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, things were better, mainly with fines, but in the Ming Dynasty, the punishments were much heavier. The "Ming Code" stipulates that if you are late once, you will be whipped 20 times. If you are late three times in total, you will be rewarded again, directly in front of the palace.
Execution means not only losing face, but also breaking dozens of boards and breaking bones.
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 done as quickly as possible.
Soon, all the ministers had arrived, and they consciously arranged themselves into two rows according to their official positions and seniority to wait for Emperor Jiajing.
It was the twelfth lunar month of winter, and there was no brazier in the hall. It was so cold that every official in the hall was shivering 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 later will probably be a problem.
In addition, in addition to his hands and feet, Yan Song's head and face were also freezing, because he was wearing a fragrant leaf crown given by Emperor Jiajing. This gauze hat was neither beautiful nor warm, and its only effect was to increase the number of holy certificates.
Fortunately, the waiter brought them cups of hot tea so that they could drink tea and warm their hands at the same time.
Not long after, Emperor Jiajing, surrounded by eunuchs, slowly walked into Wuyi Hall.
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, long live me."
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 sit down.
"Weizhong is not young, please give me a seat. The others can stand and be alert." 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 so much, Lord." Yan Song quickly knelt down and thanked him.
Soon, a young eunuch brought a chair, the model and height of which 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. 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 about the countermeasures."
Emperor Jiajing spoke.
"The 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, looted 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 at the captive chieftain Anda and hated them deeply.
"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 peace on the border, 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
5,000 jins of tea leaves and 5,000 jins of salt and clinker. 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 100 people's houses! From then on, Beilu Anda's tribe invaded the border and looted, and there was almost no peace. It can be seen that Beilu Anda was shameless and had no faith. He acted like an animal and could not be treated as a human being.
.To deal with the northern captives, we can only give them a severe blow, and there will be no room for peace. Once they are beaten, they will be frightened. Only when they are defeated can there be peace."
"I would like to ask Datong, Xuanfu and other border officials to increase their pay and silver, reward their soldiers, repair their weapons and armor, prepare for war day and night, and severely 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 need to increase the salary?! You are not a family member and don't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt are. Now I will spend most of my tax revenue next year on salary. If we increase the salary, the court will not be able to survive?! Do you need other relief funds?
Now, do the children of the royal family still need to support them, and do they need to repair the rivers..."
As soon as he finished speaking, a censor stood up and took the lead in objecting to the request of the officials of the Ministry of War to increase their salaries. There was only that money in the treasury, but it was used for many purposes, such as military, official salary, royal family, rivers, etc. There was too much military expenditure.
, there is not enough money in other places, and every penny in the treasury is tight.
"Ministry of Household Affairs and Ministry of Industry, how much money has been brought into the national treasury this year and how much money has been paid out? Do you have statistical verification?"
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 Lord, after preliminary statistics, from the first month to this month, the accumulated income, 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.
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 the Holy Spirit, from the first month to today, the total cost of work, food, and materials has been 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. Next, it will choose from among the supplies and the censors.
The three of us 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.
"In compliance with the order." Yan Song, Xu Jie, and Li Ben came out to receive the order.