"Official Jie, how about I invite you to a banquet another time?" Lu Shenqian asked, hoping to clear the offense and continue with his request.
Yunyin looked at the man, his expression still stoic as he said, "My courtyard has just been raided and I don't feel safe anymore. I might have to reconsider a few things…"
"That's understandable, but I think I know a way to make Official Jie feel more secure!" Lu Shenqian said, smiling wryly, knowing he had to pay to make up for this offense.
But so what? They had to have a good relationship with the officials of the Ministry of Revenue, else who knows whether they could ever achieve their goals?
Among all ministries, the Ministry of War is most reliant on the Ministry of Revenue, because they have extremely high expenses every year. Because of this, to ensure the officials of this ministry wouldn't think about cutting their budget, and to have advisors for their war campaigns, they need to have a close connection with them.
Yunyin naturally knew the reason and he thought it wasn't wrong.
As an individual he might not be able to achieve much, but being inside the ministry, he can easily persuade people and argue about budget cuts or other things that might harm this ministry.
Naturally there was a lower limit of how much he could do, for example, he couldn't disarm the ministry and the military it represents, but… there are so many general positions, more than needed. Each army has so many soldiers, more than the minimum standard…
Taking their budget was nearly too easy for Yunyin.
And once he was really against them, the other officials of the Ministry of Revenue would think the other ministry had harmed them, leading to the Ministry of Revenue uniting.
In the end, it can be said that even a small official like Yunyin had to be won over.
Yunyin looked at Shenqian and nodded, "If Official Lu says so, then I hope my feeling of security will return soon!"
He turned to the courtyard, even unwilling to see the official out.
"Wait, Official Jie! I have a request, I hope I can talk with you about it!" he considered his matter, which was a bit urgent, so they needed to have it done as soon as possible.
Yunyin glanced at him for a moment before nodding, "We're all officials of the court, if Official Lu has a request, he can be open about it."
Shenqian breathed a sigh of relief before following after Yunyin into the reception room, which also functioned as the living room for Yunyin.
Yunyin looked over to Heiluan and thought for a second before he said, "Go send a visiting card to Assistant Minister Ying's manor, we'll depart in an hour."
In this society, when you wanted to visit someone, you would send a visitation card. If accepted, you could come.
Since he was told to visit the minister, the issue was likely about today's matter in court, so he had to go there today.
Sitting in the reception room's main seat, he gestured for Official Lu to sit down, waiting for him to speak.
Lu Shenqian saw that this guy was a bit straightforward and that he had plans, so he also went straight ahead and told him about his request, "To be honest, Official Jie, I've been sent here today because our Ministry of War has started assessing the possibility of being attacked by the end of this year.
The ministries of war of the six outer provinces have started preparing the military, while the ministries in the inner provinces are also preparing logistics to receive this way." He paused after saying this, looking at Yunyin to perceive his reaction.
To his surprise, Yunyin simply nodded and didn't comment.
Seeing him pausing for so long, Yunyin simply explained, "The weather at the start of this year has been a bit bad, and we in the Ministry of Revenue have already started taking a different approach for the budget assignment.
As Official Lu probably saw today, the Ministry of Land's calculations are actually according to normal calculations, but they forgot to calculate the situation in which we give away such a generous budget."
A sense of understanding dawned on Shenqian – now he finally understood why the whole Ministry of Revenue seemed like they were absolutely not going to accept the budget. So it wasn't that this small official had his own agenda, nor that the minister didn't want to be generous to his own province, but that there was simply no money to waste!
"Then… our request from the Ministry of Revenue is actually to ask various officials of this ministry to assess our ability to protect against the barbarians that surround us!" Shenqian explained.
"Hmm? That's it?" Yunyin was a bit surprised at the simplicity of this question, ignoring the term 'barbarian'…
"This issue is of paramount importance, I ask Official Jie not to jest!" Lu Shenqian became stern when he saw this young official who seemed stoic be so casual.
Yunyin shook his head and stood up, as if to see the guest off, while explaining, "These states you talk about, you don't really think they're so backward, right?
The core issue lies in the north, where there are large plateaus and flatlands, a land with low fertility giving birth to strong warriors. They will definitely attack this year, there is no question, simply because they attack every year around autumn.
In the west there are many scattered smaller states, their land is fine, so they won't attack because of a bad year.
There is a larger and stronger country in the south, but their land is fertile, so whether they attack or not won't depend on the weather. The southwest is somewhat isolated and mostly peaceful, so I don't expect anything to happen there.
To the east there is a strong country, connected to the sea, but I doubt they will attack too, as political relations over the years have been peaceful.
Hmm… there is a country northeast, but they're also a bit isolated, focusing on themselves, not engaging with our Ning Dynasty.
All in all, isn't it clear for now that there won't be an issue?
If you're really worried and want me to give a professional opinion, then I can tell you that a single year of bad harvest is not an issue.
If it's two years, then the west might have some thoughts. Starting from three years, the northeast, east and south will also have ideas about us.
That's it."
Yunyin waved his hand, what else was there to comment on?
If their dynasty couldn't even defend against a simple attack from the north, then what would it amount to?
He didn't want to waste any more brain cells on this official.
It's not that the ministry doesn't know about it, they simply want to be sure that they can afford the situation.
But this was their, the Ministry of Revenue's, responsibility.
The Ministry of War simply had to assist the military and make sure the raiders wouldn't cross their border and attack their people.
As long as they did their job, there was no need to discuss it further.
The way Yunyin looked at it, he actually thought that the two countries south and east were an issue, but since the ministry only asked about this year's bad harvest, then he would only talk about this.
…
Lu Shenqian looked at the official who had just clearly told him about foreign affairs…
The shock on his face couldn't be removed; it was truly deeply ingrained in him as he looked at the official leaving.
Such a clear view on foreign affairs, how many people had this?
Their Ministry of War had some perception over them, and they came to a generally similar conclusion, though they were more careful of the states in the west. But thinking about it, it made sense. These states were loose and cautious of each other, not a real threat currently. Even if there was a year of bad harvest, they would endure for at least another year.
His eyes gleamed as he thought about the report he would give his minister while being led out of the courtyard by the steward.