Chapter 197: Missed
"Your Majesty, the Grand Chancellor requests an audience."
In Longtu Pavilion, the emperor was reviewing a document when a eunuch came in to report.
"Let him in." Upon hearing this, the official put down his pen.
The eunuch bowed and left. After a while, Han Zhang walked in.
"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you!" Han Zhang bowed and saluted.
"No need to be polite, please take a seat." The official waved his hand.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
After Han Zhang thanked him, he took out a document and said, "Your Majesty, this is the document about the military expenses in the north that I and the other ministers have checked."
Eunuch Liu stepped forward, took the bundle and presented it to the emperor.
The emperor took it and began to look at it, while Han Zhang sat down, took the tea brought by the palace maid, and slowly sipped it.
"Why do you need so much money?" the official frowned.
"Your Majesty, the northern border town has not been repaired for many years. It is dilapidated and needs repair, so it costs more. I and the ministers have summarized the situation of border patrols and calculated the cost." Han Zhang said.
The official rubbed his brows with a headache after hearing this, and after pondering for a while, he asked, "Can the national treasury take it out?"
Although the emperor had no intention of going to war, he still knew the importance of border armaments.
Everything else is easy to deal with, but the city walls must be reinforced and repaired. Otherwise, if the Liao Kingdom attacks, how can we defend it?
"We can't afford it. At least there is still a shortfall of half," said Han Zhang.
"So much difference?" The official frowned and asked, "Can you think of a way to save some?"
The estimate of military expenditure in the note was more than two million taels, and half of the shortfall was more than one million taels.
"Your Majesty, I also know that the national treasury is tight. This is the minimum requirement after verification." Han Zhang said.
"Can we temporarily borrow it from somewhere else?" the official said.
An empty treasury does not mean there is no money, it just means that a lot of money has already been earmarked for other purposes.
If the national treasury doesn't even have this little money, it's doomed.
"Your Majesty, it's not easy to move anything else. It's still early for the autumn harvest, and if anything is moved it will cause a chain reaction," said Han Zhang.
The emperor closed the bundle and threw it on the imperial desk, and said with a headache: "Is there no other way?"
"It's not that we don't have any. If His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is willing to give us some, the problem can be easily solved." Han Zhang said.
The emperor was silent for a while after hearing this, and then said, "I know about this matter, you can go back first."
"I'm leaving now!" Han Zhang stood up, bowed, and walked out.
The emperor had a headache. He also knew Han Zhang's purpose, which was to let Zhao Xing take the money, but Han Zhang had no selfish motives.
The emperor rubbed his brows and was about to order someone to fetch Zhao Xing when a eunuch came in and saluted, saying, "Your Majesty, the Crown Prince wishes to see you."
"Let him in."
It was true that when he spoke of Cao Cao, Cao Cao appeared. Just when he was about to find Zhao Xing, Zhao Xing appeared by himself.
"My son, I pay my respects to my father!"
After a while, Zhao Xing walked into the hall and bowed.
"No need to be polite!" The emperor waved his hand and asked someone to let Zhao Xing sit down. After he sat down, he asked, "Did you accompany the Crown Princess back home this morning?"
"Yes." Zhao Xing nodded.
"Ah."
The official nodded slightly and asked, "What business have you come to the palace for at this time?"
"Father, I have something important to tell you in private." Zhao Xing said seriously.
Upon hearing this, the official sent everyone away and asked, "What happened?"
It was the first time he saw Zhao Xing look so serious.
"Father..."
Zhao Xing told the story of how Prince Yan had sent him women, bribed the eunuchs of the Eastern Palace to get information about the Eastern Palace, and even had someone send poison to the Eastern Palace today.
"Do you have..."
The emperor wanted to ask Zhao Xing if he had any evidence, but he stopped halfway.
It was impossible for Zhao Xing to come to him to talk about such things without any evidence.
The official sighed deeply: "Why would you go to this extent for the throne?"
Zhao Xing shook his head slightly when he heard this. Since ancient times, it has been common for sons to kill their fathers for the throne, and it is even more common for brothers to kill each other.
what is this.
The reason why the emperor sighed like this was because first there was the assassination by Prince Yong and then there was the poisoning by Prince Yan, both of whom were his nephews.
"Alas." The emperor sighed, looking a little older, and said, "Where is the poison? Did you bring it?" "I brought it." Zhao Xing took out a porcelain bottle from his sleeve and handed it to his father.
