I'm in the Red Mansion

At this time, a grand court meeting was taking place in the court.

The main topic of this court meeting was to discuss how to provide disaster relief.

In fact, the disaster brought by this once-in-a-century heavy rain is even more serious than what is rumored outside.

Hundreds of thousands of disaster victims became refugees.

Their houses, food, and wealth were all swept away by the flood.

If they want to survive, they have to leave their homes and go to other cities that can accept them.

If the imperial court fails to provide disaster relief in time, there will be no place to accept these victims.

Eventually, these disaster victims will either starve to death or start a riot. If they are led by someone with ulterior motives, they may even raise the banner of rebellion and become traitors.

Therefore, disaster relief must be provided in a timely manner and the victims must not be allowed to wander around.

To settle them down in time.

The number of disaster victims is simply too large, and wherever they go, they will pose a huge threat to public security there.

In order to achieve all this, the imperial court needs to pay money for disaster relief.

The only unfortunate thing is that the imperial court has no money now!
The border, the Sanfan, natural disasters and man-made disasters, these alone emptied the treasury of silver.

How can we withstand this flood that happens once in a century!
The losses caused by floods are almost the greatest among all disasters.

Because if there is a plague, drought or other disaster, at least the people's houses will be there.

As long as there is food and medicine, resettling the victims will not be a problem.

After the flood, a torrent of water destroyed almost all the victims' homes.

In order to resettle them, it is necessary to rebuild homes for the victims.

And we also have to feed these disaster victims from now until next autumn harvest.

Only after the crops are harvested can the victims feed themselves.

The imperial court had to feed these disaster victims for more than a year.

It would take at least a million taels of silver to feed hundreds of thousands of disaster victims for more than a year.

But now, the imperial court is afraid that it cannot come up with so much silver.

Therefore, when it comes to this disaster relief, it all comes down to a question of money.

If we cannot provide so much money for disaster relief, these disaster victims will inevitably cause unrest.

If the victims of the disaster riot, a large army will be sent to suppress the rebellion, which also costs money.

And once the situation here gets out of hand, the Qing Dynasty, which has always been eyeing Daxia, will definitely not miss this great opportunity.

What if the Third Army also develops ambitions?

The entire Daxia is facing a situation that is almost doomed to collapse.

Therefore, timely disaster relief and timely resettlement of disaster victims are top priorities.

Emperor Yonglong asked Lin Ruhai wearily, "Lord Lin, how much silver is left in the Ministry of Revenue's treasury?"

Lin Ruhai entered the Ministry of Revenue and became its Vice Minister.

Lin Ruhai was the confidant of Emperor Yonglong and was arranged by Emperor Yonglong to work in the Ministry of Revenue because the emperor wanted Lin Ruhai to be able to take charge of the Ministry as much as possible.

Then, when the next imperial inspection comes, the Minister of Revenue will be promoted to the cabinet, and Lin Ruhai will be able to take over the position of Minister of Revenue and take charge of the entire Ministry of Revenue.

After hearing the question from Emperor Yonglong, Lin Ruhai could not help but say, "Your Majesty, there is only 830,000 taels of silver left in the Ministry of Revenue's treasury."

"And the 830,000 taels of silver have all been allocated for their intended uses."

"Of these, 360,000 taels of silver are needed to pay the border troops' salaries and supplies."

"There are still 270,000 taels of silver to pay the post soldiers and post station expenses."

"Another 250,000 taels of silver will be used to dredge the waterway."

"According to this calculation, there is still a shortage of silver in the treasury."

Hearing these figures, the emperor and his ministers fell silent. First, the salaries and supplies of the border troops must not be withheld.

The border troops are responsible for resisting foreign races such as the Qing Dynasty and Mongolia. If the border troops' pay is withheld and it causes riots among the border troops, the consequences will be disastrous.

And dredging the waterway cannot be delayed either.

This waterway is related to the transportation of autumn taxes.

At this time, Prime Minister Qin couldn't help but say: "Your Majesty, I think we can temporarily withhold the salary of the postmen."

"We can even cut the number of post stations. The Ministry of War requisitioned troops to use post carriages to send documents. Some were sent out, and some were not sent out as scheduled."

"Officials rode in post carriages privately, and a document was borrowed and altered many times. The post station officials were as powerful as tigers, and the lives of the people were as precious as silk."

"The post station costs 600,000 to 700,000 taels of silver every year, but it has not played its due role."

"And the imperial court has to support hundreds of thousands of postmen for nothing, so it would be better to cut them off and only keep a small number of them to be used to transmit military intelligence."

After hearing this, Prime Minister Kou could not help but say, "Your Majesty, the post stations must not be cut down."

"There are more than 2,000 post stations throughout the country, with more than 100,000 postmen."

"These postmen rely on these meager salaries to support their families."

"Once the post stations are closed, these hundreds of thousands of postmen will lose their source of income."

"If one thing goes wrong, it will cause unrest everywhere!"

After a long silence, Emperor Yonglong also said: "The post stations cannot be abolished, and the salaries of the postmen cannot be misappropriated."

"Besides, even if it was embezzled, it would only be 270,000 taels of silver, which is not enough for disaster relief."

"My dear ministers, please think of other ways."

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, it was because the imperial court abolished the post stations that Li Zicheng, the King of Rebellion, embarked on the path of rebellion.

And Taizu Li Yan followed King Chuang in the uprising.

Later, when King Chuang was shot and killed, Taizu Li Yan became the leader of the rebel army, and eventually overthrew the Ming Dynasty step by step and established the Great Xia Dynasty.

With this precedent in mind, Emperor Yonglong naturally did not want to abolish the post stations.

Prime Minister Qin said: "Your Majesty, the treasury is empty now, and the court cannot provide disaster relief money."

"If we want to provide disaster relief, the only solution is to increase taxes. I request that this autumn tax be increased by another 30%!"

After Prime Minister Qin finished speaking, all the civil and military officials in the room were shocked.

If the tax is increased by another 30%, the problem of disaster relief money can indeed be solved.

Even the additional taxes will far exceed one million taels of silver.

However, this strategy is also very dangerous.

Because this is not the first time the imperial court has increased taxes.

If the imperial court continues to raise interest rates, the people's lives will inevitably fall into dire straits.

Then this dynasty is probably not far from its demise.

Raising taxes is a poisonous wine.

At this time, Prime Minister Kou said again: "Your Majesty, you must not increase taxes again."

"Now, the taxation of our Great Xia has brought heavy pressure to the people."

"If we raise taxes again, I don't know how many people will lose their homes and lives."

"If we don't handle it right, it will cause unrest!"

After hearing this, Prime Minister Qin couldn't help but ask, "Prime Minister Kou, I proposed two strategies, and you opposed both of them."

"I wonder what Prime Minister Kou has to say? The imperial court is short of money for disaster relief. Could it be possible that Prime Minister Kou could just appear out of thin air?"

After a long silence, Kou Xiang couldn't help but say, "Your Majesty, I think we can raise money for disaster relief in the capital."

"Your Majesty and all the civil and military officials in the court will take the lead in collecting donations from the wealthy merchants and ordinary people in the capital." (End of this chapter)