Chang Bo actually stayed in the palace for only a few words, less than an hour at all. The rest of the time was actually spent by An Jingzhi teaching him some modern auditing methods. Auditing is used to check all kinds of modern accounting, so wouldn't it be a piece of cake to use it to deal with the backward accounting methods of ancient times?
Chang Bo studied very hard. He was indeed talented in arithmetic. An Jingzhi was thinking about whether he should teach him some advanced mathematics.
Mathematics is the foundation of all disciplines. If you want to climb the technological tree in ancient times, mathematics is an inevitable subject.
But these things have to be done slowly. The original owner was a tyrant who did things based on his own ideas. It seemed that the court officials had no way to deal with him because he held great power, but what was the reality?
Most people just treated the original owner as a fool, and the imperial treasury had long been emptied.
He seems to hold the highest power, but in fact he is just a fool.
He was not worried about the military power. All the troops were in the hands of the Queen Mother, and the tiger talismans were kept by the Queen Mother on his behalf. This meant that all the troops obeyed the Queen Mother's command. The Queen Mother would never harm him. She was also afraid that the original owner would be fooled into handing over the military power, so she personally took charge of the tiger talismans. Although it was against etiquette, the Queen Mother was really considering the original owner.
If An Jingzhi did not hold military power, he would not dare to act so willfully and continue to follow the original owner's image as a tyrant.
…
"I heard there was another big commotion at the morning court today?"
The Empress Dowager asked someone to invite An Jingzhi to the palace after he left the court.
An Jingzhi also happened to stay here for lunch, and the two chatted while eating.
He said nonchalantly, "I just promoted a small scholar, and they all jumped out to oppose me. They don't take me seriously at all."
The Queen Mother pondered for a moment and asked, "The Minister of Revenue you promoted is called Chang Bo, right? Can you tell me why you suddenly want to put him in the Ministry of Revenue? I heard that he didn't pass the imperial examination this time."
Whether from the original owner's memory or from An Jingzhi's own feelings, the Queen Mother is someone he absolutely trusts.
"I'm afraid you don't know, mother? The Ministry of Revenue has no money."
This simple statement shocked the Queen Mother, who was filled with both shock and anger. "How could this be? The weather has been good for the past few years, and I haven't heard of any disasters anywhere. How could the treasury be out of money?"
An Jingzhi put down his bowl and chopsticks, rinsed his mouth, and wiped it. He said calmly, "If it weren't for the severe drought in the north, I would have wanted to send people to transfer money and grain for disaster relief, but the Ministry of Revenue couldn't provide the money, and I would still be in the dark."
In the original owner's memory, the severe drought in the north would occur next year, but in fact it had already occurred this year, but it was covered up by the officials below and not reported.
He specifically asked about it in the court, but the officials below just made excuses and said they didn't know.
An Jingzhi didn't have time to find out whether they knew about it or not. The most important thing at the moment was disaster relief.
But when they asked the Ministry of Revenue, they found that the treasury was empty and there was little money and grain.
The Ministry of Revenue's account books were perfectly kept, at least in the eyes of others. How could they have been hidden from An Jingzhi's eyes? He knew there was something wrong at first glance. Chang Bo was specially selected by him.
"I am promoting this person specifically because I want him to work in the Ministry of Revenue and help me investigate the whereabouts of the money and grain."
The Queen Mother said angrily, "How can this be? This is bullying us, an orphan and a widow!" Then she stood up and walked into the inner hall. After a while, she came out holding a box.
The Queen Mother opened the box and pushed it in front of An Jingzhi. "I was reluctant to give these things to you in the past because I was afraid that you would be deceived by villains. Now that my son has grown up, these things should be kept by you as the emperor. You hold these tiger talismans. If anyone dares to commit treason, I will confiscate their property and exterminate their clan!" Her tone was murderous.
An Jingzhi took a look and found that these were exactly the tiger talismans of all the armies that the Queen Mother had kept for safekeeping.
"That's great, mother. With these things, I feel more confident." An Jingzhi said with a smile.
"Just go for it, your mother will always support you," the Queen Mother said kindly.
…
On the one hand, An Jingzhi asked Taichangbo to go to the Ministry of Revenue to check the accounts, and on the other hand, he sent people to the north to provide disaster relief. The money and grain for the disaster relief were still provided by him from his own private treasury.
He will let these people know the serious consequences of letting a miser pay!
The court official sent by An Jingzhi to provide disaster relief was Wei Li. Cats have their own ways, and mice have their own ways, so sending this person was the most appropriate.
Accompanying him were the group of new officials he had just recruited. It just so happened that these people might be able to play a role this time. If Wei Li found any problems, these new officials could directly fill those loopholes.
Wei Li gained the emperor's trust and immediately led his men north to provide disaster relief. He was exhausted along the way and did not dare to waste any time.
When he arrived at Licheng, the worst-hit area, bones were everywhere.
But when he was received into the city by the officials, he saw a completely different scene inside. The city gate seemed like two different worlds, one heaven and the other hell.
Wei Li accepted all the flattery and gifts from these officials, and secretly sent supervisory guards and new officials to gather information and evidence of the local officials' crimes.
An Jingzhi was also not idle. In the eyes of court officials, the emperor who used to love traveling incognito and collecting strange and bizarre things to play with has changed. However, he still loves to play, but he has moved his play to the Ministry of Works and stays there every day.
Technological reform must start with steel. Although the national treasury is still a little empty at present, it will soon be rich.
Those people have to vomit out double what they eat!
The supervisory guards he sent out were not there to eat for free.
Before receiving the money, he could make preparations. He went to the Ministry of Industry every day to tinker and instruct the craftsmen to carry out reforms. At present, the steel smelting technology was still very backward. He drove out all the officials of the Ministry of Industry and mingled with these craftsmen every day. First, he reformed the smelting furnace to increase the speed and purity of steel smelting, and then asked the craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry to continuously improve the purity of steel.
He would tinker with the craftsmen every day, staying there all day, and even neglected his government affairs.
The officials of the Ministry of Revenue who had previously thought that he had changed his temper and wanted to start checking the account books were relieved. They felt that he had just rebelled temporarily and suddenly became interested, and now he had become the tyrant who was busy making trouble again.
Half a month later, good news came from the north.
Wei Li accepted all the gifts and banquets and attended them. He paralyzed the local officials and secretly monitored Wei and the new officials as they visited and inspected the city. Finally, he got a clear picture of the situation of those people.
The pigeon had detailed information on them, but they still had one last step left: finding the account book. Only with the account book could they convict the perpetrator.
In the original owner's memory, the severe drought in the north eventually led to rebellions everywhere, but they were all suppressed and the culprit was never found. In any case, it was simply defined as a riot by unruly people.
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