After listening to Gao Di's report, Chongzhen raised his eyebrows: "It's down so soon, the generals under the thieves are too spineless."

"The thieves are all unrighteous people, where is the backbone." Gaudi was dismissive.

Chongzhen nodded: "Then what is the movement of Azig, and are you preparing to go south or east?"

"Judging from the current situation, Azig has no intention of continuing to use troops. After all, he slaughtered the people of Guanzhong and Hanzhong, and there were not enough troops, food and grass!"

"Have pity on my people." Chongzhen sighed, "You continue to investigate, and at the same time, let Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places prepare to deal with the possibility of Azig returning north to the grassland."

"Yes."

……

Nanking.

Zhu Youxiang held the Tangbao and Dongchang's secret report in his hand, and was stunned.

His Ming Dynasty controlled the most densely populated and economically developed places in China, and was the least damaged by the war, and he had the wealth of the Fuwang Mansion brought by himself, so he lived a relatively rich life.

Eight months ago, when he had just ascended the throne, he listened to Ma Shiying's advice, sent Shi Kefa to prison, and dismissed Qian Qianyi.

Although it is very good to suppress the noise of the Donglin Party, it has also expanded the power of the four towns.

The four towns also took advantage of this opportunity to recruit troops and expand their strength.

For a time, the Nanjing court had many generals, and on the surface it was already stronger than the army in the Chongzhen period.

It's a pity that the four towns are blindly addicted to chasing joy in the Jianghuai region, and at the same time, because of their meritorious work, they are in a high position and are calling for wind and rain in the court.

There is a lot of momentum to override him.

Although Zhu Youxiang is greedy for fun, he still attaches great importance to the power in his hands. Therefore, he reactivated Shi Kefa, appointed him as the secretary of the military department, and appointed Qian Qianyi as the secretary of the Ministry of Rites to support the Donglin Party and fight against the four towns.

At the same time, he secretly formed a team loyal to his Dongchang to investigate the affairs of the DPRK and China.

If you don't check it, it really scares him.

He originally thought that after the loss of the north, there was no need to loot a large amount of grain, silver, and cloth in various parts of Jiangnan to make up for the expenses of Jingshi and Jiubian, and that the imperial court's finances should be more than sufficient, and although the burden of the people in Jiangnan would not increase, it would not increase the burden.

However, the situation reported to him by Dongchang was that the four towns were desperately looting the people in order to support their own private soldiers, and the corruption of the ministers of the court and the central government was even more serious than that of Chongzhen, and the treasury of Nanjing was unable to make ends meet.

Under the control of Ma Shiying and others, Jiangnan not only did not abolish the three salaries, did not implement the three-year exemption policy, and even set up a clever name to collect taxes for fishing as much as possible.

The only time money and grain were exempted was when he ascended the throne, and he was completely exempted from taxes in Shandong for three years, and even exempted Beizhili from taxes for five years.

These two places have never been out of their control.

Zhu Youxiang thought for a while, picked up the court newspaper and looked at it, and then threw it out angrily.

He saw that the imperial court had almost no troops, but the military expenditure was extremely inflated.

"There are more than 50,000 soldiers in Chu Town, and 180,000 silver is needed; 30,000 soldiers for each of the four towns, 2.4 million for salary, and 1 million for true colors; There are 60,000 troops in Beijing, 1.2 million salaries, and there are eight towns such as Jiangdu, Anfu, Wenwu Caojiang, Wufu, and Huangfei, with a total of 120,000 soldiers and a total salary of 2.4 million.

More than 7 million ...... total

In addition, there is a shortage of silver for the state and the reduction of floods and droughts, and after this year, the imperial court has a shortage of 2.5 million taels, and the national treasury of silver is only a few thousand and a few taels!"

What made Zhu Youxiang even more angry was that his internal treasury was almost empty, and the treasury had bottomed out, and Liu Zeqing, one of the four towns, actually built a large number of buildings in Huai'an, built the Lianyun Jiadi Courtyard, and devoted himself to running a comfortable nest.

After Huang Degong and Gao Jie became strong, they did not go to the Northern Expedition, but fought for the control of Yangzhou.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youxiang roared, startling Han Zanzhou, the commander of Dongchang beside him, and quickly knelt down.

