The emperor was about to get angry, but Zhou Yanru didn't seem to notice it, and still said at his pace.

"The world has been plagued for many years, Henan, Shandong, North Zhili, Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places, thousands of miles of scorched earth, and there is no human population. At this time, the tax is not reduced, it is to add troops to the sacrifice! ”

Zhou Yanru's eyes were very sad, and he continued: "The minister went to Beijing to take up his post last year, passing through Linqing, Shandong. This place is on the edge of the canal and has always been prosperous. At the end of the 40th year of Wanli, the township passed the test, went to Beijing to go to the examination, and stayed in Linqing for one night. It was New Year's Eve, and I remembered that the lights were shining here, and the tourists were weaving. Unexpectedly, the minister revisited his hometown last year, and this place has become a hell on earth! As the minister saw with his own eyes, from Xuzhou to Dezhou, there was a great hunger of drought locusts and white bones. Ten gold in rice and a liter of rice bran! ……”

The emperor tried his best to endure Zhou Yanru's noise and maintain the courtesy of the monarch to Shoufu.

The emperor had heard these things many times. Many officials who had returned to Beijing from a business trip were so shocked by the scenes of hell on earth that they begged to see the emperor outside the palace gate for three days, wanting to tell the emperor about the importance and necessity of tax reduction and exemption for disaster relief.

The emperor was also sincerely moved, saddened by the displacement of the people of the world, and did everything he could.

But he is the emperor, and the safety of the country is the first priority that the emperor considers! If there is no military salary, the country is overturned, and it is useless for the people to love it. Therefore, the tax that should be added and the disaster relief that should be relieved, everything is the same!

Now that Zhou Yanru is cliché, the emperor is naturally not interested at all.

"It was the ministers who thought that the Ming Dynasty should be exempted from the taxes owed by the people twelve years before Chongzhen. If you collect it without authorization, Your Majesty is guilty! Zhou Yanru ended with such a sentence.

The emperor sneered in his heart: It turns out that the so-called advice is another empty cannon!

Chongzhen's fourteen years of taxes can't be collected, how can he get Chongzhen's twelve years ago? Such an edict will not have any impact on the tax revenue of the imperial court this year, nor will it bring any relief to Taicang, which has been depleted.

But the emperor understood that Zhou Yanru's advice was of great political value. In the heavily taxed areas south of the Yangtze River, many people simply cannot pay the taxes they have been in arrears for more than 200 years. These tax arrears have become a heart disease that has been passed down from generation to generation by the people. Because the government can carry out legal looting of the people at any time in the name of paying off the arrears. Now that the edict has been written, those people will be reassured and will be happy, and they will take credit on the new cabinet team, especially the head of the new cabinet assistant Zhou Yanru.

"What the gentleman said is very true!" The emperor nodded lightly and expressed his support, "According to Mr. Will, let the provinces go straight to the fold, the cabinet vote is drafted, and the celebrant will approve Zhu!" ”

"Your Majesty, the true king of Yao Shun!" Zhou Yanru knelt down and bowed.

The eunuch Wang Chengen, the master of ceremonies, did not have Zhou Yanru's exaggerated style, he just bowed deeper: "The slave obeys the emperor's order!" ”

It's just that before Zhou Yanru got up, the emperor opened his mouth leisurely behind the bookcase: "Mr. Zhou, you have to open source to throttle!" ”

……

The dream of a scholar is nothing more than "learning literature and martial arts, and goods and the emperor's family." ”

Having said that, how to perform the show well and sell it for the best price is a difficult task. The play can't be smashed, and the literary and martial arts were not sold, but they gave away their lives. So the best drama is always the one who retreats with all his body.

The emperor was impatient, and Zhou Yanru knew it. As the saying goes, "The country is easy to change, but the nature is difficult to change." "After more than ten years, the emperor still can't hold his breath like this.

When do people think food is the best? When you're hungry. Zhou Yanru just wanted to make the emperor hungry, so that his next suggestions would win the greatest resonance with the emperor.

Zhou Yanru smiled in his heart, as if he didn't hear the dissatisfaction from the emperor's tone. He got straight up from the ground and sat back down on his embroidery pier.

"Your Majesty's desire for healing is a blessing for the ministers. It's just that this chaos is easy to cure, and Your Majesty must not be in a hurry. The doctor said: Illness comes like a mountain, and illness goes like a thread. If you want to be governed, you have to do things slowly one by one, and after more than ten years, you can achieve the realm of great governance! ”

"Tell me, sir, what is the first thing to do now?" The Emperor retorted in a cold voice.

