??? In the palace, Shen Shangshu could not help but widen his eyes when he heard the emperor's confident voice.
Your Majesty, can you find a stronger reason than this?
To put it bluntly, the Ministry of Accounts is an accountant. Indeed, in charge of the treasury, Shen Shangshu does have the power to adjust and control the expenses of various places.
However, we can’t blame Hubu for everything that goes wrong, right?
The incident of going to Linyuan Supervisor made it clear that Chen Yong led a group of officials under him to engage in favoritism and corruption, and was greedy for money and money.
The Ministry of Revenue is just distributing materials and silver as usual. Once the things are in people's hands, if they insist on being greedy, what can the Ministry of Revenue do?
With a wry smile, Shen Shangshu said.
"Your Majesty is wise, but I failed to observe the situation. I will be fined one month's salary! Your Majesty, please convict me!"
He was indignant in his heart, but on his face, Master Shen was very respectful and spoke with a sad look on his face.
Seeing this situation, Zhu Qiyu was also stunned and said.
"Mr. Shen, you don't have to be like this. That's not what I meant."
It seems that there is less...
Silently calculating how much salary he had been deducted since taking office, Shen Shangshu cursed endlessly, but his face became more respectful and he said tentatively.
"Your Majesty, how about Sanyue?"
This sentence made Wang Wen and Chen Yi, who had just been scolded, burst into laughter, and the originally solemn atmosphere in the palace became relaxed.
Is this old Shen really capable? How dare he be willing to bargain for a salary?
Where are the cabbages sold in the wet market?
Even Zhu Qiyu was amused by Shen Yi, this living treasure, and said with a helpless look on his face.
"Mr. Shen! You should receive your salary from the imperial court properly. Don't guard me like a thief every day. It's as if I, the emperor, only want to deduct the salary from my subordinates when I don't do business every day!"
"I dare not..."
Shen Shangshu cupped his hands in a polite manner.
After being made such a fuss, the originally slightly heavy atmosphere was swept away, and his smile subsided. Zhu Qiyu became serious and spoke.
"I was thinking that even though few people care about Shanglinyuan Supervisor, it is still an imperial yamen after all. The situation has been like this for a long time. It must not be the result of a day or the fault of one person. I am afraid that Chen Yong cannot be in the imperial court.
He kept this matter secret under his nose."
"Therefore, I am afraid that the entire Shanglinyuan Supervisory Committee cannot escape the involvement. If you want to investigate this matter, you must clarify the accounts over the years. This matter may not be completed as soon as possible by the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Ministry of Justice. Therefore, during the investigation process,
, you may need assistance from the Ministry of Accounts.”
Okay, that's it?
Shen Shangshu breathed a sigh of relief, and silently complained in his heart: Your Majesty, you are gasping for breath. Is it worth your speaking in person to just transfer a few people from the Ministry of Household Affairs?
"Your Majesty, please rest assured that no matter whether it requires manpower or other cooperation, I will do my best whenever necessary."
"I know that Mr. Shen is a person who understands the general picture."
Seeing the emperor's smiling face, Shen Shangshu was not only not happy to be praised, but also felt uneasy in his heart.
Something's wrong!
How could such a trivial matter be worthy of the Emperor personally speaking? Moreover, he was just expressing his loyalty, but the Emperor, who never easily praised his subordinates, was so enthusiastic.
This is definitely not right!
Instinct told Shen Yi that he couldn't accept these words...
As expected, the emperor waited for a moment but didn't get Shen Yi's reaction, looking a little disappointed.
However, Mr. Shen, do you know that no matter whether you take the words or not, there are some things that you cannot escape...
Since the other party didn't give him any face, Zhu Qiyu stopped beating around the bush and simply spoke.
"This matter in the Shanglin Garden Supervisor has been dealt with and dealt with, but the mess still needs to be cleaned up. This huge royal hunting ground is full of pheasants and deer deer, so let's just leave it this time. Everyone in the imperial court
, the attention of all the foreign envoys is on the martial arts performance after the hunt."
"But if this happens again and again in the future, how will the dignity of the imperial court remain? Since it is a royal hunting ground, all rare and exotic animals should be free to show off the majesty of the Ming Dynasty."
Chen Yi listened underneath, and finally got a taste of it.
Faintly, a guess popped up in his mind that he didn't even dare to think about. Looking up at the emperor's increasingly warm face, Shen Shangshu cried out in his heart, but it must not be what he thought...
But then, the emperor's words cruelly shattered his illusions.
"There may still be species like tigers and leopards in various places, but there are no such things as lions, unicorns, and sparrows in the Ming Dynasty. They were all brought back by the Sanbao eunuchs when they went to the West during the Yongle period."
"However, since the eighth year of Xuande, the imperial court has not gone to sea again. It is a pity. This incident of Shanglinyuan Supervisor reminded me that the Western countries are also vassal states of the Ming Dynasty. They have not interacted with each other for many years.
