latelenovela Chapter 622: Palace Fights Are All Scheming
Chapter 622: Palace Fights Are All Scheming
"Your Majesty, Prince Xin requests an audience."
Xiao Yun was looking at the world map drawn by Jiaduobao in the back hall when Qinghe came in to report.
"Prince Xin? Why are you here to see me at this time? Please go to the Imperial Study first. I will be there shortly."
"Yes." Qinghe took the order and retreated.
Prince Xin is the Fourth Prince Chu Mingxin. Since neither the previous emperor nor Emperor Yongkang gave him or the Third Prince any title, they are all addressed by their names or rankings.
According to her, three days had passed since she went to Linzhou, and someone had reported the situation there as quickly as possible. After all, it involved the private army and iron ore arsenal of the remnants of the Qing Dynasty, and none of them could be handled by a small local official.
Xiao Yun held the little fat boy in the imperial study and listened to the suggestions of several regent ministers on how to deal with the problem. He thought there was no problem, so he let them do it.
The little fat man Chu Sheng has not yet ascended the throne, so he cannot attend court. Political affairs are temporarily handled by several regent ministers and high-ranking officials.
However, they were all very sensible and would come to report to Xiao Yun on major issues. It was not to ask for her opinion, but to tell her the solution. She would just have someone draft an edict and stamp it, after all, the imperial seal was with her.
If they are sensible, Xiao Yun will not treat them unfairly. If they do well, she will reward them. If they mess up, of course there will be punishments. However, she will not interfere with their actions.
No matter what you do, the most taboo thing is for an outsider to manage the insiders. Don't tell her that you can quote modern management concepts, as that also requires a good environment.
There is also a saying that goes "adapt to local conditions". Reading by rote is the worst option and is not applicable to the system of feudal society at all.
Moreover, she knew how to use people well. If these people did something wrong, she would point it out. But they were old hands who had been immersed in officialdom for decades, and their families were from a family of officials. They had much more experience than her, a rookie in officialdom.
Many times, even all aspects were thought of, just like the Linzhou incident. Without Xiao Yun's reminder, several old ministers suggested that the garrison of Yunzhou next door should go and arrest the person, and send an imperial envoy to conduct a thorough investigation.
After all, the Chen family has been entrenched there for many years, with so many industries and forces, it is impossible for local officials to be unaware of it. No matter how secretive so many people are, they will always reveal some clues.
Xiao Yun had thought of this before, so he sent a set of evidence to both the county government and the state government. If neither side took action, then the officials of Linzhou could just carry out a major purge.
Fortunately, the Chen family has not yet reached the provincial government, and the provincial government's response was relatively quick. They immediately arrested the person and reported it. I guess the situation at the county government office is not certain. They should have their accomplices. At that time, we only need to clean up that side, and the losses will be much smaller.
Oops, I've gone off topic again. Let's get back to the topic. I don't know what the Fourth Prince wants to see her about. He has never come to see her specifically before.
With doubts, he went to the front side hall, where the emperor and his close ministers usually handled government affairs.
Since the other party came to ask for a meeting openly, she would meet him there openly to avoid being accused of having a private meeting between uncle and sister-in-law.
At this time, there were still quite a few people working in the front side hall, especially several regent ministers, who were there almost every day during this period and were very competent.
These people used to only enter the palace for grand court meetings, but now they can be said to have done all the work that Prime Minister Qiao and the emperor used to do.
Outside, he used his spiritual sense to scan and saw Chu Mingxin talking to a minister. Upon closer inspection, he saw that it was the Minister of Revenue.
Why is he here? The six ministries all have their own offices, and they won't enter the palace unless it's time for a court meeting.
After listening to their conversation, she found that they were talking about disaster relief. Where was the disaster? How could she not know?
Xiao Yun walked in with Li Hong and Yue Gui. When they saw her come in, the two stopped talking and the others stood up and saluted her.
She made a gesture of support and said, "My lords, there is no need to be so polite. Please stand up quickly."
After everyone was seated, she turned to the Minister of Revenue and the Fourth Prince and asked, "Royal brother, Lord Zhang, are you two here together?"
Zhang Youli, the Minister of Revenue, bowed and said, "Your Majesty is indeed very perceptive. The prince and I did come here together."
Xiao Yun was a little surprised. She just asked, but she didn't expect that the two of them actually came together.
"But what happened?"
Lord Zhang looked at Chu Mingxin, and Chu Mingxin stretched out his hand and made a gesture of invitation, indicating that the other party should speak.
Master Zhang then spoke again: "Your Majesty, an urgent report came in from Huzhou at noon today, saying that it has been raining heavily for five consecutive days. The dike there has not been repaired yet, and there is a fear of flooding.
Prince Xin had previously been in Huzhou supervising the dike construction and was most familiar with the situation there. He had previously gone to the old ministers to tell them that they wanted to prepare for disaster relief in advance.
But...sigh...Your Majesty and the others should also know that since the late Emperor's passing, there have been four consecutive national mournings in less than a year. Furthermore, the construction of the Imperial Mausoleum cannot be delayed either. All that money has been spent like water. Now the national treasury is cleaner than my face. How can there be any money left for disaster relief?"
The other ministers also had sad expressions on their faces, shaking their heads and sighing.
Xiao Yun did not doubt what Lord Zhang said. Most of Qi State's tax revenue came from agriculture, and there was almost no commercial tax because the craftsmen and big shops were all in the hands of aristocratic families and would not pay taxes at all. And the small vendors could only make a living, so there was no hope of success.
Another point is that the territory of Qi State is all inland, which is more suitable for farming. Unlike several other countries, the Man State has large grasslands and pastures, and its animal husbandry is developed. It can exchange a lot of supplies with other countries every year just by relying on horses, cattle and sheep.
The Lie Kingdom has more mountains and hills, and many minerals and medicinal materials, while the Yuan Kingdom is close to the sea... Both of them live by the mountains and the water.
Xiao Yun wanted to develop trade, but it was not easy to do so in his own country. He couldn't transport grain from the north to the south to sell it. They were all the same things, so it would be a waste of time.
We can exchange what we have with other countries, but apart from the fact that Xihu has now been incorporated into the territory of Qi State, Man State and Lie State are still at war with us. If we want to open a trade route, we must at least defeat the other side.
It seems that we can only fleece the aristocratic families. After all, they have controlled all the silk and porcelain, and have occupied most of the land. Since we cannot touch the salt and iron controlled by the court itself, we can only attack them.