My God, I am the emperor, the lord of mankind.

Chapter 126
No matter what the cost!

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"Secret order, Guo Xun, commander of the Chuanfu Army's vanguard, led the vanguard to Central Asia to search for Genghis Khan's remains and wait for an opportunity to awaken the destiny of the previous dynasty——"

"Summon Magellan, the envoy of the Western Frankish Kingdom, to the palace for an audience——"

As Huang Jinyou's long, high-pitched voice came.

Under the protection of two Imperial Guards, Magellan, who had just escaped from the pursuit of the White Lotus Sect with the help of the Ming Dynasty officials, limped into Zhu Houcong's temporary residence in Xiyuan with a staggering pace due to his injuries. In another courtyard.

When he first entered this place, even when he breathed the air of Xiyuan, Magellan only felt it was sweet.

Taking a sip is like swallowing fairy medicine, and the whole person feels like a dream, as if he is in a fairyland.

"Envoy? Envoy?"

The shouts of the Imperial Guards beside him finally made him recover.

"Feel sorry--"

Magellan said in half-baked Mandarin.

"Please come inside to see His Majesty."

The Imperial Army opened the door of the small courtyard that looked very ordinary to the side for him.

Magellan laughed dryly and walked inside, but soon he was invited out by the forbidden soldiers inside.

The interior is sparsely furnished, with only two chairs in the courtyard.

At this time, a young man was lying on a recliner, taking advantage of his free time today to review the memorial sent by the cabinet.

In front of him, there were a group of gray-haired old men kneeling neatly in front of him.

At this time, the atmosphere in the courtyard was serious.

Magellan recognized that the officials kneeling on the ground were wearing red official robes that could only be worn by the group of people in this country called Ge Lao, the actual controllers of this country.

It is said that each of them is a well-educated man who not only knows how to govern the country, but also knows astronomy and geography. They are not only bureaucrats, but also scientists, military strategists, politicians, philosophers and many other titles.

They are called Great Confucians by Confucian scholars all over the world. They are not only the idols and spiritual leaders of all Confucian disciples, but also the sacrifices of the country's faith.

But now, they knelt down in front of the young man in front of them, not daring to express their anger.

After a long silence, under the eyes of everyone, as the chief minister of the cabinet, Liang Chu could only bite the bullet and reject the unreasonable demands of the little emperor on behalf of the cabinet members.

"This year, the imperial court conquered the southwest for nine months, but the imperial court had to go to various places to collect grain and grass and mobilize troops half a year in advance... Although they won, it was a big expense to resettle the refugees, let them return to their hometown, and organize production. In addition, the Ministry of Rites offers sacrifices to heaven..."

Liang Chu tried his best to make his words less harsh.

In a word, the court has no money.

"There are thousands of palaces in His Majesty's Palace, all of which are His Majesty's residences. Why is it necessary to build a palace in Xiyuan and waste people's money? If Your Majesty feels that the palace in the palace is dilapidated, I can ask the Ministry of Industry to draw up a charter for each palace and garden. Renovations will be carried out, but if they are newly renovated... not only will it affect His Majesty’s Qing Dynasty, but it will also be too late in time - "

After hearing what the Chief Assistant said, the surrounding cabinet ministers looked at each other and expressed that the Chief Assistant's move was brilliant!
It not only refutes the emperor's unreasonable demands, but also does not embarrass the emperor too much.

It's one step back and two steps forward.

But for the sake of his own safety, Zhu Houcong still insisted that he should stay away from the palace as much as possible.

At least stay away from some destiny in the southern suburbs.

Zhu Houcong did not answer directly, but stared at the people in front of him and replied quietly:
"I only wear eight sets of regular clothes in four seasons. I change them from dry to wet. I wear clothes for the vassal king, envoys, officials, and soldiers. I use them sparingly to meet the needs of the military and the country. I always think about the difficulties of the country and the difficulties of the people's livelihood-" Your family My father is living a hard life!I don't even want to change my clothes, and I go to fight every day. In the end, it takes so much trouble for you to build a palace.

Your emperor doesn't even have a place to live now, so you guys can figure it out.

Moreover, Zhu Houcong took out a set of account books from the side.

"Chilunfa has suffered from cholera in the southwest for many years. This time, 800 million taels of silver were confiscated during the house raid. Other items such as land, carriages, horses, money, and silk were converted into as much as 2000 million taels of silver. This year, the Ministry of Household Affairs went to Jiangnan to track down large households. For the tax arrears, 3000 million taels were recovered just to recover the arrears. In fact, the expedition to the southwest lasted for at most half a year. The rest was spent on marching, and 500 million taels were spent to repay the capital officials. Since I came to the throne, I have owed 500 million taels, and it has cost me another 60 million taels to clear the arrears of the 500 soldiers on the nine sides. As for you building river embankments for the people today, raising food and money for relief, even if you spent 1000 million taels - —The treasury has a surplus this year~"

Zhu Houcong sighed.

Now that everything has been said, what else can a few people say.

After all, these Ming people know very well how the money collected from the south was collected.

It was all because they were afraid of the Emperor Longwei, and the local powerful were afraid that the imperial court would take the opportunity to settle old scores and deal with themselves, so they actively donated money to exchange for peace.

I can only express my wisdom with a wry smile.

"Well, this year, except for those who go to the southwest as usual, the salary of all officials this year will be postponed for half a month. The various ministries will pool together and come up with 300 million taels to build the Longevity Palace in Xiyuan for Your Majesty."

Seeing that the atmosphere was not right, Jiang Mian quickly suggested.

"As for the salary arrears of the officials, please ask the imperial court to liquidate the Silun family's property, sell the things, and exchange the money for them to be paid together. If there is really difficulty, at most, we in the cabinet can help. …”

Yuan Zonggao, who was kneeling on the ground, moved his lips and wanted to say something.

The Silun family's property was far away in the southwest, and it would take a lot of time for the court to find out.

It will be distributed to the capital officials after it is sold. You may not know what year it will be by then.

But the emperor's slightly joyful "goodness" above his head forced him to swallow the words in his mouth again.

"But all the officials are my ministers, and it's almost the end of the year. Their wages are in arrears. How should they celebrate the New Year? According to my decree, this year the trade volume between the Ministry of Rites and the tributary countries will no longer be limited. If you add up the six departments, they will The imperial court will give them as much as they can eat...in exchange for the money, they will be distributed to the officials in the capital, and they will also have a good New Year."

"Your father is holy!"

Everyone shouted in unison.

The face is delighted.

Zhu Houcong had long planned to open this hole, so that in the future the Ming court would be able to trade directly with surrounding countries through the Ministry of Rites.

Whether it is trade by sea or on the road, it will be a huge source of wealth. The country can make money personally, and it can also crack down on the smuggling forces in the south of the Yangtze River and the Great Wall in the north.

What happened today was just a pretext. Zhu Houcong never thought of taking advantage of the Ming Dynasty's treasury.

But - if one day I really need it, you can't really deny it!
"Everyone in the pavilion is getting old. Lu Fang, please send me a message to all the pavilion elders!"

Zhu Houcong ordered.

Lu Fang walked down with a smile upon hearing this, helped Liang Chu up and walked out.

Seeing the eunuch, the chief eunuch of the Supervisor of Ceremonies, reaching out to help him, Liang Chu naturally didn't dare to really let him help him, so he stood up quickly.

Other cabinet members could only thank En and leave behind.

After everyone dispersed, Zhu Houcong turned his attention to Magellan.

"Come on... tell me how you got to Ming Dynasty!"

(End of this chapter)