Shipin Dalizheng

Cui Xian scoffed lightly, "No official is truly clean. As long as they're willing to investigate, they can find problems, especially in the Ministry of Revenue."

Zheng Changzhi found his train of thought. "You mean, the Ministry of Revenue accounts?"

Cui Xian also looked at him, and the two of them had meaningful expressions on their faces.

It just so happened that the Liang family cheated the Earl of Jian'an out of twenty shops, and he himself also exposed the problem of accounting. It should be said that the situation changed very quickly.

The sedan chair that Rong Tang was riding in did not enter the west city gate until noon. The noise was too loud and he finally woke up.

As soon as I opened my eyes, I felt something was wrong. It seemed like I had been on the road for too long. I had slept for at least two hours. It was all because the sedan was too comfortable.

Seeing that he woke up, Rong Zhan handed him the fan. Rong Tang opened it and simply lay there, fanning himself lazily.

The officers and soldiers guarding the city gate all knew him, and they all smacked their lips as they watched the four men walk past in a grand manner.

"Hey, have you heard? It's rumored in the city that Prince Rong killed his own father. I don't know if it's true."

"Why do you care? Don't talk nonsense if you don't have any real evidence. You need evidence. Do you think no one will care?"

Now the Jian'an Earl's Mansion is almost at odds with the Liang family. No one has taken any action openly, but who knows how fierce the fight is in secret.

However, everyone generally believed that Rong Tang would lose without a doubt. Who were Minister Liang's family members? They were Prince Rui's maternal family, and there was also a concubine named Shu in the palace.

Rong Tang looked so arrogant and conspicuous as he walked through the streets that some women with children even turned away at the sight of his shadow, looking terrified. Rong Tang wanted to laugh. If this continued, his name would stop children from crying at night.

Arriving at the entrance of the Ministry of Works and hearing his name, Sima Xin practically ran out, "Nephew-in-law, if you hadn't come, your uncle would have gone looking for you. Come on, come on, let's go see the Minister. Hey... your sedan chair is very unique!"

Rong Tang felt a little embarrassed. "I didn't sleep well last night, so I took a break on the way. How about you come up?"

"No, no, no." Sima Xin said firmly: "You rest, you rest, you work day and night, but it's hard. Uncle, it's okay, I'll tell you the situation while I walk."

On the way to the Ministry of Works, Sima briefly outlined the difficulties they had encountered in the past few days and the countermeasures they had discussed. In short, many large merchants were willing to cooperate with the Ministry of Works to open workshops and share profits with the court in the form of taxes. They had already raised hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, enough to open workshops in ten major prefectures.

"Although the profit chain bypasses the Ministry of Revenue, taxes and silver still have to be paid into the Ministry's account, which is very unpleasant."

There is actually nothing to be unhappy about this. The tax silver paid to the Ministry of Revenue is just tax silver. It will eventually go into the national treasury and will not go into Minister Liang's pocket.

If he wanted to do it secretly, he would have to take a big risk. It would not be as good as opening a water dragon workshop and making money in an honest way.

"The Ministry of Revenue can also agree? It's really strange!"

Sima Xin chuckled, "Of course the Ministry of Revenue would never agree, but it's also true that the Ministry of Revenue has no money. Later, the Ministry of Revenue said that the funds raised still had to be supervised by the Ministry of Revenue, and that money would be allocated from the Ministry of Revenue to purchase wood and other items. Our Shangshu quarreled with the Ministry of Revenue, saying that if you take off your pants twice for shit and fart, you won't know how much you will lose once you pass it through your hands. While the Minister of Revenue and our Shangshu were arguing, the officials from the Sinong Temple mentioned several incidents that happened two years ago. When the previous Minister of Revenue left office, the accounts were in good condition, but now there is a huge deficit, which has made it impossible for them to carry out their work to encourage agriculture. Later, for some reason, they wanted to check the accounts of the Ministry of Revenue. Now the Ministry of Revenue has a lot of shit to clean up and has no time to pay attention to the water dragon workshop."

