The emperor sighed and asked, "Since Haoyu is seriously ill, who will take over as the governor of Yangzhou? And what about the position of Jiangnan Observatory, which is a crucial post, who in the court can take it?"
"Does Mr. Lin have any recommendations?"
"He recommended Liu Pei and Sun Kui." The emperor nodded with the folded paper on the desk: "However, I still want to hear your opinions."
The Minister of Works pondered and said, "Liu Pei and Sun Kui have been Vice Presidents under Lin for four or five years now, they should be familiar with the affairs of Yangzhou, its quite suitable."
"Liu Pei may be all right, but Sun Huais qualifications are not sufficient. Is it too hasty to appoint him as the Jiangnan Road Observation Envoy?" The Minister of Rites proposed: "Why not select a talented scholar from the court to go instead."
"Does Chen Ai Qing have someone to recommend?"
The Minister of Rites bowed his head and said, "The Surveillance Commissioner not only oversees the civil administration of Jiangnan, but also has military power. However, the civil administration is managed by the governors of various states, and the Surveillance Commissioner can exert little influence. It would be better to focus on military power. Moreover, Jiangnan borders Yin and Min, so the person selected should be skilled in leading troops. In my opinion, Zhao Jie, the Deputy Protector of Lingzhou, is not bad."
The Minister of Revenue furrowed his brow, "Minister Chen, the Surveillance Commissioner is a second-grade official, how could Zhao Jie possibly be promoted four ranks in a row?"
From the fourth rank to the second rank, even riding a crane wouldnt be this fast.
The Minister of Rites said: "Lord Lin was promoted out of turn back then, wasnt he? Zhao Jie may not be as good as Lord Lin in terms of literary talent, but he is no worse than him in leading troops."
The Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and the Minister of the Ministry of Works had always treated Lin Jiang as a younger generation with affection, so they naturally disagreed when they heard this. The two immediately quarreled with the Minister of Rites, insisting on arguing it out clearly, whether Lin Jiang was superior or Zhao Jie was stronger.
The emperor leaned back in his chair to watch them argue, the Minister of Justice sat silently beside him, he had just taken office this year and neither Lin Jiang nor Zhao Jie had met or understood him before, so out of caution, he did not express his opinion.
The emperor watched them argue for a while before speaking up: "Zhao Jies command of the troops is indeed impressive, but compared to Lu Du, he still falls short."
The Minister of Revenue and the Minister of Works exchanged a triumphant glance with the Minister of Rites, who didnt know that when they were studying, Lu Zhen was inferior to Lin Jiang. Now, Zhao Jie is serving as deputy under Lu Zhen, and His Majesty himself said that Zhao Jie is not as good as Lu Zhen, while Lu Zhen is inferior to Lin Jiang, clearly indicating that Lin Jiang is better than Zhao Jie.
"Alright, after you return, think about it and recommend someone suitable," the Emperor said with a pause. "Lu Zhen isnt returning to the capital to visit his family? Its just right to have him make a trip to Yangzhou, first to pay respects to Haoyu on my behalf, and secondly, to escort the silver that Haoyu donated back to the capital."
The emperor rubbed his forehead and waved his hand for the four men to withdraw.
He stood up and took a few steps, finally taking Lin Jiangs folding fan and heading towards the back palace.
The queen had just come out of the Buddhist hall and saw the emperor, so she knelt down to pay her respects, smiling and asking, "Your Majesty, why do you look so worried?"
The emperor helped her up and took her hand, leading her into the palace. He handed her Lin Jiangs letter and sighed: "After all, it was I who wronged his family. Now he only has a younger sister and daughter. I can see that he is not at peace, and even someone as proud as him cannot help but confide in me. I think he really doesnt feel at ease."
The empress opened the memorial and exclaimed, "Just a few days ago you were still boasting to me that he was doing well in Jiangnan and hadnt delayed the war efforts of Great Chu. How did he become seriously ill overnight?"
"Yes," sighed the emperor, "the world is unpredictable. Who would have thought that he would be so seriously ill in his prime?"
Lin Jiangs writing is good, the empress can almost imagine his anxiety and unease when he wrote this memorial, thinking of her daughter, the empress couldnt help but clench the memorial and say: "The Lin family has made great contributions to the country, Your Majesty cannot let the meritorious minister be disappointed."
The emperor stretched out his hand and grasped hers, "I thought so too. If he had a son, the title of Guo Gong would have been passed down to him, but since he doesnt have one..."
Lin Zhi was a loyal national duke. When he died, the emperor, in order to show favor to the Lin family, did not demote his title and directly allowed Lin Jiang to inherit the position of national duke.
"Now he wants to sell his property and donate it to the national treasury, if I dont show some appreciation, the saliva of the common people will drown me. But he would rather give his property to me than to the Lin family or leave it to his daughter, probably because he is afraid of the Lin familys side branches and the Shang family. I cannot accept his feelings and instead bestow favors on others."
The empress smiled slightly and asked, "What does Your Majesty plan to do?"
"I heard that Lin Jiang had his sister marry into the Xie family, but she didnt even spend a single night there before being brought back home. He then held a ceremony to welcome her back into the family. From now on, its likely that his sister will be the one raising his daughter. Zhi Tong, why dont you adopt another daughter as well? That way, you can also find a companion for Yuan Hua and Ru Ying. Ive heard that Lin Jiangs sister is incredibly talented. Arent you always complaining that Yuan Hua and Ru Ying are too masculine and lack any gentle qualities? This would be the perfect opportunity for his sister to influence them."
