In the Wenhua Hall of the Forbidden City of the Ming Dynasty, the eunuch crept to the emperor and put an urgent letter on top of the imperial case.

"Long live, Yang Gebu's courier!"

"Oh? Where did it come from? ”

"Long live Hui, it's from Zhending Zhaozhou!"

Zhu Youzhen's face was expressionless, but he was quite moved in his heart, Yang Sichang was still able to be loyal to the king, Zhendingfu to Beijing was a day's journey, and it was so fast that the march was so fast.

"Someone went to sue Yang Sichang and ordered him to return to Henan as soon as possible to extinguish the thieves who were flooding again, so that the Jingshi would not have to come!"

Yang Sichang was the first soldier in the world to enter the realm of the Beijing Division, which made Zhu Youzhen quite comforting, and he was not in vain. But this relief can't be offset, and the small court meeting has been blocked for two days in a row.

Just like now, Li Shi kept saying that the treasury had no money, and Chen Xinjia opened his mouth and closed his mouth and couldn't move troops without money, and Zhu Youzhen felt like he was roasted on a fire. Even if he has three heads and six arms, he can't help the ministers conjure up so much silver, not to mention that if he is allowed to do all the work of making silver, what is the use of these useless ministers and ministers?

Zhu Youzhen coughed, "The state affairs are becoming more and more difficult, and I hope that all the ministers will work together to raise donations for the imperial court and get through this pass!" I take the lead, donate 10,000 taels first! ”

The emperor's words echoed in the Wenhua Hall for a long time, and the red-faced ministers who had just been arguing were immediately silent. Seeing that his subordinates were like this, Zhu Youzhen's anger also came up.

"Don't donate it, if anyone can't take out the silver today, you don't have to go out of this Wenhua Palace, you are all standing here, standing until you die!"

Fan Fucui, a member of the Cabinet University, was flushed, "Holy Lord, although the minister's family assets are meager, he also has a heart to serve the country, and the minister is willing to donate a thousand taels!" ”

Zhu Youzhen also regretted it after venting hysterically, regretting that he shouldn't have lost his subordinates like this, these old guys also want to save face after all. Fan Fucui's situation also understands that he was born in an ordinary peasant family, and after being an official for so many years, his official reputation has always been honest, and his family does not have much money to spare. He was able to donate 1,000 taels of silver, which shows that he has taken out the vast majority of his family's funds.

Zhu Youzhen was greatly relieved, although the number was not much, it also showed that Fan Fucui had a fist. His gaze swept from Zhang Sizhi and Xue Guoguan one by one. In the end, he turned back and fixed on Zhang Sizhi's face, he understood his teacher's family background, originally the family was a big businessman, and after becoming a minister, the scale of the business became bigger and bigger, not to mention letting him take out a thousand taels of silver, even if he donated 100,000 taels, it would not be a problem.

Zhang Sizhi stood under the Danqi and only felt that his face was hot, and the emperor's gaze was like a raging fire, and he was restless, but he was helpless, and the beads of sweat on his face crackled like soybean grains.

"Minister, old minister......" He finally couldn't help but speak, his voice was dry, so he had to cough heavily again and clear his throat. Lao Chen is also willing to donate 1,000 taels of silver! ”

Zhang Sizhi's pretentious expression fell in Zhu Youzhen's eyes, which made him feel an unprecedented disgust for his teacher, if it wasn't for the status of teacher and student, and he didn't want people to accuse him of being mean and unkind, he immediately dismissed this person's official position and rushed back to his hometown to die.

Zhu Youzhen couldn't bear it anymore but couldn't vent again, and when he saw Yang Sichang's urgent delivery to Beijing, he opened it. After taking a few looks, his face turned from worry to joy and he praised it.

"It's still Yang Qing's sympathetic bow!"

The ministers below are all staring at each other, the most worrying thing for the emperor at the moment is that there is no money, and if the emperor can turn his worries into joy, it must have something to do with money, but how much money can Yang Sichang donate? The big guys were all waiting, waiting for the emperor to tell them how much money Yang Sichang had donated.

Zhu Youzhen threw down the song in his hand with all his might, "You all take a look, you all see, this is the public loyalty to the country!" ”

Chen Xinjia, who had just entered the cabinet and was also the secretary of the Ministry of War, leaned over and picked up Yang Sichang's letter, and his face changed after only a few glances, and then he quickly returned to normal. This letter was passed on among the ministers, some people sighed, some applauded, but it made the atmosphere in the Wenhua Hall lively again.

"Holy Lord, the minister has his own music!"

Fan Fucui, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, knelt on the ground and protested: "The saint must not, if this policy is implemented, how is it different from fishing with all his might?" ”

Zhu Youzhen sat on the dragon chair and looked at Fan Fucui coldly.

"This strategy doesn't work, you will give me another way to solve this urgent need?"

Fan Fucui did not answer the emperor, but said it categorically.

"Shengshang, in the forty-sixth year of Wanli, the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the country increased the new salary, and each mu of land was taxed by nine cents of silver, and as of the forty-eighth year of Wanli, a total of five million two hundred and sixty-two taels of silver were obtained. In the fourth year of Chongzhen, he added silver to one and two points, and obtained more than 5,220,000 taels of silver. Since then, it has received more than 7.4 million taels. For more than ten years, more than 12 million taels of silver have been taxed, which is called Liaoyu! Chongzhen has increased the salary of silver since ten years, and has obtained more than 2 million taels of silver this year, so that the taxes are raised, the people are miserable, and there are natural disasters and man-made disasters for many years. ”

In fact, Fan Fucui has already said very tactfully, the people can't even eat when the tax is raised, so it's no wonder if they don't rebel.

