Time entered the second year of Chongzhen, the emperor's eldest son Zhu Cihong was born, and the clouds in the capital did not dissipate because of this good news, on the contrary, the situation in the world is deteriorating rapidly.

Last year, 200,000 Liukou entered Shanxi, although the chief soldier Cao Wenzhao exhausted all means and finally temporarily killed the Liukou, but from the deputy general Hou Liangzhu and below, a total of more than 20 generals died in battle, and the local prefect, county, and military equipment died in an unknown number. Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi and other places were all in chaos, and even affected Sichuan and Henan, and the Central Plains was on the verge of collapse.

Compared with the rogue, what makes Chongzhen more troublesome is the financial pressure.

Having just eradicated Wei Zhongxian, Chongzhen suddenly became the son of the saint praised by everyone, and in order to sympathize with the people, he ordered the reduction of commercial taxes, the exemption of salt taxes, and the exemption of land taxes in several provinces.

At that time, with a stroke of the pen, not to mention how refreshing it was, but after the next few months, Chongzhen was dumbfounded, and in less than half a year, all the dirty silver collected by the eradication of the eunuchs was spent, and soon he became a poor egg.

During the reign of the Apocalypse, in addition to the normal annual income, the pillar of finance was the Royal Bank managed by the old eunuch Zhang Ye, which could get more than one million taels from overseas trade every year. After the apocalypse died, Zhang Ke very unceremoniously swallowed the share of the Royal Bank.

Then there is the tax supervisor and mine supervisor set up by Wei Zhongxian, and the tax card shops, weaving bureaus, tea and horse divisions all over the country, etc., can also supply two or three million taels every year. There is also the City Shipping Division, and two million taels of tariff silver are also sent to the capital every year.

In total, five or six million taels, although it was still not enough, but the money was directly sent to the palace and used by the emperor alone. With silver, it is easy to do things, so although the apocalypse has a bad reputation, Zhang Ke does not dare to disobey the emperor's orders, so he can only play some small actions.

As soon as Chongzhen came to power, in order to reverse the situation of eunuchs interfering in politics. It is stipulated that without the emperor's order, the lieutenant officials are not allowed to leave Beijing. Okay, after this order, the eunuch never intervened again, and the bank, the city department, the weaving bureau, and so on were all abolished.

The commercial tax and the salt tax were also exempted, and there was no money. There is only a little bit of land left to give silver, what can you do!

However, the Central Plains floods and droughts are continuous, and the displaced people are everywhere, and a spark can cause a catastrophe, in all directions, with clear swords and hidden arrows, all pointing to Chongzhen, the little emperor finally learned what it is like to be alone.

It was another sleepless night, Chongzhen leaned on the dragon chair. kept looking at the folds, either asking for money and food, or losing the city and land, and the green tendons on his forehead kept jumping. Sweating profusely.

"What's wrong with the world of the Ming Dynasty? I bow down to virtue, why does God treat me like this! ”

Listening to the cry of a wounded beast, Wang Chengen hurriedly walked to the side of the dragon book case and sent a bowl of ginseng soup to Chongzhen.

His nose was sour, and he said, "Emperor." Let's have some ginseng soup. ”

Chongzhen was noncommittal, and Wang Chengen's face became more and more sad: "Long live the master, you work day and night." The dragon body is important, the Jiangshan Sheji of the Ming Dynasty, and the people of Li in Kyushu are pointing at you, drink it while it's hot! ”

Taking the small bowl, Chongzhen raised his neck and drank it, and said casually: "Ginseng is too expensive, just change it to lotus seed and red date soup tomorrow." ”

When Wang Chengen heard this, his legs were weak, and he lay on the ground, and his tears could no longer be stopped.

"Emperor, even if you lose your head, the old slave has something to say!"

"Let's talk about it."

