Chapter 1235: Carrying on the Past and Opening up the Future (One Hundred and Twenty-Five) Questioning

Listening to Gao Yuan's words, He Weiyuan thought about it for a moment and said: "But Your Majesty, if Li's voyage fleet is allowed to be so crowded and annexed to other maritime merchants, in the long run, the Han Dynasty's shipping and overseas trade will inevitably be in the hands of one family. It’s also not good for the country.”

Gao Yuan nodded: "What you said really hit the point. Wu's Liquor Industry is also a giant among the Han merchants, but wine, apart from taxation, has little impact on the country and the people. Especially big, Wu Yizheng is also very self-conscious. Although he has a huge amount of money, he never gets involved in other industries, such as shipping, ordnance, mining, etc. This is the maturity of Wu Yizheng, but maritime trade concerns us. The Han Dynasty's overseas expansion, trade, and naval strength are different. Li Can's structure is still a bit smaller, and it really needs to be beaten. "

"It turns out that the king is already confident!" He Weiyuan said with a smile.

Gao Yuan smiled slightly and stopped talking. In fact, one of the congressmen who were planning to impeach Li Can today was instigated by Cao Tianci. He had detailed evidence of the actions of Li's fleet. Of course, this matter was not enough. To an outsider, even his own personal guard commander didn't know about it at all.

As the Kou Shuguang Navy fleet has been sailing for many years, more private capital has joined in, which has not only brought back a large amount of wealth from overseas, but has also led to the vigorous development of the domestic shipbuilding industry. Larger ships have been built in the shipyards of Cangzhou and Fenzhou. Entering the final experimental stage, Kou Shuguang is already ambitiously preparing to carry out longer-distance voyages to seize more territory for the Han Dynasty. greater wealth.

After several years of continuous voyages, the naval commander's horizons were far broader than those of the domestic ministers, because Gao Yuan secretly summoned him. And gave him a unique gift, a globe made by Gao Yuan himself. Seeing the geographical distribution map drawn by Gao Yuan one stroke at a time, Kou Shuguang was extremely shocked. He once thought that he had explored the end of the world, but now Then I realized that what I had reached was just a small place.

"Your Majesty. I will build for you a powerful kingdom where the sun never sets!" He knelt down in front of Gao Yuan and swore an oath.

This is exactly what Gao Yuan actually thinks in his heart. His greatest wish is to plant the flag of the Han Dynasty in every corner of the world, and to realize this ideal, a powerful and unparalleled navy is naturally indispensable. But now. His main goal is still at home. Unless he wipes out all the enemies in the Central Plains and builds an unrivaled powerful empire, this goal will never be achieved.

But now, it is still in an exploratory and experimental stage. The lack of national power makes Gao Yuan have to rely on private capital and focus on the country. With the people as the supplement and wealth as the bait, domestic businessmen with a large amount of capital were encouraged to join this voyage adventure.

Li Can's Li family has an innate advantage over Hang Yuan. Kou Shuguang's navy had to rely on Li's power from the beginning. But now, Li's fleet has crossed the line. Gao Yuan hopes that the private sector will have a large fleet.

Training more excellent sailors does not mean that there will be a family that can compete with the country's navy on the water in the future.

Diversified. It is in the overall national interest of the Han Dynasty to restrain each other's forces, which is why Gao Yuan wants to beat Li Can.

"Your Majesty, the questioning has begun!" He Weiyuan behind him reminded him in a low voice when he saw that Gao Yuan was wandering.

Gao Yuan came to his senses, retracted his thoughts, and looked down. Jiang Jiaquan's overall work report had ended. Now it was the turn of the ministers to come to the stage and accept questions from the congressmen.

The time spent by Ye Zhong of the Ministry of National Defense was very short. It was the military season now, and the army of the Han Dynasty had always been respected by all walks of life. After Ye Zhong's report, only one congressman expressed his opinion on the Third Military Region's deployment of a large number of local guards far away from home. complain.

Police Department Cao Tianci suffered more attacks, mainly due to the dismantling of the local guards and the slow progress of preparations for the establishment of police stations in various places, which led to a deterioration of local security, especially in some remote areas. As a person, Police Minister Cao Tianci said that he will supervise the preparatory work of local police stations as soon as possible and strive to complete all preparatory work within this year to get the work on track. The other is the flow of funding from the National Security Bureau. The National Security Bureau’s expenditures are huge, and most of the funds are not disclosed. In response to such questions, Cao Tianci was rude and coldly told the questioner: , if you want to know the use of these funds, you can first submit a written report to the Government Affairs Council, and after it is approved by the Government Affairs Council, you can then make inquiries after submitting it to the King for approval. As soon as this answer came out, the congressman immediately became discouraged and wilted. He sat down and was speechless.

Wang Wucheng of the Ministry of Finance, a well-known Iron Rooster, is in charge of the Ministry of Finance. Most of the attacks on him come from remote states and counties. It is believed that Wang Wucheng's insufficient support for the national assistance plan has made the counties of the Han Dynasty richer and poorer. We must increase support for poor states and counties in the next year.

