Of course, Ang Lee knew what was wrong with Madam Qin. He also figured out the main reason why she came to him alone. For Madam Qin's urgent needs, Ang Lee could only try his best to satisfy her. There was no reason or need to refuse. If he did his best to satisfy her, she would not make trouble again.
Of course, Ang Lee did not know if Madam Qin had any other needs. It was easy for Ang Lee to satisfy her. What if she asked for more and Ang Lee could not satisfy her?
"Assistant Minister Li is really powerful. It seems that Yadan was right. No wonder she often comes to Assistant Minister Li. He is much better than those weak scholars."
Madam Qin said with satisfaction.
"Madam, is there anything else you want to do?"
Ang Lee had entered the sage mode. He was not in the mood to continue talking with Madam Qin. He wanted to ask her to leave immediately so that he could continue to practice his spear.
Madam Qin was unhappy because Ang Lee's tone was too stiff. She complained, "Weren't you very energetic just now? What's wrong with you now? You are annoying me."
"Madam, I don't dare. It's just that His Majesty wants me to complete the Long-distance Voice-transmitting Plan. I am really tired these days. I am a little weak."
Ang Lee said lightly.
"Assistant Minister Li's performance just now was not weak at all. You have too many beautiful wives at home. You are too busy!"
Madam Qin said angrily.
"Madam, you can think whatever you want. But it seems that you don't lack scholars."
Ang Lee said.
"Assistant Minister Li seems to know me quite well. I don't lack any. However, they are too useless. Even three to five of them together can't compare to Assistant Minister Li. Isn't it good to change things up once in a while?"
Madam Qin said.
"That's easy. I used to lead soldiers in the army. I am familiar with many people in the army. They are all very powerful. Do you need to know a few of them? I can introduce them to you. "
Ang Lee said jokingly.
"No need."
Madam Qin got angry. She got up and put on her clothes, showing a dissatisfied look.
She was confident that she was full of charm. Every time those scholars were done, they were reluctant to part with her and praised her for her charm. However, Ang Lee's performance made her quite dissatisfied. He even wanted to push her to someone else. It was obvious that he was not very satisfied with her.
Of course, Ang Lee was not very satisfied. This fellow's appearance was not bad. She was a middle-aged woman, but her life was not very good. She lay on the table like a dead pig and did not move much. If she closed her eyes and changed to a pig, the effect and feeling would be the same. In short, this fellow's level was far worse than her eighth sister. Ang Lee was not very satisfied and did not want a next time.
"Madam, please button your collar properly. The weather is cold, so don't catch a cold."
Ang Lee didn't dare to offend them too much. It was necessary to show a little concern.
Madam Qin smiled slightly and said, "I'm from the palace. The solar barbecue stove that Assistant Minister Li gave to His Majesty is very interesting. Do you have any more?"
Obviously, Madam Qin took a fancy to the solar barbecue stove. She came here alone to ask Ang Lee for one. As for what happened just now, maybe it was just a temporary idea. After all, Ang Lee was such a charming man that it was normal for her to lose control after seeing him, especially for a middle-aged woman.
Seeing that she came to ask for the solar barbecue stove, Ang Lee showed an expression of understanding and said straightforwardly, "Madam, since you're from the palace, you should have heard that His Majesty liked the solar barbecue stove since he saw it. He extorted 100 of them in one breath. His Majesty can't use so many barbecue stoves alone. Based on your relationship with the Imperial Concubine, it's a sure thing that His Majesty will reward you with one."
Madam Qin nodded and said, "Assistant Minister Li is right. I know all this. However, when I came here just now, I saw the servants of Gwangbyeong Of Gojoseon leave. I asked them. It will take some days for the 100 barbecue stoves to be ready. Is there no ready-made one?"
"No, really. However, the mass production will start in a few days. After it's done, I'll send another one to you, Madam Qin, regardless of the reward from His Majesty for the time being. Is that okay?"
