After Hama returned to Beijing, Timur treated him more favorably, and within a few months, he tried to restore his official position, and Emperor Zhizheng also wished him to come back as soon as possible to serve, so Hama could return to Emperor Zhizheng as a palace servant.

Although there are people who take care of the detachment all the way, but after several tosses and turns, he still suffered a lot, and his bloated body has lost a lot of weight, and he knelt beside the emperor at this moment and sobbed in a low voice: "Hama failed to assist His Majesty well, so that he was impeached, and Hama will definitely be cautious in his words and deeds in the future, and he will not dare to lose His Majesty's face again." ”

Emperor Zhizheng has not seen Hama for a long time, and he misses it very much. Seeing Hama's appearance, he comforted: "I went out this time and suffered a lot, get up quickly." ”

Hama stood up, wiped his face and said: "Hama should also go out to endure hardships, but I am worried that these slaves and maids will not serve Your Majesty well, so I look forward to coming back early day and night." ”

"I know that you are loyal, you are far away from Beijing, and I really don't fit in, thanks to you arranging Ning Xiang to be by my side, she is very considerate and has helped me relieve my worries." Emperor Zhizheng said that he hugged the talented people around him.

Seeing that the atmosphere was harmonious, Ning Xiang proposed: "Didn't Your Majesty always talk about Lord Hama leaving, and even couldn't find a satisfactory opponent in backgammon?" I'm happy today, why don't you let Lord Hama accompany His Majesty to play two games? ”

Emperor Zhizheng immediately became interested when he heard this, "Yes, when it comes to backgammon, I and Hama can be regarded as chess opponents, and others can't get into my eyes." ”

Hama was also very happy and replied: "Hama will play a few more games with Your Majesty!" ”

Ning Xiang immediately instructed the eunuch and the palace maid to serve the chessboard and dice, and personally served the refreshments.

The backgammon board is about two feet long and one foot wide, and the left and right sides are each inlaid with twelve circular road signs and a crescent-shaped door sign with bone fragments. The chess pieces are pointed and flat-bottomed with a girdle, a total of 30 pieces, half of which are white, and half are black lacquered as sunspots.

Backgammon has a long history, popular among the literati of the Tang Dynasty, and was popularized among the people in the Song Dynasty.

After Emperor Zhizheng and Hama sat opposite each other, they laughed loudly: "I don't know if your ability to roll dice has weakened after you went to the grassland to whip and graze?" ”

Hama picked up the dice cup, and the dice were already copied between the flips of his wrist, and a set of movements was smooth. Emperor Zhizheng smiled when he saw this, pointed at Hama and said to Ning Xiang: "I just said that this pair of backgammon is still played by Hama skillfully. ”

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, it has been an hour of play. Emperor Zhizheng was a little tired, and no longer paid attention to the situation on the chessboard, but looked at Hama's new court clothes today, and felt that this set of clothes was ridiculous on Hama. When Hama concentrated on throwing the dice, he sprayed the tea in his mouth and teased him.

Emperor Zhizheng did not grow up in the palace, and when he was a child, he had a lively and playful personality, peeing and mud, climbing trees and catching birds. Before returning to Dadu, he lived in the Dayuan Temple in Jingjiang, and under the teaching of the elders of Qiujiang in the temple, he studied the "Analects" and "The Book of Filial Piety".

Elder Qiujiang once taught him: "The crown prince is the golden branch and jade leaf of the country, no more than ordinary people, when he sees a big official coming, he must not speak in vain, nor can he be self-respecting. After that, the young Emperor Zhizheng sat down when he saw the officials, and once he left, he frolicked as before. Although he ascended the throne and went through many hardships, this child's playful mentality has always been the same, and at this moment he regards Hama as a close person, and can't help but play tricks on him.

Hama was sprayed all over his face by Emperor Zhizheng's saliva, and his appearance was even more funny, which caused Ning Xiang, palace maids, and eunuchs to laugh for a while. But Ha Ma didn't have the flattering smile on his face, and after raising his sleeves to wipe his face clean, he looked at the emperor calmly and said in a deep voice: "Does Your Majesty think that as the Son of Heaven, you should do this?" ”

Emperor Zhizheng was stunned for a moment, remembering Elder Qiujiang who taught him when he was a child, he was a little ashamed, and said in a low voice: "It's really not good for me, not next time." ”

This scene made Ning Xiang and the others stand on the spot, and they didn't dare to laugh out loud. Hama, who used to be flattering and flattering, dared to criticize the emperor for his rude behavior at this moment, the scene was indeed a little weird, and everyone couldn't help but change their views on Hama.

Although Hama was also a little scared in his heart, he was quite firm after his words. After Gai left Beijing this time, Hama's mentality changed, and whenever he calmed down, he would remember the scene of being impeached and accused by the imperial history in the court that day.

Flattering the emperor and participating in the party struggle is only because of the yearning and desire for power, and making the family proud of themselves is what they really want, and it is by no means to get the name of a slanderer and a traitor! It is because today's hamp is sprayed on the face by Emperor Zhizheng's sip of tea, and it can have such a performance.

Emperor Zhizheng knew that he had lost the prestige of the Son of Heaven, and after being accused by Hama, he smiled indifferently, not angry at all, "Come, continue to roll the dice." The two of them went about having fun as usual, as if nothing had happened.

After a while, a eunuch came in and said, "Your Majesty, the prime minister and other ministers ask to see you." ”

Hama paused and suggested, "Your Majesty, let's discuss state affairs first." ”

Emperor Zhizheng said: "It's okay." Then he turned his head and ordered: "Let the prime minister and them go to the side hall and wait for me." ”

After Ning Xiang served until the emperor changed his clothes, he accompanied the emperor to the side hall to discuss matters.

