"Great emperor, I shall read today's schedule of the court," a fourth-rank official of the ministry of rites stood up and walked forward with the tablet.
Seeing no rejection, he started –
"Today are the reports of the Yueling Province in the northeast by the five ministries, followed by the report of the high judicial cases, the report on the empire's vassals, then there are reports on the rituals and soldiers, and finally are the matters of the scholars and new appointments."
"Start the court session," the emperor said casually with a wave of his hand.
The official bowed his head and walked back to his seat.
Another official stood up and walked forward, standing to the side and calling forth, "Great emperor, the Yueling Province had a natural disaster a month ago, which has now been solved.
Our Ministry of Lands has surveyed the land.
The earthquake has devastated the land but we have arranged plans to distribute food and have made a plan for reconstruction to complete the repairs in a month at most. The required force has been submitted to the Ministry of Households and the budget has been submitted to the Ministry of Revenue. The detailed plan will be done and put in order by the Ministry of Works and Ministry of Manufacturers."
Another official stood up, wearing a robe carrying the symbol of the ministry of households – a house with a plaque. He raised the silver tablet, bowing to the emperor, before saying, "Your majesty, the Ministry of Land has overstepped its boundaries by asking for corvee labour! The labour they're asking for is simply impossible to be found in the province and would have to be mobilised by the neighbouring provinces!"
Right then another official jumped up, carrying the golden pixiu – "Your majesty, the budget presented to us is impossible to complete, asking to mobilise neighbouring province's labour force is even more impossible! The Ministry of Land's budget plan makes no sense! We have calculated it and planned it again, and our numbers are completely different!"
"Oh?" the emperor suddenly spoke up, "Different? How so?"
Hearing a reply, the official up front was extremely delighted. He turned to the officials behind him about to ask for an official of his ministry to answer.
Right then Yinyun stood up before anyone else, raising the tablet and bowing to the emperor.
"You, tell me the numbers." The fourth-rank director called out.
"Your majesty, we at the ministry of revenue have calculated it many times.
According to the Ministry of Lands, the budget is that of at least 10.000 gold taels, at the cost of 10 silver taels monthly per worker, for 100.000 workers, which is extremely wrong!
This is the labour cost of a province that can stably provide food and other resources.
Currently, the Yueling Province can't even provide food for itself!
We will have to add at least 10% for the cost of transportation and loss in that time – adding an additional 10% since such a working force will definitely have to be supplemented by workers from outside, and another 10% for the additional tools required there, since the province likely can't provide everything. Another 10% should be added for the lack of full overview, and another 10% for any emergency situation.
This leads to the minimum budget being 15.000 gold taels, which is 50% higher than what the Ministry of Lands planned!
Based on the damage, we don't know how many 100.000 workers have to be mobilised – the cost will be simply too high to plan any corvee labour!" Yinyun said, looking at the director of the ministry of lands in shock.
Simple calculations in his mind allowed him to roughly calculate a number a lot higher than what that man did – it was as if the man simply took base numbers and made a budget plan just like that!
"This-" the man was stunned and looked over to Yinyun, but suddenly, the director of the ministry of finances stepped to the side, shielding Yinyun.
Instead he looked sternly at the official and complained, "Such is the real budget! Your majesty, even this budget, seemingly generous, is actually lacking and only includes the gold taels needed for the labour, yet it's already so much higher than the planned budget by the ministry of lands!
We will need to calculate the budget of everything, and by then, who knows whether everything will reach 300.000 or 500.000 gold taels!" the man called out a big number, instantly silencing the room.
Everyone became quiet, the new officials understanding the pressure of the Ministry of Revenue for the first time. They handled such big numbers, even a single mistake could cost the empire countless taels of gold – this opportunistic director of the Ministry of Lands clearly wanted to undermine the cost to quickly handle this issue, probably not even knowing how much would be required in the end!
Just as everyone was quiet, a third-rank official up front, an assistant minister of the Ministry of Lands, spoke up, "Your majesty, such plans and calculation take too long. We at the Ministry of Lands only calculate with basic numbers and go from there, acting first and calculating later. The people are suffering, please act fast!"
"Your majesty, please don't do this!" another assistant minister stood up, carrying the pixiu symbol – "If we act and calculate later, according to past experiences, the cost will rise by at least 20%!"
The emperor looked at the two, feeling a slight headache.
He turned to the small official who just sat down and asked him instead, "Young junior official, you tell me. Should we act now or calculate now?"
Yinyun was shocked at being asked – his mind turning countless times, the abacus flipping over!