Huh... Outside the Dong'an Gate of the Imperial City, Old Hulema parked his car. Chang Yu leaned out of the car and walked to the city gate. The two eunuchs on duty greeted him warmly and opened the door.
One door, two worlds. Chang Yu stood at the door and looked back, and then looked inside. This palace, where the supreme power of the Ming Dynasty resides, is also like a prison. The eunuchs and maids are like jailers. In such a troubled world, seriously Don't know if they are lucky or unlucky.
But at least I was lucky. Even if I was so busy that I could explode, I could still freely enter and exit this prison-like imperial city.
Entering the palace twice a day must be something important. Even the eunuchs who sprinkled water and weeded the house could tell that Chang Yu was acting unusually today.
"Your Majesty is waiting in Wenyuan Pavilion to discuss matters with the Chief Assistant." The eunuch on duty at the Qianqing Gate said softly. Chang Yu said "oh" and wanted to go to Duanben Palace to chat with Prince Zhu Cian. That boy was going to ask for help recently. When he left the capital and followed Gong Yonggu to inspect the officials, he gave him a good warning. Suddenly he thought about the Queen Zhou who wanted to see him before noon, so he walked towards the Kunning Palace. The eunuch guarding the gate did not dare to stop him. He was anxious. Go and report urgently.
Queen Zhou was not in Kunning Palace, but in Zhaoren Hall on the east side of Qianqing Palace, which was the boudoir of the six-year-old Princess Zhaoren. When she heard that Chang Yu had arrived, Queen Zhou was very happy and quickly ordered someone to make tea. She knew that Chang Yu He is a tea lover.
"Have you worked too hard recently? You don't look good. Did you not sleep well..." Queen Zhou was very concerned, and Chang Yu smiled slightly: "You haven't slept since yesterday."
Ah, Queen Zhou was startled: "This... this is not okay. If you are sleepy, just go to bed quickly. I have nothing serious to do with you, just chatting..."
"Empress, I came to the palace to discuss matters with the Emperor. At this time, the Emperor has no time to come here to say hello to the Empress." Chang Yu was slightly moved when he saw Queen Zhou's concern.
Queen Zhou then said: "I heard that you are going to fight in the south again. You are very busy... Hey, I don't know what to say. I just hope that you can win the war safely!" She said with a slight smile. Sigh: "I heard that there is a famine outside the city and people will starve to death, right?"
Chang Yu grunted: "Suffering from the scourge of war, coupled with natural disasters, the harvest in the north cannot be transported to the south... But we can resist for another month at most, and the famine will be alleviated when the food from the south is transported."
"How many people will starve to death in one month?" Empress Zhou sighed: "It's a pity that there isn't much food left in the city for disaster relief. There is still some money left in the house, but I heard that even if you have money, you can't buy rice anymore." …”
Listening to Queen Zhou's chatter, Chang Yu was not annoyed at all. He took a few sips from the tea cup. Princess Zhaoren was staring at him from the side. Chang Yu couldn't help teasing him with her eyes.
"I remember you, you are Chang Yu, and you asked me to call you brother-in-law, right?" Princess Zhaoren suddenly pointed at Chang Yu and whispered.
Chang Yu couldn't hold it back and took a sip of tea. Queen Zhou over there noticed it and was slightly shocked: "Zhaoren, what nonsense are you talking about?"
"No, no, no, no, the princess is very well-behaved, but I'm rude." Chang Yu quickly got up, wiped himself and went to wipe the floor. A maid next to him stepped forward to clean up. Princess Zhaoren pouted her little mouth: "I'm not talking nonsense. Yes, obviously..."
Chang Yu quickly took out a golden bean from his arms and handed it to her, whispering: "Princess, you have recognized the wrong person, you have recognized the wrong person."
"Zhaoren, go out and play for a while." Empress Zhou motioned to a palace maid to take the princess out for a walk. She wanted to talk to Chang Yu more quietly, but when she saw the golden bean that Chang Yu gave Princess Zhaoren, she couldn't help but joke: "You still have it with you?" Are you holding these golden beans just to reward people?"
"Chen Qiong's jingle was so generous. I met Wu Mengming a few days ago and saw him playing with it, so I took one." Chang Yu avoided the important matter and said casually, and as expected, Empress Zhou laughed: "I have also heard about that Wu Mengming. He has no ability and only cares about making money. I heard that he is also a member of the big world outside the front door."
