In the Wenhua Palace, on the golden platform, Emperor Chongzhen turned over the report in his hand quickly...... None of it is good news, and none of it is a piece of news that can be emboldened.

There will be a few days before the New Year, but the household Taicang, the inner library, the inner library, all of them are empty, and the entire inner hall cannot be searched for 100,000 silver.

Many annual rewards and imperial rewards have to be awarded as usual, but they really can't come up with a little money.

As the emperor of this vast empire, he felt an unprecedented embarrassment and pressure. No matter how difficult the years were, there was never such a miserable scene.

Moreover, Guan Shaanxi has been lost, Shanxi is empty, what will happen after the year, and now there is nothing he can do, he has no way to do it himself, and the ministers in front of him are also tied up one by one.

Several cabinet bigwigs were like mud tires and wood sculptures, Chongzhen looked angry, and unconsciously put his feet on the golden platform lightly, and asked: "The treasury is empty, what does Mr. have to say?" ”

Shoufu Chen Yan was taken aback, as if he had just woken up, and was stunned for a moment before replying: "Oh, please send the emperor an internal payment." ”

"Please send the emperor to work with the army, help the people, and provide disaster relief."

"The treasury is empty, so the only way to ask the emperor to come to the rescue with internal funds, and when the outer treasury is rich, it is necessary to enrich the inner treasury."

Chongzhen was so sad when he heard the words that he almost wanted to cry, and after half a sound, he said slowly: "The internal money has really been exhausted, and the amount stored can no longer be told to Mr. Zhu...... Now that the state affairs are like this, I want to collect donations from the emperor's relatives and ministers, what do you think, Mr. Zhu? ”

It is said to be a fundraiser, but in fact, it is also an apportionment.

This time, the emperor's determination was even greater, and at a glance, he knew that he had to donate from his ministers.

Because this time is different from the last time, and last time it was just difficult, so Xun Qi started the knife first, hoping to get a few million silver to block it.

This time, I couldn't even get the annual reward for the forbidden army in Shangchengjing, which was really unreasonable, so I felt like the "last struggle".

And Chongzhen didn't discuss with anyone this time, and it was directly brought up in such a cabinet meeting, which also clearly showed his determination.

The last time it was the Marquis of Wuqing who was hard topped, and only paid 20,000 silver after several urgings, Chongzhen had to let him go for 200,000, but the two sides of the bull were topped, and in the end, the royal relatives won, and Chongzhen was defeated.

Now a new round begins...... This time, Chongzhen decided to persuade the imperial relatives to know reason, and to the ministers, he suddenly announced that he would force them to take out the money with a stick.

As long as the cabinet takes the lead, each person will take out tens of thousands or 10,000 handfuls of silver...... Chongzhen still has a good idea of the conduct of his subordinates. Under his rule, the more he ruled, the more greedy he became, why he was so confident in donating every time, it was really because he had strong confidence in his subordinates...... Well, that is, the emperor knew that the courtiers under his rule were unofficial and not greedy......

"Minister, minister, there is really no money in the minister's family!"

After an embarrassing silence, Shoufu Chen Yan suddenly knelt on the ground and cried: "Emperor Qi, the minister is the first minister of the country, he has always been honest, and he is only enough for his own use, and he has no surplus. Now for the New Year's Festival, there are only more than ten taels of silver in the minister's house...... If the emperor wants to ......"

"That's it!" Chongzhen snapped, interrupted Shoufu, who was crying hard, and looked at the rest of the auxiliaries.

Second assistant Wei Dezao was trembling, so he had to open his mouth and say: "The minister's situation is slightly better than that of Lord Shoufu...... The minister was willing to donate two hundred taels of silver for military purposes. ”

These two cabinet ministers, if they really have to stop at everything, they are still fighting openly and secretly in this kind of thing.

Chen Yan looked at Wei Dezao with his eyes: "You are so ruthless!" ”

Wei Dezao smiled slightly, and everything was silent: "You are not bad!" ”

The two ministers looked at their hearts at this time, but after a while, they seemed to remember something, and the eyes of the two suddenly became dim.

