Chapter 131: Affairs of the Ministry of Revenue (Part 2)

After Grand Secretary Shu finished speaking, the emperor nodded. Even if he had some other thoughts in his mind, he would not say anything at this time. Because last year, the court led the left censor of the Censorate of the Censorate from afar to Jiangnan Road, and the excuse used was that this person was very happy and had poor morals.

What the emperor said in Jinkou naturally cannot swallow it now. However, at that time, the emperor wanted to appease Fan Xian, but now the emperor wanted to do something with Guo Zheng's memorial. After being blocked by Grand Secretary Shu, he couldn't help laughing at himself, thinking that this was a pit he dug and jumped into it.

"Isn't there another father-in-law going to Jiangnan?" The prince jumped out and showed his stupidity at this time, and said with a smile: "Father, although he can't believe the one-sided words of the censor Guo Zheng, when the father-in-law comes back, he will know what is going on Jiangnan."

This statement seems to be safe and secure, but in fact it is a bit sinister. How will the father-in-law criticize Fan Xian? It is not a sentence from the Empress Dowager in the palace. The prince is confident about this matter.

The emperor glared at him and said coldly: "How can you believe the eunuch's words? The ancestors are here, don't forget!"

The prince was cowardly and did not dare to say anything anymore. Eunuch Yao, who was serving the side, remained silent and his expression remained unchanged.

"Wait for Xue Qing's memorial." The emperor closed his eyes and took a heavy breath.

Everyone in the imperial study nodded, thinking that what the governor said along the way would naturally be more credible.

Mr. Hu, who had not expressed his opinion, finally spoke at this time and said, "Since that's the case, let the matter in Jiangnan be released for a while. If such a thing is true, I... I really can't believe it. As the second highman said before, if someone had transferred the national treasury to Jiangnan for profits, it was really a close rebellion. I believe that Shangshu Fan was definitely not such a crazy person. However, since the Jiangnan Road Censor and some local officials submitted memorials, the court could not ignore it. The investigation of the Ministry of Revenue should indeed begin. First, it was to convince all the civil and military officials in the court, and second, it was to clear the accusations that Shangshu Fan had received."

Emperor Qing still maintained superficial respect for the senior ministers of the junior secretary of the disciples. After pondering slightly, he nodded and suddenly laughed at himself: "Even if you do such a thing, it's not crazy... I'm just a little curious. Have you ever thought about it? How should I check it out?"

Although there was a faint self-deprecating look on the corner of his lips, the hearts of everyone in the imperial study were unreasonable. He heard that His Majesty did have a lot of opinions about Fan Shangshu, but everyone didn't understand. Why did Fan's Mansion, which has always been highly favored, suddenly become a place that His Majesty doesn't like to see? Where did Fan Jian offend His Majesty?

The last sentence the emperor asked made the ministers silent and didn't know how to deal with it.

The Qing Dynasty court used to supervise the administration of officials, one is the censors, the censors of the Censorate who are used to being sceptered by the court, and the other is of course the Supervisor of the Supervisor with extremely powerful authority.

The Censorate is an organization that prevents corruption. It has the power to report rumors, so the former Jiangnan Censor Guo Zheng dared to impeach Fan Xian without any evidence, impeachment of private treasury for private treasury, and surrender to the treasury to compete with merchants for profit without any evidence.

The Supervision Bureau is an after-investigation agency with great power. After his Majesty's authorization, it can interrogate all civil and military officials in the court.

In general, if there is a problem with one of the six ministries, the one who goes to investigate the matter is of course the Supervisory Office. All officials below the third rank can invite tea in the building of the black and black Fang Zheng. If the matter is found, the Minister of the Secretariat will be requested again to ask for privileges and investigate it one by one.

The Ministry of Revenue has a deficit, so it should be done according to this strategy.

The problem is...

Now the Supervisory Office has a director and eight departments below. The dean of the affairs of the officials who are not good at doing things and frightened all officials, but President Chen Pingping has not personally handled the case for several years. In the past year, he has basically stayed in Chenyuan outside Beijing and no longer considered the matter. Now there is another position between the dean and the eight departments, and a very powerful and special position.

The Supervisory Office raised Fan Xian.

Fan Xian now has the power to mobilize the entire Supervisory Office. In addition to personnel appointments and removals, he is almost the same as Chen Pingping's power. If the Supervisory Office is asked to investigate the deficit of the Ministry of Revenue...

