventies, struggled to read the brochure, he still looked at the numbers on it very seriously.

After a long while, Yan Song put down the pamphlet in his hand and handed it to Xu Jie.

"According to the usual practice in previous years, I remember that I need about six to seven hundred thousand taels of silver to survive the end of the year, right?"

Yan Song sighed at this time and said that what he was most concerned about in the booklet just now was the last number, which was the number of money that the Ministry of Accounts could still use.

Seventy thousand taels.

What can you do with seventy thousand taels of silver?

Even the Aoshan Lantern Festival organized by the palace requires more than 100,000 taels of silver. The little money left by the Ministry of Revenue cannot even organize the Aoshan Lantern Festival, so what else can it do?

No wonder Fang Rui came to the cabinet. There was no other way.

Although he didn't get along very well with Fang Dui, Yan Song would never involve personal grudges in dealing with political issues.

If it is not handled well, Emperor Jiajing's fault will eventually fall not only on Fang Blunt's head, but also on himself.

A very important reason why Emperor Jiajing chose to trust Yan Song was that he could do things according to the emperor's wishes and get things done well. He would not make any mistakes when doing his job, and even if he did make mistakes, he would still do well. Dealing with it will never distract the emperor.

In a word, Yan Song was very capable and Emperor Jiajing trusted him very much.

"Have all the money from each department been withdrawn? Is there any money that has not been withdrawn yet?"

Yan Song asked again at this time.

There is still only the same old method, which is to tear down the east wall to repair the west wall, withhold the money to be delivered to other yamen, and wait until the New Year is over.

After all, money cannot grow on its own. There is only so much money. The key is how to distribute it.

Once the distribution is done, the matter will be settled.

It was just something that disappointed Yan Song. Fang Blun's answer was simple: "No."

Yan Song looked at the few clerks who were still busy at the desk in the room and said, "You all go down first. You are not allowed to come near this room unless I tell you."

The voice was very old, but it had enough intimidation. Several scribes hurriedly bowed and bowed before quickly retreating.

After everyone left, Yan Song looked at Xu Jie and then Fang Bu with his cloudy eyes, and then he said, "Zhong Min, tell the truth, the household department really has no money?"

"It's really gone, Mr. Pavilion. If I have money, would I still be so anxious? It's only half a month away. If I don't find the money, I won't be able to survive this year."

Fang Blun came here because he had no place to make money. He knew very well that if the money from Beijing officials could not be distributed in front of Feng Yamen, he didn't know what kind of trouble would be caused. It was possible to go directly to Xiyuan to cause trouble. of.

The emperor is not short of hungry soldiers. No matter what, they have worked for the court for a year, but in the end they don't even have money for the New Year. How can you let those clear-minded people live?

Beijing officials are bullshit, but that also depends on whether they have real power.

People who hold real power know how to adapt, and they will not be short of a little money for the New Year.

The Qingliu people accept death, talk about the way of sages and sages, love to get into trouble, rely on their salaries to live on weekdays, and look at the rewards from the palace on New Year's Day. If they can't get money, they can't imagine the consequences.

"Cunzhai, Zhongmin, if you really have no money, you can only write a note and submit it to the palace. You can borrow 700,000 taels of silver from Taipu Temple for emergency purposes, and you can make up for it next year when the taxes come back."

Of course Yan Song knew where the money was. Now he had to use the money there to survive the current difficulties.

Of course, if you borrow something, you have to pay it back. That will be a matter of next year. We will wait until this year is over.

In fact, Yan Song has been doing this job for the past nine years since he became the chief assistant.

Find money to maintain the expenses of the palace and court.

He also didn't know how long the imperial court could sustain the situation with its financial deficit reaching the level before his eyes.

Xu Jie was silent on the side and did not express his position. Only Fang Pui nodded slightly.

Although he didn't know how much money Chang Yingku had in Taipu Temple, he knew that 700,000 taels of silver was just Chang Yingku's income for two years, so he must have money.

"Cunzhai, do you have any other objections?"

Yan Song asked directly without seeing Xu Jie's statement.

"No, everything is based on the wishes of the elder."

After coming back to his senses, Xu Jie quickly expressed his position. Although he really wanted to pull Yan Song down, the old fox naturally knew what the situation was in the Ming Dynasty and he couldn't handle it.

As the saying goes in the siege, people outside the city want to get in, and people in the city want to get out.

Outsiders only see the scenery of Mr. Ge, but they don’t know the responsibilities that sit in his position.

"You write a note, I will seal it and send it to the palace immediately."

Yan Song saw that neither Xu Jie nor Fang Pui objected to borrowing money from Chang Yingku, so he immediately made arrangements.

"Last year we only borrowed 80,000 taels of silver, but this year it suddenly became 700,000 taels."

In the Yongshou Palace in Xiyuan, Emperor Jiajing sat on the throne and looked at the note that had just been sent to him. This was not a memorial, but a request for instructions from the cabinet.

Looking at the handwriting, Emperor Jiajing could tell at a glance that the note written by Xu Jie was stamped with Yan Song's seal at the back.

I thought that after Jiangnan increased taxes, the imperial court's finances would be able to breathe a sigh of relief this year, but I didn't expect that the deficit would continue to worsen.

Emperor Jiajing naturally knew how to distribute the 700,000 taels of silver. He just didn't say many things, but it didn't mean that he didn't know.

Footsteps sounded outside the palace, and not long after, a young chamberlain came in to report.