"Alas, two hundred taels ......" Chongzhen knew that there was no way to take these old fritters in the officialdom, and they would quit the cabinet, but they would not take more than a penny of silver.

Because of the bull with the emperor, at most, he didn't get an official. If tens of thousands of silver are really taken out, it will be the public enemy of the entire internal supervisor plus the emperor and the minister of civil and military affairs, and I don't know how miserable it will be to die in the future.

Of course, this benefit is not a small profit, but Chongzhen feels that as long as it is beneficial to national affairs, things can be done without following the rules and regulations, and there is no morality at all. Like Chen Xinjia, the main discussion of peace is just adhering to the emperor's will, but as soon as the matter came out, when the bees stung his head, the emperor did not take responsibility, not to mention helping the ministers to block it, but to use Chen Xinjia as his own shield, and use the minister's head to help himself calm the anger of the people...... The emperor is like this, which of his subordinates will contribute their hearts and efforts, and risk their lives to serve him?

"That's it, let's disperse."

Since the discussion is not decided, the ministers can only be asked to retreat.

After Chen Yan left, Chongzhen hated a pile of feet and said angrily: "Wenchen is misleading the country, selfish and cowardly, all of them should be killed!" ”

It is not the first time that the emperor has lost his temper so unreasonably recently, so the internal supervisors present are all silent. After a long time, an inner eunuch wearing a vermilion round collar and black gauze jade with official boots on his head hurriedly came, and when he arrived at Chongzhen, he knelt down and said: "The slave should be damned, the emperor has been waiting for a long time." ”

"Why is it so late?" Chongzhen also looked very impatient, and shouted: "I left the palace at the time of Chen, and I didn't come back until now!" ”

The slave sat in the old emperor's house for four hours, thinking that the emperor was important, and did not dare to move the nest. That's it, and I didn't get the errand right...... Slaves deserve to die. ”

The one who was ordered to go out on an errand was Xu Gao, who was the celebrant supervisor, and he was also the number one person in the palace. This time, the emperor asked the ministers to help him, and of course the imperial family couldn't run away, and the Jiading Bozhou family was the first in line with the imperial family, so he sent this celebrant eunuch to the door.

"It's okay, there's always tens of thousands, right?"

As soon as he heard that the errand was not done, Chongzhen's heart jumped, he panicked a little, reluctantly calmed down, and asked, "What's the matter, what did the old emperor say?" ”

Although Zhou Kui is only an earl, he is the emperor's father-in-law, so even if the emperor calls him privately, he is very polite.

As soon as the slave and maid arrived, they told the old emperor about the emperor's salary, and repeatedly explained the current embarrassment in the palace and the court to the old emperor, and made it clear: The emperor said that as long as the state affairs improve slightly, he will definitely double the return. Besides, all the old emperor's relatives have now are given by the emperor, and in the past ten years, they have at least a net worth of more than ten or two hundred thousand, right? As far as the slave knows, there must be more than that...... Who knew that the old emperor refused to die, and the slave and maid said dry, and in the end, the old emperor only gave 2,000 silver, so the slave and maid could only come back to restore their lives. ”

In the end, Xu Gao kowtowed, with a look of frustration, and only said: "Please ask the emperor to punish the sins of slaves and maids." ”

"Alas, I got ......"

Chongzhen only felt weak, and even the strength to lift a finger was lacking. To be honest, he is really not bad for this old father-in-law, knighted, given the field, given to the Ouchi collection, a few years ago when the hands were loose, gold, silver, beads, jade calligraphy and painting antiques were not less, Zhou Kui's family was originally a poor and white family, now what? I'm afraid there are tens of thousands of hectares of land alone!

But now the situation is so bad that he gives up his face to beg this old Taishan, and the final result is like this!

Xu Gao knelt on the ground, also peeking at Chongzhen's face.

He had some words, but he didn't dare to play them truthfully. For example, when the Zhou family was urging, they tore each other's faces, and of course they didn't speak well. Zhou Kui didn't have to be taboo about anything, and bluntly said that eunuchs were richer, whether it was Wang Dehua or Zhang and Fang, they were all worth more than hundreds of thousands...... Why should he come out with the first share?

