"Please make clear instructions from the ministry." Hu Zongxian said calmly.
Zhao Zhenji took out a thick stack of confessions and said, "This is the confession of more than 100 Japanese criminals from the government office in the prison of the Ministry of Justice in Nanjing." It turned out that during this period, the old master was not idle, but built a plank road openly, secretly went to Chencang, and conducted private investigations: "Their reasons for getting along with the thief are different, but more than 80% of them are accusing you of the Zhejiang government of setting up names and making various tricks, and they don't care about the lives and deaths of the people, so they can't stand it. The people sold their children and daughters, so they defected to the Japanese/pirates... Lord Hu might as well look at these confessions, right?"
Hu Zongxian didn't even look at the confessions, and asked in a deep voice: "What do you mean by sir?"
"There is no other meaning, I just want to figure out who is pushing our people into the arms of the Japanese and pirates!" Zhao Zhenji said aggressively: "Who made the Japanese and pirates stronger and stronger than the Japanese and pirates, and they are constantly suppressing them!"
"According to the Lord's intention, it is the anti-Japanese escort we collected, which forced many good people to rebel against them." Hu Zongxian asked calmly: "Is this what it means?"
"Isn't it?" Zhao Zhenji asked back.
Hu Zongxian looked at the clerk in the corner of the house and laughed silently: "I would like to ask the master of the department, what do you think about the issue of 'addition'? Is it really a ton of taxes to fill my personal pockets?"
"I am asking questions by orders, so I can't answer your questions." Zhao Zhenji said in a deep voice.
"You can't answer, I will answer it myself." Hu Zongxian raised his voice slightly and said, "The military strategist said: 'If you want to have enough soldiers, you must first have enough food.' If there is not enough food and salary, the morale of the army will be low, the combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced, and even the soldiers will become bandits! Especially the Zhejiang garrison was completely corrupt, and now it depends entirely on recruiting troops and visiting soldiers to fight, and both of them are supported by money, which cost much more than the garrison army."
"Where is this money coming from? The vassal treasury alone in Zhejiang is definitely not enough, and the imperial court was already in short supply. In addition, the military expenditure of the nine borders was huge, the treasury was exhausted, and the income was insufficient, and there was no need to provide support. In desperation, this proposed policy was proposed." Hu Zongxian said calmly: "Although the additional stake increases the burden on the people, the Japanese treasury is not eliminated, and the people's wealth cannot be protected. What's the money? Those who say that the taxes are heavy are like those who have capsized the boat. They don't think about how to save their lives first, but their burdens filled with gold and silver!"
Hearing that he was still here to speak up, Zhao Zhenji no longer concealed his contempt and said, "Mr. Wang, what do you think?"
Wang Yongji thought for a while and said softly: "The following officials are foolish in their opinion. People should be concerned about the need for trouble, and the Japanese love is particularly concerning. If the Japanese/pirate suddenly arrives, the tragedy and killing will be even worse than the pain of adding the organization and sect."
"You are too easy to believe it!" Zhao Zhenji said unhappily: "Where is Lord Shen? You can't vent your anger with Hu Zongxian, right?"
Hu Zongxian and Wang Yongji's eyes all looked at Shen Mo's face, hoping that he could speak the same voice, but they were disappointed, and only heard Shen Mo say calmly: "Xiaguan feels that Hu Zhongcheng's statement is a bit far-fetched. He cannot cover all the problems with the word "anti-Japanese war".
"Okay!" Zhao Zhenji, amid Hu Zongxian and Wang Yongji's incredible eyes, cried out and said, "It turns out that he is a young talent, open and honest!" He said, looking at Hu Zongxian and said, "Your statement sounds reasonable at first glance, but I am not a three-year-old child, and I can pass the test without any sweet words." He only heard him sneer and said, "I am a minister of the Ministry of Revenue for many years. It is not too difficult to figure out the income and expenditure of Zhejiang!"
He took out a hand-written account book and said, "This is your income and expenditure account for 34 years of Jiajing, Zhejiang. The tax is 1.3 million taels, 800,000 taels of Japanese salary, and 400,000 taels of additional 400,000 taels, totaling 2.5 million taels. After deducting the 400,000 taels of submission to the treasury, 600,000 taels of vassal kings, 150,000 taels of river workers, 50,000 taels of official salary, 40,000 taels of repair and construction, and 10,000 taels of various miscellaneous expenses, there should be another 1.25 million taels..." As he said, he turned the page and said, "But one military expenditure reached 1.1 million taels, and in the end only 150,000 taels of remaining. Is there any error in this account?"
Hu Zongxian shook his head and said, "No." All the provincial accounts have to be submitted to the Ministry of Revenue, so it is not surprising that Zhao Zhenji can get it.
