The heavy snowfall had finally stopped, there were few pedestrians on the streets, and the sky was still very gloomy, which made people feel a little unhappy, and today was the day of the Imperial Council.

Outside the cabinet, the five people led by Lu Fang, the eunuch of the celebrant and the seal, were all looking forward to it, waiting for the arrival of the cabinet members.

After a while, five sedan chairs of different colors stopped outside the cabinet, and the first assistant of the cabinet, Yan Song, the second assistant, Xu Jie, and cabinet members Zhang Juzheng, Yan Shifan, and Gao Gong, with the support of the servants, got off the sedan chair one after another.

"Yan Ge Lao!" Lu Fang smiled all over his face and took the lead in greeting Yan Song.

"Father-in-law Lu." Yan Song bowed slightly to show courtesy.

The two walked side by side and began to greet each other, followed by a group of celebrants and cabinet members.

"Elder Yan Ge was eighty last year, and after this year, he will be seventy-nine!"

"Where, where, my body, old man!"

Yan Song smiled, the age spots all over his face also trembled, and with Lu Fang's support, he stepped up the steps.

"Where is it, Yan Ge's old body is hard, I think, I have to work for at least another twenty years!"

"If you work for another twenty years, you won't be hated to death!" Yan Shifan interjected indignantly, his eyes glancing towards Xu Jie's direction.

"You!" Gao Gong on the side wanted to seek justice for Xu Jie, but Xu Jie just shook his head indifferently and motioned for everyone to follow in the footsteps of Yan Song and Lu Fang.

"Elder Yan Ge, we can be regarded as in the same boat today! What is in the deficit, we can pass it. ”

Before entering the cabinet, Lu Fang seemed to be uneasy, and gave another instruct.

"Okay, let's go over if we can." Yan Song nodded, as if approving Lu Fang's proposal, while the other cabinet members behind him, including Yan Shifan, all had flashing expressions and didn't say a word.

"Then let's go in."

"Hmm."

……

Today's cabinet is a bit crowded, with two tables facing each other in a small room, each with five seats, a dragon chair behind a beaded curtain, on which the Jiajing Emperor is boredly rubbing the carved dragon head, and next to the dragon chair is a jade chime (note: a percussion instrument), and the inside of the curtain is not visible from the outside.

Then the two parties took their seats, on one side was the cabinet headed by Yan Song, on the other side was the celebrant headed by Lu Fang, and behind the curtain sat Emperor Jiajing.

Before the cabinet meeting began, Yan Song saluted Emperor Jiajing behind the curtain and said: "Relying on the emperor's virtue as heaven, everyone is diligent in state affairs, and this snow is prayed for by the emperor!" ”

Immediately afterwards, Yan Song turned to look at everyone and said in a deep voice: "And some people use the climate issue to slander the court. ”

Hearing Yan Song's words, everyone understood what Yan Song was referring to - Zhou Yunyi, the Qintian Prison Supervisor who had been killed by the staff at the noon gate of the Forbidden City.

'Ding! A crisp sound sounded behind the curtain, and Jiajing behind the curtain knocked on the jade chime.

When the celebrant and eunuch Lu Fang heard this, he nodded slightly at Yan Song: "Let's discuss it." ”

Immediately afterwards, Lu Fang first released his kindness to Yan Song: "Elder Yan Ge, let's hand over the ticket first!" If it can be approved, our celebrant has approved it. ”

When Yan Song heard this, he got up tremblingly and put the tickets on the table neatly.

"The votes prepared by the cabinet are all here, first settle last year's accounts, and then we will discuss this year's expenses."

Just as Lu Fang took the ticket from Yan Song's hand, Xu Jie, who had been silent, was the first to speak: "The overspending of the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Industry is too big, and our Ministry of Household Affairs did not dare to sign." ”

After speaking, Xu Jie didn't care about everyone, and closed his eyes directly.