"Gao Jie and Liu Zeqing, these people are so hateful, they pulled the silver away, did they think about me!" The more Zhu Youxiang thought about it, the angrier he became.

Han Zanzhou smiled bitterly, "Your Majesty, the situation is critical now, the imperial court

I still have to rely on the four towns, and it's not easy to ask for guilt!"

"So what do you say? Without a majestic and splendid palace, it is impossible to become the lord of Zhongxing, and I still need a lot of silver to build Xingning Palace, to build Cixi Palace, you say, where to find silver?"

As soon as Han Zan Zhou was about to speak, Zhu Youxiang roared again:

"None of the show girls selected in Nanjing, Suzhou and other places are good-looking, the harem is so empty, how can I have the energy to plan for the future?"

Han Zan Zhou Mei smiled and said, "Since the emperor doesn't like the show girls in the three places, the minister has a good way to make money."

"You say!"

"Although these show girls are not in the eyes of the emperor, they are much stronger than those women in the Teaching Division, and if they are rushed into the Teaching Division, they will definitely earn silver!"

Zhu Youxiang's brows loosened, and he smiled: "That's very good! Do you have any other good ideas?"

"Back to the emperor, Ma Shiying, Ruan Dacheng and others used their rights to enrich their families, and some of them were ways to collect money. If we take back one or two privileges, we can fill the treasury?"

"What privilege?"

"Recently, the governors of the DPRK and the Central Government have been walking all over the streets, and the supervisors and disciplines are as many as sheep, and the staff are as cheap as dogs......" Han Zanzhou glanced up at Zhu Youxiang, and said with confidence: "The emperor can sell all the official positions in the court and the central government to rich merchants, and he will definitely get countless silver."

"This ......" Zhu Youxiang hesitated, "Give them officials, where can I find them?"

Han Zanzhou saw Zhu Youxiang hesitating, and heard that he was worried about Yulu, so he completely relieved his heart, "The imperial court can not issue Yulu, just let the officials think for themselves!"

Zhu Youxiang was greatly moved when he heard this, "This method is good, they have many more ways to find silver than me. It's just that it's not enough to sell officials to them, I also have to sell titles!"

"Knighthood?"

"Yes!" The more Zhu Youxiang spoke, the more excited he became, "The second-class uncle, how can you get 500,000 taels of silver, and the first-class uncle, you have to add 300,000 taels; If you wait, you'll sell it for 1.2 million taels!"

"Wonderful!" Han Zanzhou admired.

"Moreover, the official position is only given for a period of six years, and it must be renewed when it expires, and the title is not hereditary! If their children and grandchildren want to inherit it, they must pay again! Hahaha......"

"Your Majesty!"

……

Just when Zhu Youxiang was calculating the silver, Shi Kefa and Qian Qianyi got together to discuss the matter of going north.

After their comeback, they learned about some of the movements in the north through various channels.

After many investigations, it was finally determined that there were really people in Jingshi who claimed to be Chongzhen, and led the Guanning army to drive away Li Zicheng, recover Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan, and Shandong, and even defeated Jianjiao at Shanhaiguan.

Three months ago, he led a large army north to fight a decisive battle with Jianyu.

They really couldn't guess who was so bold to pretend to be the first emperor, and they couldn't imagine where the gods from the north had such a martial strategy.

All of them gave birth to the idea of going north, in order to completely understand the origin of the matter.

Ma Shiying also learned of the changes in the north, and in the name of Shoufu, he summoned Liu Liangzuo, Liu Zeqing, and Gao Jie, the generals of the four towns, to gather together to discuss.

"There is such a great lord in the north, and he will definitely threaten our wealth!"

"Is it really Emperor Chongzhen?"

"Impossible! If Emperor Chongzhen really had such eloquence, how could the country be ruined?"

"Who's that?"

"Eighty percent are puppets forged by Li Yutian, Wu Sangui and others!"

Huang Degong listened for a long time, and then spoke: "Ben Jiang thinks that he should go north to see, in case it is true that the first emperor is not dead, we should immediately go to Beijing to ask for guilt!"