Zhu Cilang was about to agree to Ma Shiying's request when Ni Yuanlu interrupted him, "Governor Ma, let's not talk about the first two things for now. I want to ask if this last thing is a public or private matter?"
"How about official business? How about private matters?" Although Ma Shiying appeared calm on the surface, his heart was already in turmoil.
After all, he was the Governor-General of Fengyang and a second-rank official in the imperial court.
Where is Ni Yuanlu?
After resigning as the Minister of Revenue, he only served as a lecturer in the Chancellery, a fifth-rank official.
Relying on the fact that he was teaching the prince, he dared to commit treason and give orders to a second-rank official!
Just wait, I will take care of you sooner or later!
Ni Yuanlu replied calmly: "Your Highness is ordered to supervise the country. To avoid suspicion, you don't talk about private matters. Why should you be so secretive when it comes to public affairs?"
Ma Shiying's heart was burning with anger, but his face remained calm as always.
After pretending to hesitate for a moment, Ma Shiying took out two books from his arms and held them high above his head.
After Qiu Zhizhong took the two books, he didn't dare to read a single word and put them directly on the table in front of Zhu Cilang.
Zhu Cilang took the book and flipped through it quickly.
These two books are very thin, only a dozen pages.
At first, Zhu Cilang flipped through the books very quickly, with a hint of disdain on his face.
As he watched, a puzzled expression appeared on his face.
Then, he suddenly frowned.
Just when everyone thought Zhu Cilang was going to get angry, he put down the first book, picked up the second book and continued reading.
Zhu Cilang's frown gradually relaxed and finally turned into a smile.
"Good, good, very well written. Are these two books both written by Governor Ma?" Zhu Cilang put down the book and looked at Ma Shiying.
Ma Shiying glanced at the others present and whispered, "It was written by Ruan Dacheng. I think it makes some sense, so I brought it over to show Your Highness."
"Who is Ruan Dacheng?" Zhu Cilang turned his gaze and looked at Ni Yuanlu.
Ni Yuanlu had previously served as the Minister of Personnel and was able to memorize the resumes of officials.
After a brief thought, Ni Yuanlu said, "Ruan Dacheng was a Jinshi in the 44th year of Wanli. During the Tianqi period, he attached himself to Wei Zhongxian and served as a Jieshizhong. Later, he was promoted to Guangluqing. After Your Majesty eliminated Wei's party, he was dismissed as a commoner for the crime of treason."
Zhu Cilang was stunned and looked at Ma Shiying with complicated eyes.
The first thing his father Chongzhen did after ascending the throne was to get rid of Wei Zhongxian and the eunuch party.
Now, look what happens: a remnant of the eunuch party was recommended to him.
If the emperor knew about this, he would definitely depose him from his position as crown prince!
Thinking of this, Zhu Cilang turned his gaze to Shi Kefa, a member of the Donglin Party.
Shi Kefa did not express his opinion.
Although he was a member of the Donglin Party, he had no intention of engaging in party struggles.
There are good people and bad people in the Donglin Party, and they cannot be generalized.
Qian Qianyi was a member of the Donglin Party, and Sun Chengzong and Li Banghua were also members of the Donglin Party.
The former is not even worthy of carrying the shoes of the latter.
Shen Weibing was a member of the Donglin Party.
Lu Xiangsheng, Shi Kefa, Zhang Huangyan, Zheng Chenggong and others were all members of the Donglin Party.
Compared with the latter, the former's behavior was considered a lenient sentence by beheading.
There are three types of people in the Donglin Party.
The first type is Qian Qianyi, who is keen on party struggles. No matter whether it is black or white, as long as it can harm others and benefit oneself, he will take the lead in charging.
In his later years, he secretly opposed the Qing Dynasty not because he truly loved the Ming Dynasty, but because he could not get what he wanted from the Qing Dynasty.
The second type is represented by Sun Chengzong and Li Banghua. They just want to keep their heads down and do their work, and are not interested in party struggles. Black is black, white is white.
Shi Kefa belongs to the third type: an idealist.
