Four cabinet ministers discussed four difficult issues.

Chongzhen stood up calmly with a smile on his face.

The historical Chongzhen might not be able to solve these problems, but he could.

He understands mathematics, physics, chemistry, history, geography, politics, and foreign languages!

"Lord Li, draft an order to have Tang Tong withdraw to the capital in three to five days. Take everything with you before you return. Don't leave even a grain of rice for the bandits!"

"Your Majesty... the imperial edict... the cabinet has no problem with it, but I'm afraid the Censorate will not sign it."

Chongzhen was stunned. Li Banghua came from the Censorate, and Fang Yuegong also served as the Left Vice-Censor-in-Chief in the Censorate. How could two cabinet ministers be unable to handle the Censorate?

Without the signature of the Censorate, the imperial edict would be invalid, and would have no legal effect even if it was forcibly stamped and issued.

"Why?"

The temperature in the Palace of Heavenly Purity was higher than outside. Li Banghua was sweating all over. He took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat off his forehead while saying, "Today, the cabinet received a memorial from two censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, impeaching Dingxi Bo Tang Tong for being cowardly and not daring to fight, which damaged the reputation of the Ming Dynasty."

Bang!

Chongzhen slammed the table and was so angry that he wanted to curse.

This is bullshit!

Whether to meet the enemy, whether to meet the enemy, and when to meet the enemy are all decided by the general leading the troops.

The censors are nothing!

The combined defenders of Tangtong and Juyongguan were only 10,000, while Li Zicheng had over 100,000. How could they defeat him?

Even if there were 100,000 steamed buns, it would take Tang Tong two days to finish them.

Anyone with a bit of common sense knows that the only way to repel the enemy is to hold out.

"From what Lord Li said, not only will the censors of the Metropolitan Censorate not sign the imperial edict, they even want Tang Tong to go out and fight?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Okay, the cabinet will just draft the decree. Wang Zhixin will send a message to the Censorate later. If you want Tang Tong to go out to fight, come to the Palace of Heavenly Purity. I will confer the title of Dingnan Earl on him and let him lead 2,000 men to fight Liu Fangliang."

"Those who don't dare to go should just sign the imperial edict honestly."

Li Banghua blinked his eyes, accepted the order and stepped back.

"Fang Yuegong, how much has the price of rice and flour increased?"

"30%, and there is still an upward trend."

"No problem. The Ministry of Revenue manages the warehouses in Beijing and Tongzhou. I will allocate 500,000 taels of silver from the treasury to your Ministry of Revenue. Buy high and sell low to suppress grain prices."

Fang Yuegong opened his mouth, wanting to say something but stopped himself.

This method is indeed effective, but the money wasted will be a huge amount.

Li Banghua could not bear to watch any longer. He stepped forward and bowed, "Your Majesty, this is not allowed. The profiteers in the capital have raised the price of grain because they see that the bandits are coming and transportation is blocked. This is illegal and should be punished according to the law. Using the treasury's money to buy high and sell low may seem to be caring for the people, but in fact it is... suspected of aiding and abetting the tyrant."

The rest of the people were ashamed.

Li Banghua was too stubborn and even accused the emperor of aiding and abetting the tyrant in front of him.

He was like this many times when he was the Censor, but I didn't expect that he would become even more tough after becoming the Prime Minister of the Cabinet.

"How dare you!" Wang Chengen's sharp voice sounded, "Lord Li should know what to say and what not to say. You are talking nonsense just because your majesty has given you a favor. Don't blame your majesty for being ruthless."

Li Banghua was not afraid: "Your Majesty, the Great Ming Law says that in times of chaos, severe punishments are used. The kingly way is to kill and intimidate. This is the law! If we don't use severe punishments now, when will we use them?"

You can hear a pin drop in the Qianqing Palace.

Li Banghua's words were no longer accusations, but questions.

Questioning the emperor why he didn't use severe punishments!

Chongzhen was not angry, but smiled faintly: "How did Lord Li know that I didn't use severe punishment?"

"But..."

"If I punish those merchants severely, once the news spreads, will there still be merchants transporting grain to the capital?"

"Even if there is, how much is the amount delivered compared to before?"

"The millions of people in the capital consume tens of thousands of tons of grain every day. Bandits are coming, so we should store up grain. Merchants will definitely speed up the transportation of grain in order to make huge profits. This is exactly what I want."

"As for the silver...Fan Jingwen is in charge of the three major camps in the capital. As long as we prevent those merchants from transporting the silver out, I will have a way to get the silver back."

Fang Yuegong and Li Banghua looked at each other, feeling ashamed. They immediately knelt down, first to plead guilty to Chongzhen, and then to accept the decree and express their gratitude.

"Qiu Yu!" Chongzhen looked at the Minister of Personnel.

"I am here."

"Is the phenomenon of passive resistance and working without effort that you mentioned common?"

"Your Majesty, they account for 30 to 40 percent of the total number of officials in the capital. If there were fewer people, I would not have asked Your Majesty for instructions and would have joined forces with the Censorate to impeach him long ago."

Chongzhen took a long breath and nodded.

This is a tricky matter.

Officials do this out of nothing more than two mindsets.

First, the capital can no longer be defended. There is no point in continuing to do those things. It is better to give up.

Second, only by passive resistance can they ensure that the capital cannot be defended. In this way, they can send off the old emperor and welcome the new emperor.

Officials with the first mentality are okay, they are fence-sitters. They are not loyal, let alone patriotic. Although they have done nothing good, they have not done anything bad either.

Officials with the second mentality are the most hateful. They are in the Ming Dynasty but their hearts are in the Qing Dynasty. They do bad things, disrupt the court, and mess up government affairs. They make government orders difficult to implement and the people dissatisfied.

In this case, we must intensify the efforts of these Ming Dynasty workers!

"Others go out and wait first."

After everyone left and the palace door was closed, Chongzhen whispered, "Qiu Yu, compile a list of officials who are passive and lazy, use promotion as bait, and ask each of them to write a work plan every morning, writing down everything they plan to do that day."

"Write a work summary at night and summarize the progress of the plan. Circle the completed items and write down the reasons for the unfinished items."

"After writing, I will give you this work plan and summary, and you can then conduct verification and assessment."

“Those who make up stories, do not write plans and summaries, and do things that are not in line with their positions should all be removed from office.”

"Do you understand?"

Qiu Yu stood there in a daze for about three minutes. He twisted his stiff neck and slowly said, "Your Majesty...I don't understand."

Chongzhen was not surprised.

A second-rank official in a feudal dynasty would certainly not be able to understand things like daily work plans, summaries, and KPIs.

It took him nearly ten minutes to explain all of this.

Qiu Yu was shocked after understanding it: "Your Majesty, this method is extremely ingenious. It is indeed a great tool for evaluating officials! I think it should be promoted."

"Not for now, I have a better way."

After recalling everyone back to the Qianqing Palace, Chongzhen was left with only one problem.

"Minister Fan, I will have the Royal Guard investigate the craftsman's temporary departure. Don't worry. You are in charge of the Ministry of Works and the three major camps. You can give the grenades to the soldiers for training in advance."

"I obey the order."

"When you return, each of you will perform your duties. The cabinet will manage the court for me."

"Your Highness obeys your order. We will take our leave."

After the four ministers left, Chongzhen immediately ordered: "Li Ruolian, go and investigate the matter of the workers from the Ministry of Works returning home."

"Wang Zhixin, I want to requisition the mansions of the nobles and court officials who have left the capital. You go and move all the remaining things in their mansions to the imperial city, and dig deep underground to see if there is any gold or silver hidden."