Awaken Chapter 158

The Ministry of Officials of the Great Wei.

Xu Qingnian rushed to the Ministry of Officials in a frenzy.

At this moment, Xu Qingnian hopes extremely much that the six ministers will not stop.

At the very least, they should let themselves be seen, otherwise, how can they write the front page headlines.

Finally, Xu Qingnian arrived at the Ministry of Officials.

For Xu Qingnian, who had already reached the seventh rank, he could still hear the shouting and cursing from inside the Ministry.

Not good! He was too late!

Xu Qingnian was a little depressed, he instantly realised that he was late because there was no sound of fighting, only the sound of various arguments.

“Let’s wait for Shouren to come, let’s get him to comment on it!”

“Fine, then let’s wait for Shouren to come.”

“Who’s afraid of who? I don’t believe that Shouren will help you old pikers.”

The voices of several Shang Shu lords rang out, defying each other.

Xu Qingnian, on the other hand, could not help but smile a little bitterly, still missing out.

Walked into the Ministry of Officials.

The officials up and down greeted Xu Qingnian, while telling Xu Qingnian to hurry in and save the day.

Xu Qingnian’s pace was fast and he arrived at the inner courtyard in no time.

He entered straight away.

Inside the room, the six ministers were each sitting on the left and right, and the Minister of Officials, Chen Zhengru, looked a little red, so it was clear that he was very angry.

As for Gu Yan, the Minister of Household Affairs, Zhang Jing, the Minister of Penalties, and Li Yanlong, the Minister of Works, they all looked a little dishevelled, so I guess they had just been beaten up quite badly.

Zhou Yan, the Minister of War, and Wang Xinzhi, the Minister of Rites, were not too bad, nothing had changed, the only thing was that they nodded slightly when they saw themselves.

“My humble servant Xu Qingnian, I have met all the lords.”

Xu Qingnian bowed towards the crowd, looking very polite.

It was only Li Yanlong’s voice that rang out first.

“Shouren, don’t give the old man so much falsehood, now ask you one thing, ask yourself.”

“Does the Ministry of Works need to be developed? Do we need to give money?”

Li Yanlong spoke out directly, not beating around the bush, and directly stated his matter.

As soon as this was said, Gu Yan’s voice immediately rang out.

“What development or not? What nonsense are you talking about here? Didn’t you allocate funds to your Ministry of Works before?”

“You old pipsqueak, you hate to eat up all the silver from the Ministry of Household Affairs? Are you only happy?”

Gu Yan immediately spoke out, angrily disliking back.

“Old man Gu Yan, don’t talk about this first, whether his Ministry of Works needs silver or not is not to be mentioned first, these days, the demons are out in force, and the Ministry of Penalty is anxious about these cases.”

“There is still silver, but if these matters are not handled properly, what will happen in the future?”

Zhang Jing spoke up, saying so.

“Go away, you, can you solve the demons’ affairs? Give silver to you? I might as well give silver to those immortal sects and let them deal with it.”

Gu Yan continued to scold.

“All right, all right, Shang Shu, don’t argue yet!”

“Let me know what’s going on first.”

“Lord Chen, you speak first.”

Xu Qingnian didn’t understand what the noise was about at all, and could only ask Chen Zhengru to explain.

“It’s like this, today we, the six ministers, are here to discuss the distribution of silver.”

Chen Zhengru opened his mouth, and then little by little, he told the whole story, what Chen Zhengru said was still relatively pertinent and did not favour any of them.

It was only after he finished that Chen Zhengru could not help but become angry and said.

“As the Shang Shu of Great Wei, yet they are wrestling together, this is really degrading to the state of Great Wei, if this gets out, won’t the people of the world laugh at us?”

The reason why Chen Zhengru was so angry was that it was alright to say a few words in normal times, but it was not decent to start a fight.

You are really shameless, but I want to be shameful.

“What are you afraid of? The Ministry of Justice would dare to say anything?”

“Yes, it’s just a beating, but how dare anyone make a big deal out of it? Isn’t that right? Shouren.”

The Minister of Penalty and the Minister of Works were unconvinced, although they knew that after today, there would definitely be a lot of gossip that the six ministers had fought.

But so what? Anyway, the people don’t know what exactly happened, they just get together and speculate about it.

It’s unlikely to be publicised, right? Who would dare to publicise the Sixth Minister’s case? Who wouldn’t be afraid of losing their heads?

“Yes, yes, yes!”

Xu Qingnian nodded her head.

However, Xu Qingnian also almost understood what exactly had happened.

