Rebirth of the best emperor

Chapter 54 Divide
"For the 50 taels of silver, please discuss how to use it!"

Wang Mang looked at the scene where the courtiers were gearing up and eager to try, he pondered for a moment, and then asked the ministers present to talk about how to spend the 50 silver.

Wang Yongji is worthy of his quick temper, Wang Mang immediately jumped out and said, "Your Majesty, according to the calculations of the Ministry of War, the war in the south still needs 30 taels of military supplies. I originally planned to present it at the court meeting in a few days." Your Majesty said, now I feel that it is not too early to mention it, so I ask your Majesty to take pity on the suffering of the southern war and allocate 30 taels of silver to the Ministry of War."

"Mr. Wang's words are wrong. Didn't the imperial court allocate 20 taels of silver to the Ministry of War for the southern war?" Yu Wenkai stood up and said, "Although the money was borrowed from Shangyuan Palace, Mr. Wang You can’t just take 20 the day before yesterday and ask for another 30 today.”

"What Lord Yuwen said is fine, your Southern War can still be a bottomless pit." Shen Buhai stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I feel that we should send officials to audit the accounts of the Southern War."

"Shen Buhai, what do you want to do?" Wang Yongji looked at Shen Buhai with a livid face, and scolded: "The soldiers in the south are suffering and suffering on the front line, and you still say such things. If it gets out, this battle will still be fought." do not fight?"

"Hehe." Shen Buhai sneered, and said, "Lord Wang, don't keep using the war in the south as an excuse. The soldiers in the south are suffering, so I know of course, but I am worried that the money will not be used."

"What do you mean?" Wang Yongji looked at Shen Buhai angrily.

"Lord Wang, don't be impatient." Li Si also stood up at this time, and said: "Master Shen Buhai is only worried about state affairs, Lord Wang, according to my opinion, the war in the south does need money, but it will definitely not take 30 If there are so many taels, you have to do what you want, Mr. Wang, if all the money goes to your military department, what about other yamen?"

"What? You want money from the Ministry of Punishment?" Wang Yongji looked at Li Si coldly.

"That's right." Li Si nodded, then looked at Wang Mang respectfully and said, "Your Majesty Qizuo, what happened in the Prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice last night made me realize that there is a big security risk in the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, so I and the officials of the Ministry of Criminal Justice The officials discussed all night and felt that the Prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice should be renovated to prevent what happened last night from repeating itself."

"I think the prison of the Ministry of Punishment is very strong, and there is no need to repair it." Wang Yongji said with a jump.

"No," Li Si shook his head and said, "Your Excellency Wang doesn't know. The prison of the Ministry of Punishment was repaired last time when the Taishang Xianhuang was the last time. It has been more than [-] years now. It really needs to be repaired."

"How much do you want?" Wang Mang looked at Li Si and asked.

"Your Majesty, I have calculated it, and it will cost about 10 taels." Li Si bowed.

"10 taels?" Li Hong stood up at this time and said, "Your Ministry of Punishment wants 10 taels, and the Ministry of War wants 30 taels. The total is only 50 taels. If you follow your example, the court will not be able to survive. .”

Li Hong's words were very in line with Wang Mang's intentions, Wang Mang could not help but give Li Hong a compliment, and said: "Li Aiqing is right, I think you are still discussing."

After all, Wang Mang looked at Zhang Jian and the others, who were already a little bit uncontrollable, and said, "What about you, what do you need money for?"

"Qizou Your Majesty, I feel that the salary owed by the court to the officials can be considered." Zhang Jian stepped forward and said, "The officials are the cornerstone of the court. Speaking of which, I still owe a lot of money to the officials. Many officials, especially the low-level officials, are living a miserable life. Please take pity on them to take care of the government affairs for your Majesty, and allocate part of the money to the officials to pay their salaries. "

"My minister agrees with Zhang Shangshu's proposal." Haifeng stood up and said, "Your Majesty, as far as I know, many low-level officials have no intention of working. It's not that they don't have the heart to do their duty for the country. .”

"I can consider what you said." Wang Mang nodded. He had also walked around the capital before, and he knew that some grassroots officials in the capital lived worse than ordinary people.

But Wang Mang also found out that the imperial court paid back wages, but most of the money did not go into the pockets of low-level officials. The income of officials is several times or even dozens of times that of grassroots officials, so if the money is sent to the grassroots, there will be no money.

This is similar to the fact that the mighty country in the news of later generations raised the wages of civil servants and institutions. It was said that the per capita wages were 300 yuan, but in fact it was [-] yuan for officials at the top and [-] yuan for grassroots officials, and there was even negative growth. Finally, the average was calculated. It did go up by three hundred.

It is also like the per capita salary of [-] in later generations. In fact, the high-income earns [-] and the low-income earns [-]. Then the average is [-].

But now Wang Mang is also facing such a situation. After the wages are paid, the money has already been paid out before reaching the grassroots officials.

Not to mention anything else, Wang Mang allocated 10 taels, and only the officials in the study could get 1 taels, plus their deputies and deputies' deputies, and those who fell to the bottom definitely had little money.

Haifeng seemed to have guessed Wang Mang's concerns, and said, "Your Majesty, I have another proposal."

"Say." Wang Mang nodded.

"My minister proposes to repay the salaries this time. Officials above the fourth rank of the court will not be repaid, but only the salaries of officials below the fourth rank." Haifeng said respectfully.

Wang Mang's eyes flashed, and he thought that Haifeng was thinking about it with him, turned his head to look at the others, and said, "What do you Aiqing think about Hai Aiqing's proposal?"

"Shangshan!" Zhang Jian immediately expressed his opinion: "Master Hai didn't say anything, and this minister was also going to mention this matter, but Master Hai took the lead."

Although Wang Yongji and the others secretly hated Haifeng for gaining fame and buying people's hearts, they had no choice but to follow suit at the moment. In the end, Li Hong said, "I don't know how much His Majesty plans to allocate to make up wages."

Wang Mang pondered for a moment and said, "Shen Buhai, you should clear up the confiscated proceeds as soon as possible and hand them over to the Ministry of Accounts. The Ministry of Accounts can also send officials to follow up on this matter."

Shen Buhai, Li Hong nodded quickly.

Wang Mang said again: "I probably understand what you said. I have thought about it. Of the 50 taels of silver, 10 taels will be allocated to the Ministry of War for the Southern War, and 10 taels will be given to the Ministry of Officials to make up for the fourth grade owed by the court." The salaries of the following officials, 10 taels will be given to the Ministry of Industry to build roads, 10 taels will be returned to the Shangyuan Palace, and 10 taels will be kept in the Ministry of Household Affairs, what do you think?"

"Your Majesty, the prison of the Ministry of Punishment is indeed in disrepair for a long time." Li Si looked at Wang Mang pitifully.

"You can take 1 taels of silver from the Ministry of Households for a simple repair, and then the court will give you a major repair when it has money." Wang Mang said, and saw that Zhao Xin wanted to come out, so he said directly: "Zhao Aiqing, I Knowing what you are going to say, you also take 1 taels from the Ministry of Households as the preparation funds for the scientific examination."

Li Si and Xin Zhao looked at each other, knowing that they might not be able to get any more money, so they could only nod their heads with aggrieved faces.

Li Hong wanted to cry, but he had just agreed to keep 10 taels of silver for the household department, and in the blink of an eye, 2 taels were lost.

(End of this chapter)