Jinyang County is Taiyuan City, here is the land of Longxing of the Tang Dynasty, was named the northern capital, the city is wide, the population is large, and the reserves of grain, grass and materials are extremely rich.

The current Taiyuan left-behind guard is Li Huaiguang, who was reused by the imperial court, transferred to Taiyuan last autumn, and commanded 20,000 Taiyuan left-behind troops.

And Taiyuan Mansion Yin is Yuan Lu's brother Yuan Chu, the Yuan family also invested a lot of money in the Taiyuan army, basically the middle-level and above generals were bought by the Yuan family, and even Li Huaiguang also got the benefits of the Yuan family's tens of thousands of dollars, so he turned a blind eye to the Yuan family's bribery of his own generals.

In fact, of the 20,000 troops in Taiyuan, Li Huaiguang only controlled half of them, and the other half was in the hands of Han Xiuming, the Taiyuan soldier and horse envoy, and Han Xiuming was Yuan Xuanhu's niece and son-in-law.

Yuan Lu came to the Taiyuan Mansion and found his brother Yuan Chu, the two brothers entered the back hall and sat down, Yuan Chu waved his hand and asked several entourages to retreat, Yuan Lu took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Yuan Chu, "This is a letter from your father, you can take a look at it first!" ”

Yuan Chu opened the letter and read it, he must absolutely obey his father's arrangement, there is no room for bargaining, he nodded, "Please tell my father, I will do it!" ”

"It's not as simple as doing it, it's about doing things well and doing them beautifully."

"When I say that, of course I know what to do."

Yuan Chu didn't want to argue with his brother about this topic, so he smiled and asked, "How is the training over there in the manor?" ”

Yuan Lu shook his head, "I'm very disappointed, after training for so many years, I don't know how much money I cast, I still feel like a rabble, basically nothing has changed from last year." ”

"That's because my brother is too demanding."

"Where do I have high requirements, you have also seen Li Sheng's army! That combat effectiveness is called strong, 10,000 troops can top other people's 30,000 troops, and our Zhuang army doesn't even have half of the combat effectiveness of others, so I'm disappointed. ”

Yuan Chu shook his head, and changed the topic again: "What is the situation on Guo Song's side, is there any hope for the Yuan family to take revenge?" ”

"The Son of Heaven has already killed Guo Song, but he didn't dare to force him too hard, forced him to rebel, and made it difficult for the court to take care of both ends, and my father estimated that after the war in the Central Plains subsided, the Son of Heaven would definitely take him under the knife."

Yuan Chu smiled bitterly and said, "I'm afraid the war in the Central Plains is about to take a turn." ”

Yuan Lu hurriedly asked, "Why?" ”

"I heard what Li Huaiguang said, the eunuch supervised the army Song Chaofeng blindly commanded, and Li Mian had a deep contradiction, in addition, the Tang army could not attack Qizhou for a long time, and the Son of Heaven began to be anxious, Li Huaiguang also criticized the Son of Heaven, saying that he did not reach it if he wanted to hurry, and the siege was too urgent, and there would definitely be chaos."

Yuan Lu pondered for a moment and said, "Maybe this is an opportunity!" ”

Yuan Chu said with a smile: "The reason why the battle situation in the Central Plains has really turned is not this, and the financial resources of the imperial court have been exhausted. ”

Yuan Lu was taken aback, "Is it so serious?" ”

Yuan Chu nodded, "The army of Taiyuan Mansion alone owes half a year, and the officials' salaries have not been paid for half a year, Li Huaiguang told me every day that if the imperial court does not pay any more, the army will not be able to support the family, and it will definitely rebel." ”

.........

It has been more than four months since the Battle of the Central Plains was launched in the spring of February, and the war has become more and more intense, and the entire Central Plains, Hebei, Hedong and Jianghuai have been involved in the war.

The financial resources of the government are becoming more and more tight, the salaries of the court officials have not been issued for three months, and the military salaries that should have been allocated to the western armies have all been used for the eastern war, and the imperial court has not allocated military salaries to the western armies for five consecutive months, and there have been local mutinies in the Longyou Army and Fengxiang Army, although they have been extinguished in time and there have been no major problems, but this is already a bad warning.

Li Shi was so anxious that he issued seven holy decrees to Song Chaofeng and Li Mian, ordering them to capture Licheng County before the end of the month and end the Qizhou Campaign.

At the same time, he issued an order to Liu Qia and Ge Shuyao, ordering them to exterminate Li Xilie as soon as possible and restore Jianghuai Caoyun, Caoyun could not pass, Jiangnan money and grain could not pass, the copper money in the imperial court's left treasury was less than 100,000 yuan, and the silk was only more than 200,000 horses.

In the imperial study, Li Shi was listening to Lu Qi and Li Yu's financial reports.

Lu Qi bowed and said: "Your Majesty, there is still half a year before the two taxes are levied, and the taxation is definitely unrealistic, but Weichen feels that the copper coins in the Chang'an market are still relatively sufficient, so it is better to sell some of the artifacts in the Zuo Zang Treasury, and a lot of money can be recovered." ”

Lu Qi inspected the Zuozang warehouse yesterday and found that there were still a large number of gold and silverware, jade, porcelain, Shu brocade, carpets, ivory and other luxury goods in the warehouse.

