The next day, Emperor Chongde unsurprisingly received a large number of impeachments of Xiong Shanhuo and Yang Fei, on the one hand, he could not withstand the pressure of the ministers, on the other hand, he was indeed very disappointed in Xiong Shanhuo. So Emperor Chongde issued an order to let Jinyiwei arrest Xiong Shanhuo.

But arresting the wildfires won't solve the problem. The most important thing now is to suppress Zhang Bingzhong immediately, otherwise...... Emperor Chongde also knew that he had previously increased the Liao salary and the expulsion salary, which was tantamount to forcing another group of ordinary people to the brink of death. Although some people say that if the common people have nothing to eat, they should honestly starve to death in their own homes, but Emperor Chongde knows that this is impossible, and if the common people really want to starve to death, then they will definitely rebel.

"Today's world is a big dry pyre, as long as a spark comes out, it is a fire. And I am the one who was standing on the pyre, waving dry wood to extinguish the fire, and if I couldn't quickly extinguish the fire before it spread, the whole world would be over. Emperor Chongde thought so, he felt that the most important thing at this time was to suppress the rebellious Zhang Bingzhong in the shortest possible time, otherwise once this fire spread, the world would be really dangerous. So who can take on this responsibility? Emperor Chongde used to think that Sun Baigu should be a good candidate, but unfortunately this Sun Baigu was only reprimanded twice, so he was resentful and actually pretended to be sick and picked a son. This kind of person is also unusable. Since Sun Baigu can't use it, who else can he use? Thinking about it, Emperor Chongde also felt that only Yang Fei had this ability in the imperial court.

After flipping through a few more cantatas, Emperor Chongde turned to a recital on Yang Fei.

"Mr. Yang, this must be asking himself to supervise Huguang, right?" Emperor Chongde thought as he flipped through the cantata. The content in the recital is really to invite the superintendent Huguang. Emperor Chongde nodded, and thought: "In the end, Mr. Yang dares to do anything, unlike other ministers in the court, who quote the words of the saint to blame others, and his mouth is like a river, but he really wants to come up with a way by himself, or it is a big and inappropriate 'holy lord should cultivate holy virtue', 'holy lord should transform all things with holy virtue' and the like, or he simply can't say anything." Only Mr. Yang can take the initiative to take on things. Although Mr. Yang's plans over the years have not all been successful and he has done a lot of things wrong, at least he is still doing things, and in this regard, he is much better than those who have nothing wrong but have not done anything. ”

Thinking like this, Emperor Chongde continued to look down, but saw new content.

Yang Fei mentioned in the memora that the most critical problem at present is the lack of funds. If the imperial court did not have enough military salaries, it would be difficult to mobilize enough troops, and it would be difficult to quickly suppress the rebellion. Therefore, after he went out to supervise the teacher, the most important thing in the court was how to get the money. For this reason, he proposed to the emperor that it would be better to increase the salary again.

"Salary ......" Emperor Chongde sighed, if the salary can still be levied, it will be levied last time. Now that Zhang Bingzhong and Huang Zide have rebelled again, at this time, they will levy more salaries, and then they will really "drive fish for the abyss".

Putting down Yang Fei's recital, Emperor Chongde picked up another notebook, but it was Xue Bingting's first. Emperor Chongde frowned slightly. In the past, Emperor Chongde had a good impression of Xue Bingting, but recently he heard that he was quite corrupt, which made him gradually dissatisfied with this first assistant.

Speaking of which, this matter was actually found out by Xue Bingting himself. Once, last year, Xue Bingting responded on the platform, and the emperor asked why officials were so corrupt. Xue Bingting's brain twitched, and he replied, if the factory guard worked harder, how could he not control it.

