Chapter 27: You stupid king, you won't even accept five hundred taels!
Xia Yan's lips were slightly opened, and when he was about to say something, Yuan Liyang suddenly spoke.
"By the way, I remember they said they wanted to go out in the middle of the night. Maybe I'm too tired and I'm still asleep now."
After hearing Yuan Liyang's words, Zhu Ming on the side spoke in confusion.
"Is it possible that he went to Yixiangyuan to work? It shouldn't be..."
Upon hearing this, Xia Yan's eyes flashed with light.
If that's the case, that doesn't seem to be a problem.
What Xia Yan was most afraid of was that they suddenly came up with some brilliant idea. It would not be a good thing if something happened when they were about to face the decisive battle with Yu State.
But if the two of them really went to Yixiangyuan to "work" in the middle of the night, that would be the best thing.
Now I don't need these ministers to think of a solution. If they can do nothing, it will be the best reward for me.
At this moment, Eunuch Luo came to Xia Yan and whispered.
"Your Majesty, the two ministers have already sent people to ask for leave. They said that they were too tired last night and now they need to rest."
Hearing this, Xia Yan suddenly felt relieved and immediately waved his hand to indicate that he knew.
Although both of them are not young, they are still in good spirits.
Xia Yan thought this way, so he continued to start today's court affairs.
Yuan Liyang also continued to report on the recent situation of the Ministry of Household Affairs as he had done in the past few days.
"Due to the increase in income from various industries and poker cards, the national treasury now has more than 100,000 taels of silver!"
In the past, Xia Yan would have spit out a few mouthfuls of blood when he heard these words, but now that he understands the essence of country subjugation, he doesn't care so much anymore.
"Okay, I understand."
Anyway, I only have a few days to go back, so there is no harm in leaving some more money for the successor of the Great Xia Dynasty before going back.
"Is there anything else? If not, I will retreat."
"Your Majesty, I have something to report to you!"
Among the crowd, an old man stepped forward silently. The old man was now over seventy years old, but he was tall and tall.
His eyes were bright and clear, and he looked like a scholar who was familiar with ancient books.
The old man's name was Zhao Zheng, who is now the Minister of Rites.
Normally, the Ministry of Rites is responsible for matters such as sacrifices, ceremonies, schools, and academies. However, in the past, Daxia Taiqiong did not allocate much funds to the Ministry of Rites, so his sense of existence has not been high.
"Your Majesty, although it is somewhat inappropriate, I still have the courage to ask your Majesty for permission to expand Nantian Academy after the war."
Afterwards, Zhao Zheng began to tell the reason.
It turned out that Nanling City, the only city in the Great Xia Dynasty, had no money to build a school due to low tax revenue.
Now, Daxia has been a country for more than 200 years, and there is only one school in the entire city.
The name of this academy is Nantian Academy. As the only academy in the city, the standards for recruiting students are naturally very high.
Due to limited manpower, less than 200 students can study at Nantian College each year.
As for ordinary people, they are not even qualified to read and read. This has also led to the probability of illiteracy in the entire Great Xia reaching over 95%.
As the Minister of Rites, Zhao Zheng had actually seen these situations and felt sad about them.
But I had been afraid to speak out before due to funding issues, but now I dared to speak out after hearing that the state treasury was extremely full of money.
After hearing that Yuan Liyang reported hundreds of thousands taels, he naturally began to covet the silver.
"If you can allocate a few thousand taels to me, Nantian Academy will surely be able to build at least two more branches. In this way, the number of students can also increase."
Hearing this, Xia Yan frowned slightly.
How can a few thousand taels be enough? Building academies is a good thing. Education is the foundation of a country. This cannot be saved.
Although he will leave here in a few days, it would be nice if he could do some good things for his former people before leaving.
But below, Zhao Zheng sighed slightly after seeing Xia Yan frowning.
He knew that the little emperor must feel distressed if he asked for thousands of taels at a time.
Also, in the past, the emperor's allocation to the Ministry of Rites was only a few hundred and one thousand taels at most, and this time he was indeed like a lion opening his mouth.
Then he said: "Your Majesty, if a few thousand taels is too much, we can just build one branch for three thousand taels."
Three thousand taels? That’s even worse!
Xia Yan shook his head again, this is not good, it is too little.
When Zhao Zheng below saw this, he thought that the stupid San Qianliang would not agree, so he had no choice but to continue to settle for the next best thing.
"One...a thousand taels is fine. Let's slightly expand Nantian Academy. That way we can have more scholars."
Are you kidding me? One thousand taels is what a rich emperor like me can afford?
Anyway, I can't take the money with me if I leave soon, so I might as well spend it now.
Afterwards, Xia Yan continued to shake his head and turned to Zhao Zheng and stretched out five fingers.
Zhao Zheng looked a little disappointed.
It's actually five hundred taels. His Majesty the Emperor has so much money, but he is only willing to give me, the Ministry of Rites, five hundred taels to build a school. It's sad, oh, sad...
But as the saying goes, no matter how small a fly is, it is still meat, so Zhao Zheng also saluted Xia Yan with a wry smile.
"Your Majesty, if you save a few five hundred taels, you can expand it a lot. I would like to thank Your Majesty on behalf of the disciples of the academy!"
"Five hundred? When did I say five hundred?"
Hearing what Xia Yan said, Zhao Zheng was stunned for a moment, the fire in his heart was burning, and his face suddenly turned bad.
"It's actually fifty taels. I'm afraid we can only build one small room. How many more students can we add?!"
After saying this, Zhao Zheng began to complain in his heart.
You are simply a fool. You have hundreds of thousands of taels of silver but you are unwilling to pay for wars or invest in education. I am afraid you are not a fool!
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. Zhao Zheng even wanted to turn around and leave at this moment, but when he was about to do so, Xia Yan spoke again.
"Zhao Shangshu, you are overthinking. How could I give you fifty taels..."
As soon as these words came out, Zhao Zheng's face instantly turned pale, then turned green, and finally turned red again.
In the end, he couldn't hold it in any longer and started pointing at Xia Yan above and yelling.
"You little emperor, I have long said that you are a fool, but Prime Minister Zhu has always supported you. If you ask me, you are simply a fool among fools. You have hundreds of thousands of taels of silver but you refuse to divide it into a few thousand taels.
Give it to me, it’s simply stupid and unethical!!!”
"No, it's not a few thousand taels. You fool, you won't even give me five hundred taels!!"
After saying that, Zhao Zheng seemed to feel at ease, and simply tossed his hat and started walking out of the hall.
"Grandma is so stupid, I won't serve this foolish king anymore!!" This chapter has been completed!