Yan Shifan, who was sitting on the side, exploded when he heard this, stood up from his seat suddenly, and retorted: "What is too much overspending!" You were all present when the ministries drafted the votes, but now you say that the overspending of my ministry is too big? ”

"Being there doesn't mean we agree." Gao Gong narrowed his eyes and replied lightly.

Yan Shifan was angry, and pointed his index finger at Gao Gong: "You don't sign the bill of my Ministry of Officials, and you sign the bill of Zhang Juzheng's Ministry of War without reading it!" What the hell are you going to do? ”

Xu Jie, who had been closing his eyes before, opened his mouth to remind: "Little Pavilion Elder, the household department is my Ming Dynasty's household department, not our household department, in the same way, the Ministry of Officials is also my Ming Department's Ministry of Officials, not your Yan Shifan's Ministry of Officials!" ”

Hearing these heart-wrenching words, Yan Shifan became even more angry, looked in the direction of Yan Song and shouted: "Dad! ”

Yan Song raised his head slowly, and his cold gaze swept over Yan Shifan without a trace of expression.

"There is no father here, only my courtiers here."

Yan Song looked at Gao Gong again, and his tone was gentle: "Do you have any difficulties in the household department that you can raise?" ”

Gao Gong took out the account book with angry eyes, and said loudly: "Last year, I paid a total of 32.8 million taels in taxes, spent 46.5 million taels, and had a deficit of 13.7 million taels, and the deficit of 13.7 million taels was the deficit of the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Industry. ”

After speaking, Gao Gong glanced at Yan Shifan again, and continued: "Now we are asking the household department to draw up tickets from other ministries, and even the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Industry have added three million taels of bills to the account of the Ministry of War, how can we sign?" ”

"It's a big deal, I'm quitting!" The more Gao Gong said, the more anxious he became, and there was a tendency to pick a child.

At this moment, a muffled snort came from behind the bead curtain, and Gao Gong quickly stopped talking when he heard it, and the other people present couldn't help but be nervous, and the emperor was unhappy.

Yan Song and Lu Fang looked at the bead curtain at the same time, and after a while, Lu Fang opened his mouth and admonished: "Let's discuss the matter, don't talk about other topics." ”

Zhang Juzheng, who has been silent since he entered the cabinet, also spoke: "The three million silver was recorded on the bill of our military department, and it was written that there were thirty warships made for the anti-Japanese war of the military department, but in fact, our military department did not see a single warship!" ”

Zhang Juzheng's words were like a bombshell, completely detonating the scene, and even Lu Fang, who had always been indifferent, had a trace of horror on his face.

Yan Shifan seemed to have expected this, only to see him look directly into Zhang Juzheng's eyes, and said: "Those thirty warships were originally used to fight against the Japanese, but last year, when the emperor repaired the palace and went to Yunguichuan to cut wood, he found that there was no road at all, and the cost of building the road was too high. ”

"The sea route is difficult and you need to go around a big circle, and on the way to transport the wood, the fleet unexpectedly encountered wind and waves, and several ships sank, plus the loss and labor costs on the road, three million taels is more than enough!"

"Those thirty warships are equivalent to what our Ministry of Industry borrowed from the Ministry of War, and they will be returned in a few days." Immediately afterwards, Yan Shifan added to Zhang Juzheng.

Seeing that Yan Shifan explained the deficit of three million taels of silver clearly, Zhang Juzheng stopped speaking and sat down stupidly.

Yan Shifan's gaze swept over everyone, arched his hand at the figure behind the bead curtain, and said angrily: "For the emperor, I can suffer anything!" ”

Behind the bead curtain, Emperor Jiajing, who has been eating melons since the beginning of the meeting, saw that this fire burned to himself, and he was no longer calm, after browsing the memories left by the original body, he found that it was indeed true, in order to live forever, he built a palace and Taoist temple, it can be said that the reason why the treasury of the Ming Dynasty is so empty, the predecessor is one of the culprits.