The ministers in the imperial study shook their heads one after another, thinking that their son would investigate me. If they could find out the problem, they would be a ghost! If this matter was spread, I am afraid that the Northern Qi and Dongyi and the people in the world would treat this matter as the biggest joke in the Qing State officialdom.

Grand Secretary Shu said with a wry smile: "It seems that the Supervision Bureau is going to avoid suspicion this time. It's just for a while. I don't know how to arrange an investigation into the Ministry of Revenue."

Several old ministers beside him nodded repeatedly. Since they wanted to investigate the Ministry of Revenue, they had to check it carefully. Whether they wanted to defeat Fan Jian or clear up the suspicious points of Fan Jian, they needed to be treated with a serious attitude and could not become a joke.

But the emperor sneered at this moment and said, "Why don't you continue to be the same as the rules of the year?"

"This..." Grand Secretary Shu complained repeatedly, thinking that something clear is obvious, why do you have to pretend to be confused? After hesitating for a moment, he still plucked up the courage to say: "Your Majesty, Lord Xiao Fan is the full authority of the Supervision Bureau after all. If the Supervision Bureau is asked to investigate the Ministry of Revenue, if this matter is spread, it may not have a good impact."

"Let the Supervisory Office investigate." The emperor said coldly: "At the same time, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Justice, and the Dali Temple send personnel to assist you. You will choose a leader to come out to take charge of the matter. Since you want to investigate the deficit of the Ministry of Revenue, it is not something that can be done by just a few people."

The minister in the imperial study understood that the so-called sending personnel to assist was actually just to monitor the Supervision Bureau, but everyone really didn't understand. Since His Majesty had already confirmed that the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Justice of Dali Temple should investigate the Ministry of Revenue, he insisted on dragging the Supervision Bureau into this pool of water.

As for the candidates for the General Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, the ministers were also wondering. Even though they knew that this mission would offend the Fan family and the relevant officials, they also knew that if the problem could be found, they would have made a lot of money about their reputation in the world. They weighed the two, but in the end no one dared to take the risk of taking over this hot potato.

Even the Secretary of Personnel and the Second Prince of the Fan family were silent.

The emperor could not tell the mood. He smiled and his eyes slowly brushed across the faces of the ministers and sons, and finally fell on the face of Grand Secretary Hu.

Grand Secretary Hu sighed inwardly, knowing that he could not escape this difficulty. At the beginning of the year, he was promoted by His Majesty as the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet in the Ministry of Education. Although he had a few years ago, he had a local name called Bao. In recent years, he had no clear political achievements in the central area. His Majesty was interested in himself, and he was not entangled with all forces. On the other hand, he also wanted to establish his own authority in the court by investigating the Ministry of Revenue.

Mr. Hu is grateful for His Majesty’s trust and value, and he is vaguely resentful of His Majesty’s request to offend Mr. Fan’s mansion.

At this moment, he replied to the silent eldest prince before Grand Secretary Hu said coldly: "Father, I am willing to be this person who offends people."

The emperor smiled and waved his hand and said, "You... can't do it."

"Why?" the eldest prince frowned and said, "If the son minister dares to guarantee the person with his head, he will definitely investigate and deal with it fairly. He will never be biased. Please believe in the loyalty of the son minister."

The emperor's smile gradually faded and he said, "I said, you can't do it. Then you can't do it. You are the commander of the imperial guards, but you go to investigate the Ministry of Revenue. Do you want to start an example of military interference in politics!"

The emperor said the last sentence very harshly. When the eldest prince was bored, he could no longer refute anything. Although the emperor always liked him to have a singular character, since he was so proud of military interference in politics today, he had to retreat back slowly.

Grand Secretary Hu left his seat and asked for an order: "I am willing to investigate the matter of the Ministry of Revenue."

The emperor nodded, turned around and looked at the prince indifferently and said, "The prince is here too, and learn from Grand Secretary Hu. If you investigate the matter, please take the lead. Grand Secretary Hu will do an errand."

"My son follows the order."

The prince's face was calm, but he couldn't help but feel happy. Although he was just a errand in name, he sat in the Ministry of Revenue. Who wouldn't be afraid of being the prince of the East Palace? The so-called general leader, in addition to Grand Secretary Hu, also had his own share. The prince was a little happy. It seemed that after the hanging temple, his father's attitude towards him had finally changed.

The ministers and sons took the order and left. The imperial study room replied to peace. The emperor took a sip of tea with a cold expression and stood up to leave the bed.

