"Alas, little Laizi, where do you have any good places to go? It's a place where tens of thousands of refugees can be settled. ”

Wang Xiaolai was thinking about it, and the empress suddenly raised her chin and asked Wang Xiaolai.

Wang Xiaolai thought for a while, and then said: "It's said that there is an Echo Valley, but my Echo Valley has entered tens of thousands of refugees before, and the land is a little crowded, but the current situation is extraordinary, and everyone is not having a good time, if you squeeze it, you should be able to tolerate it." ”

As soon as the empress pondered, Shuo Winter was approaching, and there was indeed no other way, so she nodded and said, "It seems that this is the only way to do it." ”

But who would have thought that Liu Maolin next to him suddenly objected: "Your Majesty, by all means." ”

The empress turned her head to look at Liu Maolin strangely: "Old Xiangguo, why is this." ”

Liu Maolin looked at Wang Xiaolai, then at the empress, and reminded: "Your Majesty, have you forgotten that there are hot air balloons and gunpowder in Echo Valley, there are many refugees, and there are three religions and nine streams everywhere. ”

The empress was also worried: "But I really can't think of any good place to settle these people." ”

Liu Maolin gritted his teeth: "If it doesn't work, I will spend money to charter all the inns in Daxing City for these refugees to live in." ”

O Empress! sighed: "It's all wrapped, how much does it cost?" ”

Liu Maolin said: "At least this matter can be solved with money, and when Wuhou sweeps away Yongliang, these people can return to their hometowns, and it will only take two or three months to die in the middle, so it shouldn't cost much." ”

The empress looked a little reluctant, and folded her fingers and counted: "One person is two dollars of silver a day, ten people are two taels, and a hundred people are twenty taels..." 10,000 people is 2,000 taels, and those refugees, there are at least 50,000 people, so calculated, it is 10,000 taels, 10,000 taels of silver a day, and according to two months, it is also 600,000 taels. ”

As she spoke, the empress looked up at Wang Xiaolai.

Wang Xiaolai sighed in his heart, knowing that the empress had nothing to say.

Sure enough, the empress smiled kindly on her face, and said to Wang Xiaolai a little coquettishly: "Little Laizi, I will discuss something with you." ”

Without waiting for the empress to finish the next sentence, Wang Xiaolai directly interrupted the empress: "Don't talk about Your Majesty, I don't have any money now." ”

The empress was stunned: "I have only read the account book this month, it is not that hundreds of thousands of taels have been entered into the account, how can there be no money, I don't want you to take too much, just half, how about it?" ”

Wang Xiaolai said in his heart that all my money was used to buy grain for tobacco, and I will take the excess for you from there.

"Your Majesty, if you don't say anything about this, I just asked Hou Sere to take my silver to open branches everywhere a few days ago." Wang Xiaolai said.

The empress shrugged her nose when she heard this: "Hmph, you can slam the door." ”

Wang Xiaolai retorted unconvinced: "Your Majesty, you are embarrassed to say that I slammed the door." ”

Empress: "···"

Liu Maolin thought for a while and said, "Otherwise, let's make an IOU with those inns first." ”

The empress immediately disagreed: "Then how can I do it, I am also the Son of Heaven, how can there be a reason for the Son of Heaven to make an IOU?" ”

"How about the old minister come forward to call on the court officials, and everyone will come up with some silver more or less?"

Wang Xiaolai said: "If this is the case, I can take out 100,000 taels of spare space." ”

It's not that Wang Xiaolai is picking on the door, but that this kid can take out so much liquidity at most in his hands, where did the rest go, and all of them were piled up in the granary of Echo Valley.

Seeing that the empress's expression was wrong, Wang Xiaolai hurriedly said: "It's really not good, I also covered the food for these refugees." ”

didn't think about it, but the empress still shook her head: "No." ”

Wang Xiaolai said: "It's not Your Majesty, I have so much at most right now." ”

"It's not your problem."

