jdhmnovel Chapter 757 Court Intrigue, Dividing the Cake 3
Chapter 757 Court Intrigue, Dividing the Cake 3
"Calm down? How do I calm down?"
My ministers, they don't look like pillars of the state, but rather like creditors coming to collect debts!
Upon hearing this, all the officials looked grim. The emperor's words were blunt, and he clearly didn't want to save face for them.
"Everyone knows that my Zhenhai fleet has returned, and everyone knows that I have acquired a silver mine."
But do you know that the fleet was established when I was still the Crown Prince, or no, the Second Prince?
It was my own private treasury used, without costing the court a single penny.
What? Now that my Zhenhai fleet has brought back goods, are you going to divide them up in the court?
"Very well, very well, you've dared to rob me!"
The court was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Jiang Xiaoqi never expected that he would have no chance to speak the words he had prepared, and that His Majesty would speak first.
Once these words are spoken, unless someone is extremely shameless, they probably won't keep bothering you, right?
However, there are some who are extremely shameless.
This time, however, His Majesty did not refuse.
With a stroke of his imperial edict, he directly allocated funds for disaster relief grain.
Other matters can be delayed, but the situation with the disaster victims cannot.
Your Majesty is still the same soft-hearted Your Majesty.
However, for this disaster relief effort, the emperor dispatched several officials from the Jiang family to oversee the entire process of distributing grain and funds.
Anyone caught embezzling funds here will be executed by slow slicing.
After these words, there was another silence. This disaster relief effort must have been the cleanest one in the history of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
After all, nominally, this was the emperor's own private money for disaster relief.
Jiang Lin, Jiang Yan, and Jiang Hao accepted the task, and they secretly resolved to make sure that every tael of silver was spent wisely.
More importantly, the people also need to know that all the disaster relief funds came from His Majesty the Emperor's personal funds.
If you want to express gratitude, you should first express gratitude to the emperor, and only then to the court.
Many people think that the emperor is the court, but that's not actually the case.
After all, the national treasury is the national treasury, and the emperor's private treasury is the emperor's private treasury.
The public and the private are actually quite separate.
With one-fifth of the silver mine's reserves already given away, the remaining four-fifths are still coveted by various parties.
There was no way I could resist; this cake was just too tempting.
This is all under the premise that no one knows the exact amount of Japan's reserves. If they did know, the looting would only be even more frantic.
"Your Majesty, please calm down. The national treasury is truly empty, and we have no other choice."
Several elderly men knelt down, tears streaming down their faces, looking quite sincere.
"Is the national treasury empty? Did the national treasury only start to become empty this year?"
With the national treasury empty, what effective policies have you, the officials of the court, implemented to replenish it?
Now that you see a fleet returning from the sea, you rush over to fleece them. Is this how you serve as officials of the court for the people and for the Great Zhou?
"Even saying you're just occupying positions without doing any work is a compliment!"
“My ministers—guilty!”
"Hmph! The national treasury is empty and the people are suffering. What you should be doing is thinking about what you can do."
Instead of thinking about or eyeing my private treasury, and emptying my personal savings to replenish the national treasury.
"We, your subjects, confess our crimes!"
"Minister Qiu will be organizing people to continue building ships for the sea in the coming days. If you really want a piece of the pie..."
Don't try to get something for nothing!
No pain, no gain.
After these words, there was another moment of silence.
The ministers' minds were racing. After all that His Majesty had said, did it mean he was finally allowing them to get involved in the silver mines?
The situation has taken an unexpected turn for the better?
They thought they had finally gotten rid of that idea; after all, they were quite shameless.
"I wonder what Your Majesty means by these words?"
Qiu Cheng rolled his eyes. These old foxes are pretending to be ignorant again. Where did their shamelessness go?!
Not wanting his master to waste time talking to them, Qiu Cheng exchanged a glance with the emperor and stepped forward.
"Let me explain to you gentlemen. Here's what happened."
Currently, the Zhenhai fleet consists of eleven ships, all of which were built with funds funded solely by His Majesty.
Each seagoing vessel can carry nearly 10,000 shi of cargo and a crew of 100.
As everyone knows, the Zhenhai fleet recently returned to port, bringing back a lot of cargo and... silver ore.
Japan is now completely under the control of our Great Zhou, including all the mineral resources on the island.
His Majesty is currently preparing to continue building ships, with a hundred ships setting sail to invade Japan in one fell swoop and exploit all the island's resources.
Normally, we could have resolved this by taking it slow and making more trips, but His Majesty, with his far-sighted vision, wishes to lead the fleet to even wider lands…
With the goods that have now been brought back, it would not be difficult for Your Majesty to build dozens more ships on your own.
But today, my lords... cough cough, His Majesty has changed his mind and is thinking of sharing this matter with you all.
Let everyone participate and work together to build a prosperous future for the Great Zhou!
"What are your thoughts, esteemed gentlemen? Do you wish to participate in the construction of the ocean-going fleet?"
Qiu Cheng concluded his lengthy discourse with the central idea being—
The emperor, who would have kept the benefits for himself, is now generously sharing them with you, his subjects. Aren't you all eager to be grateful and shout "Long live the emperor!"?
Nobody's a fool. The words have been made so clear. If we don't speak up now, when will we?!
"Your subject is willing to offer my humble assistance!"
"My lord, second the motion!"
"Your Majesty, I am willing to assist you in accomplishing this great undertaking!"
"We, your subjects, second that proposal!"