The next day, a full moon hung in the sky.

At this time, the people of the capital were still asleep. The large and small Beijing officials have come out of their respective mansions, or sit in a large sedan chair, or walk away, and gradually converge into a torrent of entering the court.

Qian Jin is also a member of this torrent.

He didn't sleep all night because of the summons of the Queen Mother the night before, and he had to get up so early this morning, which was extremely difficult for him as a person who slept until he woke up naturally every day. Bao'er pinched his nose and applied cold water to kick him off the bed.

When the first rays of morning light shone on the earth, the civil and military officials finally waited for the bell of the upper dynasty, and they all entered from the left and right doors of Chengtianmen with tooth cards, and stood on both sides of the royal road in front of the Fengtian Palace according to the official rank, the civil officials were on the left, and the military attache was on the right.

The music started, the whip sounded, and Honglu Siqing sang "enter the class" loudly.

Cabinet ministers, ministers, ministers, and officials who had returned to Beijing to report on their work, who had long been accustomed to these processes, lined up and entered the palace along the steps in front of the hall.

Qian Jin also followed behind these big people, causing envy from the surrounding area.

The inside of the Fengtian Hall is so big, and there are thousands of officials in Beijing. Therefore, officials below the fourth rank are not qualified to enter the Fengtian Temple to discuss matters.

Qian Jin is an exception, he has to record the emperor's words and deeds, answer the emperor's inquiries, and his duty. Another exception is that in the six sections, although there are only seven products, you can directly meet Your Majesty, and you can also be impeached.

After entering the palace, Qian Jin found that the young Emperor Renwu was already sitting on the golden platform in the middle of the corridor, and the various dignitaries had almost been divided into two sides and stood up.

Just as he was hesitating where to stand, Li Shoufu coughed lightly and pouted towards Jintai. Qian Jin followed Shoufu's gaze and saw more than a dozen officials standing on both sides of Jintai, most of them wearing green robes and holding wat boards, mixed with several officials in red robes.

Qian Jin couldn't help muttering in his heart. Dare to love this heavenly servant to say that there are so many people! At first, he thought it was a scarce official position.

Holding back the sense of loss, Qian Jin arched his hand towards the first assistant, and climbed up the golden platform along the steps on the left side of the corridor, found a vacant place and squeezed in. A few brothers next to him cast not very friendly glances. Qian Jin smiled at them, which was considered to have been said hello.

At this time, Huang Wentao, the secretary of Honglu Temple, sang loudly: "Sound the whip again, and perform a bow and three bows." "The whip is equivalent to a salute, and it needs to be whipped with a long whip to make a shocking sound, and it is a technical job.

After the three whips were sounded, all the officials bowed to the ground. Qian Jin also did the same, and halfway through he glanced at the audience from the corner of his eye, only to see a black gauze hat.

After the ceremony, the early dynasty begins.

At that moment, there was a household servant Lu Song said: "Your Majesty, now there are six provinces (1) of the Cao grain has arrived in Beijing, Tong (2) two warehouses, the South Zhili Cao grain has 1.3 million stones, Henan 280,000 stones, Shandong 200,000 stones, the rest of Jiangxi, Huguang, Zhejiang three provinces can arrive in Beijing at the end of the month, Jiangxi this year can transport 500,000 stones, Zhejiang 400,000 stones, Huguang 220,000 stones. According to this calculation, a total of 2.9 million stones of grain will be transported to the north this year. In addition, Taicang has 2 million taels of silver this year. ”

This Lu Song is Chen Xiong's uncle. When he was arguing with Chen Xiong, Qian Jin had already heard of Lu Shilang's name, but this was the first time he had seen a real person. I saw that he was in his forties, medium in stature, fair-skinned, with a long beard, and a pair of triangular eyes, and he was a shrewd person at first glance.

Emperor Renwu only took charge of the government this year. Although there are Shoufu, Guozijian and the Great Confucian of the Hanlin Academy every day to teach him about state affairs and the way of control, how can he have that patience as a teenager, and the affairs of the treasury are already boring, it would be good for him to listen to them.

