Fang Yuan hurried to the Dongnuan Pavilion, as expected, Chongzhen was smashing his cup in the Dongnuan Pavilion, and the roar could be heard from a distance as soon as he entered the palace gate, "This Fang Yuan, bold and reckless, has no eyes on the king, and the court dares to answer the military salary for me!" ”

"He's also eyeing my imperial silver, and he's so angry! I'm so angry! ”

Wang Chengen, who was at the door of the Dongnuan Pavilion, was constantly wiping his sweat, and when he saw Fang Yuan arriving, he hurriedly whispered, "Fang Yuan, you kid is in trouble again, Your Majesty is now thundering and furious." ”

Fang Yuan smiled and said, "Your Majesty's liver fire is too strong, which is not conducive to the way of health preservation!" I'm here to extinguish the fire for Your Majesty, so let the prince pass it on! ”

Wang Chengen looked at him complainingly and said, "Alas! Do you know that I have been with Your Majesty for more than ten years, and I have never seen anyone dare to anger Your Majesty again and again like you, and if I continue to mess around like you like this, I just don't have enough heads to lose. ”

Fang Yuan patted him on the shoulder affectionately and said, "Princess, I don't only have one head, if I am not completely sure, how dare I anger Your Majesty?" Don't worry! I'm really here to put out the fire, not to add fuel to the fire. ”

Wang Chengen looked at him suspiciously, hesitated into the Dongnuan Pavilion, and reported to Chongzhen that Fang Yuan was asking to see him outside the Dongnuan Pavilion.

"Good, good! If he doesn't come, I'll look for him, let him in!" ”

Chongzhen's roar came out clearly, Fang Yuan smiled when he heard it, and strode into the Dongnuan Pavilion.

Chongzhen saw that he dared to swagger in, and said angrily, "Fang Yuan! You have sinned so badly that you deserve to be killed! Damn it! ”

Fang Yuan pretended to be stunned and said, "Your Majesty, what is the crime of the minister?" ”

Chongzhen angrily pointed at him and said, "Above the court, you dare to pay the military salary for me and promise to pay the military salary from the emperor's bank, and you shouldn't kill it?!" ”

Fang Yuan pretended to be surprised and said, "The national disaster is at the head, if the thieves capture the capital, no matter how much Imperial Silver Your Majesty keeps, it will be an enemy!" Now that the military situation is urgent, please dial a little! ”

Chongzhen trembled with anger, swept all the chapters on the dragon case to the ground, and said angrily, "Huangyin Inner Money!" Imperial Silver! You are all staring at my little bit of imperial silver, do you think that my imperial silver is a cash cow, a cornucopia, inexhaustible? ”

How much Chongzhen's imperial silver has has been a historical subject that historians have been entangled in since ancient times. There are different theories that the imperial silver was copied out by Li Zicheng for 50 million, and there are 38 million, tens of thousands and so on.

Fang Yuan was actually very curious about how much Emperor Chongzhen's imperial silver was in the legend, whether it was really piled up or penniless.

To say that Chongzhen has tens of millions of imperial silver but does not pull out a dime, it must be nonsense, this is Li Zicheng's lie or the slander of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, a fool will believe it; But to say that there is no penny, it is also to beautify Chongzhen into Lei Feng.

According to Fang Yuan's estimate, although Chongzhen's imperial silver treasury is less than the tens of millions of silver copied out by Li Zicheng, there should still be three or five million.

Fang Yuan asked curiously, "The minister heard rumors in the palace that His Majesty's imperial silver is at least 50 million, so the minister dared to pay the 2 million silver for His Majesty." ”

Chongzhen glared at him and said, "Are you going to be angry?!" If there were 50 million taels, I would have been exempted from the taxes of Shaanxi and Henan, which were the most severely ravaged by the rogues, so why would I be so out of control in front of me? ”

Fang Yuan asked again, "There is no 50 million, there should be 30 million." ”

Chongzhen shook his head and said, "If there are 30 million, I will still be thrifty in the harem, and I will still be in arrears of food?" Are you a rich man who keeps money? ”

Fang Yuan asked, "10 million is indispensable." ”

Chongzhen continued to shake his head and said, "At the beginning of my ascension to the throne, there was a little, since Yuan Chonghuan over the years, a little in the east and a little in the west, where is there still 10 million silver?" ”

Fang Yuan stretched out five fingers and said, "What about 5 million?" ”

Chongzhen glanced at Wang Chengen, who managed the accounts of the imperial bank, and Wang Chengen said, "No, there really isn't, if there is 5 million, you don't need Fang Yuan to open your mouth, Your Majesty will also take it out for Governor Sun's army transfer, why is there such a big anger?" ”

"Not even 5 million taels?"

