Chapter 792 Who is the king and who is the minister?
Sun Jiao actually told Zhao Huang in disguise that it was best not to mention this matter.
But Zhao Huang was just like Sun Jiao, never flinching when faced with trouble, and directly told the court meeting the next day that the new emperor had sent people to secretly build the train.
There was no uproar in the court, but confusion.
Everyone knows that the emperor sent people to mine, but building something that can run along the railway track, what is this? Inventing and creating?
Is this what an emperor should do?
Even if we come out to oppose it, we don’t understand.
Zhu Si sighed: "I won't talk about Zhao Qing's family, but I plan to talk about it in a while... I am indeed building a train."
Zhao Huang said: "Your Majesty, such a waste of people and money..."
Zhu Si raised his hand to interrupt what Zhao Huang was about to say, but his tone was not very anxious: "You said this is a waste of money and a waste of people. Do you dare to ask who has worked hard and whose property has been harmed? Has the Ministry of Accounts allocated a penny for this matter?"
As the emperor turned his attention to Sun Jiao, many people understood that the original instigator of this discussion was not Old Man Sun.
Originally, many people thought that although Zhao Huang was nominally a neutral faction in the court, the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Household Affairs were actually one. Zhao Huang was probably bewitched by Sun Jiao before he jumped out to mention this matter, because his
The method of making suggestions was somewhat similar to Sun Jiao's previous objection to the emperor's increase in spending on southeastern coastal defense.
Could it be that Zhao Huang thought that Sun Jiao's move would be effective and that the Ministry of Household Affairs' status in the court would rise rapidly, and that the Ministry of Works also wanted to follow suit?
Sun Jiao came out and said, "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Revenue is not involved in this matter."
When Zhao Huang was about to continue, Zhu Si said: "I know some people should be suspicious, that is, I have allocated money and food from the inner government, but that is not the case. Speaking of which, this year, the money and food allocated by the Ministry of Revenue to the inner government, add up to
There is not enough money and food allocated from the inner government to the northwest, and the inner government has no balance now."
No balance?
Where did the emperor's daily expenses come from?
Are everyone in the palace drinking the northwest wind?
Who believes it?
Zhu Si continued: "As for the train, it is nothing more than iron and coal. Iron can make the train's rails, locomotive, frame, wheels, etc., while coal is used to burn to push the train forward. These are all Xishan
The things produced by the coal mines and the iron mines in Yongping Prefecture did not cost much."
After hearing this, everyone realized that the emperor opened the mine to build this kind of train and make it self-sufficient?
It is understandable that iron is used to make the car shell, and coal can be used to push the train forward... How is this done?
I've only heard of using coal to burn stoves, but I've never heard of people who can run away after burning coal. Are you trying to fool us that we are all literati and don't understand the craftsmen's skills?
But no matter what, the emperor explained in public that the imperial court did not use a single penny, and the so-called wasting money and wasting people was not true, so Zhao Huang's memorial was meaningless. At this time, Zhao Huang should have stopped and retreated.
No need to say more.
In fact, it was difficult for Zhao Huang to propose anything else.
At this time, Jiang Mian came out with a serious look on his face: "Your Majesty, last year we used troops in the northwest, and the frontier troops are still short of weapons. If there are iron weapons, they should be used for armaments instead of misappropriating them elsewhere."
Jiang Mian is the second assistant to the cabinet. He represents the cabinet and can even be said to represent Yang Tinghe's will.
The ministers were a little confused, why was it that Jiang Mian came out to speak for Zhao Huang at this time? Could it be that Zhao Huang no longer wanted to be a fence-sitter, but chose to abandon the dark side and join the bright side, leaning towards Yang Chief Fu?
Zhu Si smiled and said: "Mr. Jiang Ge, I don't quite understand what you mean... Ordnance casting in the northwest has always had a fixed source. I opened a coal kiln in Xishan and an iron kiln in Yongping Prefecture. There were many people who opposed it. Who can
No one is optimistic about what I can achieve. I didn't ask the court to pay a penny for the mining. Just like this, all the iron produced has to be used for the court's expenses?
It's a head-to-head confrontation.
Debates between kings and ministers.
Jiang Mian was a little angry after hearing this, and said in an aggressive tone: "Your Majesty, the mining kilns opened in the name of the imperial court, regardless of whether the Ministry of Household Affairs allocates money or manpower to build them, always use the imperial court's connections and resources. Any output should also be attributed to
The imperial court, in fact, belongs to you, Your Majesty."
Zhu Sidao: "Well, I can't agree with what Mr. Jiang Ge said. The imperial court is the imperial court, and I am me. The household department and the inner government are still separated. How come when it comes to mining, if I find someone to open the mine, all the output will belong to the imperial court.
?Can’t I arrange for people to take care of it myself, be responsible for the profits and losses, and arrange and dispose of the output by myself?”
Jiang Mian said unceremoniously: "Your Majesty, this is so against the rules."
"hehe."
Zhu Si smiled and said, "This rule is really a basket. You can put anything in it. But anything that makes you dissatisfied is not in compliance with the rules, right? Are you going to say the next step, if I don't agree with the mining kiln?"
What I produce is used for the expenses of the court, so you won’t allow me to mine? The next step is to find a group of people to complain, saying that I mine to compete with the people for profit? Haha, I really understand your face.
.”
Zhu Si said the words with a smile, but there was a sadness in his tone.
