Fortunate Young Gentleman

This was strange for Tang Ning. He had been in the Ministry of Accounts for so long, but he had never seen Qian Shangshu and Fang Zhe several times. When Duzhi Yamen was under great pressure to settle accounts, he had never seen them caring. Now the accounts have finally been settled. Okay, one of them finished calling and the other called again, what kind of medicine is being sold in the gourd?

He walked to the door of Qian Shangshu's room and knocked on the door.

Qian Shuo, the Minister of Household Affairs, looked up and said, "Master Tang, please come in."

Tang Ning walked into the door, Qian Shuo said again: "Mr. Tang, please close the door."

Tangning closed the door full of doubts, wondering what Qian Shangshu wanted to do with him. She turned around and saw Fang Zhe sitting in the corner, and she immediately understood.

The beasts of Sanyuanjidi really couldn't believe it. This guy must have sold himself out in a flash.

Qian Shuo looked at him and asked, "Mr. Tang should know why I came to you, right?"

"I don't know."

Tang Ning shook his head. He just had to fight against Han Ming, the Tang family, King Duan, the Fang family and Qian Shangshu. He, a small family like him, couldn't afford to lose.

"..." What Qian Shuo wanted to say was blocked again. He took a sip of tea and then said: "I heard from Mr. Fang that Mr. Tang found a way to find out whether the accounts were falsified. I don't know if this is true. Fake."

Tang Ning said: "If Mr. Qian doesn't believe it, just look for some accounts that have not been tampered with and you will know after a try."

Qian Shuo asked: "But how do I know which accounts are true and which accounts are false?"

Tangning thought for a while and said, "Sir, you can find some trustworthy accounting firms."

Qian Shuodao: "You know people well but don't know their hearts. Don't trust people's words easily. Even if I can trust you, it doesn't necessarily mean they are trustworthy."

Tangning thought for a moment and said, "If you still don't believe me, you can check the household records. The number of births in Beijing every month in the past ten years is still consistent with this result."

Qian Shangshu thought for a while and said: "Even if the population's birth number is Yuan, how can we ensure that this method is also applicable to the account numbers?"

Tang Ning secretly spat in his heart, this damn Minister of the Ministry of Finance is not here, this is clearly a slut. He said expressionlessly: "Actually, this method is just a joke made by a low-ranking official. It cannot be taken seriously. If Qian Shangshu were If there’s nothing else, I’ll go back first.”

"Mr. Tang, please stay." Qian Shuo stood up and said, "Mr. Tang, don't blame me for being verbose. In fact, this is a serious matter. We should not be careless and we must treat it with care."

He looked at Tang Ning and said, "Tomorrow, I would like to invite Mr. Tang and Mr. Fang to accompany me to the palace to meet the Holy Spirit."

It seems that this matter cannot be avoided. Tang Ningsheng nodded helplessly and said, "I will follow the decision of Lord Shangshu."

He and Fang Zhe walked out of the room together and saw Minister Han walking over.

"Master Tang, Minister Fang." Han Ming looked at them and was about to speak.

Tangning looked up at the sky and said, "The weather is good today."

"That's right, the sky is clear..." Fang Zhe responded, looking up at the sky covered with dark clouds, and said, "It looks like it's going to rain soon. Don't forget to bring an umbrella when you go out, Mr. Tang."

The two walked down the steps and left separately. Han Ming looked at them and waved: "Inexplicable..."

…

This was the first time Tang Ning entered the palace since she left the Hanlin Academy and became the head of the Household Department.

The two waited in the side hall for a while, and then a eunuch came forward to report and was summoned by His Majesty.

Tang Ning and Fang Zhe walked into the main hall. Before they saw each other, Chen Huang looked at them with a serious face and asked, "Is what Qian Shangshu said true?"

Qian Shuo looked at Fang Zhe, and Fang Zhe looked at Tang Ning.

Tang Ning secretly cursed an old fox in her mind and said with cupped hands: "Your Majesty, I was ordered to audit the account books of the Household Department this time. I found out that there are problems with some of the accounts. It is suspected that someone has tampered with the account numbers. These accounts are from Bo. Zhou, Xiangzhou and Weizhou.”

Qian Shuo took a step forward and said, "Your Majesty, this matter is not trivial. I think we should discuss it after verifying the method proposed by Director Tang."

