The military salary of the Ministry of War, the wages for the repair and transportation of the Ministry of Industry, and the relief food requested by the Ministry of Households

Only these three strokes have emptied most of the money and grain in the treasury of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Hongzhi has no sadness or joy on his face, and a pair of eyes scanned the ministers, "The soldiers have been paid, the river repairers have been paid, and my people have also been allocated food, so the next thing is to give the officials a salary, right?" ”

"Your Majesty said yes."

The official Shangshu Wang Shu responded, and then played: "Since the autumn harvest and taxation, many state affairs have been complicated, and the officials in the two capitals and thirteen provinces have been pressing and not disbursing.

For example, the arrears of officials in Beijing have been more than three months, and the arrears accumulated in many provinces have even been more than half a year.

There are also the clans of the feudal kings in various places, as well as the Lu rice of the present year of the Lord of Ying, there are all kinds of things, and according to the calculations of the Ministry of Officials, it is necessary to pay 2.3 million taels of silver, and about 12,584,000 stone of Lu rice. ”

After saying this, the Hangul of the head of the household department did not stand up and speak again, and did not say anything about the lack of treasury and the fact that he could not take it out.

Because there is no need to say it at all.

There are only more than 2 million taels of silver left in the treasury, and there are only 100,000 stones of grain left in the major warehouses.

That is, the treasury was dismantled, and the new warehouses in the south, Xingping, and the new warehouses in the north and the shipping warehouses where grain were stored. I sold them all in bits and pieces, and I couldn't make up so much silver taels and grain.

Everyone was silent, and everyone knew that this year was not a problem of the emptiness of the treasury, but of a deficit in the treasury, and that it was still so large.

Even everyone knows where the big head is, the vassal kings in the Ming Dynasty, and the royal family in the Ming Dynasty.

This year, the provinces of the northern land were hit by disasters, and the taxes levied by the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty to the capital division, not counting the silver taels, and the tax and grain alone were more than 5.8 million stones.

This is all the taxes and grains collected in the summer and autumn, and the rice distributed to the clan vassal kings every year costs 7 million koku.

In terms of taxes and grain, they are unable to make ends meet every year, and many times they fold Lu rice into silver and send it down to support the vassal family of the Ming Dynasty.

Seven million shilu rice was converted into two taels of silver, about two million taels, and the silver of the treasury was sufficient, but if it was sent in this way, what would happen to the officials?

Emperor Hongzhi was also silent, and pulled the yellow tablecloth tighter and tighter, and after a long time, he asked out loud: "I remember, two months ago, the silver taels obtained by officials of all sizes in Guangdi were 2.8 million taels, where did the nearly 3 million taels of dirty silver go?" ”

"Your Majesty."

Liu Jian, the first assistant of the cabinet, stood up unhurriedly,

"After more than half a year, the governor of Guangdi, Qincha Wang Wei, has submitted the charges of the officials in Guangdi through Jinyiwei, and the three divisions have jointly tried them: 32 criminals were executed, including 7 who were convicted of the house and sentenced to the clan, and more than 20 people were exiled.

There were also 97 convicts who were dismissed from their posts and dismissed, and their names were reduced to the people, and the total amount of dirty silver obtained by raiding their homes was 2.83 million taels.

This year's autumn flood, the Li River and Xijiang River in Guangxi; The Yingjiang and Jinsha rivers in Yunnan were flooded, and a total of nine prefectures in the two provinces were flooded, and the people were displaced.

Of these, 2 million were used for the disaster situation in these two places, 800,000 taels were used to buy grain for disaster relief in Jiangnan and other places, and the remaining more than 1 million yuan were used to build river embankments and weirs.

In the end, the remaining 830,000 taels were escorted to the Beijing Division, and then part of it was used to supply the military department to purchase military supplies, and part of it was used to reward the meritorious soldiers who surveyed Miru.

These are all accounts can be checked, and the appropriation was also made to His Majesty, and with His Majesty's consent, the money was allocated. ”

Hearing this, Emperor Hongzhi didn't say much, he didn't remember this, he just used it to turn around.

Finally, he looked at the Hubu Shangshu and asked, "Han Qing's family, now that the treasury has such a big deficit, what does Qing think it should do?" ”

"Although the minister is the secretary of the household department, the deficit of millions of taels is beyond the minister's ability."