Roughly speaking, to use an idiom to describe it.

[unequal sharing of the spoils].

Hadn’t so much silver been scraped off some time ago? The treasury of Great Wei was unprecedentedly full, millions and millions of taels of silver, piled up like a mountain, so much money, it was impossible for the six ministries not to keep an eye on it.

Although Xu Qingnian had given a sum of money to each of the six departments, the problem was that these were a drop in the bucket.

Who wouldn’t want their department to have a better life? Everyone sees things from their own perspective.

The Minister of the Ministry of Justice, Chen Zhengru, had a very simple idea, which roughly meant that now that there was money, the welfare of officials did have to continue to rise, especially at the bottom, and it was really time for a small increase in money anyway.

So 20% of the state treasury had to be reserved for Great Wei officials.

There is nothing wrong with that, think about it, how many officials are there in Great Wei? There are a whole lot of officials inside the capital, and the whole of Great Wei combined is extremely scary, especially some of the officials at the bottom.

Everyone still gets a few taels of silver, and a change of clothes on New Year’s Day is already considered very good.

In such a situation, there is no guarantee that some officials will bow down to life, and who will be unlucky when the time comes? The people of the world.

As for corrupt officials, such things cannot be banned, but the only thing the Ministry of Officials can do is to guard the last line of defence for officials.

The Minister of Justice, Zhang Jing, also has a good point about the demon problem, which needs to be strengthened and solidly guarded because the empress has decreed that the Ministry of Justice should proceed to manage such things, which is considered sharing.

Since it was shared, it had to be silver, otherwise how could it feed people? If you don’t feed people, how do you go about solving the demon rebellion?

There are no big demons or devils, but there are some small demons and devils and some rebels, which adds up to a lot.

So what Zhang Jing said was not a problem.

Li Yanlong, the Minister of Works, is even more right. The waterwheel project will soon begin, and now that materials are ready from all over the world, do we need labour at this time? Do we need to hire people to do the work?

Do we need to spend a whole lot of money?

The Minister of War’s message is even simpler: the Peace Poetry Festival, the return of gifts to foreign countries, and the death of a merchant, have made the foreigners in various countries a little upset.

It is likely that there will be some trouble, so it is necessary to leave a sum of money in case there is a real war, what can be said?

It’s not very likely, but what if? Do you dare to bet?

And the Minister of Household Affairs Gu Yan’s meaning is even simpler, the Great Wei Dynasty has some money after a long time, you want this kind of thing, do you want development? Do you want development? Do you want construction?

Do you really think that money comes from the wind? You really think that money comes from the wind, that you can spend it all at once and then go back to your miserable life in poverty?

I have to say, although Gu Shang Shu is a bit stingy, but the real words are fine, from frugal to extravagant is easy, from extravagant to frugal is difficult.

This is also very reasonable.

There was absolutely no problem at all with what the Minister of the Five Ministries said, and in an instant, Xu Qingnian’s gaze looked towards Minister of Rites Wang Xinzhi.

“Minister Wang, how do you plan to cheat the money?”

“Oh, no, that’s wrong, why do you want to take the money?”

Xu Qingnian opened his mouth and accidentally said the wrong thing.

In an instant Wang Xinzhi froze.

Good fellow, what do you mean by cheating money? Do I need to cheat money when I am the Minister of Rites?

“I came here to participate in the deliberations of the six ministries, when did I ever ask for money? Shouren, aren’t you looking down on people too much?”

Wang Xinzhi said somewhat unpleasantly.

“Then do you want it or not?”

Xu Qingnian asked.

“Yes!”

Wang Xinzhi replied directly, there is want for nothing, he is not stupid.

When this was said, the crowd could not help but stare, this Wang Xinzhi really did not want his old face.

“Shouren, it’s not that I’m stingy, think about it yourself, the Ministry of Military Affairs is asking for tens of thousands of thousands of taels of silver, the Ministry of Officials is even more direct, over a hundred thousand taels of silver, the Ministry of Penalties and the Ministry of Works are also coming to the party.”

“How can I give it? If we spend it like this, it will all be spent in a year and a half, what will happen to Great Wei by then?”

“Don’t look at the money now, but in reality, the Great Wei is still suffering, these old wolves, all of them are wolves, they are just looking at this amount of silver we have.”

“You must not be compelled by them.”

Gu Yan spoke up, pulling Xu Qingnian to say so.

When this was said, the crowd was instantly enraged.

“Old wolf, what do you mean by that? What do you mean we are wolves? Just staring at your little money?”

