Meng Gu Rao, thin and aloof, refused to buy the idea: "The old minister said that the coronation ceremony will only cost two hundred thousand taels."
Zhao Huan frowned, ready to explode, but held his tongue. He knew he couldn't let such a loyal minister down any longer. He suppressed his anger and said, "Lord Meng, consider it a loan from me. How about this: 500,000 taels. Of that, 300,000 taels, you can deduct a little from your harem expenses each year, and I'll pay you back in five installments. What do you think?"
Unexpectedly, Meng Gu Rao was so stubborn and stubborn: "Since Your Majesty says so, I have no choice but to agree. I will lend you 300,000 taels, or 100,000 taels. I will pay you back with interest in two years."
"Four hundred thousand taels!" Zhao Huan wanted to bargain.
"Three hundred and fifty thousand taels, the limit. If Your Majesty doesn't agree, then it's as if I haven't said anything."
"make a deal!"
The ministers below were whispering among themselves, saying that Meng Gurao was ungrateful. He had made the coronation ceremony so petty, how could he honor the Great Song Dynasty?
Li Gang was quite impressed with Meng Gurao. He smiled and said to Meng Gurao, "Lord Meng is honest and upright, and he cares about the people. I admire you."
Unexpectedly, Meng Gu was extremely aloof. He looked at Li Gang coldly, snorted, and ignored Li Gang.
Meng Gu Rao was an honest official. However, he was aloof and unsociable, and thus was never given a high position. During the reign of Emperor Huizong, he avoided forming cliques and factions, thus not interfering with the interests of the Cai Jing and Tong Guan cliques. To maintain a good impression, Cai Jing and his colleagues did not exclude him and instead gave him the position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.
Unexpectedly, Meng Gurao, the Minister of Revenue, was both servile and stubborn, and showed no respect for Huizong. Huizong wanted to punish him, but he lacked evidence. He was not greedy or a whoremonger, and his family was poor. He also did not form cliques, so there was no basis for punishing him.
There was no other way, so Cai Jing and his colleagues finally transferred financial power to the Three Departments, leaving the Ministry of Revenue as an empty title. It was only after Zhao Huan ascended the throne that he returned financial power to the Ministry of Revenue. Now, he was once again experiencing the bitterness of this old man. It was truly like a dumb person swallowing bitter herbs, unable to express his pain.
PS: The Song Dynasty collected over 100 million guan (approximately 100 million strings of silver) in tax revenue annually, which converted into silver taels was quite a bit. The Ming Dynasty's tax revenue was 4 million taels per year, and Zhao Huan's wars drained the treasury. 2 million taels of silver were given to Wanyan Zongwang, leaving the Ministry of Revenue with less than 3 million taels of silver.
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