Chapter 334: The Emperor — Did He Understand?

6.7 million taels.

When Guo Yunhou reported this figure, many of the officials in the hall finally understood.

No wonder that over the past few months, the Ministry of Revenue people had been like mad dogs, running everywhere to convene meetings with every ministry and bureau, relentlessly pressing for the projected revenue of every reform project.

Anyone saddled with such a task would go mad too, wishing they could drag every passing dog into the water and flay a layer of skin off it.

Zhu Youjian sat on the imperial throne, his gaze sweeping calmly over the faces below — some shocked, some haggard.

In his heart, he actually felt somewhat helpless.

Was 6.7 million taels a lot?

This was not even the true fiscal-year budget shortfall of the Great Ming; it was merely the hole in the frontier payroll alone.

The truly vast and complex Great Ming fiscal-year budget had long since exceeded the accounting capacity of the present Ministry of Revenue.

There was not enough time, not enough manpower, and even less access to the account books.

Looking at the revenue side alone, the Ministry of Revenue's report this time was missing a large batch of items.

The Court of the Imperial Stud had 800,000 taels in horse-price silver every year.

The Court of Imperial Entertainments had 500,000 taels in commuted silver for fruits, vegetables, chickens, ducks, cattle, and sheep.

The Ministry of Works' Jieshen Treasury also had 800,000 taels in commuted silver for construction materials such as bamboo, timber, and tiles.

Even the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and the Court of Judicial Review — pure-water yamens with no revenue streams — each held their own separate tax revenues.

The south dispatched four million shi of tribute grain north every year, along with an incalculable quantity of in-kind taxes entering the capital.

Not to mention the 1.04 million taels of gold-flower silver in the privy purse, the 230,000 taels of commuted goods from the Beijing inner warehouses, and the hundred thousand or so from the imperial estates and imperial shops. And down at the local level, the silver levies, labor levies, lijia silver, and post-station silver — local fiscal revenues collected by every prefecture and county across the Great Ming — ranged from tens of thousands per county and, combined, amounted to at least twenty million taels.

The true annual revenue of the entire Great Ming, from top to bottom, was absolutely above forty million taels.

And what about expenditures?

Did the Great Ming's military payroll consist only of the Nine Frontiers and Liaodong?

The guard stations of the southeast had long since collapsed and likewise had to be propped up by recruited soldiers.

Did coastal provinces like Fujian, Guangdong, and Zhejiang not need to guard against sea raiders?

Did inland provinces like Jiangxi, Sichuan, and Huguang not need to guard against roving bandits and forestall tusi rebellions?

This item alone accounted for two million taels in military payroll.

It was just that this money did not pass through the Beijing Ministry of Revenue's books; it went through the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue and local civilian transport in the provinces instead.

Yes — the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue and the Beijing Ministry of Revenue were two separate institutions.

The Nanjing Ministry of Revenue controlled somewhat less grain and silver, but it still had an income of one million shi in kind and 300,000 taels of silver.

This was also why, in the past, the Great Ming's de facto finance minister was, rather than a Grand Secretary or the Minister of Revenue, the Emperor himself. Because only the Emperor had the authority to cut across all structures, bulldoze every obstacle, and mobilize funds from every source to fill the bottomless pit of the frontier payroll.

No money?

Raise taxes! Raise the land tax, raise the military colony tax, raise the commercial tax, raise the pawnshop tax!

Cut salaries! Cut the officials' exemption privileges, cut the officials' groom silver, cut the laborers' wages!

Extract money from the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue! Extract money from the Court of the Imperial Stud, the Court of Imperial Entertainments, and every other place from which money could be extracted!

Which of these measures, every single one of them, was not a blade swung directly at the rentier class?

And yet, the blade need not fall for the money to ring out.

This old and mighty empire, having reached the 259th year of its life, still possessed the nerve and the strength to swing the blade.

Even with a spiderweb-like fiscal structure, a completely collapsed official culture, and rentier classes clinging to every link in the chain, this dynasty still kept running.

All these maladies that were destroying the Great Ming were, at this very moment, also the foundation that kept the Great Ming running.

Together, with one mind, like blood vessels, even as they were bound by the dynasty, they ceaselessly sucked the blood of the common people from top to bottom. While sustaining themselves, they likewise sustained this old and mighty dynasty.

