Attending Court for Daily Rewards Chapter 34 - Discussion

After the officials cast their votes, it was the turn of assistant ministers and ministers.

Each assistant minister could take one pebble and cast their votes. Here, the vote was more pragmatic but also more balanced –

Not a single assistant minister used white pebbles, and the final result was a mix of red and black.

Since over half the assistant ministers were present, those that couldn’t attend didn’t have to specifically give their vote through letter or otherwise.

The ministers could each take three pebbles, and when it ca to that, the voting was more casual than of the two groups before – so didn’t have a particular favourite and simply cast one pebble of each colour, others liked one side more and voted two of that side while giving one to the other side...

In general, the voting was balanced between red and black, with three white pebbles also left over.

Finally, it was the Grand Minister’s vote, who had 14 votes...

He contemplated as he looked at it... in a certain way, sumr had been chosen because it was the middle of the year, after harvest and various natural disasters, it was the ti when many had requested an ergency council eting.

But if they pushed it back three months and discussed matters at their start and prepare further into the future, then they should be able to lessen the number of ergency council etings.

Thinking of this, he directly used all his 14 votes to take red pebbles and throw them into the bowl!

The previous situation favouring the black side because of the officials’ votes turned to fully favour the red side.

"The votes have been completed, we will discuss the plan for the next year now, and next year’s discussion will also be held in spring.

Regarding the course of action for our Ministry of Revenue, is there any special circumstance or does anyone propose a plan requiring grander funding?"

The discussion was more of a broad term, where the individual ministries could either warn others that they might require more funds in the future, or ask for more funds.

Any project in the dynasty will require governntal assistance if it reaches a certain stage. It is the local ministry that decides whether the project is worth it, and it will be their responsibility to promote it to other ministries.

Minister Ruan spoke up right away, "The northern spring has started rather poorly. There was only light rain and the seeds barely sprouted. We suspect this year will be a poor year. We will likely need grain..."

Having said that, he and the other provinces looked over to the three southern provinces. Compared to every other province that can only feed themselves, these three could probably feed three or four more provinces when it ca to it.

Usually, it would be the Qingling Province that would speak up first... but in this situation, no one asked them to.

"We have enough surplus grain to feed three prefectures for three months.

How about we send this part in late sumr, and after the harvest, we will send another three months worth of grain at the end of autumn?" the Yangling Province’s Minister spoke up. They had the third largest grain production, after the south-eastern province and the Qingling Province.

They didn’t yet know how the outco of the plague would be, so it would be better to keep the other province’s grain in case the plague will last for too long, leading to few people being able to farm safely.

"Then I have to thank the Yangling Province for their donation! I will tell the Buddhist monks and Taoist priests to pray for the Yangling Province!" Minister Ruan said in thanks.

Their north was more prone to disasters and famine, and they were also close to an aggressive state, so their province had more temples and monasteries for prayer.

Initially the magistrates were against it, but when the Taoists and Buddhists helped during the disasters and famines, they let go of the issue and allowed them to settle down.

Since then, it’s always been known that these two were firmly bound to the interests of the north. Their prayers were actually part of their profession, which stems from the Path of the Divine, a path quite different from that of scholars and martial artists.

Duan looked all around and saw that no one else spoke up, sighing a sigh of relief. He knew there was no other disaster, but seeing it now verified his information.

Just then, the minister of the western province coughed and looked at the ministers present, "As everyone knows, ahem, our western province is very well-versed in trade. The Great Ning Chamber of Comrce, led by the Imperial rchant Family, Lian, and four other great rchant families, have proposed a project –

Connect the Yellow River to the Yellow Sea to the east..."

"What?" Heling Province’s minister nearly jumped up, "You want to connect the Yellow River to the east? No, what do you an?"

"To be specific, we plan to create a large lake further to the west of the river, then create a great canal going from the west to the east..."

"Minister Zhong!" Duan Qiwang spoke up in shock, "To go from east to west, are you planning to pass through the imperial province?!"

Not only Minister Duan, but every minister looked at Minister Zhong in shock.

"Ahem, fellow ministers, as you know, my Xuanxi Province is in the west, directly next to Yangling.

But going through Yangling and the three southern provinces, then crossing Weihe of the east... would be a bit longer.

In addition, if we cross west to east but are only in the south, how will the northern provinces benefit from it? Won’t it simply make the southern provinces even wealthier?

In my opinion, it’s best to start from Xuanxi, then cross Xinhu, pass by Yueling, go through Huangdi and finally enter the river through Heling!"

Hearing the specific route, everyone was once more shocked.

Longer? Would this route be shorter than going through the south? No way!

This route is even longer! Clearly, its purpose is to pass through the Xinhu Province with many Martial Arts families who are quite wealthy, and then go through Yueling to take their precious crafts, before finally ending up in Heling, where many old and ancient families reside.

Just as they thought about it, they heard a very soft voice from the side, "Why not go through Xuanxi, then Xinhu, Maqian, Yueling, Fujian, Huoli and finally settle in Heling... and then go south through Weihe, Lanhua, Qingling, Nanshan, Yangling and ending back in Xuanxi?"

Everyone turned in shock to the quiet voice.

Their eyes turned from shock to confusion and finally settled in astonishnt -

Such a plan, such a grand plan going across the whole dynasty... wasn’t it the first to date?!