The Shouren Academy.
Chen Xinghe had been waiting at the door, looking a little anxious.
It was only after Xu Qingnian returned that Chen Xinghe breathed a sigh of relief.
After all, His Majesty had summoned Xu Qingnian to the palace for no reason, God knows what, and now that he saw that Xu Qingnian had returned unharmed, he was relieved.
“Senior brother, it’s so late, still not resting?”
Xu Qingnian walked in, carrying something, a reward of precious fruits from His Majesty.
“Senior brother, what does His Majesty want from you?”
Chen Xinghe asked.
“Nothing much, just shouting at me to listen to a song.”
Xu Qingnian casually said, his majesty’s mind, he already knew, and had no great idea, he should do his own business first, and other things, later.
“Listen to a song?”
Chen Xinghe frowned a little, what kind of song was Xu Qingnian invited over to listen to for good reason?
But he didn’t ask more, since Xu Qingnian had returned, he didn’t say anything.
“Alright, then senior brother will go back to rest first.”
Chen Xinghe spoke, while Xu Qingnian nodded.
Then, at three minutes past the cinnabar hour.
Xu Qingnian sat alone in the pavilion and began to luck out.
He ran the Golden Crow Body Tempering Technique three times, and in an instant, the Qi and blood in his body boiled, and his Great Sun Saint Body became more perfect.
There was even a slight rumbling sound within his body.
And then Xu Qingnian ran the Taiyin Qi Condensation Technique again.
Xu Qingnian had already condensed two Taiyin Qi veins, and only needed to condense a third Jiao Dragon Qi vein before he would be considered a Ninth Grade Grand Perfection.
When the time comes, he will be able to step into the eighth grade with a flourish.
Tenth grade body nourishment.
The ninth-grade qi veins.
When you reach the eighth grade, you will reach the Dantian realm.
With the ma*sive amount of spiritual qi entering his body, Xu Qingnian gathered his third Taiyin qi vein with a flourish.
In an instant, rolling internal qi spread through his body, Xu Qingnian condensed his qi, and a white internal qi of tens of feet appeared.
At the ninth rank of great perfection, condensing Qi for ten metres was already considered a remarkable genius, while Xu Qingnian condensed Qi for ten feet, and it was incomparably strong and extremely terrifying.
But until the seventh rank of a martial artist, they were all still at an ordinary stage, just like martial arts masters, picking leaves and hurting people, flying over walls.
It is still after the seventh rank that one truly possesses great power.
After the seventh rank, each rank is a qualitative change, and the further you go, the more terrifying it becomes.
Phew!
Exhaling a breath of turbid air, Xu Qingnian stopped his luck, now that he had reached the grand completion of the ninth grade, he only needed three Qi veins to coalesce and open up his Dantian, and he would be stepping into the eighth grade.
However, Xu Qingnian did not choose to step directly into the eighth grade for the time being.
There were two reasons for this.
The first was that there was no cultivation technique for the eighth grade, and the second was that he could not rush his current cultivation first.
After all, the speed of one’s martial arts cultivation was already very fast.
In two months’ time, he had gone from a non-entry level to the ninth grade, and if he were to break through to the eighth grade straight away, it would seem a bit exaggerated.
There was always nothing wrong with stabilising first.
The main reason, of course, was that there was no corresponding gong method, not even a corresponding foreign art.
But this is fine, there are many gong methods hidden in the imperial palace, so it should not be difficult to ask for one.
After the Ninth Grade Great Perfection.
At this moment, it was already the dawn hour.
“Yang Hu.”
“Go to An Guo Gong’s residence and tell An Guo Gong to have their grandson come to the academy in three days.”
Xu Qingnian spoke up and asked Yang Hu to make the trip.
When he had come to the capital he had promised the State Dukes to teach their children and grandchildren, and this was something Xu Qingnian had not forgotten.
It was just that His Majesty had placed a heavy responsibility on himself, so Xu Qingnian did not have the heart to deal with this matter.
Now that she was grounded, Xu Qingnian didn’t mind, she could teach these bear children, so that they wouldn’t go and cause trouble to others.
“As ordered.”
Yang Hu received the order and walked straight towards the outside of the school.
It was also at this moment that a familiar figure appeared outside the academy.
It was the Minister of Penalty, Zhang Jing.
Looking at Zhang Jing, who was not far away, Xu Qingnian got up and slowly walked over.
“My subordinate Xu Qingnian, I have met Shang Shu Zhang.”
Xu Qingnian walked up and looked very polite as he said.
Although he himself had been removed from the rank of chief of the Ministry of Penalty, he retained his official position and was still counted as a member of the Ministry of Penalty.
“Don’t be polite, I still like you to be more straightforward.”
Zhang Jing spoke, somewhat casually.
“Lord Shang Shu, you are making things difficult for my subordinate, I have always been straightforward.”
Xu Qingnian said with an innocent face.
“Still pretending?”
Zhang Jing was somewhat unimpressed.
