Wanli 1592

Chapter 443 Helpless Zhao Zhigao
Soon, the unlucky Mr. Zhao Ge received a memorial from the emperor himself, as well as an angry oral order from the emperor—take out 10 taels of silver for Xiao Ruxun to send troops, otherwise, your cabinet can resign collectively!
The emperor's anger was so strong that all the bigwigs in the cabinet, including Zhang Wei, were a little uneasy.

The cabinet is different from ordinary ministers. Although it has great power, its position is very awkward, because the cabinet ministers are equivalent to the emperor's private secretary, and the rank of the cabinet bachelor is only fifth rank. Strictly speaking, they do not have the qualifications to hold such real power today , but the Ming Dynasty was like this, with a high position but little power, and a low position but power.

This is the case with the cabinet bachelor, so if the emperor wants to remove other officials from their posts, other officials can still fight on the basis of reason, and the position of the cabinet bachelor, the emperor's private secretary, is the emperor's instruction. You have to prepare to resign, and then you will Many judges have heard the news and started to impeach you.

Different from other official positions that are not lucrative, the Cabinet Grand Scholars rely on the emperor's back and face the ministers. Their status is different from that of ordinary courtiers. One radish has one hole, and one can only come up when one retreats. The other ministers in the cabinet will also look helplessly. Staring at your position, I wish you would step back and give them your position.

The emperor said that he wanted the cabinet ministers to resign, and the cabinet ministers had to submit a resignation form. In order to show off, it was usually approved after the three nos, and some people who made the emperor extremely dissatisfied handed over the papers and the emperor allowed it, and then you can go back. The family is retired.

Other officials and emperors can't flatten and round them. Emperors like Cabinet Scholars still have a little bit of control, because their positions are very enviable. If the emperor is dissatisfied, a large group of people will immediately stage a wall-to-wall push. Shameless drama.

But it should be said, although Zhao Zhigao has made no achievements, he has made no mistakes. In the cabinet that adheres to the rule of saying less and doing less unless he is the chief assistant, Zhao Zhigao is a rare and honest person.

He tried to curb the deteriorating court atmosphere, but he was helpless, the effect of the upper and lower had developed to the point where it could not be lost, and no one as powerful as Zhang Juzheng could save the overall situation, let alone Zhao Zhigao.

He looked at the emperor's handwritten Zhu Zhu with an unprecedentedly strong tone, and then looked at the three colleagues who were looking at each other. Old Zhao sighed and said: "Now Zhonghua is on sick leave, Mingcheng, Yuanzhong, Jianwu, you three talk about it." Come on, Your Majesty Zhu Zhu, what are you going to do?"

Zhang Wei, Chen Yubi and Shen Yiguan looked at each other, with helpless expressions on each other's faces.

"It seems that His Majesty is quite dissatisfied with the increasingly empty state treasury. If this continues, it's hard to say whether His Majesty will make some bloody incidents. At that time, another group of scapegoats will fall to the ground, and none of us will get any benefits." , I think it’s better to allocate 10 taels of silver from the Ministry of Industry and give it to Xiao Zhennan.”

Zhang Wei looked at Shen Yiguan and made this suggestion.

Shen Yiguan was immediately dissatisfied, because the Ministry of Industry was his department.

"I said Mr. Zhang Ge, the Ministry of Industry is the cheapest among the six ministries of the imperial court. This kind of saying has been spread inside and outside the court for many years. It has been three years, and the Yellow River embankment has been waiting for three years. If you allocate 10 taels of silver this time, you know that at most half of the project will be completed.

Whether the completed Yellow River levee can withstand a yellow flood, you also have a steelyard in your heart, and we know in your heart that the allocated money will be exploited layer by layer, but no one can accompany the money all the way to the Yellow River to control everyone. There is nothing we can do about where the one tael of silver goes. "

Shen Yiguan said so far, and Zhang Wei was a little speechless. In recent years, there have been many small-scale floods of the Yellow River, and it is also due to small-scale floods. If large-scale floods occur, it is estimated that the entire North China will suffer. The last time the Yellow River embankment was repaired It was still three years ago, and this time it was going to be overhauled. If it is not repaired, it will be difficult to say.

So Zhang Wei looked at Chen Yubi.

"Then simply give Xiao Ruxun less than 5 taels of money each of Ji Town and Liaodong Town. These two towns are also big mouths, and they will ask for 30 taels, especially the Liaodong side. It's outrageous. Li Chengliang is The more he lived, the more he went back, and Li Rusong became more and more confused about who he was, so each of them lost [-] yuan, leaving [-] yuan for the treasury!"

Chen Yubi immediately blew his beard and stared at him. The Ministry of War is the department he is in charge of. He still knows a little about the affairs of Liaodong and Jizhen.

In the past few years, the winter has been getting colder and earlier, and it seems that the northern grasslands have also suffered disasters. The Mongols tried to go south many times and were beaten back. This time it seems to be a little bigger. They need more money for repairs. The equipment is also reasonable, 10,000+ troops always need two or three, right?

"Mr. Zhang Ge, you don't feel pain in your back when you stand and talk. The winters are getting colder and earlier these years. It's like this here. There has been a heavy snowstorm on the grassland. Every year when there is a snowstorm, the Mongols We must go south to plunder, if we don’t hold on to the Nine Sides and use silver to ensure that the defense line is not destroyed, are we going to wait for them to hit the capital city?!”

Chen Yubi's words are very harsh, but the truth is true. If Jiubian doesn't pay close attention to using money, in case something is breached, the court will really spend ten times and a hundred times the money to make up for it. What's going on with Jiubian everyone? They all know that except Ningxia Town and Datong Town, which are better, the rest are rotten taro and sweet potatoes!
Now pointing out that the 30 taels of silver can have [-] used on soldiers, that would be great!
Zhang Wei was choked to death again, and said angrily: "Then what should I do? Where did the money come from? Your mouth?"

When Chen Yubi got angry, he wanted to quarrel with Zhang Wei. Anyway, he had been unhappy with Zhang Wei for a long time, and he wanted to have a face-to-face fight with him for a long time.

"Okay! Don't quarrel! You are here to solve the problem, not to create a problem! How can you get into a fight without saying a few words? This is the cabinet, not a teahouse! You have to get out of the fight Quarrel!"

After all, Zhao Zhigao is the first assistant, and also the oldest and most experienced one. Even if Zhang Wei covets his position, he is still 14 years younger than him, so he has to "respect the old".

After a burst of anger, Zhao Zhigao calmed down and said slowly: "No matter what happens, this matter is based on emotion and reason. Your Majesty has reason here. The country does not pay money from the treasury for war, but also from the emperor's internal treasury." Money, this is really a bit hard to say, this is something that has never been seen in other dynasties, but Daming set a precedent.

If this is really taking money out to do serious things, then no one can say anything. It is true that there is not enough money. It is nothing if the emperor gives some money from the inner treasury. We went to buy land, and we all knew it very well. "

Zhao Zhigao glanced at the three assistant ministers, each of them had their own wonderful expressions.

With a sigh in his heart, Zhao Zhigao said slowly: "No matter what, Mr. Zhang Ge, Mr. Shen Ge, and Mr. Chen Ge, the three of you should negotiate and get the money out. Otherwise, you will be to blame for the old man taking the lead in resigning." Yes, I'm over 70, I don't care about these anymore, but you are still in the prime of life, don't delay your bright future."

(End of this chapter)