Chapter 95 095 The Emperor, heeding Xiao Jian's advice, found that the funds needed to rebuild the Western Garden were insufficient...
After washing up, Luo Fu had Xiao Yu lie down on the bed, exposing his palms and knees so she could apply ointment to his wounds.
A scrape may sound like a minor injury, but there's a big difference between a scrape the size of a grain of rice and a scrape the size of a lychee. Xiao Yu's exposed palms were fine, but Luo Fu looked at the two scrapes on her knees and they looked painful.
"You were very eloquent in your advice to the Emperor the last two times, and I thought you had learned your lesson. Why did you speak so harshly today?"
"I'm puzzled," Rove asked.
There have been many incompetent rulers throughout history, but only a few are truly infamous. Among the common people, few of whom were literate, King Zhou of Shang would likely rank first. Therefore, it's no wonder Emperor Xianping was furious when Xiao Yu immediately used King Zhou to satirize him. Just last year, Yang Sheng nearly lost his head for saying something that could be interpreted as an insult to the emperor's incompetence; Emperor Xianping merely ordered the Imperial Guards to throw Xiao Yu out. Even Yang Sheng, upon hearing this in Wuwei, Liangzhou, would have been quite sarcastic.
Despite the lady's gentle movements, Xiao Yu still gasped in pain. Despite the pain, he explained haltingly, "Only the wise can be frugal, hiss... only the unwise can be extravagant. A truly virtuous ruler would not even entertain the thought of spending ten million taels to build a palace for pleasure. A ruler who has such a thought shows that he... oh, lady, be gentle!"
Luo Fu deliberately glared at him and said, "Even if the Emperor can't hear you, you're not allowed to say those words out loud."
Xiao Yu: "...Yes, in short, the Emperor must not be allowed to open the door to the Grand Cultivation Palace, which costs a huge sum of money, in the first place. Otherwise, if the Emperor succeeds once, it will be difficult to stop him later."
Luo Fu: "You did try to stop them, but you couldn't. Look at those old foxes, Prime Minister Xue and Prime Minister Liu, they're all so shrewd. You're always the one rushing to the front in everything."
Xiao Yu: "Yang Xiang was also frightened by the late emperor's execution of ministers. From then on, he was afraid to speak frankly and did not dissuade the late emperor from the second Northern Expedition. If he had advised him, he might have died, or he might have changed the late emperor's mind and saved millions of soldiers from dying in Liaodong. In officialdom, everyone has their own ambitions, and I cannot force others. But if the emperor has made a mistake, and I am aware of it, it would be disloyal of me not to advise him."
Stubborn to the end, Luo Fu increased the pressure slightly.
Xiao Yu: "..."
Seeing him in pain as if he had suffered some extreme torture, Luo Fu asked in surprise, "Were you also grimacing like this when you were thrown out of the palace gate? When I listened to stories and read novels, the loyal ministers who were wronged and punished all had a stern and unyielding face as they faced death."
Xiao Yu: "First, all the storytellers on the street who write books make up stories. If they praise a virtuous minister, he must be a perfect person. If they criticize a treacherous minister, he must be a shifty-eyed person or like my second brother. Second, I also have a resolute and unyielding face in front of outsiders, but my wife is not an outsider. If I don't even dare to cry out in pain in front of my wife, then I am just a paper figure written in a storybook."
Luo Fu snorted. If she weren't Xiao Yu's wife, she certainly wouldn't have guessed that the famous Imperial Censor Xiao was like this in private.
After applying the medicine, when Luo Fu got into bed, this person actually turned around and hugged her.
Luo Fu: "...Your hands don't hurt anymore? Your knees aren't afraid of being bumped anymore?"
Xiao Yu: "I will have to offer my advice tomorrow and may not be able to return. Please cherish this precious night we share in bed."
cherish?
Luo Fu sat up and pinched Xiao Yu's undamaged parts seven or eight times: "I think the Emperor was right. You were spoiled by the late Emperor. You won't turn back until you break your head!"
Xiao Yu was not afraid of the instruments of torture in the Dali Temple prison, but he was afraid of his wife's small hands, which were skilled at pinching and twisting. He quickly pulled up the quilt to cover himself up completely.
Luo Fu lay down again after venting her anger.
Xiao Yu was just joking casually. He just wanted to hug his wife. He didn't know how long he had been hugging her. Just when he thought his wife was sleepy and about to fall asleep, he heard his wife's voice through gritted teeth in his arms: "I must have owed you in my past life. I deserve to marry you to pay off my debt in this life."
