After listening to the explanations of Fu Youde and Cao Mengde, Minister of Works Tang Hongwen also understood why His Majesty named this martial arts competition "Wei State".
Tang Hongwen said with emotion, "As expected, everyone has their own expertise. When it comes to organizing various activities, your Ministry of Rites is more familiar with these matters. Unlike me, a rough guy from the Ministry of Works, who only knows how to forge iron and doesn't understand these twists and turns."
Minister of Rites Fu Youde was furious. As the Minister of Rites, he was in charge of organizing events, so how could he be considered to be beating around the bush? However, Fu Youde knew that Tang Hongwen was a carefree person, and that His Majesty now attached great importance to the Ministry of Works, handing over many tasks to it. So Fu Youde was unwilling to argue with Tang Hongwen.
Cao Mengde said, "We all work for Your Majesty, and everyone has their own areas of expertise, so there's no need to envy or look down on each other. Your Majesty also doesn't want a discordant atmosphere in the court. So, in the future, it's best for everyone to refrain from speaking words that are detrimental to unity."
Cao Mengde's words were unanimously agreed with. Although the Wei Emperor, Chu Fan, had delegated power, he was ruthless in punishing officials who erred. No one wanted to tarnish their reputation in his eyes over such a minor matter. Therefore, the discussion returned to normal, focusing on other matters concerning the martial arts tournament.
Minister of Revenue Qian Dai then asked, "So, does this martial arts tournament require us to allocate funds from the national treasury to the royal family? After all, Your Majesty has given the royal family full responsibility for this matter, and they have earned a considerable amount of income from Your Majesty over the past year. This martial arts tournament should be self-sufficient, right?"
As the Minister of Revenue, Qian Dai attached great importance to the money in the national treasury. You should know that it was only in the past year that the treasury of Wei State gradually became richer because of Your Majesty's vigorous development of commerce and changes in tax policies, as well as various new items introduced by Your Majesty.
However, for such a large country, this money still needs to be used with caution. After all, no one knows when new natural or man-made disasters will occur. The treasury must have sufficient funds to deal with emergencies.
As a member of the royal family, Chu Anping knew that he needed to speak out at this time. Furthermore, he was informed of the results of the discussion among the royal elders. Therefore, he knew how the royal family planned this martial arts conference.
It must be said that this is the wisdom of Chu Fan's establishment of the Royal Government Affairs Office. As long as everyone is loyal to the country, the communication and cooperation between the royal family and the court ministers will become smoother. There will be no suspicion between the royal family and the court ministers, which will lead to the situation where government orders are not carried out.
In the eyes of all the royal family members and court ministers of the Wei Kingdom, although Emperor Chu Fan rarely handled government affairs personally, he had a very detailed control over the entire country of Wei. Otherwise, it would not have been possible for His Majesty to make the most correct decisions at every critical moment and convince all the ministers.
Chu Anping said to Qian Dai, "Don't worry, Minister Qian. All expenses for hosting this martial arts competition will be borne by our royal family ourselves. We will not ask the national treasury for a single cent. After all, His Majesty has already allowed our royal family to be self-reliant, and we cannot always rely on funding from the national treasury."
Hearing Chu Anping's words, Qian Dai felt relieved. After all, the Ministry of Revenue was in charge of the national treasury. If the royal family asked for money from the treasury, they would not refuse to allocate funds to the royal family. If something happened in the future and there was no money, he, the Minister of Revenue, would be the one to bear the blame.
Qian Dai smiled and said, "That's perfect! This way, if something bad happens to Wei in the future, we'll have enough reserves to deal with it. I sincerely hope that the martial arts competition will be a complete success, and that the warriors from all the sects can be smoothly integrated to serve the country."
Chu Anping also said politely: "Thank you for Minister Qian's blessing. Our royal family will definitely organize this martial arts competition properly and will definitely not let your majesty down."
Cao Mengde then spoke up, "Your Majesty may have more in mind. You must know that Your Majesty did not allow the Wei court to intervene in this matter. You may have more far-reaching considerations. I suspect Your Majesty has a more far-reaching purpose in holding this martial arts tournament."
Cao Mengde's words piqued Chu Anping's interest. After all, even the elders of the royal family hadn't suspected His Majesty had other intentions. But Cao Mengde, the old fox, said that His Majesty had other purposes besides consolidating the power of the clans in organizing the martial arts tournament. Chu Anping was eager to know what other plans Cao Mengde had seen through His Majesty's plan.
Chu Anping directly requested, "Prime Minister Cao, could you please explain to me in detail His Majesty's intention in having our royal family hold this martial arts tournament? You must know that His Majesty has given our royal family full responsibility for this matter. If our royal family fails to fully understand His Majesty's intentions and messes things up, then our royal family will be humiliated."
Seeing Chu Anping's sincerity, Cao Mengde slowly expressed his guess, as this matter was not only related to the interests of the royal family, but also to the future of the entire Wei State:
"First of all, let me say that this is just my personal speculation. Whether Your Majesty really thinks so requires everyone's analysis. If there is anything wrong with my speculation, I hope you can correct me."
Chu Anping replied, "Prime Minister Cao, please feel free to speak. We are all ears." Tang Hongwen and others were also earnestly waiting for Cao Mengde's opinion.
Cao Mengde organized his words and continued, "We all know that His Majesty has always wanted to unify the Shengwu Continent, and His Majesty has clearly stated that a war of revenge against the Xiongnu and the Gan Kingdom will be launched in three months. His Majesty has always asked us to be prepared for war at any time.
However, there are many sects within the Wei Kingdom. The warriors of these sects are used to being free and undisciplined, and usually are not under the jurisdiction of our court. If we want them to serve the court, we need to impose some restrictions on them. Your Majesty is holding this martial arts tournament to integrate the warriors of these sects, allowing them to serve the Wei Kingdom and increase its strength.
This will effectively prevent these sects from causing trouble within the Wei Kingdom or stabbing the Wei Kingdom court and the royal family in the back while they are engaged in external campaigns."
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