Chapter 181

After taking a nap at noon, when Liu Jin was waiting for Zhengde's wide clothes, Zhengde really asked: "Xiao Jinzi, Wang Yue said that you want 500,000 taels of silver to build a leopard house, is this too much?" ”

Liu Jin hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, 500,000 taels of silver is not much at all, the slave and maid will settle the account for you, the repair of the Guanghan Palace will cost at least fifty or sixty thousand taels, the slave and maid have gone to see it, the surrounding fence is mottled, and the walls are all traces of wind and rain, how can the emperor live in such a place when he goes to play?" and the wood for the construction of the fence had to be transported from outside Beijing, and this sum would cost seventy or eighty thousand taels; And where does the emperor's entourage live? In addition, the slaves and maids also have to collect some flowers, trees, and exotic beasts, which cost money, and the tigers and leopards need to be fed and raised, and the labor costs in various places, and the repair of the royal road are not enough to spend a total of 500,000 taels of silver. ”

Zhengde was stunned and said: "If you want so much, I originally wanted to spend only tens of thousands of taels of silver, and I would spend so much at once...... I thought, or forget it. ”

Liu Jin said with a smile: "Your Majesty, you don't know what to do, our Ming Dynasty is a rich and stable big country, and the most important thing we lack is money; Every year, the household department has to allocate a million taels of silver for the expenses of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, how much can we spend in the palace? There are only five or six thousand concubines and eunuchs in the harem, and outside, ten taels of silver a year can feed a large family, and there are fish and meat all of them. ”

Zhengde was surprised: "Ten taels of silver a year can suddenly have fish and meat?" ”

Liu Jin said: "Of course, one or two pieces of silver can buy two stone rice, two stone rice is three hundred catties, a family of seven has to eat at least two or three months, just eat, four or five taels of silver a year is more than enough, and the rest of the food is more than enough, and the whole family can be torn new clothes in the New Year." ”

Zhengde said: "It turns out that the people of my Ming Dynasty are so rich, they can live a good life with ten taels of silver a year, and they will always earn more than ten taels of silver a year." ”

Liu Jin said: "That's natural, remember what Song Nan said, his roast duck restaurant earns thirty taels a year, think about it, this is not a heavenly life." ”

Zhengde nodded and said, "That's right, thirty taels is a lot of money." ”

Liu Jin said with a smile: "Our palace is naturally not as good as the people outside, but even if each person spends fifty taels a year, it is only 300,000 taels of silver for six thousand people, and the emperor is very thrifty. ”

Zhengde thought for a while and said, "It turns out that 500,000 taels is really not much, why did Wang Yue say that he couldn't take it out?" ”

Liu Jin said: "The slave doesn't dare to comment on it, but Wang Yue can't do it if he doesn't give the emperor money to spend, the Ming Dynasty is the emperor, everything in the world is the emperor, why does he Wang Yue say nonsense." ”

Zhengde waved his hand and said, "Yes, this Wang Yue doesn't know what Lu Dao is thinking?" Go and ask him, and if he refuses to give, then say that it is my will. ”

Liu Jin bowed down to tie the jade belt for Zhengde, knelt down and kowtowed: "But the slave maid has one thing to ask the emperor to decide." ”

Zhengde said: "What's the matter? ”

Liu Jin said: "Wang Yue said, if the matter of building a leopard house is known by the cabinet scholars, they will definitely complain to the emperor, saying that the slave and maid are playing with the emperor, and then the slave and maid's head may not be protected, and the slave and maid will do things for the emperor, and in the end they will be pointed at and scolded by a cadre of people, or even participate in the slave and maid, so what?" ”

Zhengde frowned and said, "Will Wang Yue say it?" ”

Liu Jin said: "Wang Yue doesn't say it, the cabinet scholars will also know about it, and they will all know about it as soon as the project starts." ”

Zhengde thought for a while and said: "Regardless of them, I just give them a delaying plan, you build yours, don't care about anything else." ”

Liu Jin said happily: "With the emperor's words, the slave and maid will be relieved and bold to do things, the emperor, the slave and maid got two red-crowned cranes, which were obtained from the Xuanfu trustee, which are fairy cranes, and they will be sent to the capital in a few days." ”

Zhengde said: "Okay, how can there be no cranes in my leopard room, do it well." ”

After Zhengde finished dressing, the outside and inner attendants reported that Li Dongyang of the cabinet asked to see the emperor, and Zhengde said with a bitter face: "Look, I just wanted to go to relax my muscles, and Scholar Li came again, hey." ”

Liu Jin was relieved: "The emperor has worked hard, but he still has to go, and the slave and maid went to find the prince and asked for silver." ”

Zhengde nodded, and went out under the guidance of the chamberlain, Liu Jin smiled and sent him off, and after the emperor went out, he came to the courtyard and shouted: "Father-in-law, have you arranged the matter?" ”

After the pillars, Ma Yongcheng, Gao Feng, Luo Xiang, Wei Bin, Qiu Ju, Gu Dayong, Zhang Yong and others all appeared and said, "It's all ready." ”

Liu Jin said loudly: "Okay, gather everyone in the back garden, you fathers-in-law work hard, take some competent guys, so that you can teach these people who can't open their eyes to eat things inside and outside." ”

Zhang Yong and the others agreed in unison, each holding a bamboo stick, a leather whip, and drove all the more than 70 eunuchs and palace maids who were waiting in the Qianqing Palace to the back garden.

