The good news of Zhejiang's victory was sent to the cabinet as quickly as possible, and the most excited was the cabinet chief assistant Wen dialect, who was subjected to pressure from many parties in the tragedy of the previous year, including various interest groups, as well as within the civilian group, and the most important thing was the questioning from the palace.

Fortunately, the battle was won, not only was the battle won, but the heads of the main culprit and the accomplice were all sent to Beijing together, and now there can be an explanation.

"Where's the good news?"

The excited voice of the second assistant Zhang Fu came from outside the door.

Wen Fangyan was helpless, and pushed the good news placed in front of him in front of Zhang Fu, who had just come in, "Take a look." ”

Zhang Fu sat down on the chair by the window, carefully looked at the good news, beheaded 3,853 and sank five Japanese ships, it was really a great victory!

Wen dialect: "The treasury has no silver!" ”

Zhang Fu was stunned for a moment, seemed to understand, put down the good news in his hand, and looked at Wen Fangyan tightly.

Wen Fangyan's gaze turned to the window, "Your Majesty has always had the intention of solving the troubles in Jiangsu and Zhejiang..."

....

On the imperial case in the upper study room was the 800-mile urgent report handed over by Zhejiang, and the military report tiled on the imperial case showed that Emperor Tianyou Zhu Qinde had read it, and the cabinet chief assistant Wen Fangyan stood on the side of the imperial case with his head bowed, waiting for Emperor Tianyou to speak.

Emperor Tianyou walked around the hall with his hands behind his back, walked back to the side of the imperial case, looked at the good news, and said slowly: "With this great victory, the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Guards have also boosted the morale of the army, can the next battle be fought?" ”

Wen Fangyan certainly understood what the emperor meant, and hurriedly replied: "In this battle, I will trust the saint to Hongfu, and I will rely on the soldiers to use their lives." It is the duty of a courtier to serve the country loyally. ”

Hearing this, Emperor Tianyou was stunned, looked at the good news fixedly, and attached a list of meritorious personnel at the end, densely written with the names of nearly 100 people and the official titles of Baoju!

Looking at this list, Emperor Tianyou couldn't help but move his eyebrows.

"I know the difficulties of the cabinet, but you also have to think about me as the emperor, for so many years, the coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang have been plagued by bandits, and I am really uncomfortable as the emperor, why can't I take advantage of the victory to solve it once and for all?"

Emperor Tianyou's question raised the tone.

After a while, Wen Fangyan seemed to have mustered up the courage and looked at the emperor, "Your Majesty, last year's household deficit was as high as 3.17 million taels, and the 200,000 taels of military expenses in the Jiangnan camp this time were still squeezed out by Lin Yanzheng from the two Huai salt taxes, otherwise, there would be no such victory at all." ”

"Where has all the money gone?"

Emperor Tianyou looked at him quietly.

Wen Fangyan knew that he must not avoid the emperor's gaze at this time, and replied directly: "Over the years, the deficit has been as high as 13 million taels, and most of this money has been borrowed by officials of all sizes in the capital, and some of these people have to borrow money from the household department because of their poor livelihood. However, most of them are not obliged to borrow, they are mostly insatiable, extravagant in life, spending money, and in order to maintain a luxurious life, they have reached out to the treasury. ”

Emperor Tianyou picked up a book on the imperial case and threw it to Wen Fangyan's side, and sighed, "This is the military report handed over by the king of Dongping County, which is a detailed training plan, and the king of the county plans to take advantage of this peaceful day to reorganize the soldiers and horses of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Guard, as well as the Fujian Naval Division, and plan to take advantage of the monsoon next autumn to sweep away the coastal islands in one fell swoop, and complete the battle to completely eliminate the plague of bandits!" ”

"Alas!"

Emperor Tianyou sighed again, "It's a pity that the treasury can't come up with silver to train troops!" Last year, the total tax and silver of the two capitals and 13 provinces was 51,670,000 taels, and in addition to the various expenditure budgets, there should be at least 8 million taels of silver deposits, but you actually told me that the deficit was as high as 3,170,000 taels, which is more than 10 million taels in and out, and greed is not such a greedy law! Have you not thought about what you would do if there was a flood or a drought? What if there is another war in the north? What to do?! ”

"Death penalty!"

Wen Fangyan was shocked and immediately fell to his knees.

Emperor Tianyou was silent for a long time, and suddenly asked again: "You say, where should this silver come from?" ”

Wen Fangyan pondered for a moment before replying: "It's late February now, and the salt tax can be collected in another month, why don't you..."

