"Minister's history can be law, knock on the emperor."

The Cabinet does not have to meet every day, and this alone is far below the Military Affairs Department.

However, the Minister of War met in the morning, and then he would handle military affairs, write an order, and send it to the Cabinet for issuance, or send a letter to him, and then make an appointment with the officials of the ministry, the government, and the temple to inquire about government affairs, or directly recruit people from the military department or the Governor's Office of the Five Armies to inquire about the geography, mountains, rivers, and roads, the military reports in various places, and the situation of the garrisons, all within the scope of their jurisdiction.

Even with it, it is also about local finances, grain reserves, and road repairs.

The cabinet originally felt that the Military Affairs Department had grabbed a lot of power, but now because of Ma Shiying's strength, the gap between them is deeper, but everyone is the top-level figure, and no matter how much power they fight, they still have to be perfunctory.

When he came in, he kowtowed to Chongzhen first, and when he got up again, he saw that Wang Jiayan and Lu Zhenfei were still standing in front of the palace, and there were chairs behind them.

The Minister of War has to attend the court meeting when he is in the morning, and he also has to do things to meet people, and there are dozens or hundreds of people who go out just a day, and there are more than ten or twenty of them, and every day in the afternoon, he is not in good spirits, and he needs to go back to his house early to rest.

At this time, it was so late, and there were still two people there, and Shi Kefa felt strange when he saw it at a glance.

It's just that the royal front is not the place to say hello and inquire about the news, and at the moment it is to nod slightly to the two military ministers, Wang Jiayan and Lu Zhenfei both nodded and smiled, even if they had seen each other.

"When Qing comes here, there must be something important."

Several more powerful ministers were there, and Chongzhen was also in a very good mood, first instructing the internal supervisor to bring chairs, and then smiling at Shi Kefa: "However, Qing doesn't have to say it first, let me talk about it." ”

"Yes, I am here."

In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen's reign, Shi Kefa had a few court meetings, and after entering Nanjing, he could see each other every few days. A while ago, he saw that although Chongzhen was not as irritable, cut, and cool as rumored, his eyebrows were still full of melancholy, and it was rare to be happy.

This is understandable, half of the country fell into the hands of people, first thieves, then the east captives, now the front door to reject the wolf, the back door into the tiger, if the monarch has a good mood all day long, this is strange.

He looked at Shi Kefa and said with a smile: "Qing came, it must be Chen who said that there was a civil change in Yangzhou, is it true?" ”

"Yes, the minister is in Hajj at this time, and it is indeed this matter."

Shi Kefa felt slightly embarrassed, glanced at Wang Jiayan and Lu Zhenfei, and saw that the two princes were smiling, and his heart sank at the moment.

Ordinary people have preconceived habits, and today's emperor is even more obvious in this regard.

Sure enough, Chongzhen smiled and said, "The crown prince has already reported it." It doesn't matter, it's just that some chaotic people take the opportunity to make trouble, and there are many people who have passed through Wuzhong, and they are also involved in the matter of persuasion of donations, all of which are scoundrels hired by grain merchants and salt merchants, and they are killed to deter lawlessness, that is. As for the gentry and merchants, the stakes are very important, and the prince means that if one does not kill, according to the severity of the crime, he will either be cut off for the people, or handed over to the magistrate for strict control, or reprimanded and admonished, that is. ”

Shi Kefa came to ask the emperor to issue a decree, so as to prevent the crown prince from killing people in Yangzhou City, making the situation difficult to clean up, and he would be in chaos first.

As a result, the prince reported that he entered early, and the method of dealing with it was gentle and moderate, even if he was reasonable, he was very restrained, and for a while, he was also in a daze, and he didn't know how to repeat.

As for Chen's statement that the overall situation in Jiangnan is important, and it is better to cancel the system of the Lijin Bureau, so as not to isolate the north and the south, of course, this will not be able to say.

"The prince is a thunderbolt, but he has a bodhisattva's heart."

The Ming royal family does not believe in Buddhism, but specializes in Taoism, but Wang Jiayan is a believer in Buddhism, and he brought it out for a while. The merchants and people of the world can not only take care of their own wealth, but also think about what will happen if the country has no money to raise soldiers when the thieves and thieves come? ”

Although Wang Jiayan's words were good for words, Shi Kefa was very discouraged in his heart, but he himself did not have the ability to manage his finances, and Gao Hongtu was not there, so he could only nod slightly at the moment to show his approval.

It's just that he didn't know why in his heart, so his face was still very reluctant, seeing him like this, Lu Zhenfei smiled and said: "When I heard about this today, I also congratulated His Highness." Since the prince entered Huai'an, he set up a bureau to persuade donations, and this month's income is more than 150,000 taels, which is only the centigold paid by small and medium-sized businessmen. In this way, the state does not have to allocate a penny of silver, and the prince can raise 100,000 tigers...... Dare not congratulate His Highness? ”

Chongzhen's happiness actually lies in these numbers.

He has been emperor for seventeen years, and there is not a day that he has not been burned out of silver.

Emperor Wanli is notorious all over the world, but the silver is also very profitable, and the Wanli Inner Treasury is probably more than 10 million.

However, in the later years of Shenzong, it was issued several times, all of which were on the scale of more than one million, and they were used to raise soldiers and subsidize salaries. Because with the state's wealth, that is, the income from agricultural taxes, it can no longer support the army of the nine sides.

