"Let's go, you all go to the Qianqing Palace with me, talk as you walk on the road. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info" After finishing the lunch prepared by Guanglu Temple, Ye Xiang said to the people who were left. Then he took Wang An, Wang Chengen, Li Shi and Zuo Guangdou and others out of the Wenhua Palace, and crossed the Jinshui Bridge through the Huiji Gate to the north.

In front of the three major halls, Ye Xiang was interested, and led everyone to climb the stairs. When he stood on the empty pedestal, he had a lot of thoughts, the three halls that should have stood here were nowhere to be found, and it seemed that he had to be the same as the original Zhu Youxiao, and he had to raise his own money to build a house, otherwise where would the royal majesty be. Thinking of the prestige, Ye Xiang remembered the purpose of leaving them, and asked, "How many soldiers are available in the country now?" ”

Huang Jiashan, the secretary of the Ministry of War, knew that he was in charge, so he took the initiative to bow down and replied in a few words, "Back to Your Highness, the national military system, the Beijing camp and the border belly are about 1.16 million main and guest soldiers. However, the situation of false reporting of soldiers and empty salaries in the guard post was endless, and there were three large-scale battles in the temple, which suffered a lot of losses, and in addition to the battle with Jiannu last year, the loss was more than 50,000, so the actual number of troops was not enough. According to statistics from the Ministry of Household Affairs last month, there were more than 867,000 officers and men in the 13 towns on the nine borders, in addition to about 20,000 officers and men trained by the regiment. As for the guards and sailors in various places, there is no constant number of soldiers, and the old minister has been in charge of the army for more than six years since the 42nd year of Wanli, and he only knows that the approximate number is about 1.3 million. ”

Combined with the experience of later generations, Ye Xiang knew that these 860,000 people were arranged along the Great Wall, mainly to defend against the nomads in the north. As for the guards in the south, in this era of chaotic establishment, there can only be a rough estimate. After hearing this, he was noncommittal, and asked the British duke, "What about the Beijing camp?" How is the combat power? ”

Zhang Weixian knew that it was inevitable, so he replied truthfully, "Back to Your Highness, at the beginning of the country, the quota of the Beijing camp was 400,000, but later the military affairs were gradually abandoned, and there were only 200,000 in the time of Emperor Jiajing. A few days ago, in accordance with the emperor's decree, there were only 120,000 officers and soldiers in the Beijing camp. Combat power...... Please forgive the old minister for bluntly saying that less than half of the soldiers who can be defended by throwing stones beyond the distance. ”

Ye Xiang nodded, and asked Li Shi, the imperial horse supervisor, again, "How many people are there in the pro-army except for Jinyiwei?" ”

"The remaining 25 guards, except for the four guards under the jurisdiction of the slaves, each guard has 5,403 people, and the rest of the guards have a capacity of 5,600 per guard, totaling 140,000 people."

"So how much revenue does the treasury have each year? Is it enough to spend? ”

"The figure given by the household department is 3.8 million taels." There are many entanglements in the Ministry of War, and Huang Jiashan and Li Ruhua of the Ministry of Household also have personal relations, and they know a lot about this, and seeing that Ye Xiang seems to have the intention of moving the three halls of Taicang Yinxiu, he said, "Li Shangshu often complains that every year Yin eats grain, and the treasury has long been unable to make ends meet." Therefore, Emperor Daxing only sent 1 million taels from the treasury this time, and Emperor Daxing asked to rebuild the three palaces, and the household department really couldn't get the silver. ”

Ye Xiang was so surprised that he couldn't speak, the property of a country is so chaotic, and the family and the country are not divided. After thinking about it again, it suddenly became clear that the emperor regarded the country and the family as one, so the emperor's small treasury and the treasury of the household department would be entangled with each other.

In fact, Ye Xiang didn't know that the financial system of the Ming Dynasty was more chaotic than he imagined, each ministry had independent financial rights, and Wanli also found various reasons to take money from the treasury, and the income from the field endowment obtained by the household department was usually just a hand.

Ye Xiang compared the military strength with the treasury income, and found that the annual book income of the Ming Dynasty was not enough to pay the soldiers, not to mention other expenses such as repairing the imperial palace and river embankments, and he didn't know how the empire had persisted until now.