Eunuch Yao quickly put a windbreaker on him. Seeing that His Majesty was not in a good mood, Xiao Yi asked: "Your Majesty, go back to the palace to rest?"

"No." The emperor walked out of the imperial study room and said, "Go to the small building."

Eunuch Yao was stunned and hurriedly followed, without saying anything, but he was surprised that in recent days, His Majesty has been going to the small building more and more times.

Outside the palace gate, several ministers in the court bowed farewell with anxiety, proudly preparing to go back and announce to their party members that His Majesty was preparing to take action against the Ministry of Revenue, and was worried about how to face the future court. Some were confused and still confused, thinking about why His Majesty's mind turned around in one day?

"Xiao Hu, go to our mansion to have two drinks." Shu Wu was not afraid of anything, and pulled Grand Secretary Hu who was about to leave first at the palace gate and said directly.

Mr. Hu was in a lawsuit at this time, so he couldn't eat wine and begged repeatedly: "Lao Shu, I'm lucky today? How could I have the heart to write a poem?"

These two people like literature and are the leader of civil officials. Your Majesty does not strictly prohibit ministers from interacting with each other in private, so their relationship is quite good. Although they are much different in age, they often get together.

Grand Secretary Shu made a look, and Grand Secretary Hu's heart moved and agreed to this proposal.

"The Sacred Heart is unpredictable."

Shu Wu's mansion is also in the south city, famous for its quietness and is not very spacious. However, at this time, the two drunk people were talking under the pavilion, and there was no need to worry that Chunfeng would blow the topics they were talking about outside the wall and be heard by others.

Shu Wu sighed and said, "You are afraid that this is a bit difficult for you. It's really a matter of compassion. You're really sorry for your brother's love."

In this sentence, he compared His Majesty to his brother and the Fan family to his sister-in-law, which made him a little unkind. Grand Secretary Hu laughed and said, "What nonsense? You are not surnamed Hu, are you drunk too much?"

"It's not nonsense." Shu Wu looked serious and said in a low voice: "What do you think you can do? It depends on what Your Majesty meant. You must find out that there is some problem with the Ministry of Revenue before you can give up. But if there is really a problem with the Ministry of Revenue, what will happen to Shangshu Fan?"

"The key question now is whether there is any problem with the Ministry of Revenue." Grand Secretary Hu said with a sad face: "You have explained to me in detail the temperament of Lord Xiao Fan. Judging from his three-point ruthlessness in the Qingming Festival and his bold and arrogant style of conduct under gentleness, in order to stabilize Jiangnan and increase taxes, he mobilized the Ministry of Revenue to go to Jiangnan... Maybe it was still true!"

"No matter whether it is true or not, anyway, the Governor of Jiangnan Xue Qing did not express his opinion for a day, and the court would not know the situation there. As for the deficit of the Ministry of Revenue..."

Shu Wu sneered: "The Ministry of Revenue is in charge of money and land. When fighting, you have to transfer money, when repairing rivers and disaster relief, you have to transfer money, when repairing gardens and when starting spring exams... Everyone in the world is asking for debts to be collected. In addition, the prince and officials occasionally borrow some, it is really a mess! There are no Ministry of Revenue that is completely clear about the accounts in the past dynasties!"

"The Ministry of Revenue, it is destined to be clean." He continued to say coldly: "Our Daqing Dynasty, Shangshu Fan, started from the lower-level officials of the Ministry of Revenue. He has been working in the Ministry of Revenue in this life. To be fair, the Ministry of Revenue under his governance has been the cleanest and clearest Ministry of Revenue since the founding of the country of our dynasty. But that's it. If you really want to pick it in it, how can you not be able to find it?"

Grand Secretary Hu nodded slowly, unlike his former prime minister Lin Ruofu, and from Fan Xian, who is now arrogant in Jiangnan, this Minister of Revenue Fan Jian, although his hands may be a little unclean, he acts extremely low-key and simple. In terms of ability, he is unique, and his reputation as a good official is rare in the court.

If such a minister of the Ministry of Revenue collapsed in this local political struggle, these two great scholars would feel extremely regretful.

But this time, His Majesty expressed his intention to let Fan Jian go to the official position.

why is that?

"Why is this?" Shu Wu frowned and asked the questions that had been entangled in the hearts of the officials in the imperial study room for a long time.

