"It seems that I still underestimated the temptation of money to these people. It was just a test, but I didn't expect that it turned out to be a complete success..."
Zhao Junchen was sitting in the office room of the Hubu Yamen, looking at the secret letter in his hand, muttering to himself with a little surprise.
Not long after the Ministry of Works changed its stance, Zuo Lanshan sent someone to inform Zhao Junchen of the news. Although the relevant officials from the Ministry of Works were interested in meeting Zhao Junchen in person, they were afraid that Wen Guanliang would get the news and delay the important event.
, so in the end he just sent a close official to send a secret letter to Zhao Junchen.
The secret letter contained a lot of content. In addition to expressing their admiration for Zhao Junchen and their dissatisfaction with Wen Guanliang, they also revealed all of Wen Guanliang's next plans to Zhao Junchen.
Wen Guanliang's plan to deal with Zhao Junchen was actually very simple. It was to ask the censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate to impeach the Ministry of Accounts for unclear accounts. The Ministry of Works also took the opportunity to respond, saying that the Ministry of Accounts had repeatedly deducted money from the Ministry of Works on the pretext of insufficient money in the treasury.
Various funding expenses caused delays in river defense, materials, city walls and other important tasks of the Ministry of Works. Emperor Deqing was then asked to reorganize the Ministry of Accounts and audit the accounts.
If the Ministry of Household Affairs is the yamen in charge of money and food for the imperial court, then the Ministry of Works is the yamen that spends the largest amount of money and food for the imperial court. The two are closely related to each other. Such impeachment of the Ministry of Works will definitely cause shock to the government and the public.
With the successive statements of the prince's party, Pavilion boss Huang Yourong, Pavilion boss Shen Changmao and others, even if Emperor Deqing deliberately favored Zhao Junchen, he would have to issue an order to investigate the Accounts Department.
Once the accounts of the Household Department were audited, the Household Department, which was under Zhao Junchen's control, would not be allowed to be completely controlled by Zhao Junchen.
This was only Wen Guanliang's preliminary plan. As for what would happen next, not even Zuo Lanshan and the others knew.
But Zhao Junchen could imagine that it was nothing more than tampering with the accounts, or finding fault with the eggs, in short, trying to find some problems, first involving some unimportant Ministry of Household officials, and then in
Under coercion and inducement, he slowly opened his mouth and finally pointed the finger at Zhao Junchen and dragged Zhao Junchen into the water!
The method is very simple, but also very effective. Throughout the ages, this approach has always been the most effective way for politicians to deal with political opponents in the officialdom. According to a later saying - "No official can withstand strict investigation.
The key is just whether there is strict investigation."
In the final analysis, when officialdom battles reach a certain level, the key is to unite allies, isolate opponents, and combine vertical and horizontal forces. As for methods and means, most of the time they are just a dispensable process.
Wen Guanliang understood this very well, so he planned to use the prince's party and united with two other cabinet ministers. If he suddenly launched an attack, he might be able to catch Zhao Junchen off guard.
Unfortunately, when Wen Guanliang was busy joining forces, he did not expect that there was a fire in his backyard. Zuo Lanshan, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, Chen Dongxiang, the right minister of the Ministry of Industry, Gu Quan, the right deputy of the Inspectorate, and others betrayed him one after another. He
Such a plan is doomed to fail.
"However, Wen Guanliang reminded me that the account department's accounting methods need to change in the future."
Looking at the secret message in front of him, Zhao Junchen thought to himself.
Nowadays, most of the accounting methods of the Account Department are very primitive. They can only equalize income and expenditure, but it is difficult to withstand scrutiny. You are not afraid of ordinary audits, but if you deliberately check carefully, you will inevitably find flaws. In Zhao Junchen's view,
In the future, the Ministry of Accounts can learn from those "advanced accounting methods" of later generations.
In fact, since Zhao Junchen returned to Beijing, he has never misappropriated silver from the Ministry of Household Affairs. He is completely an upright official. Unfortunately, although he is upright now, his lower beam is too crooked.
, all of them are people who are as greedy as wolves and regard wealth as life, and Zhao Junchen still needs these people to help him control the household department for the time being, so he can only allow these worms to continue to exist, and when necessary, Zhao Junchen
We also need to find ways to help those moths wipe their butts clean.
Thinking like this, Zhao Junchen secretly sighed. In today's Ming Dynasty, not only are there few honest officials, but they are also unable to be used by him. If Zhao Junchen wants to make a difference, the only thing he can rely on now is the power of those corrupt officials.
