Zhang Heming was very angry after learning that Emperor Zhu Youxiao had transferred Yuan Yingtai without consulting his Ministry of War, and even gave Xiong Tingbi greater power.
"What is your Majesty trying to do? I am the Minister of the Ministry of War after all, but he is so good at pacifying me without consulting me! It would be better to just remove the Minister of the Ministry of War!"
Zhang Heming was furious. He knew that his and the people behind him's plan to quickly solve the Liaodong incident was completely ruined.
And his authority as the Minister of War was also greatly affected.
The emperor directly controlled military affairs and interfered in the appointment of feudal officials. This would undoubtedly make the governor of the border town who was directly appointed by the emperor ignore him as the Minister of War and only pay attention to the emperor.
But Zhang Heming naturally did not dare to scold the emperor directly, nor did he dare to openly stop the emperor Zhu Youxiao's decision.
After all, everyone knows that the current Ming Emperor is very tough and often confiscates homes and exterminates clans.
However, the political demands of the civil servant group, which did not want the emperor to spend too much money and food on Liao affairs so that their own interests would be harmed, could not give in because of the emperor Zhu Youxiao's obstruction.
Although Zhang Heming couldn't stop Zhu Youxiao explicitly, he could still do so indirectly.
"Immediately draw up a book for the Ministry of War for me, and report all the current arrears in pay for the nine-sided army and the arrears for officers and soldiers in the interior. I want to let your majesty know that the Ming Dynasty's military pay arrears are already so large. If the Liao affair is not resolved as soon as possible, it will How much difficulty it will cause to the imperial government’s finances!”
Zhang Heming said to Xu Shilin and then added: "If the war is not resolved for one day, the financial shortage will become more and more serious day by day! I am not the only one who thinks of the Liao Dynasty. All the scholar-bureaucrats in the world hold this intention. I believe that the household will The Ministry and the Ministry of Personnel will also report the financial shortage of the imperial court. When the time comes, Your Majesty will know that running a country is not just about doing whatever you want!"
Zhang Heming was right as he expected.
Zhu Youxiao transferred Yuan Yingtai and still supported Xiong Tingbi's strategy, which aroused the opposition not from one or two civil servants, but from many civil servants.
Although, Zhu Youxiao had previously dealt a heavy blow to the Donglin civil servants who tried to directly remove Xiong Tingbi Dou from power.
But the civil servants, whether out of public or private motives, still disagreed with the emperor's support of such a spending strategy.
Therefore, at this time, Wang Yingjiao, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, also said after learning the emperor's strategic intentions for Liaodong: "This war requires settling accounts. The guest troops are mobilized to guard Liao, not to mention that the pay of the guest troops has always been very high. , just the cost of transporting grain will increase a lot. To transport grain from Huguang to Liaodong, one stone of grain costs five or six taels of silver, which is much higher than the price of grain itself! If it is just a temporary loss, it is nothing more than mobilizing the guest army and doing it in one fell swoop. Getting rid of the Donglu only cost a sum of money; but now His Majesty wants the guest army to fight the Donglu in turns, and the main body adopts a defensive strategy! How can the imperial treasury support it! At present, the increase in Liao's salary has caused the people's poverty to intensify. If If we don’t solve the Liao issue as soon as possible, I’m afraid it will be even more difficult for the people! The country will be even more in danger!”
"The money for the imperial mausoleum project of the temple and the Guang Temple, as well as the reconstruction project of the three main halls, has not yet been received. Your Majesty allowed the Liao Dynasty to waste food and wages without solving it quickly. If this continues, the imperial mausoleum will not be repaired, and the three main halls will not be repaired. Do we need to rebuild it, do we still need the dignity of the court?”
Wang Zuo, Minister of Industry, also shook his head and complained about this.
