Liu Ximing stood up with a smile, bowed down and said, "Your Majesty, the prince, the minister does have something important to do." ”

"At the beginning of the month, His Majesty ordered his ministers to maintain order in Beijing, and there has been a breakthrough in this matter......

Liu Ximing talked about the transaction between himself and Cheng Guogong and others, and when he heard that it was this group of nobles who were making trouble behind his back, Chongzhen's father and son's faces all changed.

The court is so difficult, and you are still taking advantage of the fire behind your back.

Zhu Cihong's face turned red with anger, "These nobles should be killed!" ”

"Be cautious", Chongzhen said with some dissatisfaction, and then looked at Wang Chengen, "The people on duty in the palace today will all be given white silk." ”

"Your Majesty spares your life."

"The Master Spends His Life"

More than 20 palace maids and little eunuchs in the palace were so frightened that they knelt on the ground and cried and begged for mercy.

But it was useless, as soon as Wang Chengen opened his mouth, the brocade-clothed pro-army waiting outside the door immediately came in and took the gang out with their mouths covered.

Zhu Cihong didn't expect that his words would cause death to these palace maids and eunuchs, a trace of pity flashed in his eyes, and he immediately wanted to intercede for these people.

Liu Xi hurriedly gently tugged at Zhu Cihong's sleeve and shook his head at his little face.

This evil feudal society.

When the hall was emptied, Chongzhen glared at Zhu Cihong, "You are the crown prince, you have to think twice about everything you say and do, if your words are spread, how can the country be stable." ”

"No matter how noble you are, it is also the pillar of the imperial court", seeing Zhu Cihong bowing his head in shame, Chongzhen sighed and comforted: "Don't blame yourself too much, you are still young after all." ”

After speaking, Chongzhen looked at Liu Ximing, "Since you traded with Cheng Guogong and others, how to deal with the price of rice in Beijing, won't this be your explanation to me, is it just because you tell the truth that you will not be punished?" ”

At the end of the words, Chongzhen's tone began to become stern.

Liu Ximing smiled unmoved, bowed and said, "The minister naturally doesn't dare to fool Your Majesty like this." ”

"The minister came late at night because there were two things to be done, one was the exchange between the minister and Cheng Guogong and others, in addition to the cost of transporting rice, there was another million taels of silver, and the minister knew that His Majesty had been worried about the emptiness of the treasury day and night recently, and he was willing to hand over all this money to the inner treasury."

"What?"

Without waiting for Liu Ximing to finish speaking, Chongzhen stood up from the dragon chair with an incredible look on his face.

In the main hall, Zhu Cihong and Wang Chengen also looked at Liu Ximing with shocked faces.

One million taels of silver!

What kind of concept is this, you must know that the annual treasury income of the Ming Dynasty is only more than three million taels of silver.

Of course, this does not mean that the DPRK's fiscal revenue is only 3 million taels, and that the taxes worth 20 million taels are all collected in the form of grain and cloth in kind.

Therefore, the total annual financial revenue of the Ming Dynasty should be around 23 million taels.

Even so, a million taels of silver is very unusual.

In later generations, there were rumors and legends that Li Zicheng scavenged tens of millions of taels of silver from Chongzhen's inner treasury, which was simply a fart in Liu Ximing's opinion.

As far as he can see, everything in the palace is very economical at the moment, and even the clothes on the queen and the crown prince are quite plain, and what emperor wants to keep a pile of silver in the treasury but live a hard life himself.

What he just said was to dedicate it to the inner treasury, which meant that this money was the emperor's private money, and how to spend it was all decided by Chongzhen alone, and how to not make the emperor cheer.

Chongzhen swept away his previous fierce color, and looked at Liu Ximing with joy on his face, "Is Aiqing's words true?" ”

"How dare the minister deceive Your Majesty", Liu Ximing said with a righteous face, "The minister was ordered by His Majesty to care for the people in Beijing, and now he has occasional gains, which should be regarded as the gains of his position, and should have been attributed to the public, how can he put it in his own pocket." ”

"A gentleman loves money, and he takes it in a good way!"

The crown prince Zhu Cihong looked at Liu Ximing's righteous words with a small starry face, and the image of Liu Ximing in his heart suddenly became several times taller.

On the throne, Chongzhen walked down with a flushed face and came to Liu Ximing.

"Aiqing is really my share, and I will live up to it."

It's just that after being happy, Chongzhen's suspicious temperament made another mistake, "By the way, where did Aiqing get so much food, and now that you have no back, what should you do in the capital?" ”

Liu Ximing had already prepared.

"Your Majesty, the minister foresaw this when he fought with the Dongyu a few months ago, so he entrusted a group of maritime merchants to resell grain from Annam to the capital, and now it is just in handy."

