The winter in Beijing has become colder and colder. Although it does not continue to snow, the dry and cold weather makes people more uncomfortable.
Especially for the elders who have to go to court before dawn every day, this kind of weather is particularly difficult.
It has been more than half a month since the battle with Wala ended.
Although the various yamen of the imperial court are still busy, for the top bosses, the matters that need to be decided have basically been completed.
What is left for them to do is to steadily advance the basic direction set by the court and ensure that no major problems arise.
This part is basically accomplished by relying on a huge bureaucracy.
As the decision-makers, the important ministers of the imperial court were able to relax a lot. With the cabinet assuming the responsibility of drafting the votes, the efficiency of the imperial court in handling government affairs was greatly accelerated.
Therefore, with the emperor's consideration, the frequency of the Japanese dynasty changed from once a day to once every other day.
Elderly people no longer need to wake up earlier than the chickens every day, and can have a good sleep peacefully.
It was another customary morning court meeting. Shen Yi was holding a memorial and was reporting it.
After the war, the Ministry of War had less work, while the Ministry of Household had more work.
The capital has developed to this day. In addition to the incomparable prosperity in the city, there are also many villages and towns located outside the city.
Surrounding the entire capital, within a few dozen miles, villages of various sizes can be seen basically everywhere.
This time, in order to prepare for the attack on the capital first, the imperial court evacuated the nearby people to the nearby state capital in advance.
And relying on private houses, many fortifications were rebuilt.
Now that there is no war, these fortifications will naturally be demolished, and the people who have moved out will also have to move back. Because the houses rebuilt during the war, the people must be compensated accordingly.
At the same time, those refugees who are entrenched outside the city and coming from the border one after another must also be counted and sent back to their places of origin.
Although not all of these matters fall under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Household Affairs, most of them are related to the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Therefore, the other big guys are free, but Shen Shangshu is busy running around. He stayed up all night yesterday for today's morning meeting, and his eyes are like pandas at this moment.
"In and outside the capital, all the fortifications such as horse piles and trenches built to defend against Ola's siege have been demolished, and the imperial court has compensated those who affected people's houses."
"The refugees from the border and other places have all been resettled outside the city. Shuntian Prefecture is counting the names of their places of origin. It is expected to be completed in seven days. After that, officers and soldiers will be dispatched to escort the people back home in batches."
Every time he said something, Mr. Shen's eyes twitched. Every stroke of his words was filled with money.
Zhu Qiyu sat at the top, nodded and said.
"Qing Shen has worked hard these days. Officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs have given him three days of rest. Qing Shen can arrange it as appropriate."
Money in the treasury was tight, and the internal transportation treasury was not rich, so Zhu Qiyu gave full play to the principle of saving money when he could, and made a small change in the rewards from the Ministry of Revenue.
Shen Shangshu didn't react at all. Now he is very willing to do anything that can save money.
"On behalf of an official from the Ministry of Household Affairs, I would like to thank Your Majesty for the reward."
After the report from the Ministry of Accounts has been completed, the next step is the Ministry of Works.
Shi Pu, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, still did not return to Beijing. Instead, Zhang Min, the minister, was engaged in a craftsman employment system that was very popular these days, and many courtiers had heard about it.
"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Industry has accepted the decree and dispatched craftsmen to the border to build a new city. The progress is already halfway through."
"This time to repair various passes and build new cities, it is estimated that 2,000 people will be mobilized from Beizhili, 2,000 people will be mobilized from various places, and 4,000 private craftsmen will be recruited from the pass cities across the border."
"Now the first batch of 2,000 people have arrived at Daomaguan, and private craftsmen have recruited 2,500 people. The new city of Daomaguan is expected to take shape before the year and be completed before June next year."
"but……"
Speaking of this, Zhang Min glanced at Chen Yi secretly, then turned away and said.
"However, the materials needed for the new city are currently insufficient. After the construction actually starts, it is expected to be consumed in less than a month and a half, but the remaining materials have not yet been arrived."
As soon as the words fell, a group of drowsy elders below suddenly became energetic.
Eating melons and other things makes people happy the most.
In particular, the main body of this melon is still the Ministry of Household Affairs, which has just deducted their salary, so the bosses will be more energetic.
The Ministry of Household Affairs is very efficient. They said that this month's salary reduction for peppercorns will definitely not be postponed to next month.
Two days ago, the imperial court had just distributed this month's stipend, half of which was normal rice and wheat, and the other half was pepper and sumac that was not needed for food.
The elders sent their servants to the market to inquire, and they found out that the merchants selling pepperwood in the capital no longer buy it, and they can't reduce the price.
As for why, those in the capital who could afford the use of peppermint wood were originally high-ranking officials.
Now that the imperial court directly uses pepperwood to reduce their salaries, these official families will naturally not purchase additional ones.
In other words, these merchants can no longer sell their own peppercorns, so of course they will no longer purchase them.
After understanding the whole story, the elders who had originally planned to make some money from the sale suddenly became so angry that they even yelled at home that the Ministry of Finance was not a man's son.
Fortunately, the Ministry of Finance did not go too far. They only reduced half of the salary and paid out the peppercorns, and the other half was still distributed normally.
Otherwise, I'm afraid there are some low-level officials who rely on their salaries to block the door of the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Therefore, now that the bosses are excited to hear about the melons from the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Aren’t you a peppercorn sumu with a salary?
Now that building a new city requires money and materials, you can't just use peppercorns and plunder it from the people, right?
In particular, a group of censors were gearing up to do something big.
This time they decided to side with the Ministry of Industry.
If the Ministry of Husbandry dares to delay, they will impeach the Ministry of Husband and hinder the overall interests of the court.
If it was such a large sum of money, the Ministry of Revenue would happily approve it.
Then they should talk to the Ministry of Household Affairs about the "tragic situation" of how many officials in the capital these days are suffering from hunger, cold, lack of food, and being bullied by profiteers everywhere.
Even if we can't change the already established salary reduction policy, we still have to be disgusted with the Ministry of Finance.
Facing all the malicious eyes, Shen Shangshu's good mood just now disappeared.
With a straight face, he stepped forward.
"Your Majesty, it's not that the Ministry of Revenue intentionally delayed the allocation of silver. It's just that now that the war is over, there are many wastes waiting to be done, and silver is needed for everything."
"Although the construction of Daoma Pass is important, it is not as important as repairing various passes. After all, the winter is difficult and there is no guarantee that the Oara tribe will invade the border again. Therefore, the Ministry of Finance's silver must be given priority to the damaged passes on the border."
"As for Daimaguan, after all, the stored materials are still available for one and a half months. When these materials are used up, it is the end of the year and craftsmen everywhere will temporarily stop working."
"Therefore, the Ministry of Revenue has agreed that it will not be too late to allocate this amount of money after the new year."
This reason is naturally tenable.
After all, there is only so much silver in the national treasury, so there must be priorities.
But for the censors below who have been eager to try, they don't care about this.
After Shen Shangshu said so much, they understood one thing.
That means the construction of the new city has to be postponed!
Immediately, a censor straightened his clothes and stepped out with a righteous expression on his face.
"Your Majesty, I impeach you..."
"Your Majesty, I have this memorial..."
Damn it, someone choked?!
At the front of the court, another voice sounded almost at the same time, causing a group of censors to look up angrily.
What greeted them was a certain innocent-looking Duke Feng Guo...