After the courtiers paid their respects, Emperor Zhizheng said: "State affairs are important, all Aiqing should not pay too much attention to the number of courtesies, let's start quickly." ”

Tokhtar gave a salute and took the lead in saying: "Since the fourth year of Zhizheng, natural disasters have occurred frequently, and the Yellow River has overflowed. First of all, the Baimao Embankment and the Golden Embankment broke successively, and the counties along the river, such as Jining Road, Daming Road, Dongping Road, etc., were flooded, so that the water potential continued to flood northward, and the junction of several places has become a thousand miles of Ze country. Although the imperial court has governance, it has achieved little success. In the eighth year of Zheng, the river broke again, flooded the Jining Road and the land, invaded Ansan in the north, endangered the canal, and affected the operation of the salt works under the two salt transportation divisions of Hejian and Shandong. The ministers tried their best to solve the crisis as soon as possible, and the only way to do this was to change money. ”

Emperor Zheng naturally knew about the flood and financial crisis mentioned by Toto, but it was a big matter to change money, so he hesitated a little, so he wanted to hear the opinions of others, and asked: "What does Zhong Aiqing think of the prime minister's plan?" ”

The secretary of the ministry, Shangshu Wei Zhe, said loudly: "The matter of changing money was proposed by Wu Qi, the head of Zuo Si, and the minister agreed very much. Since the implementation of paper money, the people have been rampant with counterfeit money, and the old banknote law is full of loopholes. ”

The matter of changing money is not the first discussion, and this time the detachment meeting gathered the officials of the Zhongshu Province, the Privy Council, the Imperial Historical Observatory, Jixian and the Hanlin Yuan to enter the palace to discuss the plan.

There was already controversy over the change of banknotes, and after Yan Zhedu, the controversy gradually became fierce. Seeing that such an argument was not a solution, he stopped everyone and suggested: "It is better for the head of the household department to talk about the plan for changing money, and everyone will listen to it first." ”

He then explained the plan, and the general meaning is as follows: First, use the old Zhongtong banknotes to stamp the words "to orthogonal banknotes" and turn them into new banknotes. The new banknotes are always combined with 1,000 copper coins, or two yuan banknotes, and the two banknotes are used in parallel. Second, the issuance of "Zhizheng Tongbao money", and the old currency of the past dynasties, so that the money and money are passed, and the money is used to make the real money.

As soon as the voice fell, it once again attracted countless arguments. Everyone knows how serious the financial crisis has become, and in the short term, changing money is indeed a solution to this crisis, but in the long run, it will certainly do more harm than good.

The people of the household department took the lead in expressing their support for the change of banknotes, and agreed with the plan that paper money has always been a thousand yuan of copper money as the mother, and money as the son. However, most of the courtiers still held opposing views, especially Lu Sicheng, a scholar of Jixian University and a national prince priest, who was the most resolute in opposition.

Tokh asked Lu Sicheng: "Is there any other way for the university scholar to solve it?" ”

Lu Sicheng argued fiercely, and his face was flushed at the moment, but when asked about other countermeasures, he was instantly dumbfounded. Corruption of officials, lax discipline, uneven enslavement, all kinds of maladministration are the source of crisis, how can there be a harmless solution?

Lu Sicheng blushed and said: "Although there is no good way, but the harm of changing money is too great, as soon as this order comes out, I am afraid that the people of the world will be in chaos!" ”

Tokhtar once again stopped the arguments of the ministers, and said in a loud voice: "The stakes are very high, how can I not know the benefits and stakes of it?" If there is a mistake that endangers the Great Yuan, it will be the sin of our courtiers. But who else can come up with a solution at this time? ”

All the ministers were silent.

Although Tokhtar was also worried about this move, this burden was finally on his body, and there was no way to avoid it. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, made up his mind, looked at the Supreme Emperor on the dragon chair and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, the minister agrees with this case, and is willing to implement the decree to change money!" ”

The hall was silent!

Wu Qi, who proposed to change money, did not dare to speak.

The philosopher who made the plan was silent.

Lu Sicheng, who had the fiercest opposition, fell silent.

Only Emperor Zhizheng, who was sitting on the dragon chair, nodded wordlessly.

Among the countless courtiers of Dayuan, only this monarch and minister were the most reluctant to take risks, but one issued an order and the other received an order. The two of them knew best in their hearts that the consequences of the success or failure of this move would ultimately be pressed on the two of them.

Virtuous? Mingjun? Will, the two of their lifelong ideals and reputations for posterity are all here!

At the time of the tenth year, the right prime minister of the Chinese book finally made up his mind to change money.

Emperor Zhizheng approved the banknote conversion plan of Zhongshu Province, and issued an edict saying: I heard that the rule of the emperor is based on the time and conditions, and the profit and loss are all about change. However, my ancestor emperor, at the beginning of the founding of the Yuan Dynasty, issued the unified banknotes, with money as the text, although the rules of drum casting have not been missed, and the meaning of coins has been both. After the seizure, it was printed to the ingot banknote, with one as five, and the name was called the power of the son and mother, and the money was not used. Over the years, the banknote law is weak, the prices are soaring, the treacherous and hypocritical are sprouting, and the civil population is scarce. Love to consult the courtiers, absorb public opinion, pretend to be a life-saving must be more open, which is to pay the banknote in the middle of the province of the power of the copper coin 1,000 Wen, quasi-to the ingots two through, still cast to the Zhengtong treasure money and the copper coins of the past dynasties are used together, with the real money method. To the ingots, the passage is the same. The power of the son and the mother, the old and the new, the original intention of the legislation of the ancestors.

Tokh and the others then began to prepare for the banknote......