“This is the silver of the Great Wei treasury, what does it have to do with you?”

“Yes, yes, it’s Great Wei’s silver, not yours.”

“That’s right, it’s not your silver.”

The shanghais were discontented.

“All right, all right!”

“All the Shang Shu.”

“May I hear what Xu has to say?”

Xu Qingnian spoke, he told the crowd not to argue, arguing over silver in this world was one of the most unworthy things.

His voice rang out and the crowd fell silent.

“Shouren, you say, old man listen to you, this silver is earned by you no matter what, it has nothing to do with us, whatever you say, it is what it is, and no more arguing!”

Chen Zhengru spoke up, he directly let Xu Qingnian make the decision.

“Right, Shouren, you earned this silver, whatever you say, we will support it.”

“I also support it.”

“I agree.”

The Shang Shu knew that it would be difficult to withhold the silver from Gu Yan, so they let Xu Qingnian make the decision, after all, Xu Qingnian would more or less take care of them.

Unlike Gu Yan, who was so stingy.

Once this was said, Gu Yan followed suit and spoke up.

“Shouren, since you are allowed to make the decision, then I also agree, but you must think clearly.”

With all five Shang Shu opening their mouths like this, Gu Yan could only let Xu Qingnian make the decision.

After all, they were not wrong, the silver was indeed earned by Xu Qingnian, so Xu Qingnian was qualified to speak.

But he was afraid that Xu Qingnian would fall into the boat of thieves.

When Gu Yan spoke up, Xu Qingnian immediately spoke out.

“Fine!”

“I am grateful to you all for your kindness, so I will take an idea on this matter, Xu.”

“But there is one thing that you all have to promise Xu Mou, otherwise, Xu Mou would rather offend you all than definitely not get involved in this matter.”

Xu Qingnian opened his mouth, he could make the decision, but there was one thing that had to be said to come first, otherwise it would be meaningless.

“You say.”

“Shouren, it’s fine if you say it.”

The crowd was a little curious, wondering what Xu Qingnian was going to say.

“Once Xu Mou has taken an idea, he cannot repent, so don’t let it come down to who feels that they have lost out and who feels that they have taken advantage.”

“Of course, Xu Mou will give a suitable reason.”

Xu Qingnian spoke his mind.

He could take the idea himself, but the problem was that everyone had to listen to himself, and if he didn’t, it would be meaningless.

What was the difference between saying it and not saying it?

When this was said, the six ministers were silent and thoughtful.

But soon, Chen Zhengru gave his answer.

“Fine! Shouren, whatever you say, I will listen.”

As Chen Zhengru opened his mouth, the rest of the several Shang Shu also cut the crap.

“Shouren, old man trusts you, just say it.”

“En, it’s fine.”

“Old man agrees.”

“Old man also agrees.”

“Good.”

The six ministers all agreed.

And with the reply, Xu Qingnian spoke up.

“Since this is the case, then I will dare to say a few words in front of you all, my lords.”

“First of all, when silver is earned, it should be spent, this is something that Xu Mou has always determined.”

As soon as Xu Qingnian spoke, the five ministers instantly revealed their joy, but Gu Yan did not look uncomfortable either, instead he continued to look at Xu Qingnian, wanting to see what Xu Qingnian had to say.

“But how one spends it is a question.”

Xu Qingnian then spoke.

“In my humble opinion, the most urgent task is still the matter of the water chariot, after all, the water chariot benefits the country and the people, and the sooner it is completed, the sooner it will be developed for Great Wei.”

“Therefore, I intend to give 20% of the state treasury to the Ministry of Industry to train artisans and build waterwheels, while half of the silver will be used to develop barren fields, buy seeds and hoes, and give them to the displaced people.”

“If we want to truly double, triple, or even more the food production of Great Wei, we must use the barren fields, while the Ministry of Household will supervise the handling of them, and ask Your Majesty to decree that all those who farm the barren fields will be given to those who farm them.”

“The government will provide all tools free of charge, and no taxes will be levied for five years, but in order to prevent any merchants from enriching themselves, these barren fields will only have sixty years of ownership, and if future generations wish to continue cultivating them, they must pay an extra sum of silver as a renewal fee.”

“And the barren fields cannot be transferred for sale, this is an iron law to resolutely combat the enrichment of merchants.”

“At the same time, Minister Li, but anyone who participates in the construction of the waterwheel, may choose a barren field as a priority and be given a certain subsidy, and if the people who have a field and participate in the waterwheel, they may also choose a barren field.”

