Yinzhen still knew to save face for Suo'etu, and said to Liang Jiugong, "Take it to Suo'etu to see."
In fact, Suo'etu knew that his family probably didn't lack money, but he really didn't know the exact amount. Usually, when people gave him gifts, they rarely brought them to him so openly.
Sometimes the silver went directly into the mansion's treasury, and sometimes it was collected through the women in the mansion. Although Suo'etu knew that the estimated amount wouldn't make him look bad, he really didn't know how much it was.
So Suo'etu took the dossier from Liang Jiugong, looked at it, and realized that, not counting the dowry money of the women in his household, his household's treasury held no less than a million taels of silver.
These are just estimates; after all, it's only an hour. To count the exact numbers, it would take the Ministry of Revenue a whole day.
This is just cash. The Hesheli family's ancestors followed the Aisin Gioro clan in conquering the world, and they had accumulated a great deal of gold, silver, jewelry, shops, houses, and land. These were the main assets of the Hesheli family.
Soetu understood all this, so he fell silent when he saw the file. How could he say that he had a million taels of silver at home to solve the problem, but no silver to repay the national treasury for the two hundred thousand taels?
Before Suo'etu could say anything, Liang Jiugong sent over a number of more files. Yinzhen glanced at them and then gave them to the respective households, telling them to take a look. If they were to cry poverty, they should at least make it believable. If they were just poor in their daily lives, he would believe it, but they were clearly rolling in money and yet they were still trying to hide it. That was really too much.
"Do any of my beloved ministers have anything to say?"
No one spoke.
"Song'etu, you go first."
Soetu knew he couldn't escape this time, and he was now in a dilemma. The emperor knew that he would probably have to admit to either owing money to the national treasury or embezzling funds.
Soetu resigned himself to his fate; there was nothing he could do about it, for the Emperor was watching him from behind those vines.
Soetu said, “Your Majesty, I suddenly remembered that the money in my household is managed by my wife. I was not aware of the situation in my household. Now that I am aware, I must return the money to the national treasury. I will go back and take the money to the national treasury. I am not good at handling common things, which is why I was unaware of the situation in my household. I am ashamed of the kindness shown to me by the late Emperor and the current Emperor. I borrowed money from the national treasury to relieve my urgent needs. Now that my household is better off, I must return 20% more. I hope Your Majesty will punish me.”
Anyone could tell how insincere Suo'etu's words were, but Yinzhen didn't care. As long as he could save face, that was enough. The important thing now was to collect the money.
"My dear minister, you have always helped me with my troubles. It is only natural that you might forget how much silver you have in your household. Now that you have remembered, just return it. There is no need to punish you. I hope you will continue to help me with my troubles."
Yinzhen's words were a message to Suo'etu: I think you are sensible, so I will not hold your mistake against you. Just return the silver and let this matter be over.
Suo'etu breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that he had made the right bet. The Emperor had no intention of letting him off the hook today; he wanted to use him as a pawn to recover the loan.
The Hesheli family is still marginalized by the Emperor. They should obediently follow the Emperor in the future, otherwise who knows what might happen!
Several hundred thousand taels of silver won't do any real harm to the Hesheli family.
Hopefully, the Emperor will show some leniency towards the Hesheli family, considering his eventual sensibility.
Yinzhen looked at the others, the ministers who had collected the documents, and said, "Your servants..."
...
They were all afraid of being blamed by the Emperor. After all, they had the case files in their hands, and returning the money was inevitable. Since they couldn't renege on their promise, they had no choice but to return it.
Apart from these few people, the others remained silent. Although they understood the Emperor's meaning, they were unwilling to swallow their pride and then spit it out.
"The money in the national treasury comes from the people of the Qing Dynasty, so it must also be used for the people of the Qing Dynasty. I can forgive you for being confused for a moment and not understanding the common people, but my court does not need ministers who do not understand the common people forever. Let's leave it at that for today and go back."
Yinzhen was furious, but what he said startled them. They understood what the emperor meant, but whether they should really return the silver was a matter of debate.
They walked out of the emperor's study, somewhat dazed. Because they had been standing for a while, their legs were a little weak. If there hadn't been someone with them, they probably would have fallen right outside the study door.
He will inevitably be charged with disrespecting the emperor.
Songgotu happened to be leaving the palace with Mingzhu, who said, "Lord Songgotu, why don't you go out for a cup of tea?"
At this moment, Suo'etu was eager to go back and quickly count the silver to send to the national treasury, but he didn't have time to drink tea. However, before Suo'etu could refuse, Mingzhu said, "Lord Suo, there's no rush."
In the end, Songgotu agreed.
The discord between Songgotu and Mingzhu dates back a long time. Songgotu was backed by his father, Sony, one of the four regents of the Kangxi Emperor.
His father's death was so timely that before the emperor could settle accounts, he did something that pleased the emperor before he died. Soetu himself was also quite talented, so he was given an important position.
Mingzhu's family background was not as good as Suo'etu's. The two were about the same age and entered the court as officials at the same time. Mingzhu was shrewd and knew how to guess the emperor's intentions, while Suo'etu had a powerful background. The two rose through the ranks at roughly the same time.
Neither of them could stand the other's background, so in his early years, Kangxi secretly refused to submit to the other. Their rivalry wasn't exactly fierce, but they certainly tried to trip each other up in their back-and-forth.
"Lord Mingzhu's tea is not very good."
Mingzhu: "I would like to invite you, but I was afraid you would accuse me of poisoning you if I invited you for tea before."
Soetu sneered, "You know perfectly well that we don't get along. So what brings you here for tea?"
"You really want to pay back the money?"
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