"Catch a few businessmen?" Min Ruoying sneered: "It's just a drop in the bucket, can it relieve the thirst in front of us?"

"I can't solve it!" Lian Bo smiled bitterly: "Your Majesty, the autumn fu and autumn harvest had just been collected, but it was just a turn of the imperial court, and it was returned to the Ming Kingdom in a blink of an eye. Some time ago, we had just negotiated with the Ming people for the next stage of the loan plan, and the first batch of funds were in place. Your Majesty, if you turn against the Ming people publicly, you may not be able to pass this winter this year. Not to mention anything else, the salaries of officials alone cannot be paid, let alone the salaries of the army."

Min Ruoying's face turned black.

"Sinceremony, how do you play this family?"

Ma Xiangnan lowered his head and was speechless. At this point, Da Chu really couldn't blame him. In the battle with Qi, hundreds of thousands of troops were either destroyed or defeated, and the wealth accumulated during the period of the former emperor Min Wei was lost all the time. This was not the most troublesome. The aftermath of the war was even more important. The hundreds of thousands of soldiers involved many families and pensions, and the loss of the large number of strong men was far better than the military expenses. The Jinghu resistance to Qi, which lasted for several years, emptied Da Chu step by step, to the point where he had to rely on borrowing to survive the day. If the Ming people had not reached out at this time, Jinghu would have been unable to support it.

The Ming people took advantage of the situation and he was in the south. He knew that he was drinking the dove to quench his thirst, but he had to bite the bullet and drink it. This was a vicious cycle. He watched the State of Chu slide into the abyss step by step, but he was unable to turn the world back.

If there was no such a big defeat, that would be great. I dreamed of it late at night, and he was sweating all over, and he couldn't help but regret it. Unfortunately, there is no medicine for regret in this world.

In attacking Qi, not only the wish of Emperor Min Ruoying, but also the wish of those who supported Min Ruoying in the past. So now, he is neither powerless nor willing to refute the emperor's accusations, because as the chief minister, he has an unshirkable responsibility.

"Your Majesty, it's not the time to turn against each other publicly. At least, we have to wait for us to take a breath." He took a long breath, "Now without the military threat from Qi, the military costs of the six eastern counties can be greatly reduced. What we need to do next is to vigorously develop the domestic people's livelihood economy and get rid of the economic dependence on the Ming people step by step."

"The chief assistant, the Ming people are cunning. I am afraid that when we start to move, they will immediately stuck our necks. Not to mention anything else, they don't pay us the next second amount on time. We can't get through this winter!" Lianbo spread his hands and said. "Your Majesty, the Imperial Heaven Supervision has warned that this winter will cause heavy snow to cause disasters! Now we have not even settled the funds for the disaster."

Ma Xiangnan also looked sad.

"This year, Bian Wenzhong has eliminated the bandits in most places. Apart from that small group of places, our Great Chu should have been clear and clear. Why is it like this now?" Min Ruoying asked angrily.

"Your Majesty, the bandits are indeed fair, but these places are not considered large areas for grain production. If the weather is good, these places will still be surplus. However, in recent years, the strong men have lost too much, and the bandits have suffered another. Although the bandits have been fair now, the fields are too deserted. This year, it is a blessing that these places can be self-sufficient, and they are even more frustrated about being able to adjust grain and money. Jiangnan..." Ma Xiangnan sighed.

"What's wrong with Jiangnan? Jiangnan has always been a grain-producing area. Although there are still some places that are causing bandits, Bian Wenzhong gathers heavily in Jiangnan. What big noise can some bandits cause?" Min Ruoying asked.

"Your Majesty, the problem is not here, but the problem lies with the Ming people." Ma Xiangnandao.

"Speaking of this, Jiangnan has always been the area we focus on, and the amounts transferred to the national treasury every year have increased over the years?" Min Ruoying asked sternly.

"Your Majesty, Jiangnan is no longer the previous Jiangnan. The root cause of the disaster comes first from Geng Jingming, who is currently the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue of the Ming Dynasty." Ma Xiangnandao: "In his early years, this man's biggest move was to sell large quantities of silk from the Jiangnan of our Great Chu to Ming, Qin, Qi and other countries. Later, he even joined forces with many merchants from our Chu State to contract mountains and forests, open silk factories, weaving factories, and monopolize silk sales. In a few years, he became the richest man in the Ming Dynasty."

"To put it seriously, he made money, didn't I, Chu Ren, also made money?" Min Ruoying said impatiently.

"Your Majesty, later, the Ming people's navy was established and controlled the sea route. Silk began to pour out in large quantities overseas. The demand for silk overseas was extremely high, resulting in the price of finished silk products and even raw silk. The merchants naturally went for profit. In order to pursue more wealth, most areas in the south of the Yangtze River destroyed farmland and changed to plant mulberry and silkworms. Now, the grain in Jiangnan cannot be supplied to other places as in the past, and they cannot even be self-sufficient. They already need to buy grain from outside." Ma Xiangnan's voice became heavier. "In the past two years, the Ming people exported a large amount of grain to our Dachu. The merchants transported grain from Ming land and then transported raw silk and silk from Jiangnan."