So, compared to governing this tangled mess of a state —

what did a mere 6.7 million tael frontier-payroll shortfall even count for?

If he had a choice, Zhu Youjian would have wanted to start in Shandong, start in Hainan, to begin again from scratch — even starting from zero would be better than taking over this wreck. If only.

He was the Emperor. At this moment he stood at the very center of this spiderweb, enjoying unparalleled power, yet he was also bound fast by this dynasty. Guo Yunhou naturally had no idea what the Emperor was thinking at this moment.

Even less could he have imagined that the Son of Heaven on the throne did not take this 6.7 million taels seriously at all.

The Minister of Revenue knitted his brows, heaved a deep sigh, cupped his hands, and added:

"Your Majesty, if a battle is to be fought at Ningyuan and Jinzhou in the first year of Yongchang, millet, beans, fodder, and other supplies must be prepared in advance, and rotational troops must be dispatched to repair the city walls. This portion of the expenditure also falls under the frontier payroll. However, we are still waiting for Supreme Commander Sun to list the troop and grain quotas, so it has not yet been included."

"Once this item is confirmed, the frontier-payroll shortfall may increase by another hundred thousand taels or so."

Zhu Youjian leaned back against the throne, his face expressionless.

And was it only this extra expenditure?

The arrears rate on every tax item was climbing higher and higher — would the first year of Yongchang be even higher?

The She-An Rebellion in Guizhou had dragged on for seven years; for now, the rebel forces had merely been pushed back from Sichuan into Guizhou.

The An clan of Guizhou — that was a tusi house that had put down roots there for over a hundred years.

This war, advancing from Sichuan into the enemy's home territory in Guizhou — would new complications arise?

Zhu Xieyuan was already sixty-two. Could he truly replicate the brilliance of a few years ago?

And what of the barbarians in the southeast and northwest — would they seize this moment to erupt all at once?

Zhu Youjian had raised all these questions in the small meetings, hoping to expand the budget shortfall projection further to ten million as a precautionary backstop. But Guo Yunhou did not dare accept it, and no one else in the entire Ministry of Revenue dared either.

Deal with it when it happens. 6.7 million was already a figure they had exhausted every ounce of strength to produce — what point was there in imagining so much more?

After Guo Yunhou finished speaking and saw that the Emperor made no response, he could only steel himself and continue his report.

Yes — what use was raising problems? One had to solve them!

If merely compiling a budget shortfall were the whole job, then this Minister of Revenue would be far too easy to hold.

"Your Majesty, a shortfall of such staggering magnitude is truly difficult to raise. The Ministry of Revenue has deliberated internally, and also convened repeated meetings with the supervising agencies, the various ministries, and the candidates for governor of the thirteen provinces, pooling all wisdom and effort. We have a set of proposals to submit."

He paused, his tone faltering slightly: "But time is pressing. Most of these proposals are still drafts, and some are merely the Ministry of Revenue's own ideas — they have not passed rigorous project review and can only serve as reference."

"The first broad category is what we call reducing expenditure."

"Among the troops and horses of the various garrisons across the realm, those falsely inflated and nonexistent are by no means few."

"In the Liaodong region, the troop quota inside and outside the passes was originally one hundred ten thousand, yet at some point it swelled to one hundred thirty thousand."

"Now that Ji-Liao is undergoing pay-and-roll rectification and has shifted to a primarily defensive posture, there is truly no need for such a quota."

"But this region is a critical pass and cannot be drastically altered. Therefore, your subjects only request a modest reduction of three hundred thousand taels in pay and provisions."

"A dispatch has already been sent to Supreme Commander Sun, and we are awaiting his reply."

"As for the Nine Border Garrisons, their accumulated abuses run even deeper. Though we cannot overhaul them all at once, we can begin with Xuanfu."

"This place has a paper strength of over eighty thousand troops, yet those actually present in the camps number barely over thirty thousand."

"The Ministry of Revenue can join with the Ministry of War to dispatch capable and resolute officials to go there, audit the registers, and reset the troop quota."

When Guo Yunhou reached this point, he paused briefly and looked toward the seated assembly.

Minister of War Huo Weihua immediately rose to his feet, cupped his hands, and took up the thread:

"Precisely so."

"After discussion within the Ministry of War, we also believe this matter is feasible."

"That Xuanfu has a paper strength of eighty thousand troops is not without cause."

