This is what you taught me.
Fan Jian sighed, and rubbed his fingers lightly, feeling the tactile sensation brought by the piece of paper.
A woman's head was drawn with charcoal on the paper. Although there were only a few strokes, the woman's expression and appearance were vividly outlined.
Especially the pair of eyes of the woman in the painting, looking at Fan Jian who is looking at her so compassionately, tenderly, and mischievously.
"Your Majesty asked the great painter to secretly paint your portrait in the palace." Fan Jian looked at the woman in the painting and said with a smile, "But for me, your appearance is always in my mind, very clear."
"Whenever I want to talk to you, I can't help drawing a picture."
"Draw a naughty you, draw a cold you, draw a sad you, draw a happy you."
"With so many you, who is the real you? It's a pity, there is no way to ask you anymore."
Fan Jian sighed, handed the paper to the candlestick and burned it. He looked at the beautiful face that was gradually disappearing in the flames, and said in a daze: "If your majesty and I hadn't gone back to our hometown in Danzhou for the summer, we wouldn't have met you, and... there wouldn't have been any of the things that followed."
"Perhaps, I'm still the painter who hangs around brothels all day long." Master Shangshu touched the corners of his lips, with a self-deprecating smile: "You said that the world needs artists as professions. It's a pity, in the end But I became the one with the strongest smell of copper in the entire Qing Kingdom."
The flames on the paper gradually burned to the center, leaving only some gray and black scraps of paper.
"You have always regarded me as the most trustworthy elder brother." Fan Jian finally said: "I am very grateful for your trust, so don't worry, even if I don't have the ability to change too much, at least, I will insist on standing In this capital, I watched Xianer gradually grow up."
There was a soft knock on the door outside the study.
"Come in." Fan Jian said with a smile.
Mrs. Liu walked in with the cup of physalis, and put it lightly on the desk, with lingering worry on her face. The affairs in the palace had already been passed on from Concubine Yigui to the family. As the mistress of the Fan Mansion, she certainly knew what kind of predicament her master would face in the court tomorrow.
Fan Jian glanced at her and sighed, "Don't worry, Your Majesty won't treat me too harshly."
A slight resentment flashed in Liu's eyes, and she said softly: "If Your Majesty misses the old friendship, why would he not be provoked by those Xiao Xiaoxiao to investigate the household department. Among these six departments, who is clean from beginning to end? "
Fan Jian shook his head and said, "Trust Your Majesty. It is a matter of state affairs, of course it cannot be ignored."
Knowing that the master didn't want to continue this sad topic, Mrs. Liu nodded helplessly.
Fan Jian raised the bowl and said to the smell of burning paper above the desk, "Respect each other."
Then gulp it down.
Mrs. Liu was slightly startled, thinking to herself who is the master respecting
※※※
the second day. The meeting was held again, and as expected, His Majesty severely criticized the poor performance of the Ministry of Accounting in the past two years, and pushed most of the charges of emptying the national treasury to the Ministry of Accounting. No one can argue for one thing or two. The headless household officials pitifully endured the civil and military attacks of the Manchu Dynasty.
The imperial court issued a decree and began to check the deficits of the household department over the years, which will be implemented by the Supervisory Yuan, assisted by the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Punishment, and Dali Temple, and the investigation affairs will be led by Hu Dashi from the Ministry of Education, with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince on the side. Fill in the gaps.
There was a rumor from the Ministry of Household Investigation, so this matter did not surprise people, but when the formation was put out, the ministers were still a little bit shocked. It seems that His Majesty really wants the Ministry of Households to suffer from such a big battle. up.
I don't know how Master Xiaofan in Jiangnan will react when he finds out about this matter
In the afternoon of the same day, officials from various divisions of the joint investigation began to enter the yamen of the household department, and the Kyoto garrison was responsible for dispatching troops to take care of the warehouses of the warehouses, and the first object of the investigation was the accounts of the seventh department of the household department. item problem.
All of a sudden, the already extremely bustling household yamen on the side of the big locust tree became even more noisy. Today, there were quite a few officials who came to collect the money, but there were many more officials who came to check the money.
The officials of the household department were very nervous to welcome these senior officials who came to investigate with the purpose into the yamen. After tossing for a long time, they freed up enough chairs for the senior officials to sit down, and then the left and right servants reported the latest news on their behalf. Regarding the operation of the household department in the past two years, someone has already started to clean up the account books under the supervision of the Overwatch Council, waiting for the investigation.
