The eunuch Cao Fu asked for an order to first place the abolition in the old mansion for observation; In order to avoid this kind of person who did not go through the draft process, in case of any accident, Cao Fu should be responsible. Zhu Gaoxu agreed, but he was a little curious about a woman with such an identity, so he asked Cao Fu to arrange a meeting.

As for the others who came back with the eunuch Meng Ji, Zhu Gaoxu didn't need to ask in person for the time being. Most of them were only envoys of foreign vassals, not kings, and those people did not need Zhu Gaoxu to participate in the disembarkation banquet a few days after they arrived in Beijing. Da Ming is a ceremonial state, of course, it will take some time to go through the etiquette of hospitality first.

So three days later, Zhu Gaoxu went out of Chengtianmen to inspect the Yaya, and then went to inspect the mint and other places, so that he could leave the palace by the way.

Zhu Gaoxu, surrounded by his attendants and brocade guards, went to inspect the treasure banknote store.

The printing of the Daming treasure banknotes has been discontinued, and metal coins have been reminted; However, the names of these official offices and yamen in charge of coinage have not changed, and even most of the officials are the original people. The "Paper Bureau", which is responsible for the acceptance and provision of silver and copper raw materials, is managed by the Ministry of Industry; The mint, on the other hand, is managed by the "Money Printing Bureau", which is subordinate to the official office of the central bank; The government office responsible for the acceptance and storage of coins is the "bank library".

Another institution, the "Treasure Banknote Treasury", has been assigned to the treasury of the inner government in the palace. The treasure treasury is managed by the palace supervisors, the household department, and the central bank. After receiving the coins from the mint, the household department left a part of the budget and sent the rest to the palace for storage, where it was stored in the treasure bank. And the central bank is in charge of the accounts of the whole process.

The treasure banknote vault inspected by Zhu Gaoxu and his entourage belonged to the Ministry of Households, and the place was in the backyard of the Ministry of Households. The emperor went in person, and of course Xia Yuanji, the head of the household, came to receive him.

Xia Yuanji is a serious and uninteresting person. Along the way, Zhu Gaoxu talked and laughed with the ministers, and Xia Yuanji was almost silent.

However, when the Jingnan Army and the Sin Suppression Army entered Beijing, Xia Yuanji did not take the initiative to surrender; Zhu Gaoxu's father and son each dragged him out of his home once before he was "forced" to surrender, and there were several requests for resignation. So Zhu Gaoxu felt that this person was quite boring, but he was still very tolerant of him.

The official of the treasure vault explained how strong the stones in the treasury were, and said that there were stones under the foundation to prevent someone from digging a tunnel to steal it. However, this place is located in the Imperial City, and it seems unrealistic to dig tunnels from the outside.

Seeing that Zhu Gaoxu had no objections, the official opened the treasure chest again, and took out a neat silver coin, "Please take a look, this is the wooden lattice supplied by the Ministry of Wood Factory, a total of four different sizes." Each slot can hold 100 coins. Both the mint and the carpentry mill adopted the uniform size of the Moriji Iron Works, which is very accurate; If you put a full block of coins, it must be a hundred, and we don't have to count them. ”

Zhu Gaoxu took it with great interest and took a look. I saw that this wooden lattice was very simple, with three longitudinal wooden strips as the skeleton, and wooden wedges riveted on both sides; It forms a long wooden lattice, about five or six inches long.

The official picked in the treasure chest a few times and pulled out a stack of coins. He turned the lattice upside down and said, "There are some lattices of just the right size, which are very tight when they are filled with coins, please take a look." However, most of them are a little loose, and the error stipulated by the wood mill is only allowed to be large and not small. ”

After he put down the coin, he pointed to the piles of boxes in the stone storehouse and said, "The treasure chest is also custom-made by the Ministry of Wood Factory, and it has four different colors, respectively containing copper coins of one, five, and ten yuan, and silver coins of sixty yuan. ”

Zhu Gaoxu asked casually, "Are so many boxes full?" ”

"The words of the Holy Church are all full. The other three warehouses in the vicinity were also full. The household official said, hurriedly walked over, and hurriedly opened all the boxes for Zhu Gaoxu to see.

Zhu Gaoxu looked back and said: "The treasury is becoming more and more full, and you all have merit for self-denial and public service. ”

Everyone echoed one after another, some people said that it was the Holy God who ruled the country well, and some people said that the Ming Dynasty had a prosperous age.

At this time, Xia Yuanji suddenly spoke: "Holy Mingjian, these round plates of silver and copper can neither be eaten nor worn, nor can they be squandered excessively. Nowadays, the court has abundant money, but there are too few coins on the market; In a few years, you will have to calculate the amount recovered and spent, otherwise the price of goods will skyrocket. If you spend it too quickly now, the court will be afraid that it will be tight in the future. ”

The happy atmosphere quickly calmed down, and most people stopped talking.

Zhu Gaoxu understood that the ministers sometimes admonished the emperor in a more tactful way; They often draw on history at the feast, or at other times, as the time is now.

The meaning of Xia Yuanji's words today probably refers to Zhu Gaoxu's going out of Beijing for autumn hunting.

The incident had been said two months before, and the relevant yamen had also prepared according to the date; But Xia Yuanji was dissatisfied from the beginning. He could not be satisfied, and the position of most of the civil servants was that they did not want the emperor to leave Beijing easily, let alone the emperor to spend extravagantly on the treasury.