"The first reason is that during the reign of the Shizong Emperor, Altan Khan's power was great. But now the Prince of Shunyi is docile, so it seems we may reduce the numbers somewhat."

"The second reason is that enemy incursions spread like wildfire, and our forces could only set up defenses everywhere and station troops in every fort. But now we have the telegraph!"

"When the enemy enters, we can swiftly concentrate our forces. Whether to relieve a siege or to mass troops and strike in the opposite direction — all becomes possible."

"That being so, it would be better to take those weak and superfluous troops — the product of defending everywhere and overstaffing everywhere — select and discharge them according to the registers, and retain only the elite."

"In this way, we can further cut the pay for false and inflated posts, while increasing the provisions for the elite. Battle strength will not diminish but rather increase."

"The Ministry of War has made a rough calculation: initially setting the fort-defense troops at twenty thousand and the patrol cavalry at twenty thousand should be sufficient."

"Then, take the pay thus saved and add a modest amount to the streamlined forces."

"In this way, we save several hundred thousand taels in pay and provisions each year, yet without harming the soldiers' morale or battle strength. It seems to serve both ends."

Zhu Youjian raised his eyes and swept a glance around, focusing on the expressions of several senior officials from the various ministries.

This was precisely one of the objectives he had aimed for by repeatedly sending the Ministry of Revenue's proposals back.

The Ministry of Revenue's shortfall was not a problem for the Ministry of Revenue alone to solve — it required the other ministries to join in as well.

By surfacing the immense fiscal pressure ahead of time, and using the Ministry of Revenue as the loose thread to pull, thereby prodding each ministry into reform — this was a key lever in his push for reform in the first year of Yongchang.

It was, in fact, the same logic as his using the theory of national collapse and the population argument to seize the moral high ground and secure the necessity for new policies and reforms. Of course, each department head had their own ideas, so this approach was not guaranteed to work.

Huo Weihua, for instance, clearly belonged to the more proactive sort.

Zhu Youjian nodded and said, "We can give it a try. First, draw up a proper plan, bring in all the relevant departments to deliberate carefully, and then follow the standard procedures."

Huo Weihua was overjoyed. He cupped his hands in salute and sat back down.

Guo Yunhou continued:

"Next is the matter of suspending repairs on granaries and workshops, discussed with the Ministry of Works."

"For the various granaries in the capital, the Ministry of Works conducts a major overhaul every three years, each costing fourteen thousand taels of silver; the Ministry of Revenue conducts minor annual repairs, each costing four thousand taels. Upon inspection, a major overhaul was just completed in the sixth year of Tianqi."

"The two ministries plan to suspend repairs for the next three years, allocating funds only for granaries reported to be on the verge of collapse."

"In this way, we may save twenty-five thousand taels of silver."

Zhu Youjian's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. He said nothing more and still waved it through, letting them go design the detailed plan. But in his heart, he found this matter utterly repugnant.

Twenty-five thousand taels — to bring such a sum before an imperial conference of this magnitude was to parade diligence by flaunting paltry toil.

To present such a minuscule saving was, in effect, to tell the Emperor and their colleagues that they had exhausted every conceivable measure, scraping even the legs of flies clean.

They discern the tip of an autumn hair yet fail to see the cartload of firewood before them.

The traditional civil officials of the Great Ming, so shrewd when calculating these trivial, penny-pinching accounts, remained utterly blind — or rather, dared not look — at the colossal fiscal boulders that were crushing the empire.

Guo Yunhou's scraping continued.

"We also examined the eight thousand seven hundred ninety-five pine planks and nine hundred ninety-seven square-edge logs delivered from various regions to the capital."

"Since the Tianqi era, due to the diversion and transshipment of tribute grain or disaster-related commutations, no more than seven-tenths of the grain has actually entered the capital."

"The pine planks and other timber were originally used for granary repairs. Now, it seems half could be commuted to silver. This would yield three thousand seven hundred fifty-nine taels of silver annually."

"There is also the standing practice of rotational troops for spring and autumn defense, drawn from guard stations in the Central Capital, Henan, Shandong, and other places."

"However, among these defense troops, genuine soldiers are few while hired substitutes are many. On paper, there are soldiers; when demanding grain, there are soldiers. In truth, the greater half are entirely fictitious. When they muster for drill, they know nothing of training and can only serve as cooks or as civilian laborers repairing walls."

