Chapter 170: Money and Food
In the middle of October, An Guogong's recital arrived again. This time, Mu Zhengyi handed a copy to the military department according to the procedure, but it was obvious that this time the military department learned to be obedient, and happily handed over the song from the north.
However, Zhou Shangshu of the Ministry of War is very good at being a person, and the Ministry of War received a note in the afternoon, and while he sent someone to the palace according to the urgent delivery procedure, he turned his head and sent a message to Lin Xiang, Li Xiang, Xie Xiang, Gu Daxue and Hubu Shangshu, and the news was complete, but none of them were offended.
Not only that, Zhou Shangshu also specially sent a messenger from the Yamen of the Ministry of War to the Anguo Mansion to run errands, and informed Mrs. Mu that the recital of the Anguo Mansion had been delivered to the palace, so that she should not worry about it.
Song Shu entered the palace, of course Mrs. Mu had nothing to worry about, and it was someone else who should have a headache at the moment. For example, when Sun Shangshu of the household department heard the express delivery from the north, he had a headache, and he knew that An Guogong was here to ask for money again.
Sure enough, the next morning, as soon as the emperor came up, he handed over An Guogong's recital to Sun Shangshu, with a posture of asking him to watch it.
Zhou Shangshu gave Sun Shangshu the news in advance, and of course Sun Shangshu knew what was written in this recital. If you don't conscript, you buy a horse first, in short, it costs money. An Guogong was willing to open his mouth widely, and he asked for 50,000 high-grade war horses.
How much is 50,000 horses? Another five million taels! The emperor just allocated 5 million taels from the treasury two months ago, and this is endless! If you really have to hollow out the household, how can you give up?
Of course Sun Shangshu refused to ask for money in such a way, and of course, Lin Xiang, who was in charge of the household department, also refused. Lin Xiang took out his detailed account again and said it again, and emphasized by the way, a few days ago, the household department had just allocated five million taels to go to the north, and now it was mid-October, and it was about to enter winter, and the New Year would be celebrated in two months, and the household department would always have to leave some family funds.
Lin Xiang's attitude was naturally very tough, but this time the emperor's attitude was also very tough, only saying that no matter what, he would see the war horse sent to the north before the year. Although Sun Shangshu felt that he had the confidence to take advantage of the reason and had the support of Lin Xiang, he did not dare to be very tough in front of the emperor, and there was a bit of liveliness in his words at the moment.
The emperor's attitude was clear, Scholar Gu and Xie Xiang immediately expressed their support, Li Xiang saw that Xie Xiang's attitude was clear, but he closed his mouth and said nothing, this style was clearly to support Lin Xiang.
And Zhou Shangshu, the head of the wall, as the secretary of the Ministry of War, of course, could not be like Li Xiang without saying a word, he looked at Li Xiang's face, and then looked at the emperor, and finally decided to fall with the wind and support the north to ask for money.
When Lin Xiang saw the current situation, his face suddenly sank, and he was about to speak, but the emperor opened his mouth before him.
The emperor glanced at King Xin and King Yi, who listened to the government in the previous court, and asked in a light tone, "Little five, little six, you have been in the court for some days, and I never allow you to guide the government at will, only let you listen, watch, and learn." As of today, it has been almost three months since you went to court, and you should have gained a little more knowledge. I thought, it's time for you to learn to do errands slowly. Regarding An Guogong's recital, I would like to ask your opinion today. ”
King Xin and King Yi are of course very clever, and they can see clearly what the emperor thinks, which is clearly determined to force the household to take the money. Therefore, the two had nothing to say, and they invariably catered to the emperor's thoughts.
The two princes had a clear attitude, and Li Xiang naturally didn't want to continue to be silent, he glanced at King Yi, and had no choice but to show his support for the allocation of funds to the north to replenish the war horses.
Lin Xiangshi was alone, and Sun Shangshu lacked confidence, but finally followed the emperor's thoughts. The emperor glanced at the two sons, who looked at their noses and noses, lowered their heads and said nothing, and then looked at Lin Xiang and Li Xiang, whose faces were gray, and a satisfied smile appeared on the corner of his lips.
This is not the emperor's obstinate resolution~~ The black cauldron of reckless military force, he doesn't carry it.
Although it had been agreed that the court would buy war horses and send them to the north, Lin Xiang was still unwilling to suffer this loss in the end. He argued for a long time, but in the end he was only willing to come up with a million pieces of silver.
He proposed that the household department hand over the silver taels of the military department, first buy 10,000 war horses, and then the military department came forward to mobilize 10,000 war horses from Qinfeng Road and Jingbei Road to enter the north first, and the rest will be said slowly after the New Year.
"The minister is not shirking," Lin Xiang said, "If you have horses, you have to have grain and grass, and these war horses have to be replenished into the north, and you have to allocate the corresponding grain and grass to the past, but although this year's annual harvest is good, the weather is humid, and the insect pests and resurgence of the official warehouses in various places are more serious than in previous years, and there are more grains in the warehouse, and there are many losses. ”
"The emperor should not look at the wind and rain in the past two years, and if there is no famine, he will lose his vigilance," Lin Xiang put on a posture of loyalty and direct advice, "Military affairs are important, and people's livelihood is also important." Maybe it's because the minister is old, and I always feel that the weather this year is colder than in previous years, and it's only mid-October, and I can't leave the charcoal basin. The minister is always worried these days, if it goes on like this, I am afraid that there will be frost damage. Regardless of whether the minister is overly attentive or not, as the first and auxiliary prime minister, the minister must always think about the livelihood of the society and the people, and prepare disaster relief money and food in his hands. ”
The big hat of people's livelihood was buttoned down, and the emperor could only take a step back, he nodded, and said that he agreed with Lin Xiang's plan, and handed it over to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household to handle it in coordination.
It's easy to do the matter of the household department giving money to buy horses, and it's not the military department that asks for money, the military department is just handling it, of course Zhou Shangshu has nothing to say, and he is still good at doing things according to orders.
But let the military department come forward to mobilize grain, grass and horses in the local area, but Zhou Shangshu wanted to shirk this matter. Even if the emperor ordered to suppress it, but after all, it was to reach out to dig out the family of the local defenders, this kind of thankless errand that offended people at both ends, Zhou Shangshu didn't want to care.
As soon as his eyes rolled, he wanted to throw this matter to the pacification envoys of Qin Fenglu and Jingbei Road, where to do it, and he would hand over the military department to save more trouble.
It's just that Zhou Shangshu thought about it well, he just wanted to make a suggestion to the emperor, and wanted to hand over the matter of mobilizing military horses to Qin Fenglu and Jingbei Road to pacify the yamen, but he didn't expect someone to say in a loud voice at this time, "The minister has a plan to play." ”
With this voice, a figure walked out from the very end of the courtier's train and knelt down in the center of the main hall of the Chongzheng Palace. This person was wearing the official uniform of a five-rank civil official, he was not tall, his face was sallow, his beard was sparse, and he looked quite old.
According to the regulations of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the Beijing officials above the five grades go to the court every day, and more than 100 people discuss politics together in the Chongzheng Palace, and the five officials stand at the end, almost close to the palace gate.
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