In the palace of the capital, the outer hall of the Qianqing Palace. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

The sun was high in the middle of the sky, and it was close to noon, and the air inside and outside the hall had not warmed up, and the sky was still so cold.

At this time, in the hall, the Queen Mother stood up straight, raised her head and asked in a long voice: "Lord Zhong, ministers, I don't know what else is going on if you kneel like this and don't leave?"

Zhong Xuanchong raised his head and looked at the emperor sitting in the middle, and saw that he was just sitting there stunned without saying a word, the person they called was the emperor, and the person who spoke was the queen mother, and he was not good at speaking, but the emperor's face was still calm, and his heart couldn't help but feel a lot cold.

While he was waiting outside the temple, he heard the conversation inside. The queen mother was teaching the emperor a lesson, but the emperor not only couldn't reply, but was forced to back down step by step. He didn't know if the little emperor was acting, but the queen mother was acting, but he didn't have to think about it, and he was acting very excessively.

I think that when the first emperor obtained the unification, he was transferred from a local official to the capital as an official, and it has been ten years. I think that when he first arrived in the capital, he was so confident and high-spirited. There is no such worry as other Beijing officials, thinking that the first emperor is a rebel to win the world, and that the first emperor is not in the right name and has a bad program. At that time, contrary to other people's thoughts, he believed that the first emperor had joined the unification, overthrew the chaotic court of the first two emperors in one fell swoop, swept away the forces of foreign relatives, changed the chaotic situation of the court and government, and returned the great move of the court, which was a good thing for the people's hearts.

So at that time, he did his best to help the first emperor stabilize the court step by step, and destroyed the many powerful people left by Emperor Yingzong, and his heart was not right. Because of this, he won the trust of the first emperor, became a close minister of the first emperor, was promoted again and again, and even entered the cabinet five years ago, and then sat step by step in the position of the second assistant of the cabinet, and sat only one step away from the adults under one person.

For a long time, Zhong Xuanchong thought that he was doing the right thing, and thought that the government would get better step by step because of the entry of the first emperor. The chaotic situation in the world will also get better step by step.

But as time passed, he found that not only did the world not get better, but it was developing towards a more chaotic situation. So far, this situation seems to have repeated the situation after Emperor Yingzong's death.

The young emperor ascended the throne and had no real power, and all the power in the court was in the hands of his relatives in the harem.

This--it really made him look so heartbroken.

When the other ministers heard the Queen Mother's question, most of them hung their heads in cringe, but Zhong Xuanchong did not, and calmly kowtowed and replied: "The ministers stayed, just to ask, how will the emperor deal with the war and drought in the north last year, the white disaster in the seven provinces in the northwest, and the flood in the three provinces of Huang?"

The Queen Mother smiled and turned her eyes to look at Qin Siyang: "This is a state matter, and the emperor should indeed give his ministers a reply." ”

Qin Siyang was stunned: "How to deal with it? Don't these cabinets have a plan?"

"Your Majesty," Zhong Xuan replied in a lofty voice, "The cabinet is only giving advice, and it is up to the emperor how to do it." ”

"This—" Qin Siyang set his eyes on the Queen Mother again.

The Queen Mother sat back in her position, her eyes glanced down from the top, and the corners of her mouth hooked up a sneer: "Lord Zhong, you are the head of the household department, can you tell me about the income and expenditure of the household department last year?"

Zhong Xuanchong frowned: "Last year, the total tax revenue of the state treasury was 47,532,020,000 taels, and the expenditures reported by various ministries last year totaled 51,400,000 taels. ”

The Queen Mother raised her eyebrows: "I remember that the account reported by the Ministry of Household Affairs before the year was already a deficit of five million taels." Last year, according to what Lord Zhong said just now, there was a deficit of 3.8 million taels, so in this way, the household still has money?"

Zhong Xuanchong kowtowed again and cried: "Yes, what the Queen Mother said is right, the bottom of the household has been hollowed out in the past few years. The old minister is incompetent, and the old minister doesn't know the family of Da Zhou - he doesn't know what to do. ”

After playing with her to retreat into advance, the Queen Mother snorted in her heart, raised her eyes, and raised her voice again: "Hu Ge Lao, why don't you speak, as the head of the cabinet, don't you have anything to say?"

Hu Yansong, the first assistant of the cabinet, was originally the one who turned around and wanted to leave, but it can be seen that Zhong Xuanchong suddenly bowed down and couldn't leave, and when he saw this, he had no choice but to stand still and not leave. Although he entered the cabinet earlier than Zhong Xuanchong, he was the first assistant. But in terms of age and qualifications, work ability, and handling methods, he is not as good as Zhong Xuanzong. Therefore, since Zhong Xuanchong entered the cabinet, he Hu Yansong has not been more useful than him Zhong Xuanchong several times, since the previous two cabinet chiefs and assistants have left, although this cabinet is nominally he Hu Yansong is the first assistant, but in fact, every time the cabinet deliberates, the person who makes the decision is the second assistant Zhong Xuanchong.

He, Hu Yansong, is really just the nominal head of the cabinet, and he can't stand up to it.