At that time, Wang Dehua, the eunuch of Dongchang, was standing next to him, and when he heard Xue Bingting's words, he was so frightened that he almost lost his soul, and immediately knelt down to ask Emperor Chongde for his guilt. Fortunately, Emperor Chongde still remembered his past feelings and did not punish him. Wang Dehua naturally hated Xue Bingting, and after going back, Wang Dehua ordered Dongchang to strictly investigate Xue Bingting's bribery, and the result was really a lot of investigations. Then reported it to the emperor, although the emperor did not immediately condemn Xue Bingting for this, but his impression of him was much worse.

Although he frowned, Emperor Chongde still picked up Xue Bingting's recital. As soon as he opened it, he read it roughly, but his eyes suddenly widened: "Although this Xue Bingting is corrupt, but ...... But you really dare to do anything! ”

In this recital, Xue Bingting proposed a solution to the current financial predicament - mobilizing official and noble donations.

Xue Bingting proposed that the loans of the hundreds of officials outside the group should be borne by him; The loans of the emperor's relatives were borne by the emperor.

"That's probably the way to do it." Emperor Chongde thought, "It's just that how to do this matter is still to discuss with Xue Bingting first." Thinking like this, Emperor Chongde suddenly felt that the bribed Xue Bingting didn't seem to be so annoying.

……

In the afternoon of the same day, Emperor Chongde summoned Xue Bingting on the platform.

"Aiqing, let the minister and the nobles donate, I don't know where to start?" Emperor Chongde asked.

Xue Bingting didn't answer, but asked, "Your Majesty still remembers Li Guochen's affairs?" ”

Li Guochen is the elder brother of Li Guorui, Marquis of Wuqing, and Li Guorui is the grandson of the elder brother of the Empress Dowager Xiaoding, the family of the emperor's grandmother, and a real relative of the emperor. After Li Guorui's father died, Li Guorui, who took the title as the eldest son, treated his brother-in-law very harshly. In order to gain the emperor's support, he also wrote that his father had left at least 400,000 taels of silver in the silver cellar at home, and now he should give him half of it. He was willing to dedicate this half to the emperor as military expenses. It's just that as a cousin, fighting for family property with his eldest son is not in line with etiquette, so Li Guochen naturally failed to do so. And their brothers, because of this, once became the joke of the whole city.

But now Xue Bingting mentioned this matter, but it was definitely not to tell a joke. Emperor Chongde immediately understood what Xue Bingting meant. First of all, Li Guochen has money, at least 400,000 taels of silver, which everyone knows, if he wants to say that he has no money, the court can say that he deceives the king; And although Li Guochen is a relative of the emperor, the Li family's reliance, the Empress Dowager Xiaoding, that is, the grandmother of Emperor Chongde, has been dead for many years. Therefore, from Li Guorui, relatively speaking, the resistance is also smaller.

Emperor Chongde nodded, and asked again, "How much should I ask Marquis Wuqing to borrow?" ”

"Since Marquis Wu Qinghou has 400,000 spare money there, it is better to borrow it all. Others are embarrassed to borrow too little. Xue Bingting said.

Emperor Chongde thought for a moment and said, "Aiqing is right. I hope that these relatives and ministers of mine can share the difficult times. Xue Aiqing, if this strategy can be successful, I will not forget your credit. ”

……

"It turns out that the purple and red are blooming all over,

Like this, they are all paid and ruined,

The beautiful scenery of the good day is what a day,

Pleasure in the courtyard of the house.

Morning Flying Twilight Roll,

Yunxia Cuixuan,

rain silk wind sheet,

smoke wave painting boat,

Jinping people look at this Shaoguang cheap. ”

From the backyard of Li Guorui's house, the marquis of Wuqing, melodious singing was floating out. But it was Marquis Wu Qinghou's wife Han Ruoshui who was singing.

Han Ruoshui was originally a famous prostitute in Yangzhou, and later married Li Guorui and became his fifth wife. Li Bingjian is not only beautiful, but also sings Kunqu Opera. Li Guorui himself also likes to sing Kunqu Opera, so he often sings with her at home.

