When the cities of Guangnan West Road fell one by one, the emperor and Pang Ji they continued to appoint officials to go to Guangxi to catch thieves, but they were useless, Nong Zhigao not only jumped around, but also pointed the troops to Guangnan East Road, and the May army reached the city of Guangzhou. In the past two years, the Guangzhou Shipping Division has been collecting more and more taxes, and most of the merchant ships going west for maritime trade have to pass through Guangzhou, and the stability of Guangzhou is very important to the financially difficult Song Dynasty.

At this time, Zhao Zhen was completely panicked, and summoned the left and right servants Pang Ji, Liang Shi and the privy envoy Gao Ruone, as well as the privy deputy envoy Wang Yaochen and Di Qing, and asked: "Zhuqing, this Nong Zhi Gao soldiers have besieged Guangzhou, what do you have in mind?" ”

There was already displeasure in the emperor's tone, and it seemed that the situation was serious. Pang Ji could only say: "The minister thought that he should immediately elect a capable minister and a brave general to go to Guangnan to catch thieves." ”

The emperor sighed: "Since April, there have been twenty or thirty people who have been appointed as officials, but there is still no one who can be the commander of Nong Zhigao. I don't know who else is up to the task. ”

Liang Shi hurriedly said: "Chen Bao lifted the former guard Wei Qing Yu Jing and the former Tuntian member Yang Jin. When Yu Jing knew Shaozhou, he gathered peasants and soldiers and rectified the fortress barriers, which was quite effective. Yang Jin is accustomed to brute things. These two men are up to the task. ”

Zhao Zhen hurriedly asked: "Where do these two people live now?" ”

Liang Shi hurriedly said: "These two people are now in mourning. ”

Zhao Zhen said: "The state affairs are important, so I have to take away the love." ”

Di Qing, the privy deputy envoy, has been attacked by civil officials since he was appointed, and if it weren't for the emperor's insistence and the newspapers of Qingyuan Academy advocating for him, I am afraid that he would have been knocked out of power by the civil officials long ago. Because of his embarrassing identity, he has never expressed his opinions, and today he is silent.

Zhao Zhen saw that there was no objection, so he asked Pang Ji and them to step back and deal with things separately. Pang Ji said: "Your Majesty, the southern army needs a lot of money and food, and the household department is no longer able to move it, so please borrow some from the inner treasury." ”

Zhao Zhen asked: "No money again?" ”

Pang Ji's face was pale, and Liang Shi also had a difficult face, and said: "The year before last, the Great War in Hebei was connected with drought, and last year, the Yellow River broke and Jiangsu and Zhejiang failed to harvest, and there is still a drought this year, and they are all unable to make ends meet. Now that the summer tax has not been collected, the household department no longer has the money and food to support the war in the south. ”

"This ......" Zhao Zhen was discouraged for a while, after he succeeded to the throne, the imperial court never seemed to have a comfortable life.

In the past, when the prime minister opened his mouth to borrow money from the inner treasury, Zhao Zhen would generally agree, and he did not expect to return it, because in the final analysis, the inner treasury was also the state's money, but it was directly managed by the emperor.

In the past two years, it has been a war and a disaster relief, although Li Buqi has earned him a lot of money, but the money is in the inner treasury and then went out, only last year, the three divisions and the household department borrowed from the inner treasury three times, and he directly took the money for disaster relief and issued military rewards and spent millions of yuan, and now the inner treasury is also empty.

The day before yesterday, the inner library also reported that there was less than two million money left at the bottom of the box. In Zhao Zhen's view, the foundation of the Great Song Dynasty is still in the north, and it is always necessary to leave some money at the bottom of the box in case of any further accidents in the north, and the money at the bottom of the box cannot be moved.

Therefore, Zhao Zhen had to make it clear that there was no money in the inner treasury, and the last bit of money must not be touched. Pang Ji said with a dark face: "I heard that the Heavenly Family has some very profitable industries, and now when you use the money, sell some of them, and you can exchange them for some money and grain." ”

Zhao Zhen's face was even darker - now the industries he came to money from were mainly shares in various workshops, but it could be regarded as making money every day, if there was no support from these industries, the situation in the inner treasury would be even more embarrassing, and if he sold these industries, where would he find money?

