My Red Mansion Career

Chapter 233 Controversy Renewed

"This year's Liaoning salary actually requires five million taels. Are the soldiers in Liaodong planning to eat delicacies from the mountains and seas every day?

But what really surprises me the most is not this, but the fact that you guys in the cabinet actually allowed this deal to pass? "

Daming Palace Imperial Study Room

Emperor Changping threw the book in his hand at the face of Wang Zhijie, the chief minister of the cabinet. His thin face was clouded, as if it was about to explode.

Wang Zhijie knelt on the ground, his head hanging motionless on the ground. Jian Desan, Yang Jilin and other three people also knelt behind him.

After Emperor Changping finished speaking, Wang Zhijie said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, please forgive me, I will allow you to speak to me."

Emperor Changping gave him a cold look and said, "Say...I want to see what kind of ugly performance you can come up with?"

Wang Zhijie smiled bitterly and said: "Last year, Nurhaci led a large army to besiege Shenyang City. Although it has been repelled now, the Liaodong Army suffered heavy losses.

For this reason, the Prince of Xining County kept asking the court to allocate food, wages, equipment and repair the Shenyang city wall during this period. These things alone required at least three million taels of silver.

Prince Pingxi also said in the excerpt that in last year's battle, although the Liaodong Army gave a severe blow to the Hou Jin army, it also lost nearly 20,000 people. It was just to make up for the shortage of soldiers and provide compensation for the soldiers who died in the battle. , commending meritorious soldiers also requires millions of taels of silver. With all these things added up, five million taels of silver doesn't seem to be much.

After considering this point, the veteran minister and the cabinet ministers approved it in the paper. "

"That's it."

He still looked calm and said: "Your Majesty, what you said is wrong. Even if Uncle Dingyuan did not confiscate his property from the salt merchants, the situation in Liaodong would not change in any way.

In this way, ten million taels of silver were spent in less than a month. This is the first time I discovered that Wang Aiqing is really good at spending money. "

Having said this, Emperor Changping stood up. After walking a few steps in the imperial study, he suddenly said to Wang Zhijie and others who were kneeling on the ground: "Since Tan Qingyun was dismissed, the cabinet has not added more people." , I plan to add new people to the cabinet, I wonder if you, my dear friends, have any recommendations for good candidates?"

Emperor Changping smiled coldly: "Where's the silver... Where did these five million taels of silver come from? Does Wang Aiqing plan to get it together with you guys?"

However, due to Uncle Dingyuan's series of actions in Yangzhou, the amount demanded by the King of Xining County was relatively larger. The veteran thought this was human nature. "

Wang Zhijie said without hesitation: "The veteran has received the latest report that Dingyuan Bo Jia Yu is on his way back with his army.

It has been more than a year since Tan Qingyun was dismissed and investigated, and the number of cabinet members has been reduced to four.

After Taizu established Daxia, he abolished the prime minister system in order to enhance the emperor's power.

If ordinary people were questioned like this by an emperor, most of them would be left speechless, but Wang Zhijie was obviously not one of them.

Five million taels of silver, this was half a year's tax from the imperial court in previous years, but now he said it was as easy as five hundred taels of silver.

Even when Emperor Changping scolded Wang Zhijie and others, their expressions immediately changed as if they heard thunder.

Let me ask you, if Jia Yu went to Yangzhou this time and did not raid the homes of the eight major salt merchants and obtained these 56 million taels of silver, how would you, Wang Aiqing, approve this memorial? "

Taizu couldn't stand it anymore, so he instituted a cabinet system in order to free the emperor from the tedious government affairs.

The money for love doesn't belong to your family, so you don't feel bad spending it at all, right?

Emperor Changping was so angry that he didn't want to talk nonsense with Wang Zhijie anymore, so he simply took out a few more memorials and threw them on the dragon case.

Listen... a huge sum of five million taels, but Wang Zhijie spoke so calmly and confidently that Emperor Changping was so angry that he could not speak for a while.

It is only two or three days' journey from Shenjing. Once the silver escorted by Jia Yu arrives in Shenjing, someone can immediately send someone to escort the silver to Liaodong. "

"There are also things like cleaning up the Yellow River, providing disaster relief, distributing money to Jiubian, etc. I did a rough calculation and found that at least five million taels of silver are needed.

Cabinets generally have one to seven cabinet ministers. Generally speaking, no matter how many cabinet members there are, the number is always a single number.

