The Crown Prince, who everyone else feared, was now speaking to Su Wan in a gentle voice, "Are you really not going?"
"You guys are in a meeting, why should I go?" Su Wan immediately shook her head, "Besides, they are all important officials in the court. I won't go. Aunt Jun Ling and I are going to the mountains to hunt wild rabbits."
As soon as she got up in the morning, Su Wan heard Aunt Jun Ling and Guard Xiao Song say that someone on the farm was going to hunt rabbits, and they asked Su Wan if she wanted to go.
She must participate in such a fun thing.
Xie Pei knew that she was bored yesterday and wanted to take her to a small meeting, but he also felt that he couldn't be too hasty, so he said: "Okay, then you take a few guards with you and be careful."
"Sure!" Su Wan nodded and was already organizing the bow and arrow, but she didn't know how to use a bow and arrow.
Xie Pei looked back every few steps. He wanted to teach Su Wan how to use the bow and arrow, but he knew that there were too many things to do today, so he had to focus on his official duties first.
After Xie Pei left, Su Wan breathed a sigh of relief.
Who wants to hold a meeting?
Besides, she knew the content of the meeting.
It would be more fun to go hunting rabbits.
Seeing Xie Pei about to leave the hospital, Su Wan thought for a moment and said, "We will go down the mountain at noon and come back to make cold pot rabbit meat for you."
Xie Pei turned around again and looked at him with amusement.
Soon, eight of the twelve guards around Xie Pei came, which made Aunt Jun Ling frown. She couldn't help but ask, "You are all here, what should His Highness do?"
The leading guard Xiao Song said, "Mother, His Highness almost asked us all to come over."
Finally, Su Wan said, "We don't need so many people. This is Bi Guang Mountain, and Aunt Jun Ling is here. How could there be any danger?"
This is Xie Pei’s base camp. Most of the people here are from the Ding family army, or descendants of the Ding family army. How could they not have martial arts skills?
The hunter Su Wan who was going up the mountain also knew him. He was an expert at playing Cuju on the snow last time. With such skills, he would definitely not be in danger.
After Su Wan's persuasion, the guards decided to leave four people behind to provide close protection.
"We don't necessarily need to protect them, we just want to catch more rabbits so that we can eat the cold pot rabbits you mentioned!" Guard Xiao Song said immediately.
Oh boy, you're waiting here.
"That's not difficult." Su Wan smiled, "You should be able to handle spicy food, right? Then you will definitely like rabbit!"
Wait, it seems that Xie Pei can’t eat spicy food.
What a poor person. If this doesn't work, just put less chili in it.
While Xie Pei was holding a small meeting, Su Wan followed the hunters from Bi Guangshan to the mountain to hunt rabbits. The hunters were indeed experienced. They set out early and had hunted seven or eight rabbits before noon. They also said that if it was not enough to eat, they could go to the next door farm to buy some. It was also easy to buy rabbits in the summer.
Su Wan naturally felt that was enough, she only wanted two or three.
But seeing the expressions of the guards around me, I had no choice but to take two more. Isn't it just to make more? Make it! Everyone gets a share!
Let’s go down the mountain and make cold pot rabbit now!
Aunt Jun Ling also smiled: "I often hear Xiao Song say that your cooking is good, and today I finally got the chance to see it."
Su Wan said, "It's not that great even if you just do it casually."
That being said, when Su Wan started to cut the rabbit, her knife skills impressed the guards.
In her previous life, when she was learning to cook from her mother, the first thing she learned was to dissect various foods. The puffer fish she talked about last time was also learned at that time.
She won’t touch pufferfish easily, but she can touch rabbits!
The freshly slaughtered rabbit is also easily cut into pieces. The color of fresh rabbit meat looks different. Wash the rabbit meat, cut it into pieces, and then wipe off the moisture on it. It is then time to marinate it.
The seasonings used are also simple: bean paste, ginger slices, salt, chicken powder, and rice wine.
Aunt Jun Ling and Guard Xiao Song came along to help, and the rabbits were pickled separately.
