The Legend of Rebirth of the Demon Empress

Chapter 5 Dilemma
As the so-called family affairs are connected with state affairs, Mrs. Bi was right. When the Lin family was worrying about salary arrears, Liu Qingyuan, the chief minister of the cabinet, was also worrying about arrears of salary.

At this time, it was three o'clock in the morning, and ordinary people fell asleep early, but the Jiyi Hall in the Forbidden City was still full of gunpowder.

During the day, nearly a hundred officials went to the Wumen Gate for a sit-in due to lack of salary. Although the cabinet tried hard to dissuade them, they finally stopped them.

Ye Quan, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, was nearly sixty years old. He had just experienced a round of debate. He took a breath and continued, "Officials of all sizes in Beijing have owed their salaries for more than half a year. Today they sit at the Wumen Gate, and they may not be able to do so tomorrow." There is going to be trouble in the Emperor's Palace! Elder Liu Ge, you are also in charge of the household department, so you have to think of a way!"

As the emperor's teacher, Ye Quan's words naturally carry weight. Liu Qingyuan sketched out what he was going to say in his stomach, and was about to answer when Qian Minzhong, the left servant of the Ministry of Rites, said: "The war in the northern border has not stopped, and there are tens of thousands of refugees in the pass. , the state affairs are so difficult, these people usually talk about their loyalty to the emperor and patriotism, but now they come to persecute the emperor one by one for a little money, what's the use of the court supporting these people! I don't know how their officials are of!"

These words were tantamount to accusing the Ministry of Officials of having a problem with the selection of officials, and Ye Quan's old face turned red when he said it bluntly.

"Master Qian said it lightly. These 100 people don't see a single cent of their salary for half a year, and their families will be in trouble. If this continues, my six departments of Dayan will be paralyzed. At that time, the foundation of the country will be shaken!"

Hearing that the cabinet had been arguing for more than an hour in the Jiyi Hall, the emperor looked gloomy. He hastily summoned the cabinet to discuss countermeasures. Now the cabinet still has no solution to the problem.

He knew that if he didn't show up, even if the discussion went until tomorrow morning, there would be no progress.

"Liu Qingyuan, let's talk about it," the emperor finally couldn't help but said, "How to solve this dilemma?"

"There was still some money in the national treasury, but last year there was a severe drought in the capital, Luyuan, and Guan, and because the Pingjiang River broke its embankment, and the south of the Yangtze River was flooded, the imperial court lent food to the victims in order to relieve the disaster, and spent a lot of money on river governance. For the current plan, we can only stop several river control projects of the Ministry of Industry first, and then try to recover the grain borrowed last year, and after the summer tax is paid, we can turn around."

"Now it's a time of shortage. What do you want the victims to eat after taking back the food? Are you forcing them to rebel? This year's flood season is here again, stop the river control project? Hmph, are you waiting for this year to continue disaster relief?"

The emperor glared at Liu Qingyuan angrily. This Liu Qingyuan, who has been the Prime Minister of Taiping for several years, is still so unprogressive!

Seeing that the emperor was angry, Liu Qingyuan hurriedly responded: "Your Majesty, please calm down, please say a few more words. There was no disaster in Hedong and Shannan last year, and there should be a lot of grain in the warehouses of the two provinces. I will write a call to relieve the urgent need." .”

Seeing that the emperor's expression softened slightly, he said again: "The censor who patrols the salt in the south of the Yangtze River is too old to be used. Within three months, we can collect 100 million taels for the Ministry of Workmanship to control the river."

The emperor nodded slightly, tapped the imperial case with his fingers casually a few times, and said: "This is the words of seeking the country."

Feeling relieved, Liu Qingyuan reached out and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, and when he looked up, he saw Cao Shouli, the eunuch with the handprint of the supervisor of ceremonies, standing beside the emperor expressionlessly. , Although the taxation is led by the Ministry of Households, there are some embarrassing places, and I need to trouble the Supervisor of Rites to take care of it."

