"What couplet?" Wang Yongji asked, staring into Ma Chaoxing and Hu Dedi's eyes.
Seeing that there was no one else around, Ma Chaoxing whispered to Wang Yongji, "The first couplet is: The earth shakes the high hills, and the streams and mountains are beautiful through the ages."
"What about the second line?" Wang Yongji asked again.
"The second line is: The door faces the sea, and the water of Sanhe River flows for ten thousand years." Hu Dedi replied.
"The ground is high and the hills are high... The gate faces the sea..." Wang Yongji silently repeated it several times and bowed to the two of them. "What a good couplet. I will take note of it."
"There is one more thing," Ma Chaoxing said to Wang Yongji, "We don't want to be in the spotlight, so we hope the governor won't mention our names in the newspaper. Just say that the people in the city can't stand the oppression of the Jiannu and are taking advantage of the chaos to start a rebellion."
"The Governor promises you!" Wang Yongji raised his glass again.
After the banquet, Wang Yongji personally escorted the two out of the tent.
Back in the tent, Wang Yongji picked up paper and pen and began to write official documents to the court.
Although this official document was very long, it did not mention the names of Ma Chaoxing and Hu Dedi, but only wrote their surnames.
He did this for two reasons.
First, the other party took the initiative to ask for it, and he could not agree to it in front of the other party and then break the contract behind their back.
Second, the court must not be informed of these people.
When the court knows about this, two types of people in the court will have two different opinions.
Those who support him would say that the Ping Liao army was deeply loved by the people and that the common people spontaneously organized themselves to resist the Jiannu.
Those who oppose him would say that this was Yongji's counter-espionage plot and that these people were spies planted by him.
The words may seem to be good, but when they come out of the mouths of certain people in the court, they are no longer good words.
They would use various ways to imply that if Wang Yongji could plant spies in Jinzhou City, he could also plant spies in the capital and the imperial city.
Can Chongzhen still sleep peacefully after knowing this?
Of course, Chongzhen might not believe it.
However, whether he believed it or not, it would make Chongzhen feel resentful. If Wang Yongji made a mistake in the future, he would most likely lose Chongzhen's trust.
So Wang Yongji decided to keep it secret for the time being.
Anyway, the court couldn’t verify it.
On the tenth day of September in the twenty-third year of Chongzhen, he handed the completed official document to the messenger and asked them to deliver it to the capital overnight.
Jinzhou is about nine hundred miles away from the capital.
Since a post station had been set up in the rear, the news was delivered to the capital in just two days.
On the afternoon of September 12, Chongzhen was worrying about money.
In early September, the Yellow River flooded, causing disasters in five downstream counties in Shandong.
According to the standard of 50,000 taels of silver per county for disaster relief, a total of 250,000 taels of silver will be spent.
This is just the money for disaster relief. If the expenses for building river embankments are added, the total expenditure will be as high as 600,000 to 800,000 taels of silver.
You have to know that this money was not included in the expenditure budget at the beginning of the year.
The imperial court was already in deficit, and now it had to spend hundreds of thousands of taels of silver more. One can imagine the pressure Chongzhen was under.
Gao Shiming, the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department, was brewing tea for Chongzhen. "Don't worry, Your Majesty. As the saying goes, things will straighten themselves out when they reach the bridge. There are still two and a half months to go before the New Year's Day! Xie Sanbin, the Minister of Revenue, sent a message yesterday that he has asked Song Quan, the Imperial Censor of Salt, to find a way to raise money for disaster relief."
"Well," Chongzhen picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea, then stared at Gao Shiming and asked, "Do you think...is there anything strange about this flood?"
Gao Shiming did not dare to talk nonsense, and replied cautiously: "Your Majesty, the Yellow River has an autumn flood every year. I think it is a natural disaster, not a man-made disaster."
Just as Chongzhen was about to ask again, hurried footsteps were heard outside the hall.
"Good news! Great victory in Jinzhou!" Wang Chengen ran into the Qianqing Palace holding an official document.
He ran to the front and knelt on both knees: "Your Majesty, a great victory in Jinzhou!"
"Present it!" Chongzhen smiled reluctantly.
He was the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and his every word and action would cause the eunuchs and ministers below to speculate.
If he showed any unhappiness at this time and the news got out, Wang Yongji would be severely impeached.
Gao Shiming hurriedly took the official document from Wang Chengen and presented it to Chongzhen with both hands.
After opening it and taking a look, Chongzhen began to suck his teeth non-stop.
Wang Yongji's official document is very long...
It grew to the point where Wang Yongji wrote a lot of meaningless nonsense in official documents.
After reading it, Chongzhen pointed at the document and said to Gao Shiming and Wang Chengen: "Take a look and guess what Wang Yongji is going to do!"
Gao Shiming quickly walked to the front of the document and read it through. After reading it, he gave up his seat to let Wang Chengen read it.
After Wang Chengen finished reading, Gao Shiming said, "If I am not mistaken, Wang Yongji should want to ask for money for the merits of the soldiers, but he is embarrassed to ask for it openly."
"That's what I think too." Wang Chengen said very cunningly.
Although he could not guess the other meaning of the official document, it did not affect his idea of plagiarizing Gao Shiming.
Gao Shiming was so angry that his eyes were wide open. If it weren't for Chongzhen's face, he would have rushed up to have things clear with Wang Chengen.
"Haha," Chongzhen smiled lightly, "Soldiers can win battles only if they risk their lives. It is reasonable to reward them with silver after winning a battle. The money they deserve should not be reduced by a penny."
"Your Majesty is wise!" Gao Shiming and Wang Chengen flattered him very skillfully.
Before the two men could stand up, the eunuch's voice rang out from outside the palace: "Your Majesty, the chief minister Fan Jingwen, cabinet ministers Xie Sanbin and Wang Jiayan request to see you."
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