How can I bow my head and serve the powerful officials?

New ideas, of course.

Xie Chengze shook his head and said, "I think that the little money of the ministers is probably not of much use. Why not mobilize all the officials in the capital to donate money, from the emperor to the clerks, and collect donations based on the number of carriages, real estate area, number of lakes and pools, number of concubines and maids, etc. The more carriages a family has, the more silver they need to donate. If they can't donate, let the Ministry of Revenue check their account books!"

All the ministers were shocked:?!

What a vicious plan!

What a fucking heartless trick!

Generally speaking, without the involvement of others and evidence, even the emperor cannot confiscate property and exterminate the whole family at will. After all, such actions are committed by tyrants, and a proper monarch and his subjects should "trust" each other.

Therefore, the account book they use to record "etiquette" is relatively safe, and as long as it is not checked, nothing will go wrong.

Even if they find out, it won't be a big deal as long as it is hidden well.

But the problem is that even if one does not keep records in the account books when he embezzles, or hides the money carefully enough, it does not mean that the officials who give gifts to him will not keep records in the account books or hide the money carefully.

If the money donated by those petty officials is not enough, once the private account books are discovered, they will only be implicated in the end...

This means that in order to avoid being found out about their criminal record, they not only have to pay money, but they may also have to take the money of the officials below them!

But there are so many officials involved. If they are used by opposing officials...

The ministers' hearts were beating like drums and they felt their eyes go dark.

Compared to the Crown Prince's kindness and leniency, the Second Prince really had a ferocious smile on his face and was kicking them straight in the heart!

"Your Majesty, this is not appropriate!"

"The last time we donated silver, we emptied our family's savings. We really can't raise any more money."

"Second Prince, you can't always grab us and take advantage of us, right? It's not easy for us to earn a little monthly salary, not to mention that my family also needs to prepare for the cold winter..."

"Hey, you are too polite." Xie Chengze didn't know what these people were up to. He said righteously, "No matter how hard it is, the people are not as hard-working as us! And I didn't bully you. I bullied all the officials in the capital, didn't I? This is called treating everyone equally and fairly!"

"This..." This is absolute nonsense!

"Don't you guys want to?" Xie Chengze was immediately disappointed and scolded, "Three days ago, you guys were still saying that you would devote your lives to the court until your death! Now when I mention donating money, you immediately turn hostile?"

He said with deep disgust, "Father loves you so much that he even asked me to raise your monthly salary in the palace that day! Father's painstaking efforts were wasted. It turns out that you ministers can only share the good times but not the bad times!"

"Father..." Xie Chengze stood up and cried, "I am so heartbroken! Just kill all these ungrateful people!"

Ministers:...

Emperor Jian: ...

Oh, it turns out that he asked for a salary increase that day so that he could have a legitimate reason to donate silver today, and they even put the blame for the salary increase on his head!

He is truly his “good” eldest son.

Xie Chengze's words were truly irrefutable, especially for the loyal ministers, who all came forward to express their willingness to donate silver to tide over the difficulties. As a result, those ministers who were unwilling to do so had no choice but to swallow their anger and consider themselves unlucky.

Emperor Jian nodded with satisfaction. After tasting the sweetness brought by Xie Chengze, he couldn't help but want to eat another one. "Ze'er, then how do you think the private donations should be carried out?"

But Xie Chengze changed his expression faster than turning the pages of a book. The sadness on his face disappeared in an instant, and turned into an indifferent wall of steel. "No, ask Shen Yuan!"

Shen Yuan: ...

Emperor Jian: ...

Shen Yuan shook his head with a smile, then stepped forward and said, "Private donations can only be made according to personal wishes, and in a small number, there is no need to make a big fuss. It is better to focus on the wealthy merchants in various places, and let them donate money and materials to help the country and the areas affected by the snow disaster in the north. To encourage more donations, it is better to set up merit monuments in the capital and prosperous places in various places, engrave their names and good deeds on the monuments, and at the same time, Your Majesty can leave a calligraphy, which can not only demonstrate Your Majesty's benevolent rule, but also inspire the world to be kind, so that donations will become a trend."

Shen Yuan learned this method from Xie Chengze. Since all merchants love the imperial seal, the emperor's calligraphy is even more valuable to them. Countless people want it, and getting it is a matter of honor for the family. At that time, all merchants will flock to it.

"Oh? This is a great idea!" Emperor Jian nodded in approval. A once-in-a-century snowstorm was approaching, so it was a good deal to condescend to write and exchange his calligraphy for generous donations from the rich. "Let's leave this matter to Doctor Jin."

On this day, the ministers had not left the court for a long time as they were all planning for the snow disaster. They did not even have lunch, and their legs were numb and their lips were dry from standing so much.

After Xie Chengze pulled his chair and gave it to an old minister with a bad leg, he sneaked out of the hall and took a deep breath of the cold air outside.

Then he muttered to himself, "I wonder if there's any news from Sheng Yiren."

After looking at the sky for a while and doing some eye exercises, Xie Chengze picked up his palace robe and slipped away to the Ministry of Works. At this time, the Ministry of Works was sparsely populated, and there was not even a gatekeeper at the door. The door was simply closed, as if refusing outsiders to enter.

Xie Chengze knocked on the door, but no one answered, so he called Wuhen and carried him over the wall into the Ministry of Industry.

The gate was locked from the inside. There was no one in the courtyard, and the officials on duty were nowhere to be seen. Wuhen moved his ears, pointed in a direction, and reminded, "Your Highness, everyone is over there."

Over there is the Yubusi under the Ministry of Works, which is in charge of the streets, gardens, mountains, swamps, plants, and hunting in Kyoto.

Xie Chengze walked over and saw that the officials from the Ministry of Works were indeed gathered in the Ministry of Construction. Some of them were standing in the courtyard, looking up at something, while others were standing in a workshop on the east side, tinkering with something. Everyone looked very excited.

Xie Chengze approached silently, "What are you looking at?"

"Hah!" A head suddenly popped up from his shoulder and spoke, frightening several officials. They cried out in surprise. When they saw Xie Chengze's face clearly, they breathed a sigh of relief and bowed, "Second Prince, we heard that Gu Lao had completed the sleeping kang for winter heating, so we came here specially to see it."

Wow! The Northeast Fire Pit was built so quickly?

The Ministry of Industry is quite efficient!

But… “Who is Gu Gu?”

Several officials looked at each other and then said, "Guo Lao is the supervisor of our Ministry of Industry. He is especially good at making tools for all kinds of crafts. Whether it is daily tools for the people or weapons for the army, after being supervised by him, the quality of the tools will be improved by several levels."

"I see. Then I'll have to see what he can do." Xie Chengze nodded and walked into the east workshop, where two officials were squatting. They were stuffing firewood into a large kang with a frying pan and a kang without a wok. They were obviously trying to test the effects and differences between the two.

As the firewood burned, smoke gradually came out of the chimney outside. When it was almost burned out, an elderly man with gray hair walked towards the kang with steady steps and put his hand under the bedding with a dignified look.

Then he shrank back with a whoosh, his expression becoming even more serious.

Xie Chengze couldn't help but cover his lips and chuckle.

This old man must have been scalded.

Hearing the laughter, the old man frowned slightly, raised his head and asked in an unhappy tone, "Who is laughing here?"