In the imperial study, the leaders of the six ministries of Dayin were sitting in two groups.
Some look at their noses with their eyes and their hearts with their noses, like an old monk in meditation;
Some have anxious eyes and look out from time to time;
Some of them took a sip of tea, then stood up anxiously, walked a few steps to the door of the imperial study, and saw the young eunuch standing at the door, stunned and dumb. They snorted and walked back helplessly.
Some people had a blank expression on their faces, as steady as a rock, and drank their tea leisurely.
The six of them are the six ministers of the Dayin Empire.
Minister of Personnel Lu Bingjun, Minister of Rites Su Zheyan, Minister of Revenue Cui Kaiji, Minister of Punishment Leng Xin, Minister of Works Shi Kaitai and Minister of War Yang Dingguo.
Because of Fan Nan's incident, Minister of War Li Dao was implicated and retired to his hometown.
Yang Dingguo was originally the governor of Jiangnan. He made great contributions in suppressing the rebellion in Jiangnan. With the recommendation of Li Dao, he was directly promoted to the Minister of War.
The six ministers of the Ministry of Personnel were also members of Dayin's cabinet.
The Minister of Revenue Cui Kaiji was the chief minister of the cabinet, followed by the Minister of Personnel, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Works, and the Ministry of Justice.
Yang Dingguo had just been promoted to the Minister of War, and according to seniority, he could only be the last.
"Eunuch Cao, we've been waiting for an hour. Where on earth has His Majesty gone?"
Finally, the Minister of Works Shi Kaitai could no longer sit still. He suddenly stood up and walked to the door of the imperial study, and shouted angrily at Cao Chunfeng, the chief seal supervisor who was standing at the door.
"Master Shi, His Majesty only asked me to arrange for a few gentlemen to wait here, and did not say anything else."
Cao Chunfeng said calmly, "Please be patient and wait!"
"You are the eunuch who holds the seal beside His Majesty. How come you don't know where His Majesty has gone?" Shi Kaitai said unhappily.
He had some conflicts with this eunuch Cao.
"Brother Kaitai, you're already a member of the cabinet, and you're responsible for the important political affairs of Dayin. Why are you still so grumpy?"
Seeing that Shi Kaitai was about to yell at Eunuch Cao, Cui Kaiji called him back.
"Prime Minister, if His Majesty doesn't come, are we just going to wait forever?" Shi Kaitai shook his head and sighed.
"Your Majesty must have other things to do. Let's wait patiently!" Leng Xin also advised.
Shi Kaitai was just complaining. If he really had to wait for three days and three nights, he would have no choice but to wait.
"Shi Qing, what are you doing, walking back and forth?"
At this moment, a faint and old voice came from outside the door.
"His Majesty!"
Lu Bingjun, who was resting with his eyes closed, jumped up from his chair as if he had been electrocuted. Several other ministers also stood up and saluted together.
Shi Kaitai didn't expect that he was caught mumbling by the emperor. He stood aside awkwardly, and saluted half a beat slower than the others.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting. Please sit down!"
Emperor Yongchang walked in with the gait of a dragon and a tiger, and his powerful aura gave everyone in the imperial study a sense of oppression.
How could the six of them dare to sit down first?
Although the civil officials and the king of Dayin did not have the ritual of kneeling and bowing, there were still basic etiquette between the monarch and his subjects.
After Emperor Yongchang sat down, the six people sat down one after another.
"His Majesty..."
As the chief minister, Cui Kaiji was naturally the first to speak.
"My Lords, I would like you to first tell me about the war in the northwest and Weizhou."
But Emperor Yongchang interrupted Cui Kaiji first.
What Cui Kaiji wanted to say was that Emperor Yongchang had a clean family.
It is already May, and June is when the tax revenue for the first half of the year will come in.
Everyone is keeping an eye on these tax revenues!
The Ministry of Personnel pays salaries to officials, the Ministry of Works builds water conservancy projects, the Ministry of Rites holds sacrifices, and even the Ministry of Justice does the same.
All departments have to spend money everywhere, and now with wars happening one after another, the Ministry of War is spending money like water.
In the inner court, Emperor Yongchang had a palace that had fallen into disrepair and he wanted to use part of the tax revenue to repair it.
Every half year and the end of the year, it is the process of how Dayin’s cake is distributed among the highest level of power.
Now the six ministers came to see Emperor Yongchang to discuss the issue of tax and silver arrangements.
Each of them was like a hungry baby, their eyes dizzy with hunger.
However, Emperor Yongchang suddenly took the initiative, blocking Cui Kaiji from saying what he was going to say next, and took the initiative to discuss the war in the northwest and Weizhou, which surprised everyone.
"Your Majesty, hasn't General Li Chenghua been sent to suppress the rebellion in the northwest?"
"Although the Northwest Rebels are numerous, they are a motley crowd and are not a cause for concern."
"The defeat of Tian Zun and Pei Lun was caused by their carelessness and underestimation of the enemy. It is not appropriate to punish them now. We can punish them after General Li has pacified the situation!"
Cui Kaiji quickly finished explaining the matter, then suddenly turned to Yang Dingguo and asked, "Master Yang, is this true?"
Yang Dingguo didn't expect Cui Kaiji to throw such a hot potato to him.
Being an official in the cabinet is like walking on thin ice. If you say something wrong, you will fall into an irretrievable situation.
It was nowhere near as happy as when he was the governor of Jiangnan.
"Your Majesty, Prime Minister, I have just arrived at the Ministry of War and am still sorting out a myriad of issues. I am deeply grateful to all my colleagues."
Although Yang Dingguo was a newcomer to the cabinet, it did not mean that he had no experience in officialdom.
After years of working in the local area, he has long developed an iron-clad body and can speak without making any mistakes.
"That won't do. Your Majesty is asking about the war in the northwest now. Your Ministry of War must take responsibility. You can't let me, as the Prime Minister, do everything myself!" Cui Kaiji smiled faintly, then changed his tone and started to criticize immediately.
Not long ago, the two of them had a heated argument over the military pay for Li Chenghua's 30,000 soldiers who were going to war.
Li Chenghua actually put pressure on His Majesty to let the Ministry of Revenue hand over the silver to pay the military salaries.
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