As the saying goes, men die for wealth, and birds die for food. Since ancient times, the hardest thing to get was someone else's wealth.
Even if it was obtained improperly, since it was in their hands and into their stomachs, it was theirs. There was no reason to spit it out after eating it. If you want me to spit it out, that means you want to beat me up and cut me open. I will not allow it.
It wasn't easy to come up with these one hundred thousand taels of silver. The three Cabinet Elders had forced themselves to dig it out of the stomachs of their subordinates, who were filled with hatred.
Among the six ministries, the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Justice had the lowest status and each had to fork out ten thousand taels of silver. The Ministry of Rites was important during the imperial examinations, but at other times, it was invisible, noble, and had no power.
The Ministry of Revenue was the head of finance. It was reasonable for the Minister of Revenue to fork out twenty thousand taels of silver. The Ministry of Appointments was the lifeline of everyone. The officials of the Ministry of Appointments were in charge of everyone's official positions, but they could not control the cabinet. If the ministers asked, they had to fork out the money. Twenty thousand taels of silver. The Ministry of War, needless to say, twenty thousand taels of silver.
Just like that, the six ministries each had to fork out a sum of money to get a hundred thousand taels of silver.
"The imperial court has no money to fight a war, so they use our ministry's funds? What if they have no money to fight a war? What is His Majesty thinking? How could he do such a stupid thing?! "
An official of the Ministry of Appointments was indignant.
"That's right! What does it have to do with us that the imperial court has no money? We are doing things with our salaries, so why should we pay for it? It's not us who are killing people! It's the money to repair the Yellow River! "
An official of the Ministry of Works also stood up to agree.
"If we have no money to fight a war, then why does the emperor put so much money in his pocket every year? It's also because of the mining tax and Japanese contributions. The emperor has the most money in his pocket. Why doesn't he pay for it himself? Is there such a logic in this world? "
An official of the Ministry of Justice also stood up to express his opinion, but he was immediately stared at by a stern gaze. He shivered all over and did not speak anymore.
It was Song Yingchang who looked at him.
He was the only one among the ministers of the six ministries who did not complain.
The leaders of the Six Tribes did not speak. This was not the place for them to speak, and there was no need for them to speak. If they wanted to speak, their subordinates would do it for them. They had to maintain their poise in front of the Cabinet Elders. Even though they were full of complaints, they still did not say what they should not say.
Of course, their income was plentiful. Ten to twenty thousand taels of silver was not a problem for them. However, the people working under them had to rely on these funds to make money to support their families. It couldn't be helped. Who asked the salary of the Daming officials to be so low?
They were all officials, but their lives weren't even as rich as a shopkeeper of a small restaurant. How could this be? Therefore, of course, they had to get some extra income. The extra income was not much, ranging from seven to eight thousand yuan to thirty to forty thousand yuan. Everyone split the expenses and took them home.
Every family had old people and young children. Their mothers had to support their children and raise them. In the middle, there was a woman who needed money to be fed. Every year, they had to spend tens of thousands of taels of silver. This was very normal, and no one blamed anyone.
What? A few dozen taels of silver was enough for a family of three for a year?
That was a bumpkin!
We are the noble scholars and masters! How could a Jinshi be mentioned in the same breath as those lowly peasants?
They ate rotten grains and pickled carrots. You want us, the Literati Stars, to eat these? Is this for humans to eat? Not eating dragon liver and phoenix marrow is already giving you face! If there was no meat, fish, or oil in every meal, how could we eat it?
Children need wet nurses, right?
I need tonics, right?
Squandering daughters-in-law and those beautiful concubines need rouge and cosmetics, right?
Everyone needs to pay some filial piety during the holidays, right?
This was the basic skill of being an official! How could they live without tens of thousands of taels of silver? Even so, you still want to deduct our funds. How are we going to live?
Our family's farmland is less than ten thousand mu. Our old house hasn't been expanded to eighty or ninety rooms. Our ancestral tombs haven't been repaired. We haven't even bought the silk and satin that squandering women want. How are we going to live?
Are we still living like humans?
The Literati Stars in the room all frowned. It was as if asking for these ten or twenty thousand taels of silver was equivalent to asking for their lives.
But … isn't this the department's funds?
It doesn't matter. If there's no more, we can ask the higher-ups. If they don't give us money, we won't do anything! What? The previous ones? The previous ones have all been used up! Don't believe me? Come, come, take a look. One trip costs three hundred taels of silver. Buying some cloth to make official robes costs five hundred taels … and so on.
"During the war, the navy was also the Emperor's own funds. Three hundred thousand taels of silver was thrown out like it was not money. How could it be exchanged for just three hundred thousand taels? Emperor Zhu is the richest in the world. Why does he need us to squeeze money out of our teeth to give it to him? This doesn't make sense!
He has so much mining tax and so much Japanese tribute. Why can't he use it? Isn't this world Daming? Isn't this world his Zhu family's world? He can't even bear to spend money on his own world. How can he expect us to spend money for him? Ridiculous! How can there be such logic in the world? "
An old man with a white beard stood up shakily. He made a series of comments and won a round of applause.
What else could Song Yingchang do? Smile bitterly? Sneer?
All he could do was smile.
Listening to these people talk, Song Yingchang felt as if he was not in the human world but in hell listening to a meeting of imps. People say that the King of Hell is easy to see but the imps are hard to deal with. Now it seemed that it was true. These imps were all meticulous in their calculations. They were petty and greedy. Asking for a tael of silver was like asking for his life.
Deducting money from these people's hands … Ji Xin, you're going to be remembered …
Song Yingchang could not help but think of the young general he had chatted with on the battlefield in Korea. Now, his status was not the same as it was in the past. He was a dignified Marquis who ruled over Burma and had a high status. Even civil officials could not order him around and had to respect him.
But this was all on the surface. The Mu family of Yunnan was the adopted son of the Great Ancestor. They had a layer of relationship. The Xiao family did not have this layer of relationship. They lacked a layer of protection. This time, they sent troops to ask for money. They had offended the officials of the Six Ministries. Although the majority of the money was with the Emperor, Xiao Ruxun's own life would not be easy.
But these were not what Song Yingchang needed to worry about. Song Yingchang was worried about something else.
Back in Korea, Xiao Ruxun had told him more than once that winter was getting colder and earlier. If his memory was correct, the first day of frost this year was five days earlier than the first day of frost three years ago.
Two years ago, it was one day. A year ago, it was three days. This year, it was five days.
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