Ming Dynasty: The Sixth Brother of the Zhu Family Seeks Immortality

"During my time as regent, I felt that the national treasury was in trouble and the court was not easy. Why not just forget about this year's rewards? I believe the civil and military officials in the court are willing to help the court overcome this difficulty, right?"

We are willing to give a shit!

The officials present, especially the Supervisory Censor who represented the Censorate, almost cursed out loud.

The salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty were indeed much lower than those in the previous dynasty.

Especially the clean officials like the Censor.

They all relied on the New Year's rewards to improve their family conditions, but now, they are planning not to give rewards!

Chapter 42 Officials' Salaries That Don't Change with the Times

Noticing that the surrounding court officials all had dissatisfied expressions, he immediately knew what was going on.

Xia Yuanji, the Minister of Revenue, took the lead.

"Your Highness, the Ministry of Revenue just received more than two million taels of stolen silver some time ago. How can the national treasury be tight?"

In addition, there are many other money and grain to deal with the northern expedition.

Of course, Xia Yuanji is not tired of living yet, so he will definitely not say the following words.

Zhu Gaoxu rushed out to stop Xia Yuanji from talking.

"Xia Shangshu, that money is the grain money needed for the northern expedition next year! How can it be used?"

"Your Highness the King of Han is wrong. How can the money in the Ministry of Revenue be used for anything?"

"I think..."

"Liu Shangshu..."

The two sides went back and forth, and a unique verbal battle began in the court.

Zhu Zhankan was very happy to see it. He had not attended court a few times, and he had never seen how court officials quarreled.

Today I have learned a lot.

Zhu Di saw this scene, and his good mood for the New Year in the first month of the year also dissipated a lot.

A bunch of guys didn't know how to share my worries during the New Year.

Forget it!

Zhu Di waved to Zhu Zhanji and Zhu Zhankan. He planned to mainly listen to Zhu Zhankan's ideas.

A few days ago, Yao Guangxiao finished his face reading for Zhu Zhankan and told Zhu Di the result.

Zhu Zhankan's face was ever-changing and unexpected.

Perhaps discussing important matters with Zhu Zhankan will yield unexpected gains.

"Zhankan, how do you think the rewards should be given?"

Zhu Zhankan thought for a moment: "Grandpa Emperor, I wonder if these expenses are mainly for civil and military officials or for the vassal kings of various towns?"

Zhu Di signaled Xia Yuanji with his eyes, and Old Xia understood.

"Your Highness, the rewards for vassal kings in various places require more than one million taels of silver, and the rewards for officials in Beijing require more than 600,000 taels of silver."

Zhu Zhankan thought for a moment and said: "It seems that the rewards for vassal kings account for the majority."

"Grandpa Emperor, my grandson recently read "Zizhi Tongjian", in which there is a short story called - Zhujin robbed the title."

After saying this, Zhu Zhankan returned to his original position.

As soon as the voice fell, the entire imperial study was terribly quiet.

The ministers who argued with the King of Han also shut up.

Sixth Grandson, you are a ruthless person!

Xia Yuanji, Yang Shiqi and other ministers, and even the crown prince Zhu Gaochi, all had this idea in their minds.

They even doubted their ears. What did they hear?

Zhu Zhankan, the grandson of the emperor, actually said that he would take away the title by drinking wine?

It’s fine that your lineage of the Prince of Yan has taken away the power of all the princes, but now you are actually suggesting to strip them of their titles?

You are indeed the descendant of the Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang! You are so murderous!

Everyone lowered their heads, and Zhu Di was also a little amused.

He was also full of admiration for Zhu Zhankan.

Once, an unknown Mr. Zhou said that if you want to build a window, everyone will disagree, but if you say you want to lift the roof, then everyone will agree to build a window.

Although Zhu Di had never heard Mr. Zhou’s words, he was still clear about this principle.

Xia Yuanji and others were not stupid. They knew very well that the emperor’s mind was still on the northern expedition, which was the unshakable national policy of the Yongle Dynasty.

The reason why they proposed to use the more than two million taels of silver that the King of Han invested in the treasury as the reward was, on the one hand, they were really short of money, and on the other hand, they were testing the emperor’s attitude towards the northern expedition.

After all this trouble, the emperor's northern expedition is almost unstoppable, otherwise the emperor may cut the salaries of the princes and lower the ranks of officials.

But if they really don't get rewarded...

This is indeed a bit uncomfortable.

Their salaries have not increased for many years.

Noticing the silence in the imperial study, Zhu Zhankan curled his lips in boredom.

Of course, he was not obsessed with reducing the treatment of the princes.

He was mainly curious about whether the removal of the princes would affect the dynasty's fortune.

To put it bluntly, he was still exploring the factors that affect the dynasty's fortune.

As for what to do if it really affects the fortune?

It doesn't matter at all! The princes of the Yongle Dynasty were pests attached to the court.

If the princes were really removed, even if they were hurt a little, it wouldn't matter.

At this point, everyone actually had nothing to say.

Just when Xia Yuanji was about to come out to respond to the cancellation of the reward, Zhu Zhankan came out again.

"It seems that the court officials find this story uninteresting?"

"Grandpa Emperor, I do have a solution, but it's hard to explain it to others in detail."

Hearing this, Zhu Di stood up and said, "Everyone, go away. We'll meet again at the palace banquet tonight."

Zhu Di was actually very curious and looking forward to what surprises this little grandson would give him.

After all, Zhu Zhankan didn't seem to be talking nonsense, but how else could he get millions of taels together?

It wasn't actually that difficult to get a lot of money together.

Salt Administration, Iron Administration, Horse Administration, Commerce Department, with Zhu Zhankan's wisdom, he could easily collect millions of taels.

But how could he collect so much money in just a few days?

When most of the people had left, the only people left in the imperial study were the Crown Prince Zhu Gaochi, the King of Han Zhu Gaoxu and the Grandson Zhu Zhanji, except for the two of them.

"Zhankan, what's your idea?"

"Fortune-telling, divination." Zhu Zhankan replied confidently.

Zhu Di felt a little puzzled. Could fortune-telling turn stones into gold?

Seeing that everyone was a little curious, Zhu Zhankan stopped keeping the secret.

He picked up a few pieces of paper and pen, recorded all the officials he saw, and then wrote down a number after their names.

"According to divination, I can see that most people have the fortune of obtaining unknown property, or more precisely, the fortune that does not belong to them. The money does not come from normal sources, such as money obtained through war, corruption, plunder and other bad means."

"The amount of unknown property of these people is quite large. As long as the emperor targets these people and investigates them carefully, and then... the civil servants should not have obtained a large amount of property through war, it will take a few hours to collect millions of taels of silver."

Will these fortunes with irregular origins be counted into the dynasty's fortune?

Zhu Zhankan was a little curious about this.

Zhu Di put away the list silently: "You go down first, don't say too much about this list."

"Yes."

"Hey, Zhankan, wait a minute."

Zhu Zhankan looked at Zhu Di with a puzzled look. Is there anything else that has not been resolved?

After the others left, Zhu Di coughed a few times.

"How is the elixir refining going?"

Chapter 43 Zhu Di's Surprise

Speaking of elixir, Zhu Zhankan felt a little helpless. Zhu Zhanji and Zhu Zhanzhen had not yet achieved enlightenment for so long, and his mission had also been delayed for so long.

"Grandpa Emperor, the materials are almost ready, and it will probably be refined in the next few days."