The five important ministers in Zhu Youzhen's mind, after receiving Zhu Youzhen's edict from King Qin, all had their own plans.

Tang Tong, the general soldier of Miyun, received the edict from Zhu Youzhen, although he hesitated in his heart, he immediately set up troops to march westward, rushed to Juyong Pass before the Mandate of Heaven Army, and blocked the main road for the Mandate of Heaven Army to go south to Gyeonggi;

Wu Sangui, the general army of Liaodong, was stationed in Ningyuan City, but the cavalry of the Tartars bypassed Ningyuan last year and attacked the Zhonghou Station, the Qiantun Guard, and the Zhongqian Station.

On March 8, when he received Zhu Youzhen's edict from King Qin, Wu Sangui was overjoyed, he immediately gave up Ningyuan, led the army straight to Shanhaiguan, but there were five or six hundred thousand people accompanying him, and the speed of the march was not as fast as that of children, and the journey from Ningyuan to Shanhaiguan was 200 miles, and it took a full 11 days, and he arrived at Shanhaiguan on March 19 and Fengrun on the 22nd;

Liu Zeqing, the chief soldier of Shandong, fought with the Mandate of Heaven Army when he rescued Kaifeng, knew the combat effectiveness of the Mandate of Heaven Army, and received Zhu Youzhen's edict, he did not dare to go west without authorization, so he asked Zhu Youzhen to go up, lying that he had fallen from a horse and broken his leg, and needed to recuperate, and could not raise troops for the time being;

Huang Degong, the chief soldier of the Fengyang General Army, was only interested in the edict of "Jing Nanbo", and he didn't even reply to the edict, and threw it aside;

Zuo Liangyu, the general soldier of the Ping Thief, because he was old and frail and unhappy, did not take Zhu Youzhen's edict seriously at all, and scolded Zhu Youzhen behind the back of the herald: When you were asked to allocate the food and salary of the soldiers, you pretended to be dead and said that there was no silver, but I didn't expect it to be today?

It wasn't until Zuo Maodi "passed by", urged him to march in person, and verbally promised that as long as he entered the king of Jingqin, the imperial court would pay all the arrears, Zuo Liangyu took action, and he drew up a detailed battle plan according to the years and months, and sent it to the Beijing division to ask for the approval of the imperial court.

After Zhu Youzhen sent out five edicts of King Qin, he knew that King Qin's troops needed silver, but the household only had 80,000 taels of silver left, so in desperation, he had to order the nobles and ministers to donate silver.

What made Zhu Youzhen dumbfounded was that for the sake of the country, the ministers made generous statements one by one on weekdays, but they were indifferent to the matter of donating salaries, either closing their eyes and pretending to sleep, or bowing their heads to find cracks in the ground.

Above the court, there is no response, only indifference!

Zhu Youzhen knew that he couldn't sing the one-man show, so he had no choice but to quit the court.

At the court meeting the next day, he issued a commendation order: All officials who donate salaries can be added to the rank of knight, and whoever donates 30,000 taels will be given a "superior" reward.

With this base, Zhu Youzhen believes that the ministers will be more enthusiastic than yesterday.

The ministers are indeed more enthusiastic than yesterday.

Shoufu Wei Zaode donated five hundred taels, Ni Yuanlu, the head of the household department, three hundred and fifty taels, and the rest of the ministers ranged from tens of taels to hundreds of taels, and the eunuch Wang Zhixin couldn't stand it, so he donated 10,000 taels.

Zhu Youzhen suddenly crooked his nose in anger, is this all called Huazi? Is my name Hanako? All these years, I have raised you white-eyed wolves!

At this time, Chen Yan, the former chief assistant of the cabinet, stepped forward to donate money, and he had already sent a letter to the official, who was originally not qualified to participate in this court meeting, but today's court meeting was specifically to discuss the matter of donations, and one more person would have an extra salary, and the household department notified Chen Yan to enter the court.

Zhu Youzhen looked at Chen Yanyu's lofty appearance, and secretly regretted in his heart, at the critical moment, it was still the old minister's heart! I only blamed myself for being angry that day and overtalking: I won't hire again!

If Chen Yan donates more than 30,000 taels, what should he do?

Is it to be added to the knighthood, or not to be hired again?

