I am Li Shen and Li Shimin, the free kings of the Tang Dynasty

Li Shen had only a vague understanding of banking operations and could only grope his way around.

"Your Majesty, in addition to the work of the craftsmen, Qian Yuanzheng also needs to settle the bill for the road construction materials.

However, after paying for the labor, I am afraid I cannot afford to pay for the materials.”

After finishing talking about one thing, Wang Hongfu started talking about the second one.

"What? Can't give it to me anymore?"

Li Shen was extremely surprised.

"Yes, the wages paid this time amounted to four million strings of cash, and the palace's treasury was basically emptied.

Unless we use the stuff in vault number two, we won’t have enough money for materials.”

Wang Hongfu nodded.

"That's impossible. Did our palace earn four million guan this year?

I also cheated more than one million from Your Majesty.

Tell me, where did my money go? "

Li Shen was a little uncalm. The annual income of his palace was four to five million strings of cash, not to mention that he had cheated a lot of money.

How come at the end of the year, there are only four million left.

When Li Shen heard that he had no money, he started to get agitated and was lucky enough that he didn't attack anyone.

Wang Hongfu saw the furious Li Shen and immediately explained:

"Your Majesty, this year's revenue is about 6 million guan, plus the money Your Majesty has earned, it will be almost 8 million guan.

The annual expenditure of the palace is 500,000 strings of cash. And..."

"What did you say? The palace spends 500,000 strings of cash a year?"

Li Shen questioned before Wang Hongfu finished speaking.

Although Prince Ji's mansion was quite luxurious, with all kinds of silks and satins and the finest food, it couldn't cost 500,000 strings of cash.

Twenty or three hundred thousand strings of cash would be the maximum.

With so many people in the palace, the annual expenditure is less than 100,000 strings of cash.

"Did you make a false report, Wang Hongfu? You should know my methods, right?

What I hate most is corruption."

Li Shen's anger had reached its peak. What kind of family spends 500,000 strings of cash a year? Are they crazy?

"Your Highness, how dare I make false reports? This was all supervised by the princess herself. If Your Highness doesn't believe me, you can ask her.

She should have specific details.

The 500,000 strings of cash included the wages of the servants in the palace, food, clothing, and other daily expenses.

But the total cost was less than 200,000 strings of cash, and the rest was... all spent by you, Your Majesty."

Wang Hongfu explained carefully.

"I spent it? How is that possible? If I spent it, how come my pockets are cleaner than my face now?

I didn't see anything, did I?"

Li Shen was a little skeptical, but since Wang Hongfu dared to ask him to reconcile the accounts with Lu Dingniang, it should be true.

Damn, I spent more than 300,000 strings of cash in a year. Am I such a spendthrift?

"I will naturally ask the princess, please continue."

Li Shen felt a little embarrassed and worried about spending his own money, so he quickly continued.

"The Imperial Guard Battalion spent 750,000 strings of cash this year, mainly on salaries and pensions, as well as clothing, horse breeding, etc."

Wang Hongfu continued.

Li Shen knew about this. This year, the guard battalion followed him to Qinghai to rescue his father, and some people died while guarding the important city of Qinghai.

Li Shen is never stingy with his own people.

The death pension is extremely high, and Li Shen also knows that the guard battalion has started to replace their armor and weapons with alloy armor.

Raising horses is indeed very expensive, especially since Li Shen raises good horses.

Seeing that Li Shen had no objection, Wang Hongfu continued:

“The Institute spent about one million guan this year, mainly on purchasing experimental materials.

The Roger Pirates spent a lot this year, another 200,000 kan, because they did not go out hunting this year.

The gems, gold, silver, and other rare treasures purchased by Prince Ji's Mansion have all been stored in the No. 2 vault.

The total value is 1.5 million strings of cash.

All the expenses were about 2.5 million guan, not counting some miscellaneous money."

Two and a half million strings of cash? This number stunned Wang Xuance, who was standing by. How could the annual expenditure of Prince Ji's Mansion be so huge?

This is equivalent to the taxes of dozens of large states.

The annual tax revenue of the Tang Dynasty, apart from labor service and silk, was no more than tens of millions of yuan.

The annual expenditure of Prince Ji’s Mansion actually accounted for 20% of the annual tax revenue.

Fortunately, Prince Ji's Mansion does not require Your Majesty to take money, otherwise if it were to be spent like this, Your Majesty would break Prince Ji's legs.

Which family can withstand such a defeat by King Ji?

Li Shen was also confused. Prince Ji’s Mansion spends so much money in a year?

"Wang Hongfu, please don't lie to me, the Ji Palace needs to spend so much money a year?

Don’t forget that the mathematics team set up by the palace last year will have to audit the accounts at the end of the year.”

Li Shen looked at Wang Hongfu and said seriously.

Last year, Li Shen established a mathematics group and taught it himself for a period of time.

Over the past year, whenever Li Shen had time, he would teach them some mathematics knowledge.

Although it is not advanced, it should be sufficient in the Tang Dynasty.

Besides, Li Shen was a boss in his previous life, so he was very familiar with checking accounts.

“Don’t worry, Your Majesty. I will never betray you. Your Majesty saved my life and appointed me to important positions. I am very grateful to you.

In this life, my life belongs to the prince, and I have to repay him. In the next life, I will work like a slave to repay the prince."

Wang Hongfu knew what Li Shen was reminding him of. After all, money can move people.

"Ah That's good.

Old Wang, what I give you is enough to make you rich and prosperous for three generations.

You have followed me for many years, and I really don't want to see you make mistakes.

Don't let this king feel disappointed, understand?"

Li Shen narrowed his eyes and looked at Wang Hongfu. He was a man who valued friendship and loyalty. Wang Hongfu had followed him for more than ten years.

He really didn't want Wang Hongfu to go astray, so Li Shen gave Wang Hongfu the highest dividend every year, more than 100,000 strings of cash a year.

Xue Rengui and Wang Xuance alone earned only over 20,000 strings of cash a year.

Even so, it is still much higher than the salaries of the three highest officials and prime minister in the court.

Li Shen was afraid that Wang Hongfu would be blinded by money and do something wrong or take the wrong path.

"Pfft."

Wang Hongfu knelt down.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. Your Majesty has been very kind to me. If I ever let you down, I will die to apologize."

Wang Hongfu swore that he had long said that he would be a family slave in the Prince Ji's Mansion for generations.

King Ji changed the household registration of his son and daughter from city dwellers to commoners.

This made Wang Hongfu very grateful to King Ji.

After becoming an ordinary citizen, his son could study and take the imperial examination.

He could also serve as an official in the court, although he might still have to bear the reputation of being a lowly person because of him.

But at least no one dared to come out to stop it.

Because he has the support of Prince Ji's Mansion, who would dare to offend Prince Ji?

Moreover, Wang Hongfu had also thought it through. After his death, no one would say that his family was of low status after three generations.

By then, he will have money and official positions, and his Wang family will have lived up to their ancestors.

But at this moment, Li Shen shouted angrily:

"Loyal? Then tell me what's going on with Wang Wencheng?"