Prince of Chaos

Chapter 41
The Yellow River burst.

The torrential river is like a wild horse running wild, raging wantonly in Shandong, Henan and Fengyang Mansion in Nanzhili, turning a thousand miles of fertile land into a thousand miles of land.

In the Qianqing Palace, the slightly fat Emperor Wanli questioned the cabinet and ministers, "What's going on? Didn't the river censor come back from inspection and say that it is as solid as gold?"

Emperor Wanli threw the [-]-li Jizo that he had just received to the ground. The chief minister of the cabinet, Shen Shixing, Xu Guo and others were silent, and no one spoke.

Emperor Wanli asked again: "Who is the censor who inspects the river?"

Only then did Shen Shixing say, "It's Liu Dayong."

Emperor Wanli said: "Remove Liu Dayong and investigate. The cabinet and the Ministry of Industry immediately come up with a plan to deal with the flood, and the Ministry of Households immediately mobilizes money and food to use the disaster area."

Song Xun, Minister of the Household Department, heard that the emperor asked the Household Department to contribute money and food, and immediately said in embarrassment: "The Emperor's Household Department has no money."

Emperor Wanli immediately became angry, "How can the household department have no money?"

Song Xun said: "The Yellow River suddenly burst, and the taxes and money from all over the country that were supposed to be escorted to the capital are now delayed on the road. In addition, there was a severe drought in the north this year, and the people in many places either reduced production or had no harvest. They also wrote letters asking the court to postpone the payment of taxes for one year, and the emperor and the cabinet agreed. So now the household department has no money."

Emperor Wanli said angrily: "How do you become the Minister of the Household Department? The tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty is more than 1000 million taels a year. The world has been peaceful in these years, and there has been almost no war. I have not built a palace. Even if there is a severe drought in the north this year, the tax is slow Come on, what about the surplus from previous years?"

Song Xun said: "There is no surplus, and the Ministry of Households approves the warehouse bank of Taicang warehouse every year. The surplus part belongs to Da Nei."

Emperor Wanli laughed angrily, "Returning to the Grand Palace? Do you really think I don't pay attention to Taikuang? Why haven't I seen the money? Where do you think the money was spent?"

Song Xun couldn't stand Emperor Wanli's questioning, so he could only say: "Most of the annual taxes are used to support the clan and vassals, and the rest of the money and food are used to distribute official salaries and daily expenses of government offices at all levels."

Emperor Wanli snorted: "Sophistry! How much is the salary of a vassal king? A vassal king's salary is less than 44 stones a year, and there are only about 700 vassal kings in Ming Dynasty. How much salary can they take a year? There are also county kings and other clans. Dear, in the [-]th year of Jiajing, the county king’s annual salary was only one thousand shi, and [-]% of it was converted into banknotes. The lowest Fengguo lieutenant had a salary of [-] shi. In the early years of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng told me that these clans were paid a year. Just take away the salary of [-] million shi. This only accounts for a quarter of the national tax. Now you actually say that the clan took most of it. How did you calculate it?"

Song Xun bit the bullet and said: "That was the situation when Zhang Juzheng was in the country. He implemented a whip method to increase the tax revenue of the household department. Now that the whip method has been abolished, most places have resumed tax payment in kind. These objects are transported to the capital. It will inevitably be consumed on the way, so."

Emperor Wanli looked at Song Xun coldly, "So what? So the current cabinet is not as good as Zhang Juzheng, a power traitor?"

Song Xun was so frightened that he knelt on the ground, "I am terrified."

For a time, the entire Qianqing palace was extremely oppressive, and the cabinet scholars were all on pins and needles. No one expected that the Yellow River would break through at this juncture.

Shen Shixing, as the chief assistant, had to stand up and speak out. Shen Shixing said: "Your Majesty, I think that the most urgent task should be to control the floods. We will discuss the lack of money in the household department later. I recommended Pan Jixun as the Prime Minister of Hedao. Order him Assuming office on the spot, it is possible to mobilize migrant workers and relief supplies in Zhili, southeast of Shandong Province, Henan Province, etc., to control the flooding of the Yellow River."

