After some discussion, the emperor ordered the temporary allocation of grain from Nanzhili to 300,000 stones, Zhejiang and Jiangxi each to send 100,000 stones, Shandong and Henan provinces due to last year's disaster, exempted from the additional grain. He also ordered Sun Mingshu, the governor of Caoyun, to dispatch troops to transport it.

At this time, there was still half an hour before noon, and Emperor Renwu could not hide his excitement when he saw that the matter of Cao Liang had been resolved. This was the first problem he had encountered since he came to power, and it was also the first problem he solved, even if it was Shoufu who actually solved the problem.

Just as he was about to order Honglu Temple Qing to announce that "there is something to start and nothing to retreat from the court", Sun Mingshu, the right deputy capital of the Inspectorate, stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, the minister has this book." ”

Emperor Renwu originally planned to retire early today, and he went to meet his biological mother, Empress Dowager Zheng, and by the way, he bragged about how wise he was.

However, since Sun Yushi has something to report, he still has to be generous, and he can't chill the hearts of his courtiers. So he raised his right hand, which was enveloped by a wide yellow robe, and said softly, "Sun Yushi, please speak." ”

Sun Mingshu held the wat board and bowed down and said: "Your Majesty, the Grand Canal will enter the dry period after September, so the annual grain will be shipped in January and February of the next year, and it will arrive in the capital at the end of August at the latest. Now that it is almost September, the 500,000 stone of expedited grain may not be able to be transported to the capital for a while. ”

"In that case, why not by land?" The Emperor asked.

Sun Ming wrote with an embarrassed look. The question asked by the emperor was really impossible for him to answer, as long as he was a little bit of a person who knew how to calculate economic accounts, he would not ask such a question.

He thought about it for a while, and finally said stubbornly: "Your Majesty, if you take the land route, I'm afraid that my more than 120,000 troops will not be able to shoulder this heavy responsibility, and I need to temporarily recruit people. ”

Lu Song also stepped forward to help and said, "Your Majesty, what Sun Yushi said is very true. If you take the land route, I am afraid that no less than 500,000 soldiers and civilians will be requisitioned, and there will be no less than 500,000 stone of grain and grass consumed. In addition, it takes about a year to transport grain back and forth, and if the people's labor is temporarily recruited, it will delay the people's cultivation. ”

Seeing that Lu and Sun were talking about the Tao there, the emperor's face became more and more ugly. When he became emperor, he did not listen to these courtiers complain about the difficulties, but listened to the way to deal with them. If everything has to be solved by him, the emperor, then what else does the minister have to do?

I saw him stand up from the top of the golden platform, glared at the ministers and said, "Water and land can't work, so what do you say?" At this time, the "majesty of the Son of Heaven" taught by the great Confucians of the Guozijian and the Hanlin Academy had been thrown out of the clouds by him.

The ancients said: "When the Son of Heaven is angry, he bleeds and drifts." Even if Emperor Renwu's teeth are not sharp enough and his body is not strong enough, he is still a lion, and he can eat people when he is angry.

Therefore, the ministers tacitly chose to bow their heads and remain silent. There was a strange silence in the Fengtian Hall for a while. Even Shousuke rarely didn't express an opinion, and just blindly pondered. Qian Jin also hid behind those attendants with interest, concentrating on drawing talismans on the wat board with a brush.

After a few breaths, Du Du, the waiter of the Ministry of Works, broke the silence: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that there is no need to worry about the shortage of grain. If the officers and men of the Beijing camp and the border towns save some money, they will be able to support them until June or July next year. At that time, the grain of Shandong and Henan provinces will be shipped one month ahead of schedule, and it should be just continued. Of course, all this is premised on the smooth opening of the Grand Canal......"

"The Du Gong Department has something to say, what does it look like to hide it." The emperor sat back on the golden platform and said in a cold voice.

Originally, the emperor was in a displeased, and Du Jue didn't want to come out of this.

