"I can only take out 20,000 taels of my dignified treasury?" Emperor Jiajing laughed angrily: "Where is the silver?" Did you let Fang Sinong move home? ”

"If Your Majesty doesn't believe it, you can send someone to the treasury and go to Weichen's house to check." Fang Yu said infinitely aggrieved: "If Weichen has a trace of greed, let His Majesty deal with it." ”

"Isn't there a crime if you don't embezzle?" Emperor Jiajing suddenly said: "In such a big country, if you, a master of financial management, only have 20,000 taels of silver left, just by virtue of this, no one will be embarrassed if you are beheaded now!" ”

Fang Yu is in his fifties, and he has been fighting with money and grain for more than 20 years, so he can be said to be the authority of the Ming Dynasty's finances. He took out an account book from his sleeve, presented it with both hands, and said: "The household department has just finished counting the treasury revenue and expenditure for this year, and it has been compiled into a book, and I respectfully invite Your Majesty to read it." ”

Jiajing nodded, and Huang Jin handed over the account book. Jiajing glanced down and saw that on the royal blue cover, there were several neat italicized characters written on the royal blue cover, 'Jiajing Thirty-four Years General Ledger Book'.

His slender fingers silently swiped across the cover a few times, as if considering whether to open it and take a look...... This is a bad book.

'Ugly daughter-in-law has to see her in-laws. Emperor Jiajing sighed secretly, but still opened the first page, and Fang Yu over there also opened his mouth and said: "As Your Majesty can see, in the thirty-fourth year of Jiajing, the total tax revenue of the two capitals and thirteen provinces is 33.75 million taels of silver, and at the same time, the expenditure budget of each province at the beginning of the year is 29.75 million taels, so the tax silver released to the treasury is only 4 million taels. ”

"However, the bills reported by the various ministries this year have a total consumption of 11 million taels of silver, and the income and expenditure have been offset by two, and the deficit this year has reached 7 million taels!" Fang's blunt back was a little hunched, and the wrinkles on his face were dense and deep, most of which was worried about this mess.

After Fang Yu finished speaking, Emperor Jiajing still flipped through the account book, and after reading the last page, he simply threw it on the ground, closed his eyes and said: "These bullshit will be said after the New Year, first fool the pass in front of you......" glanced at Huang Jindao, who was standing on the side: "Didn't you say that the Copper and Iron Bureau had already released the mining and silver of Kaichun into Beijing in advance?" "As the name suggests, the Copper and Iron Bureau is the department that supervises the production of national mineral deposits, all over the country, and the mine supervisors are all eunuchs, subordinate to the inner court celebrant supervisor, so the emperor will ask Huang Jin.

Huang Jin said respectfully: "Back to Your Majesty, it was just sent to the treasury the day before yesterday, and Lord Fang's receipt is still on the slave maid." "The Ming Dynasty has no internal funds, which means that the emperor's income is also sent to the treasury, and the emperor also spends money, and it is also taken directly from the treasury.

"Although Yin eats the grain, but the right to save the emergency," Emperor Jiajing waved his hand and said: "Fang Aiqing, take out this money." ”

"Back to Your Majesty, this money has been set by various ministries." Fang Yu said helplessly: "So there are only 20,000 taels left in the treasury that can be used." ”

"Which one is so fast? My silver hasn't been warmed yet! Emperor Jiajing's slender eyebrows trembled for a while, and his voice said with anger: "Say it quickly!" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, it is the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Officials." Fang Yu said slowly: "The Ministry of Industry asked for 500,000 taels, the Ministry of War asked for 700,000 taels, and the remaining 300,000 taels, plus the original deposit of 200,000 taels, were allocated to the Ministry of Officials. ”

"What's the use of being so anxious to hold money?" Emperor Jiajing's tone was very unkind.

"The 700,000 yuan of the military department is for repairing the gates and city walls of the Beijing Division," Fang said in a dull voice: "Four city gates, the city wall collapsed for more than ten miles, and the rest of the places must be re-strengthened, and they reported one million taels, and finally I pressed it to 700,000 taels, and I only waited for the cabinet to issue a bill to allocate the funds." ”

The emperor snorted noncommittally: "What about the Ministry of Industry, what kind of excitement is there to make up?" ”

Fang blunt swallowed and foamed, and said in his heart: 'Why are you so unlucky? Either ministry has to ask me for questions. He didn't dare to slack off on his face, and hurriedly said: "It's for Your Majesty to repair the West Garden." "Xiyuan is the hidden residence of Grandpa Cheng, although the color is good, but after all, it is more than 150 years without people, after Emperor Jiajing moved in, he spent a lot of money to renovate every year, but there are still many broken houses, which fell in a flash in this earthquake.