Han Ruoshui sang a few more words, and it was Liu Mengmei's turn to play as Li Guorui. Several musicians raised at home played, Li Guorui shook his sleeves, opened his mouth, and was about to sing "Then you are like a beautiful flower, like a year of water", but saw his family Li Qicheng come over, knelt down and said: "The prince of Dongchang is here." ”

Li Guorui was taken aback, and hurriedly let everyone disperse, while letting Han Ruoshui serve him to change his clothes, and at the same time letting people open the main door. Then he hurriedly went out and lured Wang Dehua in.

Li Guorui led Wang Dehua into the hall with anxiety and sat down as the guest and host. The servant brought tea. Wang Dehua didn't make a sound, just picked up the teacup first and took a small sip. Then he said: "People say that Marquis Wuqing will enjoy happiness, and when I see it today, it really deserves its reputation." Master Hou, your tea is the Longjing before the Ming Dynasty this year, and it is a tribute in the palace, and it can't compare to this. ”

Li Guorui said very carefully: "Princess, I don't know why your old man has time to come to me?" ”

"The emperor has a matter, I want to ask the Hou Ye for help, I don't know if the Hou Ye is willing or not, so I sent the old slave to ask first." Wang Dehua held the teacup and said slowly.

Li Guorui hurriedly said: "Our Li family has received the emperor's favor, even if the whole family is shattered, it is difficult to repay it. It's just that I don't know what the emperor has to do with our Li family's place? ”

Wang Dehua held the teacup, looked around, nodded and said, "I heard that Ling Zun left 400,000 taels of silver for Hou Ye in the silver cellar. Now the imperial court is suppressing bandits and is in urgent need of military spending. The emperor said that Marquis Wuqing was the most loyal, knew the country's difficulties, and was willing to help. So the emperor sent the old slave to borrow some money from Hou Ye, and when the world was peaceful, he still paid it back to Hou Ye. It is said that Hou Ye's wealth is closely linked to the national fortune of the Jokhang Dynasty, if the Jokhang Dynasty is good, the Hou Ye's life is naturally good, if the Jokhang Dynasty is sad, can the Hou Ye's life be better? As the saying goes, we are in the same boat through thick and thin, Master Hou, do you say that the old slave is a little reasonable? ”

"I don't know how much silver the emperor wants to borrow?" Li Guorui asked in a trembling voice, his face as white as if he had seen a ghost.

Wang Dehua frowned and said, "Since there are 400,000 yuan in the Hou Ye's silver cellar, why don't you lend it all to the emperor?" ”

"No......" Li Guorui said immediately, seeing Wang Dehua squinting at him, he hurriedly said again, "Princess, where is there so much money here, Xiaohou, it's all rumors." ”

"How much silver can Master Hou lend?" Wang Dehua asked.

"One thousand taels, one thousand taels at most. Princess, Xiaohou, I really don't have any money at home! Li Guorui's voice was full of crying.

"Hmph, Master Hou is underestimating himself too much, right? As for the furnishings on the Hou Ye's mansion and the tea that the Hou Ye drank, if you want to say that the Hou Ye is only one thousand taels, no one believes it, right? Wang Dehua said again.

"Father-in-law, it's really not, it's really not." Li Guorui cried, "It's a thousand taels, and Xiaohou still has to go to his relatives to borrow it." ”

When Wang Dehua heard this, he put the teacup heavily on the coffee table, stood up and said, "In this way, the old slave will go to report to the saint." ”

With that, he walked outside. Li Guorui hurriedly caught up, took out a piece of silver, stuffed it into Wang Dehua's hand and said, "The prince wants to say a few words for Xiaohou." ”

Wang Dehua turned the silver in his hand, and said with a calm face: "Hou Ye's life is so tight, how dare the old slave take Hou Ye's silver." So he threw the ingot of silver on the ground and went out of the door.