Chapter 41: Suitable for a Betrothal GiftChapter 565: The Thief of the Mountains and Rivers

"The various misfortunes, I have seen with my own eyes and am deeply shocked. I also lament the ruthlessness of natural disasters."

After much deliberation, I believe the root cause of all these issues lies in the imbalance of the imperial treasury.

“Once a natural disaster strikes, the people have no grain to harvest. If the people lack grain, the court cannot collect taxes. On the other hand, it also needs to provide grain and money for disaster relief. This vicious cycle leads to an empty treasury and increasingly impoverished people. When the people are poor, the treasury becomes even emptier, which is the root cause of this problem.”

Therefore, I respectfully request Your Majesty to consider a matter of great importance: the need for both increased revenue and expenditure reduction.

When Dantai Jing said this, many officials perked up.

A truly great person of our time is a truly great person. When he first entered the court, on his very first day in court, he dared to address the enormous problem that everyone knew about but was powerless to solve.

"Mr. Li is right, since you've brought it up, surely there's a way to solve this" Li Chen asked with encouraging eyes and tone.

At this point, there was no other way for Dantai Jingzhi to retreat.

Faced with Li Chen's encouragement, he gritted his teeth, made up his mind, and said: "Your Highness, please allow me to organize a money-lending institution in cooperation with private merchants from the Ministry of Revenue. We will gather wealth from all over the world and save the people!"

All that talk beforehand was just to set the stage for this last sentence.

When those words left his mouth, the entire Taihe Palace erupted.

"This, this wouldn't be a disgrace to our culture!"

"This goes against our ancestral laws!"

Throughout history, has there ever been a dynasty that opened a money house

"Competing with the people for profit!"

"Commerce is the most lowly and despicable of all professions. How can the imperial court possibly engage in it"

A cacophony of voices arose, overwhelming everyone present. Officials from all factions found themselves utterly unable to accept what was happening.

Everyone stared in disbelief at the aged Dantai Jingzhi standing in the center of the Taihe Hall. They couldn't believe that such "treacherous" words had come from the mouth of a renowned sage.

It is evident that if anyone other than Dàntái Jìngzhī had proposed this motion today, they would have been drowned in the saliva of these civil and military officials, even if it were Lǐ Chén himself.

In the Taihe Palace, only a few people remained silent.

They stand firm like rocks amidst the raging storm.

Li Chen, Zhao Xuanji, Xu Changqing who also knew about it in advance, as well as Su Zhen'ting and Zhou Ping'an who always played the role of transparent people.

Even Guan Zhiwei, a trusted aide of the East Palace, was so angry that his whiskers trembled because he didn't know the inside story.

Silence!

A powerful chant, full of inner strength, emerged from the mouth of Sān Bǎo. The noisy sounds within the Taihe Hall finally subsided.

Although the conversation has ended, the ministers' inner resistance and discontent are still fermenting.

Li Chen stood on the imperial platform. With a placid expression, he spoke, "Since this matter has been raised, let's discuss it."

As soon as Li Chen finished speaking, Wang Tenghuan, who was still smarting from the humiliation, immediately jumped out and said with righteous indignation: "I object!"

Li Chen frowned slightly, regretting that he hadn't just kicked the old geezer to death directly earlier.

It's impressive that this old man is still so strong and healthy. He took a kick from himself and he's still bouncing around like nothing happened!

Wang Tenghuan also knew that Li Chen disliked him and went straight to the point: "Such behavior is likely to be pointed out by all the people, what is this It's a traitor to the country and society! A stench for ten thousand years!"

Swearing also has levels.

Wang Tenghuan's words, "this traitor who disrespects the country and its people," were like a slap in the face to Dantai Jingzhi.arranged for Nangong Shunchun and Li Chen to meet, and didn't know what the two of them talked about specifically. She just thought that their conversation wasn't pleasant.Shaking his head, Li Chen sa...