This is a country, not a small village. What is one hundred thousand taels enough for?
She is not here to enjoy being an empress, but to clean up the mess.
Gu Chunuan seriously suspected that not only would she gain nothing by becoming the empress, but she would also deplete all her wealth.
"My dear friends, what can you do to deal with this?"
"This... Your Majesty, if you want to solve the disaster in the Ice Country, you only need one thing, money."
nonsense.
Of course she knew she wanted money.
The key is, with so much money, where can I get it?
The ministers all lowered their heads and said nothing, for fear that she would call their names.
"How many taels are needed to bury the late emperor properly?"
"To return to Your Majesty, I need at least eight million taels."
"How much silver is needed to prevent drought in the twelve northern counties?"
"Your Majesty, it will cost about 50 million taels to dig a well every 100 meters in the twelve counties, minus the cost of digging dry wells."
"What about the southern flood locust plague?"
"Your Majesty, the disaster in the south is so severe that we need at least ninety million taels of silver."
"Your Majesty, the epidemic in the east requires at least 30 million taels."
"Your Majesty, the reconstruction of Gaocheng will cost at least ten million taels."
"How much do the soldiers need to be paid?"
"Your Majesty, it's not much, just two million taels."
Two million taels?
That's still within the acceptable range.
Without military pay, the soldiers will not be able to protect the Ice Kingdom wholeheartedly, and may even directly rebel.
Solving military pay is also urgent.
Gu Chunuan was trying to resolve the military pay issue.
Unexpectedly, the minister's words made her so angry that she wanted to kill him.
"Your Majesty, it's one million taels of gold."
"You are teasing the king for no reason. From today on, your salary will be deducted for five years. If you have any objections, you can resign and go into seclusion. The court will not provide any subsidies."
"Your Majesty, spare your life. Weichen made a slip of the tongue. I beg your Majesty's forgiveness. Weichen has been without salary for more than a year. In...another five years, I'm afraid...I'm afraid that Weichen's whole family will starve to death."
"There are so many people starving to death in the Ice Country, but not many of your family. It's good that I didn't just take off your hat."
The officials were speechless.
He also wanted to get military pay as soon as possible, so he paid two hundred taels of gold, hoping that Your Majesty would give priority to the military pay.
He swore that he never made fun of His Majesty.
But now, if he continues to talk, his life may not be saved, and he can only bear it silently.
quiet.
Jinluan Palace became quiet again.
No one dared to say a word.
Gu Chunuan took in all their expressions.
The corners of his mouth opened slightly and he spoke word by word.
"According to my decree, from now on, everyone in the Bing Kingdom, from the king to the common people, will be buried in poverty. If there is a minor offender, he will be fined five thousand taels of silver and if he is serious, he will be fined one million taels of silver. This will be implemented starting from the late emperor to set an example."
The ministers talked a lot.
"Your Majesty, a scanty burial is against the system."
"The living people are going to starve to death, why do you care about the dead? The matter has been decided. Anyone who disagrees will be fined fifty thousand taels of silver."
There was a moment of silence in the main hall.
No one has trouble with money.
No one will have trouble with the new emperor.
If you want to be buried lightly, just be buried lightly.
There are still three things to do when a new official takes office, let alone a new emperor.
"Drought in the north has a history of thousands of years. Blindly diverting water from the north and the south is treating the symptoms but not the root cause. As for digging a well every 100 meters, don't you think the money of the court is money?"
"The area around Chen County in the south is flooded all year round, and countless people have drowned. I have ordered that a canal be built from the area around Chen County to divert water to the north."
As soon as this statement came out, the whole court was in chaos.
"Your Majesty, Chen County is very far from the north. I have thought about building it before, but... But the distance is too far. Not only is it expensive to build the canal, but the project is also long. When the canal is built, I'm afraid... I'm afraid that people in the north will...
...They are all dying of drought."
"I not only want to build a canal, but I also want to build a big canal so that everyone in the north can drink water, so that future generations will no longer have to die of thirst due to lack of water."
The Prime Minister asked tentatively, "Your Majesty, where did the money come from? How did the people in the north survive while they were building the canal?"