Just when Qian Sunai didn't know how to answer the questions of his sister and Chen Zizhuang, the little eunuch's singing harmony came from the Wenhua Palace.

"Xuangui Concubine Qian, Chen Zizhuang, and Qian Sun fall in love with the palace!"

When Qian Sunai heard that the emperor let him in, he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and said to his sister and Chen Zizhuang: "Sister, uncle, let's go in first!" ”

The three of them entered the Wenhua Hall under the leadership of the little eunuch, and now it has entered December, and there are a few days before the New Year, the temperature in Nanjing is very low, and sometimes it can freeze at night, so the Wenhua Hall lit four pots of braziers with gold silk carbon, and it was as warm as spring when they entered the hall.

Emperor Zhu Hongsan was sitting behind the bookcase, and when he saw Qian Yuting coming in, he hurriedly said, "Tingting, didn't you pay attention to your body?" Come on, quickly prepare seats for Concubine Qian and Lord Chen! ”

Qian Yuting and Zhu Hongsan have been married for four or five years, and they couldn't help but be shy when they heard the emperor call them by their nicknames, and sat down with their heads down and without speaking.

Chen Zizhuang didn't care about that, sat down in his seat and asked: "Your Majesty, the minister heard that his family said that Qian Sunai was captured by the palace guards, and the minister wants to ask when the palace guards have the right to arrest?" Did His Majesty give it to you? Chen Zizhuang plans that as long as the emperor admits it, it will not be over, and he must not appear in any authority other than the factory guard.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Hongsan said with a smile: "Maybe this is why Qian Guifei came!" It's all a misunderstanding! Originally, I heard that Zigao had come back from a study trip and wanted to talk to him, so I ordered the guards to go to Qian's house to invite him. How do you know that Zhao Hu of the Praetorian Guard listened to my order and thought that he was going to arrest Qian Sun Ai, so he ordered his subordinates to arrest Zigao, this is my negligence! ”

Chen Zizhuang heard that Zhu Hongsan would take all the responsibility, and there was nothing he could do in his heart. According to Chen Zizhuang's officialdom experience, he naturally knew that this was the emperor's exoneration of Zhao Hu again, and it was really impossible for an emperor Praetorian Guard officer to be able to listen to the wrong order. But Chen Zizhuang thought that Zhao Hu was the emperor's son-in-law and Zhu Hongyi's eldest son, and the emperor spoke for him. The main Chen Zizhuang heard that the emperor said that he did not give the Praetorian Guards the right to arrest, and he was relieved, and he did not intend to hold Zhao Hu responsible.

Qian Yuting didn't have Chen Zizhuang's political experience, she believed Zhu Hongsan's words, patted her chest and said: "It's really scared to death of the concubine, the concubine thinks Erlang has made some mistakes!" ”

Zhu Hongsan said with a smile: "Concubine Ai thinks too much, even if Zigao makes any mistakes, for the sake of the child in Concubine Ai's womb, I will spare Zigao!" Zhu Hongsan looked at Qian Sun Ai, who was standing on the side, and said, "Zigao, you go and send your sister back first, and come back in a while to talk to me!" ”

Qian Sunai hurriedly bowed down to accept the order, and then helped Qian Yuting back to the palace.

Zhu Hongsan watched Qian Yuting and the two sisters go out, waved his hand and let Zhu Luo and Zhao Hu out, Zhu Luo saw that today's big crisis had finally passed, and he didn't dare to intercede for Zhao Dequan, so he hurriedly pulled Zhao Hu down.

Zhu Hongsan asked Chen Zizhuang, who was sitting: "Mr. Chen, you are concerned about it, you don't care about it when you hear that your son-in-law has something to do with the cabinet, and you run directly to save people!" Zhu Hongsan knew that the cabinet had been busy in the past few days, and Ma Mingyuan had a temper tantrum, and all the things in the cabinet were lost to Chen Zizhuang.

Chen Zizhuang's old face turned red when he heard Zhu Hongsan ask this, and he hurriedly replied: "Your Majesty, now the expenditures of the first year of Shenwu and the budget for next year reported by the provinces have been sorted out, and we are waiting for the final accounts meeting on the 29th!" ”

Zhu Hongsan nodded, but he didn't ask about the preparation of the final account materials, that kind of thing Zhu Hongsan didn't need to look at to know that it was an astronomical amount, and what Zhu Hongsan was worried about now was the strategic direction for next year.

After a year-long offensive in the first year of Shenwu, the territory controlled by the Shenwu regime expanded by four times, and the population increased fivefold.

Now the Shenwu Imperial Court looks thriving on the surface, but on the inside it is like a fat man who has eaten too much, fat on the surface and indigestion on the inside.

The most serious problem in front of Zhu Hongsan now is that he has no money, Zhu Hongsan is different from those Tartar emperors of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, he just has no money to rob it. Zhu Hongsan now represents the orthodoxy of the state, and when he occupies a place, he must exercise the obligation of a state, that is, to ensure that the local people have basic living conditions and that no one will die of starvation. But this matter is simple, the entire Nanzhili has not stopped since the occupation of Nanjing, and various uprisings of various sizes have occurred one after another. It was not until the beginning of this year that the Manchu Qing sent Hong Chengchou to improve, but many peasant households in Nanzhili were in exile, and large areas of land were not cultivated. In addition, Hong Chengchou wanted to raise grain and grass to ensure the war in the north of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and in various places, so the grain of the people in the three provinces of Nanzhili, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi was basically exhausted.

