September 1, 1590, Beijing.

In the early morning, after the fifth o'clock in the city towers, the silent Beijing city suddenly became lively. The whole city seemed to have come alive. The citizens in the city walked onto the streets and started their leisurely day. Teahouses of all sizes were crowded with people again. Although the scenery was not good every year and refugees gathered in the outside of Beijing, it did not affect the leisurely rhythm of the people in the imperial city that remained unchanged for a hundred years.

However, at this time, in Wenyuan Pavilion in the imperial city, there was no such leisurely atmosphere. Several cabinet ministers sat in the hall, looking at the memorials from all over the place, but were relatively speechless. This Wenyuan Pavilion is located within the Meridian Gate, and the main hall enshrined the statue of Confucius. There are official lofts on both sides. As a special place for cabinet officials such as the Grand Secretary to go directly to work, it became the de facto political center of the Ming Dynasty.

"Disa relief, disaster relief, and disaster relief are also requested!"

Shen Shixing, the chief assistant of Wenyuan Pavilion, stepped up in disarray. Shen Shixing, 55 years old, looks premature. So far this year, he has been in the prime minister for seven years. Compared with the strong character of his former chief assistant Zhang Juzheng, Shen Shixing is relatively leisurely and gentle and humble to others. He is not close to the cliff or sets a strange flag. He is good at everything in front of civil officials and emperors. Whether it is court officials or Emperor Wanli, he regards him as his "personal person".

However, even if Shen Shixing traveled casually, he could not feel at ease when he saw bad news everywhere and memorials asking for money and food. He walked back and forth in the hall, just sighing.

No wonder Shen Shixing was worried. Since he entered the cabinet, there has been no good news in various places in the Ming Dynasty. It is either drought or floods. The disasters in various places seem to be endless. Take this year, there is another large-scale drought in the north, and there are generally poor harvests after the autumn, resulting in countless refugees.

What is particularly frightening is that in April this year, even Huguang, which is regarded as the national granary, experienced famine and starvation everywhere, which is a very bad sign. In June, another disaster occurred in the capital area. After that, the Mongolian Huoluo Chi tribe in Qinghai invaded Lintao again, and Taozhou Deputy General Li Lianfang was wiped out. Then, General Liu Chengsi was defeated again.

Emperor Wanli Zhu Yijun was very angry about all these natural disasters and man-made disasters. He blamed all of them on the counselors, saying that they did not predict the disaster from the successive solar eclipse changes and gave them a year of suspension of their salary. Officials from all over the country were not convinced and wrote letters, including Tang Xianzu, who wrote a letter to the emperor, believing that the responsibility was in charge of the regent minister Shen Shixing and Xu Guo, who stole power and deceived them, rejected dissidents, and suppressed their opinions.

The words in his memorials were fierce. Emperor Wanli was furious when he saw this and demoted him to the Secretariat of Xuwen County, Hainan. He has not been appointed since then. However, it also led to the birth of Tang Xianzu's "Peony Pavilion", which established Tang Xianzu's position as a milestone in the drama. It can be regarded as a blessing and a blessing that hinders the misfortune.

Seeing Shen Shixing's worried look, the second servant Xu Guofu said slowly: "Why bother the elders? Just ask for money and food, just give it to them."

Xu Guo was over 60 years old and had a gray beard, but he was very energetic. He was from She County, Anhui Province. His full official title was Shaobao and the Prince Taibao Minister of Rites, Grand Secretary of Wuying Hall, and served in the three dynasties of Jiajing, Longqing and Wanli. In the 12th year of Wanli, he was promoted to Shaobao and was granted the title of Grand Secretary of Wuying Hall. He also built the only eight-legged archway in Chinese history in his hometown.

Shen Shixing sighed, "Weizhen, the Ministry of Revenue does not have any money and food relief. If there is, I wouldn't be so worried."

Wang Lin, the Minister of Revenue, said: "What the cabinet master said is that the country's filth is increasing day by day, and the salary is huge, and it is already insufficient to cover the daily expenses. This year, Taicang's reserves are only more than three million taels except the old treasury, which is less than two years of compensation." He said, and kept shaking his head and sighing. He, as the Minister of Finance, is difficult to do.

Xu Guoxing said in surprise: "Mr. Wang, has the money and food of the Ministry of Revenue been exhausted to such an extent?"

Wang Lin said with his fingers, "Last year, the annual silver treasury of Taicang was only 3.7875 million, and the annual silver was 4.3535 million. In addition, the tax grain and silver exemption for the famine were required to be compensated by Taicang, which was more than one million taels of deficit. The Ministry of Revenue inspected the warehouses last year and found that there were only more than seven million stones of grain in Beijing, while the monthly grain of the government army reached more than three million stones. In case of leap, more than three hundred thousand stones would be added, which would be less than two years."

His expression seemed worried: "This year, Huguang is famine, and the grain transported to the capital will be reduced. There is insufficient grain storage. If it is not done early, how can the capital take it to it once the grain is exhausted?"

Shen Shixing sighed: "The national strength is difficult and there is no need to provide for it. However, we read the books of sages and sages to share the worries for the king. The relief from various places can only make local officials think of more ways, but the refugees in the capital cannot be taken lightly. I should ask the emperor to ask the emperor to release the second warehouse of the capital to provide relief to the refugees in the capital."

He turned around and said, "I'll wait for the ticket to plan."

