Chapter 599 Crying Poor
Emperor An's face turned pale with anger at Qian Baokun's words. The two assistant ministers of the Ministry of Revenue beside him trembled in fear as they watched their boss suddenly become so aggressive and act as if he didn't care about his boss.
Is Minister Qian crazy?
How dare he confront His Majesty?
Emperor An was equally furious: "Qian Baokun, are you blaming me for my extravagance?"
"I dare not."
Qian Baokun bowed his head respectfully and said, "Your Majesty just asked about the whereabouts of the money. I was only answering truthfully, and I would not deceive you with lies."
"The national treasury was already in deficit before the New Year. This humble official and I, Lord Yuan, were able to scrape together funds to keep the Ministry of Revenue running. It was only after the grain tax was confiscated and the Lu family residence was raided that the national treasury finally had some more silver."
"Originally, these, combined with the autumn tax, would have been enough to last until the next year's grain tax payment. However, Your Majesty has been lavishing gifts recently. Over a hundred thousand taels alone have been sent to Jiyun Lane and used to appease court officials. And a month ago, Your Majesty suddenly announced plans to provide relief to the bereaved families of Rongjiang and to build a tomb for the people."
"I, your humble servant, followed Your Majesty's orders and sent the first batch of 200,000 taels of silver and relief grain to Shezhou. The national treasury was once again empty. I planned to wait until Shezhou's final accounting was completed and the commercial taxes were collected in the following months before sending the additional silver and money. But who would have thought that Prince Pingshan would suddenly rebel..."
Qian Baokun held up the account book in his hand and said, "The army needs silver and money for food and military supplies to suppress the rebellion. The national treasury is running low on grain, so we need to raise funds from grain merchants. The Ministry of War has been urging me to lend money so that we can quickly equip other things, but the Ministry of Revenue only has this much silver left."
"I am incompetent and cannot cope with the situation. I do not know which side to deal with first. I ask Your Majesty to make the decision."
Feng Lai stepped forward cautiously, took the account book from Qian Baokun and handed it to Emperor An's desk.
Emperor An's face twitched as he looked at the last red number in the account book.
With such a small amount of silver, it is not enough to cover the military supplies for the army heading south, let alone allocate it to the Ministry of War.
There is no money, and the Ministry of Revenue is empty, so he is asked to make the decision?
What did he decide?!
Emperor An stretched out his hand and flipped through the book, looking at the silver and grain sent to Shezhou, and said in a low voice:
"I did issue an order to provide relief to those in Rongjiang, but who asked you to send such a huge sum as two hundred thousand taels?! The national treasury is completely empty, don't you know how to save money?!"
Qian Baokun: "..." He raised his head and looked at Emperor An quietly: "Master Yuan and Master Sheng are responsible for this matter. Why not let them explain it to His Majesty?"
The left and right assistant ministers of the Ministry of Revenue felt their scalps tighten when their names were called.
The Left Assistant Minister Yuan Pu stepped forward tremblingly and said, "Your Majesty, the military pensions have always been based on the rules set by the Emperor Taizu. If an ordinary soldier dies in battle, his family will receive three pieces of silk, one dan of grain, and fifteen silver coins. If a centurion dies in battle, his family will receive ten pieces of silk, twenty dan of grain, and sixty silver coins."
"The higher the military rank, the more pensions are required. For those above the ninth rank, the pension increases several times for each rank increase. For military officers above the sixth rank who die in battle, the pension alone is over ten thousand silver taels, not to mention food, cloth, and other subsidies..."
"Nearly nine thousand civilians died in Rongjiang that year, along with hundreds of officials and clerks, as well as over six hundred soldiers brought by Crown Prince Li and the He family, over twenty fourth-rank imperial physicians, and over fifty escorting imperial guards."
"Among the six hundred soldiers in the school camp, there were six eighth-rank lieutenants, two fifth-rank lieutenants, and a third-rank brave general. There were also two sixth-rank imperial guards, plus Lord He Wenzhuo, who was of the upper third rank, and the fourth-rank auxiliary governor Wu Chuoyi, who died with him in Rongjiang..."
Minister Yuan looked at Emperor An's face, which gradually turned pale and stiff, and his voice became smaller and smaller, until in the end it was almost just a breath.
Seeing that he couldn't hold on any longer, the Right Assistant Minister Sheng Mingrui stepped forward to take over.
"Normal military pensions for high-ranking military officers are not paid out all at once. Instead, their families receive annual payments from local authorities for three to five years after their death. This will ease the pressure on the Ministry of Revenue and prevent the money from being embezzled, thus providing for the families of the deceased soldiers' remaining years."
"But whether His Majesty's decree to the Southland this time is to issue it directly, or to double the military compensation, the one-time payment alone will exceed 400,000 taels of silver. This does not include the construction of the Ten Thousand People's Tomb and other expenses for food and cloth. The national treasury simply cannot afford such a large amount of silver."
Minister Sheng whispered, "At that time, I discussed with Minister Qian and wanted Your Majesty to retract the decree, but the decree had already been issued. Everyone in the court and among the people knew about it and praised Your Majesty as a wise ruler. If Your Majesty retracted the decree again, you would definitely be criticized."
"We, the ministers, had no other choice. In the end, it was Minister Qian who made the final decision. He used the excuse that the accounts of the survivors of Rongjiang were unclear, and sent half of the money first to buy time so that the funds for the follow-up could be raised. If the delay could be delayed until the beginning of next spring, the court would not be short of money. However, who would have thought that Prince Pingshan would suddenly rebel, and His Majesty ordered the dispatch of troops to suppress the rebellion..."
The older Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue began to feel aggrieved as he spoke, thinking of the money they and Qian Baokun had saved up over the past few days by almost emptying the Ministry of Revenue. He fell to his knees and almost cried as he looked at Emperor An.
"Your Majesty, it's not that Minister Qian and I are incompetent. It's simply that the Ministry of Revenue is unable to provide the funds. I hope Your Majesty will understand."
The Left Assistant Minister also knelt down.
Qian Baokun knelt at the front and said, "This humble official and the two assistant ministers have tried every possible method, but even the best cook cannot cook without rice. The people from the Ministry of War are blocking the Ministry of Revenue, and Marquis Wenxin and his men are waiting for food and fodder. If all else fails, we can only inform them of the Ministry of Revenue's true situation..."
"no!"
Emperor An refused without hesitation. If the national treasury could not provide the grain and fodder to collect the rebels, people would not only laugh at the Ministry of Revenue being useless, but would only discuss his incompetence as a monarch!
Furthermore, his current situation was already dire. The Crown Prince and that scoundrel Xiao Yan had teamed up to control the government. He had barely managed to salvage some of his reputation by providing relief to the people of Rongjiang and levying the rebellion. If people knew now that the court had no money to pay, and that the decree sent to Rongjiang was a lie, how could he, the emperor, still have the dignity to do so?!
By then, his reputation would probably collapse like a mountain, and he would be ridiculed and scolded by people all over the world.
Qian Baokun frowned: "Why not raise money with the people in the court first? There are many wealthy merchants in the capital who can afford money. Oh, and those noble families in the court also have money..."
Emperor An's face darkened: "This won't work!!"
There are indeed many wealthy businessmen in Beijing. As long as he gives the order and promises some benefits, there will naturally be people willing to raise money for the royal family. But once he opens the mouth, wouldn't it be equivalent to telling everyone that the Ministry of Revenue is short of money?
Those merchants were the most lowly and had never been kind or righteous. If it were to get out that he, the emperor, actually borrowed money from merchants, it would still be a loss of face for him.
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