Chapter 100 Guo Huan, the Right Minister of the Ministry of Revenue! (First update)
Early June.
The weather has become slightly hotter.
Guo Huan sat in the sedan chair and headed back to his mansion.
As the Minister of Household Affairs and a third-rank official in the imperial court, he has been prosperous in officialdom and received favors from the emperor since he was recommended as an official by the imperial court in the fourth year of Hongwu. It can be said that he is proud to be appointed as Minister of the Ministry of Finance.
But it also started last year.
He was not actually appointed as the Minister of Hubu, but was demoted to the right minister of Hubu.
From this moment on, Guo Huan felt that the direction of the wind was gradually changing.
Firstly: The royal court began to impeach him. Although he was excused by him for various reasons, his majesty was not as close to him as before. Secondly: Recently, there was news in the court. There was a gust of wind, and His Majesty felt that someone in the court was trying to deceive him.
Finally.
A few days ago, Hanlin Academy officials raided the Ministry of Accounts and took away many of the accounts from the Ministry of Accounts. They have not yet been returned.
Judging from the various rumors and atmosphere, His Majesty obviously has distrust of the Ministry of Revenue and wants to conduct a strict investigation on the Ministry of Revenue.
How can this not make Guo Huan tremble?
He is well aware of the brutality of His Majesty's treatment of corrupt officials.
If His Majesty really discovers that there is malpractice in the Ministry of Revenue, I am afraid that something big will happen to the Ministry of Revenue.
However, no matter how much Guo Huan inquired in the past few days, he never got any specific information, which made his already anxious heart become even more nervous and uneasy at this moment.
He knows how to get to the top.
Because he is proficient in economics, relying on the review of account books, after he joined the household department, he was like a fish in water. Regardless of the storms in the court, he remained unmoving and remained evergreen. He was still going through the "Hu Weiyong" After the "Action" and "Empty Seal Case", he gradually filled the vacancies in the Central Committee and finally reached his current position.
He is confident enough in his talents.
Even.
He has greater ambitions.
I want to become the real Minister of Household Affairs in the Ming Dynasty.
Inside the sedan chair.
Guo Huan has always had trouble calming down.
The Hanlin Academy’s actions this time left him with a knot in his throat.
He always felt like something was going to happen.
A long time.
Guo Huan's eyes darkened. He opened the curtain of the sedan, looked at the official who was leading the way, and said: "Li Chang, go and send a message to the left minister Wang Daoheng and the minister Hu Yi to ask them. I’m a little uneasy about the Hanlin Academy’s actions this time. I always feel like something is going to happen.”
“And...”
Guo Huan hesitated and shook his head: "Forget it, let's ask these two people first."
"I hope it's just me being annoying."
Guo Huan put down the sedan curtain and closed his eyes again to rest, still feeling uneasy.
He recalled the affairs of the imperial court in recent years and wondered whether he had any clues, but in the end he denied them all.
He works in the Ministry of Household Affairs and has always had clean hands and feet.
But the direction of the trend this time is obviously not groundless. His Majesty wants to investigate the Household Department, and it is not just a day or two. In the final analysis, it is not that the Household Department has discovered a problem, but His Majesty’s view of the Household Department’s situation. There is dissatisfaction.
As for why you are dissatisfied.
Guo Huan actually knew the reason for a long time.
It is because His Majesty has always been worried about Bei Yuan and wanted to destroy Bei Yuan in one go. However, since the founding of the country, the imperial court has launched five Northern Expeditions, which consumed a lot of people's and national power. So much money and food have been levied.
Because of this.
The Minister of Household Affairs has been replaced.
From Su Shu at the beginning, to his 'trial appointment' and now to Xu Duo, he changed three times in two years, but it was difficult to achieve the goal. However, His Majesty never gave up and kept pressing hard again and again. , asking them to raise food and grass for the Northern Expedition, the Ministry of Revenue finally found a way.
It is a warning.
Advance taxes to local merchants and villagers for several years after the Long March.
However, these things cannot be put on the surface, so there are many opportunities for secret operations.
And all of this is operated secretly and secretly by the Ministry of Finance.
But whether it is Guo Huan or Xu Duo, or the left minister Wang Daoheng, or the minister Hu Yi, they all know one thing. This is done in private and is not recognized by the 'imperial court'. Those high allocation targets, In the end, they won't cash it out, and they can't cash it out.
Therefore, someone will definitely take the blame in the end.
When he was demoted by His Majesty from the top of the household department to the "third in command", Guo Huan was secretly happy for a while, because he no longer had to bear this main responsibility. It really caused public dissatisfaction in the local area. Xu Duo has to face it.
But he didn't expect that His Majesty would not do what they expected.
Instead, the audit started directly.
Guo Huan was a little panicked.
The accounts of the Account Department can withstand a rough inspection, but they cannot withstand a detailed inspection.
Whoever is found responsible in the end may bear the biggest 'crime'. With the 'cruelty' shown by His Majesty to the outside world, even destroying the nine tribes is not enough. This is not something Guo Huan can accept. He can bear it. There is a certain amount of blame, but it must not be the main responsibility.
He doesn’t want to die yet.
He must find out how His Majesty checks the accounts.
As an official with a background in economics, he was very confident that as long as he knew how His Majesty checked the accounts, he could roughly guess who would be blamed.
Only by finding out, can he feel at ease.
