Not long after Gong Yonggu left, Chang Yu entered the palace to pay an audience. There was no extra politeness between the monarch and his ministers. After Chongzhen gave him a seat, he went straight to the topic: "You are leaving Beijing tomorrow. How are you doing with the things at hand?"
"The purpose of my request to see you is to report to the Emperor that the matter of entrusting military rations to civilian merchants has been finalized. A batch will be assembled within three days at the earliest to meet the needs of Lord Shi when he goes south," Chang Yu said quickly.
"Three days, 30,000 shi of military rations, it's really hard to imagine how they did it,"
Chongzhen looked at Chang Yu with a half-smile.
"Without diamonds, they naturally wouldn't dare to take on this porcelain job. Since they have agreed within three days, we will just see the results. As for how it works, it is their business. I can at most provide some convenience, but I can't actually help."
Chang Yu's words were to express his attitude. Although he was related to the Twelve Taibao, he would not be overly involved in favoritism, and he believed that they had this ability.
Chongzhen nodded slightly: "Military rations have always been the responsibility of the Ministry of War. I will give oral instructions to the Ministry of War tomorrow to ask them to try their best to assist the private and commercial businesses in running this matter. As for the cost of military rations, they will be advanced by the private and commercial merchants first and then settled directly by the Ministry of Household Affairs in installments."
He sighed slightly and said: "Although you have to donate a lot of salary in Taiyuan, and the income from the palace boxing match seems to be huge, it is actually a drop in the bucket. There are wars in the north and south at the moment. All the troops of the nine sides are in short supply of salary, and the national treasury is in short supply. It is stretched.
!”
"Your Majesty, I was about to tell you about this." How could Chang Yu still not know what Chongzhen meant: "Commander Wu has finalized the case!"
deal?
Chongzhen was overjoyed and asked with some uncertainty: "Are they willing to pay money to avoid guilt?"
Chang Yu nodded heavily and said yes.
With a bang, Chongzhen smashed the case with a heavy fist: "Two million, how rich!"
But the joy on his face was unbearable. He originally thought that the two marquises would bargain and deliberately negotiate a sky-high price. In the end, even with a half discount, he would earn a lot of money. They could also sell favors and show the emperor's great favor, but he didn't expect the two.
The staff did a great job and didn’t give me any discounts!
"If you have money, you have money, but injuries are inevitable. I'm afraid that after this disaster, it will be difficult to recover. Although the titles of these two aristocratic families are preserved, they are still considered useless." Chang Yu sneered.
"It's just a waste waiting to die. It's not a pity." Chongzhen snorted coldly and turned to look at Chang Yu's right hand: "Is the injury still serious?"
Chang Yu hummed: "Most of the recovery has occurred, and it should be back to normal in two or three days."
"You are gifted, you are gifted. When our Ming Dynasty is in dire straits, a stranger like you is born. If it is not the blessing of our ancestors, it is the gods who will bless our Ming Dynasty for eternity." Chongzhen sighed repeatedly, and then changed the subject: "
You know, sometimes I wish you were assassinated like this every day."
Ah! Chang Yu was startled, but then he woke up and said with a bitter smile: "Your Majesty, I am really afraid that if someone really kills me one day, it will be bad."
Chongzhen laughed loudly: "You are blessed with great fortune. It is not easy for you to die. I will protect you in this big world. Who dares to let you die!"
The implication is self-evident.
"Your Majesty, I am planning to leave Beijing tomorrow and go north, but I heard that there is also a lack of pay in the north?" Chang Yu raised his eyebrows.
Chongzhen sighed and frowned: "Didn't I just say that there is no one in the nine countries who owes pay? Wherever there are soldiers, they are asking me for money!"
"In this case, the money on hand should be used wisely. When I leave Beijing tomorrow, I want to take a sum of money with me to make up for the military pay of Shanhaiguan and Ningyuan first. This time the enemy is pressing the border, it is the time to use troops, and the morale of the army
For the most part”.
Chongzhen's face was very ugly: "Liu Zeqing asked me for money, Gao Jie wanted money, the guards wanted money when they left the capital, Tang Tong also wanted money, Shi Kefa wanted money, Wu Sangui also wanted money, who is the leader of the army in this country?
I don’t need any money... How can I have so much money in my hand?" He sighed heavily, sat down on the chair, held his head and sighed.
"Your Majesty, I brought hundreds of thousands of taels from Taiyuan. Including the gold, silver and jewelry sold, there are at least more than 100,000 taels, plus the income from the boxing match, the fines from the nobles..."
As Chang Yu was speaking, he was interrupted by Chongzhen and roared: "How many times do I have to repeat this? Every day when I wake up, there are countless hands reaching out for money! That little income is just a drop in the bucket!"
"So I just said that you should keep your money on the edge," Chang Yu said cautiously: "The war in the north is urgent, and the Qing army is approaching. If we can't resist it and let its cavalry go south, the people of the Ming Dynasty will be tortured again, and the losses will be huge.
Consider it! So at this moment, Ningyuan must be our top priority."
"But the thieves in the south are raging, so we should not underestimate them. They may come to the capital at any time!"
Chongzhen’s teeth were itching with hatred!
"Your Majesty, our army still has at least a few troops in the south that can delay it for a while. However, the northern defense line has collapsed. The Qing army marched southward to Pingchuan. Only the small town of Ningyuan and more than 10,000 troops in Shanhaiguan blocked them. If they were allowed to enter the pass, they would be with the thieves.
With the attack from the north and the south, the situation is even more unfavorable to the Ming Dynasty!"
"How could I not know?" Chongzhen let out a long breath: "After all, you still need money. The North owes nearly three hundred thousand taels in wages. You let me have such a big gap... Aren't you good at collecting money?
, you can’t make a temporary turnover of these 300,000 yuan... Didn’t you just say that you were fined 2 million taels... and Zhangjiakou copied the property of those profiteers..."
Chang Yu really wanted to roll his eyes, do you really think of me as a treasure trove, or the God of Wealth descending to earth?
"Your Majesty, things are urgent. The crisis in the north is imminent and there is no need to delay. I need to bring the cash there immediately. As for the assets of Zhangjiakou's profiteers and the fines of the two criminal princes, it will take some time to put them into the treasury. I can't wait, but
You can wait a few days in the south..."
"Okay, okay" Chongzhen waved his hand impatiently: "I will allocate you one hundred thousand taels first, and you can either find a way to get the rest first, or you can wait for some time for the fine silver to be put into the treasury.
Call you immediately!"
Well, Chang Yu sighed, but there was nothing he could do. Although he had private property, most of it was invested in the military ration business as advance capital, and part of it was left in Taiyuan, also for the purpose of purchasing military rations. At this time, he had no money at all.
"Your Majesty, the Minister of Military Provisions also wants..."
Chongzhen interrupted him with a wry smile: "In the past, you came to bring me good news, but now you have come to torture me. You left Beijing more than a month ago just to escort me with salary, but you were able to spend millions of military funds and raise donations with nothing.
The ability to produce hundreds of thousands of stones of food and grass makes me feel inferior to myself. Why is it like this now? Before I even left the capital, I started to reach out for this and that. I sighed again as I spoke.
This military ration is now under the responsibility of civilians and merchants, and they were also found by you. You should ask them for it. You keep sharing my worries, but why are you starting to cause trouble now..."
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It’s hard work coding, and the recent updates have been stable. I hope book friends will also support me. Thank you. (To be continued)