Chapter 105 Obstacles Encountered Midway The Ministry of Revenue has been quite busy lately. ...
The Ministry of Revenue has been incredibly busy lately. Although Fourth Master hasn't made much progress in collecting outstanding debts, he's keeping everyone on their toes. They need to meticulously investigate who borrowed money this year and who borrowed last year, year by year, and then compile a final account. The clerks and officials in the Ministry of Revenue are working like ants on a hot tin roof, spending their days reviewing ledgers, the beads on their abacuses clicking away like gunfire inside.
After Fourth Master arrived, he first went inside to inspect the people doing the accounting, then wandered around the room like a ghost with his hands behind his back before turning around and going to work in the next room. However, after sitting down, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh, feeling that he had sighed more in this one session than in all the previous years combined.
He had previously mocked the Eighth Prince for his pretense of being a good person and his lukewarm approach to pursuing money, but now that it was his turn, he knew how difficult the position truly was. He wasn't afraid of offending anyone; after all, his title of Prince was already the pinnacle, and apart from the Emperor, the Crown Prince, and his third brother, also a Prince, no one could force him to bow down. However, he couldn't act rashly, fearing that using drastic measures would implicate the Crown Prince. He could bear being criticized himself, but if he caused the Crown Prince to lose the support of the civil and military officials, he would become a sinner.
Just as Fourth Master was pondering this, Thirteenth Master entered from outside, carrying newly printed account books. Thirteenth Master said, "Fourth Brother, these are the account books from the first three years, which have already been checked."
Previously, the Crown Prince had intended to thoroughly investigate corruption within the Ministry of Revenue, and the Thirteenth Prince had also contributed to this effort behind the scenes. He arrived at the Ministry of Revenue early on, and although he felt constrained for a long time after entering, he had accumulated some connections over the past two years. With so many people in the Ministry of Revenue, there were bound to be some who refused to be complicit and sided with him. It was just a pity that the Emperor chose to be lenient in the corruption case, which rendered all of the Thirteenth Prince's previous efforts futile. Fortunately, the Emperor has now entrusted the task of recovering the owed funds to the Fourth Prince, so he immediately stepped in to help.
If we didn't do the last thing well, we can't afford to do this one badly too!
The Thirteenth Prince was extremely concerned about recovering the outstanding debts, and had recently led his men all over the capital, but to no avail, which left him particularly frustrated and anxious. However, a few days ago, the Fourth Prince had given him a hint, saying that the Crown Prince would make his own decision and that he shouldn't be impatient. So the Thirteenth Prince calmed down and began to check the accounts.
The Fourth Prince nodded, opened the account book and began to read. He had only read a few pages when the Vice Minister of Revenue ran over excitedly and said, "Your Highness, someone has come to return the money!"
Upon hearing this, the Fourth Prince jumped to his feet. Who was it? Was it the Shi family, or the Crown Princess's family? A short while later, the Fourth Prince learned the details and realized he had misunderstood. The visitor was the Crown Princess's father, who was repaying a thousand taels of silver on behalf of his son.
Fourth Master and Thirteenth Master couldn't help but exchange a glance.
While the Vice Minister of Revenue was relaying the message, the Thirteenth Prince mentally reviewed the account books he had previously seen. He had been examining these books repeatedly these past few days; while he wouldn't say he knew them by heart, he certainly had a good grasp of them. He also recognized the Crown Princess's brother, Cheng Yexing, a former bodyguard of the Crown Prince who had been transferred to an official post last year. But he didn't see Cheng Yexing's name in the account books. Could he have missed it? Impossible.
Before the Thirteenth Prince could even figure it out, the thousand taels of silver were carried in. The people at the Ministry of Revenue were overjoyed that someone had finally taken the initiative to repay the debt; at least they had business now, and the two high-ranking officials wouldn't be wearing such gloomy faces all the time. However, when the clerk started recording the transactions, he was dumbfounded. Upon checking, the Cheng family's name wasn't among the debtors. How was he supposed to record this?
The doctor immediately instructed a clerk beside him, "Quick, go and stop the Crown Prince's father-in-law!" But it was too late; the man had already left. He moved with incredible speed, delivering the silver in one go and then driving off in his carriage. The doctor was now helpless and could only order the silver to be carried to the Fourth Prince, listening to his orders with a worried expression.
Fourth Master looked at the two boxes and said in a deep voice, "Just remember it like this."
Is this how you're supposed to remember it?
The doctor rolled his eyes three times: Well, since the higher-ups have said so, he'll just ignore it.
After everyone had left the room, Thirteenth Brother spoke up, "Fourth Brother..."
The Fourth Prince waved his hand at him and said with a relaxed expression, "The Crown Prince has set a good precedent for us."
Upon hearing this, the Thirteenth Prince immediately understood. The Crown Prince was paving the way for them! Did it matter whether the Cheng family had borrowed money or not? Not at all. What mattered was the Crown Prince's attitude; he advocated that officials repay their debts. In fact, it was even better that the Cheng family hadn't borrowed any money. Those who hadn't borrowed money had already repaid, so what were you, the group that had, planning to drag your feet?
Thinking this, Thirteenth Master laughed and said, "In that case, we won't have to worry about people not coming to pay back the money."
The Fourth Prince nodded, but quickly added, "That's not enough." He looked at Su Peisheng, who was standing guard beside him, and ordered, "Prepare the horses and go to Prince Cheng's residence."
The Thirteenth Prince then said, "Since Fourth Prince is going to see Third Brother, then I will go to the other residences." He thought that the descendants of the Aisin Gioro family should repay the money first, so that he could urge the other princes and nobles, and gradually the lower-ranking officials would also repay their debts. Even if the amount was too large to repay, repaying a little as a formality was better than making a fuss and giving nothing at all!