“That’s fine, Old Zhang, come on, sit down.”
Since Zhang Jing spoke like this, Xu Qingnian didn’t care and directly invited to sit.
“You brat, ……”
When Zhang Jing heard this, he was a little confused, let you be straightforward, it means let you not be so respectful, not let you be so casual.
But it doesn’t matter.
After settling down, Zhang Jing spoke.
“I have accepted your favour, this favour, I will remember it to my heart.”
Zhang Jing spoke directly, and he was straightforward then.
After he fainted that day, he didn’t know anything, and when he woke up, Xu Qingnian had already been imprisoned, and then he had spent the night writing a memorial, but just after writing it, His Majesty had released Xu Qingnian again.
He had planned to come to see Xu Qingnian yesterday, but to his surprise, His Majesty had announced that Xu Qingnian would enter the palace again.
So he came early today to thank Xu Qingnian.
“Old Zhang, you’re welcome, you’re welcome, we’re all in the same department, this is nothing, don’t look at me now, I might have to go to the Ministry of Justice again that day, I’ll need you to take care of me then.”
Xu Qingnian said with a smile, and his words were very frivolous.
“Take care, my a*s.”
“If you’re this kind of person, you’ll be in trouble in any ministry you go to. Now the entire Ministry of the Household is on tenterhooks, and several retainers have given strict orders that whatever you want to investigate must be sent to you at the first opportunity.”
“In people’s eyes, you are a calamity.”
Zhang Jing said somewhat unpleasantly.
“Old Zhang, I’m not to blame for this, I’m a strict person and I never turn over my nose first, it’s all because they forced me to.”
“You know more about the Ministry of Punishment.”
Xu Qingnian said with an innocent face.
Zhang Jing: “……”
“Alright, let’s not talk to you about this, anyway, I’ve taken note of this kindness, and the Ministry of Punishment is also remembering it, they said that when your grounding is over, they will go to Teng Yun House and set up a few tables to thank you.”
Zhang Jing said.
“That’s polite, I’ll set up a banquet for a few tables, I did have to set up a banquet for a few tables to ask forgiveness for what happened at the Ministry of Punishment last time.”
When Xu Qingnian heard this, he shook his head at once, the matter of the Ministry of Punishment last time, to be honest, he was indeed a bit impulsive, although he had a reason, but the purpose of making a big deal out of it was to establish prestige.
Now, after this crisis, everyone had made common cause and had resolved their grudges, so it was normal for them to set up a banquet and invite their sins at a few tables.
“En, that’s fine.”
Zhang Jing nodded, he didn’t force anything, but at the end of the day, Zhang Jing started to talk about the business.
“Shouren, in fact, you have done everything right this time, except that you are still a bit radical.”
“However, that’s how your nature is, so I can’t advise you on anything, but you must remember that in the future, you must think twice before you do anything.”
“This time, it is obvious that there are many things that are not right, and things in the court are definitely not as simple as they seem, I can’t say for a while.”
“But going forward, when you do something, you must always remember to think it through and think it through before you do it.”
“Now that you have gone to the Household Department, I can tell you straight away that the water in the Household Department is deeper than the Ministry of Punishment, and His Majesty has been trying to reach out to the Household Department, but no matter how much he reaches out, he cannot figure out what is going on in the Household Department.”
“You made a big fuss about the Ministry of Punishment, which would have been a big crime, but Her Majesty didn’t really blame you, at first I thought Her Majesty was doing it for the Pingqiu House disaster relief case, but now I find out that Her Majesty’s intentions are definitely not that simple.”
“She wants you to muddy the waters of the Household Ministry to.”
Zhang Jing spoke with a suppressed voice, he didn’t need to say these words, but he owed Xu Qingnian a favour, so he decided to come over and say it anyway, telling Xu Qingnian to be careful and careful again.
“Shouren understands, thanks to Shang Shu Zhang for reminding me.”
Xu Qingnian’s expression also became very serious and put away his frivolity.
In fact, when he was in the prison, Xu Qingnian had arrived at this point.
He had made a scene at the Ministry of Punishment to seek justice for Zhou Nan, but also to vent his anger and fight the Minister of Punishment, which was a matter of great importance, but His Majesty had only asked him to investigate the Pingqiu Prefecture disaster relief case.
At first, Xu Qingnian also thought that this was a ploy by His Majesty to make himself take up the case with a hard head, and that his aim was to seize the military amulet.
But now that he thinks about it, it’s definitely not that simple. After all, he could have stopped it when he was fighting for the sentence.
But he waited until he was about to fight the Minister of Punishment before he took action to stop it.
The purpose of this is not to let yourself finish catharsis, but to hammer the six ministries.
Let yourself set up this ‘lawless’ persona.
In this way, if His Majesty then places himself among the Ministry of the Household, at the very least the Ministry of the Household will not dare to find himself in trouble and give himself small shoes? Wouldn’t that be asking for trouble?
This is what His Majesty is planning to do.
