After receiving the summons, Zhao Junchen did not dare to neglect and quickly arrived outside the imperial study room, but he was not immediately summoned by Emperor Deqing.
It seems that Emperor Deqing is summoning another person at this time, and it will be Zhao Junchen's turn until the summons is over.
Zhao Junchen was not in a hurry, just stood quietly outside the door and waited.
Not long after, the door to the imperial study was pushed open, and a handsome young official came out of the imperial study.
After the young official saw Zhao Junchen, he was slightly startled at first, then bowed with a respectful expression and said, "Your Majesty, Li Chunchen, has met Mr. Zhao!"
"It turns out to be Chunchen!" Zhao Junchen said with a gentle expression and a warm smile: "His Majesty has summoned you again? Recently, your favor has become more and more prosperous. This is the fourth time that His Majesty has summoned you after the end of his southern tour.
Is that right? You have also done well in the Propaganda Department recently. You really have a bright future. You must work hard in the future and don't waste the opportunity."
Seeing that Zhao Junchen was so aware of his situation, Li Chunchen couldn't help but feel slightly tense.
To be honest, Li Chunchen did not hope that he would attract the attention of several powerful officials in the court too quickly, especially the attention of Zhao Junchen! No matter from any aspect, this is not a good thing.
However, Li Chunchen's expression became more humble, and he said: "How dare I mention the word 'sacred family' in front of you, Mr. Zhao? Everyone knows that you, Mr. Zhao, are the most valued ministers of His Majesty. Of course.
, I will definitely follow Master Zhao’s teachings, take you, Master Zhao as my goal, serve the court with all my heart, and I will never let down His Majesty and Master Zhao’s expectations of me.”
"That's good." Zhao Junchen nodded, then waved his hand and said, "I won't stop you. I still want to meet with His Majesty to discuss some matters. You can go about your own business."
Seeing that Zhao Junchen no longer bothered him, Li Chunchen quickly bowed to Zhao Junchen again, and then left quickly.
Looking at Li Chunchen's back, Zhao Junchen's eyes flashed with contemplation.
This Li Chunchen is not a simple character. He has a very accurate vision and great ambition. When he was taking the palace examination, he actually submitted an article called "Theory of the Hanging Sword" to Emperor Deqing, suggesting that the imperial court use "Feng Jian".
According to the policy of "hearing things", officials no longer need to collect concrete evidence to impeach others. They can submit it to the emperor as long as they hear a little bit of rumors. Such a policy will undoubtedly put everyone in danger and cause great harm to them.
Strengthen the emperor's authority.
Naturally, this article attracted the attention of Emperor Deqing. He was just worried that it would cause a backlash from officials, so he did not implement it immediately. However, he had been secretly preparing it and sent Li Chunchen to the Xuanzheng Department in charge of the communication of memorials.
This is obviously preparation for the future implementation of the policy of "talking about things based on rumors".
In recent times, Emperor Deqing has repeatedly summoned Li Chunchen to discuss matters and praised Li Chunchen for his various suggestions. For a time, everyone knew that Li Chunchen had received divine favor, and even compared Li Chunchen with the fledgling Zhao Junchen.
Of course, this comparison is not without basis. Nowadays, as Zhao Junchen's status is getting higher and higher, and his power is getting bigger and bigger, even Emperor Deqing no longer dares to treat Zhao Junchen as an ordinary jester!
At some point, Emperor Deqing would even put Zhao Junchen, Zhou Shangjing, Shen Changmao and other cabinet ministers at the same level and treat them equally! In this way, many private matters of Emperor Deqing would not be handled by Zhao Junchen.
, and Li Chunchen has obviously gradually taken over Zhao Junchen’s former role during this period and became the new jester of Emperor Deqing!
"Are you targeting me? This Li Chunchen actually told the truth..." Recalling what Li Chunchen said just now, Zhao Junchen sneered in his heart and thought to himself: "However, my goal is not just what it is now! You are now
The environment we are facing is also very different from what I was back then! If you want to learn to walk in Handan, this road is not easy!"
While thinking deeply, Zhao Junchen withdrew his gaze, turned around and walked towards the imperial study room.
*
After entering the imperial study, Zhao Junchen immediately changed his expression to a respectful and humble expression, and respectfully saluted Emperor Deqing to greet him.
Zhao Junchen is already extremely skilled at such a change of face.
After Emperor Deqing saw Zhao Junchen appear, his attitude was amiable and his smile was harmonious, which was quite similar to the way Zhao Junchen looked when he saw Li Chunchen just now.
"Junchen is here. We are the only two here, so there is no need to be polite." After saying this, Emperor Deqing turned to Zhang Xiu, the eunuch in the imperial study, and ordered: "Bring a stool to Mr. Zhao and sit down. Mr. Zhao is here.
