As the first assistant of the cabinet, Huang Liji's current responsibility is to maneuver around Wei Zhongxian and Zhu Youzhen, ease the relationship between the two, and maintain the political calm, in fact, he did a good job, in the time after Zhu Youzhen ascended the throne, he instinctively gradually alienated Wei Zhongxian and approached Zhu Youzhen, this is not to say that he has been completely loyal to Zhu Youzhen, this is also a way for him to find a balance. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Zhu Youzhen is the emperor, but he first ascended the throne, without any foundation, although Wei Zhongxian is only a eunuch, he has been in power for several years, there are many henchmen, strong and weak, it can be seen that in general, for the sake of balance, Huang Liji alienated Wei Zhongxian, and also wanted to tell Wei Zhongxian, I stand on the emperor's side, if you want to do something disobedient, I will never agree, this does not mean that Huang Liji is a loyal minister, on the contrary, he is very selfish.

The Ming Dynasty has never had the emperor deposed, if when he was the head of the cabinet, the legitimate emperor was deposed by the inner servants, then how to write about himself in the history books, the literati especially value their reputation, so Huang Liji does not want to be infamous as a sinner through the ages, Huang Liji will do his best to protect Zhu Youzhen.

After Zhu Youzhen listened to Huang Liji's words, he nodded secretly, looked at Wei Zhongxian and said, "Father-in-law Wei, how do you say this matter should be handled." ”

"Your Majesty, the soldier is the way of life and death, if the court wants to think about change, it must be cautious, the old slave thinks that Cui Chengxiu is the secretary of the military department, and he is the first person to make up for the three major battalions." Wei Zhongxian knows better than anyone about the things of the three major battalions, but the people who can reach out are all heroes of the Battle of Jingjing, and it is not easy for him to start, since Zhu Youzhen proposed it, he must follow the emperor's will and rectify it.

"Director Cui Chengxiu, I'm not at ease, Huang Liji, you can recommend someone." Zhu Youzhen did not agree with Wei Zhongxian's candidate but asked Huang Liji, the purpose was not simple, to put it simply, it was a child's trick to provoke the relationship between Wei Zhongxian and Huang Liji, but often the simplest trick can achieve unexpected results.

"I wonder if the emperor has ever heard of a person's name?"

"Who?" Zhu Youzhen was a little strange, he asked Huang Liji to recommend candidates, but he asked himself this question, could it be that the Ming Dynasty still has a handsome talent like a sleeping dragon and a phoenix.

"Hong Chengchou." Huang Liji said softly.

Hearing Hong Chengchou's name, Zhu Youzhen's heart was a little confused, of course he knew that Hong Chengchou had some talent, was quite knowledgeable, and governed the army quite strictly, the most important thing was that he had no connection with Wei Zhongxian, but he always couldn't get over the hurdle in his heart, this hurdle was in the last time and space, after the Manchu Qing Dynasty drove Li Zicheng away from Beijing, he was able to quickly occupy Nanjing and pacify the south, there were two people who had the greatest credit, one was Wu Sangui, and the other was this Hong Chengchou, and he now wanted to reuse Hong Chengchou, Let him enter the stage of history as soon as possible, will he surrender in the future?

Even if history has changed, Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting, who died in battle, are different, he surrendered.

Although he has some opinions about Hong Chengchou in his heart, Huang Liji's recommendation of this person can be regarded as considering the imperial court.

Hong Chengchou once served as the director of the Jiangxi Qing Officials Division, served in the Criminal Department for 6 years, and was transferred to Shaanxi Governor and Senator of Shaanxi.

"Hong Chengchou can be an official in the court, what position is he in?" Even if he knew that Hong Chengchou was still in Shaanxi at this time, Zhu Youzhen still had to ask, so as not to make everyone feel that they had conspired with Huang Liji a long time ago.

"Hong Chengchou is a senator of Shaanxi Province. Proficient in military affairs, when he was a scholar in Zhejiang in his early years, he would select many young talents from the imperial court. It was this person recommended by the emperor that the minister recommended. ”

Zhu Youzhen thought about it for a while, but he was still relieved, and said: "Hong Chengchou is only a civilian official, even if he is proficient in military affairs, it is not easy to start the rectification of the three major battalions, and I am promoting one person to be Hong Chengchou's deputy." ”

"Who is the emperor talking about?"

"General Cao Wenzhao."

Cao Wenzhao was a famous general at the end of the Ming Dynasty, in the last time and space, Cao Wenzhao was an old partner with Hong Chengchou, rehabilitated in Shanxi, Shaanxi, and his military achievements were extremely high, but because of some contradictions with Hong Chengchou, Hong Chengchou concealed some merits and did not report to the imperial court, otherwise Cao Wenzhao's position is definitely not just a chief military officer.

Wei Zhongxian's face changed, he knew a little about Cao Wenzhao, this person was Sun Chengzong's person to put it bluntly, Sun Chengzong had just arrived in Liaodong, and the emperor summoned the military general Cao Wenzhao back to Beijing, which made Wei Zhongxian very uncomfortable.

