For a moment, voices of ministers in agreement could be heard from everywhere.
Emperor Xuanming's gaze fell upon the faces of his subjects below and he noticed those who had not expressed their stance were all his confidants, while those with flushed faces were some of the old-fashioned ones, and those who calmly impeached were close to Duke Zheng.
Emperor Xuanming smiled, seemingly in quite a good mood.
He looked toward Minister of Revenue Chen Tianmin, "Minister Chen, you have also seen the geographical map presented by Minister Chu. Tell me, which would require more silver, dredging the entire river system or repairing it annually?"
Chen Tianmin stepped out of the line, saluted, and then said, "Replying to the Emperor, your subject did some calculations after returning, and the annual allocation to Yuzhou and South State amounts to two hundred thousand taels of silver, while the cost of dredging the river last year and this year is fifty thousand taels of silver."