The first thing you need to do is to get a good idea of what you’re doing.
The empress was really wise, no one who could become emperor was an ordinary person.
Xu Qingnian didn’t think anything of what happened yesterday, after all, the empress was also a human being and it was normal to have some personal emotions, but the empress would not make a single mistake in the big picture.
Having such an emperor is actually a good thing for the country, at the very least everything has a purpose and every move is for the country, not the individual.
“It’s good that you understand, if you need help from the Ministry of Punishment, just come directly to the Ministry of Punishment, since the late emperor’s northern expedition, the Ministry of Household has always been a bit odd, although I am with Lord Gu Yan who is from the Dongming Society, the Ministry of Punishment is the Ministry of Punishment and the Ministry of Household is the Ministry of Household.”
“As long as it is for the sake of the Great Wei, I have nothing to say, but if someone has selfish intentions, investigate and deal with them as you see fit.”
When Zhang Jing said this, he did not say anything more.
Because there were many things that he only knew a little bit about, and he needed Xu Qingnian to look into them himself.
But the meaning of these words of Shang Shu Zhang Jing was also very simple.
He was the Shang Shu of the Ministry of Penalty, a courtier, and could die for the Great Wei, party or not, this was a matter of dynastic power and involved the country’s fundamentals, and he would never agree to it.
“With this word from Shang Shu Zhang, Qingnian will be at ease.”
Xu Qingnian got up and bowed towards Zhang Jing.
“Come on, don’t be pretentious, stay here properly this month, and when your grounding is over, come sit in the Ministry of Punishment when you have nothing to do, check out cases, and don’t think of slacking off.”
Having said that, Zhang Jing had nothing more to say, he simply got up and left, he had to go beforehand.
“Old Zhang, take care.”
Xu Qingnian shouted.
Zhang Jing was flabbergasted for a moment, but eventually had nothing to say and left.
When the man had gone, Xu Qingnian’s voice rang out.
“Yang Bao, with my warrant, go to the Ministry of Accounts and ask them to prepare a breakdown of all tax rolls for the past thirty years.”
Xu Qingnian spoke.
Since he was grounded this month, he should sit honestly at home and prepare his homework first.
A quarter of an hour later.
Yang Bao came back, but empty-handed.
“What? They don’t give?”
Xu Qingnian asked as she made tea.
“It’s not that they don’t give, it’s that there are too many, my lord, I have to call for some helpers.”
Yang Bao said with a crying face.
It wasn’t that people didn’t give, but they gave too much, and he had to call someone over.
“Uh ……”
Xu Qingnian stopped talking.
Not long after, Yang Bao shouted for Zhao Da Zhao Er and Li Jian Li Kang, the four of them, to go to the Household Ministry.
Back and forth, box after box was carried over, more than forty large boxes, containing the tax rolls of the Household Ministry for the past thirty years.
It was clear that the Ministry of the Household was very clever, not daring to give itself small shoes, but able to create problems for itself.
Checking taxes, right? Give you all of them, so you can take your time to investigate.
This is a small tactic of the Ministry of Household Affairs, which is much more shrewd than the Ministry of Penalty.
I have to say, the Ministry of the Treasury is very clever.
It is reasonable to give some total sum, but the other side shipped so many information, it is clear to let yourself be quiet for a while.
The company’s main business is to provide a wide range of products and services.
Xu Qingnian didn’t care about this tactic of the Ministry of Finance, he got up and found last year’s dossier and started to look at it carefully.
Xu Qingnian reads the dossier quickly, he is not accounting, but to understand what is the current situation of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and what is the current situation of the Great Wei.
There were more than two thousand volumes in forty boxes, and Xu Qingnian kept the speed of reading one hundred volumes an hour.
Xu Qingnian started to list the data tables while reading them.
The Ministry of the Treasury does not give itself the total, then they can completely calculate ah, using Arabic numerals, and then apply the most basic arithmetic, to say it directly is the financial table.
Income, expenditure, summary.
Anything that looks dense and complicated, just list the data table and add and subtract to get the final answer, and if the result is inconsistent, then do it again, and if it’s still inconsistent, then there’s something fishy.
So the tactics of the Ministry of Household Affairs remain pedestrian.
Meanwhile.
The Ministry of the Household in Kyoto.
In the Shang Shu Room.
Gu Yan quietly listened to his men’s reports, and next to him sat the left and right retainers.
“Your Excellency, my subordinate has given all the volumes to Xu Qingnian, a total of two thousand four hundred volumes.”
“But the total sum of the volumes was not given, and it is currently being accounted for as well.”
The official from the Ministry of the Household opened his mouth, Gu Yan did not say anything, and the Left Servant was the first to speak.
“This Xu Qingnian hasn’t even come to the Household Ministry yet and wants thirty years’ worth of dossiers, he really has a huge appetite.”
“We will give him more than two thousand volumes, let him have a headache.”
The left minister said this.
“It’s just that although he has the ability to investigate cases, the Ministry of the Treasury is a financial taxation department, so how can you just arrange for someone to join it?”