"Your Majesty has already said that it is necessary to open up the source of throttling. Under this tax reduction and exemption, more silver will be levied for the imperial court...... Your Majesty, this is not an easy task! ”

The emperor on the other side may be stupid, but he is not stupid. He may have realized that what he wanted to hear about today was coming.

"It's okay, sir!"

"Your Majesty, most of the court's wealth is for raising soldiers. If you don't have to raise soldiers, won't you save a lot of money and food? ”

The emperor's voice suddenly became urgent: "Sir, speak quickly!" ”

"Your Majesty, a few days ago, the fast horse was sent to the political secretary, and the tycoon of Shufu Liao and the inspector Liu Zhibo jointly played three things.

First, please follow the old example of Lu Xiang's ascension to heaven and raise 20,000 righteous troops in Shu to resist the thieves;

Second, please allow the reform of Sichuan salt administration. They promised that the annual salt tax would not be less;

Third, report the great victory of Changping Mountain in Shu.

The ministers have seen the details, and they have already put on the vote, can Your Majesty have a holy ruling? ”

Oh? The emperor's throat made a long sound, and he turned his head to Wang Chengen and asked, "But what about the Shu land?" ”

"Back to the emperor, exactly!"

Emperor Chongzhen did not trust his courtiers and did everything himself. He often reviewed the recitals from morning to night, in order to gain insight into the disadvantages of the situation.

But the world is eventful, and the marches from all over the empire are flying like snowflakes. How could the emperor cope alone? Therefore, when the emperor reviews the recitals, he generally only looks at the abridgements. Only military Tang newspapers will be read. If it is not so urgent, it often takes a long time to get the approval of the celebrant and the celebrant. With the approval of the celebrant and the celebrant of ceremonies, it means that the emperor has a formal opinion on the chapter, so that the cabinet can draw up the decree and use the treasure, and pass it on to the political secretary for issuance.

"I'm not sure yet." The Emperor's voice sounded a little hesitant.

Because the emperor recalled that he had only heard a rough idea at the time and threw it aside. So he explained to Shoufu: "Shu reported a great victory, and killed thieves and made thousands of dollars." But Bazhou is lost, how do you know that they are not killing good and risking their merits? The list of meritorious services is even more bizarre, Lu and Ya are in the south of upper and lower Sichuan, and Feixian Pass is adjacent to Tusi, how can there be a reason for the land guard to lead the military merits of northern Sichuan? If the Ministry of War does not send personnel to verify, I am afraid that there will be cheating! ”

"What about the rebels and the salt administration?" Zhou Yanru asked.

Wang Chengen relieved the master in time: "Elder Zhou Ge, our family remembers that the cabinet vote is drafted, and there is such a sentence - the national system cannot be tampered with unless it is determined by His Majesty!" His Majesty listened to the gentlemen, and was ready to refute it. ”

Wang Chengen said lightly, and put the responsibility of the emperor on the cabinet.

But Zhou Yanru didn't bother with Wang Chengen.

He lowered his head and played: "Your Majesty, the minister is in a hurry to play, just for this matter!" There is a lot of information on this matter, and it must not be taken lightly! ”

Zhou Yanru said, took out a folded old paper from his sleeve and presented it to Wang Chengen: "This is the former Wang Yingxiong of Shiba County, a former university, sent his family to Beijing in an emergency, and he entered the cabinet last night. It just so happened that the minister was on duty, and after a closer look, he was surprised. The minister specially brought it today, please your majesty to take a look! ”

"What is this?" The emperor asked when he got the newspaper.

The Imperial Court Newspaper is about six inches high and less than four inches wide, with a nailed line on the right side, and it is a small book to look at left and right. But Zhou Ge Lao presented this thing, which was a small piece of paper at a glance, and it was unfolded layer by layer, and it was actually a large piece of paper one foot wide and one foot two inches high.

The emperor turned the paper over with questions, and a line of large black characters came to his face:

"Long live Daming! Captain Pingshan of the caravan is victorious! ”

The title of the line in bold and small print below the large characters: "My glorious guardian caravan fought with the local tyrants Sha Tiandong and Yang Bingyin in Pingshan, the southern county magistrate, on September 17, and beheaded 3,000 local tyrants, captured 2,000, and won the head of the two thieves. ”

The small print title is followed by a detailed history of the battle.