The kitchen was also preparing lunch for today. There were five or six officials staying for the meeting, so it was easy to prepare meals for everyone.
Su Wan's dish is purely a side dish.
Fresh rabbit meat can be used after being marinated for fifteen minutes. The rabbit meat is now tender and easy to absorb the flavor.
After marinating, you can add water to the pot, put the rabbit meat into the pot with cold water, and cook until it is 80% cooked. Then add the blanched pig blood cubes and tofu cubes.
Then, add lotus root slices, taro slices, onions, lettuce, green or red peppers into the pot according to your preference.
Wait until the ingredients are fully cooked before seasoning.
Fresh ingredients will taste very good if processed in this way. Apart from the bean paste, there are no other heavy-flavored spices.
The last step makes the dish taste even better, which is to roast chili peppers in a pan, then add the green Sichuan peppercorns, and pour them directly on the rabbit meat that has already been cooked to stir-fry the aroma.
The spicy flavor of the cold pot rabbit is strong and comes out immediately.
But after Su Wan stir-fried the cold pot rabbit, she remembered that Xie Pei doesn't eat spicy food!
Did she add too much chili just now?
There are also green peppercorns from Sichuan! The flavor is even stronger.
But looking at the delicious cold pot rabbit, she couldn't pick out the peppers.
Forget it, just serve the food with your eyes closed.
This dish is called cold pot rabbit because it is served in an iron pot without fire underneath.
When Su Wan changed her clothes and sat next to Xie Pei, she whispered, "It's a little spicy."
Xie Pei pursed his lips subconsciously.
Su Wan said it was spicy, so that must not be good.
It must taste good, but it's too spicy.
At lunch time, Su Wan and Xie Pei still ate together, while other ministers ate in a special flower hall.
So Su Wan asked someone to bring some cold water over: "How about we just eat it by dipping it in water?"
Xie Pei still said: "It's okay, you can try it."
A bite of rabbit meat, the meat is indeed tender, hot and spicy, appetizing and delicious.
It is indeed very spicy, but its rosy and translucent color makes people want to eat more.
Su Wan breathed a sigh of relief.
Just say it!
Who doesn't like eating rabbit?
Su Wan's chopsticks are much faster.
Not only they came to eat, but also the ministers, guards, and people on the farm were all amazed by this cold pot rabbit meat.
Such a dish with distinct color and spicy taste is really refreshing to eat in summer. The rabbit meat, which tastes good to begin with, tastes even better under Su Wan's cooking skills.
For a moment, everyone at the table was not polite and was eager to rush to eat.
Guard Xiao Song even felt that he should eat as much as he could now.
Later, ahem, anyway, later, I may not have the chance to eat the food cooked by Miss Su Wan!
As for the reason?
Those who understand will understand!
So you're not opening it yet?
A delicious meal brought the Bi Guangshan gathering to a complete end.
After a short rest in the afternoon, everyone will return to Kyoto one after another. There is basically no need to say much about what happens next.
Anyway, I heard that many officials would not go to Yuhua Palace to escape the summer heat. Why?
Of course, we are waiting for the people on the "list" to "donate money".
Even if you spend the summer in Kyoto, you still have to pack up what you need.
Su Wan discovered that she knew exactly what Xie Pei was going to do, and even if she didn't want to understand, someone forced her to listen.
What are you listening to!
It has nothing to do with her.
But when Xie Pei was washing cherries with her, he said, "How can it have nothing to do with you? When things are settled in autumn, many palace servants will be assigned to go out and do some work. At that time, you and the Ministry of Revenue may be needed to help."
she?
And with the Ministry of Household Affairs?
But think about it, her job in the Shangshi Division is to liaise with various departments, so if something like this happens, she would be counted on to take charge.
But now listen to her, telling her that the matter will be resolved in autumn, aren't you afraid that she will turn against you!
Su Wan just complained a few words in her heart. After eating the cherries washed by Xie Pei, how could she really do anything?
The ministers left one after another, and Su Wan and Xie Pei stayed for a while. They not only packed cherries, but also picked a lot of strawberries and peaches for breakfast.