"No."

Emperor Tianyou waved his hand, "This salt tax can't be moved." ”

Wen Fangyan froze there, and said for a long time: "Why don't you let Yangzhou salt merchants, Jiangning Weaving, Fujian, Guangdong City and other places hand over the donation of silver?" ”

"Yes."

The corners of Emperor Tianyou's mouth showed laugh lines, but they quickly disappeared again, "The king of the county means 800,000 taels, I look at it, just make up a whole number, in addition, the imperial tomb in the north has stopped for a long time, I, this year is fifty and two...."

"I understand."

"Well, it's been a great deal."

Emperor Tianyou sat back on the dragon chair and waved his hand, "I'm going to make an excerpt, I want to take a look at it first." ”

"Yes!"

Wen Fangyan sighed silently, he understood that the emperor was planning to recover the arrears of the treasury.

Sending Wen Fangyan away, Dai Quan, the chief eunuch of the Qianqing Palace, returned to the upper study, and saw that Emperor Tianyou was still staring at the good news, so he hurriedly poured a bowl of warm tea, "Your Majesty, it's time to rest, take care of yourself." ”

"This Jia Jue is from the Jia family?"

Emperor Tianyou did not go to pick up the bowl of tea, but pointed to the list of meritorious personnel.

Dai Quan's hand stopped there, thought for a while and replied: "Back to Your Majesty's words, this matter is the fault of the old slave, I didn't remind Your Majesty that this Jia Jue is the third son of Jia Yu, the hereditary first-class general of Rongguo Mansion, and last year he took the path of the Xia chief of Cining Palace and went to the Zhejiang Guard Office to be a hundred households. Jia Zhen of Ningguo Mansion did the work for Jia Amnesty, Xia was in charge of one thousand taels, and the old slave was five hundred taels. ”

"How?"

"The old slave took a look, he is a practitioner, and the training is still good."

"Got the money?"

Dai Quan was so frightened that he put down the tea bowl in his hand, knelt on the ground, and said loudly: "The old slave doesn't dare, these are the words in the heart of the old slave, and no one teaches the old slave, let alone charge a penny." ”

Emperor Tianyou waved his hand, "Get up, the king of the county specially said this matter in the military report, there should be no fake, this son is a character, it seems that the Jia family is not all wine-colored people, well, go, send a jade ruyi to the Jia family, and tell Jia Yu that his son's eight thousand taels of silver will not be given, so he should be filial piety, Jinling is far away and inconvenient, as for sending it to the Jia family, maybe there will be a few more concubines." ”

Speaking of this, he couldn't help but laugh himself.

Dai Quan on the side couldn't help laughing.

.....

Rongguo Mansion, Rongqing Hall.

Mother Jia sat on the soft couch on the high platform, with no peaceful smile on her face, Wang Xifeng walked over gently and handed the tea bowl in her hand to Mother Jia, "Ancestor, take a sip of tea first." It's been so long, and it's certainly not a bad thing. ”

Mother Jia was stunned for a moment, waved her hand, and swept her eyes at the hall one by one, Yingchun, Tanchun and Xichun were sitting on the left side, and the sisters were holding handkerchiefs to wipe tears.

Mrs. Wang sat on a chair on the right, counting rosaries in her hand and silently reciting Buddhist scriptures in her mouth.

Jia Mu and Mrs. Wang could still sit in the hall and wait, while Mrs. Xing walked back and forth in the hall uneasily, stopping from time to time to look out, and after a while, Mrs. Xing couldn't bear it anymore, and said to a mother-in-law on the side: "Go and see, what's going on?" ”

"Yes."

The woman answered and hurried out.

Looking at the disappearing figure of her mother-in-law, Mrs. Xing walked to Mrs. Wang and sat down, bowed her head and secretly wiped her tears.

Before a stick of incense, news came from the front yard, the eunuch Dai Quan, the head of the Qianqing Palace, came, saying that he was ordered by the emperor to pass the oracle to Jiafu, and also named Jia Yu to meet the will, you know, the last time there was a will in the palace was five years ago, after that, the old lady of Cining Palace took away Jia Yuanchun, the eldest lady of Rongguo Mansion, after all these years, suddenly came to the will, and I don't know whether it is a blessing or a curse!

After a while, just as Mrs. Xing was about to send someone to inquire about the news, Jia Lian broke in like a gust of wind, couldn't even care about the number of courtesies, and shouted loudly: "Ancestor is happy!" ”

Jia Mu raised her head, "What's the matter?" ”

Mrs. Xing, Mrs. Wang, and Sister Yingchun all stood up, but they didn't dare to speak, and looked at Jia Lian together.

