The money market has finally stabilized, but the emperor is still not at ease, afraid of recurrence. In the past two years, the money market has had twists and turns, which has made the imperial court tired of coping. At noon on this day, the emperor came to the south study, and when he entered the door, he asked the Baoquan Bureau if there was anything to do recently. Without waiting for Chen Tingjing to speak, Gao Shiqi hurriedly spoke: "Your Majesty, the ministers have taken an excerpt from the household department, the Baoquan Bureau is in a hurry, there is almost no copper in the warehouse, and the money factory is about to shut down the furnace." Originally, the 13th Customs Office was ineffective, and Chen Tingjing ordered that the purchase of private copper materials and bronze utensils was not allowed, and the Baoquan Bureau was unable to continue. ”

The emperor asked Chen Tingjing: "Why did you make this situation?" ”

Chen Tingjing said: "The ministers were discussing the draft just now, and they originally wanted to ask the emperor: 1. In the future, all customs offices will handle copper, regardless of block copper, old copper, or copperware, as long as it is good copper, it will be sent to the warehouse; Second, let the world's copper-producing places listen to the people to mine, give benefits to the people, and reward officials. ”

Gao Shiqi said: "Your Majesty, Chen Tingjing forbade the purchase of copper at first, and only ordered the purchase of bronze, and later even the bronze was not allowed to be accepted. At this time, he said that copper, old copper, and bronze objects could be purchased. The order of the court changes every day, capricious, the people are at a loss, where is the majesty of the court? ”

Xu Qianxue and others also have their own ideas and have played one after another. Several people were arguing, and Mingzhu said: "Presumably Chen Tingjing has his own considerations. However, the mining of copper mines, because the local government raised taxes too heavily, the people were overwhelmed, and it has long become a maladministration! ”

The emperor thought that Chen Tingjing could straighten out the money law, and he must have his own ideas at this time, so he said: "Tingjing, I want to hear from you." ”

Chen Tingjing said: "The emperor, the purchase of copper materials, this time and that time. At first, the money was heavy, and it was profitable for profiteers to destroy money, so it was forbidden to buy copper nuggets; Since profiteers can destroy money to make copper nuggets, they can also destroy money to make old bronze objects, so old bronze objects cannot be purchased; The minister had deliberately encouraged the purchase of old bronze ware, in order to find out the profiteer Su Ruzhai. Now that the price of money has stabilized, it is unprofitable for profiteers to destroy copper, as long as it is good copper, Baoquan Bureau can buy it! ”

The emperor nodded and said, "Tingjing makes sense!" ”

Chen Tingjing said: "But after all, the old copper of the people is limited, and the important thing is to mine copper ore and increase copper reserves." Mingzhu said that mining copper ore just gives the local government an excuse to blackmail the people, which is indeed the case. Therefore, the minister asked the emperor to cancel the tax on copper mining and let the people mine it on their own! ”

Gao Shiqi immediately retorted: "Your Majesty, Chen Tingjing is pedantic!" The abolition of the copper mining tax will lead to a shortage of silver in the imperial court! ”

Chen Tingjing was not in a hurry or impatient, and said slowly: "Your Majesty, it stands to reason that the more copper taxes are levied, the more copper should be mined." But the amount of copper sent into storage has not increased, what is the reason? Because the tax was too heavy, copper mining was not cost-effective, and the people did not mine copper. The government doesn't care whether your people mine copper or not, and the copper tax is collected, which is actually oppressing the people. ”

The emperor high-fived and said, "I thought that Tingjing was on point. Tingjing, you go on. ”

Chen Tingjing said: "What's more, there are ten points of copper in the world, and Yunnan occupies eight or nine." The abolition of the copper mining tax will only affect Yunnan's tax revenue, and will not be a major problem to other provinces. ”

The emperor clapped his hands again and said: "In this case, I will allow Chen Tingjing to play: 1. Each customs office copper, regardless of copper, old copper, and bronze utensils, only select good copper for delivery; 2. Order the local copper-producing areas in the world to listen to the people for mining, cancel the copper mining tax, and the local officials supervise the recording of those who have made meritorious contributions to copper mining, and give rewards. Mingzhu and Chen Tingjing put forward detailed rules at the Jiuqing meeting. ”

