Chapter 25 Get back the inner treasury
The three cabinet bachelors, Liu Jian, the first assistant of the cabinet, Li Dongyang, the second assistant, and Xie Qian, the third assistant, also learned about this, and they also looked depressed and angry.
Because Zhu Houzhao's behavior was a slap in their face, now the three elders of the Ming Dynasty were praised both inside and outside the Ming Dynasty for their excellent governance of the world and creating signs of a prosperous and prosperous age for the new emperor.
But now it turns out that the new emperor actually has to sell off his family property in order to marry the queen and bury Emperor Daxing!
This directly proves their incompetence! It completely plunged them into a crisis of trust, which was tantamount to denying their ability to assist the emperor in governing!
Li Dongyang, the Second Assistant to the Cabinet, also sneered and said to Han Wen, Minister of Household Affairs: "This is not only saying that you are incompetent, but also that our cabinet ministers are incompetent!"
"I just want to know who instigated Your Majesty to sell royal property outside the palace!" Liu Jian looked at Qin Dongyi, the censor of the city, with a livid face.
Qin Dongyi, the censor who patrolled the city, said hurriedly: "I only saw an eunuch named Liu Jin beside your majesty, talking in front."
"It's Liu Jin again!"
Xie Qian came over immediately: "Everyone, Xie has said before that this Liu Jin is no ordinary person. Your Majesty has been lured out of the palace by him since he ascended the throne, and now he has been lured by him to do business in the busy city! This Liu Jin We deliberately want to give the people the impression that we are mean to our king and father, and this person’s heart is to be punished.”
"Okay! Mr. Pavilion and Han Shangshu, now is not the time to talk about this. Xu just wants to ask, what are you going to do? You can't let His Majesty continue to do this business in public." Xu Jin, Shangshu of the Ministry of War asked hurriedly.
"What else can we do? Please bring His Majesty back!"
The chief assistant of the cabinet Liu Jian left the Wenyuan Pavilion first as he spoke, and the second assistant Li Dongyang, the third assistant Xie Qian, the minister of household affairs Han Wen, the minister of war Xu Jin and the patrol censor Qin Dongyi also followed.
At this time, Ma Wensheng, the Minister of Civil Affairs, also learned about Zhu Houzhao's Royal Exposition on the street, and hurried to the cabinet, where he happened to bump into Liu Jian, the chief minister of the cabinet, and others.
As soon as they met, Ma Wensheng ignored any etiquette and rushed up angrily to ask Han Wen, the minister of household affairs: "Master Han, you are a good minister! Emperor Daxing has worked hard for eighteen years. He is extremely frugal and should have accumulated countless amounts of money. , But now, His Majesty the new emperor has to sell his royal property on the street just after he takes the throne. As a minister, how can you have the face to meet the late emperor in the future? Not to mention that you have no face, Ma Mou has no face, and all the princes present have no face!"
Han Wen, the Minister of Household Affairs, looked helpless and said with a mournful face: "Master Ma, Han admits that he is incompetent, and yet he finds himself in such a situation as his father. Han will write his resignation letter tonight!"
Han Wen said this, and Ma Wensheng, the Minister of Civil Affairs, did not press him anymore and just snorted coldly.
The chief assistant of the cabinet, Liu Jian, and others also remained silent. They knew that Ma Wensheng was using this incident to force the Minister of Revenue, Han Wen, to resign in order to weaken the power of his cabinet. But now they can only let the Minister of Revenue, Han Wen, take the blame. Because now everyone in the world knows that the Ming Emperor was so poor that he sold off his royal property. Someone has to take the blame for who made the Ming Dynasty so poor that the emperor had no money. If the cabinet cannot take the responsibility, naturally it can only be done by the Ministry of Household Affairs, which is in charge of the world's finances.
Zhu Houzhao didn't know that his behavior of opening the Royal Exposition had forced a household minister to resign. He only knew that he had made a lot of money this time,
However, just when Zhu Houzhao was about to leave the Royal Exposition, he saw a large group of officials running towards him.
Not only the officials, but also the Jin Yiwei and the eunuchs in the palace, the first to bear the brunt was Wang Yue, the eunuch in charge of the ceremonial eunuch, and the eunuch Zhang Zhao, the eunuch in charge of the imperial horse eunuch, who followed him, and the Jin Yiwei all commanded the Qian Shi Mou Bin and others.
Wang Yue naturally also knew about Zhu Houzhao's street business at this time, and cried more sadly than anyone else: "My lord! Why are you doing this? You asked the ministers to just go to the cabinet and the Ministry of Household Affairs to ask for it. Why bother?" How embarrassing are you for making yourself suffer like this?”
At the same time, Wang Yue also glared at Liu Jin and others fiercely: "Okay, Liu Jin, Zhang Yong, how did you two accompany the emperor! Do you know what you are doing! I won't be able to protect you then!"< br>
When the common people saw so many officials coming, they were frightened and fled in droves.
Zhu Houzhao was also a little surprised: "This is strange. Could it be that they are also here to participate in the Royal Exposition?"
Only Liu Jin smiled awkwardly: "Your Majesty, this formation does not look like they are here to participate in the expo, but rather like they are here to raise an army to question the perpetrators. They all seem to be glaring at the ministers."
The other Eight Tigers also nodded and looked at Zhu Houzhao with some fear. "Don't be afraid. As long as I'm here, they don't dare to do anything to you. It's just an expo. It's nothing. I don't believe it. They dare to destroy me!"