The official took it and put it on the table, saying, "I will send someone to accompany you back later. You can hand the people over to them and don't worry about the rest."
"Yes!" Zhao Xing bowed and said, "If your Majesty has nothing else to say, I will take my leave."
His nephew wanted to kill his son, and he had no choice but to do it to his nephew. Other emperors would not feel uncomfortable about this.
But the emperor was kind-hearted and treated his subjects like this, let alone his own nephew.
Zhao Xing knew that his father was upset, but he had no way to comfort him.
"Wait a minute." The official picked up the paper on the table and said, "Look at this paper."
Zhao Xing took it, unfolded it, and looked at it, then asked, "But the treasury is out of money?"
The hairpins have not been sent to the East Palace recently.
But when his father asked him to look at a document about the budget for repairing border cities, he guessed a little bit.
My father was a typical emperor who focused more on civil administration than military affairs.
The documents previously sent to the Eastern Palace were all about government affairs.
The letter regarding military affairs was not sent to Zhao Xing.
Zhao Xing also asked about this before, and his father said that as a crown prince, he should learn more about governing the country.
The reason I’m showing this to him now is simply because I don’t have enough money and want to ask him for more.
"Well, this document was checked by the Grand Chancellor and other ministers, and there is still half of the money missing. You should have a lot of money, so take two million taels and hand them over to the national treasury." said the official.
Zhao Xing: "..."
The budget on the plan was million taels, so half of the difference should be a little over one million taels. Wow, he just asked for 2 million taels. Did he really think his money came from the wind?
"Father, I don't have that much." Zhao Xing said with a wry smile.
"Don't give me that!" The emperor glared at him, "I heard that you were bringing money to the East Palace by the cartload, and the East Palace's treasury was almost full. You said it was useful before, and I didn't force you to hand the money over to the treasury, nor did I take away your business. Now the treasury is empty, and since you, the prince, have money, why don't you take it out?"
Zhao Xing knew that some things could not be hidden from his father. If he refused again, his father might take over his business by force.
After thinking for a while, he said, "Father, I can give you the money, but how and how much you should give, you need to let the Grand Master come and discuss with me."
"What do you mean?" The official did not understand what Zhao Xing meant for a moment.
"Father, public is public and private is private. The money is my personal property. If the court needs money, I am willing to give it. But you can't ask me for this money. You have to ask the Grand Master to ask for it. I can't pay the money, get nothing in return, and be taken for granted, right?
I have no other intentions, I just want to clarify something with you, my Lordship." Zhao Xing said.
It is certain that the imperial court is short of money, but it is not necessarily true that there is no other way.
If Zhao Xing has no money, will he not repair the border cities?
The reason why Han Zhang wanted him to pay was simply because he was rich.
If Zhao Xing agreed easily, such things would definitely happen again in the future.
Zhao Xing was not stingy with money, but he could not agree to this matter easily.
"I will tell the prime minister later. You can go back first." The emperor said after hesitating for a while.
Since Zhao Xing had agreed, he was happy to go along with Zhao Xing's wishes on this matter.
"Your son, take your leave!" Zhao Xing bowed and walked out.
The emperor watched his son's departing back with a smile. Although Zhao Xing was only fifteen or sixteen years old, he had an upright posture due to years of martial arts training.
"Fuer is strong and will definitely not be like me in the future." The official murmured to himself.
Zhao Xing went out and Eunuch Liu came in.
The sound of light footsteps interrupted the official's thoughts.
The smile on the emperor's face slowly faded, and he said, "Send someone to accompany the prince to the East Palace. The prince will tell them the details. Find Duke Wei!"
"Yes!" replied Eunuch Liu.
…………
Zhao Xing returned to the Eastern Palace and handed the eunuch and the two women sent by Prince Yan to the people sent by his father, and he no longer cared about the matter.
Even if Prince Yan noticed something, he can't run away now.
As for rebellion, it is even more impossible.
If it weren't for that idiot Prince Yong who attacked Rong Feiyan, Prince Yan would have never had any chance to rebel.
Even with the help of the Rong family, he could only barely control the imperial palace and the city of Bianjing, which allowed him to be easily pacified by Zhao Zongquan and his men.
Otherwise, the city of Bianjing was so majestic and heavily guarded that it would have been impossible to pacify it so quickly.
The current Prince of Yan might not even be able to mobilize any troops, let alone rebel.
(End of this chapter)