Tonight, Cao Shouli did not say a word during the cabinet discussion. Hearing Liu Qingyuan mention him, his expression suddenly turned cold. "What is Mr. Liu Ge's order? But it doesn't matter."

After the founding of Dayan, a supervisor of rituals was set up in the inner court, not only in charge of eunuch affairs in the inner court, but also involved in the affairs of the foreign court, responsible for reviewing the cabinet's memorials and resolutions, and conveying them to the emperor after sorting out.At the same time, the Supervisor of Rites is in charge of the affairs of the East Factory, so he can supervise and arrest subjects at will without going through the Three Law Departments.

Normally, Liu Qingyuan did not want to offend Cao Shouli, but now the emperor put the burden on himself, so he could only bite the bullet and say: "In the past, the mines in various places were rich, and they could collect more than 400 million taels of tax silver every year from the mines alone. In the past few years, maybe the business in the mines has not been good, and last year even the 200 million silver was confiscated, so please ask Eunuch Cao to remind the mine supervisors in various places, so as to solve the current predicament of the court."

Why couldn't Cao Shouli hear Liu Qingyuan's words, so he sneered and said, "There is no need to be so troublesome about the money, since the old man has spoken, the old slave should try his best to deal with it."

Although the official's arrears were settled, Cao Shouli's gloomy expression made Liu Qingyuan uneasy.Liu Qingyuan was no longer interested in discussing matters, discussed some details with the cabinet, and then resigned.

The child's hour was approaching, and the emperor sat alone in front of the imperial case without any sleepiness, his eyes were deep.

Dayan has been established for more than a hundred years, and has experienced eight generations. During this period, many changes have taken place. Because of Yingzong's favor and trust in traitors, vassal kings from all over the world have established themselves one after another, and finally almost perished. Wang, this has been a peaceful and prosperous world for decades.

Relying on the foundation left by Ruizong, his grandfather and father were much more relaxed. His grandfather, Emperor Guangzong, traveled to the south of the Yangtze River many times, leaving countless repertoires in the opera.

But his father, Emperor Lizong, prided himself on being elegant, and directly handed over the government affairs to the cabinet and the supervisor of ceremonies. Every day, he would discuss piano, chess, calligraphy and painting with the concubines in the harem, or go to the Imperial Academy to study poetry, songs and Fu with the imperial concubines. .

Once it's in my own hands, I'm not careless every day, day and night.However, it has been more than ten years since he ascended the throne, the chief inspector cannot afford to lose, the cabinet and courtiers form cliques, and the military generals have made military achievements. Unexpectedly, even today, the courtiers' salaries cannot be paid!
It seemed that he was far inferior to Ruizong, and the emperor couldn't help feeling a little frustrated.

Under the repeated requests of the living eunuch, the emperor fell asleep with a heavy heart. However, in the morning of the second day, what happened made his heart even heavier.

"Your Majesty! The servants were ordered to raid Yongding Bo's Mansion and Zuoqian Du Yushi's Mansion last night. They found out all kinds of crimes such as corruption and perverting the law. They obtained a total of 6000 taels of gold, 32 taels of silver, jewelry, calligraphy, paintings, Tian Qi is still under investigation!"

At the beginning of the early dynasty, Wei Bingzhong, the admiral and eunuch of the East Factory, gave the Manchu civil and military a big "surprise".

Cao Shouli confiscated a second-rank military marquis and a fourth-rank official without any prior instructions. How could he be a slave at all!

The emperor forced a smile from his face, and said to Cao Shouli beside him: "Shouli, I am very relieved that you can share your worries. The people below have worked hard all night, and the next errands will be handed over to the Ministry of Punishment and Dali. Let's go to the temple."

"Going back to the emperor, after the nightly interrogation by the criminal department, the evidence is convincing, and the servants have also brought over the detailed report, please look at the emperor." Wei Bingzhong took out the report from his sleeve, bowed and presented it.

The emperor resisted the urge to jump violently, and waved his hand. Wei Bingzhong saw it, and then turned his head to look at Cao Shouli, only to hear Cao Shouli say in a deep voice, "Back off, it's none of your business here."

