Chapter 103 The Fourth Master has returned to the capital to recover the owed money. To be honest, his return is quite...

The Fourth Prince has returned to the capital. To be honest, his return was quite disarrayed. He had just finished inspecting Henan and, seeing that the situation had stabilized, he wanted to return by water. However, he happened to be caught in the middle of a breach in the Yellow River in Shandong. One of the breached areas was only one county away from the post station where he was temporarily staying.

To be honest, even the Fourth Master was shocked at the time. When he came to his senses, he was still shaken. He immediately sent someone to check on him.

He had come on a mission assigned by the Emperor and the Crown Prince. The memorial detailing the collusion between local officials, the River Conservancy Commissioner, and the Ministry of Revenue in embezzlement was already prepared, and those involved had been arrested. But then this happened halfway through his journey. He was now furious beyond words.

Did the imperial court give you money so you could line your own pockets?!

However, now is not the time to make a fuss and arrest people, because disaster relief still depends on those officials. Even if they were to tie people up in front of him, it would have to wait until the disaster relief funds and grain had been distributed. Fourth Master calmed down, thinking that once the refugees in Shandong were appeased, it would be time to settle the score.

He immediately shouted, "Men, set off immediately!" He figured the waterway was no longer an option, so he had to return to the capital by land. He couldn't wait to get back and report.

The Fourth Prince rushed back day and night, first sending all the local officials involved in the Henan affair to the Ministry of Justice prison, and then immediately heading to the palace to report. But who knew that when he arrived at the Qianqing Palace, the Emperor showed no anger whatsoever after reading his memorial.

The Fourth Prince was somewhat surprised. When he left the Qianqing Palace and headed out of the palace, he was stopped by the eunuchs around the Crown Prince.

Yinreng prepared a banquet to welcome the Fourth Prince. At the dinner table, the Fourth Prince voiced his doubts. The Crown Prince then said, "Compared to the corruption and bribery of his subordinates, His Majesty is more worried about the empty treasury."

Simply put, the national treasury is out of money!

The imperial court allocated 300,000 taels of silver to Henan after the disaster. Now Shandong has also been affected by the disaster, even more severely than Henan, but the Ministry of Revenue can only allocate a maximum of 300,000 taels. The emperor was furious and began to investigate the national treasury. To his shock, he found that the treasury only had a paltry 10 million taels of silver.

Ten million taels sounds like a lot, but compared to the imperial court's spending, it's not even enough to break even. Back when the emperor was fighting Galdan, the national treasury had over twenty million taels of silver. Now, before the war even started, the national treasury's silver reserves don't even compare to what they had back then.

The Fourth Master was utterly shocked by this news.

Yinreng took a deep breath and said, "Alright, this matter will be decided by Father. You have worked hard on this mission, go back and rest well." After saying that, he ordered someone to escort the Fourth Prince out of the palace. Chen He personally led the way, followed by a group of eunuchs, each carrying a tray with the Crown Prince's rewards, including items such as lingzhi mushrooms and deer antlers.

Even after the Fourth Prince left the palace and boarded his carriage to return home, he was still in a daze. On the surface, these past years had been peaceful and prosperous, if not blessed with good weather and abundant harvests, but who knew that behind the scenes, the very foundation of the Qing Dynasty was being gnawed away by termites. He unconsciously looked behind him at the palace that stood in the very center of the Forbidden City.

Your Majesty, what are your thoughts on this matter?

The Fourth Prince returned to the Prince's residence with a heavy heart. He had just sat down when Su Peisheng told him that the Princess Consort had prepared a feast in the back, and that the concubines and princesses of the manor were all there and waiting for him. The Fourth Prince sighed and leaned back in his chair: "Tell them to eat first. Just say I'm tired and don't have much of an appetite."

Su Peisheng said "Yes, sir," and went to relay the message.

For the next few days, Fourth Master stayed at the front of the house, refusing to see anyone. He had his servants turn away both the household advisor and the thirteenth and fourteenth princes who came to visit. To be honest, as long as the embezzlement issue wasn't resolved, he had absolutely no energy to do anything else.

Just then, news came from outside that the Fourth Prince's wife had come to visit. The Fourth Prince nodded slightly after hearing the servant's message. Shortly afterward, the wife entered from outside.

Fourth Prince's wife didn't come empty-handed. She noticed that Fourth Prince had been in a bad mood these past few days, and she also heard from the kitchen staff that Fourth Prince hadn't been eating well. So today, she had a few side dishes prepared in advance and brought them over to visit him personally.

Seeing this, Fourth Master felt relieved and said in a low voice, "I didn't realize it was almost noon, and I forgot to call someone to serve the meal."

Fourth Prince's wife walked over gently, arranged the dishes and bowls from the food box, and said softly, "Master has been busy outside for several months. He can't come back without eating well. I think he has lost some weight since he left."

Fourth Master chuckled unconsciously, but quickly let out a long sigh of relief.

The Fourth Prince's wife didn't sit with him, but stood to the side serving him food. She picked up a piece of food with her chopsticks and offered it to him, and the Fourth Prince readily ate it. However, halfway through the meal, he noticed some movement outside the window.

Fourth Master put down his chopsticks and immediately frowned.

Not long after, Su Peisheng walked in from outside, bowing his head and saying, "Sir, there is news outside." He briefly reported what had happened: "The Emperor has issued an edict to behead the local officials in Henan and Shandong who embezzled funds from the treasury and display their heads to the public."

