Rise From the Humble

In the wind and snow, Yan Song, Xu Jie, Li Mo and other ministers summoned by Emperor Jiajing rushed to Xiyuan Wuyi Hall immediately.

No one dares to be late when summoned by the Holy Spirit.

In the Tang and Song Dynasties, it was better, mainly in terms of fines, but in the Ming Dynasty, the punishments were much heavier. "Ming Law" stipulates that if you are late once, you will be flogged 20 times. If you are late three times in total, you will be rewarded again and executed directly in front of the palace. Not only will you lose your face, but you will be injured after dozens of boards.

In addition, there are hidden penalties. If you are late, your impression in the emperor's mind will deteriorate and your political future will collapse.

Therefore, no one dares to be late, and everything is as fast as possible.

Soon, all the ministers had arrived, and they consciously arranged themselves in two rows according to their official positions and seniority to wait for Emperor Jiajing.

In the dead of winter, there was no brazier in the hall. It was so cold that every official in the hall shivered from the cold.

They were wearing court clothes this time. For the sake of appearance, they could not wear too many clothes underneath. They could only wear a thin cotton coat. If they wore too much, the court clothes would be bloated and wrinkled. If they were not ironed, they would be unseemly.

In the main hall, they could not rub their hands or stamp their feet, as this would be disrespectful to the emperor. They could only rely on their own firepower to resist the severe cold.

Those who are not that old are better off, but those who are older, such as Yan Song, will have their hands and feet numb from the cold.

Writing will probably be a problem later.

In addition, in addition to his hands and feet, Yan Song's head and face were also cold because he was wearing a fragrant leaf crown given by Emperor Jiajing. This gauze hat is neither beautiful nor warm, and its only effect is to increase the number of holy coupons.

Fortunately, the waiter brought them cups of hot tea so that they could warm their hands while drinking tea.

Not long after, Emperor Jiajing slowly walked into Wuyi Hall surrounded by eunuchs.

As usual, in the twelfth lunar month of winter, on a snowy morning, Emperor Jiajing still wore very few clothes, spring and autumn clothes, embroidered with dragon patterns, the main pattern was the Tai Chi Bagua diagram, with big sleeves fluttering, and the fairy spirit was freezing.

"Long live my emperor."

Yan Song, Xu Jie and other ministers knelt down to pay homage to Emperor Jiajing.

"Everyone is safe."

Emperor Jiajing sat down on the only chair in the middle of the hall, waved his sleeves, and made all the ministers stand down.

"Weizhong is not young, please give me a seat. The others can stand and be energetic." Emperor Jiajing glanced at everyone, and finally his eyes fell on Yan Song's fragrant leaf crown. He waved to the little eunuch and gave it to Yan Song. preferential treatment.

"Thank you, True Lord." Yan Song quickly knelt down and thanked him.

Soon, a young eunuch brought a chair. The model and height were lower than the dragon chair where Emperor Jiajing sat.

Yan Song thanked Emperor Jiajing again and sat down.

"Okay, it's the end of the year, and you are all raising families, and my family is waiting for you to go back. I won't chat with you about daily life, and let's start discussing business directly. Let's talk about the first thing first. I will answer the questions from Mongolia. Sirs, please speak frankly as to how to deal with this."

Emperor Jiajing spoke.

"Beibei Ida is extremely hateful, but just this year, they have invaded Datong four times, invaded Liaoyang three times, invaded Ningxia twice, and invaded Liaodong once. They destroyed houses, plundered property, and bullied the people. It's too many to write down!"

Officials from the Ministry of War counted the number of invasions by the Anda tribe this year, and they gnashed their teeth and hated the captive chieftain Anda.

"What I'm asking for is tribute and property. Why not reopen the horse market to meet some of their needs? Ask them to put an end to war in exchange for border peace, keep the people living and working in peace and contentment, and reduce the pressure on our government's salary."

An official from the Ministry of Rites came forward to suggest that the horse market should be reopened in exchange for the Beilu people to stop and achieve the goal of peace.

"No! In the middle of this year, the Anda tribe went to Datong in the name of tribute. They first paid tribute to me 40 horses, and then used the horses as objects to barter for tea and salt. They exchanged 413 horses for 3,000 kilograms of tea and five thousand kilograms of salt. At night, the Anda tribe took advantage of my unpreparedness and robbed all the tribute horses and Yi horses. They also invaded Datong and plundered the people, livestock and property near the border market of Datong. He also set fire to more than a hundred people's houses! Since then, Beilu Anda's troops have invaded and looted the border, and there has been almost no peace. It can be seen that Beilu Anda is shameless and has no faith. He behaves like an animal and cannot be treated by humans. . To deal with the northern captives, we can only give them a severe blow, and there is no room for peace! Once they are beaten, they will be frightened, but only after they are defeated can there be peace."

"I would like to ask Datong, Xuanfu and other frontiers to increase their pay and silver, reward their soldiers, repair their weapons and armor, and prepare for war day and night to attack the northern captives."

The officials of the Ministry of War shook their heads vigorously, asked for an increase in pay, rewarded the soldiers, and attacked the Northern invaders with heavy blows.

"You want to increase the salary?! You are not a family member and don't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt are. Now, most of the tax I will receive next year will be spent on salary. If we increase the salary, the court will not be able to survive?! Do you want other relief expenses? Now, do the children of the royal family still need to support us, and do we need to repair the rivers?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a censor stood up and first opposed the request of the officials of the Ministry of War to increase their salaries. The money in the treasury was used for many purposes, such as military, official salary, royal family, rivers, etc., and too much was used for military expenses. , there is not enough money elsewhere, and every penny in the treasury is tight.

"Ministry of Household Affairs and Ministry of Industry, do you have statistics to verify how much money has been brought into the national treasury this year and how much money has been paid out?"

Emperor Jiajing asked on the dragon throne.

The Minister of Hubu and the Minister of Hubu whispered a few words below, and then the left minister of Hubu came forward and reported: "Back to the Holy Master, after preliminary statistics, from the first month to this month, the total income has been in taxes, taxes, and salt. , the total amount of silver was more than 5 million taels, and the foreign items collected more than 4 million taels, totaling more than 9.9 million taels. According to the annual records, the amount of silver used by host and guest soldiers on each side was 2.8 million taels. These few In the next month, more than 2.45 million taels of military pay were added to the army to repair and support various expenses. The total amount of silver was more than 8 million taels. Next, I will go back to verify carefully and calculate an accurate figure. Submit it to the Holy Emperor for inspection."

When the officials in the palace heard this, many showed surprised expressions. They knew it would cost a lot, but they didn't expect the phone bill to be so high.

After hearing this, Emperor Jiajing frowned slightly, looked down again, asked and urged, "Where is the Ministry of Industry?"

Yan Shifan stepped forward and reported, "Going back to your Majesty, from the first month to today, the price of work, food, and materials has totaled 345,000 taels of silver."

"The price of labor, food, and materials is just paid in silver. Why are there so many soldiers on all sides? Is there any false aggression? This is not without precedent. The cabinet will remember it, and then it will choose from the ministers and censors. The three of them will go to various places to investigate. What each side receives and uses must be carefully inspected and recorded in detail. Anyone with problems, regardless of their position, will be impeached and severely punished." Emperor Jiajing frowned and explained.

"According to the order." Yan Song, Xu Jie and Li Ben came out to receive the order. (End of chapter)