"Shengfen, if the imperial court's vitality is restored, it will still be necessary to send envoys to the sea to go to the Western countries to communicate with each other."
Help! Your Majesty killed someone!
Shen Shangshu stood at the bottom, wanting to cry but without tears.
This is really a simple fire at the city gate, which affects the fish in the pond.
** Chen Yong, I ****!
He cursed Chen Yong in his heart, and Shen Shangshu swore that if this guy stood in front of him now, he would kill him.
Why don't you do something wrong? Well, the money allocated by the Ministry of Finance is not enough for you to be greedy. You insist on targeting the rare and exotic animals in Nanyuan.
Now it’s okay, if something goes wrong, just pay for it yourself, and drag the Ministry of Household Affairs into it.
Shen Shangshu had long expected that the emperor would not do anything good if he came to him, but he did not expect that it would be so bad.
Sailing to the West? Your Majesty, are you kidding me?
With the current financial situation of the national treasury, compensation is not enough!
Bite the bullet, Shen Shangshu still said.
"Your Majesty clearly knows that between Yongle and Xuande, the Three Treasures eunuchs made seven voyages to the West and spent a lot of money. Although they brought back many treasures, they still could not make ends meet."
"Now that the war has ended and the national treasury is empty, it may be difficult to support the voyage to the West again. If civil strife breaks out again and the country is in turmoil, I will die forever."
The words were tactful, but they left no stone unturned, just one sentence, and there was no way!
On the other side, Chen Yi and Wang Wen also looked at each other, and Chen Yi followed.
"Your Majesty, it is true that Chen Yong acted boldly in the matter of supervising the Shanglin Garden. However, the imperial court is now in dire straits and is waiting to be revitalized. It is the time to recuperate and recuperate. It is really not appropriate to waste people's energy anymore."
"In the past, Liu Bang, the great ancestor of the Han Dynasty, was a British ruler who ended the troubled times of the late Qin Dynasty and established the Han Dynasty. However, when he went out to patrol the four directions, the horses that pulled the carts were hardly the same color. All the ministers were traveling in ox-drawn carts, which can be described as extremely shabby."
"But without the accumulation of generations from Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty to Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, where would the merits of Emperor Wu come from?"
"Your Majesty, the civil war has greatly damaged the vitality of the imperial court, and there is a lot of urgent need for silver. If we go to sea to collect rare and exotic animals, it is not a good idea. Your Majesty, please think again."
Compared with Shen Yi, as a science and technology official, Chen Yi's speech clearly has the style of an admonishing officer.
The words were not sharp, but they were straightforward and straightforward.
After Chen Yi finished speaking, Wang Wen hesitated for a moment and then spoke.
"Your Majesty, although the voyage to the West can enhance the prestige of our country and make people famous among all the barbarians, it is still too wasteful. If we go to the West just for the sake of Shanglinyuan, I am afraid there will be a lot of criticism in the court. It is really inappropriate. Please tell me clearly."
The three people present had different opinions, but their attitude was basically the same, that is, they opposed the voyage to the West.
It should be said that they were right!
For today's Ming Dynasty, going to the Western Ocean was a time-consuming, labor-intensive, money- and man-consuming affair, but it yielded little benefit.
You know, when the imperial court went to the Western Ocean, it was not a caravan but a fleet!
The sea is no better than the land. Although it is said that the Ming Dynasty has obtained the surrender and pilgrimage of the Western countries, in fact, the Ming Dynasty's control over the Western Ocean is very weak.
Therefore, when a fleet goes to sea, the first thing to ensure is safety.
In addition to the raging pirates, when the fleet reaches various countries, it is also the local people and troops who have to be on guard.
Don't think that those small countries far away in the West really heard about the reputation of the Ming Dynasty, so they came here to pay tribute.
Every one of them was defeated!
Zheng He's voyages to the West included more than 200 ships at the most, and almost every time he went to sea, there were tens of thousands of people on board.
Among these tens of thousands of people, the main component is the army of up to five guards.
Rather than saying that Zheng He led a fleet, it is better to say that he actually led an army. Rather than saying that Zheng He's voyages were a political action, in fact, it would be better to say that it was a military action.
Such a military force, coupled with the Ming Dynasty's excellent shipbuilding technology to build sturdy ships, is almost invincible in the Western Ocean.
Because of this, wherever Zheng He went, those small foreign countries would rush to present letters of credence, declare surrender, and send envoys to perform pilgrimages.
If the Ming Dynasty really sent an ordinary fleet, let alone making these small countries surrender, it would be fine if they were not robbed.
However, the consequence of this is that it puts huge pressure on the country.
It is no exaggeration to say that Zheng He's seven voyages to the West were no different to the imperial court than he fought seven major battles.
There is more to it than just money, food and grass.
Building a treasure ship requires a lot of manpower, and transporting the food needed by tens of thousands of people to the port also requires a lot of manpower. Most of the ships are officers and soldiers. They need to take care of food, drink, and toilets, which still requires a lot of manpower.
