"Your subject pays respects to the Emperor."
"Let's skip all of them."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
Zhao Huan said, "Liu Yanzong, thoroughly investigate the list of those involved in this rebellion. I will not allow a single one to escape."
"Your subject obeys the decree!"
"Li Ruoshui".
Li Ruoshui, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, stepped forward and said, "Your subject is here!"
"How many officials were there in total on Jingdong Road and Jingxi Road last year?"
"Your Majesty, last year, the total number of people with official titles and those without official positions in the Jingdong Road and Jingxi Road regions was 35,463!"
Zhao Huan then said, "The Zhou Dynasty."
"Your subject is here!"
"How much salary was distributed in total for Jingdong Road and Jingxi Road last year?"
Zhou Chao said: "Those not granted special favors received a total of 5,367,893 strings of cash, 3,000 taels of gold, 50,000 taels of silver, 200,000 bolts of silk, and rice, charcoal, cotton, and tea worth a total of 1,350,000 strings of cash."
Zhao Huan understood, and he asked his ministers, "How much was the court's total tax revenue last year?"
Zhou Chao continued, "Your Majesty, last year the court's total tax revenue was 83.63 million strings of cash."
The ministers knew what the emperor wanted to do.
Zhao Huan said, "The salaries of officials in Jingdong Road and Jingxi Road alone have consumed 5,367,893 strings of cash. Here is a land annexation survey of Jingdong Road and Jingxi Road. Wang Kui'an, please pass it on to Minister Xu."
Wang Kuian took it and handed it to Xu Churen, whose face turned pale upon seeing it.
“Every year, the court throws huge sums of money into the hands of officials. These officials use the court’s money and power to buy land and exploit the people. The court, in turn, extracts heavy taxes and corvée labor from the people. The number of people who starved to death in the two circuits of the capital last year is probably too many to count. Whenever I think of this, I toss and turn and cannot sleep at night. My ministers, tell me, how can I get a good night’s sleep?”
Xu Churen sighed inwardly. The emperor had still come to this point, forcing two groups of officials and gentry to rebel, and taking the opportunity to uproot them. Now that there was a power vacuum in the two groups, it was the perfect time to streamline the bureaucracy.
The next step is to restructure the administrative system, which may even involve reforming officials' salaries.
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