Ang Lee didn't care about a barbecue stove. These things might be very expensive when they were on the market, but for Ang Lee, it was very cheap. The manufacturing of glass products was getting more and more mature, and the cost had been decreasing. The cost of a glass tube was not much, but Ang Lee was too greedy. He sold it for dozens of times the profit. In this way, not only could he make more money, but also let the people who used glass products know the importance of saving, thus greatly reducing the waste of resources.
Since Ang Lee was so sincere, Madam Qin didn't say anything more. She smiled and left.
Ang Lee closed the door of the office and then continued to practice his pistol.
As the end of the year approached, all the departments of the imperial court began to be busy. Many departments were summarizing the work experience of the past year. At the same time, they were also calculating the various achievements of the past year. All kinds of data were there, and the data wouldn't lie. It was obvious at a glance who had achieved the best results.
Since it was a year-end summary, there would naturally be people who did well, and some who didn't. The officials who did well were expected to be rewarded, and the officials who didn't do well were likely to face the risk of being demoted.
Of course, in addition to a certain government office, there were people who did well and people who didn't. Different government offices had different performances. Some of them achieved great results and would definitely be praised by the Emperor, while some of them didn't do well and would have to think about how to explain it to the Emperor.
Under the influence of Ang Lee, the Ministry of Works had the most outstanding performance in the past year. The results were also very good. Ang Lee didn't become the assistant minister for nothing. Although Ang Lee didn't work in the Ministry of Works much, his influence in the Ministry of Works was not small. When the officials of the Ministry of Works encountered difficulties, they would think of asking Ang Lee for help, not their superior Guo Xuji.
Guo Xuji was also the assistant minister of the Ministry of Works, which was the same rank as Ang Lee. He was in charge of the specific matters of the Ministry of Works. Logically speaking, when the subordinates encountered difficulties, they should go to him. However, Guo Xuji's ability and prestige were far inferior to Ang Lee's. There were many problems that the officials of the Ministry of Works couldn't solve, but Guo Xuji couldn't solve them either. These officials of the Ministry of Works knew that it was futile to go to Guo Xuji, so they simply went to Ang Lee. Only in this way could the problems be truly solved.
As such, Guo Xuji could only solve the trivial matters or follow up on the path that Ang Lee had already opened up.
Because of Ang Lee's help, the Ministry of Works had achieved great results in the past year. They had made rapid progress in all aspects. Just the iron mine that the Ministry of Works was in charge of produced a large amount of pig iron. Moreover, the production increased with each passing month. Even during winter, the production didn't decrease at all. This was very commendable.
All of this couldn't be separated from the help that Ang Lee provided. After all, the new process of smelting iron was invented by Ang Lee. As for the problems that the iron mines and iron workshops encountered, as well as how to solve them, Ang Lee had a very high say in it.
If these problems couldn't be solved by Ang Lee, then no one could. Many seemingly small problems, if not solved in time, would seriously affect the production of the workshops and mines, thus affecting the results of the Ministry of Works.
The Ministry of Works was also responsible for the laying of the new railway. In this regard, the Ministry of Works' contribution could be said to be great. The newly built and under construction railways made the transportation of the Tang Empire much more convenient. This played a very important role in the economic boom of the Tang Empire. No one could deny the huge contribution of the Ministry of Works.
Just in the construction of the railways and bridges, the contribution of the Ministry of Works had already surpassed that of many other departments, leaving the other departments far behind.
Of course, if there was a Ministry of Works that performed well, there would also be departments that performed poorly. The performance of the Railway Bureau was relatively worse. Speaking of the Railway Bureau, some people had suggested that it should be assigned to the Ministry of Works. However, in order to show the importance of the railway, the Imperial Court had designated it separately. In this way, the income of the railway operation had nothing to do with the Ministry of Works.
Although the Railway Bureau of the Tang Empire had achieved good results under the leadership of Yu Chaoen, and the income was greater than the expenditure, the growth of the income was constantly falling. If this trend continued, the Railway Bureau might suffer an overall loss in a few years, and this was obviously not allowed by the Imperial Court.
