Emperor Hongzhi came down from the morning court and felt a little bored.
Although this morning the court had approved the proposal to form a fleet to go to Golden Continent, the cost was indeed as expected by Emperor Hongzhi himself, and he eventually had to pay for it from his own internal funds.
Although Emperor Hongzhi originally wanted to withdraw the money from his own internal funds, almost everyone in the court, whether it was the three ministers in the cabinet, the six ministers, or other officials, all were staring at him.
As for the money in the treasury, not a penny can be touched.
Although Emperor Hongzhi was the emperor and claimed to be the king of the world, he was actually very poor and did not have much money in his pocket. Calculated, Emperor Hongzhi's money was only about one million taels of silver.
This was something he had managed to save through frugality for more than ten years. His cheap father, Ming Xianzong, was a confused emperor and a prodigal son at that time. He not only spent money from the national treasury, but also internal money.
After spending so much, there was not much silver left for Emperor Hongzhi.
Emperor Hongzhi lived frugally and managed to accumulate a million taels of silver. The ministers in the court kept an eye on this every day, always asking Emperor Hongzhi to spend his own money.
Originally, the trip to Golden Continent was considered a major event for the entire imperial court, and the money should have come from the national treasury. However, today in the court, almost all the ministers had no intention of being polite to Emperor Hongzhi, and unanimously asked Emperor Hongzhi to come from him.
Use the money from internal funds.
This made Emperor Hongzhi very depressed.
"Your Majesty, are you still angry that the money to build the fleet came from internal funds?"
Xiao Jing saw what was on Emperor Hongzhi's mind, and repeatedly comforted him: "This Golden Continent is full of gold, and this fleet will definitely have a great harvest when it goes to Golden Continent."
"The princes above the court have said that this money is from His Majesty's internal funds, and it will be profitable in the future. This is also His Majesty's internal funds. When the fleet comes back and brings back a large amount of gold, they will definitely regret it.
Out of reach.”
Emperor Hongzhi looked at Xiao Jing, smiled and said, "I'm not angry about this. I originally planned to invest the money from my own funds."
"What I am concerned about are these censors and officials above the court. These people do not do things themselves and do not let others do things. No matter whether it is right or wrong, they will oppose it. This has seriously affected national affairs."
"Let's not go into the specific situation of this Golden Continent for now. If these three high-yielding crops really exist, how important they are to the Ming Dynasty. That Jiang Zijun clearly knows this."
"But he ignored all the objections. This kind of thing didn't happen once or twice. You also heard what he said about me in the court today."
"They say that I am Zhou of Shang and Emperor Yang of Sui, and I am so overjoyed that I don't care about the lives of the people..."
When he said this, Emperor Hongzhi turned red with anger. He really wanted to kill that Jiang Zijun with one knife.
"Since I succeeded to the throne, I have been conscientious in my work and have not dared to slack off. I have been diligent and caring for the people. I have been diligent and thrifty, and I have not even been willing to repair the garden. Even the queen has suffered and suffered.
If it’s broken, sew it up and mend it.”
"I think I should be a qualified emperor, and I never wanted to be so insulted by Jiang Zijun."
The more Emperor Hongzhi talked, the angrier he became. He really wanted to kill Jiang Zijun, but he was a good man with a very kind heart. Even his former mortal enemy was not killed, let alone Jiang Zijun.
"It is not Jiang Zijun who has the final say on your majesty's merits and demerits. Your majesty's great achievements are obvious to all. They are far behind the emperors of Qin and Han, and the ancestors of the Tang and Song dynasties."
Xiao Jing quickly comforted Emperor Hongzhi. He knew that Emperor Hongzhi was really angry today, otherwise he wouldn't have said much.
"Whether it's Emperor Qin, Emperor Wu of Han, or the ancestors of Tang and Song Dynasties, I have never thought about competing with them. All I want is to be worthy of the common people of the world and worthy of the inheritance of my ancestors."
After listening to Xiao Jing's words, Emperor Hongzhi felt much better, half of his anger was gone, and there was a smile on his face.
"Your Majesty, Liu Jian, Xie Qian, and Li Dongyang, the cabinet academicians, would like to see you."
At this time, a young eunuch came over and said.
"Xuan~"
Emperor Hongzhi was a hard-working emperor. After the morning meeting, he usually continued to summon some important ministers to continue discussing state affairs. This has almost become a habit.
Therefore, after the early dynasty, the three cabinet ministers would also come together without the need for Emperor Hongzhi's oral edict. Sometimes, Emperor Hongzhi would also announce that the six ministers and other important ministers would come together to discuss state affairs.
Soon, the three cabinet ministers Liu Jian, Xie Qian, and Li Dongyang arrived at the Qianqing Palace where Emperor Hongzhi lived and worked.
In the Palace of Qianqing, Emperor Hongzhi, Liu Jian, Xie Qian, and Li Dongyang were sitting together as before, drinking tea and beginning to discuss the matters mentioned above in the morning.
"The toast problem in the southwest has been recurring for a few years. It has calmed down for a few years and then started to become turbulent again. There has never been a real solution to the problem of toast in the southwest."
"I wonder if the three beloved ministers have any good ideas that can solve the problem of the southwestern chieftains once and for all?"
Recalling what Ma Wensheng, the Minister of War, had said about the rebellion of the Shuixi chieftains in the morning, Emperor Hongzhi also seemed worried. The rebellion of the southwest chieftains had happened many times, almost every year, in large and small sizes, and in severe cases it spread to the southwestern provinces.
, it has become a disease that can never be cured and keeps recurring.
"The problem of the chieftains in the southwest has a long history. From the time of the Three Kingdoms period when Zhuge Qi of Shu State captured Meng Huo until now, the problem of the chieftains in the southwest has never been resolved."
"Fundamentally speaking, the main reason is that in this southwest region, the mountains are high and the rivers are far away, the mountains and rivers are dangerous, and the transportation is inconvenient. In addition, in the southwest region, there are few Han people, and the natives do not know how to educate. They will obey when it is beneficial, and if there is no
Once it was good, they immediately started causing trouble again."
"It is very inconvenient for the imperial court to send troops to exterminate. It is a waste of money and food. It is really a serious disease that is difficult to cure."
Liu Jian thought for a while, then slowly shook his head helplessly.
This problem of toast in the southwest is not happening every day or two, but once or twice. It has a very long history. There has been no way to truly solve the problem of toast in the southwest.
Although the three pavilion elders are also virtuous people, they still have no good way to deal with the problem of the southwestern chieftains. They can only continue to use the old method of suppressing and appeasement. On the one hand, they use force to suppress the chieftain rebellion, and on the other hand, they use force to suppress the chieftain rebellion.
We also try our best to adopt a gentle policy, but this method always only adds to the boiling water and has no substantive effect.