The emperor's money is the income from mining tax and industrial and commercial tax, which is the source of the Donglin Party's scolding.

In the year of the Apocalypse, the state was far less than that of the Wanli period, but there were still many industrial and commercial taxes, such as the tea tax in Zhejiang, which was about 100,000 taels of income a year during the Apocalypse.

When Chongzhen was in power, the industrial and commercial taxes were not collected, such as the tea tax, and there were only 4,000 taels a year during the Chongzhen period, and even a battalion of soldiers could not be raised. The light that the inner library has used for a few years, the library can run mice, and when the scholars encounter a predicament, they first persuade the emperor to cultivate benevolence, simplify the degree, use righteous people, and cultivate righteousness. And then it's just a non-stop invitation to send internal money, please send internal money.

Chongzhen even took out some large gold and bronze artifacts in the palace, and the idea hit his relatives, but in the end it was still financially bankrupt, and he was at a loss for financial matters.

So there is really no way to increase the salary and drink poison for yourself.

The sweets and hardships of this are, of course, a very terrifying impression on Chongzhen, and now that the prince is out, he has paid two million to build an army, and at the same time combing the civil affairs of Jiangbei, Chongzhen has wondered in his heart, where did the prince get this big windfall?

Later, Zhu Cihong deduced that it was given by his uncle Zhou Kui, and Chongzhen had nowhere to verify, so he had to believe it.

However, this is only an occasional obtain, and Chongzhen did not think that this amount of silver was the right way, so he didn't pay much attention to it. Up to now, the gold is more than 100,000 per month, which is beyond Chongzhen's expectations. This injection of income is not an industrial and commercial mining tax, so it does not have to be collected at home, and there is no need to worry about Jiangnan people making trouble...... The cashier is not in Jiangnan, how can he make a noise?

Zhu Cihong even made it clear that in addition to the cost of raising troops in Jiangbei, if there is a surplus in the future, Nanjing can be relieved and the dilemma of lack of silver in the center can be solved.

In this way, Chongzhen's joy can be imagined.

As for the chaos in Yangzhou, the crown prince didn't tell him to worry about it, it was quickly eliminated, and the aftermath was handled properly, so he didn't have to worry about continuing to make a big mess, so before Shi Kefa came in, there was also harmony between the monarchs and ministers in this hall, and he was very happy.

At this point, Shi Kefa had nothing to say. Originally, I prepared a belly, but at this moment, I could only swallow it.

At the moment, whether it is the emperor or the minister of war, they are obviously on the side of the prince, and it is indeed inconvenient to say that he has killed the scenery.

However, after all, he was surnamed Geng Jie, and he still bowed on the chair at the moment, and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, please pay attention to the fact that although there are many hateful salt merchants, if they forcibly distribute donations, the ministers are afraid that the market will be stirred, and it will be difficult to calm down for a while." ”

The salt merchant was caught in pigtails this time, and I am afraid that the crown prince will not be polite, and the donation figures will definitely be recognized by each family by pinching their noses.

If a person is already under the steel sword, and if he refuses to recognize it, won't he be unable to get along with his surname?

However, Chongzhen also shook his head and only said: "The crown prince has suggestions, and the salt government is new, so it goes without saying." This matter is very important, and I will hand it over to the Cabinet, the Military Affairs Department, the Six Ministries, and the Nine Secretaries to hold a meeting to discuss them together. ”

The two Huai salt policies are related to the salt used in Shandong, Henan, Lianghu, Fujian and Zhejiang, except for Ningxia, Sichuan, Yungui is its own salt, and some places use sea salt, and the rest of the provinces, according to the original salt outline, are all used Huai salt.

Originally, salt was the country's bulk income, and its important surname did not need to be said, and it was reasonable for the crown prince to suggest that Chongzhen should hold a huge meeting.

"I don't know what the gist of His Highness's recital is?"

As the first assistant, Shi Kefa has to ask questions, and before the big meeting, he has to come up with his own ideas.

"The prince advocated the abolition of the Chi Salt Compendium and the salt citation, and changed it to the ticket citation. From now on, it doesn't matter if the official salt is private salt, the production is produced by the original salt merchants, and the government is only negotiating and adjusting the price, leading the price of salt, as for the sale, it is to set up supervision departments in Huai'an Yangzhou, and the government will issue tickets, whether it is to buy a citation, or thousands of citations, in short, according to the introduction of silver, and then sell it on its own, which is a big profit and a small profit, look at the ability of these salt merchants, along the way to donate money, these salt merchants are also exempted and exempted, save their use...... This is a big deal, the ancestor salt government, so far all the revolution, Shi Qing, what do you think? ”

In the end, Chongzhen was also very emotional. Although he is stubborn and conceited, and he is not very good at local conditions, government affairs, and military affairs, many of them are confused.

But after all, he is the emperor who has reigned for 17 years, and he is very clear about the disadvantages of Yanzheng, but he can't change it if he wants to.

And the prince proposed, cancel the salt introduction, the government does not care about production, and there is no need to set up a card to manage any private salt, since then, the salt profit is directly controlled in the hands of the imperial court, from the moment the salt is produced, the profit will roll in.

The benefits of this can be seen at a glance, although Chongzhen knows that this matter is important and that he wants to hold a royal meeting, but the tendency in his attitude is also very obvious.

(To be continued)