The emperor's brows furrowed imperceptibly, and he pondered for a moment and said, "What about the officials?" ”

Fang Yu finally breathed a sigh of relief, Li Mo, the secretary of the ministry, was here, so naturally he didn't need to be more coarse. Li Mo said: "Back to Your Majesty, the arrears of the officials in Beijing have reached more than two million taels, and these 500,000 taels are only a quarter of it. ”

When Jiajing heard it, heh, everyone is reasonable, everyone wants money, so what should I do? It can only be served cold. After a quarter of an hour of silence, he said softly: "Just repair the two gates of the outer city, and wait for the inner city wall to talk about it in the next year." And don't repair the broken houses in Xiyuan first, just repair my Yuxi Palace, I'm not used to it. Saying that, he glanced at Li Mo with some embarrassment and said: "As for the salary of the Beijing official, don't be in a hurry at this time, just send some money enough for the New Year, and wait for the next year when we have taken a breath, and then pay it off." "As a big boss, it is really not a glorious thing to not pay employees all the time, although Emperor Jiajing is used to it.

As soon as Li Mo heard the emperor say, 'only repair the Yuxi Palace', he knew that he would definitely have to deduct his salary again, and his cheeks trembled for a while, but after all, his arms couldn't reach his thighs, so he had to say in a muffled voice: "I don't know how much Your Majesty can give?" ”

"Fifty thousand taels, what do you think?" Emperor Jiajing smiled in his heart, and saw that Li Mo's face was green, so he added another 50,000 taels: "100,000 taels, it's okay, right?" Enough for the New Year, no more. ”

Li Mo said depressedly: "Originally, it was barely enough, but after the disaster, prices are bound to skyrocket, I'm afraid this amount of money is only enough for my colleagues to eat vegetarian dumplings for the New Year." ”

Seeing that his words were loose, Emperor Jiajing smiled and said: "During the national crisis, everything is simple, you explain this truth clearly to them, if someone does not accept it, you let them come to me." ”‘…… I'll entertain you. Of course, this last sentence will not be spoken.

"Minister...... Compliance. Considering his next plan, he still needs the full support of His Majesty, so Li Mo decided to agree...... Although he will be scolded by his colleagues, Yan Gelao's experience has reminded him that His Majesty is really good, and the rest are floating clouds, so he is not afraid of being scolded by his colleagues.

"How much money can the household come up with?" Emperor Jiajing asked.

Fang Yu muttered: "If you only repair the exterior wall, 400,000 taels is enough, and you can save 300,000 taels; If you only repair Yuxi Palace, 150,000 taels are enough, and you can save 150,000 taels; Add 400,000 taels of salaries, and you can take out 850,000 taels, oh, plus the remaining silver, it is 870,000 taels. ”

"Can you barely handle it for a while?" Emperor Jiajing asked.

"Your Majesty is merciful," Yan Ge Lao, who had been in the meditation, finally opened his mouth and said: "This amount is enough for 400,000 people to survive the winter." ”

"But it's not enough!" Li Mo interjected: "According to Jiajing's twenty-seven years of experience, the imperial court must be prepared to deal with at least one million victims...... And if the affected area doubles, this number must also be doubled, otherwise it will form a homeless population! ”

"Well," Jiajing nodded, of course he knew this truth, his eyes swept over Zhongqing, and he said slowly: "Order the gentry to enrich the people, donate money." "There's no way around it, but now that the eyebrows are burning, I can't care so much.

The ministers looked at each other, Yan Song glanced at Li Ben, and Li Ge had no choice but to say softly; "May I ask Your Majesty, can the officials be excluded, what do the imperial court still owe them, it's not good to let people pay for it, right?"

"Owing money is owing, but it doesn't mean that the family is poor." Emperor Jiajing sneered: "Just take a few of you as an example. Since I was appointed, my family has been quite rich, don't think I don't know! ”

Several people hurriedly knelt down, saying that they were law-abiding and did not take a stitch from the masses.

"I didn't say I wanted to check you!" Jiajing said with a faint sneer on his face: "I just used you as a metaphor...... In fact, as I said, there are many people among the officials in Beijing, but this is not the most hateful, the most hateful thing is that these people have no intention of serving the country, they are usually greedy and cruel, and they are accustomed to it. ”

This is obviously to make those big officials ruin their wealth and eliminate disasters!

But most of the officials still don't have oil and water, and they live on dead salaries, so what if they can't come up with money? This is easy to do, the emperor wants their money, and he wants to use them to appease the wrath of heaven.

After talking about the problem of disaster relief, Emperor Jiajing's eyes turned into the distance and said leisurely: "It's still the same sentence, disaster relief is only a symptom, if it can't cure the root cause, it will be two ends in three days, endless relief!" Only by correcting one's mistakes and praying for God's forgiveness can we eliminate the evils invisible...... This year, there will be no celebration of the New Year, I have been in the ashram from the beginning of the year to the fifteenth, and although you are busy with disaster relief, do not be lazy in this matter. ”

"Ministers introspect." All the ministers said in unison.

Emperor Jiajing nodded, looked at Li Mo and said, "As for Li Shangshu, you don't want to participate in disaster relief, you can do your job well." As he spoke, his narrow eyes narrowed, and he said, "Do you know what it is?" ”

Li Mo said murderously: "The minister must take advantage of this opportunity to review the Beijing officials well, and never let any silverfish stay in the court anymore, please rest assured." ”

"Good." Emperor Jiajing waved his hand tiredly and said, "I allow you to act cheaply, go down." ”

(To be continued)