The struggle for the throne among nine princes—I really don't want to be the crown prince.

Chapter 535 Father, Your Majesty, I suspect he's plotting something.
Facing Ma Qi, who looked completely innocent and seemed unaware of the situation, Shen Ye smiled faintly.

Keep pretending!

He had already prepared a reason when he kicked the Ma family out of the game, so why would he be afraid of them complaining and arguing in front of Emperor Qianxi?

He immediately bowed respectfully to Emperor Qianxi, his voice clear and resonant:
"Father, may I ask you this question first: When you implement this contracting out of the Imperial Household Department, are you planning to do it as a one-off deal, or do you intend to do it steadily and long-term?"

Emperor Qianxi paused slightly in his teacup, and couldn't help but mutter to himself:
This little brat doesn't play by the rules at all...

I was waiting for him to explain why he wanted to kick out Mazi, who had offered a higher price, but instead, he started talking to me about long-term plans!
Despite his thoughts, the emperor maintained a calm and inscrutable expression.

To be honest, although there were some minor flaws in this contract, overall he was quite satisfied:

The Imperial Household Department might not have earned back the money it had managed for ten years, but now it steadily earns six or seven million taels every year. Who wouldn't be happy?

So he spoke slowly and deliberately, his tone calm: "Naturally, it should be done for a long time. I think this method is excellent."

Upon hearing this, Shen Ye's smile became even more genuine:
"Your Majesty is wise! Then let me ask you another question: why are all these families in the Imperial Household Department fighting tooth and nail to get the contract?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the little eunuch standing beside him with his head bowed almost burst out laughing, and quickly bit his lip tightly.

This question is way too easy! Even he could answer it first!
Why else?

Of course it's for making money!

Could it be that this is all just a performance for the Emperor, a tale of unwavering loyalty and bankruptcy?

Upon hearing this, Ma Qi felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

Although he hadn't fully figured out where the Crown Prince had dug the pit, his intuition, honed over many years, reminded him:
Oh no, I acted impulsively when I filed this lawsuit today!

Retreat now? That would be like slapping yourself in the face!
Ma Qi's mind raced:

"Could it be that the Crown Prince has discovered my fur trade with the Rakshasa Kingdom? That's impossible, I've kept this a closely guarded secret..."

That Crown Prince is incredibly cunning; I don't know where he found another weakness in the Ma family.
Just as his heart was pounding with anxiety, Emperor Qianxi spoke calmly:

"Naturally, it's for profit."

"Father is wise!"

Shen Ye immediately replied:

"As the saying goes, the world is bustling, all for profit; the world is bustling, all for gain! If there's no profit to be made, who would be willing to take the risks and endure the hardships to take on the contract?"

His expression suddenly turned serious, changing faster than flipping through a book:
"But Lord Maqi's family's contracting method doesn't allow them to make much money at all!"

"Even if Lord Ma Qi is good at business, I have roughly estimated that he can only make a profit of 20,000 to 30,000 taels a year at most."

"With such low profit margins, who else would be willing to take on this contract?"

Emperor Qianxi's eyebrows twitched slightly.

He wasn't some emperor raised in the deep palace who knew nothing of daily life; upon hearing the crown prince's words, his mind immediately cleared.
"Yes, what Maqi does—earning little and risking a lot—is indeed likely to deter others from doing it..."

But he still casually defended Ma Qi with a remark:
"This is just Ma Qi's own wishful thinking!"

"Father!"

Shen Ye rubbed his hands together, his tone earnest:
“Father! The power of example is boundless! These people in the Imperial Household Department are, in the end, your servants. They worry more about their own lives and fortunes than about making money.”

"With Ma Qi taking the lead, everyone has seen it. From now on, no matter how unwilling they are, they can only bite the bullet and learn from him!"

"Otherwise, if one day I were to be accused of 'only caring about making money and not sharing the burdens of the court,' that would be a huge problem!"

He suddenly turned to Ma Qi and asked with a smile, "Lord Ma Qi, do you think I'm right?"

Ma Qi's heart skipped a beat. He felt like a fish caught on a hook by the prince, caught in a dilemma.

He really wanted to retort, "Your Highness, your words are utter nonsense!"

But as the Minister of Revenue, he knew all too well the intricacies of this matter:
The Crown Prince's words were pearls of wisdom, every sentence made sense, and they hit the nail on the head!

Shen Ye gave him no chance to catch his breath, and turned to Emperor Qianxi, speaking earnestly:

"Father, the highest level of contracted management is to ensure that everyone has meat to eat and soup to drink, so that it can last longer!"

"Therefore, I believe that Ma Qi's approach will discourage everyone in the Imperial Household Department and may even cause the contracting project to be abandoned halfway."

"For the sake of the greater good, I rejected their plan to 'cut off someone's livelihood'!"

At this point, he suddenly lowered his voice, his tone becoming serious:
"However... I have always had a question in my heart, which is like a fishbone stuck in my throat."

Ma Qi's face had turned deathly pale; he had a rough idea of ​​what powerful move the Crown Prince was about to unleash.

Before coming to Qianqing Palace, if someone had said that the Crown Prince could turn the tables on him with just a few words, he would have scoffed at it.

But now...

He opened his mouth, but swallowed the words back down.

Interrupting the Crown Prince at this moment would be tantamount to admitting guilt without being asked.