Rong Tang couldn't help but feel a strange arc when he heard this. Great, the accounts are finally being checked.

The Rong family was warmly received by the Minister of Workshops when they entered the Workshop Office. At that time, the Minister was in a meeting. When he heard that Prince Rong was coming to visit, he immediately drove away those with low positions and useless positions, leaving only two left and right assistant ministers to accompany him.

When Rong Tangjin left, he saw his cheap father-in-law lowering his head, half covering his face as he passed him sideways. Sima Xin also saw Tang Yuanze, of course, but ignored him and treated him as air.

The Minister of Works was a thin, almost sixty-year-old man, but he was easygoing. It wasn't the kind of easygoing he'd put on just to meet the heir apparent, but rather the way he came across. The two assistant ministers, even knowing full well that Rong Tang was the true designer of the water dragon carriage, remained cautious. He possessed both status and talent, and his future was bright; he should not be deceived.

In this atmosphere, their conversation was relaxed and pleasant. Rong Tang gave the Ministry of Works a lot of suggestions. The Shangshu and the two vice ministers listened carefully and agreed to all his requests.

In fact, Rong Tang did not make any excessive demands. He just hoped that no other businesses would be arranged to build water dragon cart workshops around Shangjing, leaving enough living space for the villagers of the seven villages he was responsible for. In addition, he also hoped that ten craftsmen would be assigned to him to teach the villagers how to make water dragon cart parts.

Of course, he paid every penny of tax he was supposed to pay.

The reason why the Shangshu agreed so readily was that the competition for building workshops around Shangjing was so fierce. Several high-ranking officials in the court had put pressure on him. It was difficult to choose, so he simply didn't make a choice and announced to the public that the market within a 500-mile radius of Shangjing would belong to the designers and builders of the water dragon carts. Anyone who wanted to build a workshop could choose another place.

After cursing for a long time, the contenders went to choose a new location.

After the negotiation, the Shangshu even generously asked the Left Vice Minister to personally bring people to help draw the blueprints of the workshop and select craftsmen to be sent to Rongjia Village. Rong Tang thanked him and happily left the yamen with Sima Xin.

As soon as they left the government office, Sima Xin grabbed the sedan chair and insisted that they go back to Sima's house with him for dinner. Rong Tang instinctively wanted to refuse, but Sima Xin was too enthusiastic and he couldn't refuse.

What? Count on the guards? No kidding, they'd be laughing at him, and they wouldn't resort to violence.

Rong Tang had no choice but to agree. Sima Xin then ordered a long-time servant to go back and report the news, asking his wife at home to prepare the feast.

Rong Tang was very nervous along the way, and his playboyish nature disappeared without a trace. It was as if he was really going to meet his mother-in-law's new son-in-law, which made Rong Zhan and the other two laugh so hard that their mouths were crooked.

Ah, click, click...

When they arrived at Sima Mansion, a large group of people rushed out to greet them. Those young men who had no job yet were fine, as they had all seen the Sima family's eldest and young wives before. They all looked at Rong Tang with their laser eyes, which made him feel overwhelmed.

Madam Sima said with a smile, "This is Prince Rong, right? Please come in, please come in."

Rong Tang got out of the sedan stiffly, feeling unwell all over.

Sima Xin's youngest son rushed over and hugged his neck, shouting enthusiastically, "Cousin-in-law, you are here! Grandma has missed you so much."

Rong Wanli wanted to step forward and push him away, but Rong Zhan shook his head. Rong Tang always put his arm around everyone regardless of age, so it was not a problem for such a big kid.

Rong Tang's smile was stiff. "Really? But this is my first visit and I didn't even bring a gift. It's really rude."

Sima Xiaolang's enthusiasm remained undiminished. "Yes, Steward Tao delivered it yesterday. The sweet wine is very good. Grandmother likes it very much. Aunt, mother, and aunts also like it very much. You don't know, Aunt has been unable to sleep for several days. She ate a bowl of fermented glutinous rice last night and slept soundly."