yes sire

In the next half a month, there was a big shock in the court.In this impeachment incident, the officials who charged for the aristocratic family were all picked out and dealt with one by one.

Originally, in order to smooth the way of speech, Zhaoguo, according to the usual practice, would not have serious consequences for any impeachment by the speech officials, no matter whether the content of the impeachment was true or not.During Emperor Shuo's reign, there was a collective impeachment of the cabinet ministers by officials for being corrupted by Mo Mo. In the end, it was dismissed due to insufficient evidence, and the officials involved in the incident were only fined.But this time it was different. The emperor directly announced the removal of all the officials involved in the impeachment at the court meeting.Not only was the entire army wiped out in the six divisions, but even several officials involved in the Procuratorate were not spared.

Xia Siyan bluntly stated in the court meeting that he hated the phenomenon of officials biting each other and using the road of advice as a weapon to attack each other.After this incident, the officials were greatly restrained and did not dare to impeach at will, and the atmosphere in the officialdom in Beijing became much clearer for a while.

As the end of the new year approached, officials from various ministries in central Beijing lost their minds about doing things. They drank tea and chatted in the ministries every day after midnight, looking forward to the Spring Festival holiday.And before the annual holiday, there is another important event, which is the most anticipated moment of the whole year for the civil and military officials of the whole Zhao Kingdom - the distribution of wax gifts.

Laci is a rule that has been established since the time of Taizu. In order to reward the hard work of officials all over the country for a year, the middle and late ten days of the twelfth lunar month will distribute food, meat, oil, cloth, etc. for the New Year to officials. Half a year's salary.

This year, the weather has been good all over the country. The taxes and grains in the Spring and Autumn Period have been collected in full. Coupled with the opening up for business, the capital, Wuzhou, and Shanzhou have collected a total of 33 taels of tax silver this quarter. By the end of the year, the treasury was quite surplus.

Han You considered that after the Spring Festival, the whole country will be open to business, so he discussed with Xia Siyan that this year's gifts will be converted into silver for all the gifts distributed to officials according to their ranks, and encourage them to go to the market to buy all the gifts. need.

The salaries of officials in Zhao State are usually very low, and the monthly salary of a senior official like Han You is only ten taels of silver, so this year's gift is very important. He was dissatisfied and was scolded by all officials.

For the sake of prudence, Han You decided to use the highest price in the market when converting the real price. In this way, the officials got more silver than half a year's salary.Once the news was released, it was immediately supported by all officials, and some people even wrote high-profile articles praising Han Shangshu for his financial management, and his achievements in the present age will benefit future generations.When Han You entered the palace, Xia Siyan deliberately showed Han You the rhetorical article, making Han You dumbfounded.

After the gift was distributed, all the ministries and government offices were completely in a state of half-rest, and only the people in the household department were still busy with their feet on the ground.

The fiscal revenue and expenditure budgets of the local states, governments and the [-] central yamen will be carefully reviewed next year, and Han You is so responsible that even the emperor Xia Siyan feels ashamed. There must be no mistakes, no matter how thick or complicated the reported account books are, he can find out the problems page by page.

In the past few days, Han You ran between the small courtyard of the cabinet and the office of the household department, so busy that he didn't even have time to go home.A group of officials under him, from the principal to the Lang Guan, all of them worked day and night against the bruises in front of their eyes, wishing they could even use their toes.

On the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, Xia Siyan rode back from his inspection tour of the [-]th Army Camp in the suburbs of Beijing, passed by the intersection of Dongyu Street, and took a look at the locations of the major ministries from afar.Counting with his fingers, he hadn't seen Han You for seven whole days, so he decided to go to the household department to express his condolences.

Because Xia Siyan didn't want to make too much noise, he and the guards changed into casual clothes when they came out of the barracks.When he arrived at the gate of the household department, Si Yan didn't know him, but he knew Zhong Lai who was beside him.Last time when Zhong Lai and the emperor in red veil came, he showed Si Yan his badge, and Si Yan knew that Zhong Lai was a high-ranking guard in the palace, so he let them in without too much questioning.

At this time, everyone in the yamen of the Ministry of Households was busy on duty. Naturally, some low-level officials in the hall had never seen what the emperor looked like. When they saw Xia Siyan coming in, they all thought that this man was handsome and extraordinary. , took a second look, but didn't recognize Xia Siyan's identity.So the emperor went all the way in like this, and pushed open the door of Han You's room.

Han You noticed that someone came in and walked to him, and asked without raising his head, "What's the matter?"

Xia Siyan didn't speak, Han You just raised his head when he was hugged into his arms.

"Your Majesty?" Han You thought he had lost his head in a hurry, rubbed his eyes and looked at the door again, "Why didn't I hear the transmission?"

Xia Siyan smiled, "Looks like I'm going to come here more often, and none of your subordinates know me."

Han You sighed, "Your Majesty came here suddenly, and they won't be shocked when they recognize you."

Xia Siyan rubbed his face and said, "I've lost weight from work."

"It's good to be busy with this period." Han You left the emperor's arms, turned his head to look at the account book on the desk, pointed to the budget report submitted by the Ministry of War, and said: "Your Majesty, the budget reported by the Ministry of War is too big. , more than double the actual amount this year. The budget will be discussed at the court meeting tomorrow, and some of this expenditure will definitely be cut."