Even though Emperor Changping was forbearing, he couldn't help but laugh angrily: "Hey... what a seamless connection!

But after a while, Xia Taizu discovered that after the abolition of the prime minister, his power had increased, but the work intensity had also increased exponentially.

The prince of Xining County would also ask for food, wages and equipment from the court, and money was still indispensable.

This situation is very unreasonable, so Emperor Changping's proposal to increase the number of cabinets is not unexpected, but it is not good news for Wang Zhijie and others.

After all, the cabinet only has so many rights. The fewer people there are, the more rights each person has. Now Emperor Changping suddenly proposed to increase the number of cabinet members. For those who are used to holding great power, how can they be willing to take it? rights to others.

I want to object, but I don’t know where to start.

And they themselves knew very well that the current cabinet of four people was undoubtedly unreasonable. It was natural for the emperor to restore the number of cabinet members, and they could not find any reason to stop it.

Seeing that Wang Zhijie and others were silent, Emperor Changping finally breathed out, with a trace of sneer on his face. He turned to Dai Quan and shouted: "You old guy, Wang Ge and the others have been kneeling for so long, and they don't know." Remind me.

What are you still doing in a daze? Quickly help Wang Ge Lao get up and sit down. "

"This slave deserves to die... This slave deserves to die."

As an old man who had served Emperor Changping for many years, Dai Quan certainly knew that his master had deliberately made Wang Zhijie and others kneel, but there was still a look of fear on his face. He stretched out his hand and slapped himself twice before ordering the eunuchs to move. The brocade stool came and asked Wang Zhijie and others to sit down.

After several people sat down, Wang Zhijie said: "Your Majesty, when selecting a pavilion elder, as a rule, a court selection process is carried out, and then the list is submitted to His Majesty for his inspection.

The veteran minister and others proposed that the court recommendation will begin in seven days. The veteran minister and others will surely select a capable minister for the court. "

"No... Aiqing said it wrong."

Emperor Changping shook his head: "Not one...but three."

"What...three...three?"

At this time, Wang Zhijie and the other four could no longer control their moods, and expressions of surprise, fear, and even reluctance were all on their faces.

"Exactly."

Emperor Changping said: "Since I, Taizu of Great Xia, established the cabinet system, I have set the number of seven people. However, in the years since I succeeded to the throne, I have been busy with state affairs and have neglected the cabinet affairs.

Moreover, I have seen your hard work over the years. I heard from the people at Wenyuan Pavilion that you are so busy every day that you don’t even have time to relieve yourself. I really can’t bear to see your beloved age. , and so hard.

After much thought, I plan to restore the number of cabinet members to seven, so that my dear friends will not have to work so hard. "Hearing this, Wang Zhijie and the other four felt extremely uncomfortable.

They wanted to tell Emperor Changping that in fact we are not afraid of hard work. It would be best if the number of people in the cabinet is not increased. No matter how much work we have, we can finish it.

It's just that although this is what I think in my heart, I can't say such words even to death. Otherwise, once word spreads, those officials and censors will spray them back to their hometown.

Although they were extremely uncomfortable in their hearts, the four of them still had to express their sincere thanks to Emperor Changping.

Emperor Changping discussed political affairs with the four people for a while. After the four people left, Emperor Changping's face slowly darkened.

He stared in the direction of the door, turned around for a long time, and said to Dai Quan beside him: "Let's go..."

Dai Quan quickly asked: "Your Majesty, would you like to go back to the palace to rest?"

"No...go to Father."

"The Great Emperor?"

Dai Quan held Fuchen's hand for a moment, but he quickly reacted and shouted outside: "Your Majesty is sitting in the Dragon Head Palace..."

Not mentioning Emperor Changping's visit to Longshou Palace, Wang Zhijie and the other four sat down after returning to Wenyuan Pavilion.

After the servants brought the tea, and the slightly bitter aftertaste of the tea entered their stomachs, the four of them felt better.

Ye Zuo, the minister of the Ministry of Industry and a scholar of Dongge University, could not help but take the lead and said to Wang Zhijie: "Xinshan Gong... His Majesty wants to restore the seven-person cabinet. It seems that he is dissatisfied with us. What should we do?"

Wang Zhijie didn't speak, just sipping the tea quietly. Jian Desan frowned and said, "If three more places are added, it will indeed be disadvantageous for us, but this is the nature of the imperial system.