The only advantage is that the power of these corrupt officials is huge, far beyond the comparison of honest officials.
"Come here, bring Jiang Qian to see me."
After making the decision, Zhao Junchen shouted loudly, and the yamen servant from the household department outside the door agreed to go.
………
After Zhao Junchen returned to Beijing, Xiao Gui and Cao followed and did not interfere much in the affairs of the Household Department, because Zhao Junchen had been familiar with the operations and rules of the Household Department during these days and did not intend to interfere at will.
During this period of time, Jiang Qian, the member of the household department, had always helped Zhao Junchen to handle all matters of the household department.
This Jiang Qian, as his name suggests, is humble and low-key. Although he is still young, just in his early thirties, he is familiar with the operations of the Household Department and is quite scheming. When Zhao Junchen first came to the Household Department, he deliberately tried to please him.
In the process of controlling the household department, he made great contributions, so both the former Zhao Junchen and the current Zhao Junchen valued him and have been deliberately wooing him.
Zhao Junchen did not think that Jiang Qian was very loyal to him. He might not have had any opportunistic intentions when he took refuge in Zhao Junchen, but Zhao Junchen also believed that Jiang Qian would never betray him and turn to Zhao Junchen unless he had no choice but to do so.
Later, Jiang Qian was promoted from a seventh-rank official to a fifth-rank official. With Zhao Junchen's support, his words in the Ministry of Household Affairs were even more important than those of the doctors. Compared with Zhao Junchen,
It would be difficult for others to give him more benefits.
Following Zhao Junchen's summons, Jiang Qian did not dare to neglect and soon arrived at Zhao Junchen's office room.
"I've met Mr. Zhao."
After seeing Zhao Junchen, Jiang Qian showed utmost respect and knelt down to Zhao Junchen to greet him.
Zhao Junchen raised his hand and said, "Get up."
After Jiang Qian stood up, Zhao Junchen looked up and saw that Jiang Qian's face was getting paler. He couldn't help shaking his head and laughing.
Jiang Qian's biggest shortcoming is that he is lustful. These days, because of Xiangyi, the business of the brothels in the capital is booming, and Jiang Qian is one of the countless clients who hang out in the brothels.
"You, you should take it easy on weekdays. Sex is like a bone scraper. If you only care about temporary pleasure without restraint, and your body will be hollowed out at a young age, it is not worth it."
Hearing what Zhao Junchen said, Jiang Qian looked up cautiously and saw that Zhao Junchen was just laughing and scolding, without any intention of blaming him, so he quickly said with a flattering smile: "My lord, what I said is that I will strictly follow your teachings from now on...
…Your Excellency, you also know that Xiaguan has this problem. Sometimes he just can’t control it, but Xiaguan will never delay his business.”
Zhao Junchen nodded and said nothing more. In this era when brothels legally existed, some of Jiang Qian's actions were just private matters, and it was not that he didn't pay after the work was done, so it was not worth making a fuss about.
Therefore, after Zhao Junchen made a few remarks, he cut to the chase and asked: "How are you preparing for the auction of soap supply this afternoon?"
Jiang Qian quickly replied: "My lord, everything has been prepared. According to your instructions, the relevant officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs are already familiar with the auction process. The venue is manned and the relevant procedures are all completed."
"
Zhao Junchen nodded and said, "That's good."
After a pause, Zhao Junchen said again: "I'm calling you here this time just to prepare you. In the next few days, I plan to redo all the accounts of our household department. Be sure to let
It’s only when people can’t see the flaws.”
Jiang Qian was startled, seemed to have thought of something, and asked: "Then Wen Guanliang, are you going to start with the accounts of our household department?"
Zhao Junchen smiled and said, "You are quite perceptive."
Jiang Qian said with a respectful look: "Since your lord, you and Wen Guanliang broke up, I have been secretly wary of him. I estimate that if Wen Guanliang wants to deal with you, he will have to do it from our household department."
Yes, so I have been on careful guard all the time. Please rest assured, our accounts in the household department are clear and nothing can be found wrong."
Zhao Junchen shook his head and said: "Mr. Wen Ge is not that capable to intervene in the affairs of our household department. I asked you to redo the accounts of the household department, just to be in case in the future. Now the accounting method of the household department is
, is too crude and can only balance expenditures. Everyone knows these methods, but if one is willing to investigate carefully, they can't hide it."
Hearing what Zhao Junchen said, Jiang Qian looked confused.
