NFBE Chapter 131: The Ministry of Revenue owes money and wins over Xiao 9
Chapter 131: The Ministry of Revenue owes money and wins over Xiao 9
Chapter 131 The Ministry of Revenue owes money and wins over Xiaojiu
Although the question of twins was temporarily solved, Yinreng still felt uncomfortable. Originally, the brother and sister never had such a feeling of confusion and anxiety. The fuse of everything was the two princesses in the backyard, and the real reason was the emperor himself.
Although this plan and strategy made the emperor wary of several ambitious brothers, it was not enough, because he could still find time to annoy himself, which made Yinreng even more dissatisfied with the emperor.
After thinking for a while, he picked up a pen in his study and wrote a letter to the secret guard: "Send it to Jiangnan."
A shadow suddenly appeared in the study, then replied with a simple "yes" and disappeared from the spot.
Yinreng looked toward the Qianqing Palace and muttered to himself, "Father, I am also clearing obstacles for the Qing Dynasty and cleaning up the bureaucracy. Now that I have come so far in advance, I hope you will stop trying to smooth things over."
Then he called He Zhu and asked him to invite the Ninth Prince to come over for a chat. The Ninth Prince had been in the Ministry of Revenue for a long time, and the accumulated problems in the Ministry should have been discovered. Now was the time to expose the problem of the Ministry's shortage of silver.
It’s better to deal with those two Han army flag princesses as soon as possible, so as to avoid them being left in the backyard and causing trouble.
The Ninth Prince arrived quite quickly. He was not only a partner of Burhe, but also wanted to thank the other party for his help during the selection. He heard from his mother that if it were not for the help of the Crown Princess, his mother would not have been able to decide on the candidate for the legitimate wife.
After the imperial edict was issued, he also investigated the wife's family and found that both the Yue family and the wife were quite suitable for his taste. He was not worried about the other party's appearance or the low financial status of the Yue family. What he was afraid of was that the person was not smart but liked to be smart.
Yes, I'm talking about that Dong E Gege. He originally thought that his legitimate wife would be that one, and he even asked someone to check in advance. He found that this Dong E was completely different from his third sister-in-law, and was very good at acting.
She was clearly a domineering figure in the palace, similar to Jiayan Gege, whose courtyard would lose a maid every few years, but outside, she acted like a pitiful little white flower. In this talent show, because of her, several pairs of Gege who had previously gotten along well were quickly separated, and even several Gege who could be considered popular candidates were eliminated.
Of course, she was also rejected. At least at the last hurdle, the emperor directly gave her a sign and asked her to leave the palace and marry on her own. This Dong E reminded him of the concubine in his fifth brother's backyard who had been making the most noise recently, and his brows furrowed even more.
He hoped his wife would be able to manage his harem and stabilize the family so he could devote himself to making money, rather than a madwoman who only knew how to be jealous and competitive. For this reason, after investigating Ruhui, he respected and loved Buerhe even more, and in his heart, he had elevated her to the status of an older sister.
When He Zhu saw the Ninth Prince, he quickly trotted over to greet him: "This servant pays his respects to the Prince, and I wish you good luck."
Seeing this, Yinzhen said, "No need for that. Where is the prince? Lead the way." This was his first time coming to the small study in Yuqing Palace. He didn't know what the prince wanted to see him about this time. He didn't remember any relationship he had with the prince that would allow him to invite him alone.
He Zhu bowed and responded, then walked to the small study room with Yinzhen on the left. Once inside, Yinzhen didn't exchange polite words with Yinreng. After greeting him, he plopped down on a chair. Yinreng didn't say anything to stop him. He knew a thing or two about Xiaojiu's temperament, and he was probably testing him by doing this.
Yinreng's guess was correct. Although the Ninth Prince Yinzhen had a good relationship with Buerhe, he was unwilling to become a member of the Crown Prince's Party and serve the Fourth Prince like he did. He liked his current life very much. He did not participate in these imperial power struggles. While sharing the burdens of the Emperor's father, he was also able to gain his father's approval, and even his mother and brother also gained his father's praise.
Seeing this, Yinreng did not beat around the bush, but directly told Yinzhen his plan: "You have been in the Ministry of Revenue for quite some time, and I think you are very clear about the current situation of the Ministry of Revenue. I will not talk about righteousness or justice, but I just want to ask you, how much silver do the court officials owe to the national treasury, and how much money is available in the national treasury now?
