Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 559 Praise
Wang Bingchen's face was gloomy as he reached out to the Minister of Revenue to ask for the precedents to be reviewed.

After quickly reading through the note in his hand, Wang Bingchen immediately fell into deep thought.

Xie Yuyan's regulations and proposals were not written casually. It is clear that she supported the new law, but not completely. Although she did not explicitly state it in her proposals, she was questioning the new law.

For example, the Market Regulation Law allowed merchants to purchase goods on credit, but Xie Yuyan required that the guilds jointly verify the purchases before any loans could be issued. This was to prevent market regulation officials from forcibly imposing credit purchases on merchants.

"The checklist was also mentioned above."

Upon hearing this voice, Wang Bingchen looked up and saw that the Minister of Revenue had somehow approached him, his large head hanging in front of him.

The Inspection and Treasury was an office responsible for inventorying and managing the property of orphans, property of families without heirs, ownerless goods, disputed property, and confiscated goods. Its main function was to safeguard the property of deceased orphans and periodically allocate funds from it to provide for their livelihood. Once the orphans reached adulthood, the Inspection and Treasury would return any remaining property to them.

Therefore, the treasury contained a large amount of silver and valuables.

Instead of letting those valuables sit idle, it's better to lend them out.

This not only solved the problem of insufficient funds for the market administration, but also provided sufficient funds for lending, allowing many merchants to profit from it.

Furthermore, if merchants have goods that can be used as collateral for the inspection and storage of goods, the Market and Commerce Bureau will not need to perform its supervisory duties. If the merchants cannot repay their debts, the goods will naturally belong to the imperial court.

Moreover, the profits earned from the inspection and verification warehouse can support more elderly people living alone, which is beneficial to the people of Daliang.

The Minister of Revenue said, "This..."

Before he could finish speaking, Wang Bingchen finally lost his temper and said, "I've already said this has nothing to do with Hechun. How could Hechun know about these things? Do you think these proposals are beneficial to the Market and Trade Bureau?"

The ears of the market administration official almost stood up.

Wang Bingchen said, "This precisely restricts market transactions."

“If the Inspection Treasury is allowed to lend money, it will take away the authority of the Market and Commerce Bureau. We cannot just listen to the Market and Commerce Bureau’s opinions.”

"The city's financial affairs department wants to lend out all the assets in its possession so that officials can achieve political achievements. On the other hand, the inspectorate first wants to protect the assets in its treasury, so it will not easily agree to lend money before it has obtained sufficient collateral."

"In this way, the two government offices will check and balance each other."

"As guilds are involved, they also have the responsibility of verification and guarantee, which makes their position even more important."

The official was dumbfounded. He thought that having a source of money was a good thing for the market administration, but he did not expect this deeper layer.

"Then... what should we do?" the official stammered.

The Minister of Revenue was somewhat convinced that these memorials were indeed written by Xie Xinglao. Just as Prime Minister Wang had said, Wang Yan was busy in the Ministry of Justice, and sorting out these memorials could not be done in a short time.

This is yet another clever person.

Wang Bingchen said, "This statement by Chen... makes some sense." He couldn't help but think of the old party's questioning and impeachment of the new laws in the court. Many of these were because the officials who implemented the new laws were eager for quick success and instant benefits, which harmed the people and gave the new laws a bad reputation.

How can we restrain officials who implement new laws? This is clearly a good method.

The Minister of Revenue said, "If the Imperial Treasury can lend money, many government offices can also send their public funds to the Imperial Treasury to lend and earn interest. In this way, they will not blindly oppose the new law..."

Wang Bingchen had just thought of these things.

The Minister of Revenue said, "Then let's discuss it with the Kaifeng Prefecture. If it's feasible, it would be most appropriate to have the officials of the Inspectorate submit a memorial."

The Minister of Revenue was naturally pleased that he could reduce the amount of money allocated to the Market and Commerce Bureau. The Ministry of Revenue didn't have much money to begin with, and in order to ensure the smooth implementation of the new policies, he had to grit his teeth and spend more.

