Chapter 196 195 Borrowing Money

Under the expectant eyes of Prince Yu Zhu Zaigui, Gao Gong, and Chen Yiqin, even though he felt that the current occasion was inappropriate, Yin Shizun slowly spoke out Wei Guangde's suggestion.

"Send money to Yan Shifan?"

After listening to Yin Shizun's words, Prince Yu was a little bit unbelieving of his ears, and whispered to Gao Gong, "Does he mean to let me give money to Yan Shifan to let him solve this matter?"

Before Gao Gong answered, Chen Yiqin next to him had already stared at Yin Shizun with his eyes almost spitting fire, "What a big courage, Yin Shizun, is it your place to say such a bad idea? Don't forget, you are still the groom of Prince Yu's mansion."

After Chen Yiqin said this, Prince Yu's face did not look good.

Let him, a dignified prince, bribe Yan Deqiu, who was notorious in the capital. Prince Yu could not believe his ears, and did not believe that his subjects would come up with such a solution for him.

Just as he was getting angry, Gao Gong's voice rang beside him.

"Just now you said someone else gave you the method, who said that?"

"Master Gao, you..."

Prince Yu suppressed his unhappiness at the moment and looked at Gao Gong to ask, but Gao Gong waved his hand to stop him. He continued to stare at Yin Shizeng and asked: "Who gave you the method?"

Yin Shizeng was a little bit in a bad mood at this moment. At the same time, he was locked by three eyes in the room and didn't know what to do with his hands and feet.

To be honest, Yin Shizeng was a little regretful at this time. He shouldn't have mentioned the bad idea given by Wei Guangde.

However, Yin Shizeng still had his own principles. Looking at the unfriendly eyes, Yin Shizeng still suppressed his uneasy heart and said: "Others are just kind, not malicious."

"I didn't ask this, I just want to know who came up with this idea?"

Gao Gong frowned, but still said, but his tone was much better than before.

Yin Shizan glanced at Prince Yu, then at Gao Gong and Chen Yiqin, and then whispered: "You also know that it was the method proposed by Wei Guangde, a scholar from the Hanlin Academy."

"Wei Guangde? How dare a scholar like that?"

Hearing that it was Wei Guangde who proposed the suggestion, Chen Yiqin on the side couldn't bear it. How much did he look down on Prince Yu to come up with such a method.

"Wei Guangde, is the one who was selected for this year's exam?"

After hearing what Yin Shizan said, Prince Yu also frowned slightly, and his tone was very unfriendly, obviously having a bad impression of Wei Guangde.

"It's him."

Only Gao Gong didn't show any emotional changes, but bowed his head and pondered.

Seeing Gao Gong's appearance, Prince Yu hurriedly said: "Master Gao, you..."

Speaking of this, Gao Gong waved his hand to interrupt him again, obviously not wanting to be interrupted when he was thinking.

Perhaps it was because the person involved was confused, or perhaps he had never intended to bow to the Yan family or the Jing Wang family, so Gao Gong had never considered this possibility, that is, to give money to Yan Shifan, Yan Donglou, who was so bold that he could not do anything, and let him deal with the group of people in the Ministry of Revenue.

After all, although Yan Donglou was only the Minister of the Ministry of Works, the power from his father Yan Song could indeed crush those people in the Ministry of Revenue, and those villains all looked at the faces of the Yan family father and son.

But he had also found Yan Song, the old man, but he was directly rejected.

Would Yan Shifan agree to something that Yan Song did not agree to?

Yan Shifan's credit was indeed a well-known honest and trustworthy young man in the capital. As long as he accepted the money, he would do it.

Thinking of the money, Gao Gong came back to his senses.

If there was money, he might as well give it to Yan Shifan.

Although he had never done any business with Yan Shifan, Gao Gong had heard that Yan Shifan would return the original money for any request that he dared not accept, and there would be absolutely no such thing as taking advantage of a little bit of money, so there was no need to worry that Yan Shifan would take the money but not do anything.

Moreover, sending this money could also confirm something from the side, that is, who made the call at the Ministry of Revenue.

If it was really the decision of the person they were all afraid of, Yan Shifan would definitely not dare to take the money to do the work, and if he dared to take the money and dare to do this, then the instigator would be very clear.

Relatively speaking, the key to doing this thing now is whether Yan Shifan dares to take the money.

However, the most important thing in front of him was to collect the money first.

Yes, in his heart, Gao Gong had already accepted the method proposed by Wei Guangde. Although it was very embarrassing, it might be the only way to solve the problem.

However, after a simple weighing, Gao Gong still felt that as long as this problem could be solved, it would not matter if he lost some face, but the specific operation was to minimize the loss of Prince Yu's Mansion.

