Chapter 1492: The Autocrat

"Director Kong, that would be underestimating us." Zhao Song smiled faintly. "All these years, by His Majesty's grace, the army has been running literacy programs. With His Majesty's benevolent care, everyone has worked tremendously hard! Over the past few years, many of our officers have already learned very well. They may not match those old career scholars at composing poetry and rhapsodies, but in astronomy, geography, medicine, and finance, we have talent in every field. I'd say we're no worse than any cabinet agency. If supervising mining operations required flowery prose and elegant essays, we might indeed be a little nervous — but when it comes to bookkeeping and tax calculation, that's our specialty! Moreover, even if one or two petty villains among us tried to play tricks, military law is even harsher than civil law. No matter who has the audacity, I, Zhao Song, will make sure they die without a burial place!"

After Kong Zhang, Zhao Song, and the others had spoken, the other civil and military officials attending the conference also voiced their opinions one after another. However, the civil officials basically echoed the Chancellor's views, while the military officers overwhelmingly expressed agreement with the Marshal's position, faintly forming a situation where the civil and military official blocs stood in opposition.

The Chancellor and the Finance Minister were the highest-ranking civil officials in attendance today, while Marshal Shi was the highest-ranking military officer present. The influence of these few men was bound to carry enormous weight among the civil and military officials arrayed on either side, and the clash of their opinions would naturally become a clash of opinion among the assembled ministers as a whole.

Through the matter of disposing of Japan's gold and silver mines, the undercurrent of internal conflict that had been flowing in secret within the new dynasty since its very founding was at last laid openly upon the court. And as the debate wore on, the gunpowder smell between the two factions grew thicker and thicker, their rhetoric sharper and sharper.

"Gentlemen, I understand that you wish to keep this source of profit in the hands of the cabinet, but we are all ministers of the court — we must not let private interest make us forget the affairs of state!" Marshal Shi Manqiang furrowed his brow deeply. "This matter should naturally be handled by the garrison troops — only then will it be properly settled!"

"Who is it, exactly, who lets private interest make him forget the affairs of state — we, or the Marshal?" The Marquis of Pingyuan sneered as he took up the thread. "Matters of finance and accounting have always been the cabinet's domain, and the livelihood of the realm is managed by the cabinet. Why is the Marshal so concerned about this source of profit? And in a matter that should be deliberated and decided by us, does he harbor intentions of disregarding the cabinet?"

"How could we disregard the cabinet? The cabinet is the greatest pillar of national governance — who would dare disregard it?" Marshal Shi Manqiang's face darkened. "We are merely seeking to serve His Majesty more effectively. The Finance Minister says we have private interests — what private interests do we have?"

Then, he suddenly rose to his feet and bowed deeply toward the Emperor. "Your Majesty, the cabinet ministers accuse your servant of harboring private interests. Your servant cannot refute this in a moment, and your servant knows that words alone can hardly make the matter clear. Therefore, your servant earnestly requests that the supervisory agency for the gold and silver mines stationed in Japan after the war be placed under Your Majesty's direct command, with the garrison troops responsible for its operation, and that all annual output and profits be handled entirely by Your Majesty's privy purse. I beseech Your Majesty to render the imperial decision!!"

The new dynasty had not been established for many years. Although many institutions had been significantly reformed according to the Emperor's preferences and practical needs, the energy of those above and below was limited after all, so many systems were still hastily carried over. The state's accounts and finances were one such case.

In the former Ming era, the court treasury and the emperor's private assets were kept separate. The imperial estates scattered across the land and the privy purse within the palace were managed by dedicated palace agencies. Court expenditures could not be drawn from them and could only be borrowed when necessary. The new dynasty had also carried on this system. However, because the former Ming imperial clan's private estates and most other properties had been confiscated and placed under the management of cabinet agencies such as the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce — and because the Yunshan Firm was also managed by the cabinet — the scale of the new dynasty's palace privy purse was far smaller than that of the former Ming, and the Emperor's income was also considerably less than that of the previous dynasty.

Fortunately, the Emperor and the imperial consorts were not given to extravagance, and the scale of the palace eunuchs and agencies had been greatly reduced. Palace expenditures had been compressed to an extremely low level compared to the previous dynasty, so the privy purse could just barely cover its needs, and occasionally there was even a small surplus.

Precisely because of this situation in the new dynasty, when the Chancellor and the Finance Minister heard Marshal Shi Manqiang's words, their faces abruptly changed color, and for a moment they grew somewhat alarmed.

The new dynasty's imperial household income was not high, but if Marshal Shi Manqiang's proposal were accepted — placing the Japanese gold and silver mining operations under a directly subordinate imperial agency and entering them into the palace accounts — the situation would be completely different. Given the richness of Japan's gold and silver deposits, the imperial treasury's income would then become an enormous sum, and the kind of privy purse depletion seen in the late Ming years would never occur again.

Thus, they could well imagine the appeal the Marshal's proposal would hold for the Emperor. If these gold and silver mining operations could all be taken into his hands, they would be far more tempting than a detached palace.