Fang Yuan was secretly disappointed, it seemed that he still overestimated Chongzhen's family background, so he asked straight to the point, "Can Your Majesty tell the minister the truth, how much imperial silver is still in the inner treasury?" ”

Chongzhen stared at him angrily and said, "Fang Yuan, you don't know how much imperial silver you have, so you dare to promise for me?" It's a crime of deception! ”

He scolded Fang Yuan coldly, then looked at Wang Chengen and said, "Wang Chengen, take the accounts of the imperial silver!" ”

Wang Chengen bowed down and went to the imperial study to tinker for a while, and took out an account.

Chongzhen lay back on the dragon chair and said, "This account is the latest inventory number a few days ago, Wang Chengen, read it!" ”

Wang Chengen opened the accounts and said, "There are 21,237 taels of gold, 524,586 taels of silver, 52,000 pieces of cloth, 256 pieces of jewelry, and 186 pieces of jade. ”

Fang Yuan secretly estimated that excluding the unrealizable properties such as cloth, jewelry and jade, there were only less than 700,000 taels that could really be used for salary, and it was better to confiscate the property of Tian Hongyu, a national relative.

These numbers have been accurate to two, and they should not be arbitrarily made. What Chongzhen said was at least ninety percent credible, and at the beginning of his ascension to the throne, there should have been 10 million or 20 million imperial silver funds. But after so many years of demolishing the east wall and making up the west wall, Yin ate grain, and had already hollowed out Chongzhen's imperial silver treasury year by year.

The imperial silver treasury was less than 1 million taels, which was less than the 5 million taels estimated by Fang Yuan before.

Chongzhen explained all the details, and said dejectedly, "I have been in power for fifteen years, and now I understand that the military salary is a bottomless pit, and no matter how much imperial silver is spent, it will not be satisfied." I always have to leave some for the queen, the concubine, and a few princes and princesses! These 700,000 taels really can't fill that bottomless pit anymore. ”

Fang Yuan already knew in his heart, he really overestimated Chongzhen's family background before, and 700,000 taels of silver was all used to pay the military salary for today's moving army, which was far from enough.

He didn't expect Chongzhen's imperial silver treasury anymore, and said mysteriously, "Your Majesty, the minister has never thought of using His Majesty's imperial silver treasury. ”

Chongzhen's eyes lit up, and he propped himself up and asked, "Fang Yuan, don't sell Guanzi, talk to me quickly." ”

Fang Yuan said, "There is a way for the minister, and you don't need Your Majesty to pay a tael of silver to complete the affairs of this army move." ”

Chongzhen was overjoyed when he saw that Fang Yuan had another ghost idea, and hurriedly asked, "What method?" Say it! ”

Fang Yuan said in a deep voice, "This method requires Your Majesty to advance 400,000 taels of silver, and after the army is moved, the minister will return a lot of money to Your Majesty." ”

Advance 400,000 taels first, in Chongzhen's opinion, it is also quite painful, Fang Yuan saw Chongzhen's face full of suspicion, so he approached Chongzhen and whispered to him.

Chongzhen listened carefully to Fang Yuan's plan, his expression gradually changed from the initial solemnity to joy, laughed and patted his forehead and said, "So you want to...... Well, very well, in this way, the issue of military salaries for at least one year will be completely solved. ”

Fang Yuan took two steps back, arched his hand and said, "This law also asks Your Majesty to cooperate with the ministers to act a play and issue a holy decree." However, His Majesty must be tight-lipped and can't tell anyone, not even the ladies of the harem, otherwise once the news leaks, it won't work. ”

Chongzhen nodded excitedly, "Only you and I know about this matter, so I'll leave everything to you, Fang Yuan." ”

Wang Chengen saw that the two of them were mysteriously dumbfounded, but he didn't dare to ask, so he could only laugh again and again.