"Yeah." Zhang Zhou nodded.

Jiang Dezhong smiled and asked: "But it is said that the coal produced is very good. Can we also sell a batch indirectly?"

Zhang Zhoudao: "I am the owner of the coal mine. You only mine it for me. Everything must be allocated by me. Father-in-law, let me make it clear to you. If I find out that you are using coal in private, I will not show any mercy. Your Majesty, please

I'm mining coal in Xishan, and it's a huge profit. Do you think you asked me to move the coal mine to my house? It's all used for making cannons for the court. While we are making money, we must take into account the interests of the court."

"Okay, okay." Jiang Dezhong suddenly became very talkative again.

This also made Zhang Zhou feel that Old Jiang was just a philistine businessman.

There is no need to give Old Man Jiang a good look. The more he adopts a condescending attitude, the more comfortable Old Man Jiang will feel in his heart. Instead, he will look at his face and feel uncomfortable when he comes to the door.

…

…

After Wang Yue's death, there was no movement in the court today.

Liu Jian and Ma Wensheng obviously kept the secret from the outside world. They could not tell whether they told the people close to them, and the ministers in the DPRK did not even think about the incident at Piantou Pass.

After that, Zhang Zhou attended two court meetings, and did not mention anything about the Piantou Pass. However, once Zhu Youtang directly proposed to increase the expenditure on cannon casting.

It was originally agreed that Zhang Zhou would be casting cannons while the household department would be doing the expenses and settlements, but it seems that Zhu Youtang changed his mind and felt that this was not stable enough... In fact, this also showed that Zhu Youtang was uneasy in his heart. , after all, after Piantouguan lost Wang Yue, the entire northwest also lost its "spiritual leader." At this time, just bringing Qin Hong back would not be able to play Wang Yue's role at all.

When Zhu Youtang mentioned the matter of casting cannons in the court hall, he almost revealed his inner thoughts.

Fortunately, Liu Jian came forward to propose further discussion.

Only then did Zhu Youtang stop talking.

After the court meeting, Zhu Youtang called Zhang Zhou to Qianqing Palace, mainly to ask about the current progress of cannon casting.

"...Bingkuan, Zhijie and the others have been away from Beijing for four or five days and have not arrived yet. After much thought, I still feel that it is more appropriate for you to go to Pianguan to take charge of the overall situation. But I am actually indispensable in Beijing. You... I've been in a state of confusion these past two days. Sometimes I suddenly feel an inexplicable anger over the matter in the northwest, and I can't contain it..."

Zhang Zhou thought to himself, are you so angry?

Especially if you are not satisfied in some aspects and start to feel a little... restless? You also say that you are not short of women to comfort you?

If there was only one Queen Zhang, who would be the woman to comfort you?

Or do you want to make you angry?

Zhang Zhou said: "Your Majesty, you will get angry occasionally. This is because you are restless in your heart. In fact, you don't have to worry too much. The walls of Piantou Pass are already under construction, and the Tatars will not dare to invade the territory easily. Even if they invade, the Ming Dynasty The garrison is strong enough to defend against the invading enemy."

"Yeah?"

Zhu Youtang breathed a sigh of relief.

Probably only what Zhang Zhou said could comfort his heart that was like a deer stumbling around.

Zhang Zhou said: "I usually have some inexplicable anger, but fortunately I have a way to deal with it, so I don't take it all to heart."

"Bingkuan, what method did you use?"

Zhu Youtang seriously discussed with Zhang Zhou how to adjust his mood.

Zhang Zhou smiled and shook his head, meaning he couldn't say it.

Dai Yi said anxiously: "Mr. Zhang, why are you so secretive?"

Zhu Youtang raised his hand to interrupt Dai Yi's words and sighed: "Bingkuan, actually, if you don't tell me, I probably know it, so I can only say that it's a family-by-family situation."

Zhu Youtang is still very flexible when it comes to this kind of matter, and he is not a dim-witted person after all.

He could also guess that Zhang Zhou would definitely tell him if he had a method. Since he didn't tell him, it meant that Zhang Zhou's method was not suitable for him... And what did Zhang Zhou have that he, the emperor, did not have? They also had a son and a daughter. , the lifestyle is not fundamentally different!

The biggest difference is that Zhang Zhou's house is very lively, while he only has one Queen Zhang.