Hu Dashi and His Royal Highness who were sitting in the middle did not make things difficult for these officials of the household department, and waited for the specific investigation to start after a few words of gentle advice, but officials from the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Punishment rarely found an opportunity to embarrass the lord of the household department Ladies and gentlemen, how can you miss it? There are some intimidating words, some loud and angry reprimands, and they say that the Ministry of Households is a place where the world hides filth, not a place that manages money and food for the imperial court.
Hu Dashi couldn't help frowning, knowing that the chiefs of these two departments were quite wrong with the Fan family. If he didn't pay close attention, he was afraid that the investigation would become a means for the other party to attack dissidents.
Facing such a grand occasion, seeing so many big figures sitting in the hall, including the left and right servants, all the officials of the household department felt a little defeated, and even felt a certain kind of despair. Today, Fan Shangshu is not in the yamen , these household officials all felt isolated by all the officials in the court, knowing that what they were about to face was the biggest hurdle in their official career and even their lives.
The officials of the Overwatch Council monitored the work of sorting out the books, and after a while, they watched the senior officials of the household department clear out as many as seven large bamboo baskets of books, and they carried them to the lobby with great pains.
His Royal Highness was taken aback by so many account books, and said in surprise: "There are so many account books, one by one, when will it be correct?"
The Zuo Shilang of the household department said angrily: "His Royal Highness, there are seven divisions under the household department, which correspond to the seven finances of the world, and there are four clean-up divisions corresponding to river engineering and other matters. There are three major treasuries. The internal treasury transshipment department was transferred to the household department for management, as well as the seventeen warehouses near the capital, Baoquan Bureau and Qian Fatang responsible for minting money. As for the warehouse office of the water affairs department in Hangzhou, there are... "
The lord servant was chattering, it was as long as a cup of tea, and he didn't stop.
The crown prince was confused when he heard this, so he waved his hand to stop it.
The ministers of various ministries who came to the Ministry of Accounts to check were dumbfounded. They only knew that the Ministry of Accounts was in charge of managing money. How could they have imagined that there would be such a complicated institutional setup below.
The servant lord smiled and said: "His Royal Highness, the accounts of the department are still being cleaned up at this time. The seven big baskets here are the accounts of the Bank of Shandong Road. Your Excellency is ordering the subordinate officials to be responsible for clearing the accounts of this road, so they moved out quickly. As for the general accounts, it will take at least ten days to clear them."
The crown prince was pushed up by the servant, and he was almost suffocated with anger, and angrily said: "I don't care how many accounts you have here, and I don't care how many days it will take. But since your majesty has ordered an investigation, your hands and feet are the best Hurry up, otherwise don't blame me for playing your secret will to resist the investigation!"
Unexpectedly, the minister of the household department still said meaninglessly: "His Royal Highness, the lower officials naturally don't have the guts. But since the ministers came to investigate according to the emperor's order, they always have to draw up a regulation. Which department will the investigation start from?" In addition to the accounts, when will the check of the amount of silver in the treasury start? Several million taels of silver, even if it is necessary to count... I am afraid it will take several days to count."
The prince waved his sleeves angrily, he was too lazy to argue with this snarky official, anyway, when the problem is found out, there will be no good fruit for you.
Hu Dashi watched coldly from the first seat, feeling very strange in his heart. Under the management of Fan Shangshu, this household department is really different from other departments. Although the servant is not a small official, it is too interesting to dare to contradict the prince face to face.
He knew that the servant of the household department was angry today, so he couldn't help explaining with a smile: "What Shilang Yu said is not bad, since it is an investigation, of course it must be carried out in an orderly manner, and it is best not to interfere with the daily work of the household department. All government affairs and official affairs in the whole country need the transfer of money from the Ministry of Accounts, and if you disturb the administration of the Ministry of Accounts too much for the sake of investigation, His Majesty will probably not want to see it."
The servant surnamed Yu obviously had a lot of respect for the great scholar Hu, and he saluted and said in a harmonious voice: "Everything is obeyed by the great scholar."
Since I don't know where to start the investigation for a while, I have to sort out all the accounts of the Ministry of Accounts first, and then call special officials to check them. Appearance, at least until the day after tomorrow to start.
At this time, an official suddenly said to Hu Dashi: "According to the official, it is better... first take out the accounts of the treasury and Jiangnan Division."
