In the spring of the third year of the Apocalypse, the flood and drought disasters that had lasted for more than ten years were not slightly reduced, on the one hand, there were displaced people everywhere, and on the other hand, there were soldiers and disasters, Guizhou Shuixi rebellion, Sichuan luxury Chongming rebellion, and Hongmaoyi seized Penghu again.

The bad news has not stopped since the beginning of the spring, and the memoraries sent by the General Secretary have been piled up in the cabinet, and then in the cabinet and then in the ceremonial superintendent.

Wei Zhongxian was illiterate, so he could only ask the little eunuch to read to him, and the more he listened to the old face, the longer it grew.

"Henan last year's floods, more than one million displaced people, only less than half of them have been resettled, Shaanxi, Shanxi, North Zhili, Shandong, the four provinces of drought, Shaanxi is thousands of miles of red land, the people lack food and clothing. What happened to the Ming Dynasty, why did all the natural disasters rush together? ”

Zhang Ye, who was sitting opposite, sighed slightly and said with a wry smile: "Father-in-law Wei, to say that the Ming Dynasty has thousands of miles and a hundred trillion people, it is normal for some disasters to occur, as long as it is properly helped, there should be no problems." I'm afraid that if the homeless people gather and have no support, the White Lotus Sect bandits will make trouble again, and it will be a big trouble! ”

"At the end of the day, it's still one word: money!"

Wei Zhongxian got up from his position, pointed to a few little eunuchs and said, "You take the notebook and go to the cabinet with our family!" ”

The little eunuch hurriedly held the notebook, followed suit, and hurried to the cabinet.

In the cabinet, the first assistant Gu Bingqian, the second assistant Zhu Guozuo, and the recent bachelor Wei Guangwei were all present, all of them were sad and sad, looking at each other, and when they saw Wei Zhongxian coming, they hurriedly got up to greet each other.

"Father-in-law, please take a seat!"

Wei Zhongxian was unceremonious, sat directly on the main seat, and slapped the table as soon as he sat down.

"What's going on with the cabinet, everything has been pushed to the celebrant supervisor, and our family has sued a few people, and the internal money has long been empty. You still want money, so our family will take 100,000 eunuchs to the streets to beg. ”

"Oh, Grandpa Wei, aren't you tormenting us? If you beg, what is the face of the court? ”

"Hmph, you don't have a face, so we don't have to care!" Lao Wei glanced at the three scholars and said coldly: "Everyone, my Ming Dynasty guards the gold and silver mountains, don't you have a little money for the people?" ”

Seeing that several scholars bowed their heads and were silent, Lao Wei was even more furious.

"Several of them are well-educated people, some truths will not be clear, there is no relief, the people will make trouble when the time comes, that is, beacon fires everywhere, they are grass people, but once it burns, it is a monstrous fire, and we can't run!"

Lao Wei was born a poor ghost, and in order to gamble, he even gave himself a knife, he knew the taste of the poor, and the more he knew, the more scared he felt.

According to the secret protection of Dongchang and Jinyiwei, due to the repeated defeats of Liaodong, the people and horses in various places were Liaodong as the place of death, so when the elite soldiers were recruited to Liaodong, many people took the opportunity to run away.

The number of deserters has been immeasurable, they either went up the mountain as thieves, or fell into the grass as cowards, making waves in various places, but the control in various places was good, and there was no big chaos.

But everyone knows that the Ming Dynasty has become a powder keg, and all it needs is a grain of spark, which will be completely detonated.

Wei Guangwei, a new university scholar, worked in the household department because of Zhang Ke's help, and he was more sensitive to money matters.

"Father-in-law Wei, at present, there is a gap of 800,000 taels of silver taels for disaster relief in various places, and another 1.5 million taels are needed to repair the river, which is 2.3 million taels! There is no longer a small amount of money, but this money is not out, but I am afraid that there will be endless troubles. ”

"Well, Elder Wei Ge, where do you think this money will come from?"

"Father-in-law Wei, I can't get out anywhere, and at present, the silver of the household department is 3.5 million taels allocated to Liaodong, and 1.1 million taels are given to Jiubian. Seventy percent of the household income was taken out, and the rest could only support the court officials and repair the palace for the emperor. ”

When Wei Guangwei said this, his fists clenched involuntarily, and he said sadly and angrily: "My Ming finance and taxation have reached this point, and they have not changed, either open source and levy more taxes, or they will intercept the flow and reduce expenses, otherwise Yin will eat up the grain, and sooner or later there will be a day when they will be eaten up!" ”

In fact, many people of insight in the imperial court have raised the issue of finance, but they have not been able to discuss a result. The reason is simple, no matter what you do, there is a large group of people who are against it.

The common people have been squeezed to the limit, and if they raise taxes, there will only be chaos in the world. And interception is tantamount to removing meat from the bureaucrats, I am afraid that only the strong first assistants like Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng have this courage, and don't count on these people at the moment.

Several scholars bowed their heads and didn't say a word.