"Bingkuan, I have one more thing to do here. It involves the salary of the past few years. I asked people to check the warehouses of the inner palace and found that there are still a lot of spare silk cloth, tea leaves and other tributes. Most of them have been accumulated over the years. There is no use staying in the palace."

"The imperial court has spent a lot of money in the past two years, and the military pay in the northwest cannot be guaranteed. I heard that many officials in the capital are having trouble making ends meet. I want to use the surplus money in the treasury to pay salaries and give them favors. you."

Zhang Zhou thought to himself that this was the emperor's favor to help him win over the ministers.

The salary of the Ming Dynasty was divided into salary meters and salary notes. Especially after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the "color-folding method of salary notes" was implemented.

The true color is salary rice, which can be received basically every month. The true color is divided into monthly rice, folded silk rice, and folded silver rice.

The moon is equal to one stone regardless of the size of the official.

Fold silk, and one piece of silk is worth six coins of silver.

Six cents of silver are equivalent to one stone of rice.

The folding colors are divided into natural-color banknotes and silk-folded banknotes. For silk, twenty shi are folded per meter, and for cloth, ten shi are folded per meter.

For first-class ministers in the imperial court, only 30% of their salary is paid in real terms, which means that only 30% of their monthly salary is paid in real terms. The remaining salary... may be in arrears for several years, and may not be paid even after returning home.

But to live in the capital, officials have official residences, which is not a big problem. However, not everyone has an official residence. They still need to rent a house, especially those who bring their families and have to support them.

Parents'...

The cost of living in the capital is so high. It is good to be able to barely support a family with just a few rice per month. But if you want to buy a new official uniform, or go out to socialize... you are really stretched.

Officials of the Ming Dynasty did not openly bribe bribes such as Bing Jing and Tan Jing. There were private bribes, but one Li Guang's bribery could affect such a big case. This also shows that the Ming Dynasty strictly controls corruption and bribery. In addition,

Many people who work in government offices do not have much real power, so naturally few people offer bribes.

Zhang Zhou said: "Your Majesty, you pay salaries to your officials, what do you have to do with them? I dare not accept this kind of favor."

Zhu Youtang smiled and said: "It's better to give it to you. In fact, these can be folded or not. I originally had to wait for the Ministry of Household Affairs to fold the salary notes, but now that the internal government has more than enough, I will give it to you. Dongchang has already sunk it.

I have done an inventory, and will first use the backlog of salary bills from the past few years to make a difference. If there are any deficiencies... wait until later. Don't take it too seriously, just treat it as an errand for me."

"yes."

…

…

Zhu Youtang wanted to sell Zhang Zhou a favor, and Zhang Zhou accepted it.

At the court meeting the next day, Zhu Youtang directly asked Dai Yi to announce the matter: "... use the Jiazi and other warehouses in the Neifu to store various sundries and give them to the civil and military officers in Beijing, and they will be folded in the seventh to eleventh year of Hongzhi.

Salary money."

The general meaning is that this time it is only the salary before the first year of the discount, not the salary in the twelfth year of Hongzhi.

The officials present were very happy when they heard this.

To be an official in the Ming Dynasty was to give you a bunch of bad checks that could not be cashed. Now that the bad checks are suddenly about to be cashed, I am as happy as picking up money. No matter how righteous and upright I am when I talk about morality, the money I get is actually real.

of.

After the court meeting is over.

Xiao Jing, who was arranged to receive the discounted salary bills, was immediately surrounded by the ministers.

"Eunuch Xiao, I wonder how much the discount can be?"

The ministers also know that it would be great if they can redeem it now. Don't expect to get 10%, even if it is only 10%, you will still make money.

Someone else is asking: "If I transferred my salary money before, can I still get it back?"

Xiao Jing first answered the question from the last "dear brother": "Those who want to exchange salary bills must first have the salary bills in hand, otherwise there will be no need to discuss it."

"How many percent? How many percent?"

A group of people are still asking questions.

Xiao Jing said: "As I said, we will wait until the warehouse inventory is completed before making a decision. Who knows how many there are in total? Each family also reported the number of salary banknotes to be exchanged, and they will all be exchanged according to the proportion. At that time, in addition to rice, silver will be exchanged.

The salary banknotes and the rest that cannot be exchanged must also be brought. It does not mean that you can get more benefits if you report more."

Zhang Zhou watched from the side.

I thought to myself, luckily I am just selling favors, and the specific contact depends on Xiao Jing.

If you ask me to do everything...it will exhaust me to death.
Chapter completed!