If they truly were to fall into the Emperor's hands, they would not be strongly opposed to it — after all, the Emperor was sage and enlightened, and when the cabinet ran short of funds he would surely allocate money from the privy purse. But in their view, Marshal Shi's proposal was driven by private interest to begin with; dragging in the name of offering them to the Emperor was merely a pretext to raise a grand banner. The Emperor had always favored the military and was extremely lenient toward it. If the garrison troops were put in charge of supervising the mining operations, then under the nominal ownership of the Emperor, wouldn't the military still achieve its goal in the end?

And moreover, in the midst of a court debate, to actually drag the Emperor in as a banner… this was truly hard to accept.

"Marshal Shi's words are not without reason. We are all subjects of the Great Han, and what we strive for tirelessly is the Great Han, is His Majesty's realm! What is conquered is naturally conquered for His Majesty, and there is nothing wrong with offering it directly to His Majesty." The Chancellor, his face set, agreed with the other side's point. "However, as we have said before, having the garrison troops responsible for supervising the mining operations is fraught with drawbacks and would be truly difficult to implement. It would be better for the cabinet to establish a new agency, independent of other departments, to share offices with His Majesty's treasury, and then have this new department supervise the mining operations. In this way, there would be dedicated personnel managing affairs for His Majesty, which would be the most foolproof approach. The cabinet's heart is wholly sincere, all for the sake of making His Majesty's realm more secure. I beseech Your Majesty to consider the words your servant has previously offered!"

After he finished speaking, he, like the Marshal, suddenly rose to his feet and then bowed his body deeply. "I beseech Your Majesty to render the imperial decision!"

When the two highest-ranking civil and military officials present today both rose at the same time to request the imperial decision, the conference hall, which had grown somewhat noisy from everyone's heated speeches, instantly fell into silence. None of the assembled ministers spoke anymore. Some hung their heads in silence, while others furtively cast their gazes toward the Emperor.

The clash of opinion between the civil and military sides had never been as stark and sharp as it was today. The two sides had argued for a long time without reaching any consensus, and so they simultaneously made the decision to request the imperial decision.

The imperial decision — that was the final verdict.

And the Crown Prince, watching these scenes of court theater play out one after another, found himself somewhat dazzled and entranced. He opened his eyes wide, his gaze roaming everywhere, trying to discern some pattern within it all that he could grasp.

The disputes among the assembled ministers seemed to him extremely fierce, but still young as he was, he could not understand why the two sides had suddenly erupted into such intense conflict. To him, both sides were loudly proclaiming their loyalty to the sovereign, and they were all great and loyal ministers. He did not understand why, if their thinking was the same, the two sides would still quarrel like this.

At the same time, he also did not understand why his imperial father had remained silent the entire time, allowing these civil and military ministers to argue among themselves, heedless of the dignity and decorum of court officials.

Although he was still young, he had already received long periods of instruction from many teachers, because he was the Crown Prince, the man who would one day rule the realm. These teachers, though they disagreed on many points — some leaning toward Confucianism, some toward the study of practical crafts, and they often taught him conflicting viewpoints — were nearly unanimous on one point. They all believed that the court must not fall into political strife. Once ministers engaged in political strife, they would form factions, and then judge people rather than issues. In the end, the court would spiral out of control, the assembled ministers would be consumed with attacking one another, matters of state would all be cast aside, and the nation's fortunes would decline into ruin.

These teachers had all come over from the former Ming. What they had seen and heard constantly was the bloody, stormy court struggles between the Donglin faction and other ministerial cliques in the late Ming years. Some of them had even been eyewitnesses to those struggles. Naturally, after the Great Ming fell, they were bound to regard factional strife among the ministers as one of the greatest lessons of the dynasty's destruction and impart it to the Crown Prince.

And so, the Crown Prince could not quite understand why, even when the argument had reached the pitch it just had, his imperial father still remained silent. By now, it was obvious that the quarrel had blown the roof off — the civil and military ministers had already formed their respective opposing blocs!

When the ministers' quarrel was at its most intense, he completely forgot the fact that he was only attending today as an observer. Several times he wanted to speak out, but each time he held back at the last moment. He knew that he was only the Crown Prince and could not speak recklessly at such a state affairs conference.

Yet, anxious as he was in his heart, his imperial father, seated upright on the imperial throne, had remained utterly motionless the entire time. This truly left him deeply perplexed.

The Emperor had still not rendered a decision. The assembled ministers were waiting for the Emperor's imperial decision, and the Crown Prince was also waiting for the Emperor to deliver a result. This strange silence filled everyone's heart with a certain unease and trepidation.

"I beseech His Majesty to render the imperial decision!" The Chancellor once again bowed deeply. He feared that the Emperor, out of old brotherly sentiment, might forget the remonstrations he had made earlier, so he could not help but urge the Emperor once more to make a decision and strike down the arrogance of these military strongmen.

He believed the Emperor would heed his advice. After all, during their private audience earlier, he had already explained many principles thoroughly — could the Emperor, sage and enlightened as he was, fail to take them in? Besides, he had already agreed to let the Emperor's privy treasury privately hold the supervisory authority over those gold and silver mines, with only the cabinet responsible for execution. The detached palace, the supervisory authority — all had already been delivered into the Emperor's hands. What reason did he have not to heed the cabinet's suggestion?

Thank you all for your subscriptions, monthly tickets, and tips — thank you, everyone.