On the palace, Zhao Ling's voice had fallen for a moment, but no one answered. The emperor and his ministers raised military expenses. This kind of thing is unprecedented. How arrogant is the First Emperor? The Great Qin Treasury is not short of money and food. It is impossible for him to condescend to ask for money and food from the ministers. Zhao Ling has spoken now, but the ministers still don’t quite understand his intentions. Is it my own money and food to be used as military expenses? Is there any benefit? If you take the lead in making a statement, will it arouse the disgust of other ministers in the court? How much does it take to raise military expenses? I haven't figured out these questions clearly, who would dare to stand up for ordinary ministers?
The ministers collectively chose to remain silent. Meng Wu sat on one side and closed his eyes to rest. He guessed what Zhao Ling wanted to do. The intention is too obvious. Xi Wenyan has indeed made a lot of money by selling rice paper in recent days. Confucianism only began to select teachers who went to various counties to teach people to learn literacy. The money he earned from Confucianism and aristocrats had nowhere to spend. In Xianyang City, it was his turn after the sculpture of the First Emperor's golden statue was completed. Xi Wenyan can now be regarded as the most popular minister in the entire Xianyang city. Life is the time to be successful when you gain both fame and fortune. Apart from the Bai family, who had just been confiscated, weren’t the Xijia and Mengjia? Xi Wenyan even formed cliques and private interests in various ways, and sent some rice paper out of Xianyang, forcibly raising the price of rice paper, and making more money with Zhao Ling on his back. Meng Weiran also has only in and out of taxes except for paying taxes. Zhao Ling's eyes fell on Xi Wenyan. Xi Wenyan originally wanted to lower her head and pretend to be dead, but the atmosphere in the court was really uneasy. Xi Wenyan raised his eyelids carefully, and just met Zhao Ling's gaze, and was shocked. "Your Majesty! I am willing to raise military expenses for the army!" Bai Qi was searched, and Xi Wenyan made so much money. If he offended Zhao Ling because he couldn't bear to give up money, it would be better. Zhao Ling's methods made Xi Wenyan become more and more scared after the old fox came home. Zhao Ling felt even more oppressed than the First Emperor. Xi Wenyan really couldn't figure out why Zhao Ling was so young and the emperor's mind was so cruel. In less than half a month, he directly grasped all the civil and military officials in the court, and even pushed all his confidant disciples to the court. Xi Wenyan stood up, and Meng Weiran finally couldn't hold it in, so he stood up: "I am willing to raise military expenses for the army."
These two were highly respected among the ministers, and they all stood up, and the other ministers and nobles could only respond and expressed their willingness to raise military expenses for the army. Zhao Ling wanted to squeeze out the money bags of these nobles and use their money to do people's livelihood. He also knew very well that these nobles who were full of landlords and old money thoughts would exploit the people once they were short of money. That would be even better. As long as someone dares to do such a thing, he will directly search the house and take it all in one fell swoop and set a benchmark by the way. The military consumption of the Qin Dynasty was originally an astronomical figure, and it was needed to provide the entire Qin Dynasty to barely maintain it. Zhao Ling was preparing to reduce the burden on the people, so he naturally had to make up for it from the upper class aristocrats. After the people were stable and rich, these aristocrats were almost exploited, and they could not do anything if they wanted to rebel. Currently, the military expenditure of the Qin Dynasty is as high as millions of stones of grain or billions of dollars a year. According to the history that Zhao Ling knew, the huge military expenditure put huge pressure on the Qin Dynasty's finances and became one of the important reasons for the rapid decline of the Qin Dynasty. 1 tael of gold in Daqin is equal to 10 taels of silver in Daqin, and gold is a currency that only nobles can use. The nobles had one tael of gold and one tael of fine salt, which was not ambiguous at all. In just a few days, the entire Xianyang City sold 500 kilograms of fine salt, and the supply was still in short supply. In other words, in the past few days, 9,000 taels of gold were sold with fine salt alone, and the national treasury earned nearly 5,000 taels of gold. Xi Wenyan recently sold 28,000 taels of paper, and the treasury revenue was 16,000 taels of gold. In other words, in the past few days, the treasury income of just selling paper and fine salt was more than 200 million taels. This doesn't include Zhao Ling's start to make money and collect taxes from wealthy businessmen across the country. Xi Wenyan has been making a fortune in recent days and his speech is also strong: "I am willing to raise 5,000 taels of gold as military expenses." The Confucian work of teaching people to learn literacy has not yet officially started. Since he has stood up, he simply reported 2,000 taels of gold to raise funds in public. The ministers in the court stared at him one after another. It turns out that he is rich and powerful. Meng Weiran also sold nearly 4,000 taels of gold to his pocket for fine salt. He originally wanted to pay 1,000 taels, but he thought it was very suitable. As a result, this old bastard Xi Wenyan actually claimed 5,000 taels of gold. Meng Weiran looked at it with a complicated expressionXi Wenyan felt quite unhappy when he glanced at him. The three major clans have shared the same hatred for hundreds of years. Although they have strong and weak, they are all on par. Now the Bai clan is gone, and Xi Wenyan is too popular. When he talks with Meng Weiran these days, he looks arrogant. . Isn’t it just to get Zhao Ling’s favor? Isn’t it just that you are lucky and sold the paper? Making more money? Meng Weiran said loudly: "I am willing to raise 6,000 taels of gold as military expenses!" He shouted out, not to mention the ministers in the court, Zhao Ling couldn't help but be stunned. Pay back?
"The Meng family has been favored by the emperor for generations, and now the military expenditure is tight. As the patriarch of the Meng family, I should do my best. Even if I spend all my money, I should not let the frontline soldiers starve and freeze!" Zhao Ling couldn't help but feel respectful: "Mr. Tingwei is worthy of being the pillar of the Qin Dynasty. With such a loyal minister, why worry about the Qin Dynasty's failure to destroy Hu?" "I am very relieved and specially granted the court guard Meng Weiran, a loyal minister chair I made by myself. The chair I made by myself when I was in Sanchuan County. There were only two in time, and one was given to the General Meng Wu. Another hand was given to my beloved. " Zhao Ling decided to install some of the gadgets brought by Sanchuan County and give them out with a clear eye. A master chair is not worth much money. If you find a craftsman to imitate it, it can be made, but if Zhao Ling makes it himself, it will have a different meaning. This is the emperor's favor, and it is a rare honor in the world. Zhao Ling regarded the emperor as clear. As long as an ordinary thing is made by the emperor and put on a resounding name, it will give it a different value. These things are used to win over ministers, which is simply a great weapon to kill. Even if other ministers know that the workmanship of such chairs is simple, they dare not find anyone to make them due to imperial power. Who dares to commit the crime of usurpation? "My minister! Meng Weiran, thank Your Majesty for your kindness!" Meng Weiran kowtowed to thank him. This kowtowed out the momentum of the Tingwei, as if he had forced over Xi Wenyan.