"As for the ministers, Your Majesty doesn't have to worry too much, in addition to this million stone grain, there is still a large amount of grain that will soon arrive in the capital, and the price of grain in Beijing will naturally be flattened by then."

"Hahaha", Chongzhen looked up to the sky and laughed, and even tears were about to burst out of his eyes.

"I laughed at the nobles such as Chengguo Gong and Dingguo Gong, and they were busy working in vain, but I didn't expect the bamboo basket to be empty, hahaha."

"Hmph, these people don't know how to understand the monarch when they are in danger, and they don't know how to be loyal to the royal family when they are rich, and they are going to use this opportunity to make them suffer a little."

Zhu Cihong obviously held a grudge against Cheng Guogong and others, and he was still indignant when he opened his mouth.

After speaking, he looked at Liu Ximing with some concern, turned his head to Chongzhen and said: "Father, it is beneficial for the country for Liu Qing to do this, but the sons are afraid that they will attack them en masse, and then I will ask my father to investigate." ”

"Minister, thank Your Highness for your kindness", Liu Ximing turned around and saluted a little moved.

Chongzhen nodded with a happy face, the prince's grace was done well, and his father and son joined forces, not afraid that Xin Amber would not be grateful to Dade.

"Don't worry, the prince is not worried about this, who is loyal and who is not, I know it in my heart."

After speaking, he turned his head to look at Liu Ximing, "The Qing family is loyal to state affairs, and you can finish this matter well, I will definitely make contributions to you in the court." ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty Longen", Liu Ximing turned over and bowed.

"Wang Daban took Xin Amber out of the palace, the prince stayed, I have something to say."

Seeing that Liu Xi's order was finished, Chongzhen commanded with joy in his heart.

Let Wang Chengen send Liu Ximing out firstly to show his favor, and secondly, to let them go to the inner treasury to send the silver later.

In the moonlight in the sky, Wang Chengen smiled and personally took Liu Ximing out of the Qianqing Palace and walked towards the palace gate.

"Xin Amber is really a great loyal minister", Wang Chengen personally walked in front of him with a lantern, chatting with Liu Ximing with a smile.

"None of those ministers in ordinary times are full of benevolence and righteousness, but if they really want to see money, they can't all go away, and our family has never seen such a person as the new Amber."

"It's just that in this way, the new Amber has offended all the nobles, aren't you afraid of their subsequent counterattack?"

Liu Ximing wanted to make the lantern himself, but Wang Chengen insisted on giving up.

Hearing Wang Chengen say this, he immediately smiled and took out a silver ticket and stuffed it into Wang Chengen's arms.

"Liu doesn't necessarily have no desires at all, this time he also made a small profit of tens of thousands of taels of silver, and these 20,000 taels will be filial piety to the prince, as for the fact that Cheng Guogong and others have all offended, the lower officials are only loyal to Your Majesty, and the rest of the people I have nothing to fear, but I have to ask my father-in-law to say a few more good words in front of His Majesty."

Wang Chengen laughed and sent the silver ticket into his arms, Liu Ximing didn't send money once or twice, he was relieved to receive the money.

"Xin Amber said this, our family is more optimistic about you, Your Majesty has taken the lion's share, and it is not a big deal for us to be courtiers and take a little bit of it, you can rest assured that our family is here, and anyone who wants to slander you will have to pass our family."

"Hahaha, thank you father-in-law."

Liu Ximing was relieved, as the so-called three people became tigers, and now with the help of a confidant eunuch like Wang Chengen, he was also a lot more relieved.

As for Cheng Guogong and others, hehe, the nobles who have no minions are the phoenixes with lost hair, which is not even as good as chickens.

"Grandpa Guo, something is wrong!"

Three days later, in the Chengguo Mansion, his housekeeper ran in in a panic.

"The rice shop in Xinamber's house has started selling rice again, and it's still one or two or eight dollars a stone!"

"What?"

Zhu Chunchen and Zhu Xinjue were playing chess, and when they suddenly heard the news, both of them held the flag with their hands.

Zhu Xinjue grabbed the candied crystal plate on the table, and suddenly threw it at the housekeeper, his face full of anger.

"Dog minion, what are you talking nonsense, the rice surnamed Liu has been sold to us, where is there any food to sell?"

"Lord Shizi, don't dare to talk nonsense, this thing is true." , The steward of Zhu Mansion was smashed on his feet by Zhu Xinjue all of a sudden, and said with a bitter face while baring his teeth.

"Let's go, let's go and see for ourselves", Zhu Chunchen couldn't sit still, so he picked up Zhu Xinjue and went out to check on his casual clothes.