Although the number of internal carriers has not yet been counted, I also know that it is impossible to use the internal money to feed and clothe so many soldiers. If you want to use your life, you can't just shout a few slogans of 'loyalty to the king and serve the country', let alone go into battle to kill the enemy, and there are a lot of auxiliaries. If there is no stable and large financial resources, then how long can this country last? No wonder Wanli will increase the mining tax, Chongzhen will increase the salary, practice salary, etc., it seems that this family is not easy to do.

Ye Xiang looked at a few old men who were dressed in white and had gray beards, and sighed, "The state affairs are difficult, and I have to rely on you in the future, and work together with this palace to manage the country passed down by our ancestors, and there is a long way to go." ”

After a pause, Ye Xiang continued, "As for the three major halls, they are to be repaired, and they are bare, so let the foreign envoys see the jokes?" However, the intention of the main palace is to wait until the national treasury is abundant to start construction, which is not contrary to the meaning of the imperial examination. ”

Zuo Guangdou saw Ye Xiang's old-fashioned tone, marveled at his overall view, and seemed to find that Zhu Changluo had chosen a good emperor for them, insisted on moving the palace immediately, and desperately maintained that the young master seemed to have made no mistake, so he knelt down and said, "Your Highness is far-sighted, which is really the blessing of my Ming people." ”

Ye Xiang smiled and said, "You, don't be in a hurry to pat yourself on the back for a while, later, the selection of the waiter is to be punished, aren't you afraid?" ”

"The lord humiliated his ministers to death, and chose the servants to occupy the Qianqing Palace, which is not justified and ridiculous. If the minister's life can be exchanged for the palace to move the palace, so that His Royal Highness can be smoothly seated and benefit all the people, then it is not a pity for the minister to die. ”

British Gong, Huang Jiashan, Yang Lian, Li Shi and others also knelt down and expressed the same meaning. Ye Xiang was a little embarrassed when he saw them kneeling again, "Everyone, please get up quickly, and set a rule in the future, if you kneel at every turn, immediately let Jinyiwei drag it out and beat your ass for ten minutes." Let's see if you can change it. ”

Huang Jiashan couldn't keep up with the rhythm, usually the Jinyi guards were counting the staff of the court, he didn't know why, and after getting up with everyone, he asked, "Ten minutes?" ”

Ye Xiang forgot that there were adults over forty in front of him, and he was quick to talk about the common timekeeping methods in later generations, and had to explain hard, "Minutes, timing units." Ten minutes is also a quarter of a pillar of incense. ”

"That killed someone." I don't know who sighed.

Ye Xiang smiled and replied, "With bamboo strips, you can't die, at most you will lie down for ten days and a half months." ”

Yang Lian didn't care if it would kill people, but this time unit, so he asked, "Your Highness, do you have this kind of timing tool?" ”

Nowadays, there are two main types of timekeeping, one is the sundial [guǐ] of the sundial of the sun's shadow timekeeping, and the other is the omission of the drip timekeeping. The sundial was more seriously affected by the weather, so the palace had a leaky room that was not affected by the weather, and its location was in the east of the Mandarin Palace, only separated by a wall.

The method of telling the time is that where the water is engraved, it is handed over for a while, and the supervisor of the straight hall holds the hour card and goes to the Qianqing door to change it to a long card with more than one foot. The long card is Shi Qingdi, and the gold characters are written at a certain time. Then the warden will report the hour to the palaces, and those who meet on the road will stand sideways and give way, and those who sit will stand up, and cover the righteousness of the heavens.

24 o'clock and 12 earthly branches are used for timing, but the former is more accurate, it seems that he has to learn from the first emperor, and then unify the weights and measures, as for the clock, Ye Xiang believes that the craftsmen of this era will be able to make it, and it will be clumsy. Thinking of this, he confidently said to Yang Lian, "Not yet, but there will be." ”

From the base of the original Jiji Palace, it was the Qianqing Gate, and as soon as the group of people arrived on the ground, they saw Zou Yi running in a hurry, kneeling in front of Ye Xiang, and replied, "Your Highness, Tian Zhao, Liu Xun, and Wei Jinzhong have been taken, and the slaves have been derelict in their duties, so Li Jinzhong has escaped, please surrender your palace." ”

"Didn't you let it go on purpose?" Ye Xiang didn't speak, but Wang An took the lead in asking. It turned out that Zou Yi had a personal relationship with Li Jinzhong when he was in Ciqing Palace, and Wang An, as Zhu Changluo's companion, of course knew it, so he asked this question.