Grand Secretary Hu was silent, raised his wrist and raised a glass of strong wine produced in the inner warehouse and poured it into his lips. He had not spoken for a long time.

Shu Wu stared at his eyes and knew that this colleague, who was much younger than him, had a very trustworthy judgment in some aspects.

After being stared at by the other party for a long time, Grand Secretary Hu sighed and said slowly: "When everyone can't imagine it, Your Majesty has made this mind, it's really..."

He seemed unable to find any adjectives to describe the Supreme Lord of Nine Five, so he had to smile bitterly and said, "It's really admirable. His Majesty investigated the Ministry of Revenue, which seemed to be because of the officialdom and the doubts in his heart. In fact, this is a good strategy to kill three birds with one move."

"Which three little birds?" Shu Wu asked in a speechless manner with a beard covered with wine.

"The first bird is of course the Ministry of Revenue, which is Fan Shangshu. If the Ministry of Revenue is strong, Fan Shangshu would have to resign himself and return to his hometown no matter what."

"The second bird is... the first official of the eldest princess who initiated this matter." Grand Secretary Hu said with a wry smile: "When the Ministry of Revenue was in trouble, Fan Jian resigned. How could Fan Xian give up? Don't worry, Your Majesty will never allow this matter to be implicated in Fan Xian's place. Fan Xian will still be the chief official of the Supervision Bureau afterwards. In this way, the Supervision Bureau will naturally retaliate against the officials of the Chief Princess and the General. At this time, Your Majesty will no longer be a mediator under the pressure from the palace, but will watch all this happen, and will even act as a gesture of comforting Fan Xian and be forced to abolish several senior officials."

"The pressure in the palace?" Shu Wu sighed: "Why can Your Majesty ignore the pressure in the palace afterwards? No more mediators?"

"The reason is very simple. His Majesty can be entrusted to the eldest princess and officials of the eldest princess. As an emperor, the most important thing is to maintain the balance between the hundreds of officials in the court. Fan Xian first harmed the prime minister and then the secretary of Fan. In order to maintain the balance, His Majesty also had to cut off a large part of the person on the opposite side."

Grand Secretary Hu continued: "This statement, this kind of emperor's heart, is the best way to convince the old man in the palace. Everything... is for the sake of celebrating the country, right?"

He smiled, he laughed at himself.

Shu Wu continued to sigh and asked, "What is the third bird?"

Grand Secretary Hu looked at him with a smile: "The third bird is naturally you, Lao Shu, and you."

Shu Wu was shocked and said, "What is this saying? After you have received this life, everything you discuss in my imperial study is just for the sake of justice. Fan Xian is not a fool, so how could he feel resentful to us?"

"What you said is exactly what I want to say." Grand Secretary Hu said: "Who told us to reveal our intention to pull Fan Xian into the cabinet today? Your Majesty's established policy was already set. In the future, you and I will be one side, and Fan Xian's Supervision Office will be one side. Since we have some other thoughts, Your Majesty will naturally break our minds. Even if Fan Xian will not hate us for this matter, how could he not hold a grudge against the civil servants of the court who impeached Fan Shangshu? Once this matter happened, Fan Xian will inevitably lose his intention to go into a serious career, and you and I will never sit in the same place with him."

"It's just a guess." Shu Wu laughed and said, "Even if the holy heart is unpredictable, don't think so complicated."

Grand Secretary Hu sighed helplessly: "You want to say it, but in the end you make fun of it, you will make fun of it. These words are enough for us to be chopped ten times. Don't talk around after drinking."

"Why am I a Grand Secretary too?" Shu Wu laughed and said, "It's just Sasa wine."

Suddenly he looked stunned and frowned and asked, "No, the first bird you said was wrong. You have to explain to me why Your Majesty doesn't want Secretary Fan to continue to manage the Ministry of Revenue. Why did you force Secretary Fan to resign yourself?"

Grand Secretary Hu sighed: "The reason is actually very simple, because His Majesty is unwilling to look up at Shangshu Fan's face every day."

The two civil officials of the Qing Dynasty court were silent at the same time, sighing in their hearts that it was not worth it for Fan Jian. It seems that it is better not to adopt a creature like Longzi casually.

Before the two Grand Secretary complained to Fan Jian, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, they had thought about whether they should promptly notify the Fan Mansion of the court to investigate the Ministry of Revenue. Later, when they thought that Fan Mansion had many connections in the palace, they did not know what they did not know, so they became distracted.
To be continued...