Aunt Jun Ling also said that there will be grapes next month, and they will be sent directly to Kyoto for Su Wan.
Who can refuse such fresh fruit?
In the evening, we took advantage of the twilight to return to Kyoto with the fruits, lotus seeds, etc. we picked.
Apart from the fact that the conference yesterday was quite boring, everything else was pretty good?
The fruits brought back this time were also distributed to the families of the prince's followers, as well as to the ministers close to the prince. The six ministers and the six grand secretaries must have some in their homes.
Now that Ming Pai's actions are even more arrogant, the Saint is naturally very angry. I heard that he has been in good health recently, all because of his favorite concubine, the beautiful Qiang.
But what does it matter if I am in good health now? The hot topic in Beijing is the investigation of corrupt officials.
The silver he found shocked him many times, so he was not confident when trying to stop them.
So much money and so many things should have originally belonged to him, but these parasites actually stole his things, putting the national treasury in a difficult position and leaving his own private treasury with nothing.
Therefore, the saint does not care about what Xie Pei is doing now. Anyway, it is Xie Pei who has offended people, and it is his treasury that is enriched. Let Xie Pei be the evil man. He will suffer the consequences sooner or later for treating the officials in the court like this.
Which of these ministers is easy to deal with? He had fought for so long to evenly divide the two, and now Xie Pei was doing this, just digging a hole for himself and offending people everywhere.
The sage did not expect that after Xie Pei returned from Bi Guangshan, he would change his previous iron-fisted approach and start raising funds for autumn flood prevention and control with the Ministry of Revenue.
There are also places where drought has lasted for a few days and we still need to raise money for food.
The money that had been confiscated was used to make up for the silver embezzled from the summer floods, and was given to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works to strengthen the defense of the northwestern border. There was also miscellaneous expenses.
Anyway, the meaning is that there is no money left and the ministers are asked to donate money.
The sage was still laughing at first, saying that he had just become the crown prince and had no experience, so he spent the money recklessly.
It’s enough to just ask the ministers to donate money as a token of their appreciation.
Who really donates?
Unexpectedly, at a large court meeting in early May, Xie Pei directly mentioned the name of a fifth-rank minister who was in charge of the palace gardens and asked him how much he was prepared to donate.
This man has been trembling with fear for many days.
Because he is most likely to appear on Xie Pei’s “list”!
Then, he named four or five more people, all of whom were officials who had felt guilty recently!
After clicking this time, Kyoto immediately understood the meaning of "donation".
Will there be no trouble if I donate?
Is there anyone who does things this way?
But among the people selected by Xie Pei next, a few who threatened not to donate money had their homes searched that day. The officials from the Ministry of Revenue were numb from counting the money and only took the silver in the mansion. All the gold, silver and jewellery were temporarily sealed up. They would count slowly!
Although his expression looks numb, he is actually very happy inside!
They are finally going to have money!
I just hope there are more stubborn people like this, so they can raid more people’s homes!
This practice also means one thing: the threshold of the Ministry of Revenue would be trampled, especially at night, when there would always be a constant stream of cars and horses.
Donate! We donate!
Those who donated money felt much more at ease. The next day, the prince even spoke to them with a smile. Of course, only those who donated the most could receive this treatment. Those who were stingy and unwilling to spend the people's money would still be given the cold shoulder. Those who donated less would have their property confiscated.
For a time, Kyoto was more chaotic in May than in April.
But no one dared to say anything.
After all, the prince has given you a way out.
As long as he honestly hands over the embezzled items, he can still save his family.
If you don't pay it, you are shameless.
And no one dared to accuse the prince of being greedy, because he did not even handle the money; all of it went into the national treasury and never passed through private hands.
What selfish motives could they have? Can you accuse them of making money?
Some people also went to the Grand Secretary of Zhongji Hall and demanded that he seek justice.
This second-rank official, who is the head of the six grand secretaries, simply stays indoors and refuses to go out. When asked about his headache, he says he is overworked and exhausted.
The meaning is very clear. No opposition means tacit support.
The Grand Secretary of Zhongji Palace did not even leave the capital when he went to the palace as usual in June, but followed the prince and his faction to see how the matter progressed.
