Fake Eunuch: Discovering the Emperor is a Woman!-Chapter 118: The Power of a Palm (Extra Fourteenth Update)
Chapter 118: Chapter 118: The Power of a Palm (Extra Fourteenth Update)
He even began to doubt whether he had come to the wrong place. Why was the grand entrance of the Ministry of Industry so dilapidated?
Logically speaking, the Ministry of Industry should be a gathering place for skilled craftsmen, hence, the grand entrance should be very imposing. So why did it look so desolate?
Looking at the shabby grand entrance and then at the ordinary residential plaque beside it, Lin Yi actually felt that the official announcement they made did not even match the quality of other people’s residences.
This baffled Lin Yi greatly.
He had someone push the grand doors open and then stepped inside.
However, once he entered, he was stunned to realize that he had seen too little.
He had clearly been too hasty earlier. How could he say that the grand entrance was shoddy?
How could he think that the plaque was shoddy?
Inside was even more rundown than the outside!
Compared to these dilapidated houses inside, the grand entrance outside looked relatively more imposing.
Despite the decrepitude inside, the area it covered was indeed quite large.
After pushing the door open, a person wearing a worn official robe came up to greet him.
From a long distance away, he clasped his hands together in a bow towards Lin Yi and eventually asked pleasantly:
"Is it Sir Lin who has come? A great lapse not to have met you from afar, a great lapse indeed.
Minister of Public Works Lu Feng, at your service, Sir Lin."
And following this, a whole array of officials, big and small, each bent their bodies to salute Lin Yi, chanting as they did so, "We greet Sir Lin".
Yet upon seeing these officials, Lin Yi’s initial impression was, could these people be fake officials?
The reason being, the official robes they wore looked truly shabby.
Although not patched over patches, they were washed out and had faded considerably from their original color.
Not to mention their waists, where they wore nothing at all.
This was in stark contrast to the attire of the Civil and Military Officials at the court.
Were not all the court officials dressed in splendid official robes?
Their waists besides bearing Jade Pendants, bore gold, which looked exceedingly splendid.
But the officials before him now appeared no better than a group of beggars.
As it was his first visit, Lin Yi was uncertain whether these people were acting, intentionally wearing such attire to confuse him.
Thus, Lin Yi also exchanged a few polite phrases with them, then led the way inside.
However, as he walked along the way, looking at various facilities and the furnishings inside the houses, he also began to dismiss his doubt.
The official robes these people wore might be fake, but the dilapidated environment here was real.
Even the administrative area of the Ministry of Industry was in a state of utter disrepair.
It is no exaggeration to say, even the first time Lin Yi went to the Rituals Office etiquette room, that room was much cleaner and tidy than this place.
"Why is the environment here so poor? Do you usually work in such conditions?"
Who would have thought, upon hearing these words, the Assistant Minister named Lu Feng immediately showed a bitter smile:
"Sir, you may not know, this is because you were coming, and I specifically ordered people to clean up.
Hehe, there’s no helping it, most of us are pretty rough around the edges.
If you ask us to do some craftsmanship, indeed there’s nothing to complain about, but to expect us to manage and clean, that really is asking too much of us.
As for the repair of the houses, we too have the skills, but we just don’t have the money for the materials.
The former Chief of Staff had also applied to the higher authorities several times, but it was always rejected by the Ministry of Revenue.
Moreover, the environment we work in has always been a shabby place.
If it were too clean, he wouldn’t feel comfortable working there."
After these words were spoken, the people around them also started to echo the statement, and Lin Yi could see that these people were not lying.
Indeed, as they said, it just made Lin Yi feel helpless.
Under the leadership of this group of people, Lin Yi successively visited several workshops of the Ministry of Public Works, mainly the carpentry workshops.
After all, all sorts of utensils used inside the Imperial Palace came from here, so they were quite busy.
As for the other workshops, they were all in a state of shutdown.
The craftsmen were dressed in ragged clothes leaning in the corners of the workshop.
Upon seeing Lin Yi and others come in, someone kicked them all awake, and then they just staggered and stood there.
In a word, after touring around the Ministry of Public Works, Lin Yi’s conclusion was that it was dilapidated.
If described in two words, it was too dilapidated.
Lin Yi even doubted that the word dilapidated was insufficient to describe it.
Of course, this tour also instantly dispelled the ideas he initially had; he had been thinking whether the Fourth Prince had planted numerous spies here.
But now it seemed that he had been overthinking; perhaps the Fourth Prince never even regarded the Ministry of Public Works highly.
Not to mention the Fourth Prince, it seems that no one in the court really takes the Ministry of Public Works seriously.
Upon returning to the grand hall, Lin Yi looked at the in-charge Lu Feng, then asked:
"How many people are currently registered in our Ministry of Public Works? What work is there to do?"
As Lin Yi’s question fell, that Lu Feng immediately waved his hand, letting people bring several rolls of records, and respectfully handed them to Lin Yi, while saying:
"Replying to Director Liu, currently, there are a total of 3,172 craftsmen listed.
At the moment, 2,000 people are responsible for constructing mausoleums.
The remaining 1,172 people, nearly 700 of them are currently building houses for various princes and high officials.
The rest are all documented here."
After saying this, Lin Yi immediately frowned, wondering how could there be so many people in the Ministry of Public Works?
Yet, it’s rather ridiculous that more than 2,000 people are constructing mausoleums for the Emperor.
The young Emperor is still alive and well, at barely 20 years old, yet they’re already starting to build his tomb, which is quite laughable.
However, since this is ancient society and such customs are indeed prevalent, Lin Yi didn’t say too much, but the remaining 700 who were building houses for others made him frown even deeper.
"Over 700 people are constructing houses for others?
Who approved this?
How are the costs for constructing the houses calculated?"
As Lin Yi’s words were asked, that Lu Feng immediately froze on the spot, scratching his head in confusion, then asked back:
"Does building houses require costs? It was all agreed by the old Chief of Staff. All were built for free."
As soon as these words were spoken, Lin Yi suddenly banged the table, only to hear a creaking sound as the table immediately fell apart.
...End of Chapter...