What I mean is that you are targeting me and want me to follow the route you have set. As long as I decide on my own, you will mess around in all kinds of ways, right?
At this time, Zhao Huang, who was the instigator, couldn't help but glance at Sun Jiao.
He finally understood what Sun Jiao meant by "making a mess".
If he hadn't insisted on reporting this matter, it wouldn't have caused the emperor and his second assistant to quarrel in public at the court meeting. In fact, if you think about it, it really didn't matter. The emperor found someone to mine on his own, and even if it took a little manpower, it didn't seem to harm the court.
Why did he, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, have no sense and come out to cause trouble for the emperor?
Now I'm going to be cannon fodder.
Zhu Sidao: "I think that as long as the manpower and material resources of the court are not used for building the train, everything is reasonable and I don't need to explain it to you. As for what you said about competing for benefits with the people, let the people who are being competed for benefits be allowed to do so.
Let the people speak out for themselves, I can hand over the mine to them and see who can maintain the mine!"
"The mine is nothing in the hands of the people. It can only shine and heat in my hands. If you don't believe it, find someone to try it!"
"As for you wanting me to stop mining, it's better to say it directly. Anyway, it's not just once or twice. I've also said it here. If you want to stop this, you should first consider your own identities. Anyway, I am determined not to
Agreed!」
The emperor expressed his dissatisfaction with his ministers so openly, which put many ministers under great pressure.
However, Jiang Mian showed no intention of being frightened and continued: "Your Majesty, even if the mining is done by the inner government, it also uses the inner government's manpower and material resources. How can it be regarded as having nothing to do with the imperial court?"
Zhu Si smiled and said: "Mr. Jiang Ge, you are really wrong about this. In the past, our inner government relied on the imperial court to allocate money and food every year to support so many people. I have said before that this year, the inner government will allocate money to the imperial court."
It is more than what the imperial court has given. Is this considered the internal government supporting outsiders, or the outsiders supporting the internal government?"
Jiang Miandao: "The revenue of the imperial government mainly comes from official land, imperial villages, imperial stores and other industries. This is also the inherent foundation of the imperial court."
Zhu Si felt an eye-opening feeling after hearing this.
"Hey, listen to Mr. Jiang Ge, is my palace also the foundation of the imperial court? Any benefits generated by the palace will be put at the end of this institution? Is it true that I have abandoned the imperial palace, the imperial store and so on?
If everything is handed over to the imperial court, no matter what I produce, the imperial court will still feel that I earned it by relying on the emperor’s reputation and it will still be unfair, and I will still have to turn it over to the imperial treasury?”
Zhu Si's tone gradually became colder.
His eyes were burning, as if he wanted to kill someone!
Jiang Mian was very rude: "The whole world is not the king's land, and the shores of the land are not the king's ministers, but the king's land and the king's ministers still belong to the imperial court."
Zhu Sidao: "Then what belongs to me?"
"The imperial court belongs to Your Majesty," Jiang Mian said.
Zhu Si said angrily: "Then you still have the nerve to tell me this? Don't say that the mining is not carried out by me allocating funds from the court. Even if it is, it is justified. Why are you being pretentious with me? Isn't it because you see that I have made money from mining?
Yinzi, do you want to take the mine back to the imperial court? Let the minister of the Ministry of Industry come out to report it, do you think I don’t know about your extravagant thoughts?"
Now the conflict completely broke out.
Zhao Huang's intestines were filled with regret at this moment.
Was he really being used as a weapon, or was he sent to someone's door on his own initiative to be used? Isn't this just throwing himself into a trap?
"If you want to take the mine back, I will not agree to it. I can find someone to drive it myself... I have the power to allocate the things produced by the industry under my name. But I don't care about official land and imperial stores.
Starting next year, I can temporarily put this income under the control of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and then allocate it to the inner government, so there should be no problem, right? Retreat from the imperial court!"
Zhu Si impatiently ended the court meeting.
…
…
The emperor did not give the ministers a chance to continue arguing.
With the help of Zhao Huang's memorial, Jiang Mian taught the emperor a good lesson.
Jiang Mian felt relieved, but when he turned back to look at Yang Tinghe, he found that Yang Tinghe's face was full of helplessness. Obviously, the process and result of Jiang Mian's argument with the emperor were not what Yang Tinghe wanted to see.
The emperor became willful and walked away. It seemed that the courtiers had won, but in fact it also showed the courtiers' incompetence.
In the past, the court officials opposed the emperor's mining, and although they finally acquiesced in allowing the emperor to open the mine, everyone felt that the emperor's mining behavior would not lead to any results and would eventually come to an abrupt end in despair.
As a result, now that the emperor had opened up a way to mine, the ministers relied on the Minister of Industry, Zhao Huang, to submit a report, hoping that the emperor would hand over the mines to the court for management. This left a feeling that the courtiers were being unreasonable.
It is completely reasonable and reasonable for civil servants to do this to nobles or private mining merchants, and they are just taking advantage of them.
But now it's over the emperor's head...
Don’t you know that the first level of official rank can crush people to death?
The emperor couldn't suppress Yang Tinghe, so it was okay to suppress most of the court officials? Besides, even Yang Tinghe, wasn't he a minister of the emperor?
Now it seems that the profits from the Imperial Mansion and the Imperial Store have been won, but it is the courtiers, especially the cabinet ministers, who have failed in the field of public opinion.