The voice, the one who had asked and agreed with Yunyin’s suggestion... was Minister Duan!
He nodded in response to the proposal and turned to the others, "One gold tael per citizen, at the average population of 1 million citizens per prefecture, the current affected population is 1 to 3 million people.
As a safety net, we should prepare 3 to 5 million gold taels. Such a huge sum of gold... even the wealthy Qingling Province can’t hand it out, can it?"
Duan Qiwang asked the Grand Minister, his attitude not like that of other ministers.
Each province had their own Grand Minister, except for the imperial province. Considering this, the Grand Minister should know the situation of the province best, so he had to ask him.
Fa Shanyuan looked at Duan, his smile had already turned slightly sour, "The Qingling Province has invested into various... imperial projects lately. Such a huge budget could only be paid right after the autumn tax."
Duan nodded in understanding. His own understanding of the finances in each province was second only to the Grand Minister. But at the same time, the Grand Minister had to manage not only his own ministry but all ministries in the given province, leading to having less time to take care of other ministries.
So in the end, he was the one with the clearest understanding of each province, which was why he led the council for this issue.
He looked at the different ministers and asked, "How much are the fellow ministers able to contribute?"
"We will contribute 500.000 taels." The minister of the Yangling Ministry of Revenue spoke up. As this was their neighbour, they naturally had to pay as much as possible, at least to ensure the issue wouldn’t spread to them if left unresolved.
"We will contribute 300.000 taels," another minister, the south-eastern province’s minister, said. Being neighbours, he also wanted to contribute as much as possible. But not being part of the four spirit provinces led to having less tax income yearly, so this was the limit.
"We can also do 300.000 taels," Heling Province’s minister said, having calculated that this was their limit. While their building culture was pronounced, building was inherently expensive and the tax on it was low to promote it, so their income was at its limit by contributing this much.
"100.000 gold taels is the limit," one province’s minister, an outer province, said.
One after another, the other five outer provinces called for the same price. Being outer provinces, their production was lower than that of others and they also had to protect the dynasty, so their funds were really low.
If possible, they’d not contribute anything... but that would lead to other people being unwilling to contribute next time. So, the best situation is to contribute a certain minimum and pass on the issue.
In such a short time, over 1.7 million taels of gold have already been gathered. The Grand Minister’s expression eased, feeling as if a stone fell from his chest.
Being the province with the largest tax income yearly, and also the one under his own management, they had a whole million gold taels that could be used!
Looking over to the two provinces that hadn’t spoken up yet, he knew that they should reach the lower limit... though, the Yueling Province just had a huge earthquake, so he’s not sure they can contribute more than these outer provinces.
While they all called forth huge numbers, the people behind them couldn’t contain their shock.
Their expressions were of ghastly appearance, blood draining down from their face. Only after lowering their face to hide their shock could they think about what just happened.
So, a young official proposed such a huge budget and the ministers agreed upon it?
No!
It wasn’t that the ministers agreed, but that they had their own estimations.
They asked them... as a test?
Looking over to the calm official who had proposed this budget they all felt envy.
Yunyin, on the other hand, wasn’t shocked by this. His proposal was reasonable and the best approach to handle things. After all, it was only a budget not the gold spent – how much they would spend in the end would depend on the Grand Minister’s and the overseeing official’s ability to handle matters at low expenses.
Such was the most common task of lower officials, so in the end, if the total budget was really all used, that would only mean the plague was that bad.
What surprised him on the other hand was the cooperation of each province!
No one tried to lower what they should pay, no one explained their reasons but everyone knew this was their limit... it was as if they were in a room full of geniuses, each understanding the unsaid and calculating on their own.
Just as he was thinking about these, he saw Minister Ruan of the Yueling Province speak.
"We can do 500.000 gold taels." His number instantly shocked everyone present!
"Hmm?" the Minister Duan looked in surprise. He turned to Ruan Zhenan and asked, "I heard that Yueling Province’s earthquake was quite severe. And your officials... argued quite fervently in court." As he said this, he turned to Yunyin in the crowd.
"Haha, this was just a small matter. Actually, right afterwards, a young friend proposed an idea to Assistant Minister Ying, which is why he is absent. He directly went to the province to take care of the issue.
Based on our calculations, the issue will be resolved easily.
Anyways, we are the Yueling Province among the four spirit provinces, isn’t it normal that we have enough gold taels left over to contribute more?" Minister Ruan said so much, specifically mentioning Assistant Minister Ying...
Even if they had a large gold tael income, giving away 500.000 gold taels... they weren’t in the south but the north, and in this year, there might be another large conflict with the northern state...
Based on all of this, how could they not understand that Minister Ruan was using this incident to promote Assistant Minister Ying among these ministers?
But everyone welcomed such an open scheme, so they cupped their hands in thanks.
Ruan looked over to Grand Minister Fa, their eyes meeting...