After Zhu Houzhao said with a smile, he simply sat down and crossed his legs, pretending not to care, and asked Wang Yue, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, and Liu Jian, the chief assistant of the cabinet, who were already approaching: "Wang Daban, Mr. Liu, what are you doing? If you don’t take care of the world’s affairs for me, why don’t you come to my royal fair to buy something? You can buy it, I’ll give you a cheaper price.”
Liu Jian and others only thought that His Majesty was cynical, so they didn't think much about it. At this time, Liu Jian hurriedly bowed to Zhu Houzhao and said, "Your Majesty, you have a body of ten thousand gold, how can you do Tao Zhu's things in this busy city?" , I hope that His Majesty will correct his character, understand the desire of his subjects to govern, and return to the palace to manage politics.”
"I didn't say I wouldn't go back. I just opened a royal exhibition to make some money. Dear friends, don't make a fuss. I am doing this for the Ming Dynasty. Now the court has no money. I need money myself. As an emperor, I can't think for myself. Is there any way to make some money?”
Zhu Houzhao asked with a smile.
"Your Majesty, it is my incompetence that has put Your Majesty in such a situation. I am guilty. I hope that Your Majesty will return to the palace to rest!" Han Wen, the Minister of Household Affairs, hurriedly complained.
"Your Majesty already has internal funds, which are supported by Zhaomin. Why do you need to do it personally? Please return to the palace." At this time, Xie Qian, the third assistant of the cabinet, also said.
Zhu Houzhao was waiting for this sentence and said hurriedly: "Although I have internal funds, the internal funds belong to the household department. It is a bit inconvenient for me to spend money. Otherwise, I can go back now, but we have to make a decision." One thing, this internal treasury can no longer be managed by the Ministry of Finance. I have to have the final say myself, otherwise I will not be able to use my own internal treasury
, when the time comes, the only way to spend money is to sell the imperial property! ”
"Your Majesty, this cannot be done. The inner treasury belongs to the Household Department, which is an ancestral system established by Taizu. The money and food in the world belong to the Household Department, and are collected by the Household Department and then distributed to the inner treasury. The ancestral system cannot be changed!"
Li Dongyang, the second assistant to the cabinet, objected hastily.
The chief minister of the cabinet, Liu Jian, and others also expressed their approval. After all, they all understood that once the internal treasury was not returned to the Ministry of Household Affairs, they would not be able to reduce or reduce business taxes at will or misappropriate internal funds. This would make the emperor's finances more free and unable to control the emperor.
"If we follow the ancestral system, the cabinet will not have the power to vote, and the Supervisor of Ceremonies will not have the power to approve the election. Do you really want to talk to the emperor about the ancestral system?"
Zhu Houzhao secretly winked at Liu Jin. Liu Jin understood and hurriedly answered for Zhu Houzhao. However, Liu Jian and others in the cabinet and Wang Yue, the Supervisor of Ceremonies, were speechless, but at the same time they hated Liu Jin even more.
At this time, Ma Wensheng, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, saw this and took the initiative to help Zhu Houzhao: "Your Majesty, this matter should be decided by the Ministry of Hubu. You should ask the Ministry of Hunan. If the Ministry of Hunan is willing, I will naturally have no objection. I believe that the Minister of the Ministry of Hubu will Mr. Han will not want His Majesty to be in a dilemma because the inner treasury is limited to the Ministry of Revenue.”
"Han Aiqing, you are the Minister of Hubu, what do you think?" Zhu Houzhao had already asked about Hanwen, the Minister of Hubu.
Han Wen, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was already disheartened. He just hoped that Zhu Houzhao would go back soon so that he would not feel that he had lost face again, so he nodded hurriedly and said: "I have no objection!"
"Your Majesty, I have no objection. The inner treasury is originally for the imperial use, and the Ministry of Revenue is only responsible for it. It is natural and reasonable for your majesty to take it back!" Ma Wensheng, the official secretary, also immediately expressed his position. He had already guessed that Zhu Houzhao's real purpose was to make the inner treasury independent. Naturally, he went downhill as soon as he came out. After all, he was still waiting for Zhu Houzhao to make him the first assistant in the future.
At this time, Xu Jin, Minister of the Ministry of War, had already secretly agreed with Liu Jin and became a reserve member of the Zhongjun Society. Naturally, he expressed no objection, so only the cabinet was left to persist.
"Gentlemen, do you still want your majesty to sell goods on the street? If you insist on doing this, where do you want to trap your father?" Jiao Fang, the left minister of the Ministry of Personnel, suddenly shouted and asked.
Liu Jian, the chief assistant of the cabinet, turned around and glanced at Jiao Fang angrily, thinking that there was not much money left in the internal funds anyway. As long as His Majesty was not allowed to impose additional commercial taxes, it would not have much impact if the internal funds were returned to His Majesty. After all, the emperor was allowed to go back now. That's the most important thing, so Liu Jian sighed helplessly: "I have no objection!"
Since Liu Jian, the chief assistant of the cabinet, expressed his agreement, Li Dongyang, Xie Qian and others could not refute further, so they had to agree.
Seeing this, Zhu Houzhao said: "Well, from now on, the inner treasury will be under my management. I know that you civil servants hate eunuchs and are afraid that they will instigate me to spend money randomly. I will follow your wishes and find a civil servant to take care of myself." The internal treasury just does not go through the Ministry of Household Affairs. Where is Xu Jing, the director of my attendant office?”
(End of chapter)