Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 25 Taking Back the Inner Treasury
The three cabinet ministers, Chief Liu Jian, Second Li Dongyang, and Third Xie Qian, also learned about this and looked depressed and resentful.

Because Zhu Houzhao's behavior was simply a slap in their faces. Now people inside and outside the Ming Dynasty praised the three cabinet ministers for governing the country so well and creating a prosperous era for the new emperor.

But now the fact is that the new emperor has to sell off his property in order to marry the queen and bury the late emperor!
This directly proved their incompetence! It completely put them in a crisis of trust, which was equivalent to denying their ability to assist the emperor in governing!

Li Dongyang, the deputy minister of the cabinet, also sneered and said to Han Wen, the minister of the Ministry of Revenue: "This is not only saying that you are incompetent, but also saying that our cabinet ministers are incompetent!"

"I just want to know who instigated Your Majesty to go outside the palace to sell the royal property!" Liu Jian looked at the city inspector Qin Dongyi with a gloomy face.

Qin Dongyi, the imperial censor who patrolled the city, said hurriedly, "I only saw an eunuch named Liu Jin talking to your majesty."

"It's Liu Jin again!"

Xie Qian came over immediately and said, "Everyone, I have said before that Liu Jin is no ordinary person. Your Majesty was lured out of the palace by him after he ascended the throne, and now he has lured you to the downtown area to do some business! Liu Jin deliberately wants to give the people the impression that we are mean to our emperor and father. This man deserves death!"

"Okay! Lord Prime Minister and Minister Han, now is not the time to talk about this. I just want to ask, what are you planning to do? You can't let His Majesty keep doing business like this in public," Minister of War Xu Jin asked hurriedly.

"What else can we do? Please send His Majesty back!"

The chief minister of the cabinet, Liu Jian, left Wenyuan Pavilion first, and the second minister Li Dongyang, the third minister Xie Qian, the minister of revenue Han Wen, the minister of war Xu Jin, and the city inspector Qin Dongyi also followed.

At this time, the Minister of Personnel Ma Wensheng also learned that Zhu Houzhao was holding a royal exposition on the street, and hurried to the cabinet, where he ran into the chief minister Liu Jian and others.

As soon as they met, Ma Wensheng didn't care about etiquette and rushed up to the Minister of Finance Han Wen and asked angrily: "Sir Han, you are a good minister! The late emperor worked hard for 18 years and was extremely frugal. He should have accumulated a lot of silver. But now, the new emperor has to sell off the royal property on the street just after ascending the throne. As a minister, how can you face the late emperor in the future? Not only you have no face, Ma has no face, and all the gentlemen present have no face!"

Han Wen, the Minister of Revenue, looked helpless and said with a sad face: "Master Ma, I admit that I am incompetent and have put my father and king in such a situation. I will write a letter of resignation tonight!"

After Han Wen said this, the Minister of Personnel Ma Wensheng did not force him any further and just snorted coldly.

The chief minister of the cabinet, Liu Jian, and others also remained silent. They knew that Ma Wensheng was using this incident to force the Minister of Revenue Han Wen to resign in order to weaken the power of his own cabinet. But now they could only let the Minister of Revenue Han Wen take the blame, because now everyone in the world knew that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was so poor that he had to sell off the imperial property. Someone had to take the blame for making the Ming Dynasty so poor that the emperor had no money. Since the cabinet could not take the blame, naturally, only the Ministry of Revenue, which was in charge of the world's finances, could take the blame.

Zhu Houzhao didn't know that his act of opening the Royal Fair had forced a minister of the Ministry of Revenue to resign. He only knew that he made a lot of money this time.

However, just as Zhu Houzhao was about to leave the Royal Exposition, he saw a large group of officials running towards him.

Not only officials but also the Jinyiwei and eunuchs in the palace were affected. The first to be affected were the eunuch Wang Yue, who was in charge of the Silijian, and the eunuch Zhang Zhao, who was in charge of the Yumajian, who followed behind him, and Mou Bin, the commander of the Jinyiwei.

Wang Yue naturally knew about Zhu Houzhao's street trading at this time, and cried sadly more than anyone else: "My emperor! Why are you doing this? You asked the eunuchs to ask the cabinet and the Ministry of Revenue for it. Why do you have to make me suffer like this? How can you make this old slave feel?"

At the same time, Wang Yue glared at Liu Jin and others fiercely: "Well, Liu Jin, Zhang Yong, how did you guys accompany the emperor! Do you know what you are doing! I won't be able to protect you when the time comes!"

When the people saw so many officials coming, they were frightened and ran away.

Zhu Houzhao was also a little surprised: "This is strange, could it be that they are also here to participate in the Royal Expo?"

Only Liu Jin smiled awkwardly: "Your Majesty, this scene doesn't seem like they are here to attend the Expo, but rather to call for punishment. They seem to be glaring at the eunuchs."

The other eight tigers also nodded, looking at Zhu Houzhao with some fear. "Don't be afraid, with me here, they dare not do anything to you. It's just an exhibition, it's nothing. I don't believe they dare to depose me!"