"We have found that the original quota for the two-season rotational troops was over forty thousand men. It seems this could be halved."

"Half the men would report for duty as before. The other half would train in their native places. Their original expenses — home-settling silver, marching rations, and the like — once the exact amounts are verified, would be fully deducted and remitted to the ministry to supplement military pay."

"In this way, we would gain twelve thousand shi of grain and sixty-seven thousand taels of silver each year."

Guo Yunhou rambled on, laying out every project large and small.

Only then did he turn to the next section.

"The second broad category is to extract from the localities, shifting private gains into public coffers."

"The Governors of the thirteen provinces, having undergone the grand review by the Ministry of Personnel, have successively reported in full. The Ministry of Revenue convened with them to take stock of the various miscellaneous taxes in each locality, and the findings are presented as follows."

"The first item is levying taxes on temple lands." "Throughout the realm, famous mountains and Buddhist temples, wherever imperially founded, all have bestowed lands. Moreover, it is an old regulation that monastic lands may not exceed one hundred mu."

"Yet the powerful and influential, taking advantage of unworthy monks, secretly seize their property, perpetuating the name of imperial bestowal, and occupy lands extending to several thousand mu beyond the limit, collecting the harvest for themselves."

"Would it not be fitting to order local officials to audit the original acreage, levy taxes and collect rent as on commoners' fields, giving half to the temple and half to military provisions? Then all land under heaven would render tribute, and the blight of unproductive holdings would be forever eliminated."

"The second item concerns the tax exemptions for government students."

"The scholar stands first among the four classes of commoners and has always understood loyalty and righteousness. For years, they alone have enjoyed generous exemptions — the imperial grace has been abundant indeed. Should the scholar alone offer nothing in service during this time of peril?"

"A comprehensive survey of government students across the realm shows five to six hundred in a large department or county, and even two to three hundred in a small county. The annual revenue thus gained would amount to three hundred thousand taels, sufficient to cover the taxes and corvée of an entire province." "We may begin in the first year of the new reign to temporarily withhold this silver, restoring the exemptions once the Liaodong campaign is settled."

"Third, the commutation fees for clerks and runners."

"By old regulation, yamen runners were drawn from the farming population, serving in rotation."

"Those whose turn fell performed the service in person; those whose turn had not yet come paid 'rotation silver.'"

"This item has never been reported by successive officials — it has either been used for social entertaining or to enrich private pockets."

"Counting across all provinces, this item amounts to some tens of thousands of taels. It should be thoroughly swept up to assist in urgent needs."

"Fourth, the miscellaneous taxes of each locality."

"For example, the tax of the Nanjing Propaganda Bureau, the prefectural seal permits for seagoing vessels in Fujian and Guangdong, the north-south merchant inspection tax at Taiping Bridge in Nanxiong Prefecture, Guangdong, the fish tax in Zhejiang, the timber tax at Shacheng and the miscellaneous taxes at Haicheng in Fujian, the incense tax at Mount Tai, and so forth."

"In each case half may be deducted at discretion and forwarded to supply military pay. In this way another sixty thousand taels can be obtained."

"Fifth, the Nanjing horse relay subsidy…"

"Sixth, abolishing superfluous posts according to regulation…"

"Seventh, the yamen repair silver item…"

Guo Yunhou laid out item after item. Zhu Youjian, seated above, turned nothing away and nodded his approval for each proposal to be established.

And yet…

—These were traps.

Using fiscal-budget pressure to drive reform certainly has the advantage of irresistible momentum, but it also brings negative side effects.

For instance, the Ministry of Revenue, under Guo Yunhou's leadership, had clearly grown somewhat fanatical.

In all manner of scraping and raking, they often looked only at the money, without regard for political repercussions or for the broader balance of interests.

Take, for example, the item on exemptions for government students.

Clawing it back would yield three hundred thousand taels a year — only slightly less than the four hundred thousand taels from the officials' exemption item.

But the key point is this: in the reports sent up on the new policies in Northern Zhili, Leting County's use of the government students was actually a very good line of thinking, one worth borrowing and spreading. And in the local-custom surveys from various places, the majority of government students are in fact impoverished.

This poverty does not mean they cannot eat; it means they cannot attain the dignity befitting a man of letters. They even have to borrow silver from their fellow students for weddings, funerals, and marriages. To take away the benefits of a group at the very end of the blood vessels is, in truth, to plant a deeply destabilizing factor in the localities.