“What do you all think, my lords?”

Xu Qingnian uttered this proposal.

At that moment, the six ministers pondered over it, and the first to react was Chen Zhengru.

He revealed a look of surprise and looked at Xu Qingnian and said.

“Good! This is a good idea!”

“Let the people cultivate the barren fields and produce food, we only need to provide the hoes as well as the cost of seeds, yet we can solve the people’s sustenance and give out good fields for free, which is also a good thing for the people.”

“Especially this sixty-year right to use the land can greatly prevent some merchants from doing wrong.”

“Moreover, we can also set up a household system, how many people in a family have how many fields, and if we find the phenomenon of buying and selling backwards, we will punish them severely.”

Chen Zhengru immediately understood the advantages of Xu Qingnian’s method, which also saved a sum of money and produced good fields without raising taxes for five years, in order to make the people participate enthusiastically.

It would be a good thing for Wei if the abandoned fields were used up anyway.

In addition, Xu Qingnian asked the people to participate in the construction of the waterwheel, saving a lot of labour costs, and giving them a piece of barren land, which they would be happy to do.

In the past, the people looked down on the barren fields because there was no water source and a round trip could take a day or a night, so naturally, no one looked up to them.

But now that there are water tankers, won’t the people’s minds be enlivened?

And for Great Wei.

As long as there is food, it will generate trade, and with more food, fewer people will starve, and the population will rise, so this is a good, good idea.

“Not bad! Shouren is really wise.”

“This is a good solution, old man agrees.”

“Yes.”

“No problem.”

The rest of the Shang Shu nodded their heads, while Gu Yan also nodded, giving the Ministry of Works a grant hurt his heart, but if it was to build the Great Wei Dynasty and develop the barren fields, he agreed completely.

Because no matter how much silver was spent, it would be a good thing for Great Wei.

“Then it’s settled!”

“And the next ten percent, allocated to the Ministry of Officials, but not to raise the salaries of the officials, but to raise the welfare, to buy some clothes for the New Year and festivals, as well as to give some practical things, firewood, rice, oil and salt.”

“Lord Gu is right, it is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury to frugality, giving too much in one go is not a good thing for the officials.”

“It will still be supervised by the Ministry of the Household and will be given out by festival, it will not be given all at once.”

Xu Qingnian gave another ten percent of the state treasury to the Ministry of Officials, but not in one go, but to give out something every year and festival, so that the officials of Great Wei would feel that their days were getting better again day by day.

If you give too much in one go, what if you can’t give it next year?

Would people be willing to live in hardship after being used to good times?

“Good.”

Chen Zhengru agreed straight away, there was no problem at all with what Xu Qingnian said, and he also thought the same thing, so it could be said that the two of them coincided.

The rest of the Shang Shu nodded, Gu Yan also nodded, not a bite to give is no problem, give some silver on New Year’s Day, but also no problem.

The Ministry of the Treasury can oversee this.

Chen Zhengru agreed and Gu Yan agreed.

At that moment, Xu Qingnian continued to speak.

“The Ministry of Penalty has a fixed annual allocation of 20 million taels to maintain law and order in Great Wei, the money is not much, but for the moment, Great Wei is not too chaotic yet, there are just some curmudgeons!”

Xu Qingnian spoke out, although he came from the Ministry of Punishment, but Xu Qingnian understood one thing more, the state affairs, there must not be any personal feelings included.

He had a good relationship with the Minister of Justice, but for the Great Wei, the Ministry of Justice was not particularly useful for promotion.

The fixed annual allocation of 20 million taels is already very good, and if His Majesty had not asked the Ministry to deal with the matter of demons, 10 million taels would have been more.

Think about before.

When this was said, Zhang Jing could not help but sigh. He was very supportive of Xu Qingnian, but what Xu Qingnian said still forced him to speak up.

“Shouren, it is not that I have to ask for anything, but the pressure on the Ministry of Penalty is extremely high right now, dealing with the demons only, the manpower that needs to be used, is too much.”

Zhang Jing opened his mouth, he supported Xu Qingnian, but he still had to speak out about his pressure.

But Xu Qingnian nodded and said, “Shang Shu Zhang, Shouren understands!”

“But please rest a*sured that within ten years, within ten years, I will solve these demonic scourges.”

Xu Qingnian said earnestly and incomparably.

“How will it be resolved?”

Zhang Jing frowned, while the crowd couldn’t help but be curious, how would Xu Qingnian solve these demon scourges?

And he dared to speak within ten years?