Guo Huan opened his eyes, his eyes were very irritable and he still couldn't make up his mind.
He stretched out his hand to open the curtain, but when he touched the curtain, he retracted his hand.
At this moment.
There was a noise outside.
This made Guo Huan, who was already upset, even more upset, and finally got angry: "Come here, go and check for me, who is making a lot of noise on the street? Let them "Shut up, how can you behave in public?"
Guo Huan's personal butler Zheng Ao said quickly, "Just tell them to be quiet."
Guo Huan nodded. .
Also let the bearers walk faster. He didn't like hearing the loud noises now.
Next door street.
Compared to other streets, it is very popular.
Today is one month after the opening of Kyoto Salt Industry, and it is also the day when the final data is finalized.
Therefore, many people gathered outside the salt shop early.
Everyone wants to see how much salt Kyoto Salt Industry has sold after a month of sales, and whether it can reach the high mark of 500,000 kilograms of salt. Now it is less than a quarter of an hour before the store closes. Whenever someone continues to buy, There will be bursts of cheers from all around.
The atmosphere is lively.
Luo Gan and other merchants had livid faces.
They were still sitting in the tea house across the street, no longer talking and laughing as before.
The eyes are extremely serious.
In one month, the Kyoto Salt Shop sold as much salt as they had sold in the past three months.
The entire Yingtian Prefecture now only knows the Kyoto Salt Shop, but not the Luo's Salt Shop, Zhang's Salt Shop, etc. If the salt from the Kyoto Salt Shop is not sold to the 'county' level, otherwise they In these three months, it is very likely that there will be no harvest.
This is something they never thought of before.
And the Kyoto Salt Shop is producing salt much faster than they imagined.
Can actually bring out five hundred thousand catties.
This is half a million pounds.
Only three months.
In the past, they could not have imagined it.
Their original idea was to help the Kyoto Salt Industry to 'pad' insufficient quantities, forcing the Kyoto Salt Shop to go bankrupt. But now, Yingtianfu has sold 300,000 jins.
If the sales in the other eight counties are included, it would be nearly 400,000.
They no longer dare to go to bed.
It’s not that they can’t afford it, but after a secret investigation, they found that Kyoto Salt Industry did not lose money and still made a profit, but it was just a small amount. If they continue to pay it forward, Kyoto Salt Industry will make a lot of money. earn.
The only thing they have in mind right now is that they don’t want to reach 500,000 jins, so that the price of Kyoto Salt Industry can return to 20 cents per jin, so that their salt shop can still survive.
Otherwise they will really starve to death.
And now they are also facing a huge survival problem.
I just can’t sell the salt.
With the reputation of Kyoto Salt Industry in Yingtianfu, even if someone really wants to sell salt in the future, the first reaction is probably to go to Kyoto Salt Industry to buy it. Even if their salt is the same price, they will not be sold at all, and indeed The quality can't keep up either.
During this period, they have been smearing a lot, but to no avail.
They are completely helpless now.
The key point is that Xia Zhibai is still an official. There is nothing they can do against Xia Zhibai.
Now that they saw how popular the Kyoto Salt Shop was, they were filled with hatred and clenched their fists tightly.
At this moment.
A figure squeezed in.
It is Zheng Ao, Guo Huan's steward.
Zheng Ao's nostrils were turned upward, and his eyes were full of arrogance. He didn't take the people around him seriously, and indeed he didn't need to take them seriously. As the steward of a third-grade official, even the Yin of Yingtian Mansion, seeing You have to be nice to him, let alone a shop?
He looked around coldly and scolded: "Do you know where your feet are?"
"This is Yingtian Mansion, where the capital of the Ming Dynasty is located. Is this a place where you can make noises at will?"
< br>“What do so many people want to do when they gather together?”
“You want to rebel?!”
“Farmers don’t farm well, and workers don’t work well. They go to the city to gather people and disturb the ministers. We are free, I think you all want to die.”
"One by one!"
"."
Zheng Ao put his hands on his hips and shouted curses at everyone around him. Moving towards the Kyoto Salt Shop, when he saw it was the Kyoto Salt Shop, his pupils shrank slightly, and then he showed disdain.
If it was normal, he would let it go.
Now that his master has spoken, he will naturally not take it seriously.
Not to mention being a top scholar, even Ying Tian Fu Yin, he would still take the scolding.
“Kyoto Salt Shop?”
Just when Zheng Ao was about to speak, a figure wearing coarse linen clothes appeared on the street.
Seeing this young man with firm eyes, Zheng Ao's eyelids twitched slightly. He had heard of Xia Zhibai's name, he was very arrogant and arrogant.
But so what?
The person standing behind him was the Minister of Tobe.
Zheng Ao looked at Xia Zhibai and sneered: "You must be the Xia Zhuangyuan. You are indeed worthy of your reputation. You are willing to degenerate yourself and be with businessmen. But no one cares about your bad things. I came here just to tell you that this is Yingtian Mansion."
"You can do business, but don't make noise."
"I will also set a rule for you. I'm sure there will be more noise."
"As the steward of the Minister of Household Affairs, I should have the qualifications, right?" Zheng Ao sneered, looked at Xia Zhibai with a playful expression, and took the initiative to tell her. identity.
He believes it.
Xia Zhibai will know what’s interesting.
In Yingtian Mansion, a senior official can crush people to death.
What’s more, he represents the Minister of Household Affairs.
Several levels bigger.
(End of this chapter)