In the text, the caravan was initiated by Shao Jiechun, the former governor of Sichuan, with the approval of His Royal Highness the King of Shu, the active assistance of the Yamen of the Second Taiwan and the Third Division, the civil and military support of the two prefectures of Ya and Lu, and the active participation of the gentry and people of Wangzhuang.

This time, the local tyrants in northern Sichuan shook the sky and Yang Bingyin ganged up to go out of the mountain, besieged Yilong County, and attacked the southern county, all of which were old deeds of grabbing grain and plundering people. The caravan obeyed Liao Fu's order and went to northern Sichuan to suppress thieves in order to relieve the siege of Yilong County, but encountered the local tyrants in Changping Mountain. The two sides fought a bloody battle, the caravan was loyal, and boldly counterattacked in a critical situation, but the local tyrant was depressed, and was covered by the caravan for dozens of miles, and the army was defeated. The thief chief shook the sky and was killed on the spot, and the thief Chen Xin was killed by the firecracker; Yang Bingyin and his son were beheaded at Dayi Mountain the next day. Zhu Pingjin, the prince of Shu, has already issued an order to build the thief's head into a Jingguan and stand on the side of the Jialing River outside the southern county to deter the enemy. The two heads of the enemy chieftains, spread to the states and counties of Sichuan, and prescribed them for those who do not obey.

After reading the lines at a glance, the emperor hurriedly turned over the newspaper, and there was still content on the back of the newspaper.

The large block in the upper right corner is the list of the dead and seriously wounded of the caravan. Next to it, there are three portraits of varying heights, all of which are drawn by lines.

The first painting depicts a heroic general, and the following is noted as Chen Youfu, a battalion officer of the caravan;

the second depicts a young scholar, indicating that it is Luo Jingyun, the overseer of the caravan;

The third is also a scholar, but he is nearly middle-aged, with a handful of beard under his lips, indicating that it is Wang Xingwu, a scholar from Jianzhou.

Next to each portrait, there are heroic introductions, such as Luo Jingyun, who has this text description:

"When I was young, I had the ambition of the world, and I was willing to be like Changshan Zhao Zilong, a white horse and a silver gun, to save Adou in the 800,000 army of Cao thieves......"

Under the three portraits, there are also Yilong Zhi County Bi Jiucheng on behalf of himself and the people of Yilong County on behalf of the desperate life, the artistic conception is sad, the words are sincere, and reading it will make people cry.

There are more and more miscellaneous contents below, such as recruiting displaced people from various provinces to farm, enter the factory, and serve as soldiers, a review of Shudi's autumn women's clothing style and winter style prediction, and a small piece of article such as the grain price forecast after the autumn harvest.

In the lower left corner, a square lace wire frame depicts an unrealistic machine, with the text stating that this is the latest threshing machine that can help farmers harvest. New products are snapped up, with a huge discount, and the price is only sold for 20 taels!

The emperor flipped through the newspaper and tossed it a few times, then laid it flat on the desk and muttered to himself: "Is this Changping Mountain victory really a failure?" ”

"It's true!"

Zhou Yanru immediately confirmed, and solemnly reminded the emperor: "It's just that there are still articles in it!" Wang Yingxiong enclosed a copy of the report, and asked His Majesty to read it! ”

Wang Yingxiong's book is a private letter he wrote to Zhou Yanru. In addition to greeting each other's bodies and families, there is a short paragraph about the battle of Changping Mountain.

Wang Yingxiong said that there were about 1,000 people in the caravan, and the number was one battalion. Nominally, it is a righteous army, but most of the actual officers and soldiers are the sergeants of the left guard of the Shu Wangfu and the Zhuang Ding of the Wangfu.

The palace of the king of Shu is rich in the world, so the equipment of the caravan is extremely luxurious: horses and vehicles, armor and clothing, weapons and firearms, and eighteen kinds of weapons are readily available. Officers and soldiers are all paid high salaries, and they are paid every month; They all ate a full meal, and added meat in the middle of the month. According to his estimates, such a thousand people will cost at least 50,000 taels of silver a year.

Seeing that the emperor's eyes lit up, Zhou Yanru finally revealed the true purpose of his majesty's meeting today.

"This is the best soldier in the world, why not win! If Your Majesty has tens of thousands of such strong soldiers, why worry about the Tartars and the sacrifice? ”

"It's good, it's a pity that the court can't afford it!" The emperor angrily slapped the case, "Such a thousand strong soldiers are enough to support 10,000 officers and soldiers!" ”