Jia Lian breathed a long sigh of relief, "Back to the ancestor, the third brother beheaded the leader and deputy leader of the Japanese in the battle of Sanmen Bay, Zhejiang, and made a contribution for eternity!" His Majesty's decree promoted the third brother to the guerrilla general of the Jiangnan battalion and led a battalion of 3,000 soldiers and horses. ”

"Really?"

Mother Jia's body shook and stared at Jia Lian tightly.

Jia Lian nodded vigorously, the guerrilla general has no fixed grade, it is all measured by the soldiers and horses in his hands, Jia Lian led a battalion of 3,000 men and horses is at the same level as the general, this is a high match, of course, you are not a general, this represents the emperor's grace.

Jia Mu nodded, suddenly remembered something, and frowned, "What about you Lao Tzu?" ”

Jia Lian's heart thumped, and he groaned slightly, and said, "The master has gone to the ancestral hall." ”

Jia Mu's brows tightened, "Why did you go to the ancestral hall, didn't you say that it was a message?" ”

Hearing this, Jia Lian knew that he couldn't hide it, so he was heartbroken, and said directly: "The third brother originally had a reward of 8,000 taels of silver for killing the widows, but Manager Dai said that His Majesty said that those silver are considered to be the Jia family's filial piety to his old man, but it is not good to take advantage of our family, so he gave our family a jade Ruyi." ”

Jia Mu was stunned and asked, "Why?" ”

Jia Lian blushed, looked at Mrs. Xing, and then at Wang Xifeng, who was standing far away, and finally fell on Sister Yingchun, gritted her teeth, knowing that the things in the front yard would eventually spread to the backyard, and their sisters would also hear it, pretending to be embarrassed and said: "It's all to blame for some minions who talk too much, and I don't know how to spread it, Your Majesty has also heard about it, so let Manager Dai say it deliberately, saying that instead of having a few more concubines, it is better to relieve Your Majesty's worries..."

Speaking of this, he whispered again: "Grandson is going to invite the master?" ”

Jia Mu: "What did you call him for?" Tell him to me off?! ”

Seeing that the situation was not good, Jia Lian hurriedly gave Wang Xifeng a look, and gave Mrs. Xing and Mrs. Wang a salute, and quickly retreated.

Looking at Jia Lian's disappearing back, Wang Xifeng shook his head helplessly, glanced at Tanchun with a smile, and then walked quickly to the hall, and gave Jia's mother a salute in a proper manner, "Congratulations to the ancestors!" ”

Here, Tanchun pulled Yingchun and Xichun over too, "Congratulations to the ancestors!" ”

Wang Xifeng stepped forward to help Jia's mother and shouted: "Daughter-in-law grandma, let people prepare a banquet, and then let Second Master Lian report to the old relatives of each family, and hold a banquet tomorrow to celebrate!" ”

As he spoke, he said to Yingchun: "This banquet is invited by me and Second Master Lian, my sister don't rob us!" ”

Jia Mu smiled bitterly and shook her head, "Let's celebrate it ourselves, please dear?" Saying it can make people laugh to death. ”

Wang Xifeng stuck out his tongue and shouted again: "Joke?!" Who dares to laugh at our family? The third brother was only 16 years old after May 18 this year, and the Manchu dynasty could produce such a heroic and less than 16-year-old guerrilla general, who not only led a battalion of soldiers and horses, but was also an elite soldier of the Jiangnan battalion. Say it, only envy, which dares to laugh! Yes, that's also jealousy of our family. ”

At this moment, You Shi led Qin Keqing in, stepped forward to greet Jia's mother first, and said with a smile: "I heard that Brother Jue'er in the house has been promoted, I specially led Rong's daughter-in-law to congratulate him!" ”

Wang Xifeng: "My sister-in-law came just in time, I just said that I was going to invite you, and I and Second Master Lian will have a banquet later, so you must appreciate your face." ”

"Haha... Don't you say that I will also ask you for this glass of wine to eat, but I don't know that Ming'er may eat the host of the ancestor? ”

"Hahaha, don't worry, other wine wives will be laid, this wine will definitely be invited, tomorrow we will invite all the old relatives to come, a lively celebration, the day after tomorrow, the old woman will invite you alone. What do you think? ”

"Then we will wait for the host of the ancestor."

You Shi took Jia Mu's hand and said.