"Your Royal Highness, although the slaves have some personal relations with them, but the slaves understand what the king's order is, and they know the righteousness, how can they bend the law for personal gain? The slaves have great courage, and they don't dare to disobey the yang. According to Wang Yanghua, the name of Xi Li Niangniang, Li Jinzhong has been in a trance since he came back from Renzhi Hall in the morning, and has never appeared again. And the slave commander Dongchang has been in charge for less than a month, and he has not been able to command as his arm, and when the slave led the Dongchang fan to the Qianqing Palace to get people, he did not see him in person, and I don't know who leaked the news. ”

When Zou Yi was in Ciqing Palace, he had always been conscientious, hard-working, and had a good relationship with a group of close attendants, so after Zhu Changluo ascended to the pole, he remembered his hard work and asked him to supervise Dongchang, whose status was second only to Lu Shou left by Wanli. As for Li Jinzhong, he has no special feelings, just a colleague who was under the big tree of Zhu Changluo.

Ye Xiang was in his heart, the rumored notorious Dongchang is no more than Erer, this is still in the big house, if it is to be put in a bigger Jingshi, wouldn't it be even worse, so he said expressionlessly, "The work is not in place, don't look for objective reasons, Li Jinzhong is just a clown jumping off the beam, there is nothing to worry about, but it still needs to be arrested with all his might." This palace will find you a helper, and let Shen Yin run errands with you, remember, be more attentive in the future. ”

After speaking, Ye Xiang didn't tell him to get up, but bypassed him and walked towards Qianqingmen. The decision to be in the Wenhua Hall in the morning has been conveyed here, and it must be very 'lively' inside, and he is going to the 'Qi family'.

Except for Wang An, the rest of the people also followed Ye Xiang into the Qianqing Gate.

※※※※

Wang An looked at the partner who had worked together for many years who was kneeling, and then looked at the group of people who had walked away, and then stepped forward to help Zou Yi up, "People, really didn't you let it go on purpose?" ”

"Brother Yunyi, are we people who don't know the times? The East Factory is full of old men of Father-in-law Lu, let's not be able to command, if it weren't for His Highness's order, those rabbit cubs wouldn't have taken me, a genuine school officer, in their eyes at all. "Zou Yida poured bitter water.

Wang An patted Zou Yi on the shoulder and gave him advice, "Take this opportunity to tidy up." Dongchang is the emperor's confidant, if he can't be like his arm, what is the use of staying. Our gentlemen, it's amazing, the old man used to look away. ”

"Even if Brother Yunyi doesn't say it, we know it. It's just that what does His Royal Highness mean by letting Shen Yin go to Dongchang? Is it for him to take my place? ”

"I don't think so, maybe Your Highness has other arrangements. Inside this East Factory, you can rest assured that Gonggong Lu is old, and it won't be long before he will leave the palace to live idle. ”

Zou Yi was puzzled, "Gonggong Lu has been the commander of Dongchang for many years, and he has only been in charge of ceremonial supervision for more than a month...... Ah, we see. It seems that Brother Yunyi will be renamed the king's palm seal. ”

"Well, where do you want to go, I mean to say, Xinjun is young, like a newborn calf, forge ahead, and will inevitably be busy with official business in the future. I, it's not like you don't know, I'm old and sick, and I can't always be in front of the emperor. ”

Zou Yi was confused by Wang An, "Then you mean Shen Yin?" He is not qualified, and the position of palm seal cannot be borne by a person who is not experienced. ”

"Isn't there still the East Palace Seal Bureau's palm seal Wang Tiqian?"

"Ah, I forgot about him."

Wang An nodded, "Now your first priority is to clean up the East Factory by interrogating the stolen pearl jade and arresting Li Jinzhong, and of course, you must also pay attention to the recent movements of the various yamen in Beijing." You must know that letting the Son of Heaven know the affairs of the world without leaving the Forbidden City is the foundation of the existence of Dongchang. ”

"Brother Yunyi, don't worry, we know the severity. When Li Jinzhong is captured, I will definitely clean him up. Where is Your Highness, I still hope that Brother Yunyi will speak more for me. Zou Yi knew that Wang An had always been unaccustomed to Xi Li and the people around him, and he also hated Li Jinzhong's domineering, so he said this.

Wang An naturally saw through the sophistication of people, and was noncommittal about Li Jinzhong's matter, handed over a clear look, and said with a smile, "Yes, everyone should take care of each other." ”