“His Majesty is also too eager to let Xu Qingnian come to the Household Ministry.”
The Right Servant nodded his head.
And Gu Yan slowly said, “No matter how he is, give him whatever he needs, apart from the Ministry of Household General and the volumes, this is also quite good, let him rest for a while, these more than two thousand volumes, it will take more than ten days to look at them, and it will take at least two or three months to really work out a result.”
“If he can stop for two or three months, it will be a good thing for the Household Ministry, for the court, and for Great Wei.”
Gu Yan spoke out, he was not targeting Xu Qingnian either, he was just asking Xu Qingnian to stop, it was impossible to keep making trouble, right?
The answer is obviously, no.
The answer is obviously no.
So he used this method to prevent Xu Qingnian from having the opportunity to take advantage of the lesson from the Ministry of Penalty, but everyone was watching.
“Alright, do what you need to do.”
Having said that, Gu Yan didn’t think much more about it and did his own thing.
That was all.
Two days later.
At this time, Xu Qingnian had finished reading the last of the dossier.
In front of him lay a thick stack of white paper, the results of his tally.
For such a large project, the entire Household Ministry needed at least ten days to account for it, yet Xu Qingnian finished it in two days by himself, such was the charm of mathematics.
Just when the results appeared.
Xu Qingnian’s brow, too, was furrowed.
Xu Qingnian had calculated the finances for the past thirty years.
At the same time, he also knew what kind of crisis the Great Wei was facing today.
Thirty years ago, during Emperor Wu’s third Northern Expedition, the overall revenue of Great Wei at that time was 90,000,000 taels of silver.
And until now, thirty years later, Great Wei’s current annual tax revenue is ten thousand and four hundred and eighty-six thousand, four hundred and eighty-three thousand, two hundred and thirty-five taels and sixteen wens.
But now the basic expenditure of Great Wei in a year has reached a terrifying 98 million taels of silver.
In other words, the treasury of the Great Wei Dynasty came into more than six million taels last year.
But the reason why there is still a balance in the treasury is not that Great Wei is still doing well, but that since the late years of Emperor Wu, many national developments have been abandoned.
People’s development, infrastructure development, military development, even educational development.
But even after giving up so much development, the Great Wei dynasty is still facing a deficit crisis.
It was even said that there was a high probability of economic collapse.
Once the economy collapsed and the treasury ran out of money, the most immediate problem would be that there would be no relief for disasters, countless people would die of hunger, and if they wanted to carry out plans to benefit the country, they would have no money but to hold back, the army would not be able to pay their salaries and officials would have low incomes.
The country’s fortunes would directly decline and the country would not be able to continue to develop ahead of its time.
This was the biggest problem, so the first thing the empress did when she took office was to cut officials’ salaries and adjust them to the lowest possible level.
This had some effect, but it was absolutely unsustainable. Extreme repression would cause officials to become wildly corrupt, and it was the people who would suffer in time.
Then to solve this trouble, the most direct and easiest way is.
Print money.
The hard currency of the Great Wei was not something like gold and silver, which could only be taken out by the rich and powerful, but the normal circulation of money was ‘copper coins’ and ‘treasure banknotes’.
In terms of the first, second, third and fourth tier, the first and second tier cities in Great Wei used more treasure banknotes, while the third and fourth tier cities used more copper coins.
The bronze coins were more troublesome to add to the printing, while the treasure banknotes were simple to add to the printing.
Once the treasury really faced a negative balance, then Great Wei would only increase the printing of treasure banknotes at the first opportunity.
In that case, the most terrifying thing would come.
[Inflation].
This is no small matter, once it happens, the whole of Great Wei will be finished, and the gods will not be able to save it.
The most terrifying thing about inflation is that the people’s hearts will be in turmoil. The people will then rush to buy food, causing a food panic, and money will no longer be money.
At this time, a certain va*sal king would say, “All this is the fault of the empress of Wei, brothers, with swords in hand, come with me, overthrow this broken dynasty and create a new and beautiful world.
Once that happens, the people will have to rebel even if they don’t want to.
At that time, it will be a real bloodbath.
It was even more terrifying than the Northern Expedition.
Xu Qingnian swallowed his saliva.
Economic warfare was a hundred times more terrifying than fighting a war, and what was the purpose of fighting a war? It was also about profit.
And once the economy collapses, even if a saint comes out of the world, it will be useless, after all, can a saint feed the people of the world?
Reading and drinking the northwest wind?
Xu Qingnian didn’t know until he looked at it, but this time he was a bit silent.
If we don’t look at the financial situation of the Ministry of Finance, Xu Qingnian thinks that the problems of the Great Wei are just a little less productive, the va*sal kings around the world are foolish and the reputation of the female emperor on the throne is not very good.
That was all.
But today, Xu Qingnian can understand why the empress wants the military talisman.
Because ……. The Great Wei could collapse at any moment.
A dynasty of 300,000,000 people could collapse at any time.
