Dongjiang Mi Lane, Ministry of Revenue.

At the invitation of Wu Shan, senior officials including Guo Pu, Minister of Personnel, Yan Ne, Minister of Rites, Zhang Yongming, Minister of Justice, Lei Li, Minister of Works, Fan En, and other senior officials were present.

Although these nine officials of the tribes are collectively called the Six Divisions and Nine Ministers, they often do not call themselves the Six Divisions or Nine Ministers.

The Minister of Personnel holds the power of promotion to all officials, and some people can challenge the chief minister, so they usually regard themselves as the Minister of Personnel. Because they are from the minister of the Ministry of Rites, they are often only one step away from entering the cabinet, so they are also disdainful to support the six ministers. The title of the Minister of Works and the Minister of Justice will only call itself the Six Ministry.

Although the left censor of the Censorate of the Censorate did not belong to the Six Divisions, his status was above the Dali Temple Minister and Tongzheng Envoy, so he called himself the Seven Ministers. Only Dali Temple Minister and Tongzheng Envoy would call himself the Nine Ministers. .

This is essentially the Great Jiuqing, and the Xiaojiuqing is the Taichang Temple Minister, the Taipu Temple Minister, the Guanglu Temple Minister, the Hanlin Scholar, the Honglu Temple Minister, the Imperial College Priest, the Yuanma Temple Minister, and the Shangbao Si. You.

However, there is never a fixed degree of official positions, and they are often viewed in combination with various factors, and the situation is often more complicated.

In theory, Guo Pu, the Minister of Personnel, was supreme, but Wu Shan, the Minister of Revenue, was stronger than him in his qualifications and reputation. Yan Ne, the Minister of Rites, was supported by Xu Jie, so these three people have their own merits.

These nine court officials gathered in the hall, followed the imperial edict and discussed financial management matters together.

Wu Shan was from the rank of first-rank prince and the initiator of this conference. With his background and qualifications, he was already qualified to sit in the first seat.

Because the saints are obsessed with Xuan Cultivation and are even more unwilling to be disturbed, these things that should have been discussed in front of the imperial court and the emperor must be held in the ritual hall at this moment.

However, the emperor is not reliable today, but the ministers below still have to behave properly and everything must be organized.

But Wu Shan, wearing a first-class official uniform, asked someone to set up an incense table, read an imperial edict aloud, then put it on the high table, and then led all the officials to bow to him.

After the ceremony was held, Wu Shan sent someone to send tea and said loudly to everyone: "I am hereby the emperor's will, and I will discuss financial management matters with you. Please speak freely!"

After hearing this, everyone looked at me and looked at you, but the whole lobby suddenly became quiet.

Guo Pu is the Minister of Personnel and is deeply favored by the emperor. Even if the emperor wants to blame it, it is not his turn, so he sat there and drank tea quietly.

When Zhang Yongming first came, he also knew that it was better to have less than more things. Moreover, he had just arrived, and it was impossible for the board to hit him suddenly, so it was a matter of nothing to do.

Yang Bo and Fan En are both old men in the officialdom. They know the principle of shooting a bird with a gun. Holding a teacup is like an old monk entering into a state of meditation.

No one else chose to speak rashly. No one who could get into this position was a fool. Everyone knew that these things were thankless.

If things were really easy to solve, the Ming Dynasty's finances would not have fallen to such a level. It is difficult to get money from wherever one party wants to move the interests of any party at the moment, and they may even offend others.

Wu Shan looked at the people present without saying a word. Although he had long expected this situation, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart. All the people present were familiar with the books of sages, and they usually looked loyal and patriotic. Now When the country needs them, they all become turtles.

After secretly discussing, he turned his eyes to Yan Ne, the Minister of Rites, and said, "Yanbutang, you have always been knowledgeable and talented. Your former article "The Strategy for Gathering Finance" has become famous in the capital. Please speak freely this time!"

Everyone looked at Yan Ne. This person who was favored by the emperor and to some extent represented Xu Jie, and it was indeed appropriate for him to speak first.

"Shangshu Wu praised it! There is something unknown to the subordinate, so please tell me!" Yan Ne gave a humble salute and then answered the question that he was not asking.

Wu Shan asked everyone to speak freely today, and immediately smiled at Yan Ne's gaze and said, "But it's okay!"

Guo Pu and others were also confused and looked at Yan Ne one after another, wondering which Yan Mazi was going to sing.

Yan Ne asked in confusion in response to the curious eyes of everyone, "Shangshu Wu, hasn't this been transported to the capital just now? Why can't he build the Qingxin Palace?"

Wu Shan looked at Yan Ne suspiciously and sighed: "The military pay from the Nine Borders has been delayed to this day, and it is already urgent! Although the first batch of summer grains arrived in Beijing, they all have to be transported to Xuanfu, otherwise the border will be

Restless!"

