Chapter 519: Ministry of Revenue Director

After Chen Yan's coming‑of‑age banquet, he slept soundly through the night.

He got up in the morning before he could even wash up, and Qing'er hurried over, panting, "Young master, young master, trouble! The Supreme Emperor has arrived; he's in the reception hall right now."

"What is it?"

Chen Yan was stunned.

After snapping out of it, he quickly splashed his face, tidied his hair and attire, and hurried to the reception hall.

Upon arriving, he saw Li Yuan calmly sipping tea, while Li Fushun was bent over behind him, with fishing gear at his feet.

Seeing him approach, Li Yuan lifted his chin, "Kid, as you said, I'm here today; if that Mahjong of yours isn't fun, you'll have to accompany me fishing outside."

"Today I'll give my all, so you can see my true skill!"

Chen Yan: "......"

He wore a strained expression, "Supreme Emperor, you seem to have arrived a bit early, don't you think?"

"I haven't even washed my face properly, nor had breakfast."

"Chen kid, I have to say a couple of words to you," Li Yuan nodded at him, "When I went back yesterday, I heard Er Lang say that you'll soon be overseeing the Ministry's staff; the daily court assembly will certainly be unavoidable from now on."

"At this hour, the daily court assembly started long ago; it might already be halfway through. If nothing unusual occurs, it should be finished soon."

"You need to be even earlier; otherwise you won't even make it to the assembly on time, and how can you make the subordinates respect you?"

Chen Yan plopped down beside him and casually said, "So I'm not even in office yet, right? I've been working in Weinan County for two years, planning all day; I deserve a bit of rest, don't I?"

"I'm not worried about the daily assembly; after all I have two good wives, and even if they drag me, they'll pull me up."

"Just torment my two granddaughters!"

Li Yuan said irritably.

Then he cleared his throat, "By the way, I arrived early, and breakfast hasn't been served yet; make sure more is prepared."

"......"

Chen Yan's gaze was subtle, the corner of his mouth twitched, then he forced it down.

"Alright, alright, understood, Supreme Emperor!"

He immediately ordered Qing'er to have Aunt Zhang prepare more breakfast.

After breakfast, Chen Yan arranged for Li Lizhi and Gao Yang and the others to play Mahjong with Li Yuan.

After a few rounds, Li Yuan lost almost every hand, yet his expression was very excited.

"No kidding, this thing is actually kind of fun......"

"Again, again, I didn't get it earlier, but now I do."

Gao Yang and the others were that delighted; normally they're missing one player, so they'd have Qing'er's maids fill in and never dare beat them—so today is much more interesting.

"Grandfather Emperor, do you have enough money on you today?" Gao Yang said while shuffling the tiles, "It's our first time playing; if we lose money we can't get angry, okay? My sister, the Imperial Consort, and I won't go easy on you."

Li Yuan blew his beard and glared, "Little Gao Yang, are you insulting me? Why should I need you to go easy on me?"

"Bring it on!"

Gao Yang and the Wei Wang Consort exchanged a glance, smiled, and said nothing.

Only Li Lizhi hesitated a bit; she wanted to give Li Yuan a little leeway, after all the three of them were seasoned players.

Besides, playing Mahjong with family is just for fun, isn't it?

But seeing Gao Yang and the Wei Wang Consort's excited faces, the little devil inside her resurfaced, eager to try.

If she could win all of Li Yuan's money, watch him leave with a sullen face and bring even more next time—would be fun, right?

And so the four began their Mahjong game, the scene blazing with excitement.

Chen Yan watched for a while, then slipped away quietly.

However, just as he stepped out, Qing'er ran over again.

"Young master, Master Du and the others have arrived."

"Du Gou...," Chen Yan nodded, said nothing, and went to the reception hall.

Sure enough, he saw Du Gou and Fang Yizhi.

Before he could speak, Du Gou said bluntly, "Brother Zi An, after returning yesterday, my father assigned me to the Ministry of Revenue three days from now, with the position of Budget Director."

"Budget Director?"

Chen Yan raised his eyebrows slightly.

The Ministry of Revenue's top hierarchy starts with the Third Rank Minister of Revenue, followed by two Assistant Ministers of the Ministry of Revenue.

Then the Ministry establishes the "Four Departments", each headed by a Director, totaling four Ministry of Revenue Directors, each overseeing different duties.

The Budget Director oversees fiscal budgeting and revenue planning; as a Fifth Rank official, he is eligible to attend the daily court assembly, wielding considerable power.

"What about Brother Fang?" Chen Yan turned his head and asked.

"Director of the Treasury Department," Fang Yizhi replied succinctly.

That position oversees the state treasury, treasures, and essentially all storage and issuance of supplies passes through his hands.

In other words, among the four Directors of the Four Departments, none holds a minor amount of power.

Because the Ministry of Revenue itself wields great authority.

Chen Yan pondered briefly, "What about Ma Zhou? Since returning to Chang'an I haven't heard much about him. He did show up yesterday, but there were too many guests and I didn't get a chance to speak with him in detail."

"Lao Ma is probably attending the court assembly now," Du Gou said with a strange expression.

"What?"

"Lao Ma is at the assembly?" Chen Yan was startled.

How could he not know this?

Du Gou clicked his tongue, unsure whether to feel happy for Ma Zhou or pity him.

When they were in Weinan County, Ma Zhou was the one who worked the most; after everyone in Weinan County achieved success and retired, each took a period of rest, but Ma Zhou did not.

By the time we returned to Chang'an, we had already been assigned inside.

"Lao Ma is like us, but he is the Director of Department of the Ministry of Revenue, just transferred recently; originally he was in the Secretariat working with Wei Zheng."

"I guess you chose the Ministry of Revenue, and His Majesty just found an excuse and assigned him to the Ministry of Revenue again."

"He was actually quite pleased."

Chen Yan: "......"

A naturally born ox‑horse saint body, this is!

"Fine, you all take up the posts first; the current Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Revenue is still in place, so I'll have to wait a dozen days or so," Chen Yan shrugged, "You go and get a feel for the situation. In any case, even if I go over there this year, there isn't much to do; at most I'll hand over to Dai Zhou."

"Next year is when we'll make a big move."

Du Gou and Fang Yizhi nodded heavily; the former said, "My father told me that next year His Majesty plans to mobilize troops, and the Ministry of Revenue will definitely be busy."

"Moreover, more importantly, the prototype of Labor-to-Land Redistribution you previously presented to His Majesty has yielded little result so far, because His Majesty's focus is now largely on the aristocratic families and next year's war."

"To complete the Labor-to-Land Redistribution prototype you mentioned, we first need to thoroughly investigate how much land the Tang Dynasty currently has and how many people have not been allocated land."

"These are almost entirely our work; just thinking about it makes my scalp tingle."

"Find people," Fang Yizhi said indifferently, calmly, "Find people who actually get things done; otherwise, with just the few of us, we'd be exhausted to the point of spitting blood and still couldn't keep up."

"......"