He has been standing for a long time in the morning, so don’t tire him anymore.”
After hearing Emperor Deqing's instructions, Zhao Junchen was flattered, but felt a little stressed in his heart.
Although Zhao Junchen is a close and favorite minister of Emperor Deqing, such treatment is extremely rare. As the saying goes, "To show courtesy for nothing is to be a traitor or a thief." Now that Emperor Deqing is so polite, I am afraid that he has no intention of summoning Zhao Junchen today.
Simple.
"Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty!" After Zhang Xiu brought the stool, Zhao Junchen sat down gently, and then asked: "Your Majesty summoned me to see you, but I don't know what you have to give me?"
Emperor Deqing glanced at Zhao Junchen, his expression full of sincerity, and said: "This morning, Young Master Guo Tang came to trouble you. I can also see that you are unhappy, but I consider that Guo Tang is an old minister after all.
Yes, he has always had a good reputation among the government and the public, so he was given a lenient sentence. He was only fined one year's salary and asked him to come to you in person to apologize... Junchen, you won't blame me, right?"
Zhao Junchen said: "As long as it is your Majesty's decision, I will never question it. Everything I have is given by Your Majesty, so how can I dare to blame Your Majesty!"
Emperor Deqing nodded with satisfaction and said, "If you think so, I feel relieved."
At this point, Emperor Deqing changed the subject and said: "However, the reason why I summoned you to see you today is for the matter of the 'United Shipping Company'! I see that you actually went out of your way to meet your colleagues in the DPRK and China for the matter of the 'United Shipping Company'"
We are raising money, is it possible that there is still a gap in the financial resources of the United Shipping Company?"
Zhao Junchen's heart moved, and he had probably guessed Emperor Deqing's thoughts. After thinking about his words, he slowly replied: "It cannot be said that it is due to lack of financial resources. Now the 'United Shipping Company' has thirty-seven powerful Hui...
Joining the merchants is enough to provide nearly ten million taels of silver! However, this amount of money seems huge and barely enough. However, the establishment goal of the 'United Shipping Company' is to monopolize shipping on the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal and the Yangtze River Waterway. This goal is even greater.
The more resources you invest, the sooner you can see results and the more obvious the results will be. Therefore, if the financial resources of "United Shipping Lines" are sufficient, they are indeed enough; if they are insufficient, they are indeed insufficient.
"
Zhao Junchen's answer could be described as ambiguous, but Emperor Deqing did not care. He just blamed: "So it turns out that rectification of commercial tax is the top priority of the imperial court. Naturally, I hope that the 'United Shipping Line' will see results as soon as possible, and
The greater the effect, the better! However, Junchen, since the 'United Shipping Company' still requires a large amount of money investment, forcing you to deliberately seek help from your colleagues in the DPRK and China, why don't you explain the situation to me? There is still some money in my internal funds.
It’s several million taels of silver. For the sake of the imperial court’s future plans for business taxation, shouldn’t I be stingy with my private money?”
Hearing Emperor Deqing's impassioned speech, Zhao Junchen secretly curled his lips with some disdain in his heart.
Emperor Deqing's words sounded nice, but the imperial court had been short of money many times. Why did Emperor Deqing never use his own money to help the imperial court tide over difficulties like he did today? Instead, he repeatedly coveted the treasury of the Ministry of Finance.
of silver?
In the final analysis, Emperor Deqing's statement was just that he was optimistic about the development prospects of "United Shipping Company" and felt that he could reap several times the profits after investing his personal money in "United Shipping Company", so he was so generous now.
appearance.
Although he was disdainful in his heart, Zhao Junchen naturally would not show it. Instead, he looked frightened and said: "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I have also thought about transferring part of the money from internal funds to the United Shipping Company, but I have just
After getting rid of the errand of the internal transportation warehouse, I immediately reached out to ask for the money from the internal funds. It would be a bit ugly, so in order to avoid suspicion, I..."
Zhao Junchen was just halfway through his words when Emperor Deqing reached out and interrupted him: "Junchen, you are my close minister. Don't I still trust you? Why should I avoid suspicion? Let's do it. Today I will transfer some money from my internal funds.
One million taels of silver have been invested in the 'United Shipping Company'. As long as the imperial court's commercial tax rectification can see results as soon as possible, I will never be stingy with private money!"
Zhao Junchen's face was full of gratitude and admiration, and he said: "Your Majesty is so generous and selfless, which is really an example of emperors in ancient and modern times. Today, your Majesty uses private money to help the world. It will definitely be passed down as a good story through the ages. I deeply admire you!"
"
Facts have proved that Zhao Junchen's ability to flatter him did not decrease with his promotion of status. After hearing Zhao Junchen's flattery, Emperor Deqing couldn't help laughing proudly.