At the beginning of June in the fifteenth year of Tianze, the palace had already prepared to go to Yuhua Palace to escape the summer heat. This was the procedure every year.
Generally speaking, the saints, nobles in the inner palace, and twenty or thirty important officials in the court could bring their families to escape the summer heat.
From mid-May or early June, until after the Mid-Autumn Festival.
But this year is particularly special.
First of all, no one from the prince's faction wanted to go. After all, there were still many things waiting to be dealt with and many issues waiting to be argued about. The simplest one was that the stolen money that had been confiscated had not been counted yet, and there were still people queuing up to donate.
If I go to escape the summer heat now, won't all these be delayed?
Unexpectedly, this time the Grand Secretary of Zhongji Palace also refused to resign, saying that he was too old to travel around.
Some people speculated that this was clearly to support the prince and prevent any chaos in the capital in the future.
Anyway, after all this, most of the important officials in the court were not planning to go to Yuhua Palace, and all stayed in Kyoto to accompany the prince.
So on the day the Saint set out for Yuhua Palace, it was said that he was so angry that his face turned blue.
Su Wan didn't go either. After all, she was still waiting to open a dessert shop in Kyoto with Hubu.
According to the plan, the dessert shop that will be opened in autumn this time will be larger than the last one and will offer a wider variety of desserts.
If nothing goes wrong, I should be able to buy some snow skin mooncakes before the Mid-Autumn Festival.
This long-renowned snow skin mooncake is finally going to appear in ordinary people's homes. As the Ministry of Rites, the immediate superior of the Shangshi Bureau, you can imagine that this will be a huge source of income.
Why does it feel like the treasury of Tianxiang Kingdom has started to become full since this year?
Although everyone in Kyoto is in danger now, they are only the families with problems who are in danger, and the prince will basically not implicate too many relatives and friends except the five families mentioned before. There is also the way of donating money, so many officials have begun to watch the show. After all, it has nothing to do with themselves.
Many people praised the Crown Prince's abilities, but blank seals and documents kept coming out of his side.
There was no signature under the document, only a blank seal.
If asked, the prince would just smile and ask, "What do you think of this plan?"
That is certainly a compliment. These documents are not numerous, but they are worth reading again and again. The above methods are so ingenious and are truly the work of a master.
The prince got the answer and said, "Then remember her kindness."
Remember, this is definitely remembered.
But what’s the use of remembering it?
Xie Pei naturally did not answer. He would not share the credit that belonged to Su Wan with others, nor would he take it for himself.
Look back, looking back will definitely be useful.
The weather in June is hot, and Su Wan can buy some ice to use, so that she can sleep well at night.
At first, he bought them, and later Xie Pei secretly had a lot of them delivered to him.
With Su Wan's reminder, Xie Pei asked for more ice to be sent to every household in Kyoto. Since they stayed and did not go to Yuhua Palace to escape the summer heat, they were family.
On hot days, there must be plenty of ice.
For a time, many people felt that they could not make any comments about the prince.
If you say he is cruel, then he is indeed cruel. He can kill corrupt officials who refuse to give in. This is completely different from the previous emperor.
But if you say he is kind, he does take good care of his subjects, and every time he rewards you, he doesn't require you to express your gratitude in a grand manner. He just sends someone to deliver the things to your home, whether it's cherries, ice, or the smoothies he made recently.
Anyway, just deliver it, no need to be polite, as if it is just an everyday reward, not worth mentioning. It is more than a hundred times better than the small favors given by the emperor, who makes people kneel down to thank him.
The prince is too complicated and hard to figure out.
But everyone below was obviously working much faster.
In July, the prince took time out of his busy schedule to visit the military tombs on the outskirts of the city. He had gone there to pay homage before, around the twelfth year of Tianze, when Xie Pei was not yet the prince.
This time, during the Ghost Festival, we first went to the Taimiao to worship the late emperor, and then went to the Ding family to worship the ancestors of the Ding family.