Fujian has not suffered from major wars, but Fujian is mountainous and not a grain-producing area, so it would be good to be self-sufficient, not to mention blood transfusions for those provinces, so the most important thing in front of Zhu Hongsan after he occupied Nanjing was the food problem.

In order to feed the 30 or 40 million people under his rule, it is not enough to rely on the output of Guangdong Province alone, and Zhu Hongsan needs to go to Nanyang countries and Annam to get grain, and other places in Nanyang are not Zhu Hongsan's territory except for Luzon, and he only uses real money to buy grain. However, Zhu Hongsan had already used the silver in his hand in order to expand the army, and he really had no living money. Ma Mingyuan's sick number is also for this reason, it is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice!

Zhu Hongsan also saw the shortcomings of his rapid expansion, and he was ready to slow down the offensive next year, that is, to adjust the strategic direction, from fighting with the Manchus to maintaining the current front with the Manchus, that is, preparing for peace talks.

The peace talks are simple, Zhu Hongsan knows the temper of these stinky old men under him, these guys are all Han people, and Chongzhen used to be mixed up like that, and the treasury was going to run rats, and these ministers also forced Chongzhen not to negotiate peace. Now that I have the advantage on the surface, I don't know if the peace talks can be passed.

It happened that Chen Zizhuang was here today, and Zhu Hongsan wanted to find out what this Shoufu meant.

"Mr. Chen, you see that our treasury is empty now, and there are still tens of millions of people in the entire southern provinces who need to spend money, what do you say will happen to the war in the north next year?"

Chen Zizhuang, as an old fritter in officialdom, immediately knew what the emperor meant when he heard the emperor say this, and he was not preparing for the Northern Expedition. Chen Zizhuang lowered his head and pondered, could he, as the first assistant, not know the current situation of the country? He had been worrying about this matter for the past few days, and now the emperor couldn't answer when he asked.

Chen Zizhuang is fifty-three years old this year, and he has been the first assistant for three or four years, and he deeply knows that as long as he agrees with the emperor's intentions and does not prepare for the Northern Expedition, he will definitely be scolded by those Qingliu in the court as Xu Youzhen's second. In the defense of Nanjing during the orthodox years, Xu Youzhen just said that he was going to move the capital, and he was scolded to death by the Qingliu of the court, and later became a negative example of Yu Qian's bright and majestic shore. In fact, according to the analysis of the situation back then, all the elite troops in Beijing were buried by the emperor in Tumubao, and there was only one way to die in Beijing, and it was not a shame to escape temporarily.

Chen Zizhuang thought of Xu Youzhen's fate, thought about himself again, sighed secretly, and said slowly: "Your Majesty, the great cause of the Northern Expedition is the most important, and the minister hopes that Your Majesty will go all out for the Northern Expedition based on the country and the people!" ”

Zhu Hongsan originally thought that Chen Zizhuang would be able to support his peace talks, but he didn't expect that this old guy would go all out on the Northern Expedition for his reputation. Zhu Hongsan's face, which was still a little smiling, became more and more ugly, and after a long time, Zhu Hongsan said slowly: "I know, Master Chen is tired, go back and rest early!" ”

Chen Zizhuang knew from the change in Zhu Hongsan's words that he had lost his holy favor, and Chen Zizhuang didn't say anything, compared with being an official or not, his reputation was the most important.

Chen Zizhuang slowly stood up and saluted, and then withdrew.

Zhu Hongsan saw Chen Zizhuang's figure, and in his heart, Old Man Chen is old, and it seems that Shoufu is also going to be replaced.

Zhu Hongsan's intention to prepare for peace talks was opposed by Chen Zizhuang, he was in a very bad mood, looked at the folding document in his hand, and lost the mind to read it, threw the folding on the desk, and said to Zhu Hongyi beside him: "Stay in the house and be upset, go out for a walk!" ”

The emperor wanted to go out for a walk, so naturally a little eunuch came up to prepare for the emperor. Zhu Hongsan went out and saw the imperial chariot parked at the door, waved his hand and said, "Don't use this thing, let's walk!" ”

The emperor had to walk and others had no choice but to follow, a total of five or six hundred people followed behind the emperor, and they bypassed the circle in the palace.

Zhu Hongsan came out for a stroll because he was stuffy, and after he came out, he breathed in the cold air and felt bad. He looked up at the dilapidated three major halls, as well as the burned Fengtian Temple, and made up his mind that he must negotiate peace with the Manchus next year, if he follows the will of those stinky old nines, he will follow in the footsteps of Chongzhen, and finally end in financial bankruptcy.

Zhu Hong thought as he walked, and didn't know how to get to Jingyang Palace in the harem. Jingyang Palace is one of the six palaces in the east, which is the residence of several concubines from Zhu Hongsan's bad background, the Chen family who was born as a little widow, and Bian Yujing, who was born as a singer, lived here.

Zhu Hongsan looked up and asked, "Is this?" ”

The eunuch on the side said: "Back to the master, this is the Jingyang Palace where Bian Meiren lives!" "Because Bian Yujing's background is too low, she is not as tall as the Dong family sisters, so Zhu Hongsan can only give her a fourth-grade beauty, which is still for the sake of Bian Yujing giving birth to a prince for Zhu Hongsan, or there is no grade of beauty.

Zhu Hongsan heard that it was Bian Yujing's residence, and nodded, he hadn't come to see Bian Yujing for a long time. Zhu Hongsan is a typical plucking bird ruthless, and throws it aside when he gets tired of playing with women, Chen Zizhuang's widow Chen is an example. Zhu Hong's three forcible regains were forgotten less than half a year later, so that now the Chen family doesn't even have a grade.