Chapter 85
Xiao Yunzhou looked at the dazed Minister of Revenue Jiang Li in front of him, and lightly cleared his throat.
He glanced towards the direction of the warm chamber of Chonghua Palace, where his beloved daughter had already been carried away by her nursemaid to be breastfed and lulled to sleep.
Xiao Yunzhou could now begin his act!
He scanned the three officials from the Revenue Ministry and the four senior ministers of the Grand Secretariat, and then closed his eyes.
"Jiang Li, are you the Minister of Revenue, or am I the Emperor?"
Xiao Yunzhou now gave these ministers a major test every ten days and a lecture every five days.
He had become addicted to it, no, he was doing it for the national strength of Jing Country, to whip these ministers into shape!
"When I ask you about matters of the Revenue Ministry, why are you staring at me in a daze?"
Minister of Revenue Jiang Li felt like he had been wronged. "Your Majesty, you said... matters of the Revenue Ministry?"
He had never heard of those terms before!
What cash flow, what return on investment?
What were those?
He had been in the Revenue Ministry for twenty years, having just been promoted to Minister three years ago. This was the first time he had heard of such things!
"Hmph!" Xiao Yunzhou wanted to slam the table again, but this time he restrained himself, looking towards the Grand Secretariat ministers, especially Prime Minister Fucha.
"Why am I even the Emperor? I might as well be the Minister of Works and the Minister of Revenue myself!"
"..." The officials in the study room twitched their mouths.
"I'll take care of the Ministry of Works' matters myself."
"I'll take care of flood control and epidemic matters myself."
"And now, even the Revenue Ministry's accounting matters, I have to handle personally!"
"Jiang Li, can you sleep at night?"
Minister of Revenue Jiang Li opened his mouth, then closed it again, his face reddening as he suddenly knelt down. "It is my incompetence, I humbly request Your Majesty to enlighten me, what is cash flow..."
Xiao Yunzhou sighed, "I have to manage everything, with countless matters of state, and still have to teach you all."
"What a sin, being this kind of Emperor..."
"..."
Jiang Li, Prime Minister Fucha, and the other senior ministers all felt their temples throbbing.
The Emperor was becoming more and more arrogant by the day, what was going on!
Just a few days ago, he was quite happy when eating the roasted duck.
But now, after such a short time, he had another outburst.
And yet, no one could stop him.
Because the Emperor now... had some capabilities!
"Ahem, Your Majesty, this old minister has also never heard of the terms you just mentioned," Prime Minister Fucha decisively cut off the Emperor's arrogance, urging him not to beat around the bush anymore. "If it is beneficial to the Revenue Ministry, the common people will likely have a good year next year."
"Mmm," Xiao Yunzhou followed the flow and felt relieved, nodding as he turned to Jiang Li. "Wei Zheng, read to Minister Jiang what I've written."
Saying that, Xiao Yunzhou returned to his desk and sat down, picking up his tea cup and sipping it slowly.
Jiang Li's brows twitched.
Wei Zheng had already begun reciting, "Cash flow refers to the outflow and inflow of silver from the national treasury."
"It reflects our country Jing's ability to circulate silver in the treasury."
At first, Jiang Li felt a little resentful, thinking the Emperor had been lecturing them to assert his authority for no good reason.
But after Wei Zheng's first sentence, Jiang Li's neck stiffened.
The ability to circulate silver?
That phrase was really fresh, but it hit the nail on the head!
What was the Revenue Ministry's current problem? It was the lack of available silver!
And wasn't the goal to get the silver circulating?
Wei Zheng continued reciting, "If our national treasury cannot recover accounts receivable in a timely manner... it will lead to a shortage and crisis of silver."
At this point, not only Jiang Li, but the other two Vice Ministers of Revenue also had their eyes light up.
That hit the mark, that description hit the mark!
And then what?
"Your Majesty, by studying this cash flow, can we resolve the Revenue Ministry's biggest issue of silver shortage?" Jiang Li could no longer hold back and urgently asked the question.
The lack of silver in the national treasury was keeping him up at night.
As the new year was approaching, the ministries of Military, Works, Personnel... were all coming to the Revenue Ministry asking for money!
Jiang Li was invited to banquets every day, damn it, they all just wanted to ask him for money!
Jiang Li's belly had grown bigger, and his head had gone bald.
There was no money!
"Your Majesty, you have a solution now?" Jiang Li looked at Xiao Yunzhou with excitement.
Xiao Yunzhou waved his hand, signaling Wei Zheng to continue reciting.
Jiang Li was getting impatient, but as he listened further, he leaned forward more and more.
He almost wanted to move right up to the Emperor's desk, wishing he could take the papers and writing tools on the Emperor's desk and record everything!