“Within ten years, Mister Xu will become a saint!”

Xu Qingnian blandly and incomparably said.

When this was said, the six ministers all froze.

Good fellow, so you’re waiting for us here, huh? Thought you were going to say something?

We give full marks for this bleep!

The six Shang Shu truly did not expect that Xu Qingnian would say such words.

Become a saint in ten years?

Who would dare to make such a claim?

But when Xu Qingnian said this, the crowd only felt shocked, but did not question it at all.

The title ‘New Saint of Great Wei’ had now spread throughout the entire world, and who did not know that a Xu Qingnian had emerged from Great Wei today?

Who didn’t know that Zhu Sheng bowed towards Xu Qingnian?

So if anyone else said this, the Sixth Minister would definitely go up and slap him with a few slaps.

But when Xu Qingnian said this, there was really nothing for everyone to say.

“Yes!”

Even if we can’t completely clean up these demons, as long as we wait for Xu Qingnian to become a saint.

Great Wei would be free from the scourge of demons forever.

A living saint, and so young at that, what kind of demon would dare to be so arrogant?

Wasn’t he afraid of death?

After the matter of the Ministry of Penalty was settled, the next step was the Ministry of War.

“Lord Zhou, if the Ministry of War, allocate 10% and give it to the Ministry of War as a reserve, but there is one thing, didn’t we reward the three armies before?”

“Transfer some of the forces of the Ministry of War to cooperate with the matter of the waterwheel, it must be completely implemented before this month, this is no problem, right?”

Xu Qingnian mentioned the Ministry of Military Affairs.

“Yes!”

“Only ……. this into.”

The first matter, the Ministry of War Minister Zhou Yan directly agreed, but the allocation of 10% is a bit less, after all, military expenses are bottomless pits, not to mention 100,000,000 taels of silver, even a million million taels of silver is not enough to eat the Ministry of War ah.

“Only give 10%!”

“Nowadays, Great Wei can’t fight, whether it’s the Northern Expedition or whatever, if there’s really a small foreign country that dares to show its sword against Great Wei.”

“The Great Wei is so grand that it is hard to be afraid of these small countries?”

Xu Qingnian said categorically.

The Ministry of War was a bottomless pit, it was useless to give it any amount, even if it was one million million taels of silver, what could be done?

Before the Northern Expedition, how much silver did the Great Wei treasury have? It was piled up like a mountain.

But what was the result? After the war, what was left? There was a mess left.

There were many factors involved, and certain topics Xu Qingnian was reluctant to mention, and once he did, it was dangerous.

The 10% was a reserve military fund, and it was also a regular allocation, supervised by the Ministry of the Treasury.

If Wei had been prosperous, Xu Qingnian would have put up with it if you had used some tactics, but now that Wei is poor, if you still want to use tactics, then Xu Qingnian would not be convinced.

“All right, since it was said that we would listen to Shouren, then I will agree to it.”

Zhou Yan nodded his head as he agreed to do so.

After receiving Zhou Yan’s agreement, Xu Qingnian immediately looked at Wang Xinzhi and said.

“Lord Wang, if the Ministry of Rites, also allocates funds, but the Ministry of Rites allocates funds, it will not be too much, at least with the current situation, not giving too much silver, how about giving five million taels per year?”

Xu Qingnian asked.

There is indeed no need for the Ministry of Rites to give too much silver, when the country is poor, don’t act as a big head, poor is poor, what is there to be ashamed of?

Still, dignity is not maintained by money, it relies on fists, fists as big as sandbags!

“OK!”

Wang Xinzhi agreed straight away, he had come here to discuss something, but he didn’t expect to get five million taels of silver for nothing, so he was still not happy?

In the past, it was always two million taels of silver, but now it has more than doubled, isn’t that happy?

After the five ministries were all taken care of, Xu Qingnian turned his gaze towards Gu Yandao.

“Lord Gu, what do you think?”

With the main idea out of the way, there was actually still a final question to ask Gu Yan.

After all, this was the Minister of Household, and the respect that should be given still had to be given.

“Old man agrees.”

What he didn’t expect was that Gu Yan agreed straight away, as Xu Qingnian had distributed it very evenly, and the reasons given satisfied him.

As expected, with Gu Yan’s agreement, the rest of the Shang Shu also agreed.

“It’s true that Shouren is still smart.”

“With this coming of Shouren, all the troubles have been solved, good, good, good.”

“Next time we have a meeting, Shouren must be there, otherwise, what’s the point of just us talking all the time?”

