38 New accounts, old accounts

"Sikong Mansion is in charge of civil engineering construction in the world, as for how much it costs to build the Danzhou city wall, this belongs to both city defense deployment and civil construction, Sikong Mansion said that it is most appropriate," Han Zhi led the conversation to Sikong Cui Shi of the Winter Palace.

Cui Shi understood, so he opened a book on the desk, and while reading, he explained: "At that time, after the earth movement occurred, the heavenly palace received the report, so he ordered the underground palace to pull out 1.3 million taels of silver, however, these silver, not all of them were used in the construction of city defense, of which, 653,000 taels were used to buy grain, medicinal materials, wood and stone along the way to Danzhou, to help the victims and soldiers, and the remaining 647,000 taels were used to build the city wall. All these pieces of silver have a detailed account in the summer palace, and there is no need to say much about it. However, as of half a month ago, the Winter Palace issued a document to inquire, Danzhou Thorn Shi and the guard general almost requisitioned sixty percent of the local people, for four months in a row, day and night to rush to work, will be repaired seven zhang high, the remaining three zhang, if the court does not allocate grain and grass, Danzhou City is afraid that it is already stretched and difficult to maintain. It is now nearly May, and the local crops are harvested in the middle of July, that is to say, the imperial court wants to supply a total of 600,000 people in Danzhou for two and a half months, so that 30 people will consume 20,000 stone of grain every day, and 1.5 million stone of grain will be required in two and a half months, and a total of about 300,000 taels of silver will be needed according to the market price, plus the wood, stone, copper and iron used to build the five-zhang high city wall, and more than 340,000 taels of silver will be needed. Therefore, just to build the city defense of Danzhou, the imperial court needs to allocate about 650,000 taels of silver. ”

"That is to say, your summer palace Sima, the winter palace Sikong, the two Guangjun salaries and the Danzhou city defense, will go to more than four million taels at once, and there are more than eight million taels left in the treasury, and you will take half of them at once?" After listening to Han Zhi and Cui Shi's recital, Si Kou Yuwen Shen couldn't sit still for a while, and immediately asked with wide eyes.

"The second brother is too lax in his speech." Seeing Yuwen Shen's intervention, Yu Wenxun immediately responded: "What do you mean by 'you' summer palace and winter palace. What is the meaning of 'the two of them are going to go halfway' Summer Palace, it is the summer palace of the Great Zhou, the Winter Palace, it is the Winter Palace of the Great Zhou, Han Sima Cui Sikong is also impartial and detailed, asking the court to allocate money and grain, not for his own selfish interests, besides, it depends on his father whether he approves it or not, what are you anxious about? ”

Everyone's eyes suddenly became nervous, looking at Yu Wenxun, and expected to Yu Wenshen.

Yu Wenshen was stunned by the eldest brother's words, but then came back to his senses and said with a hint of anger: "Is it me who doesn't speak rigorously?" This is Shanhaitang, a place for ministers to discuss matters, not your family's Hailu Garden, where are there any brothers? One of you is in the summer palace and the other is in the winter palace, what's wrong with saying 'you'? Besides, according to the amount they reported just now, if half of the more than 8 million taels of silver are taken away, what do you ask Da Situ to take for disaster relief in the summer and autumn rainy season, and whether or not the officials in various places should be paid? ”

"The priority of the matter, if the military salary is in arrears and the army's morale is unstable, what will we do to defend the country? If the city defense of Danzhou cannot be rebuilt, the people of Qi will drive straight in, and then the Great Zhou wolf smoke will be everywhere, and the war will start again, can you afford these consequences? Yu Wenxun asked sharply. The candlelight beside him flickered.

"Respect the king first, then destroy it. If you want to go outside, you must first settle inside. Don't the world understand this truth? Yu Wenshen did not have the slightest intention of giving in, and continued: "The invasion of the Qi State must be in the rainy season, when the hungry people are everywhere and there is no relief, and the chaos has caused the internal affairs of my Great Zhou to be unstable. Blindly fighting hard is costly. Strong on the outside and dry in the middle, you want your father to ...... Oh no, does Tsukasa have a reputation for being a reckless soldier? ”

"You are presumptuous!" Yu Wenxun stood up and shouted suddenly, and there were echoes in the empty Shanhai Hall.

"Isn't the prince confined to studying in the house? How did it come out? In the face of Yu Wenxun's roar, Yu Wenshen did not get angry, but asked with a sneer, and immediately poked Yu Wenxun's pain.

"You ......" Yu Wenxun was speechless for a moment.

"That's it!" Yuwen Hu saw that the two sons were arguing again, and if they quarreled again, they were afraid that they would shake out the princess's affairs, so they shouted to stop, and then said: "Yuwen Shen is right! This is the court discussion, all the courtiers here are the courtiers of the Great Zhou, there is no father, the son, and the family affairs will be discussed later. Since it's a discussion, Yuwenxun and Yuwenshen have their own disputes, so let's continue to talk about it. ”

When the two brothers saw their father talking, they stopped arguing, glared at each other, and sat back in their places.