According to Jiang Qian's understanding, the accounting methods are nothing more than inflating expenditures, increasing losses in accounting, and falsely reporting expenditures. Are there other methods?
Seeing Jiang Qian like this, Zhao Junchen smiled softly, his expression became more serious, and he explained in detail to Jiang Qian some of the accounting methods of later generations.
Zhao Junchen only had a superficial understanding of the methods used by later generations to create false accounts, so he could only give a general idea. But even so, these clever and concealed methods left Jiang Qian stunned. For example, "advance and delayed recognition of income", such as
"Changes in income and expenditure items", such as "selective allocation", such as "deficit transformation", etc., were all unheard of by Jiang Qian.
Although many of these methods were not suitable for use by the Household Department in Jiang Qian's opinion, they still made him admire them repeatedly and thought they were wonderful.
If Zhao Junchen's methods are used to do accounting, it is conceivable that from now on, the Ministry of Revenue will not only be able to legitimately eat grain, but also rationalize various deficits. If Zhao Junchen's methods are not known, it will be very difficult to check the accounts.
It's hard to find flaws.
It has to be said that Jiang Qian is indeed a talent in some respects. When Zhao Junchen was explaining, he only listened at first, but it didn't take long before he was able to draw inferences and discuss with Zhao Junchen.
Already.
Even some of the methods proposed by Zhao Junchen could not be implemented in the Ministry of Household Affairs due to various reasons, but Jiang Qian was able to find alternative ways to implement them based on the actual situation.
After discussing with Jiang Qian for more than half an hour, Zhao Junchen saw that Jiang Qian had mastered these methods. Zhao Junchen nodded with satisfaction and said no more. He just ordered: "In this case, you can choose some when you go down."
Trustworthy officials from the Ministry of Accounts, please improve these methods and prepare new account books as soon as possible."
After this discussion, Jiang Qian admired Zhao Junchen's methods extremely, his face was full of joy and excitement, he nodded repeatedly and said: "Please rest assured, sir, with these methods, our household department will be able to do anything from now on."
Don’t be afraid anymore.”
Zhao Junchen smiled softly and said: "In that case, you go down and prepare. Also, I will not participate in the auction of the pancakes this afternoon, and I will leave it to you to preside over. This matter concerns the relationship between the prince and me."
You have to be careful about your bet."
Jiang Qian nodded again and again and said: "Please rest assured, sir, I understand the importance and will never let you down."
While talking, Jiang Qian bowed and said goodbye.
Seeing the unbearable excitement on Jiang Qian's face when he left, Zhao Junchen couldn't help but frown slightly.
Of course he knew why Jiang Qian was so excited. After doing the accounting according to the methods Zhao Junchen taught him, from now on, officials in the Ministry of Accounts would not be afraid of being discovered no matter how they touched the money of the Ministry of Accounts.
You can unscrupulously embezzle public money. For corrupt officials, is there anything else that can make them happier?
"By doing this, am I encouraging the people below to take bribes and bend the law?" Zhao Junchen frowned and thought to himself: "It seems that we must find an opportunity to beat them, otherwise this household department will not know what kind of chaos it will be.
"
………
Zhao Junchen did not personally participate in the afternoon auction of soap supply. In fact, in the past two days, Zhao Junchen had been avoiding businessmen from various places who wanted to trade secretly with him.
But although he did not participate in person, Zhao Junchen had been watching closely in secret, and Zhao Junchen was very satisfied with the results.
In fact, not only Zhao Junchen was very satisfied, but all the household officials who participated in the auction were shocked by the intense process and amazing results of the auction.
As a result, the auction base price for ordinary soaps sold in batches of 50,000 yuan was 1,500 taels, but the average transaction price was as high as 2,500 taels!
The fragrant pancreas is sold in batches of 5,000 yuan, and the auction reserve price is 1,800 taels, while the average transaction price is as high as 3,200 taels.
The medicinal pancreas is sold in batches of 500 yuan each, with a base auction price of 1,110 taels and an average transaction price of 2,110 taels.
In other words, in the next year, the pancakes produced by the inner treasury were sold for a total of 1,446,000 taels of silver!
If the manufacturing cost of the soaps is put aside, the net profit from these soaps is no less than 800,000 taels!
For anyone nowadays, this amount of money is a huge amount of money!!
Including Emperor Deqing, the same is true!
Therefore, when Zhao Junchen learned the result, he hurriedly went to see Emperor Deqing with a thick stack of banknotes, and you can imagine how happy Emperor Deqing was.