"I have made up my mind!" Chongzhen rejected Wei Zaode outright and continued, "Officials going to Nanjing must earnestly assist the prince, and those who stay in the capital must fully assist me and fight against the bandits together!"
"Yes!" More than forty officials responded at the same time.
"Now let's talk about the second thing." Chongzhen showed a barely perceptible smile, "I just had someone do the math, and the salary of the Beijing garrison, plus the money for recruiting soldiers, there is a shortfall of 1.5 million taels of silver."
"The treasury is empty now, and there is no money to use. This shows that the army is not fully paid, and fully paid is invincible. In order to fight against the bandits, you ministers, think of a way! As long as we can collect a million silver coins, we can defend the capital!"
All the civil and military officials bowed their heads in tacit understanding.
The topic of silver continued from the first year of Chongzhen to the seventeenth year of Chongzhen. The money collected by the national treasury each year was not enough to cover its expenditures. If it were not for the treasury money accumulated during the Wanli period, the military pay would have been insufficient.
The emperor asked them to collect money, how to collect it? Where to collect it?
If they could have raised the money, the Ming Dynasty would not have been turned upside down by a group of bandits.
Seeing that no one was talking, Chongzhen smiled and said, "Since you all have no solution, I do have an idea!"
"Your Majesty, please give clear instructions!" Although the Prime Minister of the Cabinet was somewhat reluctant, he still cooperated with the emperor at the first opportunity.
“Donate money!”
The civil and military officials present continued to remain silent. It was an old routine that had been repeated countless times since the 16th year of Chongzhen.
"Are there any of you who want to donate silver? Those who donate silver will be promoted and given titles!" Chongzhen seemed anxious on the surface, but he had another idea in his heart: My fellow ministers, I have given you a chance. Don't blame me if you can't seize it!
Li Banghua was the first to stand up. He knew that Chongzhen was going to take action.
"I, Li Banghua, was appointed an official in the 31st year of the Wanli reign. All my family's wealth came from the imperial court. Now that the imperial court is in trouble, I am willing to offer all my wealth to help suppress the bandits."
"Good! Li Banghua's loyalty is evident, and I will reward him greatly!" Chongzhen slammed the table and stood up.
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