Originally thought that they were going to go back, Su Wan was unexpectedly taken to the Soldiers' Cemetery. This is the mausoleum built to commemorate the soldiers of Tianxiang State who sacrificed their lives for the country. On weekdays, except for the soldiers' families who came back, few people came here on purpose.
Xie Pei came to pay his respects, which made people wonder if he was planning to take some action.
Su Wan was accompanied throughout the whole process, but she felt that Xie Pei must want to rebuild the border defense, rebuild the northwest city wall, and the garrisons of various parties, so he came here.
The Ministry of War and others are already gearing up for action, and obviously think this is a big deal.
However, after returning, it was still Xie Pei who was handling the corrupt officials case arising from the black market case, as well as the subsequent house seizures and donations.
By around July 20th, it was basically finished.
It started in February and ended in late July, a period of half a year, which was considered swift and resolute to handle such a large case.
This case that shocked Kyoto has finally come to an end.
Eight corrupt officials were raided in Kyoto, and the total amount of money seized was equivalent to 20 million taels of silver.
The fourteen families that Tianxiang State has already found are worth 30 million taels of silver.
Another 15 million taels were "donated".
In just half a year, more than two years of tax revenue of Tianxiang Kingdom was found. Anyone who heard this would be shocked.
But everyone knows that these are only the results of the search, and only the most vicious parasites have been caught. Among these people in Kyoto, there are still many who have eaten up the people's blood and sweat and have not spit it out.
According to Xie Pei, just keep it for now and wait until you need money.
One is to appease the court, and the other is to reassure the people. Some things cannot be rushed.
Furthermore, the saint is also trying his best to stop it, so the investigation should lead to someone from his faction.
Anyway, after the searches over the past six months, many people in various parts of the court have been replaced. After all, search and seizure are two different things, and the more than ten companies that have been dismissed are not included.
This move made the voices against the prince in the court less and less.
After all, it's okay to use this opportunity to make money, but it's also possible to eliminate some of Concubine Jiang and Concubine Chu's people.
Not only that, the fact that the number of people was concealed in the palace was also "incidentally" revealed.
Starting from July 20th, the prince gave every government office in the palace the opportunity to conduct self-inspection.
In other words, if you feel that the number of people in your palace is incorrect, then you can hand over the correct list within five days and you will be forgiven.
If it is still fraudulent reporting or concealing the truth, that is another matter.
Looking at the several households whose properties were confiscated in the imperial court, none of these stewards would doubt what the prince would do next.
The two people responsible for supervising this matter were the newly appointed chief steward of the Imperial Household Department and the chief of the Imperial Food Department.
Su Wan, the chief steward of the Imperial Household Department, knew this person. He was Tong Xihong, the chief steward of the Treasury Department who had gone there two years ago.
Back then, the Baochaosi colluded with merchants to sell expensive meals to the palace maids in the West Outer Palace, and forced the palace maids in the Baochaosi to buy them, and then they were convicted.
Tong Xihong, a sweet-toothed butler, took over as the new manager. He was young and serious, but he did things in an orderly and well-organized manner.
She was also Xie Pei's subordinate, so Su Wan was not surprised.
It’s because I already knew most of the people when I went to Bi Guang Mountain last time.
But the new deputy general manager of the Ministry of Internal Affairs surprised Su Wan a little.
This turned out to be the old steward of the old warehouse, the kind-hearted steward who always took care of the Shangshisi. He was old and his energy was a little weak, but he could still be a deputy steward.
Xie Pei naturally nodded to these appointments. Now the chief and deputy chief stewards are all his people, and they are upright and good at doing things.
In this way, the Ministry of Internal Affairs can keep a firm grip on the number of people who supervise the internal departments in checking their own accounts.
Therefore, all the people who were responsible for inspecting the various departments were present.
The chief administrator of the Imperial Household Department, Tong Xihong, formerly the chief administrator of the Treasury Banknote Administration.
Deputy Director-General of the Imperial Household Department, formerly Director-General of the Old Treasury.
Chief of the Imperial Food Department.
And Su Wan.
Su Wan seemed out of place here, but she followed her superior here just to help, so no one noticed the difference.
