……

At the time of the lamp, Zuo Taiwei's mansion, after dinner, sat on the main seat of the hall, holding a tea bowl from time to time to lift the tea lid, as if waiting for the arrival of distinguished guests.

Sure enough, not long after, a house slave bowed into the living room and said to Xi Man: "Master, Gu Qian and Gu Jian Jun are asking to see ...... outside the mansion."

When Xi Man heard this, he was stunned when he lifted the lid of the bowl, and then said lightly: "Let him come in, and then go and prepare a bowl of tea......"

"Yes, sir......"

The house slave retreated respectfully, and after a while, Gu Qian stepped into the palace hall with a gloomy face, and as soon as he crossed the threshold, he said angrily to Xi Man: "Teacher, the student has seen what it means to be in the world today, and he has seen the only strange news in his life, and the palace is ...... today."

"Gu Qian, you sit down first...... Xi Man softly stopped him from continuing, pointed to the guest seat next to him, and motioned for him to sit down first, "I expected you to come to me after watching the performance of the former division of the palace today, sit down first......"

"Hmph......" Gu Qian snorted coldly, and sat down on the edge of the seat with an angry face.

Xi Man gently pushed a bowl of fresh tea to Gu Qian's side and asked, "You already know everything?" ”

"So the teacher already knew?" Gu Qian heard Xi Man say this, and his face suddenly became more gloomy, "In that case, why don't you join them in front of the emperor?" Today's students went to the palace front division to review the military drill, that is the elite division of my Great Zhou royal family? It's ridiculous......"

Xi Man said: "The elite of the palace front division was lost as early as more than ten years ago when it went to Xiliang, and the current palace front division has only been established for seven or eight years, and it has never been out of Gyeonggi on the battlefield, so it is understandable that the lack of combat power is also understandable......

"Understand? That's the elite of my Great Zhou Dynasty! Hearing this, Gu Qian couldn't bear it anymore and said angrily, "Let's not talk about this combat power, just look at the equipment of the front division of the palace, is that for people?" ”

Saying that, Gu Qian put the inferior iron pieces and arrows made of wood that he carried with him on the coffee table: "How can this kind of thing kill the enemy?" Today I deliberately went to the Ordnance Department and the Military Manufacturing Bureau, in the armory, tens of thousands of sets of armor can drill rats, not to mention the sword, gun, sword and halberd to go into battle to kill the enemy, I'm afraid that even a cat can't kill it!

The Ordnance Department shirked and said that it was the responsibility of the Military Construction Bureau, and the student deliberately went to the Military Construction Bureau again, but as a result, what did the student see? Ninety percent of the more than 40 furnaces used to cast armor in it have gone out! Wang Jianchang, the director, said that the Military Construction Bureau had long run out of iron materials to build ordnance, but at the end of last year, the students clearly remembered that 4 million catties of wrought iron and 200,000 refined iron arrived at the Military Construction Division! How could it be ......"

"Gu Qian......" Xi Man interrupted him slowly, "Since you have found out, what are you going to do?" ”

Gu Qian said firmly: "Naturally, I will tell the emperor the truth and severely punish these moths of the country!" The students came this time, and the teacher was specially invited to write a letter for the students, and the students will be presented to the emperor tomorrow morning! ”

Xi Man was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and said: "Gu Qian, you are too radical and useless, for the sake of the teacher, you should not stir up this troubled water......"

"Teacher, what do you mean by that?" Gu Qian immediately jumped up, stared at Xi Man and said, "The corruption of the military and politics must be caused by the corruption of bureaucrats at all levels, if this is not strictly investigated, my Great Zhou will be doomed, teacher, the situation is urgent!" ”

"Sit down, listen to me tell you in detail...... Xi Man persuaded Gu Qian back to his seat, and then said earnestly, "Gu Qian, do you know how extensive this is?" If you really want to investigate it, the officials and princes and marquis of all over Gyeonggi are afraid that more than ninety percent will be involved, don't say that you can't control it, I'm afraid that the emperor will not dare to manage it if he knows it, but it will harm your life......"

"Teacher!" Gu Qian got up and said, "Is it just a matter of letting it go?" Let this group of moths eat up all the foundations of my Great Zhou? If these 80,000 palace leaders really go to the source of the river to fight the thieves, the students dare to say that there is no life in ten deaths......"

Xi Man sighed and said slowly: "As Captain Zuo, I am in charge of military and political affairs, so why don't I know the drawbacks? The former division of the 80,000 palace, let a young marquis of a family who has not been in the army take command and lead the troops, which is already a big mistake in itself.