Xue Guoguan disagreed, "I'm afraid this statement is alarmist, right?" Yang Xiangti yì levy and salary, it is also an expedient measure, only today for a year, to solve the urgent need, and the next year will not be levied! ”

Fan Fucui let out a long sigh and lay on the ground silently, this training salary is called training border soldiers, consolidating the frontier, but in fact, it is not used to suppress thieves. But such a tax increase made it impossible for the people to survive, and in the end they were coerced away by thieves, and in the end they didn't kill their own chickens and cut off their own eggs, why didn't the emperor understand this reason?

"Fan Qing, get up, don't fight, this salary is decided, the cabinet will go back to draw up a charter in a while, and implement it as much as possible."

After this episode, the emperor stopped mentioning the donation, and the ministers pretended to forget. However, Zhang Sizhi, who had been silent for a while, said: "Qi Shengshang, I don't know what to do in the case of Jiangnan Weaving Bureau colluding with the city company to embezzle hundreds of thousands of silks?" If you are in a hurry, you don't know who the Holy One wants. ”

With Yang Sichang's proposed salary training to solve the big problem at hand, Zhu Youzhen was no longer in a hurry to do so, and rubbed his brows.

"The cabinet of this matter is going to be elected, and it will be reported tomorrow! There is another major event, the first battle of Shanhaiguan is a preliminary victory, Hong Chengchou is not dead, Sun Ji is not dead, and their names and tablets can also go. ”

Zhang Sizhi hurriedly replied: "The cabinet has preliminarily discussed this matter, and it is a blessing for the imperial court that Hong Chengchou and Sun Ji are not dead, and it is also the blessing of the saint!" The minister thought that the siege of Shanhaiguan was difficult for Sun Ge Lao to blame, but after all, he turned the tide and made great contributions. If Hong and Sun are not dead, they can be inspired, and they can be vigorously publicized and praised to boost the morale of the people of the world. ”

"There is also Liu Ge Lao, Liu Ge Lao worked tirelessly and went to Shanhaiguan in person, and his merits are indispensable, and he should be praised together!"

Xue Guoguan heard that Zhang Sizhi didn't mention Liu Yuliang at all, so he jumped out. mentioned Liu Yuliang, Zhu Youzhen really forgot about this dignified minister, and blamed these people for being too dazzling, which dwarfed the dignified elders.

However, Zhu Youzhen also remembered a person, this person was Li Xin, the chief soldier of Shanxi Town, whom he personally promoted. Several cabinet ministers want to discuss merits, and they can't forget Liu Yuliang, and naturally they can't forget Li Xin.

"Well, even Li Xin's merits are also discussed!"

"Qi Shengshang, Li Xin went to Liaoxi to serve the order of peace talks, I haven't heard of the size of the merit, and now I am also discussing whether it is too serious?"

"Zhang Ge Lao Li Xin's words, the minister seconded the proposal!"

Xue Guoguan actually reversed his previous attitude and supported Zhang Sizhi again.

Seeing that the important ministers were about to quarrel again, Zhu Youzhen felt upset, waved his hand and said: "This matter will be discussed later, and it will be discussed later!" followed by a sentence, but it hooked the hearts of the ministers.

"All the ministers who donated silver should also hurry up to do it, and all officials of high rank in Beijing must donate all of them, regardless of their meritorious titles. All right, I'm tired, let's all go down! ”

Hearing that the emperor drove them away, the important ministers were relieved, the matter of donations must not be raised, everyone had to stare at them, and in the end, they would definitely not be able to do it under the resistance of all parties. As for the matter of discussing merit, it is much easier to do, Sun Chengzong guarded the mountain customs first and then remedied, which is equivalent to offsetting the merits and demerits.

However, under Zhang Sizhi's great efforts, considering that he is old and frail and dragged his sick body, it is commendable, and the saint can issue a decree to praise him and reward him with a thousand taels of gold and silver. Liu Yuliang also said that in the military newspaper sent back before, Liu Yuliang had personally contacted Li Xin in danger, although it did not help in the overall situation, but under Zhang Sizhi's best efforts, he could also be praised and rewarded according to Sun Chengzong's example. Besides, Li Xin, although the peace talks were not completed, his heart was commendable after all, and he was half a grade lower than Sun and Liu, and the emperor could give a commendation.

The more controversial ones are Hong Chengchou and Sun Jiao, these two people want to write a big book and publicize it vigorously, so the discussion is complicated. How to measure, how much to do, if it is low, it will make people think that the court is mean to the heroes. If it is high, it will cause controversy among the courtiers.

After discussing for a whole day, the ministers did not agree on it, and finally everyone unanimously decided to put the matter on hold first and recruit Hong Sun and the others back from Shanhaiguan. According to Zhang Sizhi, how to determine the merits of Hong and Sun, the decision of the cabinet will most likely not satisfy the emperor, so it is better to drag it down, and when the emperor himself makes the decision, everyone will be happy.

Who knew that when the ministers were about to leave, Zhang Sizhi said in a non-yin and non-yang manner: "I heard that Li Xin went to Liaoxi with soldiers?" ”

"Indeed, it is reported that there are more than 10,000 of them!" Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the military department, replied.

"Why didn't you see him mentioned in the military report submitted in the first battle of Shanhaiguan? Why did he go? ”