“OK, next time we must ask Shouren to come.”

All the Shang Shu were satisfied, although they did not ask for the price they wanted, they also knew that the silver they wanted, Gu Yan would not give it dead or alive.

Xu Qingnian’s appearance was a kind of rounding up, everyone got some share, no one lost out, one person took a step back.

At this point, the six Shang Shu spoke up and asked Xu Qingnian to come to more meetings in the future.

“I won’t be coming, my lords, I have a whole lot of things to do.”

“Anyway, it’s not a particularly important matter, it’s better for several lords to make the decision.”

Xu Qingnian spoke directly, making himself come to meetings every day? Have you got nothing better to do?

Xu Qingnian does not want to lie flat, but also do not want to be too tired ah, the best combination of work and rest, you see these several Shang Shu, how tired each one?

Anyway, no matter what, Xu Qingnian is not coming.

This answer made the Shang Shu a little unhappy, at a young age, not to contribute more to the country, every day just think of lazy?

But after thinking about it, they also knew that Xu Qingnian was a Confucian scholar after all, and now that he had become a great Confucian, there was no big problem with spending some effort on studying, so they didn’t say anything more.

“Oh, right, Lord Gu, the Ministry of the Household needs to increase its manpower a bit, and all the Shang Shu, in the future you send a few people to report some things to me.”

“What can be made public, don’t say anything that can’t be made public.”

Xu Qingnian did not forget to remind a sentence, and asked the six ministerial Shang Shu to find a few people specifically to come to Shouren Academy to report on their work.

Once this was said, the six ministerial prefects became somewhat curious, wondering what Xu Qingnian was up to again.

“Shouren, what are you doing?”

“Shouren, what are you up to again?”

“Yes, Shouren, what are you up to, can you tell us in advance? Don’t make a big deal out of it every time, and we can only watch dryly from the sidelines.”

Several Shang Shu were a little unhappy.

“The money-making thing! It won’t make any trouble anyway, I’ll just ask one thing, do you want to earn more silver?”

Xu Qingnian spoke up and said so.

“Yes!”

The six Shang Shu all spoke in unison, what was the reason for everyone getting together? Wasn’t it just to share the spoils? Why was there a big fight? Wasn’t it because of the uneven distribution of the spoils?

Now that Xu Qingnian had come up with a way to make money, how could they not agree?

“That’s fine, don’t ask too many questions, my lords, as long as this is done, Shouren can guarantee that in the future, your lordships will not fight over silver again.”

Xu Qingnian said with a mysterious face.

It made the six ministers instantly curious.

No more quarrels over silver?

Now that the treasury had one million million taels of silver, they were all quarrelling over it.

How much silver would it take for them not to quarrel? Ten million taels?

Good man, Xu Shouren is really the Great Wei’s money-spinner.

“Fine, no matter what, from now on, as long as you ask, I will cooperate.”

“But there is one thing, when you really earn silver later, you have to give us a little more to the Ministry of War.”

Zhou Yan was the first to react and got up to support Xu Qingnian, regardless of what Xu Qingnian said or not, first to please Xu Qingnian, later on when he earned silver, he could also share more.

“Old man also support, Shouren, need help, directly come to the Ministry of Punishment to shout people, if you do not mind old man, old man personally on the field.”

Zhang Jing, the Shangfu of the Ministry of Penalty, said so.

This time, the rest of the several Shang Shu spoke up, afraid that Xu Qingnian would misunderstand and turn around and have silver not to give them.

“Fine, since all the lords are saying this, then when things are done properly in the future, you must support them and are not allowed to say anything about me.”

Xu Qingnian dug a hole and said.

“Definitely not, who dares to say anything about you?”

“As long as we can earn silver, we will definitely support it!”

“Shouren, you know my temper, as long as you can get silver for the Great Wei, nothing else, if anyone in the court dares to provoke you, I’ll be the first one to censure him.”

Zhou Yan, Zhang Jing and Gu Yan spoke in unison, their attitudes very strong.

This is not nonsense? Xu Qingnian earned silver for the Great Wei, who would dare to find trouble with Xu Qingnian? Whoever looked for him would die.

Zhang Jing also felt that the Ministry of Justice’s sword had been hungry and thirsty for a long time.

Zhou Yan is also the same, really someone dares to find trouble with Xu Qingnian, he directly led his troops to kill over, what a bunch of stinking fish and prawns, dare to offend my nephew Xu?

Kill, kill, kill! Kill all of you stinky fish and rotten shrimps.

