After the onset of autumn, the court entered a season of turmoil.
First, the barbarians raided the border city, and then a major corruption case was exposed in Guangxi. The barbarian raid on the border city was not unexpected, as they cause such disturbances every year. It would only be unexpected if they didnt make a scene. However, the Guangxi corruption case attracted the attention of all the people in the court, because it involved dozens of officials from those at the top to those at the bottom. It was like a piece of rotten wood that could not be saved.
Emperor Hongjing was furious and ordered the arrest of Chief Magistrate Li Heming and sent two imperial envoys to investigate the case. With these two major events, discussions of the previous issue, which was deciding who to appoint as the next crown prince, were naturally put on hold. Ti flew by, and it was soon the end of the year.
At the end of the year, due to preparations for the New Year, it was a very busy ti. It was at this ti that an incident occurred involving Qing Wang Manor.
The incident was uncovered by Xiaobao.
The incident was that the Ministry of Internal Affairs had been embezzling items that belonged to Qing Wang Manor. According to the regulations of the Dagan Dynasty, a qinwangs salary included ten thousand taels of silver, ten thousand stones of rice, forty bolts of brocade, three hundred bolts of linen, one hundred bolts of gauze, five hundred bolts of silk, one thousand bolts of winter and sumr cloth, and so on. Even horse fodder was subsidized. In the past, when they were still living in their fiefs, these things were all transported at once. But ever since they moved to the capital and the Ministry of Internal Affairs took charge, everything was divided into four parts and so were sent out every quarter.
These things may seem like a lot, but because a princes household had many people, they often couldnt make ends et. Therefore, most of the princes and mbers of nobility had their own private sources of inco, and occasionally they received gifts from their retainers.
Now that Qing Wang was exiled to guard the imperial mausoleum due to the emperors disfavour, and Consort Qing avoided going to the palace due to her status, the number of appearances from mbers of Qing Wang Manor was greatly reduced. Only the soft persimmons were pinched and in this case, Qing Wang Manor was the soft persimmon.
Qing Wang Manor has not yet received their sumr and autumn allowances, which should have been delivered months ago.
In fact, this kind of embezzlent was not uncommon. Back when Jin Wang and the others were still young, things like this happened often. The eunuchs in charge of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have no children, so they are only interested in money and power. The annual allowance for the princes was regulated, but how to deliver it, when to deliver it, and what to deliver were all up for interpretation.
If you were unsatisfied, but you had power, they would send you away with a few words of pleasantry, and a good face. Within three days, the goods would arrive. If you didnt have power, the eunuchs would simply say the Ministry of Interior Affairs was too busy and ask you to co back later before sending you away.
As for how long you would have to wait, it depended on their mood.
Consort Qing did send people to urge them, but the Ministry of Interior Affairs told them to wait. However, the monthly wages of the many guards and servants in the manor had already been delayed for several months. It was also the ti when the season changed and the clothes for the new season had not been made yet. They had managed to get through the sumr and autumn, but the winters in the capital were very cold. It was unreasonable not to make winter clothes, especially since the Lunar New Year was coming up soon.
Consort Qing had taken money from her private treasury to subsidize the costs several tis. Qing Wang, who had no maternal relatives and a poor family background, did not have a wealthy fiefdom. Consort Qing, who ca from a family of low-ranking officials, also did not have a rich dowry. The money she took out was just a drop in the bucket compared to the expenses needed to run a princes manor.
These days, Consort Qing was so worried that her hair had turned almost completely white.
She wanted to go to Jin Wang for help, but she couldnt bring herself to face him.
Qing Wang had always relied on Jin Wang, so Consort Qing felt very guilty when Qing Wang said those words. But she had no courage to explain on behalf of Qing Wang. After Qing Wang got into trouble, Jin Wang helped with a lot of matters both inside and outside of Qing Wang Manor. He had even taken care of Yan Geers entry into the imperial study.
Although this didnt seem like a big matter, it was what Qing Wang Manor desperately needed. It was unknown if Qing Wang would return and even if he did, Yan Geer would already be much older by then. There was also no guarantee that Jin Wang would still acknowledge him as his nephew. Consort Qing understood that they couldnt rely on Jin Wang to support them, so she tried to avoid asking for help when possible.
These matters inevitably affected the children. Zhuzhu was still unaware, but Yan Geer noticed and kept it in mind. After seeing Yan Geers mood not being right for several days, Xiaobao couldnt help but ask him what was wrong.
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