As he spoke, Han Wen directly lifted the hem of his robe and knelt on the ground, and then played: "This sect is a stroke of the pen, and it has a lot to stake. Han Wenfu, the secretary of the Ministry of Households, dared to ask His Majesty to allocate silver from the treasury for the distribution of arrears. ”

"Oh" Zhu Youzhu's voice was very long, and then he asked, "Qing means to let me fill the gap of millions of taels?" ”

"The minister doesn't dare, but now there is no other way but to dare to ask His Majesty for benevolence."

The rest of the ministers also knelt down one after another, "The ministers pray for His Majesty's benevolence." ”

Seeing this scene, Zhu Youzhu tightened the tablecloth again, and asked in a deep voice: "What Zhuqing means is that this silver is benevolent, if it is not out, is it not benevolent?" ”

"The ministers don't dare, and they have no intention of doing so!"

A group of ministers bowed their heads one after another, and praised him: "Your Majesty is like the benevolence of heaven, and the hundreds of millions of people in the world can see it." ”

"Qing and others are all virtuous ministers, and I have always known them. Since the virtuous ministers have said so, then I have to be this virtuous monarch who is as benevolent as the heavens. ”

Zhu Youzhu smiled, it was a very soft smile, and said to Xiao: "Xiao Banban, you go and order someone to open my inner house, open the warehouse door wide, and then let these virtuous ministers go in and move the silver, see how much is needed, and let them move." ”

Hearing this, Xiao Jing hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed: "Emperor, forgive the slaves and maids who can't serve the edict, and the tens of thousands of mouths in the palace are supported by the emperor's internal money, and"

"It doesn't matter."

In the middle of the words, Emperor Hongzhi interrupted it with a wave of his hand, and smiled more kindly, "All the virtuous ministers take state affairs as their own responsibility, how can I, the emperor, be willing to follow?" After all, this is my country, and it is the world of my Zhu family.

Let's move, let's move it, and it doesn't matter if the money is emptied. It's nothing more than a meal and a dew drink, the queen and the prince eat and drink, and then give a bowl to the tens of thousands of eunuchs and maids in the palace, and let them go out of the palace to beg for food on the street. ”

"And this Forbidden City, I have never taken a concubine, many palaces are empty and no one lives in them, and they are empty.

Xiao accompanied the palace to look for it, and I heard that there were many high-ranking officials and nobles in Beijing, so I found a buyer to sell these idle palaces, so that together with the silver in the treasury, it should be enough to fill the deficit of millions of taels. ”

At this time, Liu Jian couldn't help but answer, and hurriedly kowtowed: "The ministers are waiting for the crime of death, please let Your Majesty calm your anger." ”

"Anger? I have not been angry, so where does it come from? ”

Zhu Youzhu had a gentle smile on his face, and continued: "You are worried about state affairs and my country, if I am angry, won't I become a faint monarch who doesn't know right and wrong?" ”

"If the ministers don't dare, they will die."

"There is no need to die, a phrase that the people often say, to destroy wealth and eliminate disasters."

Emperor Hongzhi's tone was still kind, "I have hollowed out this internal money, sold the palace in the Forbidden City, and filled the treasury deficit of millions of taels, so I don't have to bear this infamy for being unkind, right?" ”

"The ministers don't dare, Your Majesty is the father of the ministers, the father of the people of the world, how can a son do such a rebellious act as scolding his father for being unkind."

Liu Jian set the tone first, and then raised his head, his eyes were already moist, "The ministers have gone through three dynasties, and they have never seen a holy and virtuous monarch like Your Majesty, but now that the treasury is so empty, the ministers have no other way, so they can pray to the monarch to be the master."

But the ministers have no intention of persecuting the monarch's father, and we, as courtiers, will never dare to persecute the monarch's father. ”

As he spoke, he wiped his tears with his cuffs, and continued: "What the monarch's father just said, every word and word is like a knife cutting flesh, which really makes the ministers ashamed and want to die. Now that the state affairs are so difficult, the ministers are also very worried, and I hope that Your Majesty will learn from it! ”

(End of chapter)