This year, Xinjiang and southern Yunnan are experiencing instability again, and the national treasury must at least prepare this silver."
Yin'er's initially nonchalant attitude turned serious after hearing about the unrest in Xinjiang and southern Yunnan. "To be honest, if it weren't for these two places, and for the sake of the people under my rule, I would never help you. But are you sure this news is true?"
Yinreng nodded. "According to the urgent war report sent back yesterday, they have already started to move, and many people living on the border have been attacked. I predict that the Emperor will soon mobilize his troops and annihilate both areas."
Yin'er's brows began to furrow. "If this news is true, then this matter is really going to be difficult to handle. The Ministry of Revenue really can't come up with much silver right now. Let alone fighting a war, even if there's another minor disaster, it'll be hard for the Ministry of Revenue to come up with disaster relief silver."
Yinreng was shocked. He knew the Ministry of Revenue was out of money, but shouldn't this happen in a few years? Back then, the Fourth Prince had full control over the matter, offending many officials and confiscating many families. Later, when he ascended the throne, those families also made things difficult for him. How could the Ministry of Revenue be out of money so early this time?
Yinreng: "Tell me honestly, how much silver is left in the Ministry of Revenue?"
Yinzhen did not hide it: "Less than 500,000 taels."
"Shh, how come there's only so little left? The millions of taxes the court collects every year are all gone? It's only May, and the next tax collection won't be until at least October. And we're relying on just a few hundred thousand for the next five months? This isn't even enough to cover the officials' salaries, is it?"
Seeing the prince asking him a question, Yinzhen nodded without hesitation. This was the fact and asking him again would not change anything.
Yinreng: "Have you ever considered that if the Emperor investigates, you won't be able to escape even if you're in the Ministry of Revenue? Where did all that money go? If the Emperor asks about it, how will you answer?"
Yinzhen felt a little uncomfortable. Wasn't the Crown Prince concerned about him right now? If he were punished by the Emperor, it wouldn't matter to him, right? Why was he suddenly concerned about his future? Besides, the Ministry of Revenue's losses had nothing to do with him. He had been helping the Ministry and the Emperor earn money, and the money earned was not his to manage. Why should he be so concerned about this?
Thinking this way, Yinzhen opened his mouth to answer Yinreng's question: "I don't spend much time in the Ministry of Revenue every day. I spend more time at the glass factory and the essential oil factory. As far as I know, the reason why the Ministry of Revenue has no silver is purely because the emperor said that anyone can go to the Ministry of Revenue to withdraw silver if they need it, just write an IOU.
Although I haven't seen the account books or anything like that, I do know that people go to the Ministry of Revenue to borrow money every day."
Yinreng was now filled with anger and helplessness, yet also with a sense of hope. The timing was perfect, and now he was focusing on the treasury silver issue, figuring the Emperor wouldn't let him be blamed for the silver debt this time.
Thinking back to his past life, when Soertu had used his name to owe the Ministry of Revenue two million taels of silver, which he used to recruit soldiers and win over the people, and when the fourth son finally paid the silver according to the emperor's order, he couldn't pay it back, and Soertu started selling official positions and titles, and he himself was involved in the Jiangnan fraud case. Yinreng felt powerless.
I was really stupid back then. I was already the crown prince, the legitimate heir to the throne. Why would I bother trying to win over those who were only interested in following the emperor? Especially since they were all fence-sitters. When they saw me being deposed, they immediately defected to the boss.
Besides, even if he had received full support from the court in his previous life, whether he could succeed to the throne was a matter of a word from the emperor. As long as he said that he was disloyal and unfilial and abolished his position, wouldn't he still be deposed even if he had thousands of troops behind him?
Wasn't the bloody lesson from the Eighth Prince in his previous life enough? Back then, he had the support of 80% of the ministers, countless people supporting him as the crown prince, and even the Emperor's uncle and the Emperor's father's maternal family, the Tonggiya clan, strongly supported him. But what did he get in the end? The Emperor's father imprisoned him until his death, and said, "Yinsi was born to a lowly woman from the Xinzheku, and has been arrogant and treacherous since childhood."
However, the prince was not dwelling on the grief and anger of his previous life. This time, things were completely different. He had discovered that the Ministry of Revenue had no silver earlier, and he had never borrowed money from the Ministry of Revenue in his life. He also always carried his seal with him and had never lost it.