After the laughter subsided, Emperor Deqing seemed to suddenly think of something, and asked again: "By the way, before I went on my southern tour, Junchen, you boasted to me about the beautiful scenery of Jiangnan gardens. During my southern tour, I saw those Jiangnan gardens.
After the beautiful scenery of the garden, it is indeed magnificent, just like the scenery in a painting... So I have made up my mind to follow your suggestion and build a palace near the capital similar to the gardens in the south of the Yangtze River... This matter
I have been telling you for many days, how are you preparing now?"
Zhao Junchen replied: "In reply to Your Majesty, after receiving His Majesty's instructions, I did not dare to neglect at all. I have recruited a large number of garden craftsmen from all over the south of the Yangtze River, and summoned many famous experts to design garden landscapes for Your Majesty. Now there are
made preliminary plans.”
Emperor Deqing nodded again and asked: "So, in your opinion, if this palace is to be built, how much money will it cost? Is it still your original estimate? Is it really impossible to lower it?"
Zhao Junchen had already made a plan in his mind and replied: "If everything is kept simple, it will cost about three million to five million taels of silver. If you want to be perfect and build the best garden in the world in one go, the amount of money needed will be
To increase it by more than half, it would be about five million to eight million taels of silver, and I’m afraid it would be difficult to reduce it.”
After Emperor Deqing heard this number, his expression changed slightly.
He doesn't have that much money in his personal funds. Even if he has that much money, it would be painful for him to take it all out in one go.
Therefore, Emperor Deqing no longer showed his previous generous appearance, but asked directly: "Of course I hope to build the best garden in the world in one go. This will be in line with the royal style, but my internal funds have been invested in the United Nations."
After the "Shipping Company", there is not much money left. I am afraid that such a huge sum of money cannot be obtained. Junchen, you are in charge of the household department, can you embezzle some of the money from the treasury? "
You know it is!
Zhao Junchen couldn't help but feel dumbfounded when he saw Emperor Deqing's change of attitude even faster than his own. Just now he had said that he was rich with money in his own money, but in the blink of an eye he became poor.
In fact, this is not the first time that Emperor Deqing has misappropriated money from the treasury for his own use. A large part of the bad debts in the Ministry of Accounts was caused by Emperor Deqing! Over the years, in order to smooth out Emperor Deqing's various
Zhao Junchen spent a lot of time planting holes.
At this time, after hearing Emperor Deqing's inquiry, Zhao Junchen looked embarrassed at first, and after pondering for a long time, he slowly said: "Your Majesty's palace cannot be built in a short time. How much money can be spent on it?"
In terms of annual expenditure, it is about one million taels of silver per year, but it is also not a small number. If the officials know about this, I am afraid it will cause a lot of trouble."
Emperor Deqing's face darkened and he asked: "Junchen, you are in charge of the Ministry of Revenue and have a close relationship with the Ministry of Industry. If you are willing, it is not difficult to hide it from all the officials in the court... Why, Junchen, your wings are strong now?
Don’t you want to share your worries for me?”
Seeing what Emperor Deqing said, Zhao Junchen said: "I dare not, but I am willing to share your worries for Your Majesty! However, the Ministry of Revenue does have difficulties now. At most... it can only provide 60% of the silver at most!"
"Sixty percent..." After Emperor Deqing pondered for a moment, he nodded slowly and said: "Sixty percent will be sixty percent, and the remaining money will be used from my internal funds! I will leave the construction of this palace to my hands.
You are here to take full responsibility. You should worry more when the time comes. When the palace is completed, I will not forget your benefits!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty! I will try my best!"
Zhao Junchen stood up, bowed to Emperor Deqing and said.
However, as he bowed down, Zhao Junchen had a sneer on his face.
He knew the prodigal character of Emperor Deqing very well. Once he had spare money in his hands, he would immediately want to spend it. This was one of the reasons why Zhao Junchen was relieved to help the court rectify business taxes, because Zhao Junchen knew very well that even if
The imperial court succeeded in rectifying commercial taxes, and the annual commercial tax revenue increased significantly. However, as long as Emperor Deqing's prodigal temperament did not change, the imperial court's financial and food situation would still be unable to make ends meet!
Now that the national treasury and internal funds are slightly richer, Emperor Deqing has taken action, which is a clear example!
In fact, the amount of money Zhao Junchen just reported to Emperor Deqing was also carefully considered. Once this money is used, the turnover of the national treasury and internal funds will inevitably be tight in the next few years. In this case, Deqing
Emperor Qing's dependence on Zhao Junchen will further deepen.
Taking advantage of the few years that Emperor Deqing could not live without him, Zhao Junchen was able to accomplish many things!
…
Well, this is the second update today! There will be another update around the early morning!