However, the Ministry of Engineering is in charge of the annual dredging project of the Grand Canal, and if he misses next year's transportation, even if he has nine heads, it will not be enough for the emperor to cut off. Therefore, he planned to persuade the emperor to put the grain in advance, and then open his mouth to ask for the money for the project of dredging the Grand Canal, but the emperor was scolded back with a word.

Cao Ming, the secretary of the Ministry of Works, saw that his deputy did not explain his words to the emperor, so he said bluntly: "Your Majesty, the Grand Canal needs to be dredged every year, please allow Your Majesty to allocate 800,000 taels of silver." ”

The Emperor didn't want to speak at the moment. The matter of the grain has not been resolved, and the Ministry of Industry has jumped out to ask for silver, but he can't do it yet, after all, people are also for national affairs.

"Hmph, Cao Shangshu and Du Gongbu have a good calculation. Your project money is important, but the shortage of food for my officers and soldiers is not a problem? "It was Ding Yi, the secretary of the military department, who spoke.

Ding Shangshu is in his early fifties, tall, with beautiful hair and a ruddy face. Previously, when he heard that Du Gongbu said that he wanted the officers and soldiers to "save some food", he was already a little displeased, but he was not good at attacking with a squire. Now that even Cao Shangshu has jumped out to help, he can't care about any face.

Although Cao Ming is already a little old man in his sixties, his kung fu is very good, so he only heard him say slowly: "Ding Shangshu, the old man has calculated carefully, your grain gap is at most a matter of a month, and it is not difficult to endure it." ”

"According to Cao Shangshu's intentions, my officers and soldiers of Dachen will be hungry for more than a month to defend the border pass?"

"Ding Shangshu misunderstood, the Ministry of Appropriate Talents and Du Gong has said that next year's grain from Henan and Shandong will be shipped in January ahead of schedule, just in time for the food shortage of officers and soldiers."

"Cao Shangshu is afraid that he doesn't know that this grain needs to be transferred to the capital, and it will take another month on the road. Moreover, if there is a war on the frontier, the shortage of food will be more than 300,000 stones. At that time, the officers and soldiers were hungry and couldn't hold swords and guns, and in case one side of the pass was lost, Cao Shangshu would be a great contribution. ”

Ding Shangshu said seriously. If the Grand Canal is not dredged effectively, next year's grain will not reach the capital, and all your colleagues will probably have to drink the northwest wind. Cao Ming said lightly.

"You ......" Ding Shangshu didn't expect that Shangshu of the Ministry of Engineering would be such a scoundrel, and tried to pull all the ministers in this palace into the water in a vain.

There is a big taboo in this officialdom, that is, you can't become the public enemy of all officials, otherwise no matter how high and powerful you are, you won't be able to do it for long. Cao Shangshu knew this very well, so he talked about the officials' salaries.

Ding Shangshu did cast a rat bogey. This platoon is his housekeeping ability, but he can't play with people who fight with people, and they are all people who eat by calculation. However, after being mixed in the capital for a long time, no one's ass is clean. Since you dare to play yin, then I dare to come to Leng.

He pointed at Cao Ming and scolded: "Don't think that no one knows your details, this river has been repaired and repaired by you, and the silver leaking out of your fingers can be piled up into a mountain." ”

"Hmph, the hill of your military headquarters is not very clean."

……

Qian Jin looked at the two Shangshu on the top of the golden platform, and they were not much better than a shrew scolding the street, and he was stunned for a while.

Today, when he went to court for the first time, he witnessed such a strange drama with his own eyes. Secretly glancing at the emperor on the golden platform, he found that the emperor was actually watching with interest, presumably the scene of Shangshu scolding is usually rare.

At this time, Wang Peiwen, the secretary of the ministry, coughed twice and reminded: "Ding Shangshu and Cao Shangshu are more decent, Your Majesty is still watching." ”

Shi Xueyi, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, also stood up to persuade: "Wang Shangshu is right, the two Shangshu are people who have read poetry and books, so don't lose the face of the sages." ”

Ding and Cao couldn't hinder the persuasion of the two important ministers, so they had to give up, but their faces were still ugly.