When answering this, Wu Shan was full of doubts. This matter was no longer a secret. Yan Ne, who was wearing a pair of pants with Xu Jie, could not know, but he didn't know why Yan Ne suddenly asked it knows.

Just the next second, he knew what was going on. Zuodu Censor Fanen immediately complained: "This military pay will cost another hundreds of thousands, so it's really time to save a lot!"

"Mr. Zongxian said this is great. Although military pay is related to the peace of the northern border, the border troops now have many problems. The current court's finances are not abundant and should not be wasted!" Yan Ne immediately agreed.

Guo Pu and others looked at Yan Ne and Fan En thoughtfully, and watched the two sing and joining each other, they knew that these two people were prepared.

Looking at the current dynasty, no matter whether it is grain tax or salt tax, it cannot be further imposed. As for the sudden idea of ​​opening silver mines, it has been proven that it is impossible. If you insist on making money on your income, you will inevitably offend others.

, and even gained a bad reputation.

In fact, this financial management is still working hard to "save". Deducting the vassal of the country is undoubtedly the most effective method, but such things cannot be put on the table. Official salaries, water conservancy project expenses and palace expenses, etc.

, these are not suitable to mention. As for the proposal of the emperor to reduce the expenses for construction of Taoism, no one dared to joke about his black hat.

No one expected that Xu Dang would actually plan to make a fuss about military pay when facing the emperor's problems.

"Soldier pay is related to the stability of the border. Do you really want the Ming Dynasty to suffer a disaster?" Yang Bo, Minister of War, raised objections.

Yang Bo, a native of Shanxi, was a Jinshi in the eighth year of Jiajing. He was only twenty years old and was successful at a young age. He was initially appointed as the magistrate of Yufei and was transferred to Chang'an. He was later recruited as the head of the Qing Lishu Department of the Ministry of War and was also appointed as the position of the Ministry of War.

The Qing official department was transferred to the deputy envoy of Shandong Taixue, and was transferred to the position of governor of grain and governor of Gansu. After returning from mourning, he was awarded the right assistant minister of the Ministry of War, and was later transferred to the position of governor of the left assistant minister of the Ministry of War, Ji Liao.

He returned to the court and served as Minister of War and was later transferred to the position of Governor of Ji Liao. He returned to the court and served as Minister of War and was appointed as Prince Taishi.

Although Yang Bo is only in his fifties, he is already a veteran in the officialdom and has a deeper qualification than many of the people present, especially in the Ministry of War.

At the moment, Xu Dang wanted to get interested in military pay, his face immediately became restrained and he looked at Yan Ne and Fan En angrily.

"Shangshu Yang, please be careful not to be impatient!" Yan Ne naturally did not want to have a conflict with Yang Bo, so he immediately comforted him.

Fan En is the oldest qualification and said seriously with a stern face: "We did not say we were not guarding, but now the border army is full of ills. Now the emperor cannot even squeeze out money to cultivate the Qingxin Palace. Shouldn't the Ministry of War be there?

The division power? Or, the Ministry of War is the territory you made by Yang Wei, will the court fail to rectify it?”

Not only did this come out of the emperor, but he also took out his righteousness. Yang Bo was immediately refuted and quickly denied it.

But he knew in his mind that if the court really wanted to rectify the ills of the border army, it would undoubtedly be a good thing. But the current starting point is to reduce the military pay of the border army. No matter what means it is used, the reduction is actually the combat effectiveness of the border army.

It is said that Hu Zongxian is a military god of a generation, but he disagreed with it. If Hu Zongxian had not received the support of Yan Song and had allocated a large amount of military expenditure and military funds to Hu Zongxian, how could Hu Zongxian have the ability to wipe out the Japanese pirates in the southeast?

At present, the military pay of border troops is reduced, let alone to recover Hetao, facing the Mongolian army, they can only defend the city and protect themselves.

Lei Li, the Minister of Works, frowned slightly and immediately opposed: "I have never served in the Ministry of War, but now Mongolian cavalry repeatedly invade the border and loots the people on the border every year. We should increase the supply of military pay, so how can we deduct it?"

"Since you are not from a military corps, you can't think of discussing military affairs, so as not to be laughed at!" Fanen immediately confronted him and said jokingly: "The court allocated millions of military salaries to the nine borders every year, but the defense line every year

It's like a false act. Now I heard that the generals of the border army have done many greedy acts, and they have deducted the military salary or reported the soldiers to cheat the money. These are all kinds of bad diseases? Taizu said: I raise a million soldiers, and I don't spend a piece of money among the people.

Mi. Now all the soldiers from the nine borders are lazy in the court and absorb marrow from the people. How can we not correct them?"

The voice was not loud, but it seemed full of energy, and the expression was coordinated properly, just like a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty.