Within half a day, the news that the Crown Prince favored the Crown Princess's family to repay the debt had spread far and wide. The Fourth Prince and the Thirteenth Prince's mission finally made progress. First, the Third Prince sent someone to repay ten thousand taels of silver to the Ministry of Revenue, saying that all the cash in his household was there, and the remaining five thousand taels would be sent over in installments within two months. Next came the Fifth Prince and the Seventh Prince. They hadn't borrowed much; they had only borrowed money to follow the crowd back then. The Thirteenth Prince agreed to repay the debt as soon as he visited, and the money was sent over within two days.
The Fourth Prince and the Thirteenth Prince breathed a sigh of relief as they watched the boxes of silver being carried to the Ministry of Revenue. They thought that if everything went smoothly, they could at least earn 100,000 to 200,000 taels of silver this month, which would be enough to give the Emperor and the Crown Prince an explanation.
But this period of great wealth didn't last long. The Ministry of Revenue was surrounded by people. A group of people were crying and wailing at the gate of the yamen, looking quite pitiful. They were also people who had borrowed money, but it was obvious that they had no money to repay. They didn't know who had instigated them, but they rushed over here in a huge commotion.
Ninth Master was unlucky enough to be cornered by this group of people, and he was naturally there today to repay his debt. Ninth Master was a man who loved extravagance and enjoyment. When he first established his own residence, the imperial grant wasn't enough, so he borrowed an extra 10,000 taels from the Ministry of Revenue. Later, when he started a business but didn't want to invest the initial capital, he simply found another excuse to borrow from the Ministry of Revenue. So over the years, he had borrowed quite a bit of money from the Ministry of Revenue, roughly amounting to 50,000 to 60,000 taels.
He'd forgotten about it all these years, but then it came up again. Damn, what bad luck!
So from the beginning, Ninth Master made it clear he didn't want to repay the debt, giving readily available excuses: all the money was in the accounts, there was no cash, and so on. And since Eighth Master, who was in charge of the matter, just kept dodging the issue, Ninth Master was even less worried. Who knew that suddenly the situation changed, and Fourth Master was put in charge of collecting the debt. Actually, that wouldn't have been so bad; as an older brother, it wouldn't be appropriate to pressure his younger brother to repay the money.
Ninth Prince was leisurely sipping wine at home with his legs crossed when he heard that someone outside was returning a debt. Hmm? Which fool would dare to take the lead? Upon inquiring, well, it turned out to be the Crown Princess's family.
"Tch, if it were the Shi family, the Crown Princess's family might have some influence, but the Crown Consort's family? Heh." Ninth Prince didn't take it seriously at all. But a few days later, he heard that his third and fifth brothers had gone to repay the money. Only then did Ninth Prince realize that something was amiss, and upon closer inspection, he realized, "Oh no!"
So when Thirteen arrived, Ninth Master readily agreed, immediately ordering someone to bring 10,000 taels of silver for Thirteen to take away, and even guaranteeing that the remaining silver would be returned in the next few days. Today, he came to deliver the remaining silver.
Tens of thousands of taels of silver may sound like a lot, but for Ninth Master, it was nothing serious; he had even prepared the money Tenth Master owed. However, having to give back what you've already taken is something no one would be happy about. When someone blocked his way, he immediately lifted the carriage curtain and angrily shouted, "Is that some kind of funeral procession up ahead?!"
His personal eunuch, Zhao Cai, quickly replied, "From what I've heard, it seems he owes money but doesn't want to pay it back."
Ninth Master thought to himself, "Have they all eaten the heart of a bear and the gall of a leopard?" He himself had to watch his superiors' faces when paying his wages! He reached out and snatched the riding whip from the coachman's hand, pointed outside, and said, "Get them out of here! Get them all out of here!" He was already in a bad mood, and hearing this incessant chatter made him even angrier.
Zhao Cai immediately gave the order, but to his surprise, he brought too few guards, and the commotion only made things worse, leaving no room to pass through the street.
Ninth Master was furious and was about to go down and teach them a lesson. Zhao Cai quickly grabbed Ninth Master's leg and said, "Master, you absolutely can't go!" If anything happened to this master, it would be all over.
Ninth Master struggled for a long time but couldn't tear the money apart. However, his rationality quickly returned, and he realized that these people were probably not so simple. He sighed and said, "Fine, let's go back to the manor." Well, it wasn't that he didn't want to pay it back, it was just that he couldn't get over it. He'd deal with it when this road was quiet; he'd go back and fawn over this silver again.
At this moment, the Fourth Prince and the Thirteenth Prince inside the Ministry of Revenue were also anxious. They hadn't expected the outsiders to be so bold as to surround the Ministry of Revenue! They sent men to disperse them, but to no avail. They carried one out, but there was another; how long would it take to get rid of all these people?
The Fourth Master said with a gloomy face, "I want to see how long they can stay." After saying that, he ordered people to prepare bedding and told the people from the Ministry of Revenue not to go home, but to sleep in the yamen. Maybe the group of people would leave that night, and perhaps someone would come to return the money.
Thirteen had no other choice, so he agreed and went out to make the arrangements.
Fourth Master stood under the eaves, listening to the commotion outside, his fists clenched. He was only pressing the major debtors, those with the means to repay, while he didn't press the so-called minor officials outside, nor did he intend to.
So where did this group of people come from?!
Eighth Brother...
Are you involved in any of these people's schemes? Or is it just those corrupt officials who hold positions of power but refuse to repay their debts, creating this disgusting mess?
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