Looking at the dossier on the tea table, Xu Qingnian fell into a state of silence.
This is the current national inventory balance of Great Wei.
Fourteen thousand three hundred and sixty-seven million silver.
This amount of money could not be touched at all. A random natural or man-made disaster would be tens of millions of taels, and if something like the Pingqiu Province came up, thirty to fifty million taels might not even be able to solve the problem.
But natural and man-made disasters happen every year, and with a bit of luck, there won’t be a major incident for ten or twenty years.
If you are unlucky, you may have a major disaster this year.
And this is only a matter of disaster relief, what about national development?
We can’t be careful all the time, burning incense and praying for blessings, hoping that there won’t be any natural or man-made disasters? And then sit at home and wait for death?
You know, a really strong country is one that is improving every year.
But Great Wei is regressing again every year.
Last year the treasury came in with 6 million taels of silver, maybe this year it will be 5 million, tomorrow 4 million.
Great Wei!
It can’t take it anymore!
Xu Qingnian closed his eyes, and the words of Minister Zhang Jing echoed in his mind.
The water in the Household Department is deeper.
What the hell is this, deeper water?
This is the sea!
It’s the bottomless sea!
For a moment, Xu Qingnian really felt a sense of powerlessness.
He knew that Wei was facing many dangers, but he did not know that Wei’s problems were so terrible.
This was not something that could be solved by one person.
It was a problem that would require the concerted efforts of all the ministers of Great Wei to solve.
Otherwise, once it broke out, it would be a great calamity.
Countless people would die in vain.
It is very likely that the six hundred years of Wei’s history will come to an end.
But ……. How can we solve it?
Xu Qingnian could not think of a solution.
At this moment, Xu Qingnian also understood why his Majesty did not summon him first when he wrote the An Guo policy, nor did he give him the kind of treatment that was very much valued.
Because!
The An Guo policy, unfavorable at the moment.
The Great Wei Money Bank was established when the country was developing extremely well, when the people were able to have enough to eat, and when they still had a little money left over on hand, and only then was it a beneficial tool for the country.
But now the people, not to say that they can’t eat enough, but at least the food is not too good.
The people are expected to save their money and put it in the money bank?
This is simply unreasonable.
“Yang Bao!”
Xu Qingnian spoke again.
“My subordinate is here!”
Yang Bao came at the first opportunity.
“Go to the Ministry of Accounts, have the people from the Ministry of Accounts bring all the income and expenditure files for the past ten years.”
Xu Qingnian spoke, if he wanted a solution, he had to know everything thoroughly, any details.
“Yes.”
Yang Bao obeyed the order at once and walked towards the Household Department, but this time he had learnt to be smart and brought his people there directly.
An hour later.
Yang Bao returned, with a cart, and the Household Department spent more content, hundreds of boxes, and this was nearly ten years old.
The people on the road were all astonished, and word of the matter reached the ears of the six ministries and many powerful people.
It would take a few months for a normal person to read such a large number of files, and it would take Xu Qingnian at least a year to understand them, right?
The Ministry of the Household, in particular, laughed as they watched Yang Bao leave, thinking that Xu Qingnian was completely unaware of the high ground.
The Ministry of Finance is not the Ministry of Justice.
The Ministry of Justice investigates cases, the evidence and evidence, just go to investigate.
The Ministry of the Treasury is a taxation department, which has to do with figures, how much income, how much expenditure, how much taxation, all these things really need to be worked out, I don’t know how long it will take.
Many officials in the Household Department are even betting on how long it will take Xu Qingnian to finish sorting out these volumes, and the highest support so far is six months.
For the other departments, this is good, at least Xu Qingnian will finally be able to take a break for most of the year.
However, for Xu Qingnian, hundreds of boxes were nothing, rather the more the better, he had to look at them one by one, check them one by one, so that he could better understand the situation of the Household Department, the situation of Great Wei.
With hundreds of boxes and 6,000 files, Xu Qingnian did not dare to read them all too quickly, he needed to go through them carefully and use tables to count them.
At least fifteen days was not a bad time.
And so it was, the next day.
A group of bear children appeared in the school hall, Xu Qingnian did not care, and directly let these bear children go to plough the fields first.
That’s right, ploughing the fields.
Xu Qingnian didn’t bother to teach them how to read and write, and there was a piece of land in the schoolhouse that was used to grow flowers and plants, almost an acre in size, so it was just right for these bear children to plough the field.
The meaning is also very simple: let them suffer first, then teach them slowly, and when they have ploughed the land well, when they can teach the real thing again.
But the bear children had a good time, rolling around inside the mud, and did not resent it.
Inside the room, Xu Qingnian was reading a book day and night.
Fifteen days later.
Xu Qingnian had finished reading all the 6,000 files, and had listed all the data and even drawn a chart of future trends.
And when Xu Qingnian finished reading the six thousand volumes, he finally understood where the money from the Great Wei treasury had gone.