At the end of the day, Fan En looked at the hall with deep affection, but unfortunately he was destined to be disappointed. There was only the imperial edict on it and no Jiajing was seen.

As soon as he finished speaking, the Minister of the Dali Temple and Zuo Tongzheng nodded repeatedly and said, "This is a good thing. Our Taizu created a self-sufficient military camp. How can the court spend millions of taels of military pay to allocate to the nine borders every year?

This military pay is indeed going to be reduced!"

Lei Li frowned slightly, but finally said nothing.

But it was not that he recognized the other party's point of view, but that he suddenly realized that the court had already surnamed Xu Bu's surname. He was destined to be liquidated, and his point of view was destined not to be adopted.

Not to mention the situation of the border army, it is a common practice for the court to allocate military pay to the border army. In order to achieve the goal of deducting military pay, these people are simply talking nonsense here.

This military camp has been destroyed in name only, and those military camps have long been occupied by nobles and gentry. In the past, the eunuch Liu Jin wanted to reorganize the military camp, but was attacked by all officials, and eventually he was punished by slander for his rebellion.

Nowadays, Fan En dares to promote self-sufficient military garrisons. Why didn’t Liu Jin, who originally proposed to reorganize military garrisons and return those occupied military garrisons to the military households?

But Lei Li knew very well that the court had long been corrupted to the bottom of the matter, and he could not wake up a group of people pretending to be asleep. These ministers were all determined to sacrifice the border defense forces of the Nine Borders to please the emperor.

"How do you plan to rectify it?" Yang Bo asked with a stern face, controlling his emotions.

Obviously, he had chosen to make concessions, after all, Yan Ne and Fan En represent Xu Jie's will to a certain extent.

Fan En exchanged his eyes with Yan Ne, and Yan Ne smiled and said, "Shangshu Yang, please rest assured! I only hope to punish some greedy generals. At the same time, the border troops should not be mobilized frequently, so as to save some money and food for the court.

Use all the money and food on the blade.”

Huh?

However, Guo Pu, the Minister of Personnel, did not expect that the Xu Party would purge the border generals. Out of sensitivity to personnel changes, he immediately looked at Yang Bo thoughtfully and even smelled a trace of conspiracy.

Yang Bo's face had no expression, but he said in anger: "The Hebei Bank of China in the canal transport has been cut too much, so we have to save a lot of money!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Yan Ne and others looked at Guo Pu with gaze. After all, the new governor of Cao Transport was his.

"I agree! But the amount of grain in this garrison is unclear. Now that the summer grain has been harvested, should we count it?" Guo Pu nodded gently, but changed his mind.

Wu Shan, who was sitting in the first seat, was drinking tea silently. Listening to these guys expressing their opinions, they were all guys who didn't say a word just now, and they all came prepared.

But he is also Mingxiao. If there was no dispute or conflict of interest, no one would say anything, and no one would easily do things that offend others.

It has to be admitted that people in the court today try every means to protect their own interests, and have long forgotten the poor people of the Ming Dynasty and the original intention of studying and becoming an official.

Yan Ne and others seemed to have a tacit understanding and reached a consensus on saving military pay, mainly focusing on the military pay in the border town and the exposed problems of generals filing and deducting military pay, and frequent dispatch of border troops.

The proposals for caution were passed, horse herding, and grain clearance were approved, and the entire financial management meeting ended soon.

The simplest and most effective way is to advise the emperor to stop building the Qingxin Hall, but no one mentioned it.

The matter was undoubtedly finalized, and then the plan was presented to the emperor in exchange for the emperor's favor.

If there is no accident, things will be consistent with history. Faced with the financial problems of the Ming Dynasty, the court officials met the requirements of Jiajing to build the Qingxin Palace at the cost of weakening the power of the border army.

When facing the financial crisis of the court, the court officials still used the method of demolishing the east wall and repairing the west wall to overcome the difficulties, and at the same time, the Ming Dynasty took another step towards the abyss.

Just when everyone thought it was over and was about to leave, Wu Shan, who had been silent, coughed gently.

Only then did everyone realize that Wu Shan was sitting quietly, and he almost never spoke except after provoking words.

But Fan En and others looked at Wu Shan in confusion. The problem has been resolved this time, and all parties have made compromises in their interests, and the solution this time is perfect. Why did Wu Shan get involved?

Wu Shan met everyone's puzzled eyes, but picked up the teacup and asked calmly: "The finance department is not only reducing expenses, but also increasing its source. What do you think?"

Yan Ne and others looked at each other, which was undoubtedly the clearest truth. They all nodded in cooperation. Fan En directly asked, "Shangshu Wu, do you have a plan to make money?"

"Not bad! Can you listen to what I said?" Wu Shan took a sip of tea and looked up at the people who were about to get up and leave with a smile.
Chapter completed!