Zhou Yanru, the first assistant to the cabinet, raised a sign and said: "Holy Lord, the governor of Shandong asks for exemption from Shandong's one-year field endowment." Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo”

Shandong has more than 2 million stones a year, which is not a small amount for the poor imperial court. However, most of the more than 2 million stone fields were transferred to yamen, guards and barracks in various places. Shandong does not accept the land endowment, and the expenses in these places are naturally in arrears for a year, so in the end, the deficit of more than 2 million stones is not all borne by the imperial court warehouse.

Now that there is no rain in Shandong in March, this field endowment cannot but be exempted.

Zhu Youzhen nodded and said, "Quasi-play!" Exempt Shandong from one year of field endowment! ”

Liu Zongzhou, the imperial historian of the left capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, raised his card and said loudly: "Minister Liu Zongzhou asks for the life of the people of Shandong, and wishes that the Son of Heaven will allocate food for disaster relief and save the people of Shandong from famine." ”

When Zhu Youzhen heard this, his face darkened.

Liu Zongzhou was a famous Confucian in the Ming Dynasty, and his moral reputation was well known all over the world. opposes Li Zhi on weekdays, and this Liu Zongzhou is also one of the pioneers. Liu Zongzhou's appeal for disaster relief is impeccable. Shandong has become such a famine, and the imperial court certainly has the responsibility to help the small people.

But in fact, this sentence fell on Zhu Youzhen's ears, but it was a word for fame. The court is so poor, what kind of disaster relief can it take? Liu Zongzhou's words are purely generous to others.

Shandong has a population of 10 million, and because of this drought, I am afraid that there will be no food rations for a whole year from October this year to October next year. This is 10 million people, what kind of disaster relief does the imperial court give? Even if a person drinks porridge to survive during a famine, a person will consume five taels of grain a day, which is one stone of grain a year, and 10 million people will consume 10 million stone of grain a year.

At today's grain prices, 10,000,000 stone is 20,000,000 taels of silver.

The battle of Jinzhou wiped out the accumulated silver of the imperial court, and the imperial court did not spend 10 million taels of silver. Although a windfall was made last year from Ma Zhengyin, and a considerable amount of silver was obtained from killing traitors and raiding their homes last year, the silver stored in the Tai warehouse was only a few million taels, where was there more than 20 million taels of silver to go to Shandong for disaster relief. Even if the warehouse is emptied, it will not save the people of Shandong.

What's more, Zhu Youzhen is still training recruits, and the amount of silver stored in the Tai warehouse has been declining.

This Liu Zongzhou's words are purely a move to sell his name. When he said this, once Zhu Youzhen rejected his suggestion, he would fall into the hands of money.

Zhu Youzhen looked at Liu Zongzhou, a little annoyed for a while, and really wanted Jinyiwei to blast this old Confucian out and beat him with fifty court staffs.

However, Liu Zongzhou is a great Confucian in the world and a big man in Donglin. No matter how angry Zhu Youzhen was with him, he didn't dare to condemn him because of his words. Moreover, Liu Zongzhou's proposal for disaster relief is high-sounding, and if Zhu Youzhen punishes him for this, I am afraid that he will be scolded by the world's corporal for decades.

Zhu Youzhen closed his eyes helplessly, and said slowly for a long time: "The imperial court has no silver, and there is no way to provide disaster relief..."

As soon as Zhu Youzhen's words came out, there was an uproar in the court. Hundreds of officials ignored the rules of the court and exchanged discussions, as if they were protesting against the stinginess of the Son of Heaven. Several bold officials even walked out of the civil official queue and found the new head of the household department, Ni Yuanlu, to discuss, as if they didn't believe the words of the Son of Heaven, and they had to verify it in person.

In the court, it suddenly became disorderly.

Zhu Youzhen looked at the chaotic court and sighed.

Zhu Youzhen suddenly thought of Li Zhi's Jun Ping Tian Fu. After Li Zhi leveled the land endowment in Tianjin, he increased the field endowment by 20 percent, which not only reduced the burden of the poor and small people, but also earned more than 400,000 taels of silver a year. If the imperial court promoted Li Zhi's practice to the whole country, the Tai Warehouse could earn more than 10 million taels of silver a year. If this is done, I am afraid that the Ming court will no longer be short of silver.

