Xie Zhen simply gave up the task. Whoever wants to do it can do it. He squinted at the censor who scolded him the most and said, "In my opinion, the people with such talents must be Minister Lin and Censor Xue. Under their leadership, they will surely lead a group of invincible and victorious troops for Your Majesty, and it will not cost the court any military pay or food."
"I am truly ashamed that I cannot do this. I feel guilty and guilty!"
The two people who were named, Minister Lin and Censor Xue, were attacked by each other. The former remained calm, while the latter was so angry that his face turned red.
Censor Xue wanted to curse again, but when he noticed the cold and stern look from Emperor Rong Xian on the throne, he was so scared that he dared not say anything more.
Even though he was being criticized, Minister Lin remained calm and said in a gentle voice, "Don't be angry, Duke Su. A good cook cannot cook without rice."
"It turns out that Minister Lin also knows that a good cook cannot cook without rice! I thought Minister Lin had never learned this saying." Xie Zhen mocked again.
You are in trouble, but doesn't the army stationed in the northwest also have difficulties?
No matter how powerful these people in the court are, can they be one-tenth as powerful as the Northwest Army?
If you want him to lead the troops to fight, you must provide them with money and food, otherwise there is no deal.
The army of the Da Rong Kingdom continued to march eastward to see if these people could still sit still.
Minister Lin said, "Your Majesty, the treasury is empty, as you know. I can only squeeze out 100,000 taels."
One hundred thousand taels may sound like a lot, but each soldier in the Northwest Army could not get even one tael of silver.
The entire Northwestern Army had 250,000 men, not including auxiliary troops.
Xie Zhen snorted coldly.
Everyone knows that the national treasury has no money, but the emperor's private treasury has money. When the previous emperor was alive, the national treasury was not so empty. It was really because the Rongxian Emperor and the Empress Dowager who sat in this position were really people who were very greedy for pleasure.
The Empress Dowager spent tens of thousands of taels on food every month. Her birthday banquet every year was very grand, costing at least 200,000 taels each time.
As for Emperor Rongxian and the Empress Dowager, they were no less greedy than other money-eaters.
Moreover, every expenditure was paid from the national treasury account and never from the royal private treasury.
Even mountains of gold and silver in the national treasury could not withstand such spending, not to mention that the whole palace was filled with extravagance, which was spreading from top to bottom.
If the weather is good, we can still get by, but once a disaster occurs, we will be short of money.
All the officials in the court knew that the emperor had money in his private treasury, but no one dared to mention it.
Once you mention it, you will be prepared to be made difficult by the emperor in the future.
Even an old minister like Duke Su would not say this.
The Shaoqing of the Taichang Temple, who was standing at the end of the line, stepped out and said, "Since the national treasury has no money, I am willing to contribute a little. I am willing to donate 500 taels to the Northwest Army."
Immediately, another person stepped forward and said, "I am also willing to do my part. I am willing to pay one thousand taels."
After this beginning, all the officials in the court stepped forward and expressed their willingness to donate.
After all the officials had finished speaking, Emperor Rong Xian was overjoyed. He thought these people were all good ministers who could help him share his worries and solve his problems.
"Okay! I will remember this, and the Northwest Army will also remember you."
Emperor Rongxian was happy, but Xie Zhen was not.
There were only a few people in the court, and at most they could scrape together tens of thousands of taels of silver, which was a drop in the bucket compared to the military pay he wanted.
Each soldier's monthly salary was half a penny of silver, and it had not been paid for a year, which meant that the court owed each of them six taels of silver. And these were for ordinary soldiers, not to mention centurions, thousand-man captains, and even those generals, whose salaries were not half a penny of silver.
There were more than 200,000 people, and each person owed at least six taels of silver. The court owed the Northwestern Army more than 1.6 million in military pay.
Now he has only given a few hundred thousand taels, Emperor Rong Xian is like treating a beggar well!
Xie Zhen stepped out again and reported the figures expressionlessly, "Your Majesty, the court owes the Northwest Army 1,673,853 taels of military pay."
Emperor Rongxian's smile froze on his face, "Duke Su!"
Xie Zhen was not afraid of the emperor's displeasure and continued, "I know that the court is in trouble, and I also know that Your Majesty is in trouble. This time I will bring back half a year's military pay so that I can give an explanation to the army. Otherwise, if people are not united, I will not be able to lead this army."
What he never asked for was not a year's unpaid military pay, but half a year, or even three months' pay would be fine.
If you can get half a year, that would be the best result.
At Xie Zhen's insistence, Emperor Rong Xian finally took out three months' military pay and three months' military rations, which was all he could offer.
Most of these came from the royal private treasury, which made Emperor Rong Xian very distressed.
Xie Zhen knew when to stop and didn't want to push too hard.
If Emperor Rong Xian gets angry, there's no telling what he might do.
After the court session was dismissed, Emperor Rongxian had a gloomy look on his face. The ministers all knew why the emperor was in a bad mood. No one would be in a good mood if they bleed heavily.
Someone couldn't help but mutter, "If anyone can make money for His Majesty, or make up the difference, His Majesty will be happy and he may be promoted to a high position with generous salary."
Shunyi Hou walked behind the man, sneering in his heart.
It's too late for these fools to realize the key now.
Marquis Shunyi glanced in the direction of the imperial study and decided to wait a few days before telling His Majesty his thoughts. He thought that His Majesty would be happy.
Marquis Shunyi walked out in a good mood. Several officials who had a good relationship with Marquis Shunyi walked to his side, saw that he looked unhappy, and couldn't help but say a few words of concern.
"My Lord is so tired because he is taking care of Madam who is suffering from morning sickness."
"My Lord, please take care of yourself."
Fu Wenlin accepted their kindness with a smile, "I've been busy lately, so I'm bound to be a little tired."
"Then please take care of yourself."
"Your body is the most important thing."
Fu Wenlin bowed to the two of them and thanked them for their kindness.
As soon as he got on the carriage, Fu Wenlin felt very tired. He didn't know what was wrong recently, but he felt particularly tired and he dreamed of Lanzhi every night.
When Fu Wenlin thought of Xu Lanzhi, he thought of the news coming from the Dark Pavilion.
He never dreamed that the person who killed Lanzhi was actually Prince Jing's man.
Could it be that Prince Jing already knew that he had defected to Prince Qin, which is why he murdered Lan Zhi?
Fu Wenlin put his hand on his forehead, feeling upset.
If it was anyone else, he could have avenged Lanzhi, but the other party had to be Prince Jing. Unless Prince Qin came to power, Prince Jing would naturally not have a good ending. Only then would he have a chance to avenge Lanzhi.
Such a long time and an uncertain future, all of this made Fu Wenlin extremely tormented.
Zuixianlou.
Heng Youyi and Su Yin sat in the familiar box again.
"My subordinates discovered something these days."
"What is it?"
"Guardian Lin, who was chasing Xu Lanzhi before, has been squatting in Wushi Lane with his men and portraits in the past few days. It seems that he is looking for someone."
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