Zhu Houzhao smiled and sat down, crossed his legs, and pretended to be indifferent, asking the eunuch Wang Yue, the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department, and the chief minister Liu Jian, who had come close to him: "Wang Daban, Mr. Liu, what are you doing? You don't manage the affairs of the world for me. Do you want to come to my Royal Expo to buy something? If you want to buy, you can. I will give you a discount."

Liu Jian and the others thought that Your Majesty was cynical and did not think much about it. Only Liu Jian hurriedly bowed to Zhu Houzhao and said, "Your Majesty, you are worth a lot of money. How can you do things like Tao Zhu in this busy city? I hope Your Majesty can correct your mind, understand the people's desire for good governance, and return to the palace to govern the country."

"I didn't say I wouldn't go back. I just opened a royal expo to make some money. My dear ministers, don't make a fuss. I did this for Ming. The court has no money now, and I need money myself. As an emperor, can't I find a way to make some money myself?"

Zhu Houzhao asked with a smile.

"Your Majesty, it is my incompetence that has caused Your Majesty to fall into such a situation. I am guilty and I hope Your Majesty can return to the palace and rest!" The Minister of Revenue Han Wen quickly apologized.

"Your Majesty already has treasury, which is supported by the people. Why do you need to do it yourself? Please return to the palace," said Xie Qian, one of the three ministers of the cabinet.

Zhu Houzhao was waiting for this sentence, and hurriedly said: "Although I have internal treasury, it belongs to the Ministry of Revenue, and it is inconvenient for me to spend money. How about this? I can go back now, but we have to decide one thing. The internal treasury can no longer be managed by the Ministry of Revenue. I have to have the final say, otherwise I can't use my own internal treasury."
, when the time comes, the only way to spend money is to sell the royal property!"

"Your Majesty, this cannot be done. The inner treasury belongs to the Ministry of Revenue, which is the ancestral system established by Taizu. All the money and grain in the world belongs to the Ministry of Revenue, which collects them and distributes them to the inner treasury. The ancestral system cannot be changed!"

Li Dongyang, the second assistant of the cabinet, hurriedly objected.

The chief minister of the cabinet, Liu Jian, and others also expressed their agreement. After all, they all understood that once the inner treasury was no longer under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Revenue, they would not be able to arbitrarily reduce or exempt commercial taxes or embezzle the inner treasury, which would make the emperor's finances more free and they would not be able to control the emperor.

"If we follow the ancestral system, the cabinet does not have the power to draft bills, and the Imperial Household Department does not have the power to approve them. Do you really want to talk to the emperor about the ancestral system?"

Zhu Houzhao secretly winked at Liu Jin, who understood and answered for him. Liu Jian and others in the cabinet and Wang Yue and others in the Imperial Household Department were all speechless, but at the same time they hated Liu Jin even more in their hearts.

At this time, the Minister of Personnel Ma Wensheng also took the initiative to help Zhu Houzhao: "Your Majesty, this matter should be decided by the Ministry of Revenue, and you should ask the Ministry of Revenue. If the Ministry of Revenue is willing, we will naturally have no objection. I believe that the Minister of Revenue Han will not want Your Majesty to fall into a dilemma because the inner treasury is restricted by the Ministry of Revenue."

"My dear Han, you are the Minister of Revenue, what do you think?" Zhu Houzhao asked the Minister of Revenue Han Wen.

Han Wen, the Minister of Finance, was already disheartened at this point. He only hoped that Zhu Houzhao would return home soon and not make him feel ashamed again. He nodded and said, "I have no objection!"

"Your Majesty, we have no objection. The Neiku was originally for the emperor's use, and the Ministry of Revenue is only in charge of it. It is natural for Your Majesty to take it back!" The Minister of Personnel Ma Wensheng also immediately expressed his opinion. He had guessed that Zhu Houzhao's real purpose was to separate the Neiku, so he naturally followed suit. After all, he was still waiting for Zhu Houzhao to make him the Prime Minister in the future.

At this time, Xu Jin, the Minister of War, had already reached a consensus with Liu Jin in private and became a provisional member of the Loyal Emperor Society. Naturally, he had no objection, so only the cabinet was still insisting.

"My fellow ministers, do you still want His Majesty to sell goods on the street? If you insist on doing so, where do you want to put our emperor and father?" At this time, Jiao Fang, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, suddenly shouted and asked.

Liu Jian, the chief minister of the cabinet, turned around and looked at Jiao Fang angrily. He thought that there was not much money left in the treasury anyway. As long as His Majesty was not allowed to increase the commercial tax, it would not have much impact on His Majesty's return of the treasury. After all, letting the emperor go back was the most important thing now. So Liu Jian sighed helplessly: "I have no objection!"

Since the chief minister of the cabinet, Liu Jian, expressed his agreement, Li Dongyang, Xie Qian and others could not refute it and had to agree.

Zhu Houzhao said, "Well, from now on, the inner treasury will be under my management. I know that you civil officials hate eunuchs and are afraid that they will instigate me to spend money recklessly. I will follow your wishes and find a civil official to manage my inner treasury, but I will not go through the Ministry of Revenue. Where is Xu Jing, the director of my attendant office?"

(End of this chapter)