Zhu Gaoxu smiled and responded in a joking tone: "When I first ascended the throne, the treasury was empty. At that time, I was also worried that Yin would eat food, and now I am poor a few years later. He made a gesture to the room full of treasure chests and coins.

Seeing this, several officials were already smiling. Xia Yuanji was speechless and speechless.

Zhu Gaoxu glanced at him, and saw that his expression was still serious, and he vaguely looked worried about the country and the people, so he eased his tone and said kindly: "The world is developing, it is impossible to be like this in five years, Xia Butang does not need to worry too much." However, Xia Butang is loyal to his duties, and he has an abacus in his stomach at any time, and he is also a natural Tobe Shangshu. ”

At this moment, everyone laughed together.

Xia Yuanji was praised, so he had to say, "The minister doesn't dare to be." ”

Zhu Gaoxu dropped the stack of silver coins in his hand, turned around and walked out of the warehouse. The group of people left the household department and arrived at the thousand-step corridor, Zhu Gaoxu got into the carriage, and continued to go out of Hongwu Gate and Zhengyang Gate to inspect the iron works of the Southern Department and the mint of the Banknote Printing Bureau.

Just like the course of last year's inspection, Zhu Gaoxu walked around the workshops and listened to the work reports of the officials and craftsmen on duty. Then he went to rest with the accompanying officials in the courtyard next to the mint, which was in charge of reception.

When Luan returned to the palace with the honor guard, Zhu Gaoxu was no longer in the team. He changed his clothes, took his attendants and retinue, and went to Taipingmen lightly.

Because Ma Enhui lives on the shore of Yanque Lake outside the Taiping Gate, Zhu Gaoxu is also troublesome when he leaves the palace once, and he can go to visit Enhui by the way; So the place to see Issuva is at Qingshou Temple on the side of Taipingmen.

Keesuji Temple is an imperial property, and the former presiding officer was Daoyan. Dao Yan died, and his disciple Qingyuan succeeded him as presiding; Then Qingyuan was also arrested because he was involved in some secret cases of the Hong Xi Dynasty, and all the related people were eliminated.

After that, the successor was Qingyuan's younger brother Qinghui. Qinghui has always been in the temple and has never participated in secret affairs, and was ostracized by her brothers and sisters before, but then she sat firmly in her position, and she is fine until now.

When Zhu Gaoxu stepped out of the carriage, the dog tied to the temple gate barked twice. He followed the sound, but it was a docile earth dog, and the earth dog barked twice and then lay there lazily, sticking out his tongue and panting silently.

I heard the eunuchs who came over during the Yongle period say that the temple wanted to raise a more ferocious dog back then, so he presided over Daoyan and discussed it with Emperor Taizong.

Zhu Gaoxu glanced back at the dog again, and then walked into the mountain gate.

The quaint temple was filled with a strong smell of incense and candles, and the sound of wooden fish came from afar, and occasionally one or two men and women entered and exited. After the brocade-clothed guard captain in cloth clothes entered, Zhu Gaoxu then walked into the Daxiong Treasure Hall alone.

There is usually a monk with a merit book at the door, but at the moment he is not here. Zhu Gaoxu turned his head to take a look, and sure enough, he saw that there was still paper and ink on the case. There was no one in the hall, so he walked around and looked at the decorations around him.

After waiting for a while, a person finally came in. Zhu Gaoxu turned his head and immediately decided that the person who came was the person he wanted to see. Because she has the appearance of a foreign vassal person, she is obviously different from the Han pilgrim.

The clothes she wore were Hanfu skirts, but the way she wore them was a bit unusual. If an ordinary woman's liner is a flat collar, it will be tied very high, and the collarbone can be seen at most, but her tan collar lining is very low. And no matter how hot the weather was, the bandeau of the women would be thickened with a cloth so that it would not go away, but she did not do so.

When Zhu Gaoxu was looking at the woman, she also turned her head to look at him.

The woman's gaze did not shy away from him in the slightest, and looked directly at him. Zhu Gaoxu has lived in the Ming Dynasty for many years, and for a while he was still a little unaccustomed to being stared at by a woman. I saw that her eyes were also black, but they were very different from the eyes of the Han people, as if there was a sense of exotic mystery.

That underskirt, worn on an exotic woman with such a temperament and demeanor, is naturally indescribably abrupt and weird.

The woman kept looking at Zhu Gaoxu, and she walked under the Buddha statue in the center, and then she looked away. She folded her hands and bowed to the Buddha very reverently. Then she raised her head and looked at the Buddha statue for a long time, as if she was very curious about it.

It wasn't until Zhu Gaochu walked over that she withdrew her gaze and refocused on Zhu Gaoxu, and there seemed to be a kind of vigilance in her eyes.

"Your name is Ixuva? Do you speak Chinese? Zhu Gaoxu felt that the woman's mood was vaguely a little nervous, so he spoke with a pleasant face.

Her eyes widened, and after a moment, she said with difficulty, "Fortunately." ”

Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but smile, hugged his fists and said, "Fortunately." ”

She folded her hands and saluted him in return.

Zhu Gaoxu looked left and right and said, "Let's talk in another place." ”

She thought for a moment and said, "Fortunately." ”

Zhu Gaoxu walked to the door behind the side of the Buddha statue first, and then beckoned her to come over. Now she finally understood what she meant.