Chapter 600: Emperor An's "Generous Donation"
As for the aristocratic families, Emperor An knew that they had money, but so what?
With the background of the aristocratic family, they could ease the current difficulties and allow the Ministry of Revenue to turn around by simply relaxing their grip, but the key point was that he had shown no mercy when he wanted to eradicate the aristocratic family earlier.
When he summoned Liang Guangyi two days ago, he originally wanted to make peace with him and "reconcile" with the aristocratic families, and first join forces to deal with the prince and Xiao Yan, but Liang Guangyi looked defensive and directly refused.
The old man was extremely shrewd. He had just suggested that he attack Yin Bao and the others, but he interrupted him with a few words.
Under such circumstances, how could they possibly agree to let him and several other families contribute money to fill the hole in the court?
Seeing Qian Baokun and the others looking at him, Emperor An clenched his hands in shame and anger: "How can the Ministry of Revenue lend money to others? If this gets out, how will people view the court?"
Qian Baokun frowned: "Then what is your Majesty's plan?"
"Marquis Wenxin and his men are waiting for money, food, and military supplies to be transferred south. Minister Yan of the Ministry of War has also led his men to block the Ministry of Revenue. The army to suppress the rebellion will set out in two days. If they can't even gather the supplies, how can they suppress the rebellion?"
"you……"
Emperor An wanted to scold Qian Baokun for being incompetent, but Qian Baokun kowtowed before he could open his mouth.
"It is my incompetence that has prevented me from managing the Ministry of Revenue and reminding Your Majesty to be frugal sooner. I ask Your Majesty to punish me."
Emperor An: “…”
All the curses were blocked in his throat, and Emperor An's face was full of colorful and wonderful colors.
He wanted to scold Qian Baokun for his insolence, but Qian Baokun looked respectful and did not show any offense. He wanted to scold him for his incompetence, but Qian Baokun apologized first and did not shirk his responsibility at all.
Looking at the left and right assistant ministers of the Ministry of Revenue who were kowtowing and apologizing behind Qian Baokun, and hearing them repeating "Your Majesty, we are incompetent, please punish us," Emperor An's veins popped up. He felt that if he cursed a few more times, the three of them would just quit and resign, leaving the mess of the Ministry of Revenue to him.
The Ministry of Revenue account books on the table were wrinkled from being gripped. Emperor An felt a headache coming on. He turned his head and said to Feng Lai, "Go call the Crown Prince..."
Minister Yuan whispered, "Your Majesty, are you going to hand this matter over to the Crown Prince?"
Emperor An frowned: "Why, no?"
Minister Yuan hesitated: "It's not that it's not possible, but the Crown Prince seems to have sent people to Shezhou."
"The palace had previously awarded Jiyun Lane with numerous gifts, and many people in the capital had also sent gifts to Duke Dingguo. However, I heard that Duke Dingguo had someone exchange all those gifts and the palace rewards for silver. He then added the silver His Majesty had given him and sent it to Shezhou in the name of the He family."
Emperor An's expression suddenly changed: "When did this happen?!"
Minister Yuan was startled and whispered, "It should have been some time."
"During that time, people were coming and going in Jiyun Lane, and many people were talking about Duke Dingguo abusing his power over the palace coup, saying that he had made a fortune from it. I believed the rumors at the time, but it wasn't until two days ago that I heard that Duke Dingguo had already sent all the money to Shezhou."
"They say that during those days, anything that entered Jiyun Alley would be taken out the next day. The amount of money that was escorted out of the city from Jiyun Alley filled dozens of carriages."
"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said that the royal family felt guilty towards the people of Shezhou, and he also donated some money, along with the money from Duke Dingguo, to the charity halls and orphanages in Shezhou and Raozhou, saying that this was his way of making amends on behalf of His Majesty for what happened that year..."
"presumptuous!!"
Emperor An slammed the table so hard that Minister Yuan stopped talking.