"Yes, the emperor, Gonggong Zhang went to Nanjing to guard the tomb of Taizu, and when he left, he told the slave that the emperor was benevolent and thrifty, and he was the only emperor in the past. However, there are two ways to get money, and there are two ways, just to reduce expenditure, even if there are 100,000 people in the palace, without eating or drinking, it is not enough. ”

Wang Chengen didn't want to say this, but he also had a large number of eunuchs, since Chongzhen ascended the throne, not only did they not ascend to the sky in one step, on the contrary, their days became more and more poor, and the people below complained, and some even stole things in the palace to sell.

Of course, stealing things in the palace is a big crime, but Wang Chengen, these big eunuchs, can only turn a blind eye and hide from Chongzhen, without extra money, the eunuchs will not have a good time, and their ancestors can't be unkind.

Chongzhen listened to Wang Chengen's words, his brows tightened, his fists clenched, and then released.

"Wang Banban, governing the country should be on the right path, the imperial brother has gone too many crooked ways, so he gave a traitor like Wei Zhongxian the opportunity to take advantage of the situation. I have already issued an order to the court, Zhou Tingru, He Ruzhong, Qian Xiangkun and other three people should be added to the cabinet, they are all friends of the dormitory, and they can come up with a way. ”

Dream on!

Wang Chengen knew in his heart that the flowers that these people said were full of flowers, but they were useless at all. If you want to make money, the most capable person is Zhang Ke, and he also thought about suggesting that Zhang Ke be transferred to Beijing, but looking at the emperor's posture, there was no drama at all, so he simply shut up.

"Okay, Wang Companion, I'll look at the excerpts for a while, and I'll go to rest."

Chongzhen said, picked up a copy of the fold of the Ministry of Rites, looked at it, and immediately looked happy.

"Yes, great!"

What news can make Chongzhen so excited, dare to love that the king of the Ryukyus personally came to pay tribute with five ships of tribute, and the people have already arrived in Songjiang and are waiting for the emperor's will.

There is a tribute from the vassal state, which proves that the Celestial Empire is still majestic, and when it is difficult at home and abroad, it is in need of news to boost morale, Chongzhen looks at it, how can he not be happy.

It's just one thing that makes Chongzhen a little puzzled, and his brows are deeply locked.

"Wang Banban, it said that I am grateful to the Celestial Empire for inflicting heavy losses on the Japanese and saving the Ryukyus from fire and water, and the whole vassal kingdom is grateful for the holy virtue...... When did you send troops to fight the Japanese invaders? ”

Wang Chengen was stunned for a moment, and shook his head: "The old slave is guilty, and the old slave really doesn't know." ”

"Hurry up and ask, and figure it out for me."

Wang Chengen turned around and hurried down, and after a while, he ran back out of breath.

"Master Qizuo, yes, it's King Anton, he sent men and horses."

"What?" Chongzhen was stunned for a moment, and then his anger flashed, he asked Zhang Ke to send troops to deal with the rogues, Zhang Ke didn't do it, how could he have the ability to fight the pirates, it was simply unreasonable!

"Emperor, here is the excerpt that has just been sent in an expedited manner for eight hundred miles."

Chongzhen took it and unfolded it, and when he looked closely, his anger had subsided a lot. It turned out that the Jinzhou Navy Division was ordered to patrol the sea area, encountered a sneak attack by the Japanese Invaders, chased and killed all the way, and actually killed the Japanese Island. The defenders of Wajima were unable to fight, and thousands of people were slaughtered by the sailors, and their own losses were only more than 100.

It turned out to be an unintentional move, but this widow is too weak, right? A few decades ago, they were rampant in the southeast, killing without counting, how did they become local chickens and dogs!

"Wang Banban, what do you think?"

When the time came to fight for character, Wang Chengen smiled and said: "Emperor Qi, the old slave thinks that the Jinzhou Sailor is still powerful, if they hadn't won this big victory, where would Ryukyu enter the court to pay tribute!" ”

An understatement dispelled Chongzhen's doubts.

Chongzhen rejoiced and said with a smile: "Then King Anton also proposed to set up a governor of the East China Sea, how to deal with it?" (To be continued......)