He had an impression of the imperial court's allocation of funds for disaster relief, because it was Ji Mingxuan who came to him and issued the imperial edict, telling him that if he wanted to secure the throne, he had to make a move. So, he really made a move and asked the Ministry of Household Affairs to allocate funds.
.
But, hasn’t it been several months since this happened? Why is it suddenly brought forward again?
The old emperor took a closer look and found that it had been embezzled and that the money was not used on the people at all.
Not only that, the officials below were completely unaware of the imperial appropriation, which meant that the money had been withheld from the beginning.
"Asshole! Who dares to embezzle that money under my nose?"
He threw the letter to the ground, and then told the old eunuch beside him: "Go and call the Minister of the Ministry of Finance to me!"
The old eunuch responded and hurriedly went to do it. The old emperor sat alone, getting more and more angry as he thought about it.
Ji Mingxuan's letter did not save any face at all. It could even be said to be sharp. It scolded him, which was really annoying.
But because this was the case, he did not dare to refute it. After all, Ji Mingxuan did not intervene in this matter and asked him to do it directly. At that time, he also praised Ji Mingxuan and felt that it was good that Ji Mingxuan did not take the credit. In this way, he
It can also make you feel more at ease.
Unexpectedly, he actually messed up this matter. No wonder Ji Mingxuan was so angry.
Soon, the Minister of Hubu was called. Usually the old emperor rarely saw them. It was definitely not a good thing to come suddenly. The Minister of Hubu felt very uneasy.
Sure enough, as soon as they saluted, the old emperor asked: "I asked you to allocate funds for disaster relief, did you show any favoritism?"
The Minister of Household Affairs who had just stood up knelt down in an instant and said: "Your Majesty knows clearly that when a minister handles affairs, he will never dare to deceive your Majesty. Everything is in accordance with your Majesty's instructions and the money will be sent to the third prince's house."
Third prince?
Only then did the old emperor remember that he had casually left this matter to the third child.
I thought that the third child would be running around in the capital all day long, always making him unhappy, so I would send people to provide disaster relief, but I didn't expect that bastard to openly resist the order and even embezzle the money!
Yes, there was almost no need to investigate now, and he knew that the money must have been embezzled by the third prince. The third prince was ambitious, somewhat incompetent, and disobedient, so it made sense that he would embezzle money for disaster relief.
But what he did was an absolute contempt for the imperial power, and he did not take the old emperor as his father seriously at all, so he was so greedy and aboveboard.
The old emperor lost his temper and said: "I will deal with the third prince's side. You can allocate another sum of money for disaster relief and make sure that the people can settle down in the major cities."
The Secretary of the Ministry of Finance had been sweating on his forehead. Hearing these words, he felt chills on his back and said: "Your Majesty, a lot of money has been allocated before, but now there is not much money left in the treasury. If it is used for disaster relief, then
It’s really empty!”
In recent years, due to the old emperor's inaction and extravagance and waste, Dajing looked prosperous and wealthy, but was actually very poor. The money was in the hands of the rich, and the poor were lucky to be alive.
Since last year, many places have had no harvests due to drought, and there is no way to pay taxes to the court. There is no money in the treasury, and there is not much food. The Minister of Household Affairs is worried every day that he will not be able to keep his black gauze hat.
I didn't expect that this day would come so quickly!
The old emperor was obviously stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that the treasury would be so empty?
"The situation is so serious, why not report it?"
The old emperor slapped his hand on the table, and his whole body was shaking. How could he enjoy life if there was no more money in the treasury?
He will never allow such a thing to happen!
The Minister of Household Affairs was very helpless: "Your Majesty, I have reported it before, but... Your Majesty said that there is no need to report it again..."
"When did I say such a thing? As the king of a country, how can I ignore these things? If you dare to arrange me in this way, you don't want this brain!"
The old emperor stood up instantly, walked to Tobe Shangshu, and kicked him hard.
The Minister of the Ministry of Finance was kicked to the ground. He knelt down hurriedly and kowtowed repeatedly to admit his mistake: "Yes, I remembered it wrongly. Your Majesty, please forgive me!"
In fact, how could he remember such a big thing wrong? But now that the old emperor refused to admit it, he had no choice but to admit defeat.
The old emperor just needed such a step, but he didn't really want to kill him, so he kicked him to vent his anger.
"Send the order, reduce the expenses of each palace, reduce the salary of officials, and relieve the disaster first before the business is done!"
The Minister of Household Affairs hurriedly responded, but his heart was miserable.
The salaries of officials in Dajing were not very high, and now they have to be reduced or reduced, so life as an official would not be easy.
It is precisely because the salary is so low that they cannot support their daily needs for food, clothing and favors, so many officials take desperate risks and engage in corruption.
The Dajing Dynasty was rotten from the root.
After the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance left, the old emperor sent someone to call the third prince. During this period, the third prince was confined at home. I heard that he seemed to be sick. He didn't do much evil during this period, but the matter of embezzling money for disaster relief must not be tolerated.
, this matter must be handled strictly!
The third prince was originally thinking about how to get the emperor to notice him again and make him have a sense of presence, so that the ban could be lifted as soon as possible, and then someone came to the palace to spread the word.
He happily prepared to pack up and enter the palace. Unexpectedly, the eunuch who came to deliver the message urged: "Your Highness, you'd better go quickly. Your Majesty is angry!"
This is only a kind-hearted eunuch who would remind me. If it were someone else, he might not say this.
Hearing this, the third prince subconsciously felt something was wrong and asked, "What happened?"
The young eunuch shook his head and said, "I don't know the specific servant. I just need the Third Prince to go as soon as possible."
The third prince really followed him in a hurry. When he arrived, he found that the old emperor was really angry. As soon as he entered the door, a cup was thrown and smashed at his feet. If he hadn't dodged quickly, it would have hit him directly.
"Father, what happened? Why are you so angry?"
The third prince pretended to be calm and walked over, wanting to get close to the old emperor. Unexpectedly, the old emperor raised his hand and slapped him, making stars appear in his eyes.
"You bastard, kneel down for me!"
The third prince was puzzled and thought that the villain Ji Mingxuan must be arranging him again, that's why the old emperor was so angry.
But this shouldn't be the case. A few days ago, he received news that Ji Mingxuan had gone to find the village girl and had not been in the capital for the past few days.
He felt unhappy, but he knelt down anyway. On the surface, he really couldn't do anything rebellious, otherwise he would be criticized.