There was silence in the Chongzheng Hall for a while. Seeing that the atmosphere was depressed, Di Qing said softly: "Your Majesty, please ask Your Majesty to ask Li Zhongzheng." He is accustomed to making money, and the minister remembers that he has studied a lot about the affairs of Quang Nam Nong last year. The minister thought he might have a way. ”

Listening to Di Qing mention this matter, Zhao Zhen remembered that Li Buqi had mentioned Nong Zhigao to him last year, and Li Buqi's ability to make money everyone knows that it is unpredictable, these days the capital is rumoring that Li Buqi changed the thousands of acres of land obtained by Fu'an Qianzhuang during the disaster relief into a farm, and this year's wheat yield per mu has reached an astonishing 600 catties. If you don't look for money for lack of money, who will you look for? So Zhao Zhen said to the eunuch Wang Zhongzheng beside him: "Go and pass on Li Buqi to see me, let him come immediately." ”

Pang Ji and Liang Shi couldn't help but exchange glances with each other, and couldn't help but sigh secretly in their hearts. They were unwilling to let Li Buqi get involved in such a major national event, because they really didn't want Li Buqi to undermine the stability of the court, and it was precisely for this reason that after the incident in Guangnan this time, they tried to calm down the situation while carefully downplaying the seriousness of the situation, so as to prevent the emperor from thinking of Li Buqi as a "famous general". Fortunately, after Nong Zhigao's attack, Li Buqi remained silent, which made the emperor not summon Li Buqi, but who would have thought that things would develop to the point where Nong Zhigao's troops came to Guangzhou.

Although they intellectually understood that it would be a matter of time before the emperor consulted Li Buqi on Nong Zhigao's matter, they still made a note in their hearts to Di Qing, who proposed to consult Li Buqi.

Li Buqi is giving the last lecture in a series of lectures entitled "Every Day is a War" at Qingyuan Academy today, which is to combine the ins and outs of the Guangnan Incident with the Han Dynasty's attack on the Xiongnu, the Tang Dynasty's expulsion of the Turks, and the Warring States Period. The final sentence is to summarize the sentence is "hard work to prosper the country, and tranquility to mislead the country".

Before he finished speaking, Wang Zhongzheng ran directly onto the podium out of breath, Li Buqi obviously couldn't continue, so he had to immediately follow Wang Zhongzheng on the horse and run all the way to Xuande Gate, dismount and enter the palace to Chongzheng Palace.

Zhao Zhen, who looked haggard, saw Li Buqi and asked Pang Ji to tell Li Buqi about the lack of money in the imperial court, and then asked: "Don't give up, what do you think?" ”

Li Buqi didn't rush to think of a way, but asked first: "Isn't it feasible to use the method of Nasu to supplement officials, and the method of selling salt and tea?" ”

Liang Shi's face darkened: "The prices of salt and tea are now as cheap as mud, and there is no money to be raised." ”

Li Buqi asked knowingly just now. Of course, he knew that the imperial court had been short of money for the past two years, and the salt and tea had been bought for ten years, and the price naturally fell again and again, and there was no value anymore. Liang Shi didn't say anything about Nasu supplementing the official, probably because he felt even more embarrassed, and now the price of the same official position has been three-quarters lower than that of the Qingli period, and if he continues to sell his official position, the court will lose face.

Seeing that Liang Shi admitted that there was no other way, Li Buqi pretended to think for a while, and then said: "Now that the summer tax is being collected, it will not be difficult to think about it as long as it is supported for another month." If the imperial court wants to increase its revenue, it can immediately reform the money law and change the status quo of 'copper is expensive and money is cheap', not only can the money supervisor reduce the deficit of hundreds of thousands of guan every year, but also can collect 'seigniorage', so that there can be an income of several million guan every year. Money law reform has been debated for nearly a year, and there should be a result, right? ”

Liang Shi saw that he couldn't stop Li Buqi from getting involved, so he gritted his teeth and said: "The reform of the money law is far away and does not quench the thirst of the near, even if the summer tax is put into the treasury at the earliest, it will take more than a month at the earliest." It has been difficult to support for more than a month. ”

"Oh, yes." Li Buqi pretended to think about it again, and suddenly asked: "Now it seems that the soldiers and horses of Guangnan Zhulu are only afraid that they will not be able to quell the rebellion, and I don't know if the imperial court can send another person?" ”

Liang Shi said: "I was just going to send Yu Xigu and Yang Jin. ”

Li Buqi showed an exaggerated look of surprise on his face: "You actually sent Yu Xigu?" Yang Jin is not familiar with this person, but Yu Xigu, the minister knows that this person is a peace officer, it is still okay to write articles and scold people, and if he is sent in a crisis, it must be more than enough to succeed. ”

Li Buqi rarely belittled others so harshly, leaving not even a little leeway, which surprised everyone present, and the faces of Pang Ji, Liang Shi and Gao Ruone were as black as the bottom of a pot. Pang Ji immediately asked: "I don't know why Li Zhongzheng said this?" ”