But Zhu Youjian did not care. He approved them all.

Because these proposals all had to go through project deliberation and layer-by-layer reporting and approval.

It was precisely in this process that he intended to observe who among the civil and military officials of the entire court possessed the broader vision, who had the economic ability, and who could better grasp the new-policy spirit of "cultivate oneself, regulate the family, govern the state, bring peace to all under Heaven — small steps at a quick run."

The new Finance Chancellor would have to demonstrate his ability amidst these trap-laden problems in order to stand out from the crowd.

It would not simply be a matter of the Emperor remembering whose name and then selecting that person for the post.

Bi Ziyan? Lu Xiangsheng? Yang Sichang?

Any of them could do, and none of them could do.

He would simply take his time and watch.

In any case, Guo Yunhou was definitely not going to do.

By the second year of Yongchang at the latest, he would have to retire with honor!

Guo Yunhou had no idea that his retirement age had already been imperially decreed. He simply continued speaking.

"The third major category consists of items for opening up revenue sources."

"First, imposing regular land tax on military colonies."

"Military colony lands in every region have mostly been rented out and sold off, or else falsely claimed."

"This is because the tax rates for military colonies are lighter than those for civilian fields."

"A general order can be issued to every Regional Military Commission, directing them to self-report their account books and to re-survey and re-determine the holdings."

"Military colonies shall be converted to civilian status and uniformly subjected to regular land tax."

"Second, the rich fields on the great lakes and the reed marshes of the lakes in each locality."

"The sandbars in every locality, as silt and mud accumulate, gradually become fertile soil."

"Each locality can be ordered to carry out strict cadastral surveys and to open and establish registers."

"Those willing to purchase shall pay the price into the government treasury; those liable for taxation shall be ordered to pay rent."

"In this way, tens of thousands in gold can be obtained each year."

"Third, the maritime vessel tax in the southeast."

"The profits from putting to sea in the southeast are enormous, especially in Guangdong and Fujian, where they are most abundant."

"If taxes can be levied on the merchant ships to Luzon and on the vessels at Xiangshan'Ao, and this profit enjoyed, then even several hundred thousand taels a year would not be an exaggeration."

"Fourth, increasing the customs quotas…"

"Fifth, increasing the salt levy…"

"Sixth, levying an additional incense-offering tax on temples…"

A conservative Great Ming Emperor, and radical Great Ming civil officials.

Truly so…

Listening to these proposals, Zhu Youjian was inwardly speechless. Guo Yunhou's methods still bore a thick traditional style: the central government formulates the policy, assigns it to the localities to carry out, and then strictly enforces it through performance evaluations. As for the results — they would suffer varying degrees of discount, or even prove utterly ineffective, depending on each local official's ability, attitude, and degree of incorruptibility. This was entirely different from the new-policy style of concentrating effort, working with focus, and driving a single great iron rod straight through to the bottom.

Nevertheless, Zhu Youjian still approved every single one for project establishment.

There were some proposals for which, even if he was not optimistic, he would not abolish them outright.

It happened that he was not yet entirely clear on the efficiency of the Great Ming's present normal bureaucratic system, and this was a perfect opportunity to observe it.

For instance, matters like cadastrally surveying the rich fields on the great lakes and the reed marshes of the lakes in each locality — the actual projects would be scattered across every province and locality, and would moreover require confronting the local strongmen. This was an extremely good observation target.

Moreover, even if such matters were done badly, the harm would be very small.

Zhu Youjian had come to see it clearly: the powerful families and the common people of this Great Ming truly possessed an exceedingly high degree of endurance.

Guo Yunhou finished laying out the revenue-opening items, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and then continued his exposition:

"The fourth major category consists of the new-policy projects."

"The first is the New Policies in Northern Zhili. This has been launched with great momentum, and both local governance and official administration are improving. If it truly achieves great order…"

He hesitated a moment, then gritted his teeth and continued: "…then could the Liaodong levy that was waived be reinstated? That would yield another four hundred thirty thousand taels." The moment he finished, Qi Xinxiao of the Northern Zhili New Policies group whipped his head around and glared at him with fury.

Clearly, this proposal had been discussed only within the Ministry of Revenue and had not been communicated to Qi Xinxiao.

