Chapter 151 Corruption is common
In fact, it was not just the Zongzheng Temple. Corruption was rampant in the Daqian Dynasty. Among the “Five Ministries”, “Six Departments” and “Nine Temples”, which one dared to say that he was incorruptible?

If we trace the source of this trend, we can blame it on Emperor Tianwu.

Since Emperor Tianwu took office, the salaries of these officials have been cut several times. Except for the Astronomical Observatory, the salaries of officials in other departments have been reduced again and again.

For example, Zhao Qian’an, a sixth-rank temple secretary, received only 20,000 coins and 100 dan of rice a year.

With this salary, one cannot even live a good life. Even if one rents a house, they can only do so in the outermost part of the city, and that is just a small single-room house that is barely enough for a family of four or five people to live in.

As for what official respectability is? What is socializing with colleagues?
Don’t even think about it.

So in this situation, if officials don’t think of ways to “generate income”, how can they survive?

This is the root of the problem. The saying “if the upper beam is crooked, the lower beams will be crooked” is exactly like this.

The amount of corruption committed by British officials is actually not that much.

But the Astronomical Observatory is coming to investigate, how can he not be scared?

If it wasn’t in front of Zhao Qian’an, he would probably have trembled and sat down on the ground.

Zhao Qi’an pretended to be in deep thought, then said, “Speaking of this matter, it was also caused by my staff and the Astronomical Observatory investigating the imperial fields. If the Duke trusts me, why not leave these matters to me?”

Ji Liyuan’s eyes lit up and he asked, “What do you mean, my dear nephew…”

Zhao Qi’an said straightforwardly: “Our ministry is short of staff, so it is normal if there are some mistakes in the account. If there is any shortfall, I will make up for it with my own money.”

Ji Liyuan was overjoyed.

He asked Zhao Qian to talk alone, and this was what he had in mind, but he just couldn’t ask the God of Wealth for help at the moment.

But he didn’t expect that Zhao Qian’an would take the initiative to bring up this matter before he even opened his mouth to ask, which made him feel a little embarrassed.

Ji Liyuan pretended to evade the question, “This is not good. How can I let my nephew spend all the money? After all, this is not a small amount…”

Zhao Qi’an waved his hand nonchalantly and said, “After all, this matter was caused by my staff, so it is reasonable. Since the Xuntianjian wants the cooperation of the Zongzheng Temple, I will contact them. You don’t need to trouble the Duke. If anything goes wrong, I will take the responsibility. How about it?”

Ji Liyuan seemed to be afraid that Zhao Qi’an would go back on his word: “Then it’s a deal. If there is anything I need you to do, just ask. When the imperial inspection comes next year, I will personally praise your achievements!”

He felt as if he had thrown away a hot potato and felt relieved.

But he never thought that this “hot potato” was exactly what Zhao Qian’an wanted.

Zhao Qi’an smiled slightly and said, “Then I would like to thank you, Lord.”

……

After having private and public talks with the British, Zhao Qi’an returned to his desk in the duty room.

Other people’s desks were piled with official documents.

But Zhao Qi’an’s desk was clean.

Gou Xiangxi is a capable man and now works as his aide. He knows that his boss would not care about the private affairs of the royal relatives, so he took over all the trivial matters and only gave some important matters to Zhao Qi’an for his comments.

This meant that Zhao Qian’an had little work to do during his rare visit to the ministry.

But he was not bored, because the news that the Astronomical Observatory had gone to the Gao family to arrest someone in a high-profile manner had spread, and his colleagues were distracted from their work and kept discussing the matter among themselves.

Zhao Qi’an had known all these things for a long time and did not participate in the conversations among his colleagues, but listening to other people’s gossip and random speculations was quite interesting and enough to kill time.

It was not until the afternoon when Gou Xiangxi returned from the Astronomical Observatory and found Zhao Qi’an in the hall. “Boss.”

“Go out and talk.”

Zhao Qi’an did not stay in the ministry for long. After saying goodbye to several colleagues around him, he left the ministry with Gou Xiangxi.

After leaving the main gate of Zongzheng Temple, he asked Gou Xiangxi beside him: “How is the observation going?”

Although he knew it in his heart, he still cared about it first.

Gou Xiangxi replied, “After the Fourth Young Master was sent to the upper level of the Patrol Observatory by General Qi, he never came down again, so I am not so clear about it at the moment.”

Zhao Qi’an nodded and said nothing more.

In his mind, he already knew that the Imperial Master had already treated Zhao Guanxiang, but he was worried that the Imperial Master’s method of healing Yuantai Daoji’s injuries might have some side effects.

But there is no point in worrying. We can only wait and see after Zhao Guanxiang comes back.

Zhao Qian’an suppressed his emotions and told Gou Xiangxi about his conversation with the Duke of England in the afternoon.

Gou Xiangxi was delighted when he heard this: “This is a good thing. Now that the Gao family has gradually given up those royal fields, they are even more worried about not finding a reason to take over these fields. The old Duke is delivering them to us.”

Zhao Qi’an said: “The matter of the imperial land is not urgent for the time being. But the land over at Baiyun Temple can be redeemed first.”

The entire Baiyun Temple was wiped out by the Salvation Sect. Now, the thousand-year-old Taoist temple, which was once very popular, has been closed. The mountains, forests and fields under the Baiyun Temple have no one to inherit, and will be taken back by the court.

Logically speaking, this matter was under the jurisdiction of the Chongxuan Office under the Zongzheng Temple, after all, the Chongxuan Office was responsible for matters related to religion. But the Ministry of Revenue had set its sights on the Baiyun Temple, so how could it let the Chongxuan Office take over the whole thing?
The Chongxuan Office was unwilling to sit idly by. In the past two days, the “Chongxuan Order” there had written a series of letters asking for help to the Zongzheng Temple, hoping that Duke Yingguo could uphold justice.

After all, the superior government office of Chongxuan Office is Zongzheng Temple. It is normal for the subordinate government offices to seek help from the superior government office since they cannot make decisions on matters.

Although the old Duke looks timid and fearful, when it comes to the benefits of real money, he is like a fighting cock and is not afraid of anyone.

He usually did not attend the morning court meetings, but these days he got up early every day to attend. As soon as he attended the court, he started a verbal battle with the Ministry of Revenue, criticizing a group of people in the Ministry of Revenue, as if he was “debating with a group of scholars.”

In addition, the Zongzheng Temple was in the right in this matter, so the situation was stuck for a while.

But in Zhao Qi’an’s opinion, both of them were working in vain.

Baiyun Temple was taken back by the imperial court on the premise that it had no owner.

But Baiyun Temple was not completely wiped out. At least the direct disciples of the temple master Cang Baizi were still alive and well.

Even the leader’s token fell into Zhao Qi’an’s hands after Cang Baizi’s death.

Zhao Qi’an had been eyeing the mountains, forests and fields of Baiyun Temple for a long time, and had always wanted to expand the health hall and move it to the outskirts of Beijing.

However, most of the land and farms outside Beijing were imperial farms, so the timing was not right before.

At the very least, we should kick the Gao family out first.

Now that the time is almost ripe, Zhao Qian’an began to prepare to reclaim the mountains, forests and farmland of Baiyun Temple and relocate the Health Preservation Hall.

In addition, it is time to… take back the imperial land that belongs to the princess’s mansion.

After Zhao Qi’an explained all these things, Gou Xiangxi mentioned something else:

“Oh, right, Boss. We have found out some clues about the identities of the two women who were rescued from solitary confinement in Yifeng Royal Manor.”

(End of this chapter)