Qian Jin couldn't help but take a closer look at Wang Shangshu and Shi Shangshu a few times. During the palace examination, Qian Jin had already met with these two Shangshu, but there were many officials present at that time, and he didn't have time to say a few more words.

Wang Shangshu is a northerner at first glance, tall and with a somewhat dark complexion, although he has passed the age of heaven, he is very well maintained. The most distinctive thing is that his head looks bigger than others.

Shi Shangshu is already a little old, the wrinkles on his face are like cracked old bark, his beard more than half a foot long has turned white, and there is a smoking gun pinned to his waist.

Qian Jin felt a little guilty about Shi Shangshu. On the day of the dispute with Chen Xiong, Shi Shangshu sent someone to give him a strong momentum, and also asked him to go to the Ministry of Rites more often. In the past few months, he has been busy with the work of two workshops, but he has delayed this matter. Ding Shangshu is also there, and he has not changed the waist card and military register of thousands of households.

Just as he was pondering the doors of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of War in the past two days, Wang Shangshu of the Ministry of Officials stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, the reason for the dispute between the two Shangshu is nothing more than the shortage of grain and silver in the treasury. I heard that the answer to the strategy of the Qian Shi lecture examination is based on the theory of the wealth of the country, and the strategy of the palace examination is even more good. Why don't you listen to what Qian Shi said? ”

Emperor Renwu was a little surprised when he heard Wang Shangshu's words. He glanced at Qian Jin, who was hiding behind several attendants, and found that the latter was still there in a daze, so he said to Wang Shangshu: "Qian Waiter said that it is the first time to go to the court, and it will take some time to become familiar with state affairs, so let's avoid it this time." ”

Qian Jin was about to record Wang Shangshu's amazing words at first, but he knew that his words suddenly pointed at him, and he was a little caught off guard for a while. You must know that a scholar named him in the court to test him, which is intriguing.

He quickly recalled all the details of his encounter with Wang Shangshu, but still found nothing.

The only thing that is certain is that Wang Shangshu asked him to make suggestions in front of so many ministers, most of them were weasels giving New Year's greetings to chickens - not well-intentioned. If this shortage of the treasury can be solved in a few words, the two Shangshu of Ding and Cao will not openly quarrel in the court.

But he and Wang Shangshu only met once or twice, and there was no chance to offend him at all. The only thing that offended him was the only possibility, and that was the matter of the champion.

At the beginning, there were three champions nominated by the ministers: Liao Donglin, Mao Tengkai and himself.

Liao Donglin's writing is outstanding, and Qian Jin has always been optimistic that he can win the champion. Mao Teng's writing is also good, and he also looks like a jade tree in the wind. Later, the emperor "cheated", and the champion candidate became Qian Jin, and the court was afraid that some ministers were dissatisfied, but it was difficult for the emperor to oppose it.

If this Wang Shangshu is trying to make things difficult for himself, it is probably for Liao Donglin or Mao Tengkai to come out. But as for the matter of a little champion, let Wang Shangshu go out in person?

It was like an electric flash in my mind. Qian Jin remembered that when he first arrived in the capital, Liao Donglin had said that he was staying at a relative's house in the capital. Could it be that the relative he said was Wang Shangshu?

And no matter what kind intentions Wang Shang'an has, whether Liao Donglin is involved or not, he can only take one step at a time now. Thinking of this, Qian Jin stepped down from the high platform and said to the emperor: "Your Majesty, because of this matter, I am afraid that there are still some ministers in the court who have a lot of complaints about Weichen. In this case, Weichen has to deal with it. ”

"It doesn't hurt to say it, and it's okay to say it." Emperor Renwu's eyes showed the meaning of expectation.

Qian Jin turned around and glanced around at the ministers in the hall, and said with a smile: "Actually, the matter of entering Beijing with 500,000 stone autumn grain is easy to handle, and your colleagues don't have to worry about it." ”