※※※

"Hmph, either you want money or food, you will never be able to save me your worries."

In the East Nuan Pavilion, with a "bang", the young emperor Zhu Yijun slapped the imperial case and stood up angrily, scaring the eunuchs on duty on the side that they were on duty did not dare to show up.

When he walked to the entrance of the pavilion, Emperor Wanli breathed a sigh of relief, his face full of fatigue.

In the midst of trouble, droughts in the north were repeated, and there were no grains in many places. The local area had not yet been Jin, and the war in Lintao began again. After a long time, the war was just pacified, and refugees gathered again. Emperor Wanli was overwhelmed and overwhelmed. What made Emperor Wanli even frightened Zhu Yijun, the granary of the Ming Dynasty, Huguang, was that this was not something that the state dynasty had. What happened to the Ming Dynasty.

Whenever there is a famine, officials from all over the country will only ask for money, or they will just curse people. They ask for money and food. Humph, will this money and food fall from the world? After being promoted to the throne for more than ten years, Emperor Wanli found that he had no worries every year. This emperor was tired.

Also, it’s okay to say that the relief matters are still there. In the second warehouse of Jingtong, there is still some grain. The cabinet asked itself to open the warehouse and release grain to help the refugees in the capital, so that it would be more than 100% of the grain in Jingtong. As for the grain in Jingtong, it would be too unwilling to eat it for less than two years.

What made Emperor Wanli a headache was that censors and civil officials from all over the country were about to start making a fuss. According to traditional Chinese sayings, if there were any disasters such as floods and droughts in the world, it would be that there were treacherous officials in the court or the emperor had faults. So the emperor would change into vegetarian clothes, not eat meat or fish, not be close to women, and quietly reflect on his own mistakes. In serious cases, he would also issue some self-criticisms and other edicts.

Of course, disasters occur in various places, and officials in various places think they are fine. They are all loyal ministers. If there is any problem, they must be the ministers in the court, or the current emperor has any faults. Now, a new wave of writings has begun again. Attack you and attack him, some guys actually attack their little wife Concubine Zheng, which is something that Emperor Wanli cannot bear.

Of course, Emperor Wanli Zhu Yijun would not take the blame. He also thought that he was right and that the problem was that those counselors were not able to predict disasters based on the changes in solar eclipse star transformation, so they were punished for one year. Now, it was like stabbing a hornet's nest. Officials from all over the country wrote letters to tell the emperor's right and wrong. Among them, there was the one named Tang Xianzu, and his words were even more excessive. Emperor Wanli demoted him to the Secretariat of Xuwen County, Hainan at that time.

However, the people who wrote the letter still rushed forward and left Emperor Wanli helpless. Over the years, the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty had formed a powerful force, making Emperor Wanli unable to have personal will. In recent years, Emperor Wanli has become a little discouraged and is increasingly alienated from the civil servants, and even the cabinet ministers in the cabinet have received fewer and fewer receptions.

Emperor Wanli sighed for a while and returned to the front of the case. At this time, a eunuch carefully brought in with a stack of memorials. Some of them were secret reports from Jinyi Guards from all over the country. Emperor Wanli would be more interested.

Compared to the memorials that only complain about asking for money or selling straightforward memorials, these secret reports from the Jinyiwei are more interesting. While monitoring various places, there are also some descriptions of the customs of various places, so that they can control the world without leaving the deep palace. Especially the Wuzhai Fort and the actions of the small thousand-household Huang Laifu made Emperor Wanli smile every time after reading it.

A few days ago, a secret report said that Huang Laifu's crops in the hundreds of thousands of acres of land in Wuzhai Fort were growing well, which was beyond the expectations of Emperor Wanli. In the current Ming Dynasty, it is also considered an alien.

At this time, in a stack of secret reports from Jinyi Guard, there was a secret report about Wuzhai Fort. While Emperor Wanli picked it up, he had some expectations in his heart for some reason.

Opening the secret report, Emperor Wanli read it once. He couldn't believe his eyes. He rubbed his eyes and then looked carefully. Finally, he laughed out loud and stood up suddenly: "Okay, okay, what a Huang Laifu, a small Qianhu, who is so capable."

After hearing what Emperor Wanli said, immediately, the ears of several eunuchs on duty were raised high.

Emperor Wanli walked around the pavilion, his previous depression was wiped out, and he just said excitedly: "Okay, what a Huang Laifu."

This secret report on Huang Laifu, a thousand households in Wuzhai Fort, gave Emperor Wanli great confidence. It was indeed not that he had lost his morality, but that the officials from all over the country were too incompetent. Under the same natural disaster situation, the bitter and cold land of Wuzhai Fort could harvest hundreds of thousands of stones of grain, which not only could meet the needs of the soldiers of the entire fort, but also had the ability to transport hundreds of thousands of stones of grain out of the fertile land, but those fertile lands were not harvested. What does this mean? Those officials were incompetent and dereliction of duty.

Like a heart-strengthening needle, the tiredness on Emperor Wanli's face was wiped out and became energetic. He talked to himself for a while, and suddenly stopped, saying, "Summon, Liu Shouyou, the governor of the Jinyiwei, to meet him."

He paused and sneered, "Also, call Shen Shixing and others!" (To be continued. If you want to know what happens next, please log in to www.qidian.com. There are more chapters, support the author and support genuine reading!) (To be continued)
Chapter completed!