Wang Xiaolai was stunned when he heard this: "It's not my problem?" ”

The empress snorted and explained: "It is simply impossible to ask the court officials to take out the silver to help the refugees. ”

Seeing that Liu Maolin just wanted to speak, the empress stopped him and said: "Old Xiangguo, you are dedicated to the country, I know it, but you also have to know that not all of the Manchu Dynasty's civil and military affairs are as selfless as you, according to the Sui Yang official Yu Lu, how did they get out this silver." ”

Wang Xiaolai sighed: "Your Majesty, you don't know what an official is, ten officials, nine greedy people haven't you heard of this sentence?" ”

The empress smiled: "Little Laizi, you don't know how to be an official at first glance, they are greedy or not, but if I ask them to donate silver taels, who dare to take out more than 1,000 taels of silver?" Otherwise, do you think that at the beginning of the year, Fan Lin would bow to you for a mere 20,000 taels of silver? ”

Wang Xiaolai's expression immediately became sneering: "It's not Your Majesty, it's been so many days since this matter, and you still mention it." ”

The empress hehe.

"Your Majesty, those two methods don't work, what should I do?" Liu Maolin said.

The empress pondered for a while: "If it really doesn't work, I will open the palace and settle these refugees." ”

When the words fell, Liu Maolin was shocked: "Your Majesty, are you joking?" ”

The empress shook her head and said seriously: "I'm telling the truth, old Xiangguo, think about it carefully, the palace has so many empty rooms, and no one lives in them, and it is a waste to put them away, so it is better to open it and use it to house refugees." ”

Liu Maolin looked embarrassed: "But Your Majesty, those rooms are all used for the concubines to live." ”

The empress laughed: "Old Xiangguo, I'm afraid you have forgotten my identity, I am a woman, why do you want those concubines and beautiful girls?" ”

Liu Maolin: "···"

Wang Xiaolai said on the side: "Your Majesty, this is a good idea, for the sake of the refugees, you open the palace regardless of opposition, and the people's worship of you will definitely go to a higher level." ”

The empress couldn't help nodding: "Yes, little Laizi, you think so too." ”

Wang Xiaolai smiled: "That's not it." ”

Liu Maolin shouted suddenly: "Nonsense." ”

With a drink, the empress and Wang Xiaolai both looked back at Liu Maolin.

Seeing the old man's gray beard, he trembled and said: "Your Majesty, if the old minister is ruthless, it is absolutely impossible to open the palace." ”

The empress was puzzled: "Why." ”

"Because the palace is a symbol of the Son of Heaven and represents the majesty of the royal family, how can ordinary people be allowed to enter and exit at will?"

"Without these ordinary people, what is the use of my name as the Son of Heaven? Old Xiangguo, you don't need to say much, I have already decided on this matter, tomorrow morning, I will issue a decree to open the Ganquan Palace and resettle the refugees. The empress said resolutely.

Liu Maolin wanted to persuade, but he only sighed.

He is not the Eight Sages King and Zhao Liwen, and he can't persuade the empress at all, but now when these two are needed, the Eight Sages King is suffering from a recurrence of his old illness and is bedridden, so Zhao Liwen does not go out of the house all year round, you talk about it, how is it good to let Liu Maolin be.

"Okay, old Xiangguo, if there is nothing else, you can go down first."

The Empress spoke.

Liu Maolin didn't know what to do in his heart, his thoughts were hesitant, and he just clenched his fists and shouted yes in a low voice.

After turning around, Liu Maolin felt very uncomfortable in his heart, now it's okay, if the empress really announces the opening of Ganquan Palace tomorrow morning to let those refugees live, maybe it will cause some uproar.

Alas, it seems that when the time comes, we can only take one step at a time.

When only the empress and Wang Xiaolai were left in the imperial study, the former seemed a little happy because he had solved a matter on his mind, hummed a small song in his mouth, put away the folds on the dragon book case, and followed Wang Xiaolai and said: "Little Laizi, I was curious just now, don't you usually come early, why is it late today?" ”

There were no outsiders here, so Wang Xiaolai sat down cross-legged: "Didn't you want to rest today, so I didn't think about coming." ”

The empress laughed, got down from the dragon book case, sat down in the same posture not far in front of Wang Xiaolai, and asked, "Then why are you here again?" What's the matter? ”

Sitting face-to-face with the empress, Wang Xiaolai only felt a little uncomfortable, and turned sideways slightly, only then did he feel a lot more at ease, so he said: "Isn't there a happy event to tell Your Majesty." ”

When the empress heard this, the gossip personality instantly came up: "What, you're going to get married?" ”

When she said this, there was a little loss hidden in her tone, and I am afraid that only she could feel it.

"What's the matter, Your Majesty, you think too much." Wang Xiaolaite said speechlessly.