Seeing that the atmosphere had eased slightly, Da Situ Lianghe cleared his throat and said, "Just now, Cui Sikong of the Winter Palace calculated the accounts for the Summer Palace, 600,000 people need one hundred and fifty stone of grain for two and a half months, which is 350,000 taels of silver, right?" I don't dare to agree, the 1.5 million stone grain and grass, not necessarily need to be collected from the people at market prices, can be mobilized from the nearby official warehouses, some of the official warehouses in various places are military grain, and some are government grain storage, as long as the underground palace Situ and the autumn palace Sima each issue an order, the official warehouse near Danzhou will be transferred to Danzhou, and when the autumn harvest has passed, the new grain will be replenished, so that the more than 300,000 taels can be saved more than half. Tsukazai, everyone, what do you think? ”

Yuwen Wu thought for a moment, then nodded.

Liang He's suggestion cut down the 350,000 taels of silver that Sikong Cui Shi needed to allocate at once, but Tsukasa Jae Yu Wenhu had already nodded, and Cui Shi didn't say anything anymore. After a short period of silence, Da Situ Lianghe said: "Since this is the case, then after going back, the Situ Mansion of the Underground Palace and the Sima Mansion of the Summer Palace each issued a transfer order, ordering the state and county official warehouses near Danzhou to transfer the grain storage to Danzhou for the purpose of reinforcing the city defense, the army and the people. The ...... of Brother Cui's note will not be stamped with the seal, but only the book of Sima Mansion's allocation of military salaries. ”

Liang He finished speaking and looked at Gonggong Xiao. Gonggong Xiao nodded, and then held the recital in front of Han Zhi in front of Shizi, who spread out the recital and stamped it, but this time it didn't seem to be as upright as last time.

"Okay, the two sums proposed by Sima Mansion and Sikong Mansion have already been settled, do you have anything else to add?" Liang He asked.

Han Zhi didn't talk, but leaned back and looked at Cui Shi next to him. Cui Shi picked up another book on the table and said: "Sikong Mansion is in charge of all the major civil engineering construction in Dazhou, and it is not only Danzhou that needs to be built. The treasury has the difficulties of the treasury, so many of the major items newly built by the Sikong Mansion have been put aside as appropriate, but there is one item that cannot be delayed. It has been reported that the section of the Lingjiang Chuzhou section in the upper reaches of the left reaches of the river and the Fengzhou section of the Nanze River, since it was rebuilt five years ago, after more than a dozen flood peaks over the years, many rivers have been congested by sediment, and I am afraid that they will not be able to survive this year's waterlogging flood peak. ”

"A section of Lingjiang Chuzhou, the Fengzhou section of the Nanze River as early as five years ago, the imperial court has pulled out two million taels of silver, and requisitioned nearly 100,000 conscripts for overhaul, and in the past five years, more than 300,000 taels have been allocated every year to repair at any time along the way, even you Cui Sikong patted his chest and said that this section of the embankment is already impregnable, but now you say that you can't bear this year's flood peak, then please ask Cui Sikong to give a reasonable explanation, is the more than 3.5 million taels of silver piled up on the embankment, or placed in other unknown places?" Yuwen saw that Cui Shi was still looking for a reason to ask for silver, so he questioned Xiao Sikong Cui Shi again.

Cui Shi saw that Yuwen was deeply troubled, so he replied tentatively: "What do you mean by what the second son said?" The silver was drawn out by the signature of the big Situ, and how it was spent in Sikong Mansion has account records, and it is backed up in Situ Mansion. Moreover, the Chuzhou section of the Lingjiang River and the Fengzhou section of the Nanze River are flat, and there are many alluvial sand and gravel silt in the middle and upper reaches of the river, and most of the more than 300,000 taels of silver are used for dredging every year. According to the Fengzhou Thorn History Report: The place where the silt accumulation is most serious, and the height of the river embankment is less than one zhang, and the flood washes down with the sediment, how can it resist? ”

"Audit? Can your rotten account stand up to scrutiny? Yuwen sneered: "Throw your account in the moat, I'm afraid the water level of the moat will rise by a foot." Cui Sikong, this son thinks that if 3.5 million taels of silver are melted into a river embankment and grown on the edge of the river, it can support it for ten or eight years, even if the river is to be dredged, the people not only have to pay taxes a year, but also have to go out into forced labor, where do you need to spend so much silver? Now that the treasury is in short supply, not only do you not think about the difficulties of the society, but you also have to set up a clever name and build a large number of buildings. Do you dare to say that the more than 3.5 million taels of silver were all spent on repairing the river embankment? As far as this son knows, Cui Sikong has built a courtyard in the south of Chang'an City, pavilions, pavilions, Lianhu rockery, there is no shortage of everything, and he also married a concubine in the fifth room. Hey? The prince also went to congratulate him, right? ”

"Childe, you ......" Cui Shi was speechless. Then he looked at Tsukasa Jae Yuwen Hu above, Yuwen Hu didn't even look at him, just frowned, and two breaths came out of his nose.

"Second brother, it's a discussion now, don't sneer and pull over old accounts! Cui Sikong's official residence has nine lives, build a yard and take a concubine, what's the fuss, there are more dignitaries and nobles in Chang'an, and that is not three wives, four concubines, five houses and six courtyards. Can your unsubstantiated words solve the deficit in the treasury? Yu Wenxun saw that the second brother was sarcastic again, and he was unwarranted to accuse him of turning over old accounts, and he was afraid that something would come out again, so he immediately spoke out to stop it.