Emperor An was shaking with anger.
He had deliberately gifted Xiao Yan with gifts and had people spread rumors to ruin Xiao Yan's reputation, but he never expected that Xiao Yan wouldn't keep any of those gifts and actually sent them all to Shezhou. Even that evil prince was trying to step on him to elevate himself?!
If news suddenly spread at this time that the Ministry of Revenue had no money and the court could not provide pensions, he, the emperor who made big promises but was unable to keep his promises, would be ridiculed, but the crown prince and Xiao Yan would be able to step on him to win the hearts of the people.
They have such vicious intentions!
Qian Baokun whispered, "Your Majesty, you ordered Marquis Wenxin and his men to send out their troops five days later. It's already the third day. If we don't have enough food and fodder..."
Emperor An interrupted sharply: "I understand. I will find a way to deal with the silver. You guys go back first."
Minister Yuan and the others hesitated upon hearing this and wanted to say something, but seeing Qian Baokun in front of them simply lowered his head and accepted the order without asking any further questions, the two of them could only follow behind and respond.
"Your humble servant obeys your order."
…
After Qian Baokun and the others left, Emperor An grabbed the booklet on the table and threw it out. His face no longer had the calmness he had just had, and his chest was heaving with anger.
"Xiao Yan, it's Xiao Yan again!!"
Although the Crown Prince's rebellious son had some ideas, he could not have figured out what was happening in the South. Only the traitor Xiao Yan had such a scheme and knew early on that the national treasury was short of money and could not afford the money he promised to give out. That was why he set a trap for him so early on.
No wonder Xiao Yan looked so strange when he talked about providing relief to those people in Rongjiang that day, and no wonder Xiao Yan didn't send anyone to stop him when he asked people to spread rumors outside during this period.
He has been waiting here for a long time!
The more Emperor An thought about it, the angrier he became. He suddenly swung his hand and knocked over the incense burner on the table. The copper burner fell to the ground with a clang.
Feng Lai hurried forward: "Your Majesty, be careful of the wound on your hand..."
He quickly took a handkerchief and wiped away the ashes from Emperor An's bandaged hand. He looked again carefully and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the wound was not touched.
"The wound on your hand hasn't healed yet, so be sure not to get dirty. Fortunately, it didn't touch the wound."
After saying this, he let go of Emperor An:
"Your Majesty, why should you be angry with Duke Dingguo? You have long known how treacherous and cunning he is. However, I never expected that the Crown Prince would completely disregard the father-son relationship and collude with Duke Dingguo to harm Your Majesty in this way."
"If Minister Yuan and his men hadn't accidentally discovered this, and if it weren't for the rebellion of Prince Pingshan, and if they hadn't waited until something happened in the South to discover this, then Your Majesty..."
Feng Lai was filled with worry: "It's such a big deal, why didn't anyone report it to His Majesty?"
Emperor An's face was extremely gloomy, and he suddenly thought of the useless Liu Tong'en.
He was already angry at Liu Tong'en's several incompetences, but considering that Liu Tong'en was still loyal, he hadn't thought of doing anything. However, he didn't expect that he didn't even notice that Xiao Yan and the prince had set up such an obvious trap, and he only found out about it when someone else mentioned it unintentionally.
He had asked Liu Tong'en before, and he had clearly said that he had sent people to keep an eye on Xiao Yan and the Crown Prince. Was this what he called surveillance?!
Incompetent waste!
Emperor An's face was filled with frost: "Feng Lai."
"His Majesty?"
"Go and call Liu Tong'en over, and have Yu Yanfeng wait outside as well. I'll summon him later." After a pause, Emperor An continued, "Go and sort out the account books for my private treasury and hand them over to me later."
If he wanted to fill the hole in the Ministry of Revenue, he had to have a reason.
No matter who asks, the silver comes from the private treasury and has no other source!
Feng Lai's eyes flickered slightly: "I'll go right away."
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