Take control of Wei Zhongxian at the start and confiscate 100 million from him!

Chapter 10 I paid, so you have to give me a result.
Just then, a steady voice broke the deathly silence.

It was Qian Qianyi.

Qian Qianyi, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, one of the leaders of the Donglin Party, and a literary giant.

He stepped out of the ranks slowly, his expression solemn.

Qian Qianyi knew that he had to step forward now. Liu Zongzhou had already lost, not because of reason, but because of a kind of unheard-of "sorcery". He had to steer the conversation back to the "right track" that they were familiar with and in control of.

"Your Majesty!" Qian Qianyi's voice was loud and powerful, attempting to dispel the eerie atmosphere in the hall. "Governing the country and ensuring its peace is the way of the great principles! How can we use the methods of merchants and the words of common people to judge matters of the court!"

"The practice of censors reporting on hearsay is an ancestral system established by Emperor Taizu Gao! Its importance lies in awakening the deaf and rousing the virtuous, and in alerting all officials, not in worrying about the gains or losses of a single city or place, or the success or failure of a single event! If every matter requires concrete evidence, then treacherous officials will only hide further, and the channels for speaking out will be completely cut off! Your Majesty, this is not the way to govern the country!"

These words resonated deeply, drawing nods of agreement from the Donglin Party officials.

Correct!
This is the right way!
How can governing a country be done with the same calculations as running a business?
They seemed to have regained their backbone and stood tall again.

Zhu Youjian, seated on his throne, smiled even more broadly.

"Qian Aiqing, well said!"

He actually clapped his hands in praise.

This action suddenly gave Qian Qianyi a sense of foreboding.

Zhu Youjian's gaze locked onto Qian Qianyi instantly, like that of a hawk.

"Now that we have reviewed Censor Zou's 'specific business,' let's talk about the 'core business' that you, Minister Qian, are in charge of."

"As the Vice Minister of Rites, you are in charge of education and serve as a teacher to all people. This position carries great responsibility."

Chief... what officer?

Qian Qianyi frowned deeply, feeling as if he had been dragged into an unknown territory once again.

Zhu Youjian's voice was calm and unhurried, yet every word was piercing.

"Then, I would like to ask, what contribution have you made to my Great Ming Dynasty in the past quarter? In other words, by what percentage has the number of people educated by your Ministry of Rites increased?"

"What specific measures did the Ministry of Rites plan and implement? Among these measures, which one achieved great success? Did it form a replicable successful experience that could be promoted nationwide?"

A barrage of questions, like a dense rain of arrows, shot at Qian Qianyi.

At that moment, Qian Qianyi felt as if his brain had turned into a lump of mush.

His lifelong studies included the Four Books, the Five Classics, Han and Tang dynasty literature, and Song and Ming dynasty Neo-Confucianism.

He could discuss the "interaction between Heaven and Man" and the "study of mind and nature," and he could debate the "Three Cardinal Guides and Five Constant Virtues" and the "distinction between the king and the hegemon."

However, he really didn't know how to answer what exactly the Ministry of Rites had done that was enough to form a replicable success story that could then be promoted nationwide.

He felt like a heavily armored knight clad in three layers of armor and wielding a peerless sword, charging confidently toward the enemy.

His enemy, the frail young emperor, merely raised an inconspicuous black iron pipe a hundred paces away.

Then, "Bang".

His prized armor was easily pierced by a tiny iron pellet he couldn't see.

A sense of powerlessness instantly gripped his heart.

Zhu Youjian looked at his face, which turned from red to white, and then from white to ashen, and knew it was time to deliver the fatal blow.

He stood up and slowly walked down the steps.

The hem of the dragon robe rustled as it dragged across the floor tiles.

He walked step by step to Qian Qianyi and stopped. He was now a little shorter than Qian Qianyi.

But at this moment, he was looking down at the leader of the Donglin Party.

“Or,” Zhu Youjian’s voice was low but filled with an undeniable sense of pressure, “let’s put it simply.”

"The Ministry of Rites' annual budget is 1.2 million taels of silver. This money is allocated from the national treasury and is the blood and sweat of all the people."

"Lord Qian, can you tell me where the return on your huge investment is?"

return on investment……

These words struck Qian Qianyi like a thunderbolt from the heavens.

He trembled violently, took a step back, and his face turned ashen in an instant.

He understood.

This time, he finally understood.

The emperor wasn't talking nonsense, nor was he using any sorcery.

The emperor is... demanding money from him!
We demand an account of input and output from him, from the entire Ministry of Rites, and from all scholars in the land!

The idea was so shocking and unconventional that it made him feel dizzy!
Since ancient times,

Education is the work of sages, the foundation of a nation, and a supreme merit that cannot be measured in money!
And today, this young emperor actually... actually used a merchant's abacus to calculate the achievements of a sage!

This is the most thorough insult and subversion of all his life's learning and the entire scholar-official class he represents!

He wanted to roar, to shout, to cry out, "If the ruler is not a ruler, then the subjects are not subjects."

However, when he met Zhu Youjian's emotionless eyes, all his words stuck in his throat.

He saw no mockery, no anger, only cold logic in those eyes.

A self-evident logic that "I paid, so you have to give me results!"

Faced with this logic, all his morality, all his writings, and all his public criticisms seem so... pale and powerless.

"Pfft."

A soft sound.

Liu Zongzhou, the censor who initiated the attack, collapsed to his knees on the cold gold bricks, his face ashen.

Qian Qianyi stood frozen in place, like a stone statue weathered for a thousand years, his hands trembling uncontrollably within his wide sleeves.

The entire Hall of Supreme Harmony was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

All the officials, whether from the Donglin Party, the Chu Party, or the centrists, stared dumbfounded at this mind-blowing scene.

They felt that something had been completely shattered today.

Zhu Youjian slowly turned around and walked back to the throne step by step.

He didn't look at anyone else.

Nowadays,

For the first time, the cold swords of "efficiency" and "results" hung over the heads of every official in the Ming Dynasty.

From this day forward, this court will no longer be their idle talk hall where they indulge in poetic revelry and empty moral discussions!

(End of this chapter)