Liu Jin walked into the garden with a leather whip dipped in water, and coldly glanced at the eunuchs and palace maids and said: "You are all old people who serve the emperor, from the Wenhua Palace to this Qianqing Palace, we may have been together for seven or eight years, I, Liu Jin and the leaders, treat you fairly well." ”

Everyone hurriedly said: "Father-in-law Liu has nothing to say to us, the little ones are grateful to you and the leaders and father-in-law." ”

Liu Jin sneered: "However, some of you are eating inside and crawling, and behind your backs to report to outsiders about the things around the emperor, now I am instructed by the emperor to find out these guys who eat inside and out, and I don't want to hurt the harmony, which one or several automatically stand up, let's discuss, otherwise, don't blame me for being polite." ”

The eunuchs and palace maids were surprised, there was a buzz in the field, Liu Jin shouted: "Don't make noise, any of you who finds that the people around you are sneaky or have any abnormal behavior, you can also report it in person, my father-in-law has a heavy reward, after a stick of incense, if no one stands up, or no one identifies it, don't blame us for not being emotional." ”

Ma Yongcheng lit a stick of incense and put it in the incense burner under the tree, under the hot sun, a dry eunuch and palace maid were covered in hot sweat by the sun, and as the incense gradually burned short, no one stood up to admit or identify.

Liu Jin's face became more and more gloomy, and he gritted his teeth and scolded: "If you don't see the coffin, you won't shed tears." ”

As soon as he looked at him, Gao Feng strode over, grabbed a palace maid's hair and dragged him over, kicked him to the ground, and the palace maid cried: "Father-in-law, the slave and maid didn't do anything bad, and the slave didn't know anything." ”

Liu Jin lifted her chin and said, "Maybe what you said is true, but who told everyone not to admit it?" If you can't find it, everyone will suffer, don't blame me. ”

After that, he waved the whip and whipped the little palace maid hard, the clothes were thinly worn in summer, and when the whip went down, a bloody mark was suddenly reflected on the outside of the clothes, Liu Jin gritted his teeth, cursed and whipped non-stop, more than a dozen whips were drawn, and the palace maid was already scarred, and the pieces of her clothes were torn, revealing a bloody back, and she fainted in pain.

As soon as Liu Jin made a move here, Zhang Yong, Ma Yongcheng, Gao Feng, Qiu Ju and others also grabbed a eunuch or palace maid and kicked him down and beat him, with sticks and bamboo pieces on his head and face, and soon seven or eight eunuchs and palace maids were beaten.

The eight eunuchs and palace maids were knocked unconscious, kicked to the side, splashed cold water on the side and woke up, spread on the ground and groaned, Liu Jin and the others turned their eyes to the group of people standing there.

Eight more unlucky people were pulled out, and after a violent beating, the number of bloody eunuchs and palace maids in the shade of the trees doubled, and no one admitted it.

Liu Jin was even more furious, and ordered Gao Feng to go to the warehouse and take a dozen wooden planks full of iron nails and throw them on the ground and scolded: "No one can escape today, I still have to work hard to beat you, give me turns to kneel on the nail board, and one person kneels for a cup of tea." ”

A eunuch cried and stepped forward to hug Liu Jin's thigh and said, "Father-in-law Liu, I don't know anything, but I have been following you to serve you, you are gracious." ”

Liu Jin raised his foot and kicked him down, picked up a nail board and smashed it on his back, the iron nail went into the flesh, poked out dozens of meat holes, and blood gushed out together, the little eunuch fainted directly, Liu Jin raised his foot and stepped on the back of the nail board, and shouted: "What about following me?" I have the heart to spare you, but you don't know how to lift up. ”

There are already some people in the eunuch palace who are so scared that they pee their pants, although Liu Gong's fair day is not very kind, and he has done a lot of things to kick his chest, but that is nothing, as soon as such torture comes out today, he really knows the fierceness of Liu Gonggong; In the palace, the eunuchs and palace maids were beaten to death by their bosses and couldn't be put on the table at all, many eunuchs and palace maids disappeared inexplicably, and no one had the leisure to check their whereabouts.

Except for the eight people in front of them, the other eunuchs and palace maids couldn't even see the emperor's face, let alone complain.

"One by one, through the nail board." Liu Jin shouted.

Gao Feng and the others stepped forward to line up more than a dozen nail boards, and dragged more than a dozen eunuchs and palace maids who were paralyzed with fright to press on the nail boards, and suddenly, a palace maid who was shrinking behind the crowd fell to the ground and cried: "Father-in-law Liu, the slave maid has something to report." ”

Liu Jin raised his eyes and saw that it was a little palace maid called Lotus, who was born quite smart, Liu Jin remembered that when he tempted the prince to take aphrodisiacs to know people, this lotus was one of the people who was selected to be sent to the prince's bed, could it be her, no wonder that she taught the prince to be humane will also be known by Wang Yue.

"It turned out to be your ......!" Liu Jin walked over with a whip and a murderous head.

Lotus was already so frightened that her pants were wet, and she hurriedly waved her hand and said, "It's not a slave, it may be him." With his hand pointing to the crowd, and the crowd was divided to the side, a handsome little eunuch was exposed to everyone's eyes in a panic.