If he is really anxious, this old emperor will play directly, or enter the palace to see the queen, and ask the emperor to ask the eunuch to come out to help first!

Of course, there are also rumors in the palace that this time a few big eunuchs are afraid that they will not be able to rely on it, Wang Dehua and Wang Chengen recognized 50,000 alone, and the remaining 30,000 or 20,000 or several thousand have to be taken out...... You can't tell the emperor that he can't even pass this year, right?

But that is after all the foreign dynasties refused, and the emperor hit a wall everywhere, and now it is too early, and the effect is not obvious, so you have to wait for the emperor to feel desperate before taking it, and then the faces of the house slaves will be bright.

This matter is very secretive, and Xu Gao will never dare to confide in half a word if he wants to keep his head.

Although he looked at the emperor very pitiful, he ...... Thinking that his own life was still important, Xu Gao, who was lying on the ground, lowered his head and didn't dare to say a word anymore.

……

……

"Old man!"

"Old gentleman?"

At three o'clock in the afternoon, two scholars of the cabinet stepped out of the cabinet, one after the other. They are all people with status, and there are a large group of domestic servants and slaves, all of whom are serving outside the Donghua Gate.

The two university scholars usually ignore no one on duty, and just go their own, but today they walk together very tacitly.

It's just that this posture is still a little exquisite, Chen Yan's pace is intentionally or unintentionally faster than Wei Dezao's body, and although Old Wei Tou is old, his skills are also very vigorous, no matter what, at most, Chen Yan's distance is half a position...... The two fought for a while, and at first they slowed down with a tacit understanding, and then Chen Yan spoke, and Wei Dezao interfaced, which was regarded as officially walking through the door.

After just saying hello, there was silence again.

After half a ring, it was Chen Yan who spoke first, he looked at Wei Dezao, and asked slowly: "I heard that the old gentleman's family has also been poisoned by the torture camp?" ”

At the mention of this, a large haze swept over Wei Dezao's face...... If you have to use words to describe the expression on Scholar Wei's face at this moment...... It's really beyond the ability of ordinary people who play with words, and it can only be said that it is abnormal, abnormally painful.

"Yes, indeed, three days ago."

"Well, I've been crying all night in the house, and I can't deceive anyone."

"On the day the Zun Mansion was robbed, the movement was not small."

"Humph!" Chen Yan's face burst with anger, and he shouted angrily: "The students have already found the surname Luo Yang, this gang of thieves, they must be arrested and punished!" ”

"The students think so too...... Wei Dezao's face turned pale, and he said angrily: "Robbing the emperor's relatives and relatives, that is the proper meaning of the question, even the students and others have to be tortured...... As long as Li Chuang wants to win the world, he can't do this. He just entered the capital, how talented is Niu someone? To govern the world, we still need our generation! ”

As the sun set, the two bigwigs who adhered to the national policy and ruled the world finally reached a consensus on this matter...... This gang of blind thieves must stop their evil momentum!

"How much did the old gentleman's house be robbed?"

"This ...... Not much, not more. ”

"Haha, I've always been poor, and that gang of thieves also had the wrong idea."

"Uh-huh!"

The two big men dressed in vermilion purple and with jade belts around their waists glanced at each other, both of them seeing the mockery in each other's eyes.

Chen Yan's family lost at least 50,000 yuan, Wei Dezao's family assets are indeed not rich, and after tossing for a little half of the night, he finally spit out more than 20,000 yuan, which is a great loss for the two civil officials...... And the fact that the thief actually committed it on their heads also made them extremely angry, who had been staying out of the matter...... State affairs can be put aside, but the loss of your own family has to find a way to make up for it!

Moreover, both of them are now in contact with the camp, according to reliable sources, there are already big figures in the camp who have denied sending a torture camp, although the two university scholars will be suspicious, but they also have the courage to call someone to investigate, if these thieves are really thieves...... Well, what an awkwardness...... If it was true, then they would not dare to make such a show at this time!