My father-in-law is Kangxi

Chapter 1801: Eight Banners Division (asking for guaranteed monthly ticket)
As the twelfth lunar month begins, New Year gifts begin to arrive from each family.

The Beile Mansion also delivers New Year gifts from various mansions.

Cao Shun was watching all of these.

He was just helping Fusong before, but now he has taken over the job and is running it in an orderly manner.

Only Shushu, after comparing the lists of New Year gifts from previous years and doing the math in her head, found that she couldn't even balance her income and expenditure.

In the past few years, there were annual gifts for the doctors of various departments of the Imperial Household Department, and these gifts were only given to the wealthy.

Everything there has stopped this year, so the expenditure is more than two thousand taels of silver more than the income.

This is the Ninth Prince’s annual salary.

This is just a New Year gift.

Shushu couldn’t understand why the princes got these properties and 230,000 taels of silver from the family division, but ten years later they had to borrow money from the Ministry of Revenue to get by.

Looking at the annual gift account book, Shushu understood a little.

You need to pay tribute to several higher-ups, including the Emperor, the Empress Dowager, the Crown Prince, and the Empress. You can only pay tribute to these four places, and there is no return.

This is where the shortfall in New Year gifts comes from.

As for exchanges between the other princes' palaces and clan members, the income and expenditure are balanced.

Unfortunately, there is no way to change this. One must be respectful to one's superiors and filial to one's parents. There is no way to erase this.

The Ninth Prince has "recovered" and gone to work in the Ministry of Revenue.

I haven't been here for half a month, and the atmosphere in the entire Ministry of Household Affairs is different.

Biteshi and Baitang Amen were busy all the time.

The Ninth Prince felt a little uncomfortable when he arrived at the duty room.

In the landlord's room, the Fourth Prince sat behind a desk, with a foot-high Shengjing barometer in front of him.

It turned out that there were several places in Shengjing that reported disasters on government-owned fields, but the Shengjing Ministry of Revenue rejected the report because what Shengjing reported this year was the result of rainwater adjustment.

Now that the dispute had reached the court, Kangxi asked the Ministry of Revenue to discuss it.

The Fourth Prince took on this task and was checking the barometers in various places in Shengjing.

The Fourth Prince read the whole thing from beginning to end. It was indeed rainy in July and August, but after August, it rained continuously for half a month, just before the autumn harvest.

Especially in Guantian, the weather has not cleared up for more than half a month.

The Fourth Prince put it down and remembered that the Ninth Prince had come today. Hearing no movement from the other side, he asked Su Peisheng, "What is the Ninth Prince doing? Did he call anyone over?"

Su Peisheng shook his head and said, "I didn't see anyone coming. I don't know what Master Jiu is doing. I didn't hear any movement."

It’s cold in winter, so cotton curtains are hung in the house to block out the sound.

The Fourth Prince was worried, so he lifted the curtain and went out to the west room.

As soon as you come in, the fragrance hits your nose.

The Ninth Prince sat cross-legged on the kang. In front of him was a small stove with two oranges, a handful of chestnuts and a handful of peanuts on it.

Seeing the Fourth Prince coming over, the Ninth Prince hurriedly got off the kang and asked, "Are you done with your work?"

The Fourth Prince looked at the charcoal basin and said to the Ninth Prince, "In such a small room, you dare to use the charcoal basin directly. Aren't you afraid of being poisoned by the charcoal?"

Ever since the death of Prince Ping, everyone knows the horror of charcoal poisoning. Unless there is no underfloor heating, no one would easily use a charcoal basin in the house.

The Ninth Prince pointed to a box on the ground and said, "We didn't use the charcoal from the government office. We brought the red charcoal from the mansion."

The Fourth Prince nodded and looked at the large table on the ground. It was bare and empty.

He looked at the Ninth Prince and asked, "You didn't do anything this morning?"

The Ninth Prince smiled awkwardly and said, "Aren't the tasks for the government warehouse almost all done? What else is there to do? I see that everyone is very busy, so I won't give you any more work to do."

He also thought that he could witness the legendary "Tan Jing". Today, someone from the Guangxi Governor's Office happened to come to the Ministry of Revenue.

Unfortunately, there is no share for him!