The four of them sat together, and without saying much, they already knew each other well.
Especially the deputy general manager of the Imperial Household Department, he was somewhat grateful to his superior, so naturally they had a good relationship.
Su Wan and the chief steward often had meals together before, so there was naturally nothing wrong with it.
There will basically be no problems if the four of them come to supervise the internal departments.
However, the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Internal Affairs said: "I heard that the method of self-inspection was proposed by that Kong Zhang Sheren. I don't know where this Kong Zhang Sheren came from. He has come up with many good ideas for this black market case."
Sheren also means retainer.
No one knew how to call him, so this name came into being.
This was the first time Su Wan heard of it, so she inevitably felt a little uncomfortable.
Why is it called so elegantly?
In fact, it was she who spoke, Xie Pei who wrote, and then she stamped it with her blank seal.
At first Su Wan didn't want to stamp it, but Xie Pei had already brought the written document over. Everything was ready except for the seal.
But why does this Kongzhang Sheren sound weird?
However, the deputy general manager only mentioned it briefly, and everyone still has a lot of work to do.
Su Wan originally thought that the total number of people in the inner and outer palaces was only about 20,000, but she didn't know that the number of people on the list was much more than she had imagined. In particular, there were 27,000 people in the outer city of the palace, and 16,000 in the inner palace.
Even though there are several large government offices in the outer city, there are too many people.
The Baochaosi produced paper, the Ciqiku also made objects, the gunpowder bureau was also included, and there was also a horse farm in the outer city.
But no matter how you count, there are quite a lot of people on the list.
In the ancient times of Su Wan's time and space, there was once a dynasty that said that the cosmetics money for the palace maids alone was 300,000 taels every year. Now it seems that the amount in Tianxiang Kingdom is about the same, or even more.
This is obviously extremely unhealthy.
Now is a good time to reorganize. Those who were taken to the Mountain Resort from the inner palace must be their trusted aides and regular employees.
The rest are not so important. We can take this opportunity to hear whether they want to leave the palace or stay in it. Either one is fine, but the tasks will have to be reassigned.
In other words, take advantage of the absence of people in the palace and reshuffle the cards.
Although Su Wan's idea is bold, it is doable.
Anyway, we have already broken off relations with the inner palace and the saint, so why should we be afraid of a more severe break?
Now that we have caught the black market case and are trying to root out corrupt officials, wouldn’t it be better to just execute them?
During the five days, their inspection team was not large, but people were busy everywhere in the palace.
Summer used to be the most leisurely time of the year, but now all the managers are sweating with anxiety.
Should I tell the truth? What if I tell a lie?
In the past, it would have been easy to get away with.
Isn't that the case with Concubine Jiang? But it is obviously different now. If she is exposed, she will be exiled at the very least.
Or join those whose properties were confiscated and wait for execution in the autumn?
The prince is definitely capable of doing such a thing.
It would definitely not work to negotiate with Concubine Jiang as before under such circumstances.
It took five days, four days of struggle, and on the last day the real roster was taken out. They were told that they had not done a good job of counting the names before, so this was the real list. It was their fault and they deserved to die.
Su Wan took a closer look and found that the actual number of people in the outer city of the palace on the roster had decreased from 27,000 to 21,000.
It’s about six thousand less.
This is a bit too harsh. Even with this number, it is still not very credible at the moment. We need to check every palace first before we can make any final decision.
The situation in the inner palace was better. The roster reported 16,000 people, but the actual number was 12, a shortfall of nearly 4,000.
The question is, there was an error in the previous inventory, it was the fault of the people below.
The chief and deputy chief stewards of the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not say anything, but just put away the list and waited until tomorrow, which was July 25th. People in each palace were not allowed to move around freely, and they had to go and count the number of people.
This is inevitable.
But it is rare to let the guards watch over every palace entrance and let people in the palace report on each other.
Why do they have to watch over the palace roads? For example, they are going to count the people in the Imperial Household Department. There are 800 people in the Imperial Household Department, and the number matches.
Then we go to the Shangbaojian next door. However, there are 520 people in the Shangbaojian account, and there are 20 missing. What should we do? We can just borrow 20 people from the next door and treat them as our own to deal with the inventory. Isn't that enough?