Mingzhu and Chen Tingjing received the decree, and the emperor said: "Chen Tingjing is very effective in supervising the money law, and the policy of doing copper is also deeply in line with my intentions. You are careful in your work, and your accounts are very clear. ”

Chen Tingjing knelt down in fear to thank him, and he didn't hesitate to call his liver and brains to the ground. The emperor invited Chen Ting to pay respect, and said: "I know that you like piano, chess, calligraphy and painting on weekdays, and today I will give you a pair of glass chess chess from the West!" ”

Zhang Shande had already prepared a plate and stood next to him, and immediately handed it over. Chen Tingjing took the glass chess piece and knelt down again to thank him. The emperor saw that the ministers were envious of the glass chess, so he said: "All the ministers have done their best, and I am very satisfied." Mingzhu is the minister of my first assistant, needless to say. Chen Tingjing's talent, Xu Qianxue's literary talent, and Gao Shiqi's words are all valued very much! ”

Hearing the emperor's words, the ministers all knelt down to thank him.

The emperor moved back to the palace, and it was not too early, and the ministers dispersed. Xu Qianxue is on duty today, and he has to sleep here at night. Gao Shiqi lived in the Forbidden City and left later. Gao Shiqi saw that there was no one, so he said: "Lord Xu, you are in front of you to do Shangshu, and now Lord Chen is about to go in front of you!" ”

Xu Qianxue said: "Where is this person, Lord Gao?" Master Chen is a talented person with a good reputation, and it should be natural for him to get the emperor's favor. In terms of generation, I am still a junior of Lord Chen! ”

Gao Shiqi said: "Xu Da is a prime minister in his life, and he has a very big belly!" Today, the emperor said one by one, I can only write a few words, you Lord Xu still have a good article, and Lord Chen is talented! As the saying goes, useless is a scholar, no matter how good the article is, no matter how good the words are, it can't compare to the person who can do things! ”

Xu Qianxue said: "With the emperor's approval, Qianxue is grateful, where do you think so much!" ”

Gao Shiqi said: "I pondered the emperor's thoughts, because this time to supervise the money law, Chen Tingjing is already as heavy as a rock in the emperor!" Didn't the emperor's words give us a few rankings? I'm just a prisoner and a scholar, and I'm always underestimated by those who read in private, and that's my fate. What about you, Lord Xu? Born as a dignified scholar! ”

Xu Qianxue said: "Shiqi, let's not talk about this, don't talk about this!" ”

Gao Shiqi still smiled and said, "Lord Xu, there is no one else here, Shiqi just wants to say a few words to you." Do you think Chen Tingjing is good at literature and ability, why is the official rising slowly? Lord Zhang Ying and you, Lord Xu, are all Jinshi behind Chen Tingjing, but Shangshu is in front of him! ”

Xu Qianxue said: "The emperor employs people, how can we guess the degree of courtiers?" ”

Gao Shiqi smiled: "I think you Lord Xu also sees it in his eyes, but his mouth is tight." I said, it's that he Chen Tingjing is not a friend enough, and he doesn't pay attention to righteousness! Back then, because of the scientific expedition, Chen Tingjing got into a lawsuit and almost wanted to be killed, but it was all thanks to Ming Xiangguo's secret help that he saved his life. But what do you think of him to Ming Xiangguo? Centrifugal detachment! ”

Xu Qianxue has risen to prominence in recent years, and his reputation is well known to both the government and the public. He is willing to help Chen Tingjing in everything, one because of the friendship between teachers and students, and the other because his position is high anyway. Today, when I heard the emperor talk about several ministers, he put Chen Tingjing's name in front of him, and Xu Qianxue felt quite uncomfortable. It's just that he is not as calm as Gao Shiqi, and he takes everything to heart as much as possible. Now that Gao Shiqi is talking left and right, he can't help it, and said with a smile: "When Lord Chen becomes the first assistant minister, we will all listen to him." ”

Gao Shiqi heard that Xu Qianxue was talking angrily, and knew that the heat was enough, so he didn't say more, and politely said goodbye and went home.