In the past, if the emperor and the Queen Mother had different opinions in the court, Emperor Zhao Zheng would definitely bow his head and obey the Queen Mother's instructions in the end.
After all, the court of Daqian was decided by the Empress Dowager Yu who listened behind the curtain, and Zhao Zheng was just a puppet emperor.
But today was an exception. Zhao Zheng, instead of giving in, straightened his back and said:
"Empress Dowager Yu, Beimang's army is approaching the city and invading our territory of Daqian, but you want to empty the treasury to repair Cining Palace for you. Don't say I won't agree to this matter. Ask the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty if they will agree. ?”
After saying this, among the generals, a second-grade general wearing a scarlet court uniform with a lion embroidered on his chest stepped out and said loudly:
"The general will not agree!"
This person was none other than Xiong Wei, the commander-in-chief of the Zuo Army in the camp in the north of the city. Among the generals of the Manchu Dynasty, he had the most upright character.
As soon as he appeared like this, two or three more generals stepped out, holding jade tablets in their hands, and said loudly:
"The general will not agree!"
"The general won't agree either!"
As soldiers, they deeply understand the importance of military pay. Now that the enemy is facing the enemy, the money in the national treasury should be used first for national defense construction!
Not only the military generals in the court, but also the civil servants, there were also several very senior ministers who stepped out and said in a deep voice:
"I also think that the fact that Beimang is looking at the outside now is because he is a serious threat. We should first pay the army and let your Majesty deploy troops and generals to repel Beimang as soon as possible. As for the Queen Mother's palace, it is repaired in the morning and repaired in the evening. It doesn't matter. relation……"
Seeing that all the civil and military officials in the court were on his side, Zhao Zheng immediately turned back and looked behind the bead curtain to see the livid Empress Dowager Yu, and said lightly:
"Queen Mother, do you hear that? The thoughts of all my beloved ladies coincide with mine. They all believe that the money you spent on repairing the palace should be withdrawn and used on border defense."
Queen Mother Yu was unwilling to do so. How could she let the cooked duck fly away?
Renovating Cining Palace is just a pretense. After all, how can we use eight million taels of silver to renovate the palace? In fact, it was Empress Dowager Yu’s father, Yu Zhong, who recently bought a piece of land in the capital. He wanted to expand the Yu Mansion and purchase a group of housekeepers, maids, and servants. This was why he took advantage of Empress Dowager Yu’s relationship to transfer so many people from the treasury. Come the money.
Seeing that the great plan was disrupted by Zhao Zheng, Queen Mother Yu was in a hurry and asked her father for help directly. She looked at Yu Zhong and said:
"Xiang Yu, come and judge!"
"I just want to repair the dilapidated palace and improve living conditions. Is I wrong? Why should I withdraw my funding?"
Yu Zhong has been thinking about a solution for a long time. On the one hand, he does not want to give up this huge sum of money that he finally got. On the other hand, he does not want to be too greedy and be caught by the civil and military officials of the court.
He thought for a moment and immediately said to Zhao Zheng:
"Your Majesty, I have a way to get the best of both worlds."
Zhao Zheng raised his eyebrows and said, "Tell me and listen."
Yu Zhong said with a smile: "To distribute military pay, it only costs 500,000 taels of silver. To repair Cining Palace, the Queen Mother will need 8 million taels. The veteran also believes that repairing Cining Palace is not as important as paying military pay. It is better to do this. Your Majesty and the Queen Mother each took a step back and asked the Queen Mother to take out 500,000 taels of silver from the eight million taels to be used for military pay, and the rest was used to repair Cining Palace. Isn't this the best of both worlds?"
When Queen Mother Yu heard this, she immediately agreed and said:
"Prime Minister Yu is still smart. This is indeed the best of both worlds."
Zhao Zheng sneered and said in a deep voice:
"What a joke! How can we use so much money to repair Cining Palace? The money I have in the treasury is all the hard-earned taxes paid by the people all over the world. These are all the hard-earned money of the people!"
"This money should be taken from the people, used by the people, and used for national defense construction to protect the people! How can we just focus on letting the Queen Mother enjoy herself, drain the treasury, and repair the Cining Palace?"
"Not to mention eight million, I won't even give eight taels of silver to the Queen Mother! I have made up my mind, and this matter is settled!"
Take it from the people, use it for the people!
As soon as these eight words were uttered, everyone in the court was shocked!
This was actually what came out of the mouth of that stupid and unscrupulous puppet emperor!
He could actually tell such a convincing truth!
As a result, even the scheming Prime Minister Yu Zhong was speechless. No matter how eloquent and eloquent he was, he could never refute the eight words "take it from the people, use it for the people"!
Only the Empress Dowager Yu, who was listening behind the curtain, was still unwilling to give in. She shouted to Yu Zhong in a playful manner:
"Xiang Yu, how can this be unreasonable! This silver has clearly been allocated to me, how can you not keep your word?"
Yu Zhong observed the situation and saw that the civil and military officials in the court were already somewhat dissatisfied with Queen Mother Yu's selfishness. If she continued to mess around, she might lose the support of the court.
The overall situation was the most important thing, so Yu Zhong could only compromise and persuaded Queen Mother Yu:
"The Queen Mother, what Your Majesty said is indeed very reasonable. The money in the national treasury should be taken from the people and used for the people. I hope the Queen Mother will not be greedy for her own enjoyment, but she must put the people of Daqian first in everything!"
Seeing that her father said this, Queen Mother Yu completely bowed to Zhao Zheng, so she had no choice but to say no more, and sat back on the phoenix chair like a deflated ball.
After a heated exchange of words, Zhao Zheng easily regained eight million taels of silver. He nodded with satisfaction and said:
"My dear friends, you are all people who understand the truth. I am very relieved!"
"Hu Ping, my beloved, once these eight million taels of silver are recovered, military pay will be distributed to the three armies immediately."
Hu Ping, the Minister of Household Affairs, kowtowed quickly and said:
"Wei Chen accepts the order!"
…
After leaving the court.
Empress Dowager Yu, who had just missed eight million taels of silver, was extremely depressed. She returned to Cining Palace with a straight face. As soon as she entered the door, she knocked two antique vases outside on the ground and smashed them to pieces!
"This damn dog emperor is so deceptive! He actually doesn't take me seriously. I'm so angry!"
At this time, the little eunuch outside the door came in and announced that Prime Minister Yu Zhong wanted to see him.
As soon as she heard that her father was coming, Queen Mother Yu quickly stepped back and said:
"You all stand down and let the prime minister come in alone to see me!"
The attendants on the left and right took the order and left.
A moment later, Yu Zhong, wearing court uniform, walked in from the door with a bitter face.
As soon as she saw her father, Queen Mother Yu immediately complained aggrievedly:
"Dad! That puppet emperor Zhao Zheng actually doesn't take our father and daughter seriously. He wants all the money he got back! Dad, we must not let him go!"
Yu Zhong said with a cold face:
"You don't need to tell me, Zhao Zheng has become more and more arrogant in the past few days. It seems that if this person is not removed, my Yu family's position in the court will be threatened! But don't worry, this dog emperor is probably going to die soon. !”