So where did these people come from? Of course they were forced to do corvee work!
It is undeniable that Zheng He did bring back many rare and rare treasures during his voyages to the West. It also made the Ming Dynasty famous in the West and attracted pilgrims from all over the world.
However, the price is that each voyage to the West consumes tens of thousands of money and food.
More importantly, brutal maritime disturbances, pirates that appear from time to time, and armed conflicts that may occur wherever they go, result in thousands of military and civilian casualties every time they go to sea.
So in fact, for the Ming Dynasty, it was not without reason to abolish the voyages to the West.
From the perspective of pros and cons, the return from going to the Western Seas is indeed far less than the expenditure.
Of course, another very important point is that all the expenditures for the Western voyages, such as the construction of treasure ships, the food and salary of the officers and soldiers, and the supplementary silver for the corvee collection, are all borne by the national treasury. What the emperor needs to pay is to reward the Western countries.
of rare artifacts.
However, the imperial court paid such a high price, and all the rare and exotic treasures brought back from the Western voyages ended up in the emperor's internal transportation warehouse.
For the emperor, he could exchange some worthless things such as silks, cloths, porcelain and tea leaves for a lot of pearls, agates, ivory and gemstones, and he could also win the surrender of Western countries. Naturally, it was a good thing to gain both fame and fortune.
However, for the imperial court, it is simply a matter of losing money without making a profit. It is no wonder that the courtiers are unwilling to do this kind of thing.
However, fortunately, the Yongle Dynasty has just passed not long ago, and Emperor Taizong is still powerful. No one dares to comment on Zheng He's seven voyages to the West. In the court, there is no public opinion atmosphere like the late Ming Dynasty.
Zheng He's voyages to the West were said to have wasted people and money, and there was no positive comment at all.
Nowadays, sailing to the West is still a common thing for the Ming Dynasty court. It's just that after Xuande, the emperor was young and weak, and the court was in turmoil afterwards, so no one ever mentioned it.
Even now, the reason why Shen Yi and others oppose the voyage to the West is that the national treasury is empty and cannot support it. This is the same starting point as their opposition to the resumption of war at this time. They do not deliberately discuss the voyage to the West.
This point still makes Zhu Qiyu feel gratified.
You must know that by the time Chenghua Dynasty was reached at the latest, the direction of public opinion on this matter in the DPRK had already changed.
At that time, Zhu Qiyu's great nephew wanted to ask for the nautical map of Zheng He's voyages to the West. The order was sent to the Ministry of War, and Liu Daxia, a chariot driver, dared to refute it openly, saying:
"Three guarantees went to the West, spending hundreds of thousands of money and food, and tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians died, but returning with the treasures in the end was of no use to the country. This is a particularly bad government, and it is the minister's duty to remonstrate. Even if the old eucalyptus exists, he should still do it."
This shows that the DPRK and China were extremely dissatisfied with the voyage to the West at that time.
It was also from that time that Zheng He's voyages to the West changed from a positive example of great national prestige to a useless thing that worked for the people and was despised by everyone in the court.
Signs of this can already be seen from now on, but, at least in the past few years, no one has dared to say so.
His eyes swept over the three people below, but Zhu Qiyu did not persist.
The issue of Shanglinyuan Supervisor was not strong enough. Besides, Shen Yi was telling the truth. The national treasury could not support such a large-scale voyage to the West.
He mentioned this matter today just to test it out and pave the way for the future. Therefore, after pondering for a moment, Zhu Qiyu said.
"What the gentlemen said is reasonable. I didn't think carefully about the voyage to the West. However, this is Taizong's national policy and cannot be neglected. If the national treasury cannot support it now, it does not mean that it will not be able to support it in the future."
"If I remember correctly, in the eighth year of Zhengtong's reign, the Supreme Emperor ordered the Ministry of Works to supervise the construction of more than 120 seagoing ships, but they have never been put into use."
"In this way, I will send an order back to the Ministry of Industry to inspect these one hundred and twenty ships. Repair what needs to be repaired and rebuild what needs to be rebuilt. Since they are recuperating, then these things should be taken care of slowly.
stand up."
"What do you think, Mr. Shen?"
Yes, after going around and around, you still have to pay!
Shen Yi was not stupid. From the emperor's tone, he could tell that the old man did not discuss with his group anymore.
Didn't you hear what the emperor said?
"Taizong's national policy cannot be abandoned..."
If you suppress these eight words, what else can you say?
Don't forget, there is still an old minister of Taizong standing in the court!
Although the old man is usually harmless to humans and animals, has a kind-hearted look, and smiles and dozes off every day, but who dares to say that His Majesty Taizong is not honest, he can jump up and beat you to death.
However, just do it, it’s not now anyway, let’s talk about the future later.
Right now, the repairs of these ships will cost a lot of money.
Silently feeling sorry for his wallet, Shen Shangshu, although reluctant, still had to hold it in his hands.