Now, apart from those within the palace, no one from other palaces is allowed to enter. Mingxiu no longer even goes to Consort Hui's place, and only has Lüzhu, Yuqing, and Yulan serving her closely. The system around Yinreng scans everything she eats and uses, and warns her if there are any problems.
Therefore, Mingxiu was not worried at all.
However, nothing happened in Mingxiu's own palace, but she heard about what was happening in Yinreng's palace.
Collect the debt!
When Mingxiu first heard the news, he thought he had misheard. How could a little kid like him possibly touch something like this?
Most people who know history are aware that during the Kangxi era, some officials were quite poor, so Kangxi opened a loophole in the Ministry of Revenue, allowing some officials to borrow money from the Ministry.
The original intention was good; it was to allow those ministers who were struggling to make ends meet to survive on this small amount of money.
However, this loophole widened further and further. Regardless of whether they had money or not, everyone borrowed money and didn't repay it, to the point that the Ministry of Revenue couldn't collect any more. So, it wasn't until later, when Yinzhen ascended the throne, that so much money was confiscated from homes to fill the empty national treasury.
But why is this happening so early? Can Yinreng, at such a young age, handle it?
Mingxiu was very worried. After thinking for a long time, she decided to ask Xiaoxizi to wait for Yinreng and ask him to come to Yonghe Palace when he had time.
While she was there, Mingxiu briefly recalled the salaries of Qing Dynasty officials.
She had previously learned that the ministers' salaries were divided into two parts: an annual stipend of silver and an annual stipend of rice.
A first-rank civil official in the imperial court would receive approximately 180 taels of silver and 180 bushels of rice per year.
The second-rank official received 155 taels of silver and 155 bushels of rice.
The third-rank official received 130 taels of silver and 130 bushels of rice.
...
Then, officials up to the ninth rank received 32 taels of silver and 32 bushels of rice annually.
Besides these, the remaining rewards were given by Emperor Kangxi for happy occasions, funerals, meritorious service by officials, and festivals.
In summary, officials in the imperial court generally wouldn't resort to complaining about being poor.
However, this cannot be generalized. Some lower-ranking officials may indeed be quite poor, but these officials generally would not go to the Ministry of Revenue to borrow money, because they would never be able to reach Emperor Kangxi.
Therefore, those who actually borrowed money were mostly court officials and some idle members of the imperial family.
Mingxiu vaguely remembered that after the Fourth Prince Yinzhen ascended the throne, half of the national treasury was confiscated from their homes.
Everyone there was incredibly wealthy, which shocked Mingxiu at the time.
So how do these people have the nerve to ask for money?
And what is Yinreng thinking now? How did he get involved in this matter?
Mingxiu was extremely anxious.
When Yinreng heard that it was Consort Ming calling him, he hurriedly went to Yonghe Palace.
"Mother Consort, I'm here," Yinreng called out as he walked over.
Mingxiu sighed as she looked at the still enthusiastic Yinreng. Did this child even know what he had done?
How exactly does this system educate children? They've become so bold.
When Yinreng came in, Mingxiu immediately asked him the question.
"I heard you're going to collect all the money owed by officials?"
"Yes, even Consort Ming has heard the news."
Mingxiu felt a headache coming on as she looked at Yinreng, who didn't seem to care at all.
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