Of course, I also know that the armor and armor in it are rotten, and the iron materials used to make the armor have long been secretly resold to various families for profit by bureaucrats at all levels.

Ten days ago, I suggested to the emperor in the court that I negotiate peace with the thieves in consideration of the unfavorable factors, but unfortunately the emperor didn't listen to it, and coupled with Xie Yang, Geng Bingqiu and the like, I was weak and powerless to stop ......"

When Gu Qian heard this, his eyes were red: "But Teacher, after all, 80,000 lives, how can you fight with thieves with such a pile of broken copper and iron, the emperor really doesn't know the stakes?" ”

Xi Man sighed: "Alas, since the emperor succeeded to the throne, he was disheartened after the defeat of Yongliang, and he was afraid that there would be drastic changes in the court, so he began to be intoxicated with the art of power and scheming, wanting to weaken the strength of the various families, how could he still have any mind to manage the affairs of the treasury.

To tell you the truth, not only is the armory and the military manufacturing department in a mess, but even the financial and tax reports reported by various places have already begun to be cheating......"

Gu Qian was taken aback when he heard this: "What did you say, teacher?" The money, grain, and taxes are all recorded in a lump sum and are personally checked and sealed by the royal family in the main book, how can it be faked? ”

Xi Man laughed miserably and said: "Last year, the silver treasury was put into the treasury at the age of two, 82,485 taels and 382 wen, except for the 220 million taels left behind in the yamen in various places for administrative purposes, the actual treasury was 600 million taels.

But these are only on paper, in fact, I have already found out from the population of the Financial Secretary, how can there be 800 million taels, since five years ago, the income of two years old has not exceeded 400 million taels, and last year it was only 320 million taels, which is not considered to be the ...... of the treasury."

"Impossible!" Gu Qian exclaimed, "Last year, the money used everywhere was as much as 60 million taels for each prince alone, not to mention other expenses, the students carefully calculated, the silver spent by the imperial court last year was definitely no less than 400 million taels......"

"You, being a prison soldier really bent you, even if you are so careful, why don't you go to the Yamen of the Financial Secretary......" Xi Man smiled and shook his head, "Let me tell you the truth, the excess expenses required by the imperial court today are all the armament silver accumulated by the emperors of the Great Zhou Dynasty, which is used for national war reserves, but unfortunately, since the succession of the saint, this armament silver has also been almost exhausted......"

“……”

Gu Qian suddenly seemed to be struck by lightning, he was stunned and couldn't say a word, the armament silver was saved by the emperors of the Great Zhou Dynasty for emergencies, and these moths actually had the courage to use it? Aren't you afraid of being slashed all over the house?

I only listened to Xi Man continue: "The emperor uses one or two taels of armament silver, and the people below can use ten taels, and then falsely report a number, and they will be fooled casually, as long as the emperor is happy, no one will check it at all,

Now in the entire capital, except for the emperor, the other officials all know in their hearts, what is the situation of the Great Zhou court, but the emperor doesn't say it, no one dares to ask, these people have already been fed with silver......"

"Your Excellency!" Gu Qian arched his hand and said to Xi Man, "Xia Guan dared to ask, how much was the amount of silver in the treasury last year?" ”

Xi Man replied: "In addition to the silver left in various places, 200 million taels of silver have been put into storage, and the extra 500 million vacancies are afraid that they have already been coveted by various families......

"A sign of the death of the country, a sign of the death of the country......"

When Gu Qian heard this, he sat down weakly, the expression on his face no longer showed a trace of brightness, Xi Man got up and patted him on the shoulder, and he didn't know what to say for a while.

Suddenly, Gu Qian got up and said categorically to Xi Man: "No, tomorrow I will definitely tell the emperor the truth, and I can't let this unhealthy trend continue!" ”

Xi Man hurriedly said: "Calm down, Gu Qian!" ”

Gu Qian immediately replied: "The teacher doesn't need to say much, if it goes on like this, the country will not be a country, and this official must alert the emperor and let him severely punish this group of thieves who steal the country!" ”

After finishing speaking, regardless of Xi Man's dissuasion, Gu Qian resolutely stepped out of the hall of the Taiwei Mansion.

Xi Man looked at Gu Qian's departing back and sighed: "Alas, Gu Qian, you are too naïve, it's just that!" No matter what, I will save your life! ”

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