Chapter 16: Who am I afraid of (English)

I pondered for a while, then suddenly made up my mind and said in a deep voice: "The Yellow River must be managed, otherwise once the angry dragon changes its course, I don't know how many poor people will suffer."

"The emperor is wise and is the Minister of Works, Xu Liang, to worship the emperor on behalf of the people of the Yellow River Basin. I wish my emperor a long life." The guy from Works, kneeled on the ground excitedly, and kowtowed repeatedly.

I hurriedly stood up and made a false support from afar: "Xu Aiqing, get up quickly. I have such a loyal minister who loves the king and the people. It is really my blessing." I am still happy to do this by following the flow and winning people's hearts.

However, Xu Liang still pulled his head several times one after another before he willingly got up with an excited look on his face.

The fat official moved his mouth a few times and glanced at Master Li, but did not get any reaction. Then he gave up. I saw everything and snorted coldly in my heart. One day, I will clear the government. After a group of capable ministers were recruited, I can enjoy myself with peace of mind.

"Xu Aiqing, first present your plan and I will see what needs improvement." I smiled.

When the eunuch heard this, he hurriedly ran down and took Xu Liang's note over.

I opened the long memorial and looked carefully. Xu Liang was indeed a talented person. If he followed his method, the Yellow River Basin would reduce floods by more than 80%.

However, this person has no idea about the economy, and I think there are still many unnecessary expenses to save. So he picked up the cinnabar pen and took out the redundant expenses.

After staying for more than half an hour, I re-estimated and saved nearly six million taels of silver. Fortunately, I also had budgets in the original world, so I was not an outsider.

In this way, the entire Yellow River will be about 23 million taels for diversion. According to the general budget rules, at least 20% can be deducted. In this way, the final cost should be about 19 million taels.

I sent the note back to Xu Liang and said calmly: "Xu Aiqing will make another budget according to my wishes."

Xu Liang glanced quickly, and the more he looked, the more he admired me, he respectfully said to me from the bottom of his heart: "The emperor is really a good talent in governing the world. According to the emperor's streamlined budget, he can actually save more than 10 million taels of silver."

"Money needs to be spent on the edge of the knife." I said calmly: "Xu Aiqing will come across similar things in the future and must present them with the most streamlined plan, otherwise I will punish you. If you don't know much about finance, you can discuss with me or go to the Ministry of Revenue for advice. More communication should be made between colleagues."

"The emperor is wise." Now, it was the ministers' turn to kowtow together and praised me.

"Emperor, I have something to say." The fat official, who seemed to be the guy from the Minister of Revenue, came out again: "Emperor, even if the budget is streamlined, it will require up to 19 million taels of silver. However, the remaining amount of the treasury is not enough to pay such a huge expense."

"Well, it's reasonable." I nodded and said, "I'll get an estimate first. How much tax will I charge for the next tax?"

"Last winter tax, the treasury was more than 16 million taels of silver. However, this autumn, most places in our dynasty were caused by drought and flood. The tax silver should be less than last year, and it is estimated that it can reach 13 million taels, which is not bad. This tax silver will enter the treasury at about the beginning of two months." The fat official was not a waste of food, and he was familiar with the matters under his jurisdiction, not as mediocre as he seemed to be on the surface.

I thought for a while, and then said in a deep voice: "Let's do this, I have a proposal. Xu Aiqing's Yellow River renovation case will immediately start the preliminary work. The Ministry of Revenue will first allocate 2 million taels to the Ministry of Industry as the first fund."

"Well, the gentle minister is stupid and doesn't understand what the emperor means."

This sentence was said by Xu Liang and the fat official, who stood up together. Both looked inexplicable.

Khan. I forgot that in ancient times, people usually had to start doing things with sufficient funds. How could there be any starting capital or the concept of early funds? No wonder the Minister of Revenue would strongly oppose this matter and ask him to take out all tens of millions of taels of silver at once, which really made him helpless.

"Xu Liang, I ask you. When is it necessary to repair the embankment of the Yellow River?" I thought to myself, it is necessary to brainwash them. Don't eat the past and don't change them.

"The entire project is about four years and three months." Xu Liang replied immediately, obviously very clear about this number.

"Okay, I'm giving you 20 million taels of silver now. Will you spend it in the first three months?" I continued to ask.

"Of course I won't." Xu Liang didn't understand what I meant, and was a little confused.

"Then why did I give you all the money at once?" I laughed: "I will give you the silver in batches in two or three months. This will reduce the economic burden of the Ministry of Revenue, and prevent people from falling into the ground because of the loss of silver. I can also use the excess silver to do something else. Isn't that great?"

"The emperor is wise." The fat minister of the Ministry of Revenue was slightly excited and said respectfully: "If this plan is implemented, I am willing to strongly support the case of the Yellow River remediation on behalf of the Ministry of Revenue."

No wonder that boy was excited. Based on the entire construction period, he could support such a large project as long as he allocated hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to the Ministry of Works every month. Which minister doesn't want to gain a good reputation in history?

After all the ministers understood what I meant, they immediately whispered to each other, but they still nodded. The Han people were looking for the word "stable" and did not come into contact with such advanced solutions.

Of course, some people have raised some questions. That is, if the supply of silver from the Ministry of Revenue is not timely, wouldn’t it delay the project progress? However, I refuted it one by one. This simple way of capital turnover was already very common in my original era.

"I have another proposal." I waved my hand to stop their discussion, and after I waited silently below, I said: "Issue national debt."

"Issuing national bonds?"

After hearing my new noun, a large group of officials showed a confused look and looked at each other, not understanding what it was.

"To put it simply, it means borrowing money from wealthy people." I said astonishingly.

"What? Borrow money from the people?" The ministers who were first exposed to this new concept boiled like a spicy hot pot.

"Your Majesty, this matter must not be reported. If it is spread, it will lose its national constitution."

"The emperor thinks twice and borrows money from the people. Isn't the people in the world all become creditors of the court? How can the imperial court be majestic? Why is the royal face?"

I smiled and observed their various expressions.
Chapter completed!