Xia Siyan tapped the watch he was pointing at with his knuckles, "I asked Zhou Kui to report this."

Han You looked at him with wide eyes, "2407 million taels?!"

Xia Siyan smiled mysteriously: "Where do you see the biggest expense in this expenditure?"

Han You had already memorized all these items in his heart, and said without turning his head, "The 2407 million taels, of which 800 million taels are for firearms, but I haven't seen the detailed description."

Xia Siyan said slowly: "In the past, the furthest range of a cannon was only 20 miles. Three years ago, I asked Li Xiao to secretly recruit a few skilled military engineers, and secretly researched it in the Beijing Artillery Battalion. 40-mile giant cannon."

Han You was startled - he didn't know about this at all, "So?"

"So next year I will mass-produce this giant cannon," Xia Siyan said. "Beichang people are good at close combat. Their soldiers have an advantage in size, and they often win amazing victories in close combat. With this giant cannon, we can Can fully grasp the initiative on the battlefield."

Han You understood that this thing was a big money-burning weapon, and asked fearfully, "What about the cost?"

"One set for 20 taels," Xia Siyan said in a relaxed tone, "Considering that our treasury doesn't have much money for the time being, let's build forty sets first, and then take our time."

Han You was struggling to calculate money every day, and wished to break one dollar into two flowers. Hearing this kind of unmanageable speech, he was so angry that his eyes were filled with stares. He was stunned for a while before saying: "But now we don't A lot of money."

"There will be soon."

Han You asked doubtfully, "The money from selling banknotes?"

"Correct."

"Tea, wine, porcelain, silk, all sold?" Han You had a bad feeling in his heart, "...sold for 800 million taels of silver?"

"Yes," Xia Siyan added, "It's 800 million taels a year, and they have to bear the corresponding taxes. It's in our best interest to do so."

Xia Siyan didn't discuss it with him at all. Whether it was secretly researching firearms or using high-priced banknotes to attract military expenditures, Xia Siyan knew that he would definitely object, so he didn't mention it to him in advance.

In order to spend all Zhaoguo's money wisely, Han You stayed up several nights in a row. Hearing these words from the emperor at this time, he was a little dizzy with anger, and couldn't help saying stingingly: Is it the land of the king, and the land of the land is the king's minister. No one else has the right to comment on how your majesty wants to use your own money, so you can use it wherever you want!"

"I knew you were going to be unhappy," Xia Siyan reached out to touch his face, "Don't be like this."

Han You turned his face away and let his hand go, "I am just a subject of His Majesty, and I dare not be dissatisfied with His Majesty's holy will."

Xia Siyan clicked his tongue, "Sir, it doesn't make any sense to say that. Didn't I tell you about the fact that the big money is going to be sold to a few big merchants?"

"But I didn't expect you to sell such a sky-high price," Han You said holding back his anger, "tea, wine, porcelain, and silk are no more than salt and iron. Most of them are operated by small merchants and small workshops for generations. It is sold to those big merchants at such a high price, how do you let the common people who are engaged in this business live? Those big merchants cannot afford this cost by themselves, they will only keep the purchase price extremely low, and finally bear the burden They're all ordinary people!" He paused, trying to hold back but couldn't hold back, and added: "You're killing the chicken to get the egg."

"These things are not as good as salt and iron, and they are not necessities of life. Just set the price a little higher." Xia Siyan didn't think this was something to be angry about. Isn't it very convenient to do business in the future because of the border with Baihui? Once the trade routes for foreign trade are opened, the sales of these four major commodities will be widened. At that time, I will moderately relax the ban. Wouldn't it be the best of both worlds? This is just an extraordinary solution in an extraordinary period. "

Han You thought he heard it wrong, "Pingluo... Beichang?"

"It's a small country," Xia Siyan sneered, and said, "Over the past few decades, Beichang's ambitions have never died, and it has invaded the territory of our Zhao Kingdom several times and killed the people of our Zhao Kingdom. Take it all at once."

"People who are not of our race must have a different heart. Even if Your Majesty gets that piece of land, he will also get the hatred that has lasted for hundreds of years in that piece of land. What's more, is it really a good thing to be directly bordered by a powerful country like Baihui? ? Will Baihui sit back and do nothing about our annexation of Beichang?"

"We didn't start the war," Xia Siyan said naturally, "Our people want to live in peace, but Beichang doesn't agree!"

Now you keep talking about our people again, Han You thought sadly, are you really for the people?Or for your own ambitions?

"After beating Beichang," Han You asked him, "Is Your Majesty ready for a hand-to-hand fight with Baihui?"

"Baihui is stronger than Beichang, but they don't have such powerful weapons as us." Xia Siyan just came out of the barracks, his blood was surging, he didn't notice a faint red layer floating in Han You's pupils, and he still stood still. Said, "Continue to build more giant cannons, and we will be able to talk to Baihui on an equal footing."

"Continue to build more giant cannons, will you be able to become a wise emperor?" Han You blurted out, "Since ancient times, the emperors who resorted to war have never had a good end!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he knew he had made a slip of the tongue.

Seeing that Xia Siyan's face turned cold, he raised his chin slightly and looked down at him, "Han You, you'd better pay attention to the proportion of your words."