"Very good, since that's right, it's great!" Zhao Zhenji stared at him like a hawk, and asked word by word: "I'll ask you, can you really use so much money?"
Hu Zongxian's face was as usual: "There are 100,000 troops in Zhejiang, most of which are the guest troops and recruiting troops. The guest troops need double pay, and recruiting troops will also cost three cents of the money a day. Moreover, when a war starts, weapons, food and fodder are piled up with money, so the military strategy says: 'Fill a thousand dollars a day, and then raise a 100,000 troops a day'. Of course, it's great to spend money."
"Nonsense!" Zhao Zhenji slapped the table hard, took out another account book, and slapped it in front of him, "This is your Zhejiang purchase list for the first half of the year. It only costs 600,000 taels of internal and external expenses, guests' use, glue paint materials, and car armor. It only costs 600,000 taels of silver! May I ask Lord Hu, where did the 500,000 taels of silver go?"
Hu Zongxian felt a heartbroken chill, because Zhao Zhenji's statement was quite close to the truth. If this account was stabbed, then everything would be over... He seemed to have seen Zhao Wenhua's clay Buddha crossing the river and being abandoned like a piece of shabby, and beads of sweat oozing out from his forehead.
‘Calm down, be sure to be calm!’ How many years of military career have created his extremely tenacious will. Hu Zongxian forced himself to calm down and thought quickly in his heart... He is old for government affairs, is very skilled in handling accounts, and knows that embezzling military pay is a matter of losing his head, so he handles every account very carefully. And more importantly, how could Zhao Zhenji get the only general account book, properly hidden by him somewhere?
Suppressing the panic in his heart, he hissed: "My Master, can I read this account book?"
A trace of disappointment flashed across Zhao Zhenji's face, but he had to nod and said, "Look."
He slowly stretched out his hand and opened the account book. Hu Zongxian felt relieved. It turned out that this was not a real account, but a number estimated by Zhao Zhenji. He couldn't help but chuckled, "I wonder how these numbers are from sir?"
Zhao Zhenji said with a stern face: "The prices in Jiangsu and Zhejiang are similar. It is not difficult to calculate by multiplying the actual consumption of Zhejiang by the price of Nanzhili."
"It turned out to be calculated." Hu Zongxian smiled and said, "Just relying on such a fabricated account book, I want to accuse a rank-in official. Are you a little arrogant?"
"You!" Zhao Zhenji's face was blue and red, and she said angrily: "You might as well tell you that I have borrowed your governor's yamen. Even if I dig three feet into the ground, I will find ironclad evidence!"
Hu Zongxian was also completely angry and slapped the table and said, "Zhao Mengjing, don't bully people too much. Your Majesty asked you to investigate the Japanese/pirates' back command. You don't go to interrogate the criminals, but you are making a fuss about military spending. What is your intention?!"
"Because there is a necessary connection between the two." Zhao Zhenji said unmoved: "The harsh government is more powerful than the tiger. It is your harsh taxes that force the people of Zhejiang to be disloyal, so it makes only a few Japanese people feel as if they are in a state of no one... As for the source of those Japanese and pirates, I will naturally find out the truth, but you culprits don't want to get away with it!"
"Since that's the case," Hu Zongxian said with a shroud of his sleeves: "Then let's just take the move." Then he stood up and bowed, "Go away!"
"Who told you to leave?" Zhao Zhenji said coldly: "I haven't allowed you to leave yet, right?"
"If you don't talk about it, why should you be humiliated here?" Hu Zongxian did not look back and walked straight to the door.
"Stop!" Zhao Zhenji shouted, and the guard at the door stopped Hu Zongxian and said, "Sir, please come back."
Hu Zongxian laughed loudly and said, "You Zhao Zhenji is the imperial envoy. I am the deputy chief censor, the governor of Zhejiang, and he is also the imperial envoy. Unless your majesty gives orders, who dares to restrict my freedom?!" As he said, his eyes looked at the guards blocking the road and said, "Touching me is a crime of infringing on the death row of the emperor. You can try it if this is the case."
Then he took a big stroll forward, and the guards held up spears and wanted to force him back, but Hu Zongxian looked up without any hesitation.
The guards did not dare to attack the head of the province after all. Just as the weapons were about to hit him, they all removed their spears, made way for a passage, and watched him leave.
The guards looked back at the master of the ministry, and their faces were already pale, so they quickly knelt all over the ground.
Zhao Zhenji looked straight at the direction of Hu Zongxian leaving, and found that he underestimated this member of the strict party too much. Today he had been planning for a long time and was well prepared. Under the series of lightning strikes, I believe he would definitely reveal flaws! Who knew that Hu Zongxian was caught off guard and barely resisted his bombardment, and finally overwhelmed himself in his momentum.
He seemed to hear Hu Zongxian laughing and said, "This is Zhejiang, my territory, I will make the decision!"
Chapter completed!