It is undeniable that when King Su Zhao Hongrun walked into the vertical arch hall with a calm face, the household officials who came together this time were a little stunned in their hearts.

Thinking back to last year, when His Royal Highness King Su was not the "King of Su" but only the "Eighth Highness", when Xiong Tuo, the monarch of Chu Xuancheng, led the army to invade the Great Wei.

At that time, Li Wei, the secretary of the Ministry of War, received a "generous gift from His Royal Highness" because he advocated peace with Chu, so that the poor old man couldn't raise his head in the court for most of the next half a year, and he was depressed every day, so pitiful.

And now, this highness has the power of victory, and he is in the limelight in Daliang for a while, if it weren't for the fact that their household really needs that huge amount of wealth, otherwise, who would want to offend this eighth highness who has always been rumored to be cautious?

A lesson from the car ahead, a teacher from the car behind!

I believe that none of the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs are willing to follow in the footsteps of Li Man, the secretary of the Infantry Department.

Compared with these household officials who seemed to be a little trembling, Zhao Hongrun, who was only fifteen years old, was more imposing, and after he bowed to his father Emperor Wei Tianzi, he swept his sharp gaze to these household officials in the palace, and said lightly: "King Shu Ben didn't know much about the officials of the household department before, so it's good to know each other by name first?" ”

"Official?"

Listening to the thick sense of ridicule, all the household officials looked at each other, and some dared not speak angrily.

For a long time, it was still the left waiter of the household department, Fan Biao, who gritted his teeth and introduced himself first: "Weichen, the left waiter of the ministry, Fan Biao." ”

And following this left waiter, the rest of the household officials also introduced themselves one after another.

"Household Department, Shilang, Yan Zheng."

"Duzhi Shilang, He Yang."

"Shiro Kanebe, Cai Lu."

"Kurabe Shiro. Kuang Ke. ”

"Wai Lang Min Yu ......"

"Langguan Yan Jue......"

"Lang Guan......"

"Lang Guan......"

In a moment, several household officials in the vertical arch hall all expressed their names and official positions to Zhao Hongrun.

According to Zhao Hongrun's knowledge, the household department of the imperial court is divided into four departments: "Household Department", "Degree Branch", "Gold Department", and "Warehouse Department".

Among them, the "Household Department and the Department" shall generally coordinate the territory, land, household registration, taxation, salaries and all financial matters of the country; The "degree branch" specializes in managing the income and expenditure of the state treasury; The "Ministry of Gold" was responsible for weighing the prices of various classes of Wei markets, such as the Minshi, Guanshi, and Gongshi, including the addition and recovery of coins; And the "Cangbu" is responsible for the territory of the Great Wei. Gyeonggi and local warehouses also include the transportation of state-regulated strategic materials such as salt, rice, and iron. In addition, if there is a drought or flood in the country, the opening of the warehouse and the release of grain must also be asked in the warehouse.

And this time, for Zhao Hongrun's huge batch of money and goods transported from Chu State, the household department can be said to be pouring into the nest, Zhao Hongrun counted and counted, and the two people who sent Shangshu Li Liang and the right waiter Cui Can were not present, and the rest of the waiters, Shilang and even Lang officials were all there.

So it's no wonder that Wei Tianzi sent Lang Wei to invite Zhao Hongrun. After all, this is almost equivalent to the unanimous opinion of the entire household department to exert pressure on Wei Tianzi.

"Why didn't Lord Li Liang, the Shangshu of your department, and Lord Cui Can, the right attendant, come with you?"

Glancing around at all the household officials, Zhao Hongrun asked lightly.

When Fan Biao heard this, he replied: "Lord Li Liang and Lord Cui Can are not in good condition today, so they have not come with Xia Guan and the others. ”

"Not in good shape? Who to bluff? Wasn't it okay at last night's celebration party?'