Xiao Yu smiled and kissed the top of his wife's head: "I owe you a debt for making you worry so much in this life. We should be husband and wife again in the next life." Luo Fu didn't care about the next life. She just hoped that Xiao Yu would continue to have a good life and spend this life with her.
.
The next day at the hour of Yin (3-5 AM), Xiao Yu arrived at the outskirts of the capital city on horseback, neither too early nor too late. After dismounting, he looked at the Imperial Guards in front of him who were responsible for verifying the officials' waist tokens, and the eunuchs waiting beside him to lead the officials' horses.
Both of them also noticed this Lord Xiao.
Xiao Yu calmly took out his waist token, but he only breathed a sigh of relief after the Imperial Guards verified it and let him in. Fortunately, the Emperor did not forbid him from attending today's morning court.
He was glad he was able to get in, and the officials who were entering the palace one after another were also very surprised to see that Xiao Yu had come.
Xue Chang and Liu Baoxiu exchanged a glance. Admittedly, their official ranks were higher than Xiao Yu's, but in terms of the Emperor Xianping's favor, the two of them combined probably couldn't compare to Xiao Yu, this young man whose reputation for loyalty was widespread. As a result, Xiao Yu was thrown out of the capital for trying to persuade the Emperor Xianping. If it were them, even if they got away with it yesterday, they would probably become the second Yang Sheng in two years.
The civil officials were buzzing with discussion, while the military officers were much quieter.
Of the four leading commanders, Zhao Yi, the commander of the Imperial Guard, was originally the personal guard commander of the Prince of Fu's residence. He followed Emperor Xianping's every word and would never contradict his decisions on state affairs. Li Wei, the commander of the Eastern Camp, was Emperor Xianping's father-in-law, but their relationship was irrelevant. Since Li Gong's time, the Li family had never interfered in civil or political affairs. Gao Kun, the commander of the Western Camp, was Emperor Xianping's maternal uncle. In the past two years, he had been unwell and only occasionally attended court, spending most of his time recuperating at home. Liang Bizheng, the commander of the Southern Camp, was also the father-in-law of Prince Shun. Fearing Emperor Xianping's disapproval, he had even changed his outspoken nature, which he had shown before the late emperor. Why would he meddle in other people's business?
Finally, the ministers entered the hall, and the new day's court assembly began.
After Emperor Xianping sat on the dragon throne, his first glance fell on Xiao Yu's seat. He had tossed and turned all night and hadn't slept well. Now that he had finally gotten some sleep, he had to get up for the morning court. Emperor Xianping had really forced himself to get up. However, when he looked at Xiao Yu, he saw that he was as handsome and composed as ever. Emperor Xianping clenched his fist.
As was customary, Emperor Xianping allowed his ministers to present their reports first, and did not rush to announce his decision to rebuild the Xiyuan Imperial Palace.
After the senior officials finished their reports, it was the turn of the mid- to high-ranking officials from various departments. Over the years, they had developed a tacit understanding to proceed according to the order of importance and urgency. If nothing was urgent, they would proceed according to their rank.
When it was the turn of the officials from the Ministry of Revenue, Xiao Yu saw that no one in front of him or to his left or right moved, so he stepped forward with his tablet in hand: "Your Majesty, I have something to report."
Upon hearing this voice, all the civil and military officials perked up, including the emperor's brother-in-law Gao Kun, who was half-asleep with his eyes half-closed, and even glanced back.
Emperor Xianping said with a stern face, "If you have something to say, then speak."
Xiao Yu nodded, looking directly at the imperial steps beneath the dragon throne, and slowly said, "The other day, I received an official document from Xu Chong, the magistrate of Yi County in Danyang Prefecture, Yangzhou, requesting fifty taels of silver from the county treasury to repair the damaged roof, tables, chairs, windows, and other items in the county government office. Fifty taels is not much, but after checking the county treasury's silver expenditures in previous years, I found that there was a record of repairing the county government office when the magistrate of Yi County took office in the thirty-fifth year of Yongcheng. Therefore, I request Your Majesty to send officials to Yi County to inspect whether the county government office is truly dilapidated and in need of repair, or whether Xu Chong, knowing that the national treasury is full, will not hold him accountable for abusing fifty taels of silver and falsely reporting damage in order to use public office for private gain."
The ministers, who were best informed and already knew how much silver Emperor Xianping planned to spend on the major renovation of the Western Garden Palace, were speechless.
