Chapter 178, first use the internal money to buy food
Liu Jian, Xie Qian, Li Dongyang, Zhou Jing, and Ma Wensheng, the six senior ministers of the cabinet, had already known the news yesterday, so they all acted calmly and could not tell anything.
The other civil servants were all filled with righteous indignation and the public sentiment was aroused. As for the generals and nobles, they were as observant as ever, as if it had nothing to do with me, don't ask me, I don't know.
Emperor Hongzhi saw all the performances of these people in his eyes. After gaining an additional perspective, he immediately felt that this matter was much more interesting.
The people who are acting very angry now, as if their father is dead, may not be true. It may be just a superficial disguise. Those who behave calmly do not seem to be unusual, or those who have already expected this may not necessarily be disloyal.
.
So he chose to continue listening quietly to see if they were what Zhu Houzhao said.
The ministers were furious for a long time, and then they slowly began to calm down. Some people's faces were red, their ears were red, their eyes were blood red, showing enough anger, and some people were as calm as water, without any ripples.
"Your Majesty, I think we should investigate this matter thoroughly and find out the whereabouts of this food as soon as possible so that we can recover the food as soon as possible and use it to provide relief to the victims."
"On the other hand, the victims are already in dire straits. I heard that in some places some people have exchanged their children for food. The disaster has reached an urgent level. The court cannot just wait and watch the victims ignore it."
Chen Gong, who was the first to play, stood up again and said.
"Chen Aiqing's words are reasonable. I wonder if Aiqing has any good ideas?"
Emperor Hongzhi nodded and encouraged him to continue.
"Now the only ones who have grain in their hands are the major grain merchants, so I think that our court can first requisition their grain from the major grain merchants to help the victims, and then bring it to the south and then repay these grain merchants.
This should solve the urgent need right now.”
Chen Gong thought for a while and put forward his own opinion.
"What do you guys think of this method?"
Emperor Hongzhi nodded and then asked everyone.
"I think this method is very good. Now the only ones with grain are these grain merchants."
Liu Jian stood up to express his support. This method is still good. There is actually a lot of food in the south, but it takes time to transport it. This period is the most critical moment. As long as we can survive this period, it will be fine.
"I object."
As soon as Liu Jian finished speaking, someone stood up and expressed his opposition. This person was named Wu Kuan, a member of the Hanlin Academy.
"Since ancient times, a country has been founded on integrity. How can the court expropriate other people's property at will?"
Wu Kuan behaved very righteously, and then said: "What's more, why do you requisition the merchants' grain alone? You must know that it is not just these merchants who have grain in their hands now, big landowners, big gentry, nobles, relatives of the emperor, etc., who
My family has more or less stored a large amount of food, should these people’s food also be requisitioned?”
"Otherwise, how can the world be convinced by simply requisitioning grain from grain merchants?"
Hearing Wu Kuan's words, the faces of the courtiers present changed slightly. Wu Kuan was right. Not only did grain exist in the hands of the big landowners, gentry, wealthy families, relatives of the emperor, dignitaries, etc., there was also a large amount of grain in the hands of them.
of food.
All the ministers present actually had a lot of grain in their hands. At this time, many of them followed the grain merchants and kept selling grain, and they made a lot of money.
Now that they heard that Wu Kuan was involved in them, everyone became anxious. If the grain in their hands was also requisitioned, it would be difficult to make money.
Even though this grain would be returned later, without famine, a pound of this grain would only be worth a few pennies, unlike now where a pound of grain can buy more than fifty pennies.
"I second my opinion. Only when the country is based on integrity can we win submission from all over the world. Therefore, I believe that the court cannot requisition grain from merchants. Perhaps we can purchase grain from merchants in advance to cope with the current crisis."
Soon, someone stood up and said, and the grain requisition was immediately changed to grain purchase.
"I second the proposal. The imperial court is based on trust and should first purchase food for disaster relief."
"I second the proposal."
When other people heard this, they immediately agreed one after another, especially the courtiers who had food at home, and they quickly expressed their support. If the court buys food, they will naturally be able to find ways to sell the food in their hands.
, this usually not very valuable food has now become real money, so naturally I want to seize the opportunity to make a fortune.
Emperor Hongzhi kept watching carefully, but his heart was full of murderous intent. Everything was exactly as Zhu Houzhao said, and there was no mistake at all.
"Next, someone should jump out and point at my internal money."
At this time, Emperor Hongzhi looked at these civil servants who he had trusted in the past, and felt that these people were like clowns. They were constantly acting here, acting for himself. Fortunately, he had trusted them very much before, and he almost didn't care about their words.
Even if someone points his nose and spits on his face, Emperor Hongzhi compares himself to Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty and treats these literati like Wei Zheng.
Now, Emperor Hongzhi seemed to feel disgusted no matter how he looked at these civil servants. On the contrary, the military commanders and nobles seemed to be much more pleasing to the eye. At least, these people did not lie to him.
"I am reporting to your Majesty, Zhou Jing, that the national treasury is empty and I am afraid there is no extra silver to buy grain from grain merchants. I would like to ask your majesty to use part of the internal money to purchase grain first. When the treasury is sufficient, the treasury will repay it to your majesty."
At this time, Zhupapi Zhou Jing stepped forward and naturally set his sights on Emperor Hongzhi's internal funds.
"..."
Emperor Hongzhi was speechless for a while. What Zhou Jing said was very beautiful. Why borrow your own internal funds first and then pay it back to yourself when the national treasury has money? This is the same as the routine of borrowing money in later generations. Lend me first for emergencies, and I will do the following.
I will pay you back after monthly salary payment.
If you really believe the old man Zhou Jing, Emperor Hongzhi's underwear will be sold out. Emperor Hongzhi knows very well that it is easy to lend it out. If you want Zhou Jing to pay it back with the treasury, you are dreaming!
"Yes, Your Majesty, the national treasury is empty, but Your Majesty's internal funds are very full. The Xishan Coal Industry earns one million taels of silver every year, and His Highness the Prince's glass factory sells hundreds of thousands of taels of silver every day, making gold in the mountains every day.
Silver Mountain.”
"There will definitely be no problem for Your Majesty to use some of your silver coins. I also ask Your Majesty to use some of your internal funds to buy food. It is important to rescue the victims first!"
"Your Majesty has always loved the people as his own son, so naturally he will not watch the people suffer."
The other courtiers suddenly seemed to have found their target, and fell to their knees one after another, crying and shouting to Emperor Hongzhi to use their internal funds to buy food for disaster relief.
"Sure enough, they are not only targeting my internal funds, but also the prince's glass factory. They really want to control both our father and son and control the imperial power."
Emperor Hongzhi's face was expressionless, but the roar in his heart was already burning.
Everything was exactly the same as what Zhu Houzhao said. At this moment, he was like a dragon whose scales had been touched. Under his calm appearance, there was endless anger hidden.