"General Cao is Lord Sun's right-hand man, at this time, Lord Sun has just arrived in Liaodong, and before he can control the situation, he summoned General Cao back to Beijing, just afraid that something would be wrong."

"What's wrong? I immediately wrote a holy decree and sent it to Liaodong, and transferred Cao Wenzhao to Beijing, and Hong Chengchou, Huang Liji, you asked him to rush to Beijing immediately. Zhu Youzhen said quickly.

Originally, Zhu Youzhen already had a suitable candidate in his heart, this person was Yuan Chonghuan, the famous supervisor in the future, but Huang Liji recommended Hong Chengchou, on the one hand, because Hong Chengchou did have some ability, and on the other hand, he also had the idea of winning over Huang Liji, so he agreed to let Hong Chengchou enter Beijing to serve as the person in charge of the integration of the three major battalions, but the three major battalions were involved in many people, and Zhu Youzhen was afraid that Hong Chengchou would not be able to suppress the soldiers of the three battalions, so he transferred Cao Wenzhao to Beijing to assist Hong Chengchou.

"This matter is settled, Gonggong Wei, how many silver taels does the treasury have at this time, and how much does the inner treasury have?" Zhu Youzhen asked about the state's finances.

"The old slave doesn't know how much silver is in the treasury, but the old slave in the inner treasury knows very well that there are 16 million taels of silver in the inner treasury."

After Zhu Youzhen ascended the throne, this was the first time he inquired into the state finances, and he was surprised to learn that there were 16 million taels of silver in the inner treasury, and he couldn't help but glance at Wei Zhongxian.

"There are sixteen million taels of silver in the inner treasury."

"Yes, since the fifth year of the Apocalypse, all the expenditures of Liaodong's military affairs have been prepared by the Inner Treasury, and in the past two years, the Inner Treasury has allocated a total of 1.8 million taels of silver."

Zhu Youzhen was taken aback, and hurriedly said: "Why did the inner library allocate silver to Liaodong. “

"The treasury has been losing money year after year, if it were not for the support of the inner treasury, I am afraid that Liaodong would have been unable to pay the silver for a long time. In order to better stabilize the border, the old slave asked the first emperor for an order to assume the responsibility of Liaodong's silver. Wei Zhongxian said with some pride, this is also one of the political achievements that Wei Zhongxian can take, but the history books of later generations have not said this matter.

"Why didn't I hear about it when I was the king?" Zhu Youzhen asked the doubts in his heart, although he is now an emperor, but in his previous life, he was a history professor, and he was full of curiosity about unknown history.

Huang Liji said: "Your Majesty, you don't know, there are no more than ten people in the court who know about this matter, the inner treasury allocates silver to the treasury, and the household department has always used the name of the treasury and the household department to transport money and grain to Liaodong. ”

After listening to Huang Liji's words, Zhu Youzhen suddenly figured out that it was really not a glorious thing for the treasury to be unable to pay for the salaries and silver paid by the royal family, and it was extremely normal for the household department to be unwilling to bear this disgraceful thing.

Zhu Youzhen nodded, looked at Wei Zhongxian and said: "Father-in-law Wei is really a pillar of the country, no wonder the imperial brother trusts you so much, how many people are there in the court with this ambition to share worries for the country?" “

Zhu Youzhen praised a few words, which made Wei Zhongxian's mood a little relaxed.

"Then I want to take out some silver taels from the inner treasury, I don't know if Gonggong Wei can agree."

Wei Zhongxian just wanted to be modest for a few words, but when he heard Zhu Youzhen's words, he hurriedly said: "The money and grain in the inner treasury are originally the emperor's, if the emperor uses it, he will open his mouth, how can he torture the old slave so much." “

"Don't you want to hear how many taels of silver I need?"

Wei Zhongxian raised his head and looked at Zhu Youzhen and said softly, "I don't know how much food the emperor needs?" ”

Zhu Youzhen stretched out a finger, Wei Zhongxian thought it was 100,000 taels, and just wanted to speak, but was shocked by the amount of silver taels in Zhu Youzhen's mouth.

"One million taels."

The faces of the ministers in the palace changed.

Huang Liji hurriedly came out and said: "Your Majesty, Liaodong's two-year salary is only 1.8 million taels, where does the emperor use this million taels?" “

Of course, Huang Liji had to ask about it, otherwise if Zhu Youzhen asked for the money and did something ridiculous, then he, the first assistant of the cabinet, would be scolded by all the people who read the world.

Xu Xianchun also came out to stop him: "Your Majesty, the annual tax revenue of the treasury is only more than two million taels, and the emperor will ask for one million taels as soon as he opens his mouth, isn't it embarrassing for Father-in-law Wei?" ”

And Cui Chengxiu was sulking because of the three major camps, and he didn't speak.

"It's embarrassing for Father-in-law Wei, is it possible that there are not so many silver taels in the inner treasury, otherwise how can it be said to be embarrassing for Father-in-law Wei?"

Since Wei Zhongxian dared to say that there were 16 million taels of silver in the inner treasury, there must be one in the inner treasury, and of course Zhu Youzhen knew that saying this sentence was just to use the method of agitation.