"These 500,000 taels of silver, you Aiqing will discuss how to use it!"

Wang Mang looked at the scene of the courtiers gearing up and eager to try, muttered for a moment, and then directly asked the ministers present to talk about how to spend 500,000 silver.

Wang Yongji is worthy of the name of being anxious, Wang Mang's voice fell, and when he jumped out and said: "Your Majesty, according to the calculation of the Ministry of War, the war in the south still needs 300,000 taels of military silver, and the minister was originally going to start playing to His Majesty at the court meeting in a few days, but now the minister feels that it is not too early to raise it now, and asks Your Majesty to take pity on the luck of the war in the south and allocate 300,000 taels of silver to the Ministry of War." ”

"Lord Wang's words are wrong, didn't the imperial court just allocate 200,000 taels of silver to the military department a few days ago for the war in the south?" Yu Wenkai stood up and said: "Although this money is borrowed from Shangyuan Palace, Lord Wang can't just take 200,000 the day before yesterday, and ask for 300,000 today." ”

"It's okay for Lord Yuwen to say, your war in the south can still be bottomless. Shen Buxian stood up and said, "Your Majesty, Weichen feels that officials should be sent to audit the accounts of the war in the south. ”

"Shen is harmless, what do you want to do. Wang Yongji looked at Shen Buharm with a pale face, and scolded: "The soldiers in the south are suffering on the front line, and you still say such things, if this spreads, will this battle still be fought?"

"Huh. Shen Buxian sneered and said: "Lord Wang, don't always use the war in the south as an excuse, the southern soldiers are happy, and the official naturally knows it, but the official is worried that the money will not be used." ”

"What do you mean?" Wang Yongji looked at Shen Buharm angrily.

"Lord Wang, don't be in a hurry. Li Si also stood up at this time, and said: "Lord Shen is just worried about state affairs, Lord Wang, according to this official, the war in the south does need money, but it will definitely not cost more than 300,000 taels, according to your wishes, Lord Wang, if all this money goes into your military department, what should the other yamen do?"

"What's the matter, you also need money from the Criminal Department?" Wang Yongji looked at Li Si coldly.

"Not bad. Li Si nodded, then looked at Wang Mang and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, what happened in the prison of the Criminal Department last night made Wei Chen see that there is a great safety hazard in the prison of the Criminal Department, so the ministers and the officials of the Criminal Department discussed all night, and felt that the prison of the Criminal Department should be renovated to prevent the recurrence of last night's incident." ”

"I see that the prison of the Criminal Department is very strong, and it doesn't need to be repaired. Wang Yongji jumped to his feet.

"No," Li Si shook his head and said, "Lord Wang doesn't know, the last time this prison was repaired was when the Emperor Taishang was the emperor, it has been more than thirty years ago, and it is indeed time to repair it." ”

"How much do you want?" Wang Mang asked as he looked at Li Si.

"Your Majesty, Weichen has calculated it, it will be about 100,000 taels. Li Si bowed and said.

"100,000 taels?" Li Hong stood up at this time and said: "Your criminal department wants 100,000 taels, and the military department wants 300,000 taels, a total of 500,000 taels. ”

Li Hong's words were very much in line with Wang Mang's wishes, and Wang Mang couldn't help but give Li Hong a thumbs up, and said, "Li Aiqing is right, I think you still have to discuss it." ”

After that, Wang Mang looked at Zhang Jian and the others, who were already a little uncontrollable: "What about you, what do you need to use money?"

"Your Majesty, Wei Chen feels that the court owes a hundred officials, and he can think about it. Zhang Jian took a step forward and said: "Hundred officials are the cornerstone of the imperial court, although a part of the salary of hundreds of officials has been paid before, but in general, there is still a lot of money owed to hundreds of officials, many officials, especially grassroots officials, are living a very happy life, and please pity them for Your Majesty to take care of the affairs of the court, and allocate a part of the silver to pay back the salaries of hundreds of officials." ”

Zhang Shangshu's proposal, Weichen agreed. Haifeng stood up and said: "Your Majesty, as far as the minister knows, many grassroots officials have no intention of working, it's not that they don't have the heart to do their duty for the country, they are really powerless and hungry. ”

"What you said I can consider. Wang Mang nodded, he had also walked around the capital before, and he had learned that some grassroots officials in the capital were really not as good as ordinary people in those days.