Therefore, after listening to Lu Shilang's report, the emperor couldn't figure out whether these grains and silver were too much or too little, so he coughed dryly and asked: "According to Lu Aiqing, this year's grain and silver from the north are enough?" ”

Lu Song hesitated for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, the year of the border army, the silver of the grain of the guards, the cloth and silver of the sergeants, and the silver of the Beijing camp...... The annual output is about 1.3 million taels, and if there are no other expenses, this silver tael is enough, but it still has to be paid to the officials in Beijing, so it goes here for three or four hundred thousand taels. The Grand Canal also needs to be dredged every year, and the amount of money required is not small. As for the annual rations, the monthly rations of the officers and soldiers (3), the Jiulingwei (4), the foreign guards and the Beijing camp (5) need 3.2 million stone every year, and there is a deficit of 300,000 stone here, which is almost the food consumption of all officers and soldiers for more than a month. In addition, the officials in the capital also had to pay food and make up for the shortages. ”

After listening to Lu Song's words, the young emperor finally understood that his situation was not good, and his immature face began to be gloomy. He held a crown ceremony this year to discuss politics, but he didn't expect that what was waiting for him to take over was such a mess.

When the dignitaries in the hall saw that the emperor did not speak, they could not understand the emperor's mind for a while, so they were silent.

Emperor Renwu's gaze swept over the faces of the dignitaries one by one, and his heart couldn't help but be nameless. When you go out to play in Juyongguan, you chase after it closely; When you preach on weekdays, the head of your preaching is the Word; Now it's time for you to come up with ideas.

Of course, the emperor can only scold in his heart, and now that he has just taken charge of the government, everything is cumbersome, and he has to rely on these ministers to do things. If there is a disharmony between the monarch and the minister, this will be tantamount to adding insult to the situation of Chen Guo in front of him.

"Mei, everyone, what can I do?" The young emperor's gaze stopped at the wine plum pavilion of the country's priest.

Qian Jin heard Fang Shi talk about the name of the Mei family at the Yangmei Poetry Conference, so he couldn't help but look at the old gentleman twice.

Mei Ruoting is in charge of the national prison, and he is a master of science, although he is past the age of ear, his body is still healthy, otherwise how can he invite the emperor back from Juyong Pass in the middle of the night? However, his most distinctive feature is that his white eyebrows hang down a few inches, like the old birthday star in the painting.

Hearing the emperor's question, Mei Ruoting's body trembled slightly. However, in order to be worthy of the title of "Mei Family", he still straightened his waist and moved his extremely reluctant body to take a step forward: "Your Majesty, the matter of money and grain has always been in the hands of the household department, and the old man does not dare to trespass. ”

Emperor Renwu snorted lightly to vent his dissatisfaction, and then asked Sun Mingshu, the right deputy capital of the Inspectorate, "Sun Yushi, your governor of the Twelfth Road Cao Yun Army, don't you have anything to tell me?" ”

Sun Mingshu is less than the year of the Mandate of Heaven, and although he is a civil official, he is relatively burly. He hesitated for a moment, but finally straightened up his big belly, and stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, this matter of Cao Yun, Wei Chen only escorts along the road, but he doesn't ask about the collection. Minister...... I couldn't think of a way to deal with it for a while. ”

It was not easy for the emperor to have a seizure when he heard this. After all, they have just transported this year's grain to the capital, and there is no merit and hard work.

The remaining six Shangshu and other science and Taoist officials, he has no interest in asking any further, presumably they are all prevarications such as "dare not exceed the system" and "have not yet thought of a way to deal with it".

In the end, Emperor Renwu set his eyes on Li Shoufu, and his eyes softened a lot.

When the emperor was newly enthroned, it was inevitable that some officials would bully the new emperor without a foundation, and it was the first assistant who made the small people die down. Later, Shoufu served as the emperor's teacher, teaching the way of governing the country every day, and in the emperor's heart, he was the existence of the god of the sea.

