Chapter 686 688. Mutual Blame
Hua Shunming asked them to take the memorials directly to the side hall to discuss matters. After all, there were still mountains of memorials waiting for him.
"This Gu Wenheng is too troublesome," Huang Jin complained as soon as he arrived at the side hall.
He felt that he would definitely have a conflict with this person, and that nothing good would happen whenever he met this person.
"He is a capable man," Niu Haian drank the tea served by the palace maid, "If this move can be successful, Yi Province may be able to turn around from a poor province.
Your Majesty is indeed a man of discerning eyes, and he uses people wisely.”
The other important ministers curled their lips in disapproval in their hearts. This Imperial Tutor Niu was really a man of many talents. Even at this moment he did not forget to flatter the emperor.
However, when they looked at the palace maids and eunuchs standing by and serving them, they secretly cursed him as an old fox.
"Your Majesty is wise." No matter what, it is right to respond at this moment.
"But with so much money, what if there is no effect after spending it?"
Zhou Shicong looked worried. "You all know that the national treasury has to bear too much expenses. If there is an emergency in the future, how will this hole be filled?"
Niu Haian looked up at him and said, "Sir Zhou, the emperor has seized so many families before, the national treasury cannot afford it all at once."
Zhou Shicong, "Mr. Niu is really incompetent and doesn't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt are.
The entire national treasury has to bear too much money, and the money is flowing out all the time. Even if a family has a lot of wealth, it will eventually run out of money.
As a person, you must be prepared for danger in times of peace, otherwise it will be too late when that happens."
"Mr. Zhou is a bit sensational," Yu Ligao said with a smile, "With both inflow and outflow, it's impossible to reach the bottom.
In addition, there have been no natural disasters or man-made disasters in recent years, and there is a large amount of tax revenue from Lucheng, so His Majesty is well aware of these things. "
You have to choose the right time to cry poor. The current Rong Dynasty is really not poor, unless it has raised giant rats.
Zhou Shicong, "Alas, it's too troublesome to move around like this.
Don’t we have taxes every year? Lord Gu can wait until the taxes are collected before implementing this plan, which would save the trouble of mobilizing troops.”
Everyone heard his shameless words, "..."
Niu Haian, "What was the situation before Yi Province? I think you all know.
It’s good enough if we don’t owe any debts every year, so why should we talk about taxes?
"And Lord Gu's request is not excessive. He just wants to get back the money that Liu Xuan has taken from the people. These are the hard-earned money of the people of Yizhou. He just wants to return them."
Zhou Shicong's face darkened. "Master Niu is right. Since ancient times, all the money confiscated by corrupt officials has to be returned to the national treasury. If this precedent is set, the rules will be disrupted in the future."
"Then just do as the memorial says and allocate a batch of funds. There won't be any conflict, right?" Yu Ligao had disliked Zhou Shicong for a long time, but managing the Ministry of Revenue made people feel as if all the money was used by him.
It would be fine if they were just being harsh on a daily basis, but they dared to obstruct such a matter for the country and the people. They really can't tell priorities apart.
Zhou Shicong still refused to give in. "It's easy for you all to say that. The national treasury is the foundation of the country. If you give out the silver in the last memorial, everyone will follow suit in the future.
And this plan looks promising, but who knows how it will work in practice? Don’t let it end up being anticlimactic.”
Niu Haian was no longer annoyed when he heard this, and smiled and reminded him, "Sir Zhou, if the emperor didn't approve, he wouldn't have invited us to the palace.
Besides, do you think your reason for refusal is reasonable?"
Zhou Shicong, "..."
"Okay, now all we need is for your Ministry of Revenue and Ministry of Justice to make a statement.
If the Ministry of Justice cannot recover the money, the Ministry of Revenue will have to bear the responsibility." Yu Ligao drank his tea leisurely and said this after watching the excitement.
Everyone present knew that if it weren't for the need to allocate money, the emperor might have directly issued an edict not to recruit them into the palace.
Zhou Shicong looked at Huang Jin, "Sir Huang, since these people are all in the prison of the Ministry of Justice, I think their assets are also in the hands of officials of the Ministry of Justice. Why haven't they handed them over to the Ministry of Revenue in the past few days?"
Gold, "Master Zhou, you are too anxious. Before the case is finalized, no one can touch the silver.
Besides, I can tell you something here, the things seized are not worth more than 200,000 taels of silver at all."
Huang Jin sneered and said, “Now we are waiting for the prisoner Li Xuan to come to Beijing to find out the truth. This is the mastermind.
It’s just that it takes a long time to interrogate the prisoner, and I’m afraid His Majesty can’t wait.”
When the problem was pushed back by gold, Zhou Shicong's face became even darker. It was not that he was unwilling to spend the silver in the national treasury, but that he was really spending more than he earned. If they continued like this, they would sooner or later be reprimanded by the emperor.
"In that case, the application funds submitted by your departments before can only be postponed." Zhou Shicong said gritting his teeth when he saw that no one was willing to lend a hand.
Who knew that no one was in a hurry, and some people even picked up the pastries and threw them into their mouths.
If I turn this place into a tea party, all the problems will fall on me.
Zhou Shicong looked at everyone and said, "In fact, besides taking money from the national treasury, there is another way."
Niu Haian said without even raising his head, "I advise you not to think about that. Lord Zhou is in charge of the Ministry of Revenue. If you can't come up with the money, you will be charged with a serious crime..."
Zhou Shicong: "..." He could afford it, but what about the next one?
"My Lords, can't you please think of me?"
"Then let His Majesty check the accounts. As long as there is a basis for everything that has been spent, even if the treasury is empty, I don't think His Majesty will blame Lord Zhou."
Huang Jin now just wants to push everything to Zhou Shicong and buy himself more time.
Zhou Shicong gritted his teeth and said, "I am not afraid of auditing the accounts. In the past few years, His Majesty's people have been supervising the Ministry of Revenue, and the problems that can be found are minimal.
On the contrary, Lord Huang, the Ministry of Justice has been getting more and more slow in these years, and I haven't heard of any major cases being handled. It seems that the people under him are not doing their job well.
You can’t do this. Over time, it will only make them lazy and their ability to do their jobs will get worse and worse.”
The two Shangshu were almost pointing at each other and yelling at each other.
Seeing that both sides were still glaring at each other, Niu Haian said with a smile, "Okay, we are all officials in the same court, there is no need to make such an ugly scene over a small quarrel.
After all, it's all about money.
The Ministry of Revenue can just transfer the money first, and then slowly settle it with the Ministry of Justice later..."
Huang Jin immediately interrupted him, "Master Niu, I won't listen to you.
How does this mean that the Ministry of Justice is in debt?
The case hasn't even come to a final conclusion yet, but you're already trying to pin the blame on our Ministry of Justice. This is unacceptable.
What if the stolen money cannot be recovered? "
(End of this chapter)
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