Guo Yunhou lowered his head guiltily and hurried on.

"The second concerns the capital tax bureau."

"This subject has already coordinated on this matter with Li Zhizhong."

"The Ministry of Revenue will transfer the Zhang Family Tax Office for the capital region under the tax bureau's jurisdiction as well."

"Li Zhizhong will use this to consolidate commercial taxes in the capital region and raise next year's total commercial tax revenue for the capital region to five hundred thousand taels."

The assembled men could not hold back exclamations of shock and turned their heads one after another.

They saw Li Shiqi standing among the ranks, calm and untroubled, as if nothing were amiss.

For all the proposals Guo Yunhou had laid out earlier — cutting three hundred thousand from the Ji-Liao subsidy, reducing troop quotas in Xuanfu — they were all armchair strategies. The only man so far who had stepped forward boldly and promised a clear revenue target was Li Shiqi alone!

Moreover, the capital's commercial taxes had just been overhauled recently.

The commercial tax at the Nine Gates had only been raised to one hundred fifty thousand taels, and the various taxes within the city had only been raised to one hundred thousand.

To take two hundred fifty thousand taels and turn it into five hundred thousand in a single year — that was simply too outrageous!

How could a mere Zhang Family Tax Office be worth such a trade?

Yet Guo Yunhou pressed on.

"The third is grain purchasing for profit."

"In each locality, official salary grain, labor wages, and idle official silver held in storehouses may be used to buy rice when prices are low in summer and autumn, and release rice when prices are high in winter and spring. This is the old ever-normal granary method."

"In this way, several hundred thousand in profit may be gained each year."

"Furthermore, since the range of rice price fluctuations in the south is less than in the north, this could perhaps be tried first in Northern Zhili."

"The officials there are all recommended degree-holders and county magistrates, and they are also New Policies officials — truly incorruptible and capable."

"In this way, the state's revenues would be ample while commodity prices would not surge — it is most expedient."

Hearing this, Qi Xinxiao's brow furrowed tightly, but after glancing at the throne, he did not voice direct opposition as he had earlier.

"The fourth…" Guo Yunhou bent even lower.

"…concerns the repayment of old arrears on the Nine Frontiers."

"Your Majesty wishes to restore the dynasty's good faith and pay off all outstanding arrears and old debts — this is truly sage and enlightened."

"However, in the seventh year of Tianqi, there were one million taels in old arrears owed to the Nine Frontiers."

"It would seem… this sum could be folded into the ten million in old arrears."

"Thus, in the first year of Yongchang, two million would still be paid, but one million of that would go to the seventh year of Tianqi, and the remaining one million to prior years. In this way, the dynasty does not lose good faith, and the fiscal gap is reduced by another million…"

This proposal was essentially debt deferral.

Originally, Zhu Youjian was to repay two million for past years and one million for last year this year.

With this adjustment, one million was shaved off.

Before Guo Yunhou had even finished, Zhu Youjian gave his response:

"This proposal is denied."

"Speak of it no more."

Guo Yunhou nodded sheepishly and did not dare argue.

Cupping his hands, he said with a strained voice:

"Your Majesty, if all the above items are fully implemented,"

"by the Ministry of Revenue's rough estimate, we could save expenditures and increase tax revenues by somewhat over three million taels."

"But beyond this, even if the Ministry of Revenue exhausts every stratagem, there is no other method to be conceived."

"For the remaining shortfall of four million seven hundred thousand, there are but three courses of action."

"The first is to request transfers from the Court of the Imperial Stud, the Frugality Treasury, and other treasuries."

"The second is to request support from the privy purse."

"The third is to hope that the governors and grand coordinators soon to be dispatched to the thirteen provinces can press for the collection of local taxes and reduce arrears."

"After all… under our dynasty's system, if taxes could be collected in full, aside from the item of repaying two million in old arrears each year, there would fundamentally be no shortfall."

The atmosphere in the hall stirred with a murmur, and grew somewhat subtle.

Everyone understood the key point of Guo Yunhou's report.

First: I, old Guo, have exerted every last effort.

Second: the critical responsibility for this task should actually rest on the shoulders of the provincial governors and grand coordinators, not on me, old Guo. The men in the hall first cast their gazes toward the faces of the various gubernatorial candidates.

Then, immediately after, they stole glances toward the Emperor's face.

So — had the Emperor grasped this subtext?