Now that he suddenly heard the Queen Mother ask his opinion, Hu Yansong could only step forward and bow his head and replied: "Back to the Queen Mother, the old minister thinks that the deficit of the household department is caused by excessive expenditure, and the ministries should budget their expenses as appropriate, try to avoid excessive expenditure, and save money if they can." Don't expect this number at the beginning of the year, and report that number at the end of the year. In this way, the ministries can spend reasonably, and with the cooperation of the ministries, the family of this household can go on. ”

"Cutting back? "The person who suddenly spoke loudly was Tan Jilun, the left waiter of the household department," said Master Hu, who went to ask which department could reduce the expenditure. This time, because the household department really has no money, we can't do it, and we can only press a few of the cabinet reports sent by the ministries without signing. Because of this, since the beginning of the year, just after the national funeral of the first emperor, people from several departments began to block the entrance of the household department every day, crying and grabbing the ground to ask us to sign for them. What kind of situation has become of this trouble, the elder has also seen it, three days ago the elder came to the transfer department for an expense of the Ministry of Works, isn't it?"

Tan Jilun said this, without the Queen Mother's words, he suddenly rejected Hu Yansong's idea of reducing expenses.

Reducing expenses, in fact, this is what the Queen Mother meant. At the beginning of the year, she had secretly summoned several close ministers to discuss the matter. The treasury has been running out for years, and it doesn't matter if it doesn't work. And there are only two ways to manage this, either increase income or reduce expenses. It is said that there are several ways to increase income, but when you talk about it in detail, all of them touch the actual interests of her queen mother's family and cannot be implemented. If income is not enough, the only way to think about it is to reduce expenses.

When it comes to reduction, the first Ministry of Industry is in the hands of her Queen Mother, so the reduction of the Ministry of Industry is naturally not in the scope of consideration. There are only five other ones she considers.

But today, as soon as Hu Yansong brought up the matter of reduction, Tan Jilun replied on the spot, and at the end of the conversation, he also pointed directly at the Ministry of Industry openly and secretly. This, what does this mean?

The Queen Mother's face darkened for a moment.

Hu Yanhao saw that the Queen Mother's face had changed, and she also understood that she was angry, so she hurriedly kowtowed and said: "What Lord Tan said is that reducing expenses will indeed greatly relieve all departments. But the household department is in charge of my Da Zhou's accounts and revenues, and compared to being surrounded by a bunch of ministers to block this sesame trivial matter, Lord Tan should know what is more difficult and more important. The most important thing is to take care of my big week's money bag. ”

Tan Jilun sneered: "As the elder said, how to manage it?"

Hu Yanhao's face stiffened: "It's simple, don't let people spend money casually." ”

What kind of words is this, don't let people spend money casually, it's really easy to say, think about today, who is the most indiscriminate spending money? What a fucking thief shouting to catch a thief. Tan Jilun really wanted to laugh out loud, but in front of the emperor and the queen mother, it was impossible for him to laugh. He could only suppress the arrogance rising in his heart, closed his mouth tightly, glared at Hu Gelao, and stopped talking.

As soon as Tan Jilun didn't speak, Hu Yanhao smiled. I think that the person who has always been the most courageous and the most talkative in this matter will not say it, who will say more.

Since Zhong Xuanchong joined the cabinet, he has more things to manage, and the affairs of the household department have gradually been handed over to Tan Jilun, the left waiter. At this time, he was also very embarrassed because of this deficit in the household department. Today's matter, listening to the meaning of the Queen Mother and Hu Yanhao, he can already feel that the Queen Mother is thinking of taking advantage of the deficit of the household department to suppress the ministers of the DPRK and China.

Zhong Xuanchong was silent for a while, and he didn't speak, Tan Jilun didn't speak, and the other departments panicked because they suddenly heard Hu Yanhao come up with a plan to reduce expenses. Everyone pointed to the household department to loosen their mouths and give money to do things, and they would not talk to the gun, so naturally they all shut up together.

For a while, in the Qianqing Palace of Nuoda, there was no other sound except for the sound of breathing.

Seeing this, the Queen Mother was secretly overjoyed for a while, coughed lightly, straightened her body and said, "This is the best way for Hu Ge Lao." When the emperor was there, the situation was unstable, and there was constant chaos in various places. The first emperor fought everywhere for the sake of my Great Zhou Dynasty, and the silver was spent a little more, and the usage habits were also larger. Now, the events in various places have been removed, and the new emperor has succeeded at the beginning, and everything is still unknown. All the ministers are important ministers in the court, and everything must be borne for the emperor first. Don't have nothing to do all day long, just bother the emperor with a bunch of things. Of course, don't expect to see the emperor at a young age and come by himself, understand?"

Most of the ministers standing below immediately replied: "The Queen Mother is Shengming, the minister understands." ”

Only a few led by Zhong Xuanchong hung their heads, closed their mouths tightly, and did not say a word.

The Queen Mother looked at it, frowned slightly, slowed down, and asked again, "Elder Zhong Ge, do you understand?"

Zhong Xuanchong was stunned, bowed down slightly, trembled, and replied: "The old minister understands. ”

"What about Lord Tan?" said the Queen Mother coldly again.

Tan Jilun gritted his teeth, looked at his old superior, Zhong Xuanchong, and saw him nodding slightly at him, he could only endure it, kowtowed and replied: "Weichen understands." ”

"Good. The queen mother smiled and nodded, and after a few words of advice to the ministers below because the emperor was young, she spoke again, "Okay, it's not early at this time, look at the sky outside, it's noon." This is the Qianqing Palace, and the emperor is not good at keeping the ministers to eat, and the mourning family is going back to Cining Palace to rest. Let's just disperse. Let's talk about everything tomorrow. (To be continued.) )