Zhao Hongrun sneered in his heart. understood that it must be Shangshu Li Liang and the right attendant Cui Can, who felt that this coercion was not appropriate, so they pretended to be sick and did not come.

Of course. Although no one came, Zhao Hongrun couldn't tell whether the two were against the use of this coercion, or whether they simply wanted to be the masterminds behind the scenes, intending to manipulate this matter behind the scenes.

"Please!" Zhao Hongrun said lightly: "The entire household department, officials above the Lang official level are all present, how can they be absent from Lord Li Liang and Lord Cui Can?" …… When the two lords arrived at the Vertical Arch Hall. Let's talk about the money again. ”

“……”

The officials of the household department looked at each other, probably because they didn't expect Zhao Hongrun to have such a powerful aura in this vertical arch hall, and he was categorical in every word. There is no way to refute it.

When the great eunuch Tong Xian was beside him, he secretly looked at the look of the Son of Heaven, and saw that His Majesty was smiling and reading the chapter folds by himself, and he knew it in his heart, and hurriedly ordered the little eunuch behind him: "Go, please come to this vertical arch hall together with Master Li Liang, the head of the household department, and Lord Cui Can, the right attendant." ”

"Yes." The little eunuch bowed his head to receive the order, and was about to turn around and walk outside the hall, but saw Zhao Hongrun raise his hand to stop him.

"Wait. …… Then in the name of this king, send a message to the six departments of the imperial court, and if there is any government official who is interested in the money and goods, ask them to send Lang officials and above officials as representatives to come to this vertical arch hall together, and remember to tell them that if they do not come within an hour, the money and goods will not be their share of the government. ”

"This ......"

The officials of the household department looked at each other, and their eyes were shocked: Is this His Royal Highness King Su trying to completely muddy the water?

"Yes, His Royal Highness King Su." The little eunuch respectfully withdrew.

Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun ignored the dozen or so household officials in the hall, walked to the side of Zuo Cheng Yu Ziqi, who had a good relationship, and greeted him with a smile.

After all, since he came back to Daliang, Zhao Hongrun has not had any time to chat with this Chinese secretary minister who used to have a good relationship, even at the celebration banquet last night, Yu Ziqi only had time to toast Zhao Hongrun, and was squeezed out of the way by the rest of those who were vying to toast Zhao Hongrun.

"His Royal Highness King Su ......"

Seeing Zhao Hongrun greeting him, Yu Ziqi couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Although he also wanted to talk to this highness about some national policies that were not adopted by the current imperial court, such as weakening the rights of nobles, etc., but at this moment, he had no idea of talking about those topics at all, after all, the dozen or so household officials in the palace were looking at him with different expressions, as if they wanted to attribute Zhao Hongrun's resentment of treating them as stakes to him Yu Ziqi.

"Who am I messing with?"

Feeling the unkind and even hostile gaze of some household officials, Yu Ziqi smiled bitterly in his heart.

But since this highness has this interest, he is not easy to refuse, as for offending some people, hehe. If you offend, you can offend, anyway, he and Lin Yuyang, who have become ministers of Zhongshu at a young age, are not a matter of being red for a day or two.

"This time, His Royal Highness went to Yingshui North County of Chu State, and I want to have some understanding of Chu State, I don't know how Chu State compares to my Great Wei?"

In full view of everyone, Zhao Hongrun moved a stool and sat next to Yu Ziqi. Shaking his head, he said, "I'm glad to hear it." …… The rich are rich and the poor are poor, and the disparity is like a world of difference. ”

Yu Ziqi was stunned when he heard this, and asked curiously: "How rich are the rich, and how poor are the poor?" ”

Zhao Hongrun pondered for a moment and said: "The rich, the house is full of treasures, and the rice grain is like a hill; The poor have no rice to feed their families in winter. ”

Hear that. Yu Ziqi touched the beard on his chin and said inexplicably: "This is good news for my Great Wei." …… By the way, I heard that His Royal Highness abducted hundreds of thousands of Chu people from the Chu State this time? ”

"Well, a rough estimate is about three or four hundred thousand, but most of them are old and young women and children, and this king will place them in Yanling, Shangshui, and Changping." As he spoke, he glanced at the household officials in the hall, and said lightly: "In the eyes of this king." The three or four hundred thousand people of Chu are the biggest gains of my Great Wei...... However. At present, there are many people who are only staring at the money and goods, and there is nothing to do. ”

"......" When the officials of the household department heard this, their faces became a little ugly.

