Empress: Your Majesty, please respect yourself, I don't want to be promoted

Ziji City, Shenghe Hall.

After six days of preparation, the financial meeting was finally held successfully.

At this time, the main officials of the three pavilions, six departments and nine temples gathered together, sitting on both sides of the hall. The empress sat high on the dragon chair, looking through the accounts in front of her and listening to Wu Yue's report below.

"Your Majesty, the total income of the imperial court last year was: 120 trillion shi of rice, 20 million shi of wheat...19,723,721 taels of tax and silver, which was a huge increase compared to the previous year. Among them, the largest increase was in the Ministry of Industry's project revenue and commercial taxes, especially commercial taxes, which now exceeded agricultural taxes and accounted for 50% of the court's total revenue. In addition, in terms of expenditure, the total expenditure of the court was equivalent to a total of 2,400 silver dollars. Ten thousand taels, of which the Ministry of Personnel spent more than two million taels, the Ministry of War spent more than six million taels, and the Ministry of Punishment spent more than 700,000 taels..."

Wu Yue held the memorial prepared in advance and said with great joy.

An old face was full of excitement.

You must know that when he first took office as the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue last year, the entire Ministry of Revenue was in a mess. Almost all the accounts that he could see were in deficit. The holes created by the Queen Mother Zhao in the six years of being in power were simply shocking. After that, although Gu Simiao tried to turn the tide , recovered countless accounts, and barely filled the hole, but Daxia's finances were still on the verge of collapse.

But now, in just one year, the imperial court has not only wiped out all the fiscal deficit, but also has a balance of nearly nine million taels of silver if all is converted into silver.

Even in the late Emperor's ZTE era, the imperial court had never been so well off!

Although anyone with an eye can see that Daxia was able to completely change its financial situation within a year, Lu Chen, the Secretary of the Tiangong Department and the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, were the biggest contributors. It was he who presided over and implemented the patent law and improved the status of the Way of Objects. , drastic changes to the Ministry of Industry and other new policies have created the current situation.

But it’s not like he, the Minister of Household Affairs, has done nothing. After getting a taste of the benefits from the cement research and development project, he set his sights on Tiangong Division uncontrollably. As long as it was a new project of Tiangong Division, he would participate if he had the opportunity. , he will show great courage, fight against everyone's opinions, and spend money crazily.

Under the leadership of Lu Chen, the Tiangong Division continued to develop various technologies, such as high-yielding rice, postpartum care for livestock, and highly practical technologies and theories such as raising pigs to increase meat yield, which brought massive wealth to the imperial court. It also directly and indirectly achieved the success of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

Listening to Wu Yue's continuous account of the achievements of the imperial court last year, everyone had mixed reactions.

Lu Chen, with the title of Shangshu, ranked first on one side, sitting opposite Yan Song. The look on his face was extremely indifferent, as if everything Wu Yue told had nothing to do with him.

Yan Song's face was expressionless, and as always he could not see his emotions or anger, hiding all his thoughts deep in the city.

There was a faint smile on Xiao Yun's beautiful face, especially when Wu Yue mentioned Lu Chen, her charming eyes quietly curved, but she was the one who listened most seriously among the three giants in the court today. one of.

Others, such as Liu Dongyang and Fang Ping, caressed their long beards from time to time and looked very relaxed, but Qian Yiqian, the Minister of Punishment, Zhao Bingliang, the Minister of Dali Temple, etc. had tense and meticulous faces, looking a bit dull.

"In terms of tax revenue, compared with the previous year, almost all regions have increased to varying degrees. Except for the Gyeonggi region, Suizhou, Yuzhou, Jingxiang Province, and Huangzhou are the most..."

Having said this, Wu Yue suddenly turned his head and looked at Lu Chen, who had an extremely indifferent expression on his side, and then said with emotion:

"Lord Lu is really an unparalleled national scholar and a talented king. The acting county magistrate of Sui and Yu states was originally just a warrior. He only followed Lord Lu for a month, but he was able to manage the counties in the two states in order and make the people live and work in peace and contentment. Bandits rushed to be good, and in just one year, the tax revenue of the two states increased nearly 30 times, which was comparable to the total tax revenue of a province. It is unimaginable that such great achievements were made by warriors who were not knowledgeable in classics. "

After a pause, a look of admiration gradually appeared on his face.

"Just being a named disciple is so impressive. You can imagine how amazing and talented Mr. Lu is."

Hearing this, Lu Chen couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

Damn, he originally asked Fang Yu and others to serve as acting county magistrates, let them do it freely, and supported them in the court. To a large extent, he just wanted to get more blame from them so that they could be punished through joint and several liability. Being demoted or something like that, I didn't expect these birdmen to be more powerful than the other.

Tax revenue doubled dozens of times?

Is this something that humans can do?

He just gave a stage...

Give them some sunshine and they'll flood, right?

What if the promised warrior has no political talent?

As soon as he thought about it, he couldn't help but feel a dull pain in his back.

When Jiang Chengwan heard Wu Yue praising Lu Chen so much, a strange color finally appeared in Jiang Chengwan's eyes. He was no longer as bored as before, and the way he looked at Wu Yue became much more pleasing to the eye.

Then she looked away and looked at Lu Chen.

"Wu Aiqing is right. If it weren't for Lu Qing, the Sui and Yu states would not be in such a good situation even if they were not completely ruined. Lu Qing has made great contributions to the dynasty. I have to think carefully about how to reward you. …”

When Lu Chen heard this, he couldn't help but get excited.

reward?

Gan! This girl wants to give me a promotion again?

Damn it, I'm already a second-rank minister, why should I be given the title of first-rank junior master?

Thinking of this, he came back to his senses instantly, and then hurriedly said:

"Your Majesty, thank you. Wei Chen just did what he should do. The achievements of the two states are all due to Fang Yu and others. Wei Chen broke the rules and asked them to take up their posts in the counties. It was just There is really no one available, so the helpless act of treating a dead horse as a living horse doctor is not what Wu Shangshu said, and Wei Chen didn't teach them anything."

"Their achievements are all due to their own ability. In other words, they are already extremely good. The humble minister just pushed them. How dare they take credit? If your Majesty wants to reward them, just reward Fang Yu and the others. I really deserve this."

As usual, whenever promotions were involved, Lu Chen refused in every possible way and placed all the credit on Fang Yu and the others, never mentioning that he had endured countless pressures to push them into the position of acting county magistrate, using his holy family members and power to protect them and unconditionally support all their initiatives.

If he hadn't blocked out all doubts and censures and threatened that no matter what went wrong, he would bear all the consequences and responsibilities, how could Fang Yu and others who were born in Xuanji Guard have the opportunity to do anything? Have such outstanding political achievements?

Seeing that Lu Chen wanted to draw a clear line between Sui and Yu states and was afraid of taking away the credit from Fang Yu and others, Jiang Chengwan and Fu Hua's expressions became even more expressions.

In his mind, the scene of Lu Chen standing up for Fang Yu and others in the court hall a year ago in front of all the civil and military officials came to mind.

How determined, unquestionable, and courageous he was at that time.

Is there anyone in this world who is more worthy of following than him?

When Lu Chen finished speaking, Jiang Chengwan couldn't help but sigh.

"When something goes wrong, you can't wait to stand up and take responsibility, but when you get results, you try your best to push it aside. The responsibility is yours, but the credit belongs to others. Lu Qing, what do you want me to say about you?"

As soon as these words came out, Lu Chen's expression suddenly froze.

Fuck, have I gained this girl's favor again?