Chapter 385 The Treasury Has Money

Chu Qinghuang glanced at him, frowned slightly, and thought: "You can leave."

Zhou Shao came back to his senses, instantly suppressed the thoughts that shouldn't have in his heart, and bowed respectfully to leave.

Chu Qinghuang silently watched his back, and in a moment, he ordered someone to call the Minister of Revenue over: "The Dongling royal family borrowed 10 million taels of silver, and the Zhou family borrowed 5 million taels. These two sums of money were collected into the national treasury and recorded in the account book. Without my permission, not a penny can be moved."

The 10 million taels of silver borrowed from Dongling were fully processed, and the emperors of the two countries stamped their seals and signed. The silver had been handed over to the treasury half a month ago and was also recorded in the account book of the Ministry of Revenue.

I didn't expect that the Zhou family could still hand over 5 million taels.

But Wen Xingyun hadn't had time to be happy that the national treasury had a large amount of money. Hearing this sentence, it was like a basin of cold water suddenly poured down.

He, the Minister of Revenue, has no right to use the silver in the national treasury?

"I use this money to support the army." Chu Qinghuang glanced at him, "If anyone dares to mess with it, I will never let them off easily."

Wen Xingyun hesitated: "Your Majesty, it shouldn't take so much money to support the army. The treasury is tight, and there have always been many places where money is short, and money is needed elsewhere. Let's not talk about other things. For example, the students who passed the exam nearby have lived in the imperial city for more than a month, and their food and accommodation expenses are all provided by the court. After the palace examination, Your Majesty will also hold a banquet for them, as well as the food and clothing expenses of the empress dowager and several concubines in the harem, as well as the salaries of officials-"

"Stop." Chu Qinghuang Huang interrupted him, "Officials' salaries should be paid as usual, and the expenses of the harem should not be too extravagant. My father advocated frugality when he was in power, and I am the same."

"...Yes."

"Spend where you should spend, and try to save where you shouldn't spend." Chu Qinghuang said calmly, "This money is not easy to come by. The money from Dongling will be returned with interest in the future. Every ounce of silver must be spent on the right things."

"Yes."

"All the students' expenses should be recorded in the account book, and be detailed. After the palace examination is over, I will check the accounts."

Wen Xingyun: "..."Isn't it the responsibility of the Ministry of Revenue to check the accounts?

Chu Qinghuang ignored what he was thinking and said calmly: "Go down."

Wen Xingyun was more and more dissatisfied, but he didn't dare to say anything. He responded respectfully: "Yes."

Although he, the Minister of Revenue, cannot be said to have no real power, because the treasury can use too little silver, even if he has real power, it is equivalent to a decoration.

The Ministry of Rites needs money, and he can't approve it.

The Ministry of Personnel needed money, but he couldn't approve it.

The Ministry of War needed money, but he still couldn't approve it.

The officials of various ministries had a lot of complaints about him. But who could understand his pain?

Wen Xingyun thought of the officials in the court who were full of complaints and looked at him coldly at every turn, and suddenly felt that the position of the Minister of Revenue was really difficult.

Busy days passed one by one.

In the palace examination in June, students took a round of written examinations and a round of oral examinations, and each showed their magical powers.

Students who entered the list of the spring examination will no longer be eliminated when they enter the palace examination. The purpose of the palace examination is to determine the first, second and third places.

There are three first-class Jinshi, the top scholar, the second-class scholar, and the third-class scholar.

There are 45 second-class Jinshi, 15 more than in previous years.

There are 65 third-class Jinshi, 15 more than in previous years.

The new emperor ascended the throne and needed to select talents. The additional thirty places were a blessing and grace for the students, and a reserve of new forces for the king.

Not all the students who passed the list were talents that could be reused. Only when the proportion was large could more talents that satisfied her be selected. As for the other mediocre people, they could be placed in idle positions to make up the numbers.

However, there was a paper in the palace examination that caught her attention.

Chu Qinghuang held the candidate's answer sheet in her hand and read it carefully from beginning to end.

Rather than saying that this is an answer sheet, it is better to say that this is a petition.

The only difference is that the person who wrote the petition is outstanding in talent and humble in words. He started by praising the wisdom and bravery of Her Majesty the Queen, and naturally led to the stupidity and tyranny of the local officials.

All the dissatisfaction and unwillingness were expressed vividly between the lines, making people deeply feel the sadness, despair and powerlessness of people in trouble.

At the end of the article, it ends with a few words of advice to the king and strategies for governing a region.

It is written very profoundly.

Chu Qinghuang saw the signature on the answer sheet, Yun Heng.

He calmly wrote down the name, folded the answer sheet and put it aside, and then looked at other people's test papers.

He read through them one by one, and there was no special expression on his face.

The palace examination was held in court, and the papers were read in court. The emperor and all the civil and military officials were watching, so there was no possibility of cheating.

The articles were also improvised and written on the spot.

Chu Xuance wrote about the policy of governing the country, and the theme of Wen Zhan's article was the foundation of people's livelihood. In short, they were inseparable from family and national affairs.

Chu Qinghuang read through them one by one, and passed the articles that he thought were outstanding to other ministers.

Only Yun Heng's paper was suppressed.