My God, I am the emperor, the lord of mankind.

Chapter 463 Ministry of Etiquette

But this feeling only appeared in his heart for a moment.

The next moment, Liang Chu and everyone in the cabinet came to worship.

"Give me a seat——"

Emperor Jiajing asked Huang Jin and Lu Fang to move the seats for them.

He didn't pay attention to the world tree in the palace that was confronting Zhu Changning and refusing to give in.

To him it was just child's play.

The chief officials of various ministries and important cabinet ministers gathered in the Wanshou Palace.

Several Quanzhen masters of Qintian Prison and real people from Tianshi Mansion were also invited to participate in this discussion that will determine the fate of the empire in the next few decades.

According to the order of speeches arranged in advance, cabinet minister Mao Cheng took the lead in speaking.

Of course, before that, Zhu Houcong first praised Liang Chu for his contribution to the court during this period.

Mao Cheng counted the cost of this tribute treasure from the sharks.

It is also difficult for Beijing officials to obtain income from local sources as usual.

Wang Qiong on the side also spoke at this moment.

"Officials in the capital heard that the sharks donated treasures, jewels, and jade. Now they are waiting for the Ministry of Household Affairs to complete the verification and allocate funds to the Ministry of Personnel to pay everyone this year's annual salary. Now many people are really looking forward to it..."

Every year, the Ministry of Ceremonies intercepts part of the tribute fees submitted by various countries for its own use.

And encouraged him to continue to serve the court.

The Ministry of War holds the Jiubian border market and the trade with the Arabs on the Silk Road.

The salary from the imperial court has become the most important source for most of them, but of course it is not absolute.

And the fleet under his command is making more money every day.

Zhang Cong lowered his head in embarrassment, and cheerful laughter suddenly rang out in the hall.

The Ministry of Industry will receive additional compensation appropriately from various wear and tear fees and a large number of 'scrapped' firearms and defective porcelain.

The salaries of officials in the capital were delayed again and again.

Part of the salary issued by the court every month was only enough for food and clothing.

For example, the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of War have their own small treasury.

Having said this, Wang Qiong glanced at the emperor's new Minister of Civil Affairs with a gentle look.

Compared with local officials who rely on local finance.

Zhang Cong gave a wry smile and began today's grievance meeting in the court.

"The tribute fee transported by the sharks arrived in the capital yesterday. After calculating the various jewelry, agate, pearls and jade, a rough calculation turned out to be as much as 30 million taels... Of course, it cost 28,000 to reward the soldiers who transported it by sea. More than a thousand taels, and the Ministry of Rites handed over twenty-seven giant corals to the Hu family's imperial merchants in Zhejiang for sale..."

"Since the emperor ascended the throne, although the officials in the capital have been able to receive their arrears every year, because the finance and taxation of various parts of the country cannot reach the capital in time due to the distance, and the emperor has ordered that military supplies from various places cannot be owed in arrears, the salaries of the officials in the capital have been owed every year. The latest one to be issued..."

Moreover, in recent years, the imperial court has paid special attention to cracking down on cliques between local officials and Beijing officials for personal gain.

This year, the imperial court first built a large number of ships in the East China Sea, and then built arsenals in Jiubian to hoard arms and food.

As for the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Justice, etc...

However, as the shackles tightened, the salary from the court was undoubtedly the only source of livelihood for most ordinary officials.

Zhang Cong was in charge of the Ministry of Personnel and also held the functions of the Ministry of Household Affairs. Faced with the doubts about his management ability by his subordinate officials, he was naturally under great pressure.

"I think we will allocate five million taels from here this year to make up for the salaries of the officials in the capital——"

Wang Qiong said. But he soon encountered opposition from Peng Ze.

The two former rivals briefly collaborated not long ago.

However, after Zhu Houcong transferred Peng Ze back to the capital and filled him into the cabinet.

The relationship between the two became tense again.

“The newly surrendered Mongolian herders in the north this year have not yet been resettled, and the tribes of the Mongolian Right King also need rewards. In addition to the various fortresses and military camps that have been built - it cannot be stopped without twenty million taels. "

Peng Ze said.

This was a large amount, and Wang Qiong frowned. He knew very well that this was basically all the gold and silver the court could get.

And Peng Ze wants to take it all away in the name of military affairs.

On the one hand, there are many rare treasures in the offerings of the sharks.

Although the value is very high, it is not suitable for actual exchange for silver.

On the other hand, this is nominally a tribute presented by the sharks to the emperor.

It is not easy for the imperial court to take away everything in the name of official business.

But the officials in the capital need to be appeased with money and silk, the Mongols in the north need to be bribed with money, and the garrison soldiers on the nine sides also need to use silver to boost their morale.

"The Mongols are Huru. It is a great gift from the imperial court to reward them with cattle and sheep and allow them to graze on the border. The maintenance of the central government by Beijing officials is the basis for the transmission of government orders. In any case, we should not be close to the Huru and stay away from loyalty. Cheese……"

Wang Qiong retorted that as long as the expenses of the Mongols were cut, his officials in the capital would definitely pay enough money this year.

"The barbarians raised them with kindness and righteousness, and they could also become Chinese people. If there were no loyal people from the Mongolian center to the court to point out the direction for our elite soldiers and warn the Northern Yuan Dynasty, I don't know what the northern border would be like in the next few decades. "

Peng Ze sneered. Since the last time he failed to compete with Wang Qiong for the position of Minister of War, he has been extremely annoyed with these officials in the capital who are following the influence.

Now that he is back again, he obviously does not want to ease relations with these enemies.

"The Northern Expedition to Mongolia is a major event, and the people of the imperial court cannot help but be kind..."

The voice of Emperor Jiajing came, interrupting the dispute between the two.

The court is never monolithic. People gather together because of interests, and they will naturally be divided because of interests.

"The Ministry of War will calculate the cost of pacifying the Mongolian tribes who have surrendered in the north, and then let the Ministry of Household Calculation calculate the specific salary arrears of officials in the capital... If there is a shortfall, let the Ministry of Rites start to advance part of this year's tribute fees."

Upon hearing the emperor's words, Mao Cheng's face was startled at first, then bitter.

He really didn't expect that the dispute between the two would eventually fall on the head of the Ministry of Rites again.

He turned around and looked at each other with Yuan Zonggao, who was also from the Ministry of Rites, and both of them could see the helplessness in the other's eyes.

The tree is big and attracts the wind. Even three-year-old children in the capital know that the Ministry of Rites has endless gold and silver mountains, and every time it goes to sea, it is full of Western treasures.

Nowadays, whenever money is used in the court, everyone's first thought is not to save money or cut off unimportant parts.

Instead, he used various methods to find various reasons to ask the Ministry of Etiquette for money.

I didn’t expect that even the emperor would now——

Mao Cheng had no choice but to lie down and say that the Ministry of Rites would fill the vacancy for the court.

But he also said that our Ministry of Rites still has a large amount of final payment for the newly launched ships this year. If we want to support the imperial court, I am afraid that the final payment will have to wait until next year.

Although our etiquette department has money, there are many places to spend it.

You can't really just catch a fat sheep from our Ministry of Etiquette and kill it!

(End of this chapter)