Lao Wei snorted angrily, he calculated in his heart, the deficit of the imperial court this year is at least three million taels, if the cabinet has no choice, it can only borrow money from big households!

"Alas, every year I borrow money, and every year I pay it back. I'm afraid that in a few years, the annual income of the imperial court will not be enough to exchange for interest, and I don't know who to collect taxes for! ”

Wei Zhongxian was angry, and Zhu Guozuo on the side suddenly spoke.

"Father-in-law Wei, in the final analysis, the military expenses of Liaodong are too high, the other eight places on the nine sides add up to only more than one million taels of military expenses, one Liaodong costs four million taels, and military food and labor, all add up, it is more than five million taels! The cost is so great, if it is not controlled, I am afraid that it will drag down the Ming Dynasty. ”

Lao Wei smiled bitterly: "Control zhì, how to control zhì?" ”

"Naturally, it is a strict investigation to see how much empty salary each general has under his subordinates and how much military expenditure has been spent. Among them, Zhang Ke must be strictly investigated, the old man just heard that someone participated in Zhang Ke's collection of a large number of Yiding. Back then, Liaoyang and Shenyang were lost because of too many Yiding, and now Zhang Ke is repeating the same mistakes, what does he want to do! ”

"What a grudge!" Wei Guangwei secretly sighed in his heart, Liaodong's military expenditure is indeed too much, but no one should check Zhang Ke, he has packed up more tartars alone than other generals combined, if there is no Zhang Ke to stand up, I am afraid that the masters in the capital will not want to sleep steadily......

Although Li'er is like this, he is only the last elder, and he has no weight to speak at all, so he can only watch.

Wei Zhongxian was silent for a long time before finally nodding slowly.

"Zhang Shaobao is loyal to the country, and our family thinks that he will understand the difficulties of the imperial court, and reduce the military expenditure of Liaodong by one million taels as appropriate."

With Lao Wei's instructions, Wei Guangwei immediately drafted the cabinet instructions, and while writing, he secretly sighed: How much Wei Zhongxian relied on Zhang Ke at the beginning, and suppressed the Donglin Party with the help of others, but in a blink of an eye, he attacked his allies, and the eunuchs were ruthless, which can be seen. It's just that Zhang Shaobao, who is still fighting, doesn't know if he can get through this hurdle......

After writing the last stroke, Wei Guangwei was about to put down the brush, when suddenly there was a rush of footsteps outside.

A young shiro ran in, panting.

"Great joy, great joy!"

Lao Wei put down the teacup, and Gu Bingqian couldn't help but reproach: "What is it, it's worth making a fuss?" ”

"The subordinate is guilty!" Si Shirou hurriedly pleaded guilty.

"Tell me, what's the matter?"

"Yes, Qiyu Pavilion Elder, Qiyu Wei Gonggong, just sent an urgent delivery from Changsheng Island, Zhang Shaobao beat Jiannu on Changsheng Island and killed the old chieftain! You! Ha! Red! ”

In the last few words, Si Shilang couldn't help but raise his voice, Huang Zhong Dalu was like a big lu, shocking everyone present!

The old chief is dead!

The nightmare of the imperial court is over!

……

Several scholars, as well as Lao Wei, stood on the spot in a daze, unable to move.

Si Shilang was startled, and said in his heart, don't scare these big guys to death!

"Qi Yuan Weng, Qi Wei Gonggong, Changsheng Island sent good news, the old slave is dead!"

After saying it again, everyone present finally came to life.

"Dead, really dead?"

Wei Zhongxian suddenly ran a few steps, snatched the notebook from Si Shilang's hand, and ran outside.

"Go and sue the master, sue the master!"

Lao Wei screamed as he ran, going crazy with joy.

"Father-in-law, it's the other way around, it's the other way around!"

Wei Zhongxian, who ran to the noon gate in one breath, couldn't wait to slap his two mouths, turned his head and ran towards the Qianqing Palace again.

"Master, master, the old slave gives the master good news!" Wei Zhongxian was out of breath and threw himself down in front of the apocalypse, tears streaming down his face.

Tianqi had just returned from the carpenter's room, and when he saw Lao Wei sweating profusely and trembling all over, he couldn't help laughing.

"The hair is white, how can you still look like a child, what good things can be? Don't be where the white deer came out, where there is a turtle, what bullshit auspicious came into the world. That thing is useless, my country is still like a locust, and it is a mess of porridge! ”

Wei Zhongxian raised his head and met the gaze of the apocalypse, this is called Yingxi, looking at each other, Wei Zhongxian puffed up his dantian qi and said loudly: "Master, the old chief is dead, dead on Changsheng Island!" ”

Apocalypse sat upright on the dragon chair, his eyes were outrageous, and tears were rolling down. Suddenly, he knelt on the ground and shouted to the sky: "Ancestors and ancestors, the old chief is finally dead!" Grandpa, the old chief died at the hands of his grandson! ”

After the apocalypse finished speaking, he cried into tears. R1152