Min Ruoying was shocked and angry: "Why are you talking about such a thing now?"

"Your Majesty, the national treasury was empty at the beginning, and Jiangnan had to grow mulberry, silkworms, silk, weaving cloth, which could be exchanged for a large amount of silver. These silver money could effectively supplement the emptiness of the national treasury. Although we knew it was inappropriate, we could not help but watch all this happen." Ma Xiangnan's voice became lower and lower, "Now we discovered that the evil intentions of the Ming people were so vicious that it could be said that the heavens and man were working together. Once we had a public engagement with them, they only needed to cut off the food supply of our Great Chu. Jiangnan and other places would immediately have a famine. Although silk is valuable, it cannot be eaten as food. If the Ming people don't come to buy it, these things will be worthless. Your Majesty, once a famine occurs, there will be an unexpected disaster. The rebellion of Yue State began in the Changyang Molo Rebellion, and the Molo Rebellion could cause such a great momentum because of the hungry people!"

"The viciousness of my intention can be seen from this, and from this, it can be seen from this!" Min Ruoying was powerless and angry. He looked at his ministers and said, "The Ming people have achieved this point. If my Great Chu does not rise up and strengthen itself, will the Great Chu still be the Great Chu in a few years? I am afraid that the Ming people can occupy the territory of my Great Chu without any effort at that time?"

Everyone was silent. In fact, everyone here knew better than Min Ruoying's current bad situation.

"The chief assistant, the land in Jiangnan must change, cut off mulberry trees and restore the cultivated land. The court sent a special person to him. Officials stopped him, kill officials, merchants stopped him, and killed merchants. Whoever dared to stop him, would kill him. Start immediately, starting from now on, next year's spring sowing, I will see that at least more than half of the cultivated land in Jiangnan must be restored." Min Ruoying said with murderous aura.

"Yes!" Ma Xiangnan nodded.

"The state taxation will only be allowed to be collected from next year." Min Ruoying said sternly: "Lianbo, whenever the transactions with the Ming people in the future involve national taxation, using the Great Chu money to settle is our bottom line. Do you understand?"

"I understand Your Majesty." Lian Bo nodded in a heavy mood. This is an extremely difficult task. How to complete it, he didn't have much confidence in his heart. After all, the initiative is in the hands of others. Unless the Great Chu moves, the problem is that Great Chu is now unable to move. Or he can only play rogues." Your Majesty, although our policies are all our internal affairs, once these actions are made, the Ming people will definitely know that our Great Chu is consciously targeting them, and they will inevitably borrow it to make things difficult for us. We will definitely not get the second payment on time. This winter..."

"We must not be led by them." Min Ruoying stood up and walked back and forth around the house a few times: "Anyang, Xinning has developed very well in recent years. These remote places in the past, which were once the Great Chu, now have some meaning of a paradise. I informed Zhu Yi and Wu Teng to send money and grain to the court and help the court overcome this difficulty."

"Your Majesty, Anyang and Xinning are now the highest taxes in the Great Chu counties, and they have paid the taxes this year. If you want them to pay, I'm afraid..." Ma Xiangnan said in embarrassment.

"Tell them that the country is in danger and everyone needs to work together. Since the collection has been completed this year, let them pre-pay next year in advance. If the court recovers next year, they can pay less." Min Ruoying said without any doubt.

"Yes, Your Majesty, the old minister will personally write a letter to talk to the two county magistrates." Ma Xiangnan said helplessly. Anyang and Xinning are a bit special. Zhu Yi has a different place. Guan Hongyu, as the garrison general, and Xinning is Wu Teng's military and political comments. That is a real powerful faction. More importantly, both places are now bordering the Ming people. The reason why Xinning County has its current situation is because of vigorously developing trade between Ming and Ming Izuyun County, which was the only land channel from Ming to Chu. And Anyang is now working with Qinghe County, Ming Kingdom, to open up the Luoying Mountains and build a thoroughfare in the coniferous mountains. If the county magistrates and Ming people in these two places are as clean as clear water, he would not believe it if he was killed.

"From now on, what our Great Chu wants to do is to clean up the infiltration of the Ming people into our Great Chu step by step. I will send special envoys to Chu State. Now they will be happy to help us. We need money and food and external support." Min Ruoying said: "In China, first of all, we go to the capital and start cleaning up the Ming people's spies, Lei Wei, Tong Qiang. Don't you all want to be the commander of the inner guard? Who can get more money and food for the court, and who can capture more Ming people's spies? Then the commander of the inner guard is his. What I want is talent, not a bucket."
Chapter completed!