This was what the Minister of the Sixth Ministry had in mind.

Receiving this affirmative reply, Xu Qingnian was satisfied.

Now that I think about it, if the Zhu Sheng lineage, when they really dared to find themselves in trouble, other than that, the six ministerial prefects would probably be upset at first.

However, these things, too, are matters for later, let’s put the current matters into practice first.

The waterwheel project!

The pressure of Xu Qingnian simply does not have the heart to do other things ah.

Soon, Xu Qingnian went back.

The first time I got back, I started writing the front page headlines.

The reason why the six ministers are fighting is because of the silver in the national treasury].

This front page headline would definitely whet the appetite of the people of Kyoto, right?

As for whether or not the six ministers would find themselves in trouble once the newspaper was published, Xu Qingnian didn’t care.

Anyway, they said they would support themselves.

Of course, Xu Qingnian is not really belittling the six ministers, it is definitely necessary to make changes.

The Minister of Industry asked for the development of waterwheels to benefit the country and the people, and to start construction sooner so that the people can have enough to eat and drink.

The Minister of War requested that the army be reorganised so as not to be looked down upon by foreigners and to promote the prestige of Wei.

The Minister of Justice asked for more costs to punish the evil and suppress the demons, and to give the world a clear and clean sky.

The Minister of Officials is no more, Xu Qingnian modified it as, the Minister of Officials has been pulling the strings.

The Minister of Rites is also a good idea, he is also pulling the strings.

As for the Minister of Household, Gu Yan, he is worried that there will be a disaster in Great Wei at any time, leaving some silver to keep some family money and does not want the incident of Pingqiu House to happen again.

If this were to go public, the people would probably be moved to death, and the six ministers would have nothing to say, after all, they helped them to brush up their goodwill.

The front page headline was finished.

Xu Qingnian then started the real work.

So, in the blink of an eye, five days had pa*sed.

Under Xu Qingnian’s constant supervision, the water truck was finally implemented and promoted.

Now the merchants of Jin, Huizhou and Gan have started transporting materials, and some of the nearby provinces and counties have already started construction.

The other five merchants have also donated many waterwheel materials, but of course they will also give prices, so it is impossible for people to give money for nothing, and at the same time they can also use the materials to offset the official fees.

In this way, in these five days alone, twenty-five counties have already started construction, and by the end of the month, it is guaranteed that fifty counties will have built their waterwheels.

This was only the first step, and Xu Qingnian’s goal was to have waterwheels in every water-starved area in Great Wei within three months.

Of course part of the development is focused, and the other part is to paralyse the enemy, and for the time being, no money will be invested heavily in the development, but the development should still be done.

Whether the rebellion of the va*sal kings will break out or not is another story, we cannot let too much concern for the va*sal kings affect the development of Great Wei.

The people of Wei have no silver and no food, so they must be fed and watered.

The rest, all aside.

If the people are not well fed and watered, the va*sal kings will have more opportunities to run amok, but if the people are well fed and watered, there will be room for everything.

The waterwheel is no longer an obstacle and will not encounter any trouble for the time being, so Xu Qingnian can breathe a sigh of relief.

The only thing left to do is to report on the Great Wei Wen.

This is the other thing that Xu Qingnian is most concerned about after the water tanker matter is resolved.

In the past five days, Zhang Ruhui hadn’t slept a wink and was busy.

A group of people were hired to collect interesting stories about Kyoto, and the six ministries would also send some relevant information at regular intervals every day, all of which could be made public.

And Xu Qingnian didn’t stay idle either, he gathered the people from Shouren Academy together, trained them in advance, reviewed the manuscript, for example, certain things still should not appear, and added his own things in, and must stand above a fair.

There could be no hiding or anything like that.

Finally, on the fifth day, the first edition of the Great Wei Wen Wei newspaper came out.

There was a lot written on both sides, front and back, and every single thing had been carefully selected.

And the whole process had been tied up.

Every day, all the news and information is handed over to the Wen Press Hall before the 11th hour, and before the 11th hour, the Wen Press Hall has to hand over the sample newspaper to the Shouren Academy.

The Shouren Academy will carry out the final review, and after the final review, it must be handed over to the Wenjian Hall before the ugly hour, and the Hall will immediately hand over the paper to the printing house.

They will be printed before dawn and sold by bookstores everywhere.

At present, Xu Qingnian has set a weekly newspaper, meaning that all news is within a week, as the process is not yet thoroughly skilled.

If something went wrong, wouldn’t that be embarra*sing?

