In the morning of the next day, Emperor Yan Ping raised the matter of building a shrine in public, and pretended to have a dream, saying that God had asked him to build a shrine to suppress troubles in all directions. Of course, this proposal was rejected by everyone, and Emperor Yan Ping was furious.
Wei Guanglu, the Minister of Household Affairs, explained to Emperor Yan Ping: "Your Majesty, our dynasty has been fighting for years and the national treasury is in serious deficit. This year's taxes have not been collected yet. We really have no money!"
Emperor Yan Ping said displeased: "I have no money, no money. Every time I want to do something, your Ministry of Revenue always says there is no money. So where have all the taxes and money from the national treasury gone? Is it because of you people?" "Is it empty?"
Wei Guanglu hurriedly knelt down and said: "Your Majesty, please calm down. I am in charge of the household department and will never dare to commit any corruption. In fact, our country has been in chaos for many years. The cost of the war is huge, and the people who have been displaced due to rebellion, plus natural and man-made disasters in some places, the expenses of the palace and the court, etc., there is really no money left!"
"No! Money, won’t the household department think of a way to do it? Is this how you deal with me if you only do abacus every day?”
Wei Guanglu was so frightened that he broke into a cold sweat and accepted the responsibility. Since becoming the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, he has never been in such a mess as now. Emperor Yan Ping's imperial scheming, the prince's party has been suppressed in the past two years, and it is really difficult to hold their head high.
"I don't dare. I deserve death for my crime."
Emperor Yan Ping didn't buy it, and still said angrily: "You people, eat what I have and use what I have." , In the end, I can’t do anything, so what’s the use of you?”
Everyone bowed their heads and remained silent.
"Everyone of them is a waste and a coward, and none of them can afford to do anything. Wei Guanglu, don't you, the Wei family, claim to be half the rich in the world? For so many years, I haven't seen you give me anything. What have you donated to the national treasury? We have been fighting for years, but your Wei family has been indifferent. You only want things from me. You are greedy and greedy! Gao Shihe has made a decree: From now on, Wei Guanglu, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, will be removed from his position, the family property will be confiscated, and the Wei family will be exiled. Come, go to Qianzhou."
Wei Guanglu was shocked, and said with a stuttering tone: "Your Majesty, please have mercy!"
Emperor Yan Ping flicked his sleeves and robes, and said outside the palace. The Imperial Guard officers dragged Wei Guanglu down without any explanation. When everyone saw this, they were frightened and at the same time, everyone was in danger. In their view, just because Wei Guanglu failed to satisfy Emperor Yan Ping's extravagant enjoyment, he dismissed a second-rank official in the imperial court without substantive evidence, confiscated his home and sent him into exile. Then such a disaster may not necessarily happen to him one day. The emperor In anger, blood really flows like a river.
The prince pleaded for Wei Guanglu: "Father..."
"Shut up! Do you think I don't know that Wei Guanglu is yours? As a prince, you secretly befriend ministers "What do you want?"
Now even the prince could not stand, Li Hao knelt down and said: "Father, I have no disobedience at all. Wei DaHe has been an official for more than thirty years and is a rare pillar of our dynasty. I hope my father will take back his life and forgive him. "
Emperor Yan Ping snorted coldly, looked down at the ministers, and said meaningfully: "You haven't even sat on this seat, and you are eager to give orders for me? Having been a prince for more than 20 years, can’t you wait? "
These words were so serious that Prince Li Hao did not dare to answer them at all.
Seeing everyone's trembling looks, Emperor Yan Ping said with satisfaction: "The prince and Wei Guanglu are friends. He is a traitor and will be banned from the East Palace from now on. No one can let him out without my order. "
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The prince was silent for a while and said slowly: "My son, I accept the decree. "
When everyone saw Emperor Yan Ping acting like this, they did not dare to stand up and remonstrate.
The person who took over the position of Wei Guanglu's minister was the former Minister of Hubu. Seeing Wei Guanglu's end It was so miserable that the Minister of the Ministry of Finance naturally did not dare to report the details to Emperor Yan Ping, but the Ministry of Finance really had no money, so he could not make something out of thin air. The army's food and fodder were said to be re-enumerated.
Isn't this just emptying the army? When the news reached the Fourth Expedition Army, it naturally caused great dissatisfaction. He went directly to the Minister of Hubu and asked him to give an explanation.
The Minister of Hubu did not dare to offend Li Han, so he thought about it and told Emperor Yan Ping about it.
The newly appointed Minister of Household Affairs finalized the construction of the shrine. Emperor Yan Ping was deeply satisfied and naturally wanted to protect him. However, when it came to the military, he was a little hesitant. After all, the lessons learned from past mistakes are not far away.
After Cheng Xueqi heard about it, she made a suggestion to him, saying: "Your Majesty, now that the world is at peace, raising these idle people will only drag down the national treasury. Why don't we lay off some old and weak soldiers, so that military expenditures will be reduced?" It was greatly reduced. Moreover, before I entered the palace, I heard people say: If you want to have food and clothing, you still have to enter the officialdom. This shows how dark this officialdom is. Now that the people in the world have just gone through the baptism of war and everyone is in poverty, your Majesty might as well reduce the salaries of officials, which can also save part of the treasury expenditure. The people in the Jiangnan area are living a prosperous life, so they might as well raise taxes higher. In this way, by this autumn, the national treasury will soon be rich. ”
Emperor Yan Ping thought about it vaguely. His chaotic brain could not even understand what Cheng Xueqi was saying, but it did not prevent him from recognizing the point of this sentence. It is naturally a good thing for the treasury to be abundant. , so he said with great joy: "What my beloved concubine said makes sense. "
So, Cheng Xueqi handed him the pen and said, "Then your Majesty will issue an edict. "
Emperor Yan Ping was in a daze when Cheng Xueqi stuffed a pen into his hand. He didn't know what he was going to do. He just stared blankly in a daze and said, "What are you writing? ”
“The edict. "
"What edict? ”
Cheng Xueqi was startled and thought: Could it be that the dose of medicine was too high? Or is Emperor Yan Ping really old and confused?
Cheng Xueqi had no choice but to grab Emperor Yan Ping's hand and finish writing the edict. However, when it came time to use the jade seal, Emperor Yan Ping was so confused that he didn't know where the jade seal was.
Cheng Xueqi searched everywhere, and finally found this jade seal in Emperor Yan Ping's sleeve.
After sealing the imperial edict, Cheng Xueqi asked Cheng Dun to hand it over to Gao Shihe who was waiting outside the palace, and asked Gao Shihe to convey Emperor Yan Ping's will. Immediately afterwards, Cheng Dun went to the alchemy room to invite Yu Qiuzi.
Yu Qiuzi did not realize the seriousness of the situation at first. After she took Emperor Yan Ping's pulse and combined with what Cheng Xueqi said just now, she realized the seriousness of the matter.