Forty percent was the income of officials, and the bottom tier of officials was extremely large, even if one person had one tael of silver a month, that would be twelve taels a year, and there were currently three million three hundred and seventy thousand officials in Great Wei, up to over seven million at its peak.
So once the annual revenue came in, first 40% had to be taken out to pay the officials their salaries.
When there is no war, the military pay will not be too much, after all, the salary of the soldiers is not much, but mainly on food and accommodation.
But once the war starts, 10,000,000 taels of silver won’t be enough for six months, you wouldn’t even know how to spend the pension alone.
The remaining 10% and a half was spent on disaster relief.
The last 10% and a half was for miscellaneous expenses, normal state maintenance, for example, if a certain county office needed to be repaired, or if an official had to travel, including some foreign envoys coming in, you wanted to reward them, right? Who has done a good job and needs to be rewarded?
And half a percent was used to develop the country.
This is the current expenditure of Great Wei.
It’s simply …… It’s ridiculously poor.
Half a percent of the state treasury is used to develop the country? Can this country flourish?
And what is the most terrifying point?
It was Xu Qingnian who came to a conclusion after reading such a large number of dossiers.
The money could not be saved, the income of the officials could not be reduced any further, the military pay could be moved, but he did not dare to move it, it involved the interests of the military officials.
The 10% and a half of the disaster relief money could not be touched either, it was to deal with unexpected situations.
The company’s main business is to provide a wide range of services and services to the public.
And the half percent for the development of the country is even more unlikely to be touched.
The country is already underdeveloped, and you can’t move this silver?
So it comes down to one thing.
It is impossible to save money.
You can only make money.
Even saving money would accelerate the decline of the dynasty.
If you want to solve Wei’s current problems, you can do so.
One word.
Difficult!
But even if it was difficult, Xu Qingnian had no choice but to harden her head and start making plans.
“Empress, Empress, if I solve this matter, if you don’t make me a king, don’t blame me for really betraying the country.”
Xu Qingnian said to herself in her heart.
This great trouble in the sky, if it were any other person, they would only run away straight away.
Xu Qingnian also rose up with a feeling of powerlessness at first, but quickly adjusted her mind.
It doesn’t matter if the problem is big.
The main thing to look at is what’s in it for you.
If he solved this big problem, the empress would have to grant himself a throne, right?
This is no joke at all, almost as if the barbarians in the north had come to the capital, and one person had single-handedly destroyed millions of barbarians and killed them in their lair.
It would be unjustifiable not to be crowned king.
The white paper appeared.
Xu Qingnian dabbed a little bit of ink, and then began to write on the white paper.
Great Wei’s finances are completely deformed, and if you can’t save money, you have to make money.
Then how to make money was a problem.
[First: increase productivity at the bottom]
This is indisputable, the country is rich or not, depending on the bottom and middle cla*s, when the productivity of the bottom rises, many middle cla*ses will be born, and then the country can gradually become rich.
And now that everyone is at the bottom, even at the bottom of the floor, what is there to talk about affluence or not.
If you want to increase the productivity of the lower strata, three solutions can be found.
[seeds], [water wagons], [fertilisers]
Seeds are very simple, something like potatoes and sweet potatoes, to feed the stomach first.
As soon as the results come out, we will directly submit them to His Majesty, and then we will build the whole country to make sure that every good field has a waterwheel project, so that every household can drink water from their fields.
This will not only solve the people’s struggle, but will also stabilise the production of food and prevent the land from being wasted.
Fertiliser, this thing is something rather ahead of its time, Xu Qingnian knows a little bit about fertiliser, but this is difficult to produce, but there are immortal dao in this world, it’s like something like a ‘rain seeking talisman’.
So can you produce ‘fertilizer’, if you produce it, it is simply a beneficial tool for the country, but this is put aside for now, only as a backup, it is really not sure if you can get it.
But the seeds and the waterwheel are a bit better.
Especially seeds, there are no such things as potatoes and favas in this world, but there are similar things and they can be searched for precisely.
That’s the productivity scenario.
And the second point is.
[increase taxation].
Yes, increase taxes.
The income of the state is to collect taxes, and the tax of Great Wei today is 30%, which is more compared to Great Wei in its prime, but for the people at the moment, more is more, but at least they can carry it, but if the tax is increased further, that is a big problem.
But this tax, Xu Qingnian, was not a tax on the people, but on a special group of people.
The imperial family of Great Wei.
The literati of Great Wei.
The foreign states of Great Wei.
The merchants of Great Wei.
According to the laws of Great Wei, the imperial family was not required to pay taxes and received a considerable annual subsidy.
The Great Wei literati, who had merit, were also not required to pay taxes.
Finally, there is the foreigners. In order to show off Wei’s prestige as one of the top nations, the Emperor of Wei allowed foreigners to come to Wei to do business without paying taxes, and they did not even have to pay to enter the city gates.
On the contrary, the people had to pay a few cents to enter the city.
This is F**king unreasonable.
All of them pay taxes to the master.