It is an indisputable fact that there are many political parties in the court. He wants to unite the parties to quell the disputes and let them focus their energy on the affairs of the court.
Obviously, this ideal is unattainable.
Historically, Shi Kefa's political and military abilities were mediocre, and could even only be described as passing.
Especially in terms of political ability, he holds great power but is squeezed out of the center of power.
It can be said that it failed!
In fact, this cannot be blamed on Shi Kefa. It was history that pushed him to the forefront.
His ability is mainly reflected in governance and governing the people.
Seeing that Shi Kefa did not express his opinion, Zhu Cilang turned to look at his teacher, Ni Yuanlu, who was also a member of the Donglin Party.
Ni Yuanlu rolled his eyes at Ma Shiying and said to the air in front of him, "In the eleventh year of our dynasty, Ruan Dacheng lived in Nanjing and made many connections, plotting to rise again. Wu Yingji, Chen Zhenhui and others drafted the "Public Declaration to Prevent Chaos in the Capital", exposing his crimes, with more than 140 people signing. Ruan Dacheng was very scared and closed the door to visitors."
"If Ruan Dacheng was wrongly accused, why did he close the door to visitors? Such a traitor should stay in the countryside and farm."
Ni Yuanlu's words directly blocked Ruan Dacheng's way forward.
Ma Shiying lowered his head, his eyes becoming more ferocious.
Zhu Cilang saw that the atmosphere was a little cold, so he brought the topic back on track: "Everyone, there is not much money left from the money sent by the court. If you favor one, you will be unfair to the other."
"I can't decide how to spend the money by myself. The person who manages the money is here, so let's discuss it."
Everyone's attention then shifted to Nanjing's Minister of Revenue Gao Hongtu.
Gao Hongtu didn't waste any time and directly took out the account book.
"Everyone, to Yuan Jixian, after the Nanjing Beijing Camp has paid its military salaries, the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue has 663,400 taels of silver in its deposit. 63,400 taels of silver will be kept by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for his personal use, and the rest is yours."
He was afraid that others might misunderstand him, so he added, "Sixty thousand taels of silver is not a lot. The expenses of Prince Yong, Prince Ding, the six palaces, and the salaries of the Jinyiwei and the factory guards who accompanied them to the south are all paid from this."
"Tell me, how much silver do you all need?"
Duke of Wei Xu Hongji nodded and said, "It will cost 250,000 taels of silver to strengthen the city's defenses."
"One hundred thousand taels of silver." Shi Kefa followed.
"It's not much! Duke Wei has 250,000 taels, Minister Shi has 100,000 taels, and I need 150,000 taels. There are still 100,000 taels left!" Ma Shiying looked at Gao Hongtu in confusion.
Gao Hongtu asked in return: "This month's salary has been paid, what about next month? What about the month after that? Half of it must be kept as a reserve, otherwise it will cause a mutiny!"
"Why didn't you say so earlier!"
"You didn't ask!"
"What do you mean? Looking for trouble?"
"Who is looking for trouble? You are the governor of Fengyang. How can you lead troops to fight without knowing to reserve military pay? What a joke!"
Gao Hongtu and Ma Shiying had a fierce argument.
At first, the two of them were just arguing about the matter.
As the argument went on, Ma Shiying changed his tactics and began to make personal attacks.
"Gao Hongtu, the Ming Dynasty's surname is Zhu, not Gao! Now His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is the regent, and how the money is spent should be decided by His Royal Highness, not by you, the Minister of Revenue." Ma Shiying took the opportunity of the quarrel to not only flatter Zhu Cilang, but also changed the nature of the problem.
It implies that Gao Hongtu disrespected the prince and was autocratic.
"Whether it's the Crown Prince who is regulating the country or His Majesty himself, the Ministry of Revenue has the same attitude." Gao Hongtu didn't think much about it and continued to argue.
Seeing that the situation was getting worse, Shi Kefa stepped out to smooth things over: "Stop arguing, the one who speaks louder is not the one who is right! Your Highness has to decide how to use the money and who to give it to!"
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