--Cash Flow Statement
--Balance Sheet
--Annual Profit Statement
Ah...
Why didn't the Emperor tell him about these earlier...
"Why didn't Your Majesty tell me about these earlier!" Jiang Li beat his chest in frustration!
Otherwise, the Revenue Ministry would not have ended up in this state, would not have ended up in this state!
How could I not have told you earlier!
Xiao Yunzhou's expression stiffened as he confidently drank his tea, slamming the cup down to cover his own embarrassment.
I didn't hear Little Princess Xiao Chuchu mention these either!
"Fool, you dare blame me now."
"Why don't you reflect on yourself, whether you have been diligent in your work at the Revenue Ministry all these years."
"After so many years, you haven't even researched any methods to manage the national treasury or keep accounts!"
"..." Jiang Li opened his mouth.
Damn it, he had accidentally said out loud what was on his mind!
"Your Majesty, I... I didn't mean it that way."
"I only felt that what Your Majesty said was too useful."
"If the Revenue Ministry had been using these cash flow statements, profit statements, and balance sheets earlier, we would have a clear understanding of where the silver in our national treasury was going, and where to focus our efforts."
The other ministries like Works, Military... wouldn't need to invite him to banquets anymore.
Inviting him to banquets was useless!
--Just submit the profit forecast for your projects, any that don't make money can scram!
Jiang Li couldn't help but smile radiantly.
"Mmm," Xiao Yunzhou saw that Wei Zheng had recited most of it, and didn't forget to remind Jiang Li, "Your Revenue Ministry cannot just be responsible for handing out silver."
"You also need to check whether this silver is being used for its designated purposes."
For instance, in river dredging projects, some greedy people had skimped on materials and pocketed the money, causing the substandard river banks to collapse soon after.
"Jiang Li, for every sum of silver your ministry hands out, you should monitor it until the project's completion, and compare it against the budget to thoroughly investigate the return on investment."
"Then there won't be so many people deceiving me and the people."
Jiang Li let out an "ah" sound.
The other two Vice Ministers of Revenue also had increasingly bright looks in their eyes.
So the Revenue Ministry had such an important role!
"Your Majesty is truly... wise!" The three Revenue Ministry officials were convinced and sincere. "This minister is not as wise as Your Majesty."
Xiao Yunzhou waved his hand, it was nothing.
I only have an intelligence of eighty-eight.
Ah, I don't know how much more sheep's milk and eggs I need to consume to gain two more points of intelligence like the Fifth Prince.
Little Princess said those accounting knowledge bits, but he only barely understood a small part of them.
"Alas, we lack capable people."
"With just my effort alone, I can only come up with one or two methods, but cannot devise a complete strategy."
Xiao Yunzhou sighed, "You can't all just rely on me."
The three ministers from the Revenue Department blushed.
The four senior officials in the Cabinet also fell silent.
Especially Fucha, the senior official, he felt that every time he woke up from a sleep recently, the emperor had changed.
Now, he could hardly even recognize the once naive crown prince student of his!
"By the way, Your Majesty, how did you come up with these ideas?" Jiang Li asked curiously.
"Your Majesty, could you please share with me, so that I can strive to improve myself in that direction and keep up with Your Majesty's pace!"
"..."
Emperor Xiao Yunzhou's motion of raising the teacup slowed down for a beat.
He coughed heavily with reddened ears, "It's nothing, just that I have the people in my heart!"
The three Revenue ministers and four Cabinet officials were all taken aback.
Xiao Yunzhou blushed and glanced at the warm chamber where his beloved daughter was napping, gesturing for them to keep quiet.
"Enough, stop flattering me."
"I don't buy that nonsense."
"..."
"Now, I want to talk about how to address the shortage of silver in the national treasury in the short term."
Jiang Li abruptly lifted his head, there's really a solution?!
Xiao Yunzhou looked at the seven officials in the study mysteriously and lowered his voice.
"I want to borrow money from the people."
"I want to establish the Jing Country Bank."
The Revenue and Cabinet ministers simultaneously looked up!
[Meow, how long have I slept, so comfortable~]
Xiao Chuchu woke up in the warm chamber's rocking bed, mewling as she stretched her little lazy body.
She had haphazardly used her system points to purchase the live stream of Emperor Xiao Yunzhou's study.
[Let me take a look at what the emperor father is up to...]
[I want to go back to mother's side~ It's so boring here~]
But as soon as she saw Xiao Yunzhou's current scene, Xiao Chuchu was stunned.
[Wow, modern banking has been conceived?]
[Who came up with this? Awesome!]
Xiao Yunzhou, who was about to expound in the study, suddenly froze.