But Wang Mang also found that the court paid back the salary, but most of the silver did not go into the pockets of the grassroots officials at all, not because of who was greedy for ink, the main reason was that the money was sent from the top down, and in terms of income, the income of the upper-level officials was several times or even dozens of times that of the grass-roots officials, so there was no money when the money was sent to the grass-roots level.

This is similar to the huge state in the news in later generations to raise the wages of civil servants and institutions, saying that it was 300 yuan per capita, but in fact, the officials above increased by 3,000, the grassroots level rose by 30, and there was even a negative growth, and in the end, on average, the per capita price did increase by 300.

Just as the per capita salary in later generations was 4,000, it was actually a high-income salary of 40,000 yuan, and a low-income salary of 400, and then an average, and sure enough, the per capita salary was 4,000.

And now Wang Mang is also facing such a situation, the salary is paid, and the money has been paid before it reaches the grassroots officials, which is also the reason why the ministers of the DPRK and China are so concerned about the back salary.

Not to mention anything else, Wang Mang allocated 100,000 taels, and the officials in this study alone could get 10,000 taels, plus their deputies and deputies' deputies, and there was definitely not much money at the bottom in the end.

Haifeng seemed to guess Wang Mang's concerns, and said, "Your Majesty, the minister has another proposal. ”

Say. Wang Mang nodded.

Weichen proposed to pay back wages this time, and the officials above the fourth grade of the imperial court will not make up the salaries, but only the salaries of officials below the fourth grade. Haifeng said respectfully.

Wang Mang's eyes flashed, and he thought of this Haifeng with himself, turned his head to look at the others, and said, "What do you think Aiqing thinks of Hai Aiqing's proposal?"

"Shangshan!" Zhang Jian immediately said: "Lord Hai didn't say it, Weichen was also ready to mention this matter, but let Lord Hai take the lead." ”

Although Wang Yongji and the others secretly hated Haifeng for selling his reputation and buying out people's hearts, they had to nod their heads at this moment, and finally Li Hong said: "I don't know how much Your Majesty is going to allocate to pay back wages." ”

Wang Mang pondered for a moment and said: "Shen is not harmful, you will clean up the seizure proceeds as soon as possible and hand them over to the household department, and the household department can also send officials to follow up on this matter."

Shen is harmless, Li Hong nodded hurriedly.

Wang Mang said again: "I probably understand what you said, I thought about it, these 500,000 taels of silver, allocate 100,000 taels to the Ministry of War to send to the southern war, 100,000 taels to the Ministry of Officials to make up the wages owed by the court to officials below the fourth grade, 100,000 taels to the Ministry of Industry to repair roads, 100,000 taels to Shangyuan Palace, 100,000 taels to retain the Ministry of Households, you Aiqing, what do you think?"

"Your Majesty, Wechen's prison is indeed in disrepair. Li Si looked at Wang Mang pitifully.

"You can take 10,000 taels of silver from the household department and repair it simply, and then give you a major repair when the court has money in the future. Wang Mang said, and saw that Zhao Xin wanted to be out of the ranks, so he said directly: "Zhao Aiqing, I know what you want to say, and you also take 10,000 taels from the household department as the preparatory funds for the scientific examination." ”

Li Si and Zhao Xin glanced at each other, knowing that they might not be able to get more silver, so they had to nod their heads with grievances.

Li Hong was a little crying without tears, and just said that he would keep 100,000 taels of silver for the household, and in the blink of an eye, he lost 20,000 taels.