Li Ruhua, the Minister of Civil Affairs, also sighed: "Your Majesty is so ignorant of frugality in governing the country. What's the point of continuing like this? Since the temple, the salaries owed to officials in the world have not yet been paid. Is it possible that the debt will continue to be owed? Then the government officials will govern." It will only get worse!”
Because of this matter.
The Ministry of War, the Ministry of Husbandry, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of Officials successively submitted copies of their books, asking Emperor Zhu Youxiao for money.
Although these four ministers did not explicitly say that they did not support the emperor's strategy in Liaodong, they clearly told the emperor by asking for money that Ming Dynasty really did not have that much money for you to play like this in Liaodong.
After Zhu Youxiao received the title books of these four ministers, he only said: "It's coming with force!"
Wei Zhongxian on the side frowned and thought deeply. In consideration of the interests of his own inner court, he had to stand up and said: "Your Majesty! From what I can see, these civil servants have ulterior motives! I am watching openly to let you know that the imperial court is currently short of money and people. In fact, I want to force you to give up Xiong Tingbi’s strategy, or to force you to use your internal funds. Your Majesty, you have accumulated some money by confiscating your homes, and they are targeting you! Just like they have been staring at the temple. It’s the same as the money accumulated after collecting mining taxes!”
Zhu Youxiao smiled and said: "It's useless even if you know their purpose for this kind of thing. After all, the country belongs to me, and I can't care about the life and death of the people and the border troops."
As he said that, Zhu Youxiao just threw the four question books on the case, and then thought to himself: "I don't know how Sun Chengzong's cotton yarn business is doing?"
The thought of this.
Zhu Youxiao said to Wei Zhongxian: "You preach my handwriting and send someone to Sun Chengzong immediately, ask him how the cotton yarn business is going, and tell him that if he doesn't make money for me, then I will take Daming with him." All the troops who are short of pay and money, Jin Yiwei, Dongchang and the refugees from all over the world are going to Jiangnan to raid their homes! Let them not underestimate my appeal!"
…
Jiangnan.
Sun Chengzong almost fell to the ground after receiving Zhu Youxiao's handwriting. He was stunned in place as if he had been exploded by Jiao Lei.
Seeing this, Li Yongzhen, the eunuch who came to deliver the order, secretly noted Sun Chengzong's rude behavior and asked: "Sun Fuchen, please return the copy to your Majesty quickly so that our family can take it back."
Because this was a private communication between Zhu Youxiao and his officials, and to avoid too many people knowing about it, after Zhu Youxiao passed the manuscript to Sun Chengzong, he did not ask Sun Chengzong to reply to the memorial. Sun Chengzong only sent the secret memorial to Li Yongzhen, and then Li Yongzhen Take it back to yourself.
Using a secret notebook to report to himself was a way of communication between Zhu Youxiao and Sun Chengzong and other officials to bypass the normal government communication procedures with foreign countries. This method was highly confidential and did not need to be published in the Di Di newspaper. It was also faster and more convenient. The emperor directly commanded his officials.
Sun Chengzong came back to his senses after hearing Li Yongzhen's words and said hurriedly: "Write it now."
With that said, Sun Chengzong began to write hurriedly. He did not want His Majesty the Emperor to really lead all the common warriors in the world who were oppressed by the civil servants and gentry to ransack their homes in the south of the Yangtze River.
In the secret memorial, Sun Chengzong told Zhu Youxiao that he had earned more than three million taels of cotton yarn official profits for Zhu Youxiao in Songjiang, and said: "Your Majesty, please rest assured that the cotton mills will earn more official profits in the future." I would like to ask your majesty to allow you to pay your money and come to Beijing in person in the name of going to Beijing to report on your duties. I hope that your majesty will give me another chance. I will definitely dedicate myself to your affairs and enable your majesty to revive our Ming Dynasty! Let us usher in the prosperous era of Ming Dynasty again! Long live my emperor. ! I, the governor of Qiandu, Susong, and the military officer, Sun Chengzong, pay homage!"
After all, it was a huge sum of more than three million taels, and