As if feeling the emperor's gaze, Li Shoufu flicked his clothes lightly, and gently raised his foot and took a step forward.

When everyone saw this, they all breathed a sigh of relief. There are those who are secretly glad that they don't have to be named by the emperor, and there are also those who are full of confidence in Shoufu, but no one dares to look at the joke. Chen Guo's shortage of grain and silver has not been a year or two, which time was not gently resolved by Shoufu?

When everyone was still thinking about their own affairs, Li Shoufu had already played: "Your Majesty, if it is a good year, there will be no less than 3.5 million stones of grain transported to the north every year, but last year, Shandong, Henan, and the northern part of Nanzhili (now Anhui) were seriously affected by ice and snow, and there were many arrears of grain transported from the north, which would lead to a shortage of grain. This year is a year of good weather and rain, and the autumn grain harvest in the six provinces should be good. ”

"Then according to Taifu, how should I deal with it now?" The emperor was anxious to know how to deal with it, and his body was already leaning forward a little as he spoke.

Shousuke didn't seem to be in a hurry to give the answer. It is rare that His Majesty has become interested in these state affairs today, and if he does not seize the opportunity to teach him, then he will not be the first assistant.

"Your Majesty, in the past few years, I Da Chen can be said to be a small disaster, the royal sympathy for the people, there are many warehouses to rescue, at present, the stock of grain in Beijing and Tong Ercang is only 200,000 or 300,000 stones. But now the officers and men of the six officers and men are all waiting for fresh water, and if they do not pay food, they may have accidents. ”

"What Taifu said is extremely true. Since Emperor Gaozu set the world, he has set 'the Son of Heaven guarding the country' as a national policy. The border area is bitterly cold, if the soldiers can't even eat, what else is there to talk about guarding the border passes? ”

Shoufu was quite satisfied with the emperor's response, so he said: "Your Majesty does not forget the ancestral teachings, and you deserve to be the king of 'benevolence'. According to the old decay, the grain transported to the north this time should be given priority to ensure the needs of the officers and soldiers. As for the food shortage in the capital, that should not be underestimated. You must know that every disaster year, many people flee to the capital, can you know why? ”

"That's because there is a ...... in the capital"

"Yes, as long as the Son of Heaven is there, the people will not panic, after all, the Son of Heaven will not starve to death. However, if there is no food in the capital, then you can only watch the tragedy happen. Therefore, Lao Yu implored His Majesty to issue an order to quickly transfer 500,000 stone of autumn grain from the six provinces of Youcao to Beijing to relieve the shortage of grain. ”

After saying that, Li Shoufu looked back at the civil and military officials in the court, and said with a smile: "As for the food of the officials in the capital...... In the year of the disaster, how can the officials not share the worries of His Majesty, so they will use pepper instead of half a year's salary. ”

Emperor Renwu heard this, and called three "good" words in a row, and immediately ordered to play. Qian Jin and the attendants spoke like a fly, recording His Majesty's will.

After writing, Qian Jin exhaled lightly.

This errand is not tiring, just speak the words of the emperor and the ministers and pick the important records. However, Qian Jin finally learned the skills of Shoufu, a "super pot man", not only solved the problem in a few words, but also taught His Majesty a lesson, and knocked on the civil and military officials by the way: Don't think that the emperor doesn't take him seriously when he is young.

Note: (1) There are six provinces of Cao: Shandong, Henan, Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Huguang and Jiangxi;

(2) Tong: refers to Tongzhou;

(3) Monthly ration: refers to the basic ration of the officers and soldiers every month, which is different from the "marching ration".

(4) Jiulingwei: the area under the jurisdiction of the governor of Jizhou, including Changping Prefecture, Huairou County, Shunyi County, Changling and other Jiulingwei.

(5) Rations: refers to the additional salaries paid during the march or when performing tasks abroad;