I want to ruin the country

Yining Road,

"You mean I've embarrassed you, right? If you were capable of making money, why would I have to show up in public?"

Ruijin has been feeling awkward these days because, as the emperor's god of wealth, he is penniless and the emperor has to find ways to make money in a shameful way!

As the saying goes, if the master is humiliated, the minister dies. When he heard that the emperor was using this matter to expose his past, he could no longer hold back his face. He was so ashamed that he covered his face.

"Your Majesty, we are incompetent and have brought shame upon Your Majesty. I will end my own life!"

As he said this, he lifted up his robe to cover his head and was about to hit the pillar. Yining saw that it was not good and shouted hurriedly,

"Stop it quickly!"

Yi Jianshe rushed up to him as fast as lightning and hugged him.

This guy really ran fast, otherwise even if Ruijin didn't die, he would have been bleeding from the head!

Yining shouted,

"You old fellow, I was just joking with you, why are you so irresistible!"

Ruijin knelt down and cried.

"Your Majesty, it's all because of the incompetence of these servants, woooo!"

Seeing him crying so sadly, Yining was also moved.

"It's not that you're incompetent. I don't blame you. Get up quickly. I won't do this a third time!"

Ruijin was shocked.

"What, Your Majesty, there will be a second time?"

Yining Road,

"I must get enough money for disaster relief, buying warships, and military expenses. Otherwise, if the foreign devils drive me out of the capital, wouldn't that be even more humiliating!"

Ruijin said hurriedly,

"Absolutely not! If you need money, your servants will find a way. Your Majesty must not bring shame to our ancestors again!"

Yining Road,

"Think of a way, what is the solution?"

Ruijin had been thinking about it for a long time, but there was really no good solution. However, he still said,

"I would like to ask the Emperor to issue an order to collect the summer grain tax in advance, so as to alleviate our urgent needs!"

Yining sat down and sighed helplessly.

"Stand up and tell me. I thought you had a good idea, but in the end, you still have to go to the common people. But do the common people have money?"

Ruijin Road,

“Although the people have suffered a little, Your Majesty is collecting taxes so that they can live and work in peace and contentment.

If everyone saves a mouthful per meal, and a bushel per year, then together we can accomplish great things!"

Yining Road,

“Save one mouthful of rice per meal, do you know they can only eat one mouthful of rice per meal now?

A few days ago, Master Du and I went to Liujia Village in the north of Beijing. Old Man Liu and his family still had four or five acres of thin land, but there was not a grain of food at home!

Now they had to rely on their two children to run over 20 miles to beg for food to survive! Their family only had a few pieces of mixed flour steamed bread and a pot of watery wild vegetable porridge for a meal!

If you ask them to pay taxes, won't that force them to sell their children like Wang Yujin's family did?

Ruijin had heard about the emperor leaving the palace a long time ago, and knew that the emperor was talking about something, so he lowered his head and said nothing.

Yining continued,

"Although I have lost some face now, it has no impact on the lives of ordinary people!

Look, we didn't take anything out, but we have all this money, don't we?"

Ruijin:

"But Your Majesty, I really feel..."

Yining waved his hand.

"Lord Ruijin, let me ask you, if the foreign devils come, can I defeat them with a Tang Sancai bottle?

Can the soldiers with a painting and calligraphy by Tie Bao be able to withstand the enemy's artillery shells?

Those antique bronzes, paintings, calligraphy, and collectibles are just sitting there like waste. What's wrong with replacing them with warships and guns that can defend our country?"

After hearing the emperor's words, Ruijin Qi sat on the ground in a daze, his face becoming increasingly ugly.

His heart was filled with emotion. He had no way to refute what the emperor said except to say that he had lost face.

He is in charge of the country's finances, and no one knows better than him that without money the entire country will come to a standstill.

Without talking about other things, let’s just talk about the army. Without military expenditure, how can we talk about food, fodder and horses? How can we buy weapons and armor? Soldiers cannot train on an empty stomach.

Without these, soldiers can't fight the enemy with sticks, right?

The second thing is to control floods. Several rivers in the south often overflow and burst their banks. The Yellow River in Shandong and Henan in the north breaks every year, making the Heze area a flood zone, and there may be no harvest in any year.

These are things that will cost a lot of money to solve!

As he was thinking, he looked up and saw that he was sitting on the ground and the emperor was sitting on a chair, just staring at him. He felt it was extremely funny, so he knelt on the ground and kowtowed.

"Your Majesty, I was foolish. Now I understand your good intentions. I know I was wrong!"

Yining didn't blame him at all.

"Hurry up and get up! I promise you that if the auction price of silver exceeds 10 million taels, I will give you one tenth of it!"

"Really?"

Ruijin jumped up,

"Your Majesty, are you deceiving me?"

Yining rolled his eyes.

"Look at you, you're such a money-grubber! You're a vice-state-level official after all. Isn't it shameful?"

Ruijin laughed and said,

"Haha, it's not shameful, it's not shameful. Your Majesty can sacrifice his face, so my face is nothing. Your Majesty can't break your promise!"

Seeing Ruijin crying and laughing, Yining was also very angry.

"With your brains, if you can't even figure out such a small thing, how can you be an official?"

Rui Jin argued,

"I was chosen as the runner-up by the late emperor based on my own abilities!"

Yining sighed.

"I have knowledge, but unfortunately, apart from being able to recite poems and compose couplets, I can't put the rest to good use. What can I do?"

No matter how brave Ruijin was, he didn't dare to refute the emperor, so he had to remain silent!

After a beating, you should give me a sweet date to eat.

"Ministry of Revenue Tianguan Ruijin has done a good job and will be rewarded with three months' salary!"

Ruijin knelt down and kowtowed in thanks, but he said with a bitter face,

"Your Majesty, can't you give me a little more? I've earned over 800,000 taels of silver, and you only give me three months' salary, a mere few dozen taels. I'm not happy with that!"

Yining teased him,

"Well, I'll start over. Lord Ruijin thinks three months' salary is too little and doesn't want it!"

Ruijin waved his hands hurriedly and said,

"No, no, Your Majesty's word is law, and even a penny of silver is a gift from the Emperor. I still want it!"

Yining rolled his eyes.

"Hehe, you're playing tricks on me!"

On the fifth day, all those who had signed up were summoned by the Ministry of Rites. The emperor wanted to perform the ceremony in advance, and being disrespectful in front of the emperor was a capital crime!

In fact, Yining had already instructed that the ceremony should just be a formality. We are here to get their money, so we shouldn't make things difficult for them over trivial matters!

In fact, Yining was wrong this time. The understanding of these people who spent money was different from his. The more complicated the etiquette for entering the palace and the stricter the inspection, the stronger people's sense of ceremony would be, and they would feel that the money they spent was more worthwhile.

No matter what the emperor said, Zaiyuan still asked his subordinates to follow the procedures and etiquette of meeting the emperor step by step to carefully teach those participating in the auction.