Corrupt official in the Red Chamber

Chapter 100
"My lord, this official doesn't know. These are the numbers reported by the provinces below."

Looking at Sun Xun's panicked face, Jia Rui knew that this guy must be hiding something from him.

Jia Rui frowned, thought for a while, and then said: "In the name of the Ministry of Households, I will send a document to the provinces. The Taizu ancestors set up a business tax of five and one tithe. I don't care about the past. Since I took office, this tax system cannot If anyone can’t collect taxes from me, don’t blame me for playing him in front of the Supreme Emperor, and don’t blame me for holding back when appropriating the money.”

What Jia Rui said was very serious. He had almost told officials at all levels clearly, please be honest and clean, and pay me the taxes that should be collected. If you dare to delay or be bribed by those businessmen, If so, don't blame me for being rude.

One must know that Jia Rui is now the Supreme Emperor's absolute confidant, if he participates in the performance, there is no doubt about it.

Just like some time ago, Jia Ruishen's predecessor, the Ministry of Revenue, wrote a memorial. Just one memorial, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Li Jianmin, was ruined. He is still in Jinyiwei's prison.

The muscles on Sun Xun's face twitched, and in the end he could only reluctantly agree.

Jia Rui looked at the guy standing below, and his impression of him became even worse.

I saw this guy fawning on me and giving me gifts, but I wanted to give him some rights, but now it seems that I can't let this guy participate in anything, so continue to sit on the bench for me.

"From now on, all payments exceeding 1000 taels of silver must be signed by the official himself, otherwise they will not be released."

Sun Xun's face turned livid after hearing Jia Rui's words.

You must know that the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue is also one of the chief officials of the Ministry of Revenue. In the past, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue had no right to stop him from lending money within the scope of his responsibilities.

Now with one word, Jia Rui has deprived himself of his rights.

However, Jia Rui's order somewhat conflicts with the unspoken rules.

You must know that in a place with a lot of oil and water in Hubu, you, the Minister of Hubu, eat meat, and those of us below have to drink some soup.

Therefore, many unimportant funds do not need to be personally intervened by the Minister of the Ministry of Households, and the people below can handle them.

But now that Jia Rui has almost taken back all these rights, how can Sun Xun, who is waiting for soup below, be happy?
"Sir, as a result, the office efficiency of our household department will be much lower, and many cases will be suppressed. I'm afraid there will be trouble in the end."

Jia Rui stared at Sun Xun for a long time, only to see cold sweat break out on his face, and finally said: "Now the world's taxes cannot be paid. If I am more strict, what will the court do when it uses money? Do you want to make up for it with your family’s money?”

Through Sun Xun's mouth, Jia Rui hinted to others: Let's keep an eye on the provinces and governments below. As long as the tax money comes up, our household department will be rich, and it will not be too late to restore the previous system.

Sun Xun had no way to refute Jia Rui's words.

"Let's stop here today. I still have to go to the palace to meet the Supreme Emperor. If there is any matter of approving funds, we will talk about it in the afternoon."

What Jia Rui means is that this regulation starts today, and any appropriation of more than 1000 taels must be signed by me.

Sun Xun could only reluctantly agree, who let the official rank crush someone to death?
Then Jia Rui ordered the scribe who followed him to write a notice, and then personally stamped it with the official seal of the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue.

"Put this notice inside the main entrance so that all the household officials who pass by can see it. If anyone dares to give me a tael of silver privately, don't blame me for asking for his head."

Sun Xun came over to take a look, almost trembling in his calves.

It turned out that this notice not only mentioned the allocation of more than 1000 taels of silver, which was signed by Jia Rui himself, but also said that anyone who made a mistake in lending would be immediately thrown into jail regardless of the reason.

Because Jia Rui is also aware of the many disadvantages of the Ministry of Finance, the officials at all levels below have regarded the Ministry of Accounting as a huge granary, and these rats can take a bite anytime and anywhere.

It's just that Jia Rui is so strict in managing funding, but he can't stop the people below from making small moves!

For example, Jia Rui agreed to allocate 3000 taels of silver, but when they leave the warehouse, these people may only give 500 taels, or even [-] taels.

This also has a bright eye, which is called "drifting".

This is also one of the shortcomings of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the reason why officials at the top and lower levels of the Ministry of Household Affairs are so fat.

Then Jia Rui waved his hand and asked Sun Xun to retreat.

Afterwards, Jia Rui asked the two clerks who were still standing beside him to bring over the "Regulations of the Imperial Household Department" and the copies of imperial edicts issued by the emperors of this dynasty to the Household Department.

After reading through it all morning, Jia Rui had a rough understanding of the scope of authority of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

The Ministry of Household Affairs of this dynasty is equivalent to the modern Ministry of Finance + Central Bank + State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission + Ministry of Land and Resources + Ministry of Civil Affairs, etc., and is located in Jiangnan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Huguang, Fujian, Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Guangdong, and Guangxi , Yunnan and Guizhou Fourteenth Qing Dynasty Officials Division.

There are also four major divisions, namely, the Department of Households, the Department of Duzhi, the Department of Finance, and the Department of Warehouses.

There is a lot of power in this, and the issuance of coins alone has a lot of places that can be profited from.

