Back to the end of the Ming Dynasty when the emperor

Chapter 60 The Purpose of the Second Minister

Although Zhu Yousong is the supreme emperor and possesses uncompromising imperial power, because of the central organization of the cabinet, some situations or procedures must be followed. The imperial envoy and the Donglin people left an excuse.

Therefore, Zhu Yousong immediately delivered an order to convene a meeting of the imperial ministers.

After the bells and drums rang together, the civil officials sat in sedan chairs and the military generals mounted their horses. The well-dressed civil and military officials quickly knelt down in a large group in the Jinluan Hall, facing Zhu You, who was sitting on the top of the Jinluan, wearing a dragon crown and wearing a yellow five-melon dragon robe. Long live Songshan, long live, long live.

After Zhu Yousong let them die, he made public the rehearsals of the four towns asking for food and money, and finally said: "My lords, let's discuss what should be done about this matter."

All the ministers, look at me, and I look at you. Liu Zongzhou, who was born as the imperial envoy and was the prince and Taifu at the time, spoke first.

After the Confucian master and veteran of the four dynasties came out, he bowed and played with an ivory arc board in his hand: "Your Majesty, the generals of the four towns are arrogant and lawless. They did not rule the army and did not trim their borders. Their military discipline was corrupt and they harmed the people, especially Liu Zeqing of Huai'an. Empty pay, drinking blood from soldiers, constructing large-scale construction projects, hiring girls to raise prostitutes, the so-called top beams are not upright, and the bottom beams are crooked. His subordinates rape and plunder, and their behavior is outrageous. They are even worse than bandits. In my humble opinion, Your Majesty not only cannot be with them Qian Liang should be condemned to him, so as to imitate others." Liu Zongzhou was filled with righteous indignation, and his beard trembled when he was emotional.

Zhu Yousong listened quietly, nodded slightly, and did not express his opinion.

The second memorial is Gao Hongtu, who was the chief assistant of the Dongge University Scholars Cabinet at the time. Gao Ge was also a veteran of the three dynasties who was over sixty years old. It is said that the military generals of the four towns committed crimes, causing public resentment, and piles of papers to impeach them from all over the country. Let alone the state treasury is short of money, there is money and food. In my humble opinion, one tael of silver and one stone of grain cannot be given. them."

"Your Majesty, the ministers seconded the proposal, the ministers seconded the proposal..." These two veteran ministers took the lead, and the rest of the civil and military officials followed suit.

Zhu Yousong is quite satisfied with the answers of these people. It seems that after cleaning the factory guards and eradicating the Ma Party, the righteousness of the court will rise and the turbidity will drop. The effect is obvious.However, this is not the answer I want, so I said again: "Then according to the opinions of all the gentlemen, how should I answer them?"

Some advocated ordering them to reduce redundant staff, some advocated their reassignment, and some directors issued an order to interrogate them. For a while, there was another quarrel in the hall.

Zhu Yousong listened patiently for a while. In fact, he had already made up his mind on this issue. Now he just took a look at the situation, wanted to hear the voice he wanted to hear, and then went down the donkey. Court proceedings.

But it was useless to make such a noise until it was dark, so he put them under control. He saw Qian Qianyi, a minister of the Ministry of Rites who remained silent, with a calm expression. The son has become a second minister, why not let him say a few words?So he said, "Why don't you talk about your opinions?"

Qian Qianyi now has a big opinion on Zhu Yousong, he has a kind of regret that he decided not to say a word, not to offer a plan, but when he saw the emperor asking a question, he knew that it would be impossible to say nothing, Mr. Darkao still remembered the old man, so he went up He bowed forward and said: "Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, the four towns should be allocated the same amount of money and food."

As soon as this remark came out, everyone was shocked.Attracted all the eyes of the court.

"Oh," Zhu Yousong was overjoyed, it seemed that these young ministers were sometimes useful, so he put on a gesture of accepting advice with kind words, "Aiqing may wish to explain in detail, I would like to hear the details."

