The Six Arts of the Gentleman in the Bright Moon of Qin Dynasty

Chapter 602: Rumors Come True [Subscribe*Monthly Ticket Request]

Handan's method of spiritual victory at least to a certain extent boosted morale and stabilized the people's hearts.

But all the princes knew that no one could save Zhao this time.

The only cities that Zhao State can control now are Handan and a few surrounding cities.

Even these few cities are in danger.

Therefore, no prince was willing to send troops to help.

Rather than traveling a long distance to save the already beyond saving State of Zhao, it would be better to reorganize one's own military to deal with the impending Qin army.

However, just when the top leaders in Handan were feeling threatened, a rumor began to circulate among the people.

"King Zhao used the army's funds to repair the palace, which led to the complete defeat of the army on the front line!"

"King Zhao misappropriated the army's funds for his own pleasure, resulting in the death of 100,000 soldiers!"

"Yanyu City was broken, Liaoyang City was broken, and She City was in danger, but the palace was reveling every night!"

"The soldiers are naked, but the ladies in the palace are dressed in gorgeous clothes!"

……

Three people make a tiger, and the stories are getting more and more outrageous, but they all point to one core point, that is, King Zhao misappropriated the military funds!
The morale of the people, which had just stabilized, became restless again.

The people of Handan listened to the half-true and half-false rumors and began to doubt their king for a while.

The reason why the State of Zhao was able to repel the enemy time and again was because of the people's generosity, their unity, and their deep love for this land.

But this time, they lost the Lord Pingyuan who ruined his family and overcame difficulties, and they also lost Zhao Sheng, who even had his wives and concubines help him sew clothes.

They began to doubt their trust in the royal family.

When the news first came out, no one cared and just laughed it off because they had experienced too many such things.

Among all the capitals of the princes, Handan was the most besieged, no doubt about it!

Therefore, the people of Handan knew very well that this was just a trick used by the enemy country to confuse the people.

However, when the 100,000 soldiers who were defeated on the front line returned to their respective homes, the people of Handan panicked and looked towards the direction of the palace, seeking an answer.

"The news can't be blocked!" Guo Kai went to the palace to meet the emperor immediately.

When Guo Kai received the news, his eyes went dark and he felt like the sky was falling!

They do want to embezzle military funds, but the key is that they have to have the military funds to embezzle.

The war reparations from the war with Bingzhou had already dragged them into the abyss.

However, this did not only mean that Zhao State had no military funds to produce weapons and equipment. The military funds were divided into two parts: the prime minister took one part, the chancellor took one part, and the state commander's office took another part, leaving nothing in the hands of the commander-in-chief.

The Chief of Works could only take out these spoils that were captured at an unknown time, refurbish them, and then deliver them.

And this is the disadvantage of not separating the royal and national finances.

The Prime Minister was nominally in charge of the entire country's finances, but in reality he was also the steward of the royal family.

Therefore, although a lot of military expenditure is announced, when it is actually distributed, it is almost just a gimmick and is not allocated at all.

Anyone who understands will know how Zhao Qian came to power.

Therefore, it goes without saying what kind of people are around Zhao Qian.

People who can really get things done are almost always excluded from this circle and live in isolation.

Zhao Qian had no talent to begin with, and he was even more panicked at this moment.

"My dear Lord Guo, didn't I already allocate the military funds? Why did this happen?" Zhao Qian looked at Guo Kai and asked.

Guo Kai was silent. Next?

In the past three years, the Prime Minister's Office has been only concerned with repairing the royal palace, repairing palaces in various places, and collecting folk songs and selecting beauties for you. It has not allocated any real military funds.

The money that the Ministry of Works could get was earned by the State Commandery by eating grass and squeezing blood. Guo Kai looked at the Prime Minister without saying a word.

The Prime Minister also lowered his head, he knew what was going on better.

This is really not a matter of their greed!

Although they did embezzle a lot, at least it was not from military funds.

Having reached their level, they are very clear about what money they should take and what money they should not take.

Seeing that no one was talking, Zhao Qian could only wave his hand and let everyone leave.

Guo Kai and other court officials who had just left the palace looked at the prime minister.

They didn't know exactly how much money the State of Zhao had, but they could still estimate the approximate amount.

"Master Prime Minister, please tell me what you are talking about!" Guo Kai's eyes were cold.

If this incident had not been exposed, he would not have known that so much military expenditure approved by the court had been embezzled.

Zong Zai looked at the pairs of cold eyes and smiled bitterly.

"Do you think it was really someone who embezzled this military expenditure?"

"Is not it?"

"If you can't explain it, don't blame me for pushing you out to appease the public anger!"

The crowd said in a threatening tone.

They really didn't expect that the prime minister had embezzled so much money in these three years, and it was military expenses.

"Last year, the court passed a resolution to allocate a total of 2.3 million coins for military expenditures, of which 1.5 million was spent on the production of weapons by the Ministry of Works!" The prime minister listed the expenses decided by the court accurately.

"However, in the early spring, the king wanted to visit Songzi and build a palace in Songzi, which cost 785,260 coins. Later, the king wanted to go to Hongshangsai to collect folk songs, which cost another 258,740 coins. Although the king said that he wanted to be frugal and reduce the cost of food and clothing, he reduced the nine-cauldron cooking to six and mainly ate vegetarian food."

"But you all know that to stew winter melon, we need to use the soup made by three old ducks in the canteen."

The prime minister counted the money bit by bit and figured out how it disappeared.

Apart from the huge expenses of the king's travel, the other expenses are so small that they cannot be any smaller.

But no matter how small they are, they are so numerous that quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes.

So, although these rumors seem to be fabricated, they do not really wrongly accuse Zhao Qian.

Guo Kai and others were also shocked.

Apart from the huge travel expenses, who would have thought that the royal family, who have been claiming to be frugal and live frugally in recent years, has spent several times more than before.

They would rather the royal family did not live frugally. Without living frugally, you could at most eat a duck in one meal.

But after living a frugal life, they had to use several rare birds and beasts to make the soup for a vegetarian dish.

It is inevitable that the people in charge will embezzle money from it.

But this is unavoidable because there are too many areas for spending and people are committing corruption everywhere.

Not to mention the eldest brother, among these expenses, who among the people present did not embezzle some of it when handling it?

At this moment, everyone finally understood the true meaning of what Xunzi said: a thousand-mile dike is destroyed by an ant hole.

"The most urgent task is to find a way to stabilize the people's hearts!" The prime minister sighed.

If nothing unexpected happens, he will be pushed out this time to appease the public anger.

I just hope these colleagues can take care of his family for the sake of their past friendship.

This time the matter is too big, and someone of high enough status must come out to take the blame.

(End of this chapter)