"I have already verified it." Emperor Chen said with a gloomy face: "The young eunuch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs has embezzled more than a thousand taels of silver. He confessed the day before yesterday. After completing the amount of embezzlement, the account situation is almost the same as the one presented by Fang Shilang. I also ordered people to check the account books of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in previous years, and found that there were not many changes. Although this method cannot be judged by common sense, it is an indisputable fact. "

Qian Shuo's eyes were filled with joy and he said: "Your Majesty, if this method is feasible, then the court's accounting will become simpler and simpler in the future, which will definitely serve as a great deterrent to corrupt officials. This is a method of clean government... "

Emperor Chen nodded, his face softened slightly, and he looked at Tang Ning and said, "You have made great contributions to the court this time, and you deserve a heavy reward. However, I ordered you to go out in six groups this time, and the court has objections. If you reward me again, I'm afraid It will arouse people's criticism. Let's do this. I will give the two ladies in your family, one a sixth-grade imperial edict and the other a seventh-grade edict. What do you think? "

In the State of Chen, the emperor would reward the families of ministers who had made great achievements in the court. The wife would be of the husband's rank, with grades one to five, and those with grades below six would be called the imperial edict. For officials, this was a great honor.

Generally speaking, imperial decrees and edicts only reward the eldest wife of the family, and rarely reward two persons at a time.

Although no substantial benefits were gained this time, it was very honorable to win a royal wife for Xiaoyi and Xiaoru.

Tang Ning's thoughts moved and she bowed and said, "I thank your Majesty for your kindness."

Emperor Chen nodded, looked at Wei Jian, and said, "Order the Hanlin Academy to draft an edict immediately."

Qian Shuo added: "Your Majesty, since the court wants to use this method to check the accounts, this method must not be spread to outsiders."

Tang Ning cupped her hands and said, "Your Majesty, don't worry, this minister only told Minister Fang."

Qian Shuo said: "Your Majesty, Han Ming, the right minister of the Ministry of Revenue, how should we deal with it?"

Chen Huang turned around and said: "Han Ming alone cannot handle the matter of embezzling tax money. I will order people to investigate the taxation of Bozhou, Xiangzhou and Weizhou secretly. In addition, Han Ming is responsible for the taxation of Bozhou, Xiangzhou and Weizhou. Other state capitals must also be thoroughly investigated one by one. Before that, don’t let the news leak out.”

Tang Ning thought that Chen Huang would use his thunderous power to capture Han Ming in one fell swoop, but she didn't expect that he would actually arrange it like this.

The meaning of this move is that this time, it is not enough to arrest only one minister of household affairs. I am afraid that some officials in the court and some local officials will also suffer.

He remembered a huge corruption case in the early Ming Dynasty, in which the Minister of Household Affairs directly reached out to the national tax bank. The final result was that hundreds of officials below the Sixth Minister were beheaded, and the number of people implicated in the case reached tens of thousands... ..., it seems that no emperor can tolerate such corruption.

After walking out of the Imperial Study Room, Shangshu Qian exhaled slowly and murmured: "I'm afraid things are going to change today."

He looked at Tang Ning and said, "Master Tang, please be more careful these days."

Tangning didn't want to wade into this muddy water, but she didn't expect to be dragged in by these two old foxes. If some people became angry and the old beggar was not around, he would really feel uneasy.

He looked at Qian Shangshu and said, "Master Qian, this servant suddenly feels unwell..."

Qian Shuo waved his hand and said, "I'll give you a month's leave. Mr. Tang will take good care of himself at home. If you can't take care of yourself in one month, I'll give you another month's leave."

This made it much more practical. When Tangning and the two of them walked out of the palace, they reached a certain place and looked forward. Her expression suddenly changed and she said, "Master Qian, Master Fang, you go first. I’ll go back later.”

Without waiting for Qian Shuo and Fang Zhe to answer, he ducked behind a certain palace wall.

I haven't seen Zhao Yingying for several days. She seems to be in a bad mood today, so it's better to avoid her.

He hid behind the palace wall for a while, guessing that she had already passed by. Then he walked to the corner and looked over.

A familiar face quickly grew in size in front of his eyes. Zhao Man looked at him and asked with a smile: "Are you surprised, are you surprised?"

The expression on Tangning's face froze and she smiled dryly: "Your Highness, what a coincidence..."