Wei Bingzhong withdrew from the Huangji Gate, and all the cabinet ministers felt chills down their spines, not daring to say a word.Last night Liu Qingyuan had just reported to the emperor about the mine superintendent's corruption of ink, and the superintendent of ceremonies came early in the morning to warn the cabinet. Then, according to Cao Shouli's temperament, would he just stop there?
Unlike the cabinet's silence, the raging anger in Weiyuan Hou Fangluan's heart was drawn out by Cao Shouli.

Ever since the first emperor, Uncle Yongding has been fighting with him in the south and north, and was awarded a title because of his military achievements. Now he is still in charge of the Chinese army's governor's office. Cao Shouli actually ransacked his home directly, and did not release himself, the commander of the five armies, at all. In the eyes!
Fang Luan was not a tolerant person, and for many years he had been domineering and domineering because of taking over the military power. Order the officials, I ask the emperor to thoroughly investigate this matter, and give justice to all officials!"

The emperor sighed in his heart, he practiced a benevolent government, and he has always been more tolerant to his courtiers, it seems that such a vigorous and vigorous conviction has never happened before.

Cao Shouli dared to go beyond the rules in this way, because he was sure that the national treasury was empty, and that he, the emperor, would not cause trouble because of this, so he made this matter an iron case, leaving the cabinet with no chance of overturning the case.

It seems that in the round between the cabinet and the supervisor of rites, the supervisor of ceremonies won again.

Although the matter was a foregone conclusion, the emperor was quite satisfied with Weiyuanhou's attitude. At least Weiyuanhou was not as self-protecting as the cabinet, and could stand up against Cao Shouli.

"Marquis Weiyuan is loyal, I know it naturally. However, he has always been reliable in his etiquette, and today's incident has been proven, so let's hand it over to the Ministry of Criminal Justice for conviction." The emperor comforted Fang Luan a few words, and said: "I am a little tired. Shouli, today's approval is up to you and the cabinet, you don't need to report to me anymore."

Fang Luan was a little unwilling, and wanted to defend a few more words, but saw that the emperor had already got up and left Bibi Dan, and did not give the ministers any chance to speak.

The emperor left the Huangji Hall and went to the Wenhua Hall, and ordered the eunuch who was in charge of him not to see anyone, but to lean on the dragon chair of the Wenhua Hall and close his eyes to rest.

Cao Shouli's private inspection of the officials in Beijing made him a little uncomfortable, but he was also a little happy in his heart.

For the matter of officials' salary arrears, the courtiers submitted countless papers, but none of them could solve the fundamental problem of the lack of money in the treasury!The cabinet discussed most of the night yesterday, but I didn't expect that the supervisor of ceremonies would solve it overnight.

While feeling happy, the emperor's complexion became worse and worse.

He considers himself to be lenient and benevolent, and has never treated his subjects harshly, but this group of courtiers, if there is any trouble in the court, they only care about the principle, and they have never been considerate of their own difficulties. Today, Cao Shouli is so bold, but no one dares to stand up Say something!

When Ruizong was about to leave, he left a last word with his grandfather who was still the prince at that time.The emperor naturally knew the truth. Since he ascended the throne, he has done everything by himself, and has not given any chance to the supervisor of ceremonies to exercise power in political affairs.

What a pity!Grandfather and father didn't understand Ruizong's deep meaning, they only wanted to relax for a while, and gave too much power to the Supervisor of Rites. It is impossible for him to take it back rashly.

Fortunately, some arrangements have been made, the emperor clenched his fist secretly, and it should be almost the same in five years.

If there is no restraint from the supervisor of ceremonies and the cabinet, and he chooses sages and administers benevolent government by himself, then he will surely become a generation of enlightened masters, Haiyan and Heqing, the country is peaceful and the people are safe, and the praise of his great achievements will naturally be indispensable in the history books in the future.

Thinking of this, a smile appeared on the emperor's face.

(End of this chapter)