"Reporting to Your Majesty, I have a memorial …"
"The Minister impeaches Mo Jiazi …"
"The Prince Consort of the Mo Family is involved in printing money …"
With the Qian Family's support, the entire imperial court became agitated and began to impeach Meton for his printing money business.
Li Shimin couldn't help but hold his aching forehead. Every time Mo Jiazi caused trouble, he would come to clean it up. Now, just the memorials impeaching Meton filled the entire table.
"Haha, since ancient times, wine has always been red, while money and silk have moved people's hearts. The ancients didn't lie to me." Li Shimin looked at the table full of memorials and sneered.
Morton's every action of receiving and releasing the money had been done right under his nose. Naturally, he knew all about it. Even as an emperor, he couldn't help but gasp in amazement at such a huge amount of wealth.
"Your Majesty, I have requested to see you many times. Please make a decision." Pande placed a thick stack of memorials on the table and bowed.
"Make a decision? When Meton was in trouble, they all stood by and did nothing. They even secretly hit him when he was down. Now that Mo Jiazi has amassed a large amount of wealth without stealing or robbing, they must be jealous! "Li Shimin sneered. He had seen through the faces of these aristocratic families.
Pande nodded silently and said, "However, these officials have something on the Prince Consort of printing money."
"Printing money? You call it printing money with an annual interest rate of 6%? "Li Shimin sneered.
This time, he had been paying attention to Mo Jiazi's borrowing of printing money. Naturally, he knew about the 6% annual interest rate. Compared to the 3% daily interest rate of the Qian Family, Meton was simply doing charity.
"After all, if we can't collect the money from the stamp, we'll be forced to sell our sons and daughters. It's too bloody, and the officials are worried that it'll affect the royal family's reputation," Pande said worriedly. From the standpoint of the royal family, Meton's actions were indeed inappropriate.
Li Shimin couldn't help but pause. This was a hidden danger, but he didn't believe that Meton would do such a thing.
"Reporting to Your Majesty, Merton has personally come to court to plead his case!" Suddenly, a guard hurriedly reported.
Li Shimin narrowed his eyes and said, "I don't know what kind of wind blew today, but they all came. That's good. Let Meton go to Taiji Palace and wait. Let him personally explain himself in front of the officials."
…
"Your subjects greet Your Majesty!"
Within Taiji Palace, Meton and the officials bowed.
"My beloved subjects, please rise!" Li Shimin waved his hand and said calmly.
After the officials rose, Yu Zhining couldn't wait to step out and said, "Your Majesty, the Minister impeaches Meton. As a member of the Hundred Schools of Thought and a member of the royal family, he actually engaged in the printing money business. It's a disgrace to the name of the Hundred Schools of Thought, and it's also a disgrace to the royal family's reputation."
With Yu Zhining taking the lead, the other officials all followed suit and condemned Mo Jiazi's despicable act of printing money.
Li Shimin pretended that he didn't know anything and said with a strange expression, "Printing money? How come I heard that the Mo Family was very short of money a while ago, and even my precious daughter took the lead to be thrifty and advocated the CD Drive."
"The CD Drive is really a good thing."
"The princess is virtuous and thrifty. She's really a role model for all women in the world."
"The CD Drive is the essence of our thousand years of thriftiness. The princess deserves the most credit for the prevailing thriftiness in the Tang dynasty."
…
Hearing Li Shimin mention the merits of Princess Changle, many officials echoed. Whether from the perspective of a wife or the thriftiness of the whole Tang dynasty, the CD Drive was indeed the best tool for thriftiness. What was more commendable was that it was more popular than the harsh thriftiness of the Confucian School.
Hearing the affirmation of the officials, Li Shimin couldn't help showing a complacent smile. After all, Princess Changle was his daughter. She could achieve such glory, so he naturally felt proud. However, when he turned to Meton, his face became cold and he said, "Meton, what did you promise at the beginning? Changle is the eldest princess of the Tang dynasty. When has she ever been wronged like this? It's all because your Mo's Village is short of money."
Meton couldn't help but show a bitter face and said, "It's Son-in-law's fault. When I go back, I'll definitely ask the kitchen to restore the princess' dishes."
Li Shimin stroked his beard and said, "Forget it. A person can only eat half a kilogram of grain a day. Even if you put a table full of food, how much can you eat? Lord Fang, please draft a decree from the Secretariat to call for the nationwide CD Drive. "
Since it was his daughter's credit, Li Shimin naturally didn't mind adding fuel to the fire and making the credit bigger.
"Your Majesty is wise. Now that the people in the world are thrifty, the Tang dynasty will be prosperous in the future." Fang Xuanling bowed and accepted the order.
Yu Zhining could not help but grumble to himself. He could only watch as Li Shimin led the court astray, but there was nothing he could do.
"Your Majesty, I want to speak out for the princess! Her Highness's CD Drive is the blessing of the people in the world. However, no matter how great the blessing is, it can't resist the disaster brought by the bloody stamp money. "Yu Zhining had an idea and cried out in pain.
"The stamp money!" Li Shimin seemed to suddenly come back to his senses and realized that they were still arguing about Meton's release of stamp money.
"Meton, is the report of the ministers true?" Li Shimin shouted to Meton.
"Your Majesty, it is true. The Minister accidentally borrowed too much stamp money and couldn't spend it all, so he released some of it." Meton admitted without hesitation.
"Borrowed too much?"
"Can't spend it all?"
The ministers couldn't help but feel a little envious. The people only hated that they didn't have enough money in their hands, but Mo Jiazi was worried about having too much money in his hands.
Li Shimin couldn't help but feel jealous. Not only the people were short of money, but even the Emperor was short of money. The Tang dynasty needed money everywhere. He also wished he could have Meton's troubles.
"Then how much stamp money did you borrow?" Cheng Yaojin curiously asked the question that was on everyone's mind.
Meton opened his thumb and index finger and said with a simple and honest smile, "It's already 800,000 strings of cash!"
"Hiss!" Suddenly, everyone couldn't help but gasp. 800,000 strings of cash. Even the national treasury didn't have that much cash.
Dai Zhou, the head of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, couldn't help but go crazy with jealousy. He was the assistant minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and a first-rank official in the imperial court, but his life was worse than that of a doctor from the Imperial College. No, it should be said that he was a shopkeeper now.
"According to the annual interest rate of 3%, your annual interest is at least 24,000 strings of cash."
Cheng Yaojin also looked at Meton speechlessly. He didn't know whether to say that Meton was amazing or reckless. 24,000 strings of cash every year was a heavy burden to anyone.
Meton showed a trace of embarrassment and said, "To be precise, it should be 30,000 strings of cash. Many people save for five years of interest, so the interest is higher. This doesn't include the stamp money that will continue to be collected in the future."
"It's already 800,000 strings of cash, and you're still collecting?"
Suddenly, the officials were in an uproar. They all looked at Meton with their mouths agape. Mo Jiazi was too greedy.
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