They naturally heard that Zhao Hongrun's words were purely for them.

"Your Highness, don't ...... it."

Yu Ziqi smiled bitterly in his heart. hurriedly changed the topic: "Your Highness, how is the combat strength of the army of the Chu State?" ”

"The army of the State of Chu?"

Speaking of this, Zhao Hongrun also restrained the faint ridicule on his face, and his mood became solemn, after all, as far as he knew. This time, he was defeated by the nobles of Chuxi led by Xiong Tuo, the king of Xuancheng, although Xiong Tuo can also be regarded as making great efforts, but according to the information he inadvertently revealed, Zhao Hongrun can guess that the state of Chu is not without regular troops, otherwise, when Xiong Tuo threatens him to scatter in two, he will not say something like "if the king's army is so good".

In other words, in eastern Chu, which has more fertile land than western Chu, the state of Chu actually has a regular army.

Think about it, if there is no permanent regular army, why should the state of Chu fight against the king of Qi?

As for the combat effectiveness of the regular army of the Chu State, it is a pity that Zhao Hongrun has not had the slightest information so far.

In an age when communications still rely only on messengers and carrier pigeons, it is not easy to spy on the intelligence of other countries and send them back to their own country.

Of course, it is precisely because of this that it seems that Qu Cheng, Yan Mo and other generals of the Chu State have become more and more important in Zhao Hongrun's heart.

For most of the following hours, Zhao Hongrun and Yu Ziqi chatted about the Chu State, down to the humanities, architecture, and cuisine of the Chu State.

During this period, not to mention those idle and bored household officials who listened sideways, even Wei Tianzi, the great eunuch Tong Xian, and the other two ministers of Zhongshu also listened with relish.

After all, it is undeniable that Great Wei still knows very little about the state of Chu, and on the other hand, only the more he understands this enemy, the more chance he will have to defeat him.

After chatting like this for about half an hour, the number of officials in the vertical arch hall gradually increased, not only Li Liang, the head of the household department, and Cui Can, the right attendant, but even the old man Li Fengli, who had almost vomited blood because of Zhao Hongrun's "generous gift", also brought the left and right attendants Xu Guan and Wang Can to the vertical arch hall.

I believe that they are also here for that money and goods, after all, the military department has always been the bulk of the expenditure of the Great Wei treasury.

In addition to the Ministry of Household and the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Industry also came to a minister, namely the Ministry of Rites, Shangshu Sheyou, and Meng Kui, the left attendant of the Ministry of Works, who accompanied the expedition to the Chu State this time.

However, as soon as the Ministry of Rites Shangshu You arrived at the Vertical Arch Hall, he showed his heart to Zhao Hongrun, and he just came to take a look.

The implication is self-evident.

Only the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Punishment did not send anyone over after the time limit of that hour had expired.

Obviously, these two imperial officials may have thought that they would not be helpful in Zhao Hongrun's war to repel the Chu State this time, so they did not send anyone over.

Whether it is the officials of the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Crime, or the Ministry of Rites, it is not difficult to guess that anyone who can climb to their position is a person who knows how to advance and retreat and understands current affairs.

After counting, the only ones who are qualified to share the soup with the military represented by Zhao Hongrun are the household department, the military department, and the Ministry of Industry, represented by Meng Kui, the left waiter of the Ministry of Works, who wants to intervene but doesn't know how to speak.

Among them, the military department and the household department seem to be the most confident. (To be continued.) )