Of course, even if there was a loss, there was a way to solve it. That was to increase the freight. Whether it was for passengers or freight, the price could be increased. However, this would increase the travel cost of ordinary people and increase the transportation cost of merchants, thus leading to the trend of increasing the price of goods.
As long as it was not a last resort, the price of rail transportation would naturally be as low as possible. This was especially true for the ordinary passenger carriages. Those who sat in the carriages were the poorest commoners. A slight increase in the price would have a huge impact on their lives.
As for why the Railway Bureau's profit had begun to fall, Yu Chaoen's heart was as clear as a mirror. The current level of railway transportation had not decreased at all. With such a prosperous transportation situation, the income should be increasing higher and higher, or at least, it should not be decreasing! This was really a bit unreasonable.
With just a little thought, Yu Chaoen understood that the people below must have stuffed a lot of the income that should have belonged to the Imperial Court into their own pockets. One or two rats could not eat up the granary, but if there were thousands of rats, then no matter how large the granary's capacity was, it would not be able to withstand the tossing and turning.
For the people below, occasionally being greedy, Yu Chaoen did not care. He was not a good person himself, and he had also been greedy. However, if this kind of atmosphere lacked sufficient effective supervision, then it would become uncontrollable. There would be more and more corrupt people, so much so that they would embezzle most of the Imperial Court's income, causing a huge loss to the Imperial Court. It was just feeding these fat rats.
During the period of the expansion of the railway's income, the corruption of these petty thieves was covered by the halo of economic prosperity. It was not easy to be discovered, and they could steal as much as they wanted.
However, people's desires were endless. This time, they were greedy for a little and found that nothing happened. Then, next time, it would not be a little, but a lot. The next time, it would be even more. After that, it would be more and more. As for other people who were more well-behaved, when they saw that their colleagues had stolen so much money and were fine, they would naturally be tempted, so they would follow suit. Once this kind of behavior spread, it would be like a flu virus. It would spread at an extremely fast speed, and then it would become uncontrollable.
Even if the income continued to grow, it could not withstand the erosion of so many vermin, especially after the railway's income growth gradually slowed down. This problem was very obvious.
In the first half of the year, the Railway Bureau's income growth was still very stable, and it increased a lot compared to last year. However, after the second half of the year, the income growth decreased month by month, especially in the last two months of the year. The income growth dropped even more, making the Railway Bureau's account very ugly.
As the leader of the Railway Bureau, Yu Chaoen was naturally very anxious about this. Although the income was still increasing, the speed of increase was too fast. He might be able to get away with it this year, but according to this trend, the Railway Bureau was likely to lose money next year. Once there was a loss, the Imperial Court would definitely not be willing to accept it, and his life would not be easy.
In addition, even if he could get away with it this year, it was inevitable that he would be reprimanded. After all, he was in charge of the Railway Bureau, and in the second half of the year, the decline in performance was too obvious, and the reason for the decline in performance was not so good, so it was difficult to convince people.
Yu Chaoen embezzled the Railway Bureau's money, and at the same time, he was angry at the greedy people below him. This was also a common problem of corrupt officials. It was fine if he was greedy, but he could not allow others to be so unscrupulously greedy. After all, the Railway Bureau's income was there. If there were a few vermin, plus himself, he would not be able to embezzle much, but if there was a large group of vermin, then it would be impossible to clean up.
It was like a group of servants herding sheep for the farm owner. It was easy for five or six people to take care of thousands of sheep. If someone wanted to get some wool, he could find a sheep and secretly harvest some wool, and he would not be discovered by the farm owner. However, if these five or six people were harvesting wool, and they became bolder and bolder, increasing the amount of wool they harvested step by step, then the farm owner would soon find that the sheep he raised could not grow wool, and they would become bald. As a result, the actions of these five or six servants would naturally be discovered.
The current situation of the Railway Bureau was that there were too many vermin. It was similar to this story, and the consequence of too many vermin was that they would soon be exposed. The moment the wool was significantly reduced, the behavior of the servants who stole the wool would be discovered. It was the same for the Railway Bureau. When many people joined in the corruption, the income of the Railway Bureau would naturally slow down.
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