So first tentatively set a weekly newspaper, one a week, as long as the portion is enough and there is more information, enough for the people of Kyoto to eat melons for a week.

Then we’ll start with two copies a week, and only at the end will we have a daily newspaper.

You can’t be too hasty, otherwise it would be a disgrace if you made a mistake.

The Great Wei Wen newspaper house has been built.

More than a hundred people were invited by Zhang Ruhui, and Xu Qingnian had installed ten of his own people into it.

There is also a division of status, the junior editor is responsible for information submission, the chief editor is responsible for the first information review, the chief editor is responsible for the second review, and feedback from all sides.

There are two deputy editors-in-chief, Xu Qingnian arranged for Li Shouren to go in, while Zhang Ruhui also arranged for a more prestigious old scholar to go in, to be more rigorous, otherwise it would not be able to suppress people.

As for the editor-in-chief, the tentative one is himself.

Basically, all the things are taken care of.

Now we are just waiting for the Great Wei Literary Gazette to come out.

At the Shouren Academy, Xu Qingnian looked at the first edition of the Great Wei newspaper on his desk.

It is impossible to say that he is not nervous.

But if I say I am nervous, I am not particularly nervous either.

It was at this point that Zhang Ruhui arrived.

“Xiandi, it’s done, and my brother has had it all spread out.”

“Now the people of Kyoto are all talking about the fight between the six ministers.”

“You are unaware of how interested the people of Kyoto are, they are talking about it everywhere, and it is said that it has reached His Majesty’s ears.”

Zhang Ruhui walked in and took a sip of tea straight away, half dead tired.

He had never been so tired before, everything, he was the one to do it, Xu Qingnian was the equivalent of commanding.

“Good!”

“It’s good that there’s talk, the more talk there is, the more first editions will be sold.”

Xu Qingnian nodded in satisfaction.

The matter of the brawl between the six Shang Shu of the Ministry had been manipulated slightly by him and instantly became the biggest topic of conversation in Great Wei Kyoto.

Think about it, six Shang Shu, what kind of people are these?

Which one of them is not a minister of the highest rank?

How could the people not be concerned about their brawl?

Xu Qingnian had people spread rumours, true or false, so that the people had nothing better to do than eat melons and gather together to discuss the matter over the past few days.

But no one knew exactly what was going on.

After all, Chen Zhengru has already asked the Ministry of Officials to keep their mouths shut, and although the officials of the Ministry of Officials want to say something, the problem is that they don’t dare to say anything, because it involves the face of the six officials.

Who would dare to do anything?

“Brother, everything is done now, just waiting for the paper to be sold tomorrow, how many copies have been prepared?”

Xu Qingnian asked.

“One hundred thousand copies have been prepared.”

Zhang Ruhui replied.

“Add some more! I still don’t think it’s enough, let’s say 150,000 copies.”

Xu Qingnian inexplicably felt that 100,000 copies were not enough, 150,000 was about right.

“Fine! What’s the problem with this.”

Zhang Ruhui nodded his head.

And Xu Qingnian continued to speak.

“Brother, now let’s talk about the profit distribution, this Great Wei Wen Newspaper Hall, my brother will take 30%, brother will take 30%, and the remaining 40% will go to the Great Wei treasury, what do you think?”

All things settled, now it was the distribution of profits.

Once this was said, Zhang Ruhui directly nodded his head and agreed.

“Fine!”

He agreed straight away, it was fair, half for himself and Xu Qingnian, as for the extra, it would be the Great Wei Dynasty’s.

After all, this business really needed the support of the Great Wei Dynasty, and if the dynasty supported it, how much silver would it cost to sell to the people of Great Wei in the future? How much would Zhang Ru know?

It would be possible for him to get 50%, not to mention 40%.

“Then, in that case, here is a contract, just sign it.”

Xu Qingnian took out the contract, he had already signed and pledged it, this matter should be written in black and white, otherwise it would not be a trap for others?

Zhang Ruhui didn’t talk nonsense and signed and pledged directly.

Then there was some concern and said.

“Xiandi, do you think that 100,000 copies can be sold?”

Zhang Ruhui said with worry.

“I don’t know.”

“Let’s see, once tomorrow is over, the results are all out.”

Xu Qingnian wasn’t sure either.

Right now, it was up to tomorrow.

So.

As the sky darkened.

Great Wei Kyoto seemed unusually quiet.

But there were some people running to and fro.

Some carriages raced through the streets, coming to every bookshop.

It was completely quiet until the ugly hour.

Soon.

It was the dawn hour!