The Fourth Prince sat down on the edge of the kang and picked up a peanut to eat.

Everyone in the Ministry of Revenue has their own responsibilities, and what the Ninth Prince said is right.

When the Ninth Prince came to the Ministry of Revenue, he took on the job of supervising the construction of new warehouses and the repair of old warehouses. Otherwise, he should have visited the various departments below to familiarize himself with the Ministry's administrative affairs.

But it is not appropriate for the Fourth Prince to arrange these things, he can only make suggestions.

The Fourth Prince said, "Weren't you interested in the Qianfa Hall and the Baoquan Bureau before? If you don't have any work to do, you can go over there and take a look."

The Ninth Prince listened with a somewhat conflicted look on his face.

The Fourth Prince asked, "What's wrong? Are you not interested again?"

The Ninth Prince said, "I am interested, but I am afraid that I will be too interested and unable to control myself, and I will also be thinking about making money!"

The fourth prince frowned and said, "You dare to say anything?"

The Ninth Prince smiled and said, "When I first arrived at the Ministry of Revenue, I took a look at the account books there. Now that copper is expensive and iron is cheap, there is a lot of room for improvement."

"It's easy to think, but it's just talk! How can you buy the iron? Those who have the courage to print money are all local tyrants who have private mines in poor and remote areas." The Fourth Prince shook his head.

The Ninth Prince felt a little regretful and said, "That's true. There is no place to exchange iron in the capital."

The Fourth Prince didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and asked, "Do you still want to try?"

The Ninth Prince hurriedly shook his head and said, "I won't try it, I'm just thinking about it."

The Fourth Prince rolled his eyes at him and said, "It's good that you know the importance of it. People of our status must be more careful with their words and actions."

The Ninth Prince sat back on the kang and said with some regret: "I thought I could see 'Tan Jing', so I came to the government office early, but it seems to have nothing to do with us."

The Fourth Prince glanced at him and said, "No one dares to give it to you. Even if someone dares to give it to you, would you dare to accept it?"

Brother Ninth: "..."

The Fourth Prince went on to say, "When people from the Governor's Office come to Beijing, apart from the annual tribute, they only hand over gift lists to the Yuqing Palace."

Brother Ninth: "..."

The gap is huge.

The Ninth Prince curled his lips and said, "What if I accept it?"

The Fourth Prince's face became more serious, and he said, "Then you have to be careful of being impeached by the censor for blackmailing a local official."

Brother Ninth: "..."

He probably understood the meaning.

Gifts given in official circles are all within a fixed range.

Within that range, it is the official practice and everyone agrees that it can exist; if it exceeds that range, it will give the censors trouble.

The Ninth Prince looked at the charcoal basin and picked up a peanut.

I didn't feel it when I was in the Imperial Household Department earlier, but now that I'm in the former dynasty, I realize that the prince doesn't seem to be treated well.

When they meet face to face, they are respectful and flattering, but in reality everyone keeps their distance.

Local officials were not allowed to make friends with the prince, and few officials in the capital dared to get close to the prince.

For example, he had only been in the Ministry of Revenue for half a year, and the number of times he had met the two ministers and four vice ministers was very few.

This is a bit frustrating.

The Ninth Prince glanced at the Fourth Prince. It wasn't easy for these brothers either. They had been working for more than ten years, doing the work but still not being liked by others.

I have to endure the day today, and miss the Imperial Household Department again...

The Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The Twelfth Prince lowered his head, looking at the documents spread out on the desk, feeling uncomfortable all over.

It's another day of missing Brother Jiu.

He now has some free time.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs has Maska as its chief steward and several other ministers under it, so the Twelfth Prince does not need to handle government affairs on a daily basis.

As for the Construction Department under his charge, there were doctors and managers there, so he didn't need to do everything himself.

But the twelfth prince lived in the palace, so there was no reason for him not to come to the court to serve, so he could only endure it.

The position of the Ninth Prince has now been replaced by the Eighth Prince.

When the Ninth Prince was around, the Twelfth Prince didn't feel any inconvenience; but when the Eighth Prince came around, he really couldn't get used to it.

The Twelfth Prince glanced towards the window, thinking of some way, should he change rooms?

Spreading in front of the Eighth Prince were the files of the Xiaotangshan Palace.