Guarding the palace roads means that they cannot move around freely. We cannot count you here and then see you appear in another government office the next moment.
Now some managers who wanted to take advantage of the situation had to come over overnight to re-report their names, saying that they were wrong and that there were actually even fewer people.
After these people left, the chief and deputy general managers could only sigh that Kong Zhang Sheren's document was really well written and took every aspect into consideration.
When they were praising "Kong Zhang Sheren", the officer glanced at Su Wan who was neither arrogant nor impatient, and didn't even have any expression on her face.
Even if others don’t know, how could she not know?
After all, it was her who approved Su Wan to leave the palace every time.
Su Wan and the prince work so well together.
And no matter what Su Wan asked for, whether it was to transfer guards or the next things, the prince agreed to it all and did everything according to what Su Wan said.
She had never seen such trust before.
The next thing, of course, is to ask all departments to return the two years of unused salary.
There is also money for charcoal-fired ice drinks given for the past two years.
For example, if there are 180 people on the account of Xiangfang, but there are actually 150 people, then the two-year monthly salary of 30 people, two years of charcoal, ice, drinks, cosmetics, etc., equivalent to ten taels per person, must be returned.
Among these thirty people, fifteen were registered palace maids, receiving two taels of silver per month, which, together with the subsidies, totaled one thousand and twenty taels of silver over two years.
Ten of them were palace maids, earning ten taels a month, and five were deputy stewards in name only, earning fifteen taels. All in all, the total was four thousand five hundred taels of silver.
All in all, the chief steward Xiang Fang had to supply the Ministry of Internal Affairs with 5,520 taels of silver.
Su Wan asked seriously, "Do you want to pay in cash or in banknotes? If you want to pay in banknotes, make sure they can be exchanged."
Why return it?
Then we have to ask, there is no one on these lists, so where did the money go? If we ask this in detail, it will be a big deal.
Anyway, we want it, you give it to us, and this matter is covered up, just like those corrupt officials in the court, otherwise? You know it in your heart.
And it’s only five thousand five hundred taels, so I’ll give you a discount and make it six thousand taels, not a penny less.
The elephant room manager almost collapsed and sat on the ground.
Six thousand taels!
There is no reason to spit out money!
And he was indeed greedy for money, but he didn't take the money for himself. He used the money to bribe the Internal Affairs Bureau and the nobles in the palace. He gave power to Concubine Jiang and to Concubine Chu. When Tianbei Palace was still in existence, he also gave the money to Tianbei Palace.
I've even been in contact with Rose Beauty recently.
Which of these doesn't need money?
Some of it was even given to ministers in the court. Those whose properties were confiscated had their properties confiscated, and those who were asked to donate money donated money.
These are included in the money you are collecting now!
But Su Wan didn't care about all this. She either gave money or made a list for Xie Pei.
The palace was shaken, and many people tried to escape with the money that night, probably because they were reluctant to part with it.
But the city guards, who had been prepared, had been guarding everywhere, arresting anyone who ran away and confiscating their property.
In this way, everyone knew that the prince was serious about it.
Speaking of turmoil in the palace, so what.
The ancients said that scraping the bone was the best way to heal wounds. Today, the imperial court and the harem are undergoing the same procedure.
By the second day of August, the Ministry of Internal Affairs had confiscated 5.8 million taels of silver, which also made many people in the court uneasy.
Corrupt officials can embezzle tens of millions, and the eunuchs in the palace can embezzle millions.
How did Tianxiang Kingdom become like this quietly?
How could they not know that such a pest was corrupting the country? Even the Grand Secretary of Zhongji Palace could not sleep all night.
What is going on.
Just a casual search will reveal so much filth.
The Tianxiang Kingdom is more corrupt than they imagined.
This was not caused in one or two years, or even three or four years, or even seven or eight years.
This must have continued for a long time, and this is what is happening now.
The Grand Secretary of Zhongji Palace thought about the defense of the northwest again.