Emperor Wanli was very tired. Being an emperor was really difficult. Emperor Wanli said, "Yes."

After the cabinet and the people from the Ministry of Industry and Household Affairs left, Emperor Wanli looked at the empty hall, and he remembered Song Xun's words just now, "Is it true that I am not as good as Mr. Zhang?"

In the eyes of Emperor Wanli, Zhang Juzheng's reforms caused anger and resentment. Whether it was during his administration or after his sudden death, the memorials to impeach him have never stopped, like snowflakes drifting to the Qianqing Palace. .

At that time, Emperor Wanli followed the people's will and investigated Zhang Juzheng, a sanctimonious hypocrite, and later abolished his reform.But five years have passed, and Emperor Wanli still has not experienced the joy of being the master of his own country. He only feels endless quarrels and accusations.

Just like now, the Yellow River has burst.Not only could the household department fail to provide money and food for disaster relief and flood control, but instead pointed the finger at the clan and Ouchi.

The clan may have received a lot of salary, but that is a rule in this dynasty, and it is not from this generation that the clan has been provided.Then there is Ouchi, the money that Ouchi spends now is the income of Huangzhuang, and the Ministry of Households has never given Ouchi a penny.But Song Xun said that the balance of the household department was given to Ouchi, so where did he give it?
Just when Emperor Wanli was saddened by Yinzi, the shrewd Zhang Cheng came up with a good idea.

Zhang Cheng said to Emperor Wanli: "My lord, you are rich all over the world. The Ming Dynasty is also rich in land and resources, and there are countless bank copper mines in various places. We can dig mines for silver."

Emperor Wanli's eyes lit up, and he felt that Zhang Cheng was a talent, "Is this possible?"

Zhang Cheng said: "Of course it is possible. Since ancient times, there is no king's land in the world, and no king's minister on the shore of the land. It is a matter of course for the emperor to open mines. Why not?"

Emperor Wanli pondered for a moment and said: "Direct mining is suspected of competing with the people for profit. It is better to send mine envoys to collect mining taxes to be more secure."

Zhang Cheng immediately flattered and said: "Your Majesty, Shengming, in this way, we can save even the labor required to open the mine. Wouldn't it be nice to just sit on the ground and collect money?"

Emperor Wanli said: "Okay, I will do this for you."

Zhang Cheng said with great joy: "The slave has done his best to do a good job for the emperor."

"Go."

Emperor Wanli encouraged Zhang Cheng, hoping that Zhang Cheng could find more money to alleviate his current financial crisis.

Otherwise, Ouchi will soon be unable to uncover the pot.This Double Ninth Festival celebration, originally wanted to ask the household department to sponsor it, but the household department cried poor and had no money.Emperor Wanli could only use his little savings to hold a grand festival for Empress Dowager Li.

Now that Zhang Cheng has come up with a good idea, Emperor Wanli will definitely follow the good advice and will not let it go.Now Emperor Wanli is full of mistrust of the officials of the foreign court. He doesn't believe that such a huge household department has no money. This must be an excuse to prevaricate him!Emperor Wanli was very angry about this. He also believed that he was not a monarch who wanted to make great achievements, and he had never made any major construction projects. His biggest expenditure in these years was to build the Longevity Palace for himself in Dayu Mountain.He has never spent a tael of silver from the Ministry of Household Affairs, but these civil servants and officials insisted that he spent too much money and asked him to save money and set an example for the subjects of the world.

How can there be such a reason?

Therefore, now Emperor Wanli is going to leave the outer court and do it alone.And the eunuchs he can call around now are really sad.

　Chapter 1 arrives!

　　It's not easy to get there before noon!Ask for tickets and collect~~~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)