The Fourth Prince felt relieved upon hearing this, but quickly continued to inquire, "What about the River Conservancy Commissioner and the officials from the Ministry of Revenue involved?"

Su Peisheng stammered and answered with his head down, avoiding the main point: "The Minister of Revenue and the Director-General of the Waterways have both been dismissed from their posts."

These two people are only dismissed?!

Fourth Master stood up abruptly, and the chopsticks on the table fell to the ground with a clatter.

Fourth Prince's wife quickly picked up the chopsticks and then stepped forward to comfort him, saying, "Your Highness, this is a good thing." She wanted to say a few more words of comfort, but when she saw the fierce look on his face, she pursed her lips and decided not to say anything more.

Fourth Master clenched his fists, lowered his eyes to hide his displeasure, and ordered, "Bring everything out."

Fourth Princess Consort hesitated, wanting to persuade him further, but Fourth Prince decisively said, "Princess Consort, go back. I need to be alone for a while." Fourth Princess Consort had no choice; this prince was always the one who did what he said in the mansion. She immediately curtsied and said yes.

The Fourth Prince sat back down only after his wife left, but his heart was churning like lava. He had come up with such a huge problem, and the Emperor had let it go so easily? In his eyes, anyone involved, whether from the Ministry of Revenue or the Governor-General of the Waterways, deserved to be executed by slow slicing, but the Emperor had only beheaded the lower-ranking officials and arrested the heads of those involved, and yet he had let them off so lightly.

Oh!

The Fourth Prince was extremely frustrated, as if everything he had done was trivial in the Emperor's eyes, not worth a second glance. At the same time, he also knew that the Emperor was in charge of all matters of the court, and all he could do was stop there.

Fourth Prince was at his wit's end and unconsciously tried to comfort himself by mentioning the Crown Prince.

The Crown Prince's resentment was probably no less than his. But what could he do? Even the Crown Prince had to consider the Emperor's feelings. If the Emperor was willing to unleash his fury, the Crown Prince would naturally give a push in the purge of the Ministry of Revenue. But if the Emperor wanted to appease him and proceed gradually, wouldn't the Crown Prince have to swallow his ambitions?

Thinking this, Fourth Master practiced the Taoist method of breathing in and out for a while, barely managing to suppress some of the resentment in his heart.

After some time, the conclusion regarding the missing silver in the national treasury was finally reached: it turned out that the silver had all been borrowed by officials. In recent years, the Ministry of Revenue's silver had been flowing out like water, as if there were a treasure bowl under the national treasury, from which silver could be continuously gushed out.

The Fourth Prince strolled leisurely around his study. He wondered if the Emperor's earlier restraint was an attempt to show that past transgressions were forgiven, hoping the officials would be grateful and return the silver obediently. However, deep down, he disapproved of this approach. He preferred swift and decisive action to a compassionate heart.

Furthermore, the Emperor even issued an edict ordering the Eighth Prince to recover the arrears owed by the Ministry of Revenue.

Fourth Master unconsciously let out two heavy breaths from his nostrils.

The Eighth Prince has managed the Ministry of Revenue so poorly, and the Emperor still orders him to recover the outstanding debts? Ha! If the Eighth Prince can actually recover the debts, I'll change my name!

Just as Fourth Master had predicted, it was rumored that Eighth Master had been chasing after the money. How did he do it? Naturally, he did it in a gentle and persuasive manner. Eighth Master would specifically choose his days off, taking his men to each household, sitting down for a moment, and emerging within the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. But was it effective? Absolutely not. Ten days or half a month passed, and not a single person in the capital had voluntarily returned the money.

The Fourth Prince thought to himself, "This is because the Eighth Prince is used to being a good guy. He's generous when giving money away, and naturally he's lenient when taking it back. Otherwise, how could he win people's favors? The Emperor really made a mistake in entrusting things to the Eighth Prince."

The Fourth Prince had been secretly grumbling to himself for several days, but when he went to court this month, the Emperor assigned him the task of collecting outstanding debts.

Fourth Master: ......

After the court session, the Eighth Prince returned to his residence and sat down to rest. The smile on his face hadn't faded since the court session ended. After sitting down, he said, "Not long ago, Prince Gong's residence sent two ink sticks from Huizhou. Bring them here." After the servants brought the fine ink sticks, the Eighth Prince ground them himself and began to write large characters.

Years ago, when he was in the Imperial Study, the Emperor criticized his calligraphy as being poor, so he has been practicing it whenever he has free time in recent years.

He Zhuo, the Eighth Prince's former scribe and now the Prince's chief secretary, said with a smile, "Your Highness's handwriting looks really lively, which shows that you are in a good mood." He smiled and then said, "Your Highness has been busy for almost a month, and finally this hot potato has been released."

Eighth Prince had just put down his pen and excitedly called He Zhuo over to comment. Hearing He Zhuo's words, the corners of his mouth turned up even wider. He said, "This task is indeed a hot potato, so I've also been keeping some ideas in mind. I want to see how the Crown Prince and Prince Yong handle this matter."

Collecting debts is a job that can offend people; who would willingly give back money they've already taken? There's a saying that goes, "The one who owes money is the boss."

He, a mere prince, lacked the ability to bear the Emperor's favor; he should see how others handled this matter. Besides...

This job has already been taken over by someone else. How can the second official explain himself to the Emperor if he doesn't produce some results? So, do you want to offend all the officials or offend the Emperor?

Ha! He's really looking forward to it.