The swansong of the swansong

Chapter 30: Fourth Brother, I firmly support you

Faced with the non-cooperation of the two heads of the Ministry of Revenue, the fourth brother was somewhat impatient and turned around to ask the left assistant minister Zhang Sheng: "Zhang Bu Tang, what do you think?"

Zhang Sheng was a Han official who was awarded the title of Jinshi in the second class. He was admitted to the Shuchangguan of the Hanlin Academy based on his own abilities.

After the Shuchangguan was closed, Zhang Sheng's official experience was extremely rich. He not only served as the head of the Ministry of Revenue and a deputy minister, but also served as a grain commissioner and a governor.

It is no exaggeration to say that Zhang Sheng, who is over 50 years old, has been in officialdom for half his life, managing money and grain, and his professional qualities are extremely outstanding.

It was also because of this that Kangxi specially promoted Zhang Sheng to the position of Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

That’s not all. What’s more important is that before this, Zhang Sheng had always fully cooperated with any task assigned by the fourth brother.

However, Zhang Sheng thought about it carefully and said, "In response to what the Fourth Master said, I think this matter is of great importance and we must not act hastily."

Yinyou kept his head down and stared at the teacup in his hand, as if he was studying an ancient treasure.

At this moment, he would never look up unless it was necessary.

The eight people present were all the smartest of the smart. Who couldn't understand Zhang Sheng's subtext?
What Zhang Sheng didn't say explicitly was, Fourth Master, I can do my best to cooperate with you on other matters, but the matter of collecting the debt owed to the national treasury is too complicated, so you'd better seek help from someone else.

The fourth brother encountered setbacks one after another, and his enthusiasm was somewhat frustrated. However, giving up was definitely not his style.

The remaining three assistant ministers all knew the dangers of collecting debts, and no one dared to cooperate with the fourth one.

For a moment, the fourth brother felt a little embarrassed.

"Fifteenth brother, although you are new to the Ministry of Revenue, you are also an official assistant prince! Tell me, what do you think?" The fourth brother had no choice but to try his luck and took the initiative to ask Yinyou for help.

Although Yinyu was recommended by the fourth brother to help the Ministry of Revenue, he was still young and had never worked in an official position.

Objectively speaking, Lao Si just asked this casually and did not have much hope for him.

Yinyou knew better than anyone that even if everyone opposed it, the fourth brother would still carry out the task of collecting the debts to the end.

"Fourth brother, all the officials," Yinyu slowly stood up and said calmly, "I am not very knowledgeable, so I hope you will not be offended by my words that may make you laugh. Excuse me, shouldn't all the debts owed by officials in the Ministry of Revenue be recovered?"

The fourth brother's eyes suddenly lit up. Yes, the Ministry of Revenue is the core government office in charge of money and grain. Shouldn't the debts owed by this government office be collected first?

"Fifteenth brother, you are right!" The fourth brother's eyes suddenly lit up, and he deliberately rushed ahead of Kaiyinbu to praise Yinyou, "Khan Ama really didn't misjudge you."

The fourth brother could boast as much as he wanted, but Yinyu could not be proud of himself. He quickly bowed and said, "Fourth brother, I have never been an official before. There are still many things I don't understand. I need to learn slowly from you."

Yinyou's modest attitude made the fourth elder particularly satisfied, and he couldn't help but nod secretly.

With Yinyu's strong support, the fourth brother raised his chin and deliberately asked Kaiyinbu: "Kaibu Tang, have the debts in the Ministry of Revenue been settled?"

Kaiyinbu secretly groaned inwardly. The bastard Lao Si obviously wanted to take action against the Ministry of Revenue first.

Damn, how can you cut off your own wings?
However, facing the urging of the Fourth Master, Kaiyinbu dared not not answer, so he could only whisper: "Fourth Master, please allow me to order someone to investigate in detail and then report to you, okay?"

Yinyou secretly found it funny. Kaiyinbu was indeed a veteran in the officialdom. He was particularly proficient in the means of shirking his responsibilities and delaying things.

It's a pity that the fourth brother has been on duty all year round and is extremely proficient in government affairs. How could he be deceived by Kaiyinbu?
"Kaibu Tang, I must see the list of accounts within ten days." After the fourth brother made a harsh remark, he picked up the teacup. Su Peisheng, who had been bowing his head, immediately raised his duck-like voice and shouted loudly: "Send you out!"

There was no way. Ever since the fourth brother became the head of the Ministry of Revenue, the second hall of the Ministry of Revenue became his exclusive office.

Kaiyinbu was so embarrassed that he had to leave in anger.

When Zhang Shenglin was leaving, he looked at Yinyou deeply but said nothing.

Yinyou clearly saw Zhang Sheng's little action, but pretended not to see it.

As the saying goes, there is no two suns in the sky, and no two kings in a country.

Since Yinyou was the assistant prince recommended by the fourth prince himself, he had to stand on the fourth prince's side and give reasonable suggestions.

Otherwise, there's water in your brain!
Given the fourth brother's temper, he must be the one who makes the final decision.

Yinyou had an extremely clear mind. He positioned himself as Fa Zheng, who was highly favored by Liu Bei.

When Fa Zheng was still alive, Liu Bei almost obeyed his every word and trusted him far more than Zhuge Liang.

After everyone had left, the fourth brother asked Yinyu with a smile: "Fifteenth brother, since you are an assistant prince, you should act like an assistant prince. You can choose any office in the Ministry of Revenue. Let me be frank, even if you like mine, I will still make room for you."

Yinyu quickly stood up, pretending to be flattered, and said with a cupped hand: "Fourth brother, I will follow your arrangements."

The fourth brother was originally a bit tentative, but seeing Yinyu's obedience, he couldn't help but smile and said, "You can choose the public office. That's it. Also, since you are new here and not familiar with the Ministry of Revenue, you can temporarily take charge of the 'Clearing Records Office' and the Donation Office for me, okay?"

Yinyou knew that if he wanted to live a comfortable life, he could not do without the strong support of the fourth brother.

There are file clearing rooms in the six ministries of the imperial court.

In layman's terms, the Qingdangfang, also known as the archives room, is the place where the internal archives of the government are kept.

The so-called donation is also called wealth selection, donation, and sometimes donation and donation rules, which is what people call selling official positions and titles.

When the imperial court wanted to fight a big war or build a large-scale project, it would inevitably face the dilemma of lack of money. At this time, the imperial court could not openly rob the people's wealth, but had to spend money, so it was forced to sell official positions and titles.

In order to centrally manage the major business of selling official positions and titles, the imperial court specially set up the Donation Office under the Ministry of Revenue.

According to the procedure, the first step in buying an official position is to donate money and grain to the Ministry of Revenue, and then take the donation document with the Ministry of Revenue's seal to the Ministry of Personnel to go through the formal appointment procedures.

Li Wei, a famous official during the Yongzheng period and the Governor-General of Liangjiang, was an official who donated money to buy his position.

Li Wei first donated money to become a student, and then he made up his mind and spent more than 9600 taels of silver at one time to donate money to become a fifth-rank deputy minister of the Ministry of War.

You know, nearly ten thousand taels of silver is an astronomical figure that even for a big landlord with thousands of acres of fertile land cannot even think about.

From this, it is reasonable to speculate that Li Wei's family must be considered a super landlord.

Even if he thought with his feet, Yinyu knew that the donation office was a very lucrative place.

(End of this chapter)