No matter how we investigate this time, the dirty water won't be splashed on us.
Thinking of this, Yinreng asked Yinzhen, "If this matter is really investigated, the emperor might vent his anger on you. You have worked hard to achieve so many small achievements and even won the title of Beizi. Don't you want to be more favored by the emperor and then rise to the next level? Become a Beile?"
If the prince said he would be held accountable, Yinzhen would not be afraid. After all, even if he was really angry with him, it would not be serious and would not have any impact after a while.
But the position of Beile was very attractive to him. It was only after he started doing business on his own that Yinzhen realized the importance of having a backer.
Not to mention anything else, when he was just a bald prince, even his mother did not support him when he wanted to do business, let alone Guo Luomafa. When they met, she just coaxed him to eat and drink, and when she heard about cooperating in business, she shook her head like a rattle.
That is, the Crown Princess's second sister-in-law did not despise him. When she first heard about his idea, she directly gave him money to support his career. Later, he took advantage of the favorable situation of the glass factory, and the Emperor gave him the title of Beizi. Although this title was a bit low for a prince, he should not forget that it was earned through his own hard work, not by being favored.
When he returned to the Guo Luoma family, they not only provided financial support, but were also willing to contribute manpower and manpower. It was at that time that he understood the importance of power. Even if he just loved doing business, if he wanted to make the business last and have fair competition, the power behind him must be strong.
Originally, he thought that he had no ability and ambition, so he wanted to see if he could support his biological brother. However, the farce in his fifth brother's backyard some time ago made him give up this idea. How could he achieve anything if he couldn't even clean a house?
Then he thought of his best playmate as a child, the mynah bird. This brother was gentle, intelligent, and ambitious. He knew this when he was young, but his vision was not very good. He had his eyes on Princess Jiayan from the Prince An's Mansion.
He had originally planned to discuss cooperation with Eighth Sister-in-law, but at this moment, news came in that his future Eighth Sister-in-law had bullied Dong E and even kicked her out of her residence. Although he ultimately disliked Dong E, Jia Yan Gege's actions at the time still made him feel uncomfortable.
The last straw that broke the camel's back was the visit of the tenth brother some time ago. The tenth brother directly said that he would no longer have any contact with the eight brothers. After he figured out the ins and outs of the matter, he also gave up the plan to cooperate with the eight brothers.
He really didn't expect that not only did Eighth Brother succeed in using the Tenth Brother to win over the Niuhulu family, but he also caused the Tenth Brother to suffer emotional pain. If the Tenth Brother had not been smart and lucky enough to discover the true identity of that woman, the Tenth Brother would have suffered a double blow from the Empress Dowager and the Emperor.
It turned out that Eighth Brother had asked Jiayan Gege's half-sister Guoluo Gege to seduce the Tenth Brother, and after the seduction was successful, he used the Tenth Brother's mouth to ask for an imperial decree for marriage. It was lucky that the Tenth Brother overheard Guoluo Gege's plan, otherwise, with the Tenth Brother's infatuated look at the time, he would definitely have gone to the Qianqing Palace to ask for an imperial decree for marriage.
But this is exactly not feasible. The tenth brother's wife is Abagai Borjigit. If the tenth brother already has a concubine in the backyard before she marries the tenth prince, then there is no point in continuing the relationship between the two families. This will only cause trouble for Prince Wuerjin Galapu.
It was these two things that made the Ninth Prince Yinzhen completely give up the idea of cooperating with Yinsi and turn to other methods. It's not that he didn't think about the Crown Prince, but he and the Crown Prince had a huge age difference, and they were basically brothers who didn't know each other well. Secondly, the Crown Prince was born a Crown Prince, and he couldn't help him in any way. How could he have the nerve to ask for credit?
Originally, Yinzhen's plan today was to test whether he wanted to follow the prince in the future. He didn't expect that it would be like a pillow when he was sleepy. Before he even opened his mouth, the prince directly offered temptation.
Do you want to do it? Of course, this is a good opportunity. If you miss it, you don’t know when the next one will come. If you don’t do it now, when will you do it?
Thinking of this, Yinzhen looked directly at Yinreng and said, "Prince, why don't you just tell me what you need from your brother?"
Yinreng's lips curled up slightly: "Don't panic, wait until your fourth brother comes, and we'll talk in detail."