The Xiaotangshan Palace was started to be built in the 39th year and was completed in the 40th year. It was officially accepted before the Dragon Boat Festival this year.

Isn't it time to start using this?
It’s the coldest time of the year and Haidian is near the water, cold and gloomy. How can it be as comfortable as living in Xiaotangshan Palace?

The Eighth Prince was somewhat puzzled. He looked up at the Twelfth Prince and said, "The Xiaotangshan Palace was inspected and accepted in the first half of the year. Why didn't they submit a memorial to the Emperor?"

The twelfth prince glanced at the eighth prince and said, "That place was built to celebrate the emperor's fiftieth birthday."

It would be presented before the Emperor's birthday as a tribute from the sons, and then the Emperor would be respectfully invited to move in.

Although the palace was built by the Construction Department, the money used was not from the inner treasury, but from the crown prince and other princes.

Of course, this money was all paid by the ninth brother, and no money was actually taken from the pockets of the crown prince and the princes.

To be honest, the chief steward of the Imperial Household Department was not qualified to propose this palace to the emperor first.

The Eighth Prince's smile was somewhat forced.

He remembered the "borrowing of silver" in thirty-eight years.

Thinking about the conflict between the brothers and his own mess, he also remembered his own mistakes.

He accepted the "loan" returned by the Ninth Prince.

The Xiaotangshan Palace was given as a gift by the Ninth Prince from the dividends deducted from the "loans" from his brothers, and he had no share!
Cold sweat was breaking out on the Eighth Prince's forehead.

Next year, when the princes congratulate him on his birthday and present this birthday gift, everyone from the Crown Prince to the Fourteenth Prince will get a share, except him. Then he will become a laughing stock.

Thinking of this, the Eighth Prince couldn't sit still and said, "You go ahead and do your work. I'm going to the Ministry of Revenue. I remembered that I have something to ask Fourth Brother..."

The twelfth prince stood up and watched the eighth prince leave before sitting down again.

He was a smart man. Thinking about the Eighth Prince's misconduct, he immediately thought of the reason and a look of gloating appeared on his face.

If you want to pick peaches, why not just use the Xiaotangshan Palace to accumulate merits?
I really forgot what I did back then.

He should have thought it through by now. I'm afraid he won't want to mention Xiaotangshan again.

When the Xiaotangshan Palace was presented as a birthday gift, the reputation of the Eighth Prince, in addition to being a "silver heart with a Buddhist mouth", would also include an unfilial piety...

*
After the Eighth Prince entered the Ministry of Revenue, he went straight to the duty room where the Fourth Prince was.

The Fourth Prince was still talking to the Ninth Prince, and they were talking about the various government offices under the Ministry of Revenue.

Since Qian Fatang and Baoquan Bureau don't want to go, they can't just stay here and drink tea every day.

The Ninth Prince listened and said with more energy: "Then let's go to the Eight Banners Division and start tomorrow!"

The Fourth Prince looked at the Ninth Prince and asked with some concern, "Why do you want to go to the Eight Banners Division?"

The Ninth Prince did not hide it and told the truth: "I just want to see how many properties are under the name of the old brand royal palace."

The fourth prince was a little confused and said, "How much property they have is none of your business. Why are you investigating this?"

Each family lives their own life and I can’t think of any of them.

Not to mention the princes themselves, even the emperor's father would not dare to risk the world's condemnation and seize the royal property and land.

The Ninth Prince stroked his chin.

"I just feel that something is wrong with the old prince of Shuncheng Palace. He has been amassing wealth all his life. Did he exchange it for property or money? If he exchanged it for property, how come he did it so quietly that no one else knew about it? If he didn't exchange it for property, where did the money go?"

Of course, investigating Shuncheng Palace was just a side job. What we really wanted to investigate were the properties owned by the impoverished families in each banner.

For example, the home of the Eighth Concubine’s uncle and aunt.

In this way, we can ask people to keep an eye on them, and when the time comes for them to sell their property, we can be one step ahead.

The Ninth Prince had suffered from a lack of information in his early years. Today, he thought of the Eight Banners Division, which was a good opportunity to take care of both public and private matters...

*
Thank you all for your monthly tickets. Xiaojiu bows in gratitude.

(End of this chapter)