Inside the Palace of Heavenly Purity.

Chongzhen sat beside the dragon desk and ordered Wang Chengen: "Change my clothes!"

Wang Chengen asked in a low voice: "Which clothes does the emperor want to change into?"

"The dragon robe, the dragon robe I wear when I go to court."

"yes."

By the time Chongzhen changed into his dragon robe, Crown Prince Zhu Cixiong had already arrived outside the Palace of Heavenly Purity.

The palace door opened and the father and son met.

Zhu Cijiong walked quickly to Chongzhen, knelt down and kowtowed: "Your son greets you, father."

Chongzhen nodded slightly, pointed at the dragon couch and said, "Go, get the thing under the pillow."

Zhu Cijiong stood up and walked to the dragon couch. After lifting the pillow, he found a notebook.

The word "account book" was written on it.

Zhu Cijiong's tears instantly flowed down: "Father..."

Chongzhen said slowly: "This is the account book of the imperial treasury. There is not much money in it. You have to spend it sparingly."

Zhu Cijiong turned to the last page of the account book and was stunned after taking a look.

He originally thought that the amount of money Chongzhen was talking about was only a few million or hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

As a result, the balance in the account book was as high as tens of millions of taels.

Is this too little?

That's too much.

He didn't know what to say or what not to say at this moment, he could only kowtow with tears in his eyes: "Father..."

Chongzhen said: "This money may seem like a lot, but it is not much. The salary of the princes and clans alone costs several million taels of silver every year. You have to save money while finding ways to increase income."

Zhu Cijiong kowtowed again: "I obey your order."

Chongzhen continued, "There is not much silver in the national treasury. If I remember correctly, there is less than 10 million taels of silver in the national treasury. Most of this money was confiscated from the local tyrants and evil gentry in Jiangnan by Zhang Rong and Wang Zhixin during the pacification of Jiangnan. I have exempted the people from taxes for three consecutive years, and most of it has been spent."

"The people of the Ming Dynasty have suffered too much. After you ascend the throne, please try to exempt the people from taxes for another year."

Zhu Cixiong burst into tears: "Father, your majesty is wise, and I will obey your orders."

Chongzhen's eyes were gentle and his tone was calm: "It's okay. If you can't do it, I won't force you."

Zhu Cijiong kowtowed vigorously: "I will definitely do it."

Chongzhen paused and said, "In that case, I will give this to you."

Speaking of.

He picked up a booklet from the corner of the dragon desk and handed it to Wang Chengen.

Wang Chengen turned around and handed it to Zhu Cijiong.

Zhu Cixiong opened the book and found that it was also an account book.

Unlike the internal treasury account book, this book records whole numbers without decimals.

The numbers in the account books are even more shocking.

More than the silver in the national treasury.

It gives people a very unreal feeling.

Zhu Cijiong raised his head in confusion: "Father, this account book..."

Chongzhen said helplessly: "This is a record of Wang Zhixin taking advantage of the opportunity to embezzle silver during the mining and Jiangnan rebellion. The exact amount is unknown, but it is roughly correct. I gave him a chance, but he didn't seize it. Now the civil officials are being suppressed severely, and the eunuch party is in full swing. When you are short of money, you can use him as a scapegoat. It can not only balance the situation in the court, but also earn you fame and money."

Zhu Cijiong's tears flowed uncontrollably: "Your Majesty, I thank you, Father."

Chongzhen said coldly: "Why are you crying? The emperor has no sorrow or joy, only loneliness."

Zhu Cijiong raised his head in a daze, savoring Chongzhen's words carefully.

After a long time, Zhu Cijiong kowtowed again and said, "Thank you for your teachings, father. I will remember them."

"Well," Chongzhen nodded gently: "I have one last thing to do."

Zhu Cijiong lowered his head: "Please let me know, Father."

Chongzhen paused, looked at Wang Chengen and said, "Since I ascended the throne, I have eliminated the eunuch party, disciplined the court, suppressed the bandits, recovered Liaodong, pacified Jiangnan and subdued the Dongfan. These achievements are due to the contributions of both the civil and military officials and the Imperial Household Department."

"Among the people in the Imperial Household Department, Wang Chengen has made the greatest contribution."

Wang Chengen knelt down immediately and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me."

Chongzhen turned his head and stared into Zhu Cixiong's eyes: "I am a suspicious person. There are not many people I trust in this life. Wang Chengen is one of them. I told Wang Chengen that I would allow him to be buried near my mausoleum after his death. I hope you will not let me break my promise."

When these words were spoken, Zhu Cijiong and Wang Chengen were stunned.

You have to know that Wang Chengen was just a eunuch.

Many members of the royal family were not qualified to be buried near the imperial mausoleum.

But Chongzhen gave him this honor.

Wang Chengen was the first to react. He kowtowed and said, "No, Your Majesty. I am of low status and have no right to be near the imperial mausoleum."

Chongzhen ignored Wang Chengen's attitude and continued to stare into Zhu Cijiong's eyes.

Zhu Cijiong hesitated.

He had to hesitate.

Before this, there had never been a precedent of eunuchs being buried near the imperial tomb.

He has to consider the impact.

But after hesitating for a moment, Zhu Cijiong responded: "Your son obeys your order."

Chongzhen nodded and said with his eyes closed: "I have already given you all the instructions. If you have any questions, ask them. If you don't have any, just stand by and wait."

After hearing what Chongzhen said, Zhu Cijiong finally felt relieved.

After calming himself down, Zhu Cijiong knelt on the ground and said, "There are two things I don't understand. I hope your Majesty can enlighten me."

"speak."

"I would like to ask you about the way to govern the country."

"Haha," Chongzhen laughed, "I have two ways of governing the country, one is the way of heaven, and the other is the way of man. I wonder which one you want to choose?"

Zhu Cijiong was stunned: "I don't understand, please explain it to me, father."

Chongzhen raised his head and looked at the top of the hall: "The wheel of history has been rolling forward. The way of heaven is to move forward with the wheel of history; the way of humanity is to stabilize and maintain rule and stop the wheel from moving forward. The wheel of history may slow down temporarily, but it will never stop. Anyone who stands in its way will be crushed by the wheel."

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