No jokes!

Only then did Zhu Youzhen realize that the king could not speak at will, and the embarrassment like today was actually caused by his lack of deep thinking.

Chen Yan shouldn't be allowed to enter the court today, he has a heart, and he should secretly donate money, can't he be sympathetic?

Do you have to make a lot of fun in the face?

Zhu Youzhen leaned back on the dragon chair, closed his eyes slightly, and secretly prayed in his heart: Chen Yan's donation must not reach 30,000 taels, even if it is 29,999 taels! I will remember you!

Even if you can't be promoted, I will give you a knighthood, just a knighthood, no need to enter the court, and it is not a violation of the day's "no more hiring"!

At this time, Chen Yan handed over the donated silver taels to Ni Yuanlu, the head of the household department, Ni Yuanlu glanced at the silver ticket, and then read aloud: "Chen Yan, the former cabinet chief assistant, donate ......" Speaking of this, he paused, as if he intended to hang everyone's appetite, coughed, and said: "One hundred taels!" ”

Zhu Youzhen's heart was hoisted high and smashed down again.

If the heart slowly falls and returns to the chest, it is his expectation, the key is that the speed of the fall is too strong, it pierces the cavity and hits the boulder.

The pain in Zhu Youzhen's heart!

You have served as a secretary of the ministry, a cabinet minister for four years, and a cabinet chief assistant for nearly a year, how can you not have money in the house for the person you once trusted the most?

In vain, I trusted you so much that day, white-eyed wolf, real white-eyed wolf!

Because of his anger, he couldn't speak for a while, his face was flushed, Wang Chengen felt that something was wrong, and hurriedly handed over the tea, Zhu Youzhen took two small sips, and then relieved himself, lest he heard it wrong, so he looked at Ni Yuanlu, Ni Yuanlu nodded slightly, and a strange expression appeared on his face.

Zhu Youzhen knew that he had heard it correctly, and said angrily: "Chen Yan, are you calling Huazi?" ”

Chen Yanxin said, don't say that there is not much money, but if you have money, can I donate? If you help generously at this time and keep the Jingshi, maybe the emperor will be caught on the charge of corruption in a blink of an eye, how can you save a lot of money with your own money?

With the emperor's suspicious temperament, good intentions will not be rewarded, hard work will not be thankless, and if you don't get it right, you will die.

Thinking of this, he said with a sad face: "Your Majesty, the minister is a Qing official, he really has no money, the little money that the court has every month, the minister has supported his family, and only this little money is left to buy meat......"

Zhu Youzhen shook his head, how can you be a person who is the first assistant, how can you have this money? Seeing that Chen Yan didn't change his words, he said angrily: "No, you must have hidden the money, you must take it out to save the country!" ”

Chen Yan saw Zhu Youzhen's pitiful appearance, and his heart was excited, he really wanted to donate more, and after thinking about it, no, he couldn't take this risk!

The emperor's nature is different, the Emperor of the Apocalypse is really confused, he will only tinker with carpenter work all day long, and he doesn't care about the government at all, around such an emperor, there is generally no danger to his life, at most he will be dismissed; Emperor Wanli is pretending to be confused, no matter what the ministers do, his heart is like a mirror, between the monarch and the minister, the point is stopped, and the safety is guaranteed.

And Chongzhen is suspicious, and since he ascended the throne, how many important ministers have he killed......

He arched his hand and said: "The minister really has no money, but the emperor can rest assured, the minister has sold the family property, and he has to donate silver to help him, and when he goes home today, the minister will buy a house......"

Zhu Youzhen couldn't cry or laugh, no matter how poor the country is, he can't force the minister to sell his house, sell his house, where do they live? Do you sleep under the eaves?

Seeing that the matter of donation was at an impasse, he dispersed the court meeting.

After the ministers returned home, thinking of Chen Yan's words in the court, many people posted signs on the doors of their mansions that said "This house is for urgent sale", and even more, they also took their pots and pans to the street to practice stalls.

Zhu Youzhen returned to the Qianqing Palace, with a lot of sullenness in his heart, he knew in his heart that the ministers were not without money, the key was that they were unwilling to donate, maybe not unwillingly, but no one took the lead in donating heavy salaries.

What to do?