The queen glared at him and complained, "Yuanhua is like that because of your indulgence. She was so well-behaved when she was young and studied well, but just because you took her horseback riding and archery, she became more and more unruly..."
"Yes, yes, its all the husbands fault, so should you apologize or not, Zhitong?"
The emperor rarely coaxed once, the empress pressed down the smile at the corner of her lips and nodded: "Then agree to it."
The emperor let out a sigh of relief and smiled: "At that time, I will grant his daughter the title of county princess, so that they have something to rely on, and he will be at peace."
His guilt towards Lin can also be alleviated a bit.
The queen smiled slightly, which was taken as her agreement with his arrangement.
This honorific title of county lord and county lady is just a nominal title, receiving some salary from the court every year, without even a fiefdom, nor can it be inherited. The expenses for a lifetime may not even match the annual income of a duke.
As a national duke, Lin Jiang not only had a salary, but also received a certain amount of imperial rewards during the New Year and festivals, and the income from his fief was not small.
Lin Jiang is dead, and as for the others, never mind, but Jue Tian must be taken back.
When the Emperor thought he had finally done enough to clear his conscience, he received a secret report from Jiangnan. The report was transmitted quickly, and the words spoken by Lin Jiang and Lin Qingyuan at Shengji Wine House yesterday were recorded one by one and sent to the case.
Above is also attached with Lin Qingwens posted list of properties to be auctioned off, and on the back is also thoughtfully marked with the estimated prices calculated by insiders.
The spy delivered this intelligence with all possible haste to the Emperors desk, for it was of the utmost importance.
Those numbers are all marked in bold, if it werent for fear of being too explicit, the spies would hardly be able to resist annotating on their secret reports: Your Majesty, our national treasury is going to be enriched!
The emperor stared at those numbers in a daze. As an emperor who even had to glance at the national treasury when hosting a palace feast, he was too sensitive about money figures.
The detective didnt calculate the total amount, but after going through the numbers twice, he had a rough idea in his mind. If Lin Jiang really donated all this money to the national treasury...
The emperor couldnt help but breathe heavily, clenching his fists and turning around twice. He turned back to stare tightly at Liu Gonggong: "Old Liu, tell me, how did I treat Lin Haoyu in the past?"
Liu Gonggong didnt know what was written in the secret report, but his intuition told him it should be good news. However, if it were indeed good news, the Emperors reaction seemed too strange. He could only lower his head and deliberate: "Your Majesty has always been very kind to Lin Lang, and at such a young age, he was able to take up the position of Jiangnan Dao Observation Envoy. Even with great talent, without Your Majestys promotion, it would have been difficult for him to attain this position so young."
The emperors fist clenched and loosened, his eyes shining brightly: "Thats right, so Haoyu shouldnt be playing with me, should he?"
Liu Gonggong choked, and after a long while, he said: "Lord Lin is dignified and proper, how could...how could he deceive Your Majesty?"
The emperor jumped two steps to the front of the desk, holding the secret report and looking at Liu Gonggong: "So he really said in front of so many people that he would donate all the silver from the competitive sale of his property to the national treasury?"
Mr. Liu said cautiously: "Since Mr. Lin has said so, it should not be false."
"Good!" The emperor couldnt help but slap the table and burst out laughing: "So Ive finally turned my luck around, wont be poor anymore?"
Liu Gonggong remained silent.
The emperor is quite pitiful. From the time he became emperor to now, it has already been forty-two years, but every year they are poor, and the national treasury is basically in a state of emptiness.
Even if its full for a year, it will return to an empty state in the second year.
Either we encounter war or natural disasters; if neither occurs in a year, the six bandits will come swarming.
The Ministry of Works suggested that the water conservancy projects in various places are too backward, and while there is money, everyone will repair them, and also let the people avoid suffering from droughts and floods again.
The Ministry of Revenue wanted to re-examine the land registers in order to prevent wealthy and powerful households from evading taxes.
The Ministry of Rites suggests that the Emperor has never properly worshipped Heaven all these years, now that the country is at peace and the people are content, we should hold a national sacrifice to clearly show that our Great Liang is the one destined by Heaven.
The Ministry of Personnel said that the salaries owed to officials should also be made up, and the wages of civil servants should be increased. Officials cannot be distracted by trivial matters, otherwise, how can they serve their lord with a single mind?
The Minister of War was shocked and immediately jumped out to express that the Emperor could not forget the generals guarding the border, the soldiers military pay, consolation fees, etc. had been delayed for too long, and it was impossible to let the generals be disappointed. Moreover, the military equipment should also be replaced.
The Ministry of Justice quietly indicated that the Ministry of Justice should be renovated...
So, those taxes and grains were put into the national treasury, but before the emperor could even warm his hands on them, they had all been scattered out again.
The emperors private treasury was even more precarious, sometimes it had a bit of money, but in just a few days it would be spent on the several children.
Sometimes he wants something that cant be bought with state funds and the inner treasury doesnt have it, so he has to go and pester the empress to buy it for him.
It can be said that the emperor is one of the poorest in the upper class of society. He doesnt have any private property.
At present, looking at the numbers on the secret report and Lin Jiangs letter, the emperor was moved to tears.
If all these industries can be sold and get such a price, and Lin Jiang really donates to the national treasury, it means that the national treasury has increased by nearly two years of national income.
The emperor turned around on the spot, calmed down his excited mood and said seriously: "Bring me a map of Suzhou, I want to choose a better fief for Princess Qingyuan."
Mr. Liu was dumbfounded.