Now that someone is helping the Ministry of Revenue cover this expense, why wouldn't he be happy to do so?
"Elder Xie Xing is indeed extraordinary."

The Minister of Revenue subconsciously praised him, but seeing that Minister Wang's face was more wrinkled than a wet sheet of Xuan paper, he immediately stopped talking to avoid saying too much and getting himself into trouble.

Thinking of this, the Minister of Revenue coughed and said, "This must have been the idea of ​​the porcelain merchants. Only merchants could think so far ahead."

Because it is merchants who purchase goods on credit, and only merchants would haggle over every penny in this matter.

Even Wang Hechun wouldn't have noticed such a trivial matter. Hearing the praise, Wang Bingchen felt a little better. Before, nothing he said was of any use, but now this person finally understood on his own.

So... Wang Bingchen nodded subconsciously, but soon he became stubborn again. Why did it have to be the Xie family? Although Wang Yan deviated from the path he had arranged, it was Wang Yan's own choice and had nothing to do with the Xie family, but the Xie family's affairs were still involved.

Moreover, the Xie family's origins are unclear, and who knows how many secrets they hold.

Wang Bingchen immediately lost the mood to talk to everyone and waved his hand, saying, "You all go back first."

The Minister of Revenue and others left the study.

Wang Bingchen lowered his head and looked at the papers again.

The rain outside showed no sign of stopping, and the room grew colder and colder. Wang Bingchen, however, showed no sign of resting. As he turned the paper over for the third time, Xie's image gradually became clearer in his mind.

Intelligent, insightful, patient, and efficient in doing things.

As the steward came in to refill the tea, Wang Bingchen suddenly asked, "Has Hechun returned yet?"

The steward pursed his lips and said, "Not yet, the young master is probably sleeping at the yamen."

"Really?" Wang Bingchen raised his eyes.

The steward nodded and said, "The young master has been like this frequently lately, and today the heavy rain makes travel difficult..."

Wang Bingchen felt a sudden pang in his heart, and all he wanted to do was immediately get into his carriage and head to the Ministry of Justice to see if Wang Yan was inside. He had a feeling that if he didn't go, his son would be gone.

After taking a few steps inside the house, Wang Bingchen suddenly made up his mind: "Let's go back to the main house tonight."

The steward was taken aback, not expecting the master to bow his head so easily.
The steward remained motionless for a while, so Wang Bingchen looked over and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I'll go and open the umbrella right away."

Having made his decision, Wang Bingchen didn't bother to inform anyone and strode out, with the steward hurriedly following behind.

With the rain so heavy, an umbrella couldn't possibly cover everyone. By the time Wang Bingchen arrived at the main house courtyard, his clothes were already mostly soaked.

After finally managing to pry open the door, poor Mr. Wang looked as if he had been pulled out of the water.

Stepping into the main house, Wang Bingchen was immediately enveloped by the heat, and he subconsciously let out a sigh of relief.

Madam Lin looked at her husband: "Have you finished your official duties, sir?"

These words carried a hint of sarcasm.

Wang Bingchen took a deep breath. He had been left out of the study for several days, yet she... easily twisted the truth.

Wang Bingchen wanted to say something, but ultimately held back and asked, "Where has Yan Ge'er gone? Do you know?"

Madam Lin raised her eyebrows: "Aren't you busy at the yamen? As for what's going on outside, my lord doesn't know, and I know even less."

This old man wasn't really asking about Yan Ge'er; he was just trying to get a hint from her.

What major event has happened outside recently? It's naturally related to the porcelain trade.

She wouldn't tell him, she wanted to suffocate him.

"Is there anything else, sir?" Madam Lin yawned. "I'm going to rest now. If you're still not finished, please go to the study..."

Watching Lin's departing figure, Wang Bingchen got up in a huff, but thinking of the coldness of the study, he couldn't move his feet. In the end, he asked a servant to bring him water, and after washing himself clean, he tiptoed to bed. Lying down next to a familiar person, Wang Bingchen peacefully drifted off to sleep.

However, this sleep was destined to be anything but peaceful.

In the middle of the night, Madam Lin heard someone shout beside her: "Quick... Brother Yan is missing."