This was Xu Qingnian’s plan.
The royal aristocrats sucked the blood of the country and had grown into green leeks that could start to be cut.
And the literati, who allowed literati with merit to be exempt from paying taxes? Who allowed it?
To put it bluntly, to be a literati is to serve the country, and to not pay? No way!
As for foreign countries? You still want to not pay taxes? You’re F**king dreaming.
Not only do you have to pay taxes, but you have to pay more, and you have to follow the laws of Wei to the letter, and you have to pay the five insurance and one pension, and you have to take Saturdays and Sundays off.
If you don’t get it right? This is the Great Wei, and you are the ones who should go!
Xu Qingnian had written all over a blank sheet of paper.
This is a cut.
The money could be used to develop agricultural production.
Does it cost money to build a waterwheel?
Do you need money to buy seeds?
Does it cost money to open up the wasteland?
All of them cost money.
So this money is not enough, but it can be used to meet the urgent needs, and once it is implemented, it will be a long-lasting thing, a conservative estimate of 50 million taels of silver per year is not excessive, or even more.
This money could be used to develop the Wei state.
But Xu Qingnian knew that the plan was very good.
Once implemented, it would be very difficult!
Would the royal family agree? That was the first question!
Will the literati of Wei agree? That was the second problem!
Will the merchants of Wei agree? This is the third problem!
How can these three problems be solved?
Xu Qingnian was somewhat silent.
What? You said there were foreign states?
Doing business in Great Wei, Xu Qingnian still cared what these foreigners thought? They had to say yes or no.
“Ugh! This time there is really no temper.”
At this moment, Xu Qingnian burned the white paper clean, he really understood this time why the empress cared so much about the military talisman.
The above three problems could actually be solved in one way.
Martial suppression!
The royal family does not submit? Then fight, fight until you are convinced, kill a group of people, then pacify a group of people, tell them they can go into business and earn their own silver, although they have already started earning it themselves, but it’s not the same if I openly support you.
If the civilians don’t obey, then they will fight too, whoever doesn’t obey will fight, and after the fight, they can play a hand to retreat as an advance.
Xu Qingnian has plenty of ways to deal with this bunch of sour showmen.
And the merchants were better off. The two above were convinced, but you are still not? If you want to die, you can say so openly.
So it all boils down to one issue.
Suppressing the royal family.
If you want to suppress the royal family, what do you rely on? Only military power. If you have a gun in your hand, come with me and do it if you don’t want to.
If they didn’t have the military power and dared to cut their leeks, it is estimated that these guys would jump to their feet and then contact the clan kings all over the world and start a fierce rebellion.
At this moment, Xu Qingnian understood once and for all why the empress cared so much about military power.
Because without military power, she was only the emperor in plain sight.
The people could only continue to starve, and the empress could only watch, as Great Wei was sucked by them, with a big gulp of blood.
Forget it! The imperial line, the literati line, the merchants of Great Wei are put aside first.
Let’s get this bunch of foreigners first.
Xu Qingnian had made up his mind.
If he wanted to develop the country, he had to come up with a sum of money first, and this sum of money could only be taken from the foreigners.
And it had to be tough.
If you want to develop the country, you must first take out a sum of money, and this sum of money can only be taken from the foreigners.
Determine the target.
Xu Qingnian took out a heavenly decree and told the empress what she had in mind, while also asking her to send someone over to collect the stuff.
He himself had already rewritten these tax forms, following the Great Wei script, after all, the Empress could not read Arabic numbers.
When the matter was done, Xu Qingnian exhaled a long breath.
As for how to decide, that was the Empress’ business.
Anyway, I had done everything I needed to do, so if you don’t agree, then you can’t blame me.
Not long after, the heavenly decree was placed on the candlestick by Xu Qingnian, and the flame burned as a burst of white smoke drifted away to the Great Wei Imperial Palace.
In the courtroom.
At this moment, the court has just retired.
A heavenly decree appeared in front of her.
The Empress of Great Wei was sitting on the dragon chair, and the hundred officials had already dispersed.
But the Empress’s gaze revealed a wisp of brilliant light.
Soon, she spoke, asking Zhao Wan’er to go to Shouren Academy to fetch something, quickly!
In less than half an hour.
Zhao Wan’er returned, personally escorting her and handing up a thick stack of rice paper.
On the dragon chair, the empress viewed the financial situation of taxation over the years.
She was the Empress of Wei and knew the sums, but she did not have the time to do the accounting. The affairs of the court, the affairs of the va*sal kings, the affairs of the country’s livelihood, could not allow her to take her time to do the accounting.
However, the rice paper submitted by Xu Qingnian was exceptionally different.
[Income] – [Expenditure] – [Total] – [Difference in Silver]
It was 10,000 times better than the Ministry’s files, which one could not finish reading in a day or a night.
Looking at the dossier sent by Xu Qingnian, however, within a quarter of an hour, she instantly understood all the circumstances.