As the minister of household affairs, he is in charge of the household department and is in charge of the country's land, population, finance, civil affairs, taxation, agriculture, industry and commerce, etc.In a word, he is specifically responsible for the national economy and people's livelihood.It can be said that he has real power, but he also has great responsibilities.

At the beginning, Jia Rui became more and more excited as he watched. Later, Jia Rui felt cold sweat on his back and trembled all over his body.

Before time travel, Jia Rui was just a small person. Even if he went to college, he had no big future. Now that he was put in charge of the economic operations of the entire country, Jia Rui felt like a big mountain was pressing on his shoulders.

If this is a mistake in decision-making, the loss to the entire country will be great.

After thinking of this, Jia Rui wiped the cold sweat on his head and felt even more that his initial decision was correct.The only thing that made Jia Rui feel gratified was that the imperial court had been established for nearly [-] years, and the Ministry of Household Affairs already had a set of top-down rules that could make the entire country run.

Even if the Minister of the Household Department is changed, the new Minister of the Household Department does not understand the country's economy, as long as it is Xiao Gui Cao Sui, there will not be too much trouble.

Jia Rui put down the book in his hand, looked up at the weather outside, and found that the sun was already high.

He stood up, stretched out, and said to the two clerks waiting next to him: "Don't pack up the things here. I will look at them when I come back in the afternoon. You two should also have a rest. I still have something to ask you in the afternoon." .”

After hearing this, the two scribes quickly nodded in agreement, and then watched Jia Rui leave.

When Jia Rui was completely gone, the two scribes looked at each other, and excited expressions appeared on the corners of their mouths and brows.

You must know that they can only be Cong Jiupin in the household department, and they can barely be regarded as officials. In the eyes of others, they used to be just small shrimps who were called around.

This time, thanks to Sun Xun, they were able to show their faces in front of Jia Rui. If this would please Lord Shangshu, they would be able to move up as long as Lord Shangshu opened his mouth.

If you can do things effectively, you may be favored by Lord Shangshu, and then it will be easy for you to become a successful person.

"Brother Wang, we are idle here waiting for Master Shangshu. Why don't we each write a note and hand it over when Master Shangshu comes in the afternoon, so that Master Shangshu can understand the affairs of our household department as soon as possible. Contribute to the imperial court. What do you think?"

"What Brother Liu said is absolutely true, but we have to discuss what to write together. We don't want a fight between the two of us, and it won't look good in the end."

Brother Liu nodded after hearing this. Now the two of them can barely be regarded as grasshoppers on the same rope. If there is any conflict, it will be bad for both parties.

So these two people stopped eating, and sat together with pens and papers to discuss non-stop, and then each scribbled a little on the paper.

Besides, Jia Rui left the yamen of the household department and hurried to the front of the palace with his subordinates.

As soon as he got off the horse, he saw a eunuch in charge at the door and greeted him with a smile.

"Master Jia, you are late today."

In the past, Jia Rui was in charge of the Long Jinwei and the guards of Qianqing Palace, so he came early every day and went back late every day.

It was almost noon today and it was the first time.

"Haha, didn't you just take up the post in the household department today? I went to hand over it, so I came late."

The eunuch already knew that Jia Rui had been promoted to Minister of the Household Department, but he congratulated him in a playful way: "Then congratulations, Sir, the Household Department ranks second among all the departments. If there is anything wrong with the younger ones, I beg you to show your respect. "

"They're all my own people. If you need anything in the future, just come to me."

After saying this, the little eunuch led Jia Rui into the palace, and then sent him to the gate of Longshou Palace.

Seeing Jia Rui coming, the eunuch at the gate of Longshou Palace greeted Jia Rui with a salute, and then went in to report.

After a while, the Supreme Emperor sent a decree to let Jia Rui in.

Jia Rui tidied up his new second-rank official robe, then imitated the appearance of a civil servant, and walked into the Dragon Head Palace with square steps.

Entering the side hall of the Dragon Head Palace, you can see the Supreme Emperor having lunch.

The Emperor's lunch did not include more than 100 dishes as expected.

There were only a dozen plates in front of him, with all kinds of rare and delicacies on them.

Dai Quan, the great eunuch of Longshou Palace, was waiting there carefully.

The Supreme Emperor was just about to put this piece of duck meat into his mouth, when he saw Jia Rui coming, he put down his chopsticks and reached out his hand to beckon.

"Jia Aiqing hasn't had lunch yet, has she? Come and have some with me."

In the eyes of others, it is a very honorable thing to dine with the Supreme Emperor, even those veterans of several dynasties may not have this honor.

But Jia Rui went to get used to this, because the Supreme Emperor would ask him to have meals with him from time to time.

Dai Quan, who was waiting next to him, quickly ordered the little eunuch to move an embroidered pier and put it in the side hand of the Supreme Emperor.

This is also the treatment that Jia Rui alone has.

When others ate with the Emperor, they were divided into two tables. The Emperor sat at the big table in the middle and ate, while the officials had small tables opposite.

And there are only a few simple side dishes on this small table.

If you want to eat well, it depends on the mood of the Supreme Emperor. He may be in a good mood and feel good after taking a bite of the food in front of him, so he rewards it. At this time, the courtiers can only eat a bite.

Only Jia Rui could sit beside the Supreme Emperor and eat at the same table as the Supreme Emperor. This was a treatment that even the emperor did not have before.

(End of this chapter)