When it was the turn of the Ministry of Industry, because Guo Quan was not there, Wu Kai, who was in charge of the Ministry of Industry, had to go on stage and accept the questioning of the great councilors. As expected, as soon as Wu Kai came on stage, a torrent of artillery fire followed. After a few questions, Wu Kai's head was sweating and he was speechless. He stared at the financial materials provided by the two left and right assistant ministers of the Ministry of Industry in his hand, and even wanted to kill them. These questioning councilors were obviously well prepared. They appeared in various aspects of demolition, compensation, replacement, and the bidding and sale of newly vacated land. They had evidence and pointed out the tricky behavior of some senior officials of the Ministry of Industry in the construction of Jicheng.

Wu Qi was sweating profusely. He usually only managed a general direction, but the huge general affairs were managed by the two assistant ministers of the Ministry of Industry. At this time, facing more and more acute problems, he was helpless and could not cope with them.

"It seems that the Ministry of Industry has a big problem!" Gao Yuan frowned slightly.

"Your Majesty, the construction of the new city is equivalent to expanding the old Jicheng by more than double. It is natural for such a large project to have some problems. Some unscrupulous businessmen may be omnipresent. Of course, some officials of the Ministry of Works may also be dragged into the water. It seems that Wu Yizheng will have a hard time passing this time." He Weiyuan said.

"Guo Quan has been away from Jicheng for a long time, so the people below are a little presumptuous. However, even if Guo Quan is in Jicheng, I am afraid he will not understand these activities here, and he may be confused. With Guo Quan's personality, he may not know that he has fallen into the trap. It is a good thing that he has been away all the time. Is this considered great wisdom and foolishness?" Gao Yuan looked back at He Weiyuan.

He Weiyuan laughed all of a sudden, "In my opinion, Minister Guo is not a fool who is wise but a workaholic. If he really sits in the lobby and reviews documents all day, he will probably be bored. Minister Guo knows what he can and cannot do, which is his precious quality."

"Guo Quan is old and has been traveling for many years. His body has long been overdrawn. The memorial some time ago said that the East-West Artery is about to be connected. He has been working on this project for more than two years. Let him finish this and then call him back to Jicheng to let him have a good rest!" Gao Yuan touched his chin and said, "Even if he is an old cow, it's time to enjoy himself."

"This is the king's sympathy for his subordinates. If it were someone else, a hardworking and capable general like Minister Guo, who would be willing to call him back?" He Weiyuan said.

"Guo Quan has brought up many people over the years. Last time, I heard from Tianci that several officials from the Ministry of Works who have been following him are not only skilled, but also have the distinct mark of Guo Quan. The prototype of the new generation of old workhorses has emerged. When Guo retires, those people can be reused." Gao Yuan said with a smile.

"If Minister Guo retires, it stands to reason that Chen Tao, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Works, should take over!"

Gao Yuan pointed to the turbulent meeting place below: "Chen Tao presides over the daily work of the Ministry of Works. Just look at the situation below. There are many problems here. It's not a question of whether he can take over the Ministry of Works, but whether he can get out of it unscathed. Humph, after the Great Council, I'm afraid the Procuratorate will start investigating corruption and dereliction of duty in the expansion of Jicheng."

He Weiyuan's heart trembled. The king's light words meant that many people would lose their official hats and heads. The punishment for corruption in the Han Dynasty was extremely severe.

The door of the box was suddenly knocked. He Weiyuan turned around and opened the door a crack. When he saw the person outside, he was surprised to find that it was Yi Bin, the deputy director of the National Security Bureau. Seeing the anxious look on his face, He Weiyuan was also worried. People in the National Security Bureau have always been very cunning and rarely show such expressions. Could it be that something happened in Jinyang?

"Your Majesty, Deputy Director Yi is here." He Weiyuan turned around and said.

"Let him in!" Gao Yuan was holding a teacup in one hand, sipping the fragrant tea while watching the angry Wu Kai and a group of senior councilors arguing with interest.

"Your Majesty, the National Security Bureau has just received a letter from the Liaoxi County Branch, saying that the Minister of Works, Guo Quan, has passed away!" Yi Bin stepped into the room and reported to Gao Yuan with his hands down: "The report from Zheng Jun, the governor of Liaoxi County, should arrive in Jicheng soon."

With a snap, the teacup in Gao Yuan's hand fell to the ground and shattered, with a look of astonishment on his face.

"Your Majesty!" He Weiyuan stepped forward.

The astonishment gradually turned into a look of regret. Gao Yuan supported himself on the armrests of the chair with both hands, and it seemed that he had used a lot of strength to stand up. He paused for a moment, took a step forward, stretched out his hand to open the bead curtain, stepped out, and stood on the terrace of the box.

In the lobby on the first floor of the Grand Council, the fierce quarrel stopped abruptly, and everyone turned to look at the king who appeared on the second floor. Every time the king questioned, he would be in the box on the second floor. This was something everyone knew, but the king had never appeared and never expressed his opinion. But today, something unexpected happened to everyone. Wu Kai felt that he was in even more trouble. It seemed that he would have a hard time getting through this stage.

"The Grand Council is temporarily adjourned." Gao Yuan looked at the people in the hall expressionlessly. "The Minister of Works, Guo Quan, passed away while in office." (To be continued)