All was silent.
The treasury's silver is stored in the treasury, and if the Ministry of Accounts really transfers the treasury to Jiangnan, according to the inference of the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty, it must be the account of the Jiangnan Division. The official directly proposed to adjust the accounts of the treasury and the Jiangnan Division first, obviously in response to this rumor.
Hu Dashi was slightly taken aback, but he couldn't find any reason to object, and he really wanted to know if the Ministry of Household Affairs was really so bold as to privately divert state funds to Jiangnan. After discussing with the crown prince, he ordered the officials of the Supervisory Yuan and the household officials to adjust the accounts of the two places first.
Nothing happened overnight.
The second day was fine.
The third day was fine.
From the very beginning, the Qing court's investigation of the Ministry of Accounts has been caught in the boundless ocean of accounting wars. Officials who were determined to find out any problems in the Ministry of Accounts were instantly overwhelmed by those account books as numerous as Cangshan mountain. drowned.
Above the large lobby, the accounts are piled up into hills, and the dusty smell of old paper is everywhere, making it difficult for the officials to check. The eyes are full of yellow paper and numbers that make the eyes tired. Officials were dazzled.
In the quiet inspection hall, the sound of pages being turned, the sound of dialing the abacus, and the sound of sipping tea can be heard incessantly.
The combination of quietness and monotonous repetitive sounds can easily hypnotize you.
Therefore, although those inspectors sitting on the chairs did not have to face the terrifying and complicated numbers with their own hands, they still felt physically and mentally exhausted and full of spring sleepiness.
The officials of the various divisions have been busy for several days, doing calculations and comparisons with the figures on the account books, but they have not found any problems.
What is being checked now is the number of the treasury and the Jiangnan Division. For the time being, there is no reason to overthrow the Ministry of Accounts.
This surprised everyone, even Hu Dashi, who was secretly leaning towards the Fan family, was surprised. With so many account books, even if it is not intentional, even if it is an unintentional clerical error, it must be normal, right? With such a large amount of calculation work, could it be that the Ministry of Household Affairs has not made any mistakes in the past two years
It is said that when the water is clear, there will be no fish, and when the account is clear, there will be fake accounts. It is absolutely impossible to have such a perfect account in this world. If there is, it must be a fake account.
Hu Dashi thinks this way, and so do the investigation officials of the Ministry of Officials and the Criminal Department, so they investigate more vigorously. As long as they can find a loophole, they can mobilize their whole body and drag the entire household department down.
However, when this warm but boring afternoon was over, the officials of various ministries who were buried in the accounts raised their heads, looked at each other with incomparably astonished eyes, and shook their heads at their respective superiors. Countless disappointments surged in the hearts of the members.
There is no problem, at least the Ministry of Accounting has no problem with the accounts of Jiangnan Division and the warehouse.
The household department found out right now is very clean, exceptionally clean, as clean as a naked virgin after bathing.
…
…
"It's not right." Yan Xingshu, the Minister of the Ministry of Officials who rushed to the Ministry of Households this afternoon, shook his head, and said to Hu Dashi next to him, "It's too abnormal."
Master Hu nodded.
Yan Xingshu narrowed his eyes, thought for a while and said, "Of course we can't find any problems if we only check the accounts of these two places. Some people are not fools. They know that the court is suspicious of this aspect. The accounts are very flat. However, all accounts and warehouses are under our control, and the physical objects and figures must always match. If there is a problem with the account department, then it must be smoothed out. I think... we can’t do it next Just focus on these places, we should expand it to the outside, check the seven divisions and the three major treasuries, all the accounts must be checked together, and the tricks will definitely be found out."
Hu Dashi frowned and said: "Not to mention the difficulty, and it will take a long time."
The crown prince was listening, and a strange feeling suddenly surged in his heart. Could it be that these officials around him didn't take advantage of the warehouses under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Households? Why do you have the courage to expand the scope of auditing infinitely? He thought for a while, and agreed with Yan Xingshu's opinion. Being able to deal with the Fan family is what he hopes to see most now.
The news of the complete settlement of the accounts was quickly spread to Fan's residence by the Ministry of Accounts. Fan Jian said that the expression of Fan Jian, who was sick in bed, remained unchanged, and he only said to himself: "Of course artists want to strive for perfection when they make fake accounts. Check it out, check it out." The wider the better, and the bigger the problems detected, the better."