Eunuch Mu Ru went back to Emperor Ming Yuan and said that Concubine Xian had accepted the order and it seemed that she would faithfully pay the 500,000 taels of stolen silver.
Emperor Ming Yuan stretched out his hand and rubbed his brows, and said tiredly: "You write down the 700,000 taels that the Crown Princess owes her, and then ask someone to pass the order to the Ministry of Household Affairs, and wait until the money paid by the Concubine Xian and Su Dahe is received.
After that, it was immediately allocated to the Ministry of War. Now in late autumn, winter is about to begin. The Ministry of War should step up its efforts to customize winter clothes for the soldiers. The court is not short of hungry soldiers, but there are so many places to spend money now. If you can only have some, you should allocate some first.
In the past, the money would be returned to the Crown Princess after the taxes were collected at the end of the year. The couple are so frugal, so the money must be of great use."
Eunuch Mu Ru felt sorry for him and asked someone to serve ginseng tea, "Your Majesty, don't worry. We have started to collect taxes and the first batch will arrive in Beijing by official ship at the end of the month."
How could Emperor Ming Yuan not be worried?
This year there are floods in the south and drought in the north. The disasters are so serious that many states and counties have reduced or exempted taxes and even asked the government to allocate funds to provide disaster relief.
Beitang looked like a piece of exquisite and beautiful silk, but it was covered with lice.
The Northern Tang Dynasty was once very prosperous, as famous as Daxing, Daliang, Dazhou, and Dayue. It had a vast territory, a lot of cultivated land, few mountains, and rivers. It was supposed to be easy to develop, but I don't know how it got into his hands. Years of disasters
, and the border areas were not peaceful two years ago, and fighting was the most expensive thing. After more than six years of trouble, the national treasury was empty.
He is an aggrieved emperor. Considering the crimes Su Dahe committed, ten times would not be too many to kill him. However, in order to get some money, he would rather leave him alive.
There is also the virtuous concubine, he is already disgusted with it, but the current situation in the country is that the crown prince has just been established, and there cannot be any dispute about the crown prince's position. Otherwise, if the parties are divided and compete for each other, who will serve the court?
Who serves the people?
They are all thinking about fighting for power and profit.
Emperor Ming Yuan's hair has been falling out in handfuls recently, but who can really sympathize with him?
Didn't he know that Yuan Qingling's heart ached when he took out these 700,000 taels?
It can be seen that her eyes are broken. As a father-in-law, he is blackmailing his daughter-in-law and is shameless. Is there any way?
His Lao Wu family has no shirking responsibility. Sooner or later, this country will be handed over to his hands. If the country and the people can be peaceful and Lao Wu ascends the throne in the future, he will not face such a dilemma.
The next day, according to an edict, the prince donated 700,000 taels of all his property to the soldiers to purchase cotton-padded clothes for the winter and to pay military pay.
The return of the soldiers was of course great for Yu Wenhao. Xu Yi went to Nanying and Xiying. When he came back, he happily told Yuan Qingling that the soldiers were all happy and that the military pay had been delayed.
There will be no distribution in March.
When Yuan Qingling heard Xu Yi's words, she was stunned for a long time and asked Yu Wenhao, "Is it really so difficult?"
Yu Wenhao smiled bitterly, "It's true. This year, we will dig canals to divert water for irrigation and provide drought relief. The national treasury will be empty already, and there is nothing we can do about the arrears of military pay. If we don't provide disaster relief, the victims will not even be able to afford rice bran. As for digging canals, it is imperative."
Otherwise, drought in the north will lead to harvest losses, the people will not be able to survive, and the court will not be able to survive."
Yuan Qingling forgave Emperor Ming Yuan at that moment and said softly: "Actually, my father is also very difficult."
Yu Wenhao said: "It's hard, why bother to fight for the crown prince's position?
I had thought about it at first, but I knew it would be difficult so I never took action. Instead, I became confused and became the crown prince. My father is now and I will be in the future. It makes me dizzy just thinking about it."