For more than ten years, no foreign enemy had attacked, both because Tianxiang Kingdom had a great reputation and because it had a strong foundation.
Now it seems that the Tianxiang Kingdom’s funds are almost exhausted.
He has devoted himself to the Tianxiang Kingdom for decades, and it is not easy for him to try his best to maintain balance and stability in all aspects, but he cannot control or make decisions on larger issues.
Originally he wanted to pretend he couldn't see it.
But this time, the stolen money that was exposed made him feel a little uneasy.
If the late emperor's Tianxiang Kingdom continued as it was, there would be constant war within five years.
How could he bear to see such a scene?
Prince.
It appeared too timely.
The capable ministers around him are indeed good, and the one called Kongzhang Sheren is also a powerful one.
The Grand Secretary of Zhongji Palace looked in the direction of Yuhua Palace. Whoever wanted to enjoy himself could enjoy himself.
Some things should be left to more suitable people.
On the sixth day of August, the imperial palace enjoyed a rare day of peace.
Even the heads of various departments found it incredible.
Nothing happens today?
Really?
However, all the information about the inner and outer cities of the palace has been mastered, and it has been divided into which ones will be kicked out little by little, which ones will be found out and executed in the autumn, and which ones will be exiled.
When Su Wan handed these things to Xie Pei, Xie Pei was reluctant to take them, but still put them on the table.
"Thank you for your hard work." Xie Pei said.
"No, it's quite interesting." Su Wan was a little excited, "I feel like they still have some silver, but they haven't taken it out yet."
Xie Pei nodded: "There will always be opportunities in the future."
"There's still a lot of time."
Xie Pei and Su Wan laughed at the same time.
Of course there is still a long way to go. The situation in the palace and the court is better now. It is like a stubborn disease that has been cured with a strong medicine and is basically almost cured.
But you still have to take care of it. The process of care is relatively long, but once it is well, your body will be completely healed.
The wind is clear and the moon is bright in August.
The palace also gradually discovered the benefits of the prince being in power.
The eunuchs in various places are not as domineering as before. If there is anything wrong, they can report it to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
All matters in the court and the imperial palace only needed to be finished off, and as they were finished, the chaos of the past six months would gradually return to normal.
Perhaps the biggest change is in the national treasury?
With tens of millions of taels of silver added to the national treasury, the Minister of Revenue always felt like he was dreaming.
But this is not a dream! This is real! The prince is really good at making money!
And there is that Kong Zhang Sheren!
The Minister of Revenue has even developed an addiction to confiscating property, and is even thinking, what if he runs out of money in the future, he can instigate the Crown Prince to confiscate property?
Originally, he thought the prince would not agree, but unexpectedly, the prince just smiled and didn't know what he meant.
Xie Pei’s thoughts were similar to Su Wan’s.
That is to increase revenue and reduce expenditure. Among the two methods of increasing revenue, one has been almost completed and it is estimated that there will be no more disturbances by the end of the year.
But there is another way to open source, which is the method mentioned at the beginning.
Is it about to start too?
Although Su Wan had previously followed the Ministry of Internal Affairs to inspect the number of people in the palace and watched everyone pay fines, there was actually a lot to do.
But when it comes to this open source method, Su Wan is still a little impatient.
The main thing is that she knew that the maids in the Dessert Department of Zaliku really wanted to open a dessert shop.
At that time, the small shop in Nanxunfang allowed them to taste the sweetness in just twenty days, and they felt that it was feasible to continue running the business.
I had been troubled by this before. After all, when people get older, they want to save money. Besides, many people like the food they cook, which makes people feel a sense of accomplishment, which is happier than making snacks in the palace.
Su Wan naturally knew about it, and had even heard Deputy Prime Minister Li mention it.
Although she knew at that time that this matter must be done, what the saint said was final and what he said did not count.
But since it involved Xie Pei, she couldn't say much.
Now that it’s finally time to officially start planning, and we’re going to open a big dessert shop, we’re definitely looking forward to it!
Official sweet shop!
Opening soon!
The author has something to say:
There are still 1,000 nutrient solutions left and there will be more updates!
Stamping everyone!
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