The Ming Dynasty's treasury is now empty. Although Zhu Yuanzhang tried to save money everywhere and kept officials' salaries very low, he could not change the fact that the court had little money.
Zhu Yuanzhang was also troubled by this problem. After unifying the country, he ordered a period of rest and recuperation to allow the people to recover the economy and carry out construction as soon as possible.
Despite this, the Ming Dynasty was still short of money.
Even when Zhu Yunwen produced coal and cement for road construction, he didn't spend much money on labor.
Because the national treasury was empty, when local governments built cement roads, they would organize some people who were performing corvée labor to work for one or two days each.
This already demonstrates just how scarce money was in the Ming Dynasty.
As for other aspects, such as disaster relief in some areas and grain funds in others, these are all large expenditures that have put a strain on the imperial court.
The newly appointed Minister of Revenue, Zhang Shan, strictly followed Zhu Yunwen's orders and exercised great control over the Ministry of Revenue's accounts.
Therefore, during this period, the accounts of the Ministry of Revenue and the national treasury of the Ming Dynasty have finally become somewhat stable.
Even so, they were still struggling to make ends meet.
Regarding the marriage of Zhu Yunwen, the grandson of the Ming Dynasty's crown prince, the Ministry of Revenue tried to find ways to squeeze out some money from other sources.
It can be described as robbing Peter to pay Paul.
This already gave the Minister of Revenue a headache, but he also wanted to make sure Zhu Yunwen's marriage went well.
However, to the surprise of the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Rites, and Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Yunwen actually took out more than 100,000 taels of silver when everyone was having a headache over the matter.
This truly solved the court's urgent problem.
In the imperial court, Zhu Yuanzhang appeared both happy and sad. He never imagined that the grandson of the Ming Dynasty would have to pay for his own wedding. Zhu Yuanzhang felt ashamed.
Then he began to speak:
"Yunhu, we're so sorry. We're finally getting married, and you still have to pay for it yourself. The national treasury is so tight, it's truly shameful."
Zhu Yunwen smiled and waved his hand, saying:
"What you're saying, Grandfather, is about my marriage. If it causes the national treasury to spend too much money on me, I'll really feel bad. The national treasury's money shouldn't be spent on these things."
Zhu Yuanzhang simply sighed. However, at that moment, Huang Zicheng, the Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, suddenly spoke up:
"Your Highness, it is certainly a good thing that you have been able to solve the urgent problems for the court and the Ministry of Revenue. However, there is one thing I do not understand."
Zhu Yunwen looked at Huang Zicheng, the Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. This guy had become much more low-key since Zhu Yunwen fell from power.
Clearly, he didn't want to end up like the previous officials who defended Zhu Yunwen, losing their positions or even their lives.
Zhu Yunwen did not expect that he would stand up and make sarcastic remarks again.
Zhu Yunwen then asked, "What doubts do you have? Please speak freely."
Huang Zicheng cupped his hands and said:
"Now that the national treasury is so empty and the court is short of money, it will be difficult to squeeze out more than 100,000 taels of silver for the Crown Prince's wedding."
Therefore, I am somewhat curious as Your Highness, as the Crown Prince, how did you come to possess more than 100,000 taels of silver?
Does Your Highness often dabble in the Ministry of Revenue? If this money originally belonged to the Ministry of Revenue, then it doesn't count as Your Highness taking it, does it?
Huang Zicheng thought he had found a weakness in Zhu Yunwen and wanted to bring it up. After all, if it was true that Zhu Yunwen had embezzled some silver from the Ministry of Revenue and put it into his own pocket, it would be a very serious matter.
Even the emperor cannot do this. The money in the national treasury must be spent on proper purposes. Every penny must go through layers of review and must never be moved by anyone without reason.
If this causes problems with the Ministry of Revenue's accounts, it could plunge the entire country's finances into crisis.
Therefore, Huang Zicheng raised this issue and questioned Zhu Yuntong in order to find fault with him.
As expected, as soon as he finished speaking, the officials in the court immediately began to discuss it enthusiastically.
They all felt that even if Zhu Yunwen, as the crown prince, had some money on a regular basis, it was unlikely that he would have more than 100,000 carriages.
After all, more than 100,000 taels of silver is an astronomical figure.
Then one after another, officials began to speak up, questioning where Zhu Yunwen got his silver from.
Ultimately, there were still quite a few civil officials in the court who supported Zhu Yunwen.
After Zhu Yunwen's downfall, they kept a low profile in order to protect themselves.
However, this does not mean that they completely support Zhu Yunwen. Now that they have the opportunity, they naturally cannot let it go.
Faced with the discussions among his court officials, Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor, also began to feel some concern.
If Zhu Yunwen really did embezzle some silver from the Ministry of Revenue through some improper means.
If then they deliberately claim it's their own money and use it for their own wedding in order to gain fame, then this matter will be really difficult to resolve.
While everyone was discussing it, and some officials even directly questioned Zhu Yunwen, Zhu Yunwen smiled and said:
"It seems that having a certain amount of money has become an excuse for some people to cause trouble. We really have to make sure you give up."
So Zhu Yunwen said to the guards outside:
"Someone, go to the military command post of Zhao Sili's residence and summon Crown Princess Zhao Qingzhu, along with some floral water, to the main hall!"
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