Seeing that Zhu Yousong valued him, Qian Qianyi felt a little better in his heart, shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, it is true that the generals of the four towns broke the law. Thieves, there are captives in the north, they are like tigers and wolves entrenched, and they will do the things of tigers and wolves soon. The defense of the land and the capital, and the restoration of the north are all based on these frontier soldiers and generals, so the chaos in the four towns is at most scabies. If His Majesty doesn't give him money and food, it will definitely lead to riots by the frontier soldiers and bring disaster to the Ming Dynasty, this is a serious worry."

"Accepting the words is like turning the clouds to see the sun. I have made up my mind. There is no need to discuss this matter again." Zhu Yousong said, looking at Lu Daqi, Minister of the Ministry of household affairs, "Aiqing, how much is the treasury stock?"

Lu Daqi bowed and said with a bitter face: "Your Majesty, the treasury silver is less than 100 million taels, the grain is no more than 60 shi, and there are not many armaments and horses. I still owe 50 taels of salary to various places, and the funds for river dredging in Ludi. There is still 80 taels of silver left unaccounted for, and there is at least a gap of [-] taels of silver for disaster relief in Qin..."

When Zhu Yousong heard this, the treasury was really poor. Although there was only half of the country left in Nanming, the treasury was only a small amount of money, which was less than half of the property of a second-class corrupt official. Thinking of the money he had confiscated , Secretly thought, the imperial court has no money, and it has all flowed into the pockets of a few nobles and nobles.

"Forget it." Zhu Yousong waved his hand and interrupted Lu Daqi, who was still listing the deficit accounts, "The food and salaries needed for the four towns should be paid by my internal funds. Let the Imperial Academy draw up an order to allocate the food and salaries of Chuzhou and Hezhou first. Because Huang Degong's people are the closest to the capital, they have the heaviest burden, and they have made the most contributions. The food and salaries of the other three towns will be allocated later. In addition, I will allocate 100 million taels from my internal funds to the national treasury for emergency use, but it seems like, wait If the treasury has silver, it must be returned to me in full."

Lu Daqi's words were like Ruo, and after listening to it, he said submissively: "Your Majesty's righteousness is so great, and the inner money is beneficial to the world. It is really a blessing for the common people. It is natural and righteous for the treasury to return the inner money. I have recorded it."

All the ministers followed suit, but only Qian Qianyi sneered secretly, "The righteousness of the bullshit is so thin, what's the matter if you embezzle the stolen money privately and don't go into the treasury? Some money came to set up a chastity archway, to sell fame and fame, and the king is so faint!"

Since ancient times, great things have never been limited to small details, Zhu Yousong certainly didn't care what others thought, and instructed Lu Daqi: "This money should be used for disaster relief and shortfalls in wages, as for the dredging of rivers in Ludi, let's wait for a while. "

"I understand." Lu Daqi hurriedly cupped his hands.

Zhu Yousong knew that the Nanming regime was in a mess, not to mention supplementing 100 million taels, even if the internal money was emptied, it would not be able to cover this big hole, and he could only pick up the important ones in front of him.

Besides, there is some money in the internal funds, but there are too many places where money is used now. Disaster relief and arrears of wages involve people's livelihood and stability, and of course they bear the brunt. Now, I can't do anything now, I can only stabilize the situation in Nanming first, and I must not pay to work for the Qing Tartars, let them pay for it themselves.

After the disintegration of the dynasty, the courtiers had mixed praise and criticism for Zhu Yousong's decision.

Qian Qianyi cursed secretly in his heart, "Just wait, stupid gentleman, this time I will let the soldiers you raise harm you in turn, and this old man has to make this matter public to Donglin scholars and Fushe people, plus you in front of me The matter of embezzling dirty money into the country is terrifying, but the spitting stars of the literati in the south of the Yangtze River and the common people in the four towns will drown you, who will make you so incompetent and turn a blind eye to this old man!"

Thinking about this, Qian Qianyi, who thought that the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River was very good at swearing, returned home proudly.

(End of this chapter)