GBP Chapter 1179 You few dare to mess with me?
Chapter 1179 You few dare to mess with me?
Yang Shaofeng's thinking was successfully swayed.
After all, Master Yang always valued promises and believed that a promise was worth a thousand pieces of gold.
He said he would arrange for someone to go to Goryeo with Wang Zhuan to look after Chen Li and Ming Sheng, and that he would definitely arrange the appropriate manpower.
Before Yang Shaofeng could decide who to send to Goryeo, a young eunuch rushed to the Qianqing Palace, bowed to Emperor Zhu, and said, "Your Majesty, the Minister of Agriculture, the Minister of Water Resources, the Minister of Transportation, the Minister of Industry, the Minister of Railways, and the Minister of Rites are fighting outside the palace."
Li Shanchang stroked his beard, his face full of worry, and said, "They're fighting again?"
Liu Bowen glanced at Li Shanchang and Yang Shaofeng with a hint of schadenfreude and said, "It's hard to say whether they're really fighting or not, but it's true that the Duke of Han and the Prince Consort want to settle a lawsuit."
Yang Shaofeng was stunned for a moment, but Emperor Zhu said with a dark face, "Tell them all to get in here!"
When Xue Xiang, Chen Mo, and the others arrived at Qianqing Palace, Emperor Zhu's face darkened even further.
Xue Xiang's clothes were torn.
One of the wings on Chen Mo's official hat was broken off.
Wang Guangyang was holding the wreckage of a pair of glasses in his hand.
Emperor Zhu glanced at the crowd with a dark expression, then snorted coldly, "Speak, what the hell has happened this time?"
Wang Guangyang immediately bowed to Emperor Zhu and spoke first: "Your Majesty! These scoundrels said that the Ministry of Works has been split up, and the budget originally submitted by the Ministry of Works should also be split up. I am unwilling, so they beat up this old minister!"
Xue Xiang touched the corner of his mouth, hissed in pain, and said, "You old bastard, have some shame! How many places did the Ministry of Industry originally have to spend money on? How many places does your Ministry of Industry still have to spend money on now?"
"You still want to keep the entire budget of 67 million strings of cash in your Ministry of Industry?"
"You old fool, aren't you afraid of stuffing yourself to death!"
Zhu Shouren, the Minister of Transportation, scoffed and said, "You old scoundrel Wang, don't even bother to think. Even if you can leave behind 67 million strings of cash and set up thousands or tens of thousands of workshops, what good will it do?"
"No matter how much stuff is produced in the workshop, it still has to be transported out of the workshop."
"If you don't build the road first, how are you going to transport the goods?"
Chen Mo, who had just been promoted from Vice Minister of the Ministry of Railways to Minister, looked coldly at Zhu Shouren and said, "Minister Zhu is right. The problem is, how much cargo can those roads you built carry? No matter what kind of horse-drawn carriage or oxcart you have, they are no match for steam engines and railways!"
Zuo Siqi, the Minister of Water Resources who had just been separated from the Ministry of Works, snorted coldly and said, "Yes, yes, you old bastards are all right. There's no need to repair the water conservancy. Wait until the Yellow River and the Yangtze River flood again, and I'll see if your cement roads and railways can withstand it!"
As he spoke, Zuo Siqi couldn't help but launch into a tirade: "Without water conservancy, how are the people supposed to farm properly? If you can't grow food, what will you eat? And yet you all have the nerve to stand here and give such long speeches!"
Seeing that the group was about to start arguing again, Emperor Zhu and Li Shanchang's faces darkened, and Yang Shaofeng exclaimed that he had seen something truly eye-opening.
So, who came up with the idea of these officials in the Ming Dynasty?
They've all maxed out their skills at lying through their teeth—
Zuo Siqi's claim that water conservancy should not be promoted is practically lying while stepping on Lao Deng's face.
Because Lao Deng has been keeping an eye on water conservancy all these years, ponds, canals and reservoirs in various places have been under construction, and river embankments and lake dams have not been neglected either.
After all, he was a workaholic. Old Deng worked overtime every day, almost entirely dealing with various reports, especially those concerning people's livelihoods, which were of utmost importance to him.
Furthermore, Chen Mo's claim that railway transport capacity is higher than that of cement roads is almost pure nonsense.
It's true that railways have a higher carrying capacity than paved roads, but can you build all the workshops next to a steam locomotive station?
Even if it were possible, wouldn't a cement road be needed for transporting goods from the workshop to the steam engine station?
Most importantly, the Ming Dynasty has not yet met the conditions for full-scale railway construction, nor does it even have the need for it.
What the Ministry of Railways should be doing is not desperately demanding budgets, but rather conducting preliminary surveys and planning railways based on the plans formulated by the Cabinet for each provincial administration.
Yang Shaofeng silently complained to himself, but Emperor Zhu could no longer tolerate it. He slammed his fist on the table and roared, "Enough! You are all officials, yet you're fighting each other outside the Meridian Gate over budget matters. Are you afraid the common people won't see you officials fighting and brawling?"
When the word "budget" came up, Emperor Zhu glanced at everyone once again.
So, if they were fighting over the budget, what about Yang Siyi, who was in charge of approving the budget?
Li Shanchang glanced at everyone and asked, "Where is Yang Siyi? He is the one ultimately responsible for approving and allocating funds. Why don't you go to him? Instead, you come to the palace to seek a higher position?"
Wang Guangyang rolled his eyes and said, "That old bastard Yang Siyi said that the various government departments in the court have made major changes, and the budgets that were originally set are all stuck and not approved. They have to wait for the cabinet to come up with a new set of regulations before they can be approved."
Xue Xiang quickly chimed in, saying, "And there's also Li Xin, the Minister of Personnel. That old scoundrel said that all the transfers of officials have been frozen, and we have to wait for the cabinet to come up with new regulations."
Li Shanchang stared blankly at the group of ministers, then stared blankly at Yang Shaofeng.
So, is this targeting me, or is it targeting you, Yang the Madman?
The problem is, it doesn't matter who it's aimed at. I'm the Grand Secretary, and in the end, these messy things will still be my headache.
Yang Shaofeng was also stunned.
This is an extra salary for me as a cabinet advisor, but in the end these ministers have seized on it and are all trying to make things difficult for me.
No, you few dare to mess with me?
Yang Shaofeng chuckled and looked directly at Chen Mo, saying, "Come on, tell me first which railway lines the Ming Dynasty needs to build, what functions your so-called special-class and first-class stations perform, and how the steam locomotives between the stations are dispatched and scheduled?"
Chen Mo opened his mouth, but Yang Shaofeng turned to Wang Guangyang and said, "Please tell me, Minister Wang, how many departments does your Ministry of Industry plan to be divided into? What are the different functions of each department? What are the industrial plans of each provincial administration department?"
Yang Shaofeng looked at Xue Xiang again and asked, "Please tell me, Minister Xue, what does your Ministry of Rites plan to do in the eighth year of Hongwu? Have there been any adjustments or new plans for the number of community schools, county schools, prefectural schools, provincial schools, universities, and the Imperial Academy in various regions? Are there any plans for each subject? Have the score proportions for each subject in the examinations been determined?"
As Yang Shaofeng called out names one by one, the ministers of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Water Resources, and the Ministry of Transportation immediately took two steps back, trying to protect Chen Mo, Xue Xiang, and Wang Guangyang in front of them.
Emperor Zhu, Li Shanchang, and Liu Bowen all shook their heads directly.