The ministers all understood Xiao Yu's sarcasm, and Emperor Xianping, who wanted to withdraw millions of taels of silver from the national treasury, understood it even more clearly and flew into a rage: "Xiao Yu, how dare you! You are clearly using Xu Chong to criticize me for misusing the national treasury!"
Xiao Yu bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I dare not. I am merely questioning whether the Yixian County government office truly deserves repair."
Emperor Xianping: "So what? It's only fifty taels. The county magistrate is the official appointed by the court to govern the local area. If the county government office is dilapidated, how can the dignity of the government be reflected? Do you want the local people to think that the court is so poor that it can't even afford to repair the county government office?"
Xiao Yu: "Since Your Majesty says that the county magistrate is the parent official who governs the local area, has Your Majesty ever seen parents who wear fine clothes and live in luxurious houses, but whose children are poorly clothed, hungry, and have no shelter from the wind?"
Emperor Xianping: "..."
Xiao Yu looked up and stared directly at Emperor Xianping, saying, “I have never seen such parents among the common people. I have only seen ordinary people who scrimp and save, mending their clothes when they are torn and wearing them again, and covering their broken roofs with mud and thatch for decades. If parents can save money to rebuild a house or two when their children get married to help them have children, the children will be happy and filial. If parents are poor and cannot help their children, the children will either resent or be filial. If parents have money but only use it on themselves and are stingy in helping their children, the children will be resentful.”
"Danyang County is a mountainous area. Since the late emperor's second northern expedition, disaster victims and those who refused to serve in the army have taken their families to live in the deep mountains as refugees. When the weather is good, the refugees cultivate the land in the mountains and use the harvest for themselves without paying taxes to the government. In years of famine, the refugees gather young men and go down the mountain to rob innocent people. Later, although the late emperor issued an edict to appease the mountain bandits, there are still refugees gathering in the deep mountains and forests of the southwest and southeast who refuse to come down the mountain. Two years ago, Xu Chong reported on the robbery by the refugees in the area and applied for 800 taels of silver to suppress the bandits, but ultimately returned empty-handed."
"Your Majesty, Yi County has both commoners who scrimp and save, wearing patched clothes and living in simple houses, and refugees who wander the mountains and fields, struggling to make ends meet. If the county treasury of Yi County is full, Xu Chong should think of ways to enrich and secure the people, rather than frequently renovating the county government office to make it magnificent and imposing, thus showing off the wealth of the people. If a county is rich but its people are poor, the people will only lament that the county magistrate ignores their suffering. If a country is rich but its people are poor, will all the people of the nine provinces lament that the emperor has no compassion for his subjects?"
After saying this, Xiao Yu said no more, but his clear and powerful voice still echoed in the hall.
Emperor Xianping fell silent.
At this moment, Gu Xi, the Minister of Revenue, stepped forward and echoed, "Your Majesty, what Xiao Yu said is very true. Although the national treasury is full, there are still pressing livelihood problems in the nine provinces. Furthermore, the Yin Kingdom in the north has not yet been destroyed, and the two Hu tribes are waiting for an opportunity to invade the south. Only when all the people in the world are well-fed and clothed and live in peace, and the national treasury remains full, can we truly achieve national prosperity and a golden age."
Xue Chang and Liu Baoxiu: "..."
Before the two prime ministers could even release their statements, civil officials such as Grand Censor Fan Yan and Minister of Justice Zou Dong, as well as the emperor's brother-in-law Gao Kun and Duke Li Wei, all expressed their approval of Xiao Yu's words.
Even before they expressed their opinions, Emperor Xianping's anger had gradually subsided. Finally, he looked at Xiao Yu and said, "Governing a county is like governing a country, and loving the people of a county is like loving the people of a country. I want to thank Xiao Yu for teaching me this lesson today. Without Xiao Yu, I would have almost chilled the hearts of the people of the nine provinces. Xu Lian, the matter of rebuilding the West Garden is hereby dropped, and there is no need to mention it again."
It is a virtue for an emperor to accept the honest advice of his ministers, but how can ministers allow the emperor to have no place to go for leisure and enjoyment?
Including Xiao Yu, all the civil and military officials hurriedly and sincerely advised Emperor Xianping to rebuild the Western Garden.
Ultimately, Emperor Xianping ordered the Ministry of Works to repair the Western Garden according to the first map drawn by Xu Lian, with an estimated cost of less than 200,000 taels of silver.
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Author's note: I often lose hair trying to come up with good advice, [poor thing]
Here they are! 100 little red envelopes. See you at midnight tonight!
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