The concept of intuitively understanding a problem and feeling that there is a problem are two different concepts.
At this moment, the Empress of Great Wei understood almost instantly how close the financial crisis of Great Wei was.
It was ten times more serious than she had imagined.
Taking out Xu Qingnian’s heavenly decree again.
At this moment, the empress took a deep breath.
The questions Xu Qingnian had asked, together with these financial figures, made her understand the crisis in Great Wei today.
In fact, there were some crises that she also knew about.
But she did not know how to deal with them.
But Xu Qingnian had written out a way to deal with it, and although it was only the first step, it was highly feasible, after all, it was the Great Wei foreigners that were being targeted.
That was perfectly fine!
She had thought of many solutions, but none of them had gone in that direction, the struggle in the imperial court, the struggle between the clan kings, had left her no time to think about this at all.
Xu Qingnian’s words gave her a feeling of clarity.
The next moment.
The voice of the empress rang out.
“Declare, I decree, Xu Qingnian has reflected on himself, his attitude is sincere and he is willing to serve the country, appoint Xu Qingnian as a foreign minister of the Ministry of the Household, in charge of the responsibility of taxation and silver, the imperial power is special, give, Xu Qingnian a dragon talisman of the Great Interior, see the talisman as if seeing me, can transfer the Ministry of Penalty and Military, for its use.”
The empress’s voice rang out.
Zhao Wan’er on the side, however, her expression changed abruptly.
The Great Inner Dragon Talisman?
She didn’t know what Xu Qingnian had written to the empress, but she knew what the Great Inner Dragon Talisman represented.
This was His Majesty’s decree, seeing the talisman was like seeing me, the imperial power was chartered, and the Ministry of Punishment and the Ministry of War were at his disposal.
In other words, when Xu Qingnian gives an order, the Ministry of Punishment and the Ministry of War have to support and cooperate unconditionally, no matter what Xu Qingnian does.
This power is much stronger than before when Xu Qingnian took the Shang Shu order.
This is like the case of Jiang Xinyan that day, Xu Qingnian held the Shang Shu order and ordered Jiang Xinyan to kill the king, but Jiang Xinyan hesitated again and again, not because he did not listen to the order.
Rather, Xu Qingnian’s status was not high enough, and the Shang Shu order did not have enough authority.
But what was the Great Inner Dragon Talisman?
If Xu Qingnian had been holding the Great Inner Dragon Talisman that day, at the command, Jiang Xinyan would have killed you with his sword, regardless of whether you were a prince or not.
This is because this is what His Majesty wants.
This is simply unconditional trust in Xu Qingnian.
And according to Xu Qingnian’s nature, hell knows what Xu Qingnian would do if he got the Dragon Talisman.
Take the Shang Shu order to kill Wang!
Take the Dragon Talisman of the Great Inner ……. If you don’t kill ten kings, I guess you’ll be sorry for this quick token.
At this moment, Zhao Wan’er inexplicably felt that Great Wei was about to make trouble again.
Soon.
The empress’ decree came out, leading to a clamor in the capital.
The first to be shocked was the Ministry of the Household.
In the Ministry of the Household.
Shang Shu Gu Yan had just returned to his office when he heard the empress’ decree.
“The Dragon Talisman of the Great Interior! The taxation of silver! The two ministries of punishment and war are at your disposal?”
“Your Majesty …… What is this about?”
Gu Yan frowned, even if he was more sophisticated, he couldn’t figure out what she was going to do for a while.
How come Xu Qingnian was given such great power for a good reason?
Moreover, this Xu Qingnian, why is she so good at causing trouble?
Can’t she stop?
Isn’t he reading the case file? He’s finished reading them now?
The right and left retainers were also sitting on the sidelines, pondering incomprehensibly, not understanding the decree.
But at that very moment, Gu Yan, the Minister of the Household Department, rose violently, his face changing.
“His Majesty wants to move the royal family.”
Gu Yan did not speak, this was what was in his heart.
As the Minister of Household, he knew the current financial situation of Great Wei extremely well, and if he wanted to truly ease the pressure on Great Wei, targeting the royal family would work best for now.
Especially now that His Majesty was holding the Kirin military amulet, he could indeed take a bold step forward.
But to do so was still too risky and radical.
“No!”
Gu Yan got up, he walked straight towards the outside, he would not allow His Majesty to have this thought, at least not now.
Once the royal family was moved, it would be a huge problem in the sky.
The Ministry of Penalty, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Works.
The four prefects guessed together almost two quarters of an hour after the prefect of the Household Ministry did, and the four of them rose together, intending to go to the palace to face the sage and dissuade His Majesty.
But when they arrived outside the palace, all they got was two words.
Not to be seen.
The news that the five Shang Shu had been refused an audience by His Majesty flew out.
For a moment, countless powerful people in the capital of Great Wei were silent.
God knew what Xu Qingnian was up to, and God knew what His Majesty was really thinking.
But all of them realised one thing.
This Xu Qingnian was really good at making things happen.