“Ma Qi is one of the top financial experts in the court; he couldn’t possibly be unaware of the consequences of arbitrarily setting prices. Yet he knowingly violated the rules…”

Shen Ye paused deliberately, his gaze sweeping over Ma Qi's face, before slowly saying:

"Your Majesty, I cannot help but suspect that he may have deliberately disrupted the Imperial Household Department's contracting process to prevent this matter from being completed—in order to achieve some ulterior motive!" He dragged out the words "ulterior motive" with great ambiguity and meaning.

Ma Qi almost spat out a mouthful of blood when he heard that!
What ulterior motive is the Crown Prince trying to kill me?

What ulterior motive could I, the Minister of Revenue, possibly have?!
But if you think about it calmly... the Crown Prince's reasoning actually makes a lot of sense from a conspiracy theory perspective!

Ma Qi knowingly violated the law, both currying favor with the emperor and secretly misleading other contractors, putting them in a dilemma between "showing loyalty" and "making money."

In the end, no one wanted to take on the contract, and the grand contracting plan naturally fell through.

Following this line of reasoning, it fits perfectly and is flawless!
"Your Majesty! I am wronged!"

Ma Qi knelt down with a thud, his face filled with sorrow:
"Your Majesty is utterly loyal to the court and has no other intentions. However, seeing Your Majesty's worries about provisions, I wish to offer my humble assistance..."

He felt he was even more wronged than Dou E, whose death was like snow falling in June.

The original purpose of contracting the business of goods and furs from the northern mountains was to facilitate some "gray trade" with the Russian Kingdom.

How did the Crown Prince inexplicably drag us into the topic of "overthrowing the imperial court's grand plan"?
It makes me sound like a treacherous minister who can't stand to see the court prosper...

Ma Qi glanced furtively at the Crown Prince, a hint of fear creeping into his eyes – this young man kills without a knife!
A hint of hesitation flashed in Emperor Qianxi's eyes.

Although the crown prince's words were somewhat unexpected, upon closer examination, he vaguely felt that they made sense.

Ma Qi was no ordinary official; he was the Minister of Revenue, who had managed money and grain accounts for half his life. How could he not understand these matters?
unless……

His mind was in turmoil:
Whether Ma Qi's actions were intentional or unintentional, now is not the time to delve into them.

With the expedition imminent, the Minister of Revenue cannot be easily replaced.

Moreover, after today's incident, the Crown Prince and Ma Qi will surely harbor resentment towards each other.

This, on the contrary, made him more at ease handing over power to the crown prince.

Yes, deep down he harbored an unspeakable unease:

This rebellious son is too outstanding, so outstanding that he fears that once he relinquishes power, he will never be able to take it back...

"Ahem," Emperor Qianxi cleared his throat, breaking the almost frozen atmosphere in the hall.

“Ma Qi, you have worked diligently for many years, and I believe you would not deliberately sabotage the contract.”

He then looked at Shen Ye, his tone gentle yet undeniably authoritative:
“Your Highness, your suspicions are reasonable, but they lack concrete evidence.”

“Ma Qi is a veteran minister, always loyal, and should not harbor any ill intentions.”

"However, it's good that you were able to identify the problem in time and deal with it decisively."

He paused, then suddenly changed the subject:
"I hereby assign you the task of managing the gold mining operations of the Imperial Household Department for one year, with the contract fee waived as a reward."

This arrangement is obvious to anyone with eyes to see:
It was both to appease the crown prince and to incite him to resentment.

If you kick Tong Guowei out of the game, I'll give you a lucrative position and see how upset Tong Guowei is.

Shen Ye understood, but her smile was sincere, even filled with gratitude.

He could earn at least a million taels of silver a year mining gold, and he was currently short of money!

General Fubo's navy is waiting to be built, and money is needed everywhere.

As for Tong Guowei... well, he's an enemy anyway, so one more thing won't matter.

"Thank you, Father."

He thanked the emperor readily, and as he straightened up, his face still showed sincerity, as if he were doing everything for the public good and had no selfish motives.

Turning to look at Ma Qi, who was still kneeling on the ground, he said in a gentle tone:
"Father, I have always believed that Lord Ma is a prudent person who considers the big picture."

"That's why we quietly eliminated the Ma family's proposal back then, without saying a word to Father Emperor."

"I never expected that Lord Ma would personally come to argue with the Emperor today..."

He paused slightly, his smile revealing three parts understanding and seven parts magnanimity:
"Even so, I am not angry. I think Lord Ma probably just made a mistake unintentionally."

Ma Qi knelt there, feeling as if a mouthful of blood was stuck in his chest, unable to go up or down.

He had an urge to curse out loud, but he had to force a grateful expression onto his face.

He could only grit his teeth, lower his head, and squeeze out a sentence through clenched teeth:
"Your Highness... is so kind to this old minister. This old minister is deeply grateful."

But inside, he was already extremely angry:

"What am I trying to achieve? I just wanted to file a minor complaint and get an explanation!"

"Now look what's happened, I almost became a treacherous minister who tried to sabotage the imperial court's contracting plan..."

"Now look what's happened! I'm caught in the middle, and I've even given the Crown Prince a gold mine for nothing!"

Shen Ye had already turned around, his face still showing that respectful and gentle demeanor, but in his heart he was already calculating the gold mine's output, manpower, and transportation routes with a smile.

With this income, we'll have much more confidence to get things done later.

As for Ma Qi's mournful yet somewhat aggrieved and angry gaze behind him, it doesn't matter. This prince has poor eyesight and can't see it.

(End of this chapter)