King Qin's army will soon reach Jingshi, do you want them to drink the northwest wind to fight the thieves?

After thinking for a while, I finally had an idea: at the critical moment, we still have to rely on our own people, and the ministers are unwilling to donate, so start with the royal relatives and relatives, they share weal and woe with the royal family, how can they have a little more?

The first person Zhu Youzhen took a fancy to was Zhou Kui, the reign of the emperor and Jiading Bo, and he immediately sent the eunuch Xu Gao to visit Zhou Kui.

Xu Gao is a veteran, after getting Zhou Kui's summons, he did not immediately mention the matter of silver, but a sycophant, and said that with Zhou Kui's merits to the imperial court, he should be able to be a marquis, and when Zhou Kui was happy, Fang said: "Jiading Bo is the ruler of the dynasty, a very human minister, and the emperor's own person, the emperor hopes that the old emperor can donate 100,000 taels of silver and play a leading role!" ”

When Zhou Kui heard this, he immediately cried to death, and started to perform, "Although the old minister enjoys all the people, he is only a fictitious title, and he doesn't have much real power, just relying on Yulu, where can there be much silver left?" He pulled Xu Gao again and came to the rice jar that had just been prepared, and said, "Father-in-law, please see, the old minister's family has a large population, and he has never had enough money, so he can only buy some moldy rice to eat......

Xu Gao really couldn't see it, it turned out that he had said so much, he was playing the piano to the cow, he was angry, and said: "The old emperor is so stingy, the court must not do anything, in case the court is gone, even if the old emperor leaves a lot of land and is prolific, what is the benefit?" Once the thieves enter the city, can the old emperor keep his family property? ”

Zhou Kui was helpless, he didn't want to offend Zhu Youzhen, so he said to Xu Gao: "The state affairs are difficult, and the old minister naturally can't stand idly by, even if he tightens his belt, the old minister also has to donate 10,000 taels!" ”

Xu Gao was noncommittal, this is still far from the task given to him by the emperor! He arched his hand to Zhou Kui, took the silver ticket, did not speak, and quickly returned to the Qianqing Palace to report to the emperor.

Zhu Youzhen listened to Xu Gao's words, and was extremely depressed, whether you Zhou Kui has any money, how can I not know? You are the royal family, and you are pretending to be poor like an ordinary minister!

Angry is angry, Zhou Kui is an old man after all, he can't force it too much, so he has to say to Xu Gao: "You go again, no matter what, Jiadingbo's donation cannot be less than 20,000 taels!" ”

As soon as Xu Gao's front foot left, Zhou Kui took a sedan chair to the palace, got off the sedan chair at Kunning Gate, trotted into Kunning Palace, and saw Queen Zhou Yufeng, knelt down with both legs, and immediately cried into tears.

Zhou Yufeng was taken aback, and hurriedly helped Zhou Kui up, "What is Jiading Bo doing?" Is there ...... at home?"

Zhou Kui snorted and cried, and with Zhou Yufeng's help, he barely stood up, "Your Majesty...... Your Majesty, this is ...... Don't give the old minister a way to live......"

Zhou Yufeng asked about the situation, gave a contemptuous look, snorted lightly, and said, "Don't cry, I know you have money, you can't be an example?" It's still a national ruler! Without the emperor, can you have the wealth you have today? It's not like I'm practicing medicine in Suzhou......"

Zhou Kui was furious, but Zhou Yufeng was the queen, although she was Jiadingbo, she still had to kowtow when she saw her, besides, she was right, if she hadn't entered the palace as the queen, how could she get Jiadingbo out of thin air?

But to let him take out the money was to cut off the flesh of his heart.

Zhou Kui didn't dare to fight back, just cried and cried, like an old woman who died in the family......

Zhou Yufeng looked upset, so he went back to his room sleeve and took out five thousand taels of silver tickets, and said, "I have five thousand taels here, you can take it and make up the number!" Zhou Kui took the silver ticket, and then left Kunning Palace with sobs.

Coming to the door of the household, the mansion had already fallen off the sedan chair, Zhou Kui held the five thousand taels of silver tickets given by Zhou Yufeng in his hand, refused to let go, thought for a long time, and finally left two thousand taels of sleeves into his arms, and only handed over the remaining three thousand taels to the household.