"How much do you get for selling them?"

"Wechen is estimated to have about two million?"

"How much do we have to spend?" Li Shi asked Li Midao again.

Li Mi bowed down and said, "Your Majesty, the arrears are about 10 million yuan. ”

Li Shi waved his hand, "The military expenses of the western Jiedu Prefecture are not considered for the time being, how much do you still owe on the eastern battlefield now?" ”

"About five million guan."

Li Mi couldn't help but persuade: "Your Majesty, and the officials' salaries, they haven't paid since February, I heard that many middle and low-level officials have begun to sell their property to make a living, and there are still many people who can't pay the rent and have to move to live in farmhouses outside the city, so I still give a little bit." ”

Li Shi knocked on the table dissatisfied, "I know that they are difficult, who is not difficult now?" Yesterday, the ordnance superintendent told me that it has been almost a year since the materials owed to the craftsmen were gone, and the stock materials were almost exhausted, and now the ordnance superintendent has stopped working, there are no craftsmen to build weapons, and the inventory of armor is gone.

But this one alone has to pay 3 million yuan, and the guards are also making trouble, saying that they haven't been paid for half a year, and yesterday hundreds of guards knelt on the ground and cried to me, let me do what? ”

Li Mi gritted his teeth and said, "Your Majesty, if you really can't do it, just borrow a little from the Qionglin Library!" ”

Li Shi's face changed greatly, and he stared at Li Yu viciously, "I don't understand what you're talking about?" ”

The two treasurys of Qionglin Treasury and Daying Treasury are Li Shi's private treasury, including the rents collected from the major imperial houses, the profits earned by the imperial merchants, and even the income from Li Shi's bribery from the ministers, and the most important thing is the property confiscated after the fall of several huge corruption, Li Fuguo, Lu Sigong, Yu Chaoen, Yuan Zai, etc., half of which went into the imperial court's Zuozang, and the other half went into the emperor's private treasury.

Qionglin Treasury and Daying Treasury are in the hands of eunuchs, and the various riches accumulated in them are worth at least tens of millions of yuan, Li Mi has long wanted to persuade the Son of Heaven to take out some of them to save the emergency, and today he finally found an opportunity to make this request.

Li Shi has always been extremely stingy, his private treasury has always been only in and out, the last time he paid was the dowry that the county lords married last year, more than 90 county lords spent him millions of yuan, which has already made him heartbroken, and let him pay millions of yuan out, it is better to kill him directly.

Lu Qi knew that the Son of Heaven would definitely be reluctant to pay for his own money, so he hurriedly interrupted the topic, "Your Majesty, I still listened to Wei Chen's suggestion, sold the utensils, and more or less had a little money to pay for the army." ”

Li Shi nodded, "I'm right, you can discuss this matter!" ”

Li Mi had no choice but to retire with Lu Qi.

Li Shi was distraught and paced back and forth in the room, there was no money! It is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, there is no money, and he, the emperor, is too aggrieved.

At this time, Huo Xianming suggested in a low voice: "Your Majesty, there are many nobles in Chang'an, such as Guo Ziyi's Mansion, Wu Zhongru's Mansion, etc., all of which have huge family wealth, and now that the country is in trouble, it is time for them to contribute money and efforts." ”

Li Shi nodded, this is actually a good way, Li Yu didn't fight their idea, but worried about his own warehouse, which is really hateful!

"Let me think about it!"

Huo Xianming saw that the Son of Heaven was already moved, and immediately reported: "Your Majesty, Tian Wenxiu is back to report on his work!" ”

Li Shi was immediately furious, "What is he doing when he comes back?" Have I summoned him back? ”

"Your Majesty is angry, it is better to listen to what he has to say, he must also have a last resort."

Li Shi snorted heavily, "Let him come to see me!" ”

Not long after, Tian Wenxiu almost ran in, knelt on the ground and cried loudly, "I didn't expect the slave to see Your Majesty!" ”

Li Shi was upset by his crying, and slapped the table and shouted, "Okay! All right! Don't cry anymore, I'm going to be annoyed. ”

Tian Wenxiu didn't dare to cry anymore, he wiped away his tears and said: "The slave's prison palace was closely monitored by the soldiers sent by Guo Song, and no report could be sent. ”

Li Shi took out his last prison report from under the drawer, and said with some dissatisfaction: "There are some problems in your report, which I can't believe, you said that he built a palace in the north of the city, and I specially investigated, but there is no such thing, how can you explain?" ”

"Your Majesty, Weichen is not lying, but the expression may be wrong, although he did not build a new palace, but he did build a Taoist temple, called Laojun Temple, the original area was only five acres, now expanded to three hundred acres, built brilliantly, imposing, nominally a Taoist temple, but as long as the brand is changed, it is a palace."

Tian Wenxiu also learned the lesson of the last time, and tried to get closer to the truth, Guo Song did open up a hundred acres of vacant land behind Laojunguan, but that was to build a warehouse to store saltpeter and sulfur.

"I will naturally check what you say, and I will ask you again, is Guo Song's wife pregnant?"

"This is a slave's intelligence is wrong, the slave's subordinates have recognized the wrong person, his wife is indeed pregnant and has given birth to a son."

Li Shi nodded, "Let's talk about his current situation!" ”