The emperor is a person who has a very good face, especially it is not only his face, but also the face of the country.
Although the national treasury is not rich, it does not require forcing ministers to donate money. This was something the late emperors of the previous dynasty would do when they were desperate.
Of course, the last emperor did not reach out to ask the ministers to donate money, but directly raised his hand to let the ministers' homes be ransacked and directly robbed them of their money.
But no matter which one it is, this is a very embarrassing and disgraceful thing for the court.
Now that this step has been taken, will the next step be to become an official and sell one's title?
This was the sign of the country's subjugation. The emperor returned to the harem angrily, and after pouring himself two cups of tea, he asked the queen, "Yesterday, did the crown princess and the officials ask for money?"
The queen smiled and said: "I and they want it."
Emperor: "...Queen, don't take responsibility for them."
The queen shook her head and said, "I really did speak for you."
She sighed and said: "I didn't think carefully. I also know that this matter will damage the dignity of the country, but the lives of the soldiers are also important. There are disasters everywhere this year. Your Majesty is unwilling to increase taxes and has reduced taxes in some areas.
The national treasury is indeed not rich, and I heard that the Ministry of Household Affairs is only willing to allocate five million yuan to the Imperial Medical Office."
She said: "Not counting the expenses of your Majesty and the ministers on the medicinal materials, even if they are all divided equally, based on the number of soldiers your Majesty has sent out now, each person will only get forty cash for the medicine."
The queen said: "A bottle of golden sore medicine costs more than this, let alone other medicinal materials that can stop bleeding and replenish blood."
"Did Zhou Man tell you?" It was also specific that one person received forty cents. If Zhou Man hadn't said it, he wouldn't have believed that the queen would have known about it.
The queen did not deny it. She sighed and reached out to hold the emperor's hand. "Your Majesty, this matter is not a big deal. It is because the officials are kind-hearted and want to ask for merit. It does not mean losing the court's face."
The emperor couldn't help but hum and said: "You think too simply. Those ladies are short-sighted, but they believe your words. But the princes in the court are not stupid. They just roundabout and ridiculed me."
The queen was unhappy and took back the hand on his paw, "Who said ladies are short-sighted?"
She said: "That's just the ladies giving us face. Your Majesty really thinks that they donate military funds so that all their wishes will come true? But it is true to accumulate merit. This is a kind intention after all, and it can also show your face in front of us."
two."
Even if the atmosphere was just right last night and everyone believed it at the time, it’s time to wake up after leaving the palace and sleeping all night.
I dare not say everything, but at least most people can figure out that the Crown Princess and Zhou Man are doing this to raise money for medicine, but today they are still willing to send money to the palace, which shows their attitude.
Do you really think they are fools and really want to pay homage to Zhou Man?
The emperor rubbed his forehead, "But where are you gentlemen..."
"Your Majesty, don't worry," the queen said calmly, "I have a concubine. They will not mention this matter again in the future."
The emperor thought for a while and realized that it would be awkward to send the money back. It would be even more embarrassing, so he said, "Okay, but this kind of thing cannot happen again and it will not be beneficial to the country."
"I know that I didn't think carefully this time, and I won't do it again in the future."
The emperor sighed and rubbed his forehead.
When the queen saw him, she stood up, rubbed him, and asked softly: "When will your majesty set off?"
"Qin Tianjian is counting the days. Today he has announced to the world that it won't be long. The soldiers are very fast. Soldiers and horses drawn from various places have already set off. They will reach Liaodong and Dengzhou in a few days."
The emperor thought of something, took her hand and asked curiously: "How much did they donate in total?"
The queen smiled and said: "There are people delivering silver at the palace gate. I haven't counted them yet. I will tell you when they are counted."
The emperor nodded.
The effect of the donation was more than the emperor and empress expected. I originally thought that one or two million dollars would be enough, but who knew that so many people would send donations.
In some families, the head wife originally wanted to donate twenty taels, but who knows, the daughters-in-law below donated generously, whether to please their mother-in-law, the emperor or the princess.
I don’t dare to surpass Madam, but the eldest bedroom donated 10 taels, so I will donate 8 taels, and the third bedroom will donate another 8 taels...
A family may donate five or sixty taels.
In addition to silver, some people directly took out an ingot of gold, and these gold and silver were directly converted into copper coins. After this calculation, the total amount exceeded six million coins.
It was almost the same as the two donations they received two days ago.
Zhou Man was called into the palace after coming out of a meeting at the Ministry of Accounts. When he came out, he had an account book in his hand, which contained a total of 13.28 million yuan.
Man Bao turned around and went directly to the Imperial Medical Office to find Xiao Yuanzheng and others. They held another meeting, avoiding the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household Affairs, and used the donation to buy a large amount of medicinal materials, linen, gauze, needlework and other things.
At the same time, classes at the Imperial Medical Office were suspended, and all students participated in the preparations. Some of the purchased medicinal materials needed to be processed, and then they were kept and recorded in a book before being handed over to the Ministry of War for escort;
The linen and gauze purchased must also be cut according to standards, then collected in batches and transported to various places;
There was also catgut. They needed to make a large amount of catgut, including blood transfusion devices, and they also made several more sets.
These were all done by the doctors from the Imperial Hospital and students from the Imperial Medical Office. Zhou Liru was also recalled urgently and lived directly in the Imperial Medical Office to work overtime.
Man Bao was so busy that he almost never stopped.
Bai Shan was also busy, and the Qin Tian Supervisor had calculated the time. August 21st was a good day, and the emperor would lead the expedition in person on that day.
He finally got the quota to join the expedition, so he had a lot of things to deal with. He also had to check the official documents reported from various post stations to make sure that the communications between various places were smooth and that the information from various places in Liaodong to the capital could flow smoothly.
It can be said that everyone in Dajin is busy nowadays.
The people at Honglu Temple were also busy. Some envoys from the vassal state had to leave after attending the palace banquet, so they prepared gifts to send them away. Some envoys needed to be retained as much as possible and stayed for a month or two before presenting them.
Send away generous gifts.
For example, the Tibetan envoys.
Liu Huan was also on the expedition list. He was sent in by the Ministry of Industry. He was mainly responsible for the accounting and escort of armaments, and needed to cooperate with the Ministry of War.
Bai Erlang also followed, but he was called not because the Hanlin Academy also needed to accompany the army, but because the emperor appointed him, and he wanted him to accumulate some merit.
The emperor felt that with Bai Erlang's current state of dawdling, it would be difficult to get promoted, so he should take advantage of his merits if he had the chance. He would then stay in the Hanlin Academy for a year or two and then move up a few ranks, and then continue to stay in the Hanlin Academy.
Courtyard, as long as it doesn’t embarrass Mingda enough.
Everything was prepared, and early in the morning on August 21st, the emperor set off for the expedition.