What Your Majesty said is completely justified. There is nothing we can do. "

Yang Jilin, the scholar of Wuyingdian Palace, rolled his eyes, "Now you know you are afraid? I said a few days ago that the people below cannot be allowed to mess around, but who of you listened?"

Good guys... without even blinking, they just waved their hands and walked away with ten million taels of silver. You guys are just selling your feelings, don't you feel bad?

Now I have finally angered His Majesty, let's see... In the next few months, everyone should not do anything else. For the quota of these three pavilion elders, the people below will have to fight hard. "

There are only four people in the cabinet today. Among them, Wang Zhijie and Ye Zuo belong to the Zhejiang Party. These two people account for half of the power in the cabinet. In addition, Wang Zhijie is the chief minister of the cabinet. It can be said that in the cabinet, the Zhejiang Party occupies the absolute top. .

And Yang Jilin is from Huguang and belongs to the serious Chu Party. There are not many opportunities to be upright and sarcastic like now, so of course he will not let it go.

Wang Zhijie frowned and said in a deep voice: "Now is not the time to talk about this, since His Majesty has already spoken.

The next court hearing must not only be held, but also faster. "

"Be quick, Mr. Wang Ge, what do you mean?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Jilin and Jian Desan immediately became alert. Is it possible that Wang Zhijie wants to stuff his own people into the cabinet?

One of them is from the Chu Party, and the other is from the Jin Party. It is already very difficult to deal with the two Zhejiang Party members, Wang Zhijie and Ye Zuo. If there are one or two more Zhejiang Party members among the people who come in, the cabinet will really become the Zhejiang Party's. The world is under heaven.

Wang Zhijie saw the expressions of the two people in his eyes and snorted: "Where have you all been thinking? The reason why I suggested that the court discuss it as soon as possible is because I suspect that Your Majesty already has a candidate in mind. If we don't finalize the candidate as soon as possible, If not, things will change.

You don’t want His Majesty to take the opportunity to bring in the new party, right? "

"New Party?"

As soon as the new party was mentioned, the expressions of several people changed.

The so-called New Party is a new force that has emerged in the court in recent years.

These people extremely despised the old conservative forces in the court and strongly advocated the implementation of reforms. They believed that it would be reasonable for the court to re-measure the land, abolish the capitation tax system, and instead collect taxes based on the actual number of fields. For this reason, they continued to make concessions and suggested Emperor Changping carried out reforms, believing that only in this way could the country become rich and the people strong.

And as time went by, the reputation of the new party gradually increased, attracting many officials to join.

However, judging from the current situation, the strength of the new party cannot yet compare with the old parties such as Zhejiang, Chu, and Shanxi.

Despite this, the emergence of the new party still made the old parties feel a great threat.

Ye Zuo snorted coldly, "The New Party... is just a bunch of clowns, not worth mentioning at all.

After all these years, they haven't achieved anything.

However, as the old saying goes, even a lion fights a rabbit with all its strength. I believe that after the news comes out, it will definitely cause a sensation in the court, and the new party will not miss this opportunity.

Therefore, all cabinet ministers must be extra careful, and must not let people from the new party sneak in, otherwise there will be two, and then we will be in big trouble. "

Although the old parties are constantly fighting with each other, they have common interests in dealing with the new party.

"You don't need to say more about this, we know it ourselves."

Yang Jilin no longer felt like gloating just now. Although the new party was mostly composed of officials from poor backgrounds, over the years, many new parties have begun to climb to higher positions. If they accidentally let them take advantage of the loophole, then But that's troublesome.

Wang Zhijie tilted the table slightly, and when everyone looked over, he said in a deep voice: "You don't have to worry too much, the new party is still in its infancy, and even if you give them a chance, they won't be able to make any waves.

The most important thing now is to draw up a charter and submit it to His Majesty. I think it is better that the cabinet needs some mature and prudent people, and there is no need to consider those who are talkative.

Okay, that's it. After you all go back, think about it carefully and send your respective lists to me in two days. In five days, it will be the day of the court meeting. Your Majesty will definitely make a court recommendation at the court meeting. We will definitely Be prepared. "

Everyone immediately understood what Wang Zhijie meant.

The subtext in his words is that the Chu Party and the Jin Party can add one more person in, and the same is true for the Zhejiang Party.

In this way, the power of the cabinet becomes two from the Chu Party and the Jin Party, and three from the Zhejiang Party.

In this way, the cabinet can maintain a delicate balance.

(End of this chapter)