In the middle of the capital, you can't tell how difficult the Northern Tang Dynasty was. The middle of the capital was prosperous, the economy was prosperous, and it was a scene of peace and prosperity.
Therefore, Yuan Qingling had no idea about the current situation of the country before, but now she can see clearly from these 700,000 liang. For the first time, she examines the problem as a future queen.
She wants to save lepers and open a medical school, which are all trivial matters. The emperor is dealing with major matters of people's livelihood. The people don't have enough to eat, and everything else is nonsense.
Yuan Qingling felt that it was worthwhile to spend this money on soldiers.
However, it is difficult for a country to prosper if it relies solely on farming and taxes. In short, it is still necessary to develop the economy.
Therefore, she talked to Yu Wenhao in the evening and said: "Now we have a very good relationship with Dazhou Daxing. Taking advantage of this momentum, can we open up trade and vigorously promote the economy?"
Yu Wenhao said: "This is what I think. Staying so poor is not the answer. We must revitalize business."
He paused and said: "Revitalizing business is not a slogan. Serious reform requires the right time, place and people. It cannot be implemented in a short time. After all, it has to be submitted to the cabinet for discussion. Each person speaks one word at a time.
It’s not that easy to reach consensus.”
Yuan Qingling was now fully aware of the difficulties he and the emperor were having. She leaned against him and rubbed her fingers on the calluses of his palms, "Those who are capable work hard. You should do more for your father. You don't need to worry about things at home.
I can handle it!"
Yu Wenhao lowered his head and kissed her, "You understand everything I say, and your ideas always coincide with mine. We are really destined to be husband and wife, and we will never be separated for the rest of our lives."
The sudden sentiment made Yuan Qingling laugh, and she felt warm in her heart.
Su Dahe was captured by the Jingzhao Mansion. The Su family collected 500,000 taels, bought Su Dahe's life, and sent him to Qiongzhou.
Concubine Xian was not in a hurry to get the money at first, but when she saw that Su Dahe was sentenced to be sent to Qiongzhou immediately after being caught, she was angry and frightened, so she hurriedly raised money.
What the Su family could afford was spent on Su Dahe's life, and there was no money to give to the Concubine Xian. The Concubine Xian had no choice but to seek help from the Queen Mother, but the Queen Mother had many descendants, and she usually rewarded this and that.
How much money can you save?
Therefore, the Queen Mother could not help her and even scolded her, saying that she ignored the ban and came out without permission.
The wise concubine gritted her teeth and called Xuan Yuanqing Ling into the palace.
But the Queen Mother had a decree in advance, saying that the concubine could be exempted from any greetings while she was in the confinement room. Therefore, Yuan Qingling was very embarrassed and said to the mother who sent the message: "The Queen Mother has an order that I cannot enter the palace to see my mother and concubine.
, I can’t disobey Yi’s order, so I’d like to ask my grandma to tell you on my behalf.”
Concubine Xian was furious after hearing what her mother had told her, and said angrily: "She just refuses to save her. She clearly has more than one million taels on hand, why don't she go out for me?"
Lao Wu is also a dead man, and he listens to his wife in everything, so I said that Yuan Qingling must leave Lao Wu, and it is best to die."
Mammy was worried, "Madam, the three-day period has passed. Eunuch Mu Ru is here today. Do you think it's time to go to the bank..." "Shut up!"
Concubine Xian scolded her sternly, paused, and then said: "Yuan Qing can't come, but Lao Wu can come in. You call the imperial doctor and say that I am sick, and ask Lao Wu to come in and visit me."
Mammy said: "Mother, I'm afraid the imperial doctor won't lie for you. The imperial doctor didn't say he was sick, so I'm afraid he won't be able to tell the prince."
Concubine Xian said coldly: "You ordered people to collect cold water, and I took a cold bath. Isn't it difficult to live and to be sick?"