Thinking of this, Gao Gong looked at Yin Shizeng and asked: "What did Wei Guangde say at that time? Please recall it carefully and tell me in detail."

Although Yin Shizeng did not understand Gao Gong's considerations, he had to recall it and slowly told him after hearing that he wanted to know the details.

After listening to Yin Shizeng's words, Gao Gong nodded, "As Wei Guangde said, if this matter is done, the palace will definitely lose face and will be ridiculed, but if the Ministry of Revenue continues to be so lazy, won't it lose face?"

After Gao Gong said this, he looked at Prince Yu and continued: "Instead of continuing to be a laughing stock, it is better to give it a try. At least it can solve the dilemma of insufficient expenditure faced by the palace."

Then he looked at Chen Yiqin, and then at Yin Shizeng: "We still have to do this. Who should we send to test it?"

"Master Gao, this is not appropriate."

Before Chen Yiqin and the others could reply, King Yu interrupted dissatisfiedly.

Although Yin Shizhen repeated Wei Guangde's method and Gao Gong's words before, it seemed that the matter had nothing to do with him, but in the end it was he, the people of Prince Yu's palace, who lost his face.

"Your Highness, I have said before that it is embarrassing to continue like this. It is better to solve this matter once and for all. Let's consider this matter. How much money can the palace still give out now?"

Gao Gong has been staying in Prince Yu's Mansion for a long time, and naturally knows that Prince Yu's temperament is relatively weak. If he wants to get him to agree to something he doesn't want to do, he must be a little stronger.

Moreover, King Yu is a very sensible person. Even if he was dissatisfied at the time, he later figured out that it was for his own good, so he would not mind these disrespectful things.

In addition, King Yu is a bit concerned about face, which can be seen from the fact that he did not file a memorial to the Ministry of Household Affairs despite being so wronged.

It was precisely because Gao Gong knew that King Yu would not agree to this matter that he did not ask King Yu for his opinion. Instead, he suppressed King Yu in a stronger tone, and then skipped King Yu to discuss the matter with the other two. The thing is, I just don’t want King Yu to express his thoughts that he doesn’t want to do.

Okay, let's not mention who to send to contact Yan Shifan for now, let's talk about the money first.

The first is to determine how much silver is left, and the second is how much silver should be sent to Yan Shifan.

When Gao Gong asked how much money was left in the palace, King Yu's face turned ugly and he hesitated for a long time without saying anything.

"Your Highness, you must have an idea of ​​how much money there is in the palace."

When Gao Gong saw King Yu's expression, he knew in his heart that something was going to happen. The palace was afraid that it would be impossible to reveal the blame.

"There should be a few hundred taels left, which is enough for the palace's expenses this month. The Ministry of Accounts owes Gu tens of thousands of taels of silver, and we really can't get the money out now."

Hearing Gao Gong's continued questioning, King Yu had no choice but to speak honestly.

"A few hundred taels?"

Hearing King Yu's answer, Gao Gong, Chen Yiqin and Yin Shizhen all took a deep breath.

A few hundred taels of silver is a huge amount of money to put out there, but for such a huge palace, it is indeed at the end of its rope.

As a prince, he still has to have daily decency, so he cannot be like ordinary people, who spend more when they have money and spend less when they don't have money.

Some money, whether you use it or not, must be spent.

"This amount of money is definitely not enough. Yan Shifan's money will definitely not be enough if it is less than a thousand taels."

Gao Gong shook his head and said.

As far as he knew, Yan Shifan would charge hundreds of taels of silver even if he was hired as a low-level official like the county magistrate. If he were to be the county magistrate, it would be seven to eight hundred taels and nearly a thousand taels of silver.

Of course, if you were to be the magistrate of a superior county, you would definitely need more than a thousand taels of silver.

This is the price for selling an official position. It is said that there is a price list for those who want to be elected and Jinshi to choose freely, making it very marketable.

But this time, it is obviously more difficult than a certain county magistrate. There is no price list, and I have to go over and talk to them.

"Is it okay to write a note? I'll make up for it as soon as I receive the replacement money from the Ministry of Finance?"

King Yu spoke at this time.

Being disturbed by the matter of Yinzi, King Yu temporarily forgot about the matter of face, but was guided to pay attention to the issue of Yinzi.

In any case, it was not easy to be in front of such a big family. He had to consider the nearly 100 mouths in the palace, and he had to first get money to tide over the difficulties.

Regarding King Yu's words, Gao Gong, Chen Yiqin and others all shook their heads.

Yan Shifan always works with cashiers. If he doesn't accept cashiers, it means he doesn't do things.

King Yu could also think of making a note.

