Traveling through the Ming Dynasty, as soon as you open your eyes, you will die

Similarly, in order to solve the problem of financial constraints, it was also a helpless move to provide credit to the merchants who purchased the goods and issue commercial bills.

"But this is not a long-term solution, it is just a temporary solution. As long as this difficulty is overcome, this method must be stopped at the court level. Otherwise, it will become a habit, and there will be endless troubles."

He Fugui bowed: "The emperor has a long-term vision, and that is exactly what he should be."

"We cannot use force, but we must also leave the capital for businessmen to continue to operate."

"This minister understands that there are actually two bottom-line policies for this kind of credit among our merchants: one is continuous purchase, then you can only collect the payment for the first batch, and then when purchasing the second batch, you must pay the credit for the second batch. 1 batches of goods, but we have to pay back the 2st batch of goods. In this way, we can always use the principal of a group of merchants in our hands, and the merchants can continue to obtain from us. profit, to survive.”

Once he returned to his thinking as a businessman, He Fugui's ideas opened up.

Now that there is a commercial credit method, the expenditure on the treasury has been eased again. Finally, the hole that Zhao Youhu and Wu Sangui used to expand their army and prepare for war was eliminated.

But another hole appeared.

Chen Que, who was in charge of the imperial examination, and Qian Qianyi, the Minister of Rites, asked for an audience.

After recruiting the two people in, they watched and were given tea without courtesy. Chen Que began to play: "Your Majesty, before the war, the Supreme Emperor, in order to stabilize the morale of the army and the people, went out to the world to prepare for the exam in October this year. I am fortunate to be invited by the Supreme Emperor and The emperor has appointed the examiner. For this reason, I have cooperated with the Ministry of Rites and actively organized the examination. Scholars from all over the country have come to Beijing to take the examination. A total of 10 people who have passed the examination have come to Beijing to prepare for the examination."

"This is a good sign. You and the Ministry of Etiquette have made great contributions to arranging Zhou Xiang, and you should be commended for it."

"Your Majesty, don't prepare to praise the humble ministers. Because the whole war ended early, the Emperor returned to Beijing in August. As a result, he encountered the death of the late emperor, and the emperor ascended the throne. After a lot of planning, the exam originally scheduled for October could only be postponed. It’s November.”

Lu Mou nodded, "That's the decision. Why, is there anything wrong?"

Chen Que looked at Qian Qianyi, and Qian Qianyi smiled bitterly: "After postponing the big exam, an important situation emerged, that is, more than 4,000 candidates rushing to take the exam were stranded in the capital. They had already spent all their money. In order to save money, the streets are now full of people who write letters and sell calligraphy and paintings. But with so many people selling calligraphy and paintings to write letters, their income is almost zero.

They have to beg on the streets to survive. And in order to save the dignity of the literati, how can the literati go to the streets to beg? And some students no longer have the money to stay in hotels, and many have been kicked out of the inns by the hotel owners and are living on the streets. For this reason, in the past few days, several students committed suicide due to hunger and cold. "

"What? Such a thing happened?" Lu Mou was shocked. This is no joke and should be taken seriously.

"Furthermore, when these students came to Beijing, they only brought autumn clothes, but not cotton-padded clothes. According to the season, winter has already entered in October (lunar calendar), and in November, the north has entered the severe winter season. How can autumn clothes keep out the cold? If some students are frozen to death by then, the matter will be serious and the emperor will have to deal with it."

This is indeed a major matter, and it must be resolved: "Then how does Aiqing mean to resolve it?"

Qian Qianyi carefully reported back: "According to the old minister's consciousness, we should follow the example of Chongzhen's eighteenth year and provide these students with free food, accommodation and cotton clothes to solve their urgent needs. At least let them survive and no longer be cold and hungry. Poverty and illness will no longer kill oneself.”

Lu Mou nodded: "This is necessary. Lao Aiqing mentioned it very well. Then have you calculated how much their expenses will be in one and a half months? Of course, those who did not pass the exam must be allowed to go home safely. . How much should be spent in total?" Qian Qianyi took out a bill from his sleeve and put it in front of Lu Mou respectfully. "In order to help these students tide over the difficulties and return home safely, veterans and colleagues have calculated that the food, accommodation, cotton clothes, miscellaneous expenses, and travel expenses back will all add up to at least 200,000 yuan. Still only the minimum needs can be guaranteed.”

Hearing this number, Lu Mou almost sat down on the ground.

When the country was wealthy, it was a small amount of money, but the problem now is that the country's finances are filled with holes. This small amount of money has been magnified into a huge expenditure.

Now it's really tricky. It is estimated that He Fugui has nothing to say.

Chen Que said: "Your Majesty, it is getting colder and colder today. This money must be allocated quickly and without delay. Otherwise, if a few more students freeze to death and a few more commit suicide, it will be really troublesome."

Yes, winter has actually already begun in October (lunar calendar). For example, in the Jiying Palace now, the earth dragon has been burned, otherwise the monarchs and ministers can only stay in the ice cellar-like hall, messy and shivering.

Now the students are starving and freezing in the wind and rain. If we don't take action in time, many people will die. That's a huge negative comment from the new emperor.

"The national treasury will definitely not be able to come up with this expenditure. Let's just say this money will be paid out by me in the name of the emperor's favor."

Looking at the backs of the two people who happily went to collect money, Lu Mou felt helpless. I have worked hard to separate the country from my family, I have worked hard to reduce the salary of Chairman Da Ming, and I have tried hard to tighten my purse strings. As a result, until now, I, Chairman Da Ming, still have to pay back money to the company. I really have no choice.

I just hope that this time is a special case and does not become an annual event like rewarding officials and troops. Otherwise, you will lose a lot of money.

The extra expenses here and there will continue to increase the hole this year. But the huge hole in the first half of next year has not yet been settled. The reason is that the sales of the bonds issued to plug the hole have slumped again after the palace ladies were launched. If sales continue at this rate, these bonds will not be sold out by the second half of next year.

Faced with this situation, Lu Mou called for Luo Binggong, the commander of the Jinyi Guards: "Old man, I have given you a task recently. Please do your best."

Facing the young new emperor, Luo Binggong was full of respect: "Your Majesty, please give me your orders. I will do my best."

"Actually, it's not a big deal. It's just asking the elderly to send Jin Yiwei to do an investigation and visit among the people."

"That's it. This is the job of our Jin Yiwei. Why should the emperor take it so seriously?"

Lu Mou smiled and explained: "This time's investigation visit is different from usual. This time it is specifically aimed at why our bond sales are not smooth. We need to find the reason for this matter."

Only then did Luo Binggong understand why the little emperor was so serious about his affairs. "Veteran, I will go and make arrangements now, and we must make sure it is detailed and accurate."

"Thank you for your hard work, old man." (End of chapter)