Chapter 32: The Great Locusts of the World

Zhu Qizhen returned to the palace and went directly to the cabinet.

The seven members of the cabinet, including Zhang Fu, are no longer there.

Although the sky had darkened, the sound of locusts flying had not diminished at all.

Wang Zhen instructed the eunuchs to close all the windows, so as to block the sound outside, even in the courtyard of the palace, it was densely covered with locusts.

Cao Jixiang took the eunuchs and palace maids in the palace at this moment, one counts as one, and they are all desperately trying to exterminate the locusts, but the locusts almost seem to be dead.

Zhu Qizhen glanced outside through the last closed window, turned his head to look at Yang Shiqi and the others, and said, "Gentlemen, what should I do now?" ”

Yang Shiqi said: "The minister thinks that first of all, Zhili will be exempted from this year's summer tax. ”

Zhu Qizhen said: "How much is the summer tax this year?" ”

Wang Zhi said: "Five hundred and fifty-seven thousand stones." ”

Zhu Qizhen said: "Excuse me, the cabinet will immediately draft a decree." Exempt Zhili Province and Shuncheon Province from this year's summer tax. ”

Yang Shiqi said: "Order all prefectures and counties to buy locusts, and every stone is a penny. It's just that the household department doesn't have enough money and food. ”

Zhu Qizhen naturally knew that what Yang Shiqi said was half-true.

Half-truths are the household department's money and food, and there is really not much money.

After all, there is no gold and silver in the household department. Even the total amount of silver and grain stored in the household department is not as much as that of the inner treasury. This is also the means of the Empress Dowager.

Otherwise, where did the Empress Dowager deduct more than 30 million taels of silver, and there is more in one place, and naturally there is less in one place.

Of course, the household department will not be empty.

It's just that Yang Shiqi doesn't want to rely on Neiku for everything, and he must keep some family funds and face special circumstances.

Zhu Qizhen didn't have the heart to argue at the moment, and said, "Okay, let the household report it." ”

Yang Shiqi said: "The minister is going to send ministers to inspect the affected areas in various places and deal with them with cameras. ”

Zhu Qizhen said: "Okay, who does Mr. think he should send out?" ”

Yang Shiqi suddenly said a series of lists, Zhu Qizhen listened, they were all in the Hanlin Academy, Zhu Qizhen glanced at Yang Shiqi. In the past few years, Zhu Qizhen has preferred ministers with local experience, and everyone knows it.

Yang Shiqi can also be regarded as finding a way for the Jishi of the Hanlin Academy.

Originally, most of the cabinet members were from the Hanlin Academy, and there was an unspoken rule that non-Hanlin was not allowed to enter the cabinet.

But after all, this is the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the cabinet has only been established for decades, and many rules are not ironclad. Naturally, it changed because of the emperor's attitude.

Zhu Qizhen said: "Accurate." ”

Zhu Qizhen only looked at the ministers who had made achievements in the local government, but he did not discriminate against the Hanlin Academy, after all, no matter what, they were able to kill themselves from the layers of imperial examinations and have a good ranking, which is very telling.

Yang Shiqi then said again

There are several, but in general, disaster relief, locust catching, tax exemption and other routines.

Zhu Qizhen pondered for a while, and suddenly said to Zhang Fu: "British duke, can the Beijing camp fight?" ”

When Zhang Fu heard this, he immediately understood the meaning of Zhu Qizhen's words, and Zhu Qizhen wanted to send the Beijing camp to hunt locusts.

Zhang Fu said: "As long as His Majesty gives an order, although the Beijing camp can go to war, but the north is not quiet, if something happens to the Beijing Division, the ministers will not be forgiven, and the ministers think that at least half of the soldiers will be left to guard the Beijing Division, and the rest of the guards, with the prince as the general, will be distributed directly under the local government and specialize in catching locusts." ”

Zhu Qizhen said: "Okay, I will order Cheng Guogong, and Wei Guogong will be the ambassador of the locust hunting left and right, and will be responsible for the locust plague in the nearby prefectures and counties of Zhili." The Cabinet immediately drew up the decree. ”

Yang Shiqi immediately said: "The ministers receive the order." ”

Zhu Qizhen advised: "Order all the princes, come to see me tomorrow morning, I have something to say." ”

However, after a while, Zhu Qizhen and Yang Shiqi finalized a lot of government affairs together, and Zhu Qizhen was ready to return to the palace.

Not to mention anything else, even if half of the hundreds of thousands of troops in this Beijing division are out, there are at least 200,000, who goes where to catch locusts, who goes to where to relieve disasters, and where to inspect.

All kinds of orders were passed on to the prefectures and counties.

It's all troublesome things.