"How many hundred taels of silver does the palace still have?"

Gao Gong turned to look at King Yu and asked.

"Three to four hundred taels, maybe. If you can get through this month, it will definitely not be enough next month."

King Yu lowered his head in embarrassment. If the people sitting here were not old people from the palace, he would never tell the truth.

"well"

The hall was quiet for a moment before Gao Gong let out a long sigh with a look of decadence on his face.

Gao Gong knew very well that neither he nor Chen Yiqin or Yin Shizhen had much money at this time.

For officials like them, their monthly salary is only enough to live in the capital, so it is impossible to save much money.

In addition to their salary, royal officials like them also have an income, which is the rewards from the palace. However, King Yu has not seen the rewards for two years, so naturally there will be no money to reward them.

Over two years, the previous accumulation of the palace has obviously been exhausted, and it is really impossible to survive.

At this moment, Gao Gong could only deeply regret why he hadn't thought of this method earlier and tried to follow Yan Shifan's path. With his character and "honesty and trustworthiness" that valued wealth like life, he might have solved the matter long ago.

Gao Gong has spent most of his energy on the palace these years. Because of King Yu's weak character, he must try his best to provide shelter for King Yu and prevent him from being harmed. Now for a while, he really doesn't know how to raise money to fill this palace. Thousands of taels of holes.

In Gao Gong's view, in order to impress Yan Shifan, one must prepare at least a thousand taels of silver, and perhaps more, but for the first time, one must prepare at least a thousand taels of silver to test Yan Shifan's limits.

We are not afraid that he will take the money, nor are we afraid that he will find it too little, but we are afraid that he will not take the money.

As long as he dares to accept it, as long as he dares to ask for any amount of money, he must collect the money and send it over no matter what. The most important thing is to solve the financial crisis of the palace first.

"Is there any way you can find someone with a strict mouth to borrow money?"

Gao Gong searched his mind and couldn't find anyone to borrow money from at this time. He had no choice but to ask Chen Yiqin and Yin Shizhen.

Prince Yu could not be involved in this matter from beginning to end, including the matter of borrowing money, which could only be done by them in private.

Chen Yiqin and Yin Shizhen both shook their heads. They had already thought about it just now, not even their colleagues or friends.

The key to this matter is actually that it is best to only borrow money from someone who is strict with his words and try to reduce the scope of his knowledge as much as possible.

"How much silver do you need?"

Chen Yiqin asked Gao Gong at this time.

"I estimate it will be at least one thousand taels, maybe more, but it would be safe to borrow at least two to three thousand taels of silver from that person."

Gao Gong looked at Chen Yiqin and said, "Either don't do it, or if you do it, you must prepare enough money. We are not afraid of Yan Shifan talking. As long as he dares to report the number, we will satisfy him." ’

"Two or three hundred taels can be scraped together, and even a thousand taels, even my fellow businessmen in the capital may not be able to come up with so much money at the moment."

Chen Yiqin shook his head and said.

Yin Shizhen said something similar. In fact, the deeper words were not said, that is, they were in Prince Yu's Mansion now. If they were working in Prince Jing's Mansion, it might be possible.

When the three of them were at a loss what to do, King Yu said dejectedly: "If not, I will enter the palace in a few days and ask my father to let me go out and become a vassal." ’

"no."

Gao Gong, Chen Yiqin and three others said in unison.

"Your Highness must never have this thought again. We will find a solution regarding the money."

Looking at King Yu, Gao Gong said: "Actually, it's not that I can't get the money together. The main thing is that I don't want to ask too many people to borrow money, so as not to spread the news."

"Hey, by the way, the person who gave you the advice is Wei Guangde. I remember the last time I had a drink with my colleagues in the Hanlin Academy, Jinda said that Wei Guangde might be the richest person among Jinshi Jinshi. He also talked about money. If you don’t have enough, ask him to borrow it and ask him not to charge too high interest.”

Chen Yiqin suddenly remembered that when he returned to the Hanlin Academy for business, he and his colleagues had dinner at a restaurant outside at noon. Wei Guangde was also there at the time, and everyone said that Wei Guangde was rich.

"Wei Guangde? Is he rich?"

When Gao Gong heard Chen Yiqin say that Wei Guangde might be rich, he immediately became energetic.

Indeed, it would be the best thing to borrow money from Wei Guangde. After all, the idea was his, so it would not be leaked out. As for Yan Shifan, he had nothing to do with it.

"Jinda said so, but I can't say whether he can afford so much money."

Chen Yiqin said.

"Why don't you try to find him? Even if you don't have it, ask him to help raise money outside and then deliver it over?"

Yin Shizhen suddenly suggested.