Chapter 649 The Court’s Response
The Dali court also received the urgent memorial sent back by Zhao Minglou.
After Xie Zhan disappeared, Song Mo, who had been attending court for days, was extremely upset. Zhao Minglou's memorial completely ignited his anger. "What is this idiot Zhao Minglou doing for a living? He actually gave Pingzhou such a big handle on him!"
Faced with the furious emperor, the ministers dared not say a word.
"Your Majesty, what should we do now?" Finally, it was Minister of Agriculture Li Shijie who spoke up. The main reason was that he had served in Zhuozhou when he was young. Now, when he heard that the people of Zhuozhou had suffered such a disaster, he really couldn't bear it, so he spoke up.
If the imperial court did not take action, Zhuozhou would end up in a mess.
Song Mo roared, "What should I do? Zhao Minglou, this parasite and incompetent! He's run Zhuozhou into this state. I'm lucky I didn't punish him, but he still expects me to clean up his mess?"
"Your Majesty, Zhao Minglou should indeed be punished."
None of the ministers mentioned Xie Zhan, the commander-in-chief of the army, whose life or death is now unknown.
"But we can't just ignore Zhuozhou."
"Manage? How?" Wu Chunyu, who had been busy just now, spoke up.
As soon as he saw Wu Chunyu, Li Shijie knew what he was going to say and spoke first, "Your Majesty, now that things have come to this, I know the treasury is short, but could you allocate some silver and grain to Zhuozhou to purchase the donkeys there at a normal price?"
Wu Chunyu shook his head, "Master Li, you really don't understand anything."
"The game Pingzhou has set up is a winner-takes-all game. There are only two outcomes: win or lose. There's no draw. Unless we're sure of winning and have enough money and grain, we can fight Pingzhou and the Zhuozhou donkey market. Otherwise, all the money and grain will be like a mud ox in the sea, and will eventually be drowned."
Because Xie Zhan had previously mentioned that Pingzhou had set up a trap for Zhuozhou, these ministers had also been diligently studying the knowledge related to commerce over the past six months. Wu Chunyu was quite talented in this area, which was why he was able to see the key point of the Zhuozhou crisis at this time.
"Then let's have a fight! Can't we, Dali, even compete with a tiny Pingzhou in terms of money and grain?"
"Yes, Pingzhou dares to plot against Zhuozhou. We in Dali will never let it succeed!"
At this time, Wu Chunyu had just calculated the price they would have to pay if they took over the mess in Zhuozhou.
"You are so ambitious, my Lords! Do you know how much silver the court will need to stabilize Zhuozhou?" Wu Chunyu looked around at the ministers. "A conservative estimate is at least 15 million taels of silver."
"How much tax revenue did Dali collect last year? Less than 122 million taels! And there are so many places where we need to spend the money!"
Speaking of taxation, Wu Chunyu's heart was bleeding. Last year, tax revenue suddenly shrank because the salt tax could not be collected. The reason why the salt tax could not be collected was because of Pingzhou's misconduct!
When the ministers heard the number reported by Wu Chunyu, they were all shocked.
Song Mo, who was sitting at the top, was also unwilling when he heard this.
The situation in Zhuozhou is very clear. Xie Zhan is incompetent. He knew about Pingzhou’s plan so far in advance, but he couldn’t break it!
Also, the people are so stupid that they just run around and raise donkeys. I don’t know what’s going on in their heads.
Why should he pay for their stupidity?
It would cost 15 million taels of silver to save them. Do they deserve it?
"Your Majesty, I believe that as long as Your Majesty is willing to save Zhuozhou, this difficulty will not be a problem."
Wu Chunyu realized that despite all his persuasion, these people were still determined to waste the money. He immediately became furious and said, "The court is short of money. Can you all contribute the money to rescue Zhuozhou?"
"I am willing to do my best." Li Shijie expressed his willingness to deduct the money.
The ministers are silent and they have no money.
Besides, even if they were willing to donate generously, there would still be a huge gap. Unless the emperor made a move towards the aristocratic families.
These ministers would glance at the emperor from time to time out of the corner of their eyes.
Wu Chunyu advised Li Shijie, "Sir Li, please don't make things difficult for the emperor. The most important thing is that even with so much money invested, there is no guarantee that you will win." The trap set by Pingzhou is probably waiting for them to jump.
Li Shijie still insisted, "Your Majesty, even if you don't save the donkey market in Zhuozhou, you should at least release grain to Zhuozhou for disaster relief. The people of Zhuozhou have no food."
Open the granaries to release grain for disaster relief? Song Mo was unwilling to do so either.
Because they had speculated before that in the fourth year of Tianhe, Dali, Pingzhou and Xianbei all agreed to a one-year truce, and war would definitely break out this year.
To fight and win a battle, food and supplies are of paramount importance.
Wu Chunyu retorted, "Disaster relief is impossible. Zhuozhou is not at the end of its rope yet."
Prime Minister Chen Wan hesitated and said, "But Your Majesty, are we just going to let it go like this?"
It's shameful not to fight back and surrender without a fight.
Because of Xie Zhan, Xiao Qun would rather avoid showing up than not.
Shangshu Ling Sang Baiqing also said, "Your Majesty, Pingzhou has attacked Zhuozhou. We in Dali cannot let Pingzhou succeed so easily. It will greatly undermine the morale of the nation."
Li Shijie on the side quickly agreed, "Master Sang is right. Morale is always a thing that grows while it declines."
For a long time, almost every move made by Pingzhou has yielded results, which has made the people of Pingzhou very motivated.
If the imperial court had turned a blind eye to the disaster in Zhuozhou, I believe that with the publicity of some people with ulterior motives, it would have dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the Dali people.
Sang Baiqing suggested, "The court could allocate some affordable grain."
Li Shijie felt that this idea was not very appropriate. "Zhuozhou also needs money to buy it. Where can the people of Zhuozhou afford it?"
Some ministers thought this was a good idea.
"The imperial court doesn't care. They don't have money, but they still have donkeys, don't they?"
"The people of Zhuozhou have donkeys. We can let them exchange them for grain."
"Aren't you just kicking someone when they're down?" Li Shijie felt a chill in his heart.
"Why are you adding insult to injury? Distributing affordable grain is a good idea. If other places follow Zhuozhou's example, how much grain will our court have to waste like this?"
Seeing that His Highness's people were still arguing, Song Mo said impatiently, "Let's do it this way. Allocate some affordable grain to Zhuozhou."
"Your Majesty, doing this may cause public outrage." Li Shijie had been exiled and served as a local official. He knew very well that the court's decrees would become unrecognizable when they reached the local areas.
At this time, the people of Zhuozhou could only be appeased, not forced.
If the imperial court does this, it will probably lose the support of the people even more. And Pingzhou has always been very good at winning people's hearts...
Public resentment? Song Mo thought, wouldn't it be enough to push the culprit out and let them vent their anger? "Issue an order to punish Zhao Minglou!"
"Your Majesty, we can also try to divert the blame. We should issue an official document to condemn Pingzhou. For its own selfish reasons, it set up this sinister trap, making the people of Zhuozhou live in misery." A minister suggested.
Song Mo's face darkened when he heard this suggestion.
The minister's colleague immediately stepped aside, refusing to stand with the fool.
"Just do as I say!" After saying that, Song Mo stood up. He had done everything he should do. Even if the final result was not satisfactory, it was just a small Zhuozhou. He could afford to lose it!
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