Traveling through time and space to become a child, supporting the family by catching fish and shrim

The emperor's words were so deafening that one could hear a pin drop in the entire Chuigong Hall.

Xiao Yu's "political enemies" all looked at his face with fierce eyes as if they wanted to eat him.

Because they never expected that Xiao Yu would play such a trick!

What was even more unexpected was that Chen Lang, the disciple who had never been acknowledged by Xiao Yu, actually brought Princess Yongjia back from the Liao Kingdom!

When did the Liao people become so kindhearted? They wouldn't even eat the meat right in front of them?

Xiao Yu stepped out of the queue and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, Chen Lang is not my beloved disciple. He is merely my close friend, regardless of age difference."

"For him to have achieved such results, I believe any reward is not excessive."

The Minister of Revenue immediately objected, saying, "Your Majesty, I think this is inappropriate!"

"Although the Liao Kingdom sent a letter stating that the princess has returned, the journey from Liao to Dayan is so long. What if... I am not hoping for anything to happen to the princess, but I think that even if I want to reward her, I should wait until she returns safely to the capital."

The Minister of Rites followed up with, "Your Majesty, I agree that Minister Wang's words are reasonable, and I oppose any suggestion of reward from Scholar Xiao."

"No reward is too much. Is it okay to confer a title of nobility? That's obviously unreasonable."

Ning Pu, Grand Secretary of Wenyuan Pavilion, stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, Minister He's words are nothing but sophistry."

"Our dynasty has sent envoys to the Liao Kingdom many times, and each time they were humiliated by the Liao people. But this time, not only did we bring the princess back safely, but we also greatly eased the conflict with the Liao Kingdom. This will be of great help to the future relationship between the two countries."

"What Scholar Xiao said about any reward was just a slight exaggeration. He didn't really mean that Your Majesty would confer a title on Chen Lang. Minister He is exaggerating, and his heart is damned."

Minister He of the Ministry of Rites angrily said, "Master Ning, please stop slandering me here. My loyalty to Your Majesty is evident to all!"

"I beg Your Majesty to make the decision for this old minister."

After Minister He finished speaking, he knelt down.

The emperor glanced at him indifferently and did not rush him to get up. Instead, he talked about another matter.

"There was a rebellion in the south before, and I ordered the Ministry of War to ask the national treasury for silver. However, the Ministry of War told me that the national treasury was out of silver."

"After only a few months, the treasury was completely depleted of silver. In the end, it was only through the advance payment of taxes by the customs officials that my eldest son and tens of thousands of soldiers were able to go out to quell the rebellion without food or clothing."

"People all over the world, including some of you, say that I value money as my life."

"But how come I've loved wealth all my life, but it's gone when I need it?"

"My dear ministers, who among you can tell me what is going on?"

The ministers immediately knelt down.

The ministers knew very well why the treasury was out of money.

Except for a portion used in the previous attack on Xiazhou, the rest of the silver in the national treasury was used by ministers to "help the world" and "reward scholars."

These two actions did bring some reputation to His Majesty and the officials, but the key point is that they spent a lot of money but failed to earn back the same amount.

In the past, the court's money-making was controlled by the officials of the Shang Party. After the Shilin Party took charge of the situation, they immediately kicked out those Shang Party officials who were good at making money from the court.

However, the Shilin Party who took over the official positions did not know how to make money.

For them, there are only two ways to make money.

Raise taxes and save money.

The tax rate in Dayan is already quite high. If it rises further, it may not be as simple as a Red Lotus Rebellion. Civil unrest will probably break out in various places.

As for saving money, these officials must first set a good example.

But there are only a few officials who can truly endure the hardship. For most officials, they have worked hard to get to their current positions. Do they have to live the same hardship as when they were taking the college entrance examination?

After working so hard to reach the highest position in the government, why can't I enjoy myself?

If we ask ordinary people to save money, that would be nonsense.

Because the people are already living a very frugal life, if they were to save more, they would just die.

Raising tax rates won’t work, and neither will saving. The only way is to increase revenue.

Open source...that means picking up the business party's approach again.

How can this be possible! We finally managed to suppress the Shang Party, and now we are using their methods again. Isn't that just slapping ourselves in the face?

"My dear ministers, why are you silent?"

"Please tell me how to enrich the national treasury again."

The emperor's voice made the ministers kneeling on the ground tremble even more violently.

The Minister of Revenue is in charge of money. In this situation, others could hide, but he couldn't. He could only bite the bullet and stand up to apologize.

The emperor waved his hand, not even looking at him, and said, "I heard that Chang Anmin and Wang Yunzhang in Linshui have come up with some advertising bill that has increased Linshui's tax revenue by several levels. Is this true?"

The Minister of Revenue said tremblingly: "Indeed...it is true."

"Why not promote it?" the emperor asked coldly.

The Minister of Revenue was sweating profusely, and his voice trembled as he said, "I believe that the advertising law will encourage extravagance, so..."

The emperor sneered, "Is it really because of the extravagant lifestyle?"

"Or do you think that since this bill was proposed by Chen Lang, it's unnecessary?"

"Or maybe you think that Chen Lang is Xiao Yu's close friend, so it's unnecessary?"

The Minister of Revenue nodded his forehead and said, "Your Majesty, I have absolutely no such intention."

"Linshui County Magistrate Chang Anmin himself said that the bill is still in the pilot phase and contains many loopholes. After consultation with other cabinet colleagues, I unanimously decided not to implement it for the time being."

"Then why send people to investigate Chen Lang!" the emperor said sternly.

The Minister of Revenue adhered to the idea that it would rather die than let his friend die, and decisively sold the Qinzhou Road General Administration Office.

"Your Majesty, I am unaware of this matter. It must have been done by the Qinzhou Road General Administration Office."

Fortunately, the officials from the Qinzhou Road General Administration Office were not in the court, otherwise it would have turned into a farce.

The emperor stood up and said coldly: "Before, you thought that my way of making money was wrong, so I obeyed you and discarded it."

"But in just a few months, the treasury was so empty that it couldn't even provide money to quell the rebellion."

"Give me a reasonable explanation!"

In the hall, the only sound left was the minister's heavy and panicked breathing.

The emperor did not want to press his ministers too hard, so he softened his tone and said, "This problem must be solved. Tell me who should take the lead."

At this point, the ministers all understood that the emperor's words were just a formality and he already had a candidate in mind.

Everything that just happened was just taking advantage of the situation.

Anyone who disagrees with the emperor on this matter would be like an old man hanging himself because he thinks his life is too long.

The Minister of Revenue immediately said, "I recommend Scholar Xiao Yuxiao."

After a while, sounds came one after another in the hall.

"I agree."

"I agree."