But Zhu Youzhen knew that he was dreaming. Li Zhibing was strong and strong, and he was frantically counterattacked by the gentry of the world in Tianjin. If he is equal to the whole country, I am afraid that he will not be able to do it.

It took a long time for the noisy civil officials in the court to quiet down.

Huang Degong, the chief soldier of the Beijing camp, arched his hand and said: "Holy Lord, Shandong is an area where the Wenxiang Sect is prevalent, and when there is a famine at this time, I am afraid that all kinds of forces will take advantage of the situation. The minister asked to transfer 20,000 Xuan soldiers and horses to Jinan to prevent the cult and thieves from causing chaos. ”

Liu Zongzhou glared at Zhou Yuji angrily, and said loudly: "Ridiculous, when the people are in distress and have no food, instead of opening a warehouse to help the people, they will deploy troops to prevent the people?" Since the imperial court has no money for disaster relief, where is the money to transfer troops? ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at Liu Zongzhou, who ignored the actual empty talk about morality, and became more and more annoyed.

However, the civil officials of the Chongzhen Dynasty are also presumptuous, and Liu Zongzhou is not the only one who sells his name, Zhu Youzhen has nowhere to go with a fire in his stomach, so he has to look at the ministers in the court.

Ni Yuanlu, the head of the household department, bowed his hand and said loudly: "The minister has something to say!" ”

"Say!"

"The minister thought that it was not necessary to send the border army to Shandong to spend a huge amount of money. The minister thought that Shandong was not worried about turmoil. ”

Zhu Youzhen stroked his beard and said, "You speak." ”

"The minister thinks that Shandong has 5,000 soldiers and horses stationed in Jinguogong... Although the garrison of Jin Guogong was not in accordance with the rules and had always been criticized, these 5,000 soldiers and horses were indeed able to deter Shandong Province. Even if tens of thousands of thieves make trouble, they must be easily defeated by the Duke of Jinguo. ”

When Zhu Youzhen heard Ni Yuanlu's words, his eyes lit up.

There is some truth in what Ni Yuanlu said, Li Zhi has always coveted Shandong, how could he sit back and watch the turmoil in Shandong? As long as there are thieves in Shandong, I am afraid that Li Zhi will be the first to lead troops to destroy them.

Zhu Youzhen thought about it and said with a smile: "What Ni Qing said is reasonable, although there is a drought in Shandong, but there is no danger of turmoil with the Duke of Jinguo in charge. ”

Ni Yuanlu arched his hand again and said: "The minister thinks that the disaster relief matters in Shandong can also be handed over to the Duke of Jinguo." ”

"What do you mean by that?"

Ni Yuanlu flicked the sleeves of his official robe and said eloquently: "The Duke of Jin Guo wants to control a province in Shandong, and everyone knows it, and there is no need for the minister to say more." Now Jin Guogong runs a newspaper in Shandong and has controlled public opinion in Shandong. Garrisoned in Jinan and already controlled the military in Shandong. Courts were also set up in various prefectures, prefectures, and counties, and the judiciary in Shandong was controlled. ”

"It is not an exaggeration to say that Jin Guogong is the actual controller of Shandong. In addition to collecting taxes in Shandong, running imperial examinations, and building schools, all other affairs of the imperial court have been handed over to the Duke of Jinguo. ”

"Since the Duke of Jin Guo has actually dominated Shandong, how can he throw the disaster relief affairs to the imperial court?"

Zhu Youzhen groaned and did not speak.

Ni Yuanlu said: "The Duke of Jin Guo killed Zheng Zhilong, the general soldier of Fujian, and confiscated the Zheng family's property, which is said to be as much as 10 million taels. The Duke of Jin can now be said to be a rich country. Instead of letting the poor household department give money for disaster relief, it is better to let the Duke of Jin take the money out and save the tens of millions of people in Shandong! ”