But no, when Zhu Qizhen was about to leave, Ma Yu, who had not spoken, suddenly came out and said: "Your Majesty, from last year to now, there have been great floods and droughts and locusts, and there should be traitors who control the government. ”

Yang Shiqi listened to Ma Yu's words, his eyes moved slightly, and he actually narrowed.

Yang Pu listened to Ma Yu's words, his face was a little stunned, and then his face was as usual, as if nothing had happened. One of the rest of the people counts as one, and they are all old foxes. Immediately did not speak.

For a while, in the Wenyuan Pavilion, it was quiet.

Zhu Qizhen looked at Ma Yu, but saw that Ma Yu looked unmoved.

Zhu Qizhen said lightly: "Ma Qing, who do you think is a traitor?" ”

Ma Yu said: "The minister doesn't know, only His Majesty is the holy judge." It's just that the days are not constant, and if you live in the three princesses, you always have to give an explanation to the world. ”

Zhu Qizhen said secretly in his heart: "Fortunately, you didn't say that it was Yang Shiqi, otherwise today would be the time to leave the cabinet." In fact, Zhu Qizhen also knew that what Ma Yu said was not necessarily unreasonable.

Of course, this truth is not that there are traitors in the court, but to give an explanation to the world.

This kind of thing has been common since the induction of heaven and man. Not once or twice. Especially in the Eastern Han Dynasty, every time there is a solar eclipse, the three gongs must be exempted.

It's child's play.

But this seemingly absurd situation has its own logic and context.

It is as if the responsibility for this catastrophe is placed on one person and he is dismissed. The emperor seems to be innocent.

It's just that Zhu Qizhen is ten thousand at the moment

Wan is inseparable from Yang Shiqi.

This kind of situation of internal and external troubles can only be controlled by Yang Shiqi.

So at this critical time, no matter what Zhu Qizhen did Yang Shiqi, he had to protect Yang Shiqi.

"There have been all kinds of things, and I have bowed down." Zhu Qizhen said: "With Ma Qing's words, I will make an edict against myself." ”

When Ma Yu heard this, he knelt on the ground with a plop and said, "How dare the minister say this? ”

Yang Shiqi was also taken aback, he didn't expect that Zhu Qizhen would be involved in the edict. The so-called lord worries about the humiliation of the minister, and the lord humiliates the minister to death. If the emperor has made an edict, what kind of people are these auxiliary ministers?

Yang Shiqi said: "And from time to time today, I ask Your Majesty to send a prince to worship the gods of the world. With the righteousness of the people's hearts, it is just the words of His Majesty's guilty edict, and it must not be declared, this is forcing the ministers to die. ”

Zhu Qizhen said: "Then Mr. Yang." ”

Zhu Qizhen looked at Ma Yu deeply and said, "I thought this natural disaster was like this, isn't it that the Criminal Department has a strange injustice?" Bachelor Ma, it's still a good student to do things. ”

Ma Yu said: "The minister obeys the order. It's just that Ma Yu's tone trembled a little.

Zhu Qizhen flicked his sleeves and left.

Yang Shiqi made arrangements, and the people below went their own way. As Zhu Qizhen thought, today is a sleepless night for them.

Everyone left, only Yang Shiqi was on duty in the cabinet, and Yang Pu stayed at the end.

Yang Pu saw that everyone else was gone, and with a wave of his hand, he let the people below leave. Yang Pu said to Yang Shiqi: "Dongli Gong, today's incident was not instructed by me. ”

Yang Shiqi smiled faintly and said, "I know, it was Ma Yu who made his own decisions. After all, if you were to do it, you wouldn't choose this time of day. ”

Yang Pu smiled lightly and said, "It's still Dongli who knows me." ”

"It's just an idiot who thinks it's wrong." Yang Shiqi said lightly, dipping the brush twice in the inkstone as he spoke.

Yang Pu heard Yang Shiqi's words, and his face suddenly froze. After a while, he said, "Dongli Gong doesn't believe me? ”

Yang Shiqi said: "Do you think I believe it or not? ”

The two old men, who were more than one hundred and fifty years old together, suddenly smiled after a long time. Yang Shiqi said: "This position, if you want it, I will give it to you." I didn't want to sit for a long time, or if I didn't repay Emperor Hou's kindness, I would have hung up my crown and left. ”

Yang Pu said: "Dongli Gong." Gao Feng Liang Festival, I am absolutely inferior, I have been in the cabinet all my life, and when I am old, I must always engrave the four words of the cabinet on my tombstone. ”

"A little fame will not be extinguished, which makes Dongli Gongjian smile."

Yang Shiqi chuckled: "It's easy to say, it's easy to say." ”

Between the two old men's seemingly joking, the political alliance that lasted for more than ten years officially broke up after Yang Rong's death.