"Who doesn't like this good thing about making money? Although Wu Mengming has no ability, he is loyal to the emperor, which is very valuable nowadays." Chang Yu unusually said good things for Wu Mengming, and Queen Zhou also agreed: "Although I love Wealth, but reliability.”
"Queen, do you want to make money?" Chang Yu suddenly thought of something subconscious and blurted out, but he was immediately shocked how he could say such a thing. Scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, doing business is not a good status these days. How can a dignified royal family follow the trend? identity. Just when he was about to apologize, Queen Zhou raised her eyebrows: "Of course I thought about it, do you have any way to make money? Now not only the court is poor, but the royal family is also poor. Every day they say that the treasury is at the bottom, but they don't know the internal funds of the royal family. It’s going to bottom out too.”
"I was bold just now, but if the queen is interested, I do have an idea at the moment, but you must keep it a secret from the emperor. I am afraid... the emperor will find out and blame you."
Empress Zhou laughed loudly when she heard this: "If you really made money, the emperor would not have time to thank you. How could he blame you? Tell me quickly, what kind of connections are you looking for, are you reliable?"
Chang Yu hummed: "Queen, please don't ask me what to do first. Please tell me first how much principal you can afford?"
"This..." Queen Zhou frowned: "If I say that it is less than one hundred thousand taels, would you believe it?"
Chang Yuxin!
Because at this time in history, the Ming Dynasty's national finances were bankrupt, and armies in various places were seriously in arrears with pay, not to mention the national treasury. Emperor Chongzhen often shed tears in court over the issue of military pay.
For example, when Li Zicheng broke through Taiyuan and went straight to the capital, Emperor Chongzhen wanted to transfer Wu Sangui to be the king of Guanqin, so he called Wu Sangui's father Wu Xiang to inquire. Wu Xiang said that he could fend off the enemy with three thousand troops and needed one million in military pay. Emperor Chongzhen howled. , even if you plunder all the money, you can’t get two hundred thousand, so how can you get one million.
Not only was the treasury out of money, the emperor's internal funds were also at its lowest, so much so that the royal family had to sew and mend their clothes for another three years. Even when Emperor Chongzhen asked for donations, Empress Zhou secretly gave the five thousand taels of silver to his father. She asked the eunuch to pawn her jewelry. If she had real money, why would she give it to her father as jewelry?
As for the rumors in later generations, after Li Zicheng broke into the city, he discovered that the emperor had tens of millions of money. Anyone with any brains would know that it was the Qing government who was smearing him. At that time, not only the court of the Ming Dynasty was poor, but the emperor was also poor.
Even though Chang Yu had obtained tens of millions of money for the state treasury in the past few months by defrauding and abducting several Shanxi merchants from various places and confiscating their homes, most of it was spent in the blink of an eye. Although a lot of it also flowed into internal funds, he didn't want to think about it, the emperor With a family supporting tens of thousands of children, the monthly salary is a large amount, not to mention other expenses.
"If you gather up 100,000 yuan, I can give you a dividend of 500,000 yuan every year." Chang Yu decided to attract another shareholder for his Daming Bank. Although this shareholder did not have much money, he had all the power in the world. This is what this national bank is called. Justified.
"You, don't try to deceive me," Queen Zhou blurted out after being startled. Chang Yu was the most trusted person in her old Zhu family and had never deceived her.
It's just a matter of where to find the one hundred thousand taels. She is the master of the harem and is in charge of the internal funds, but she can't just throw it all out at once and leave nothing behind.
"Everything in this palace is a treasure, queen..." Chang Yu was interrupted by Queen Zhou just as he started to speak: "Everything in the palace can be leaked. If the emperor knows about it, it will be a serious crime."
"I made a mistake," Chang Yu said with a flash of inspiration, "Why don't you, Queen Mother, write a few words for me?"
Um... Queen Zhou immediately understood what Chang Yu meant, but she felt a little guilty: "I am not a famous person, and you won't be able to sell it at a high price."
"The four words "Queen and Empress" are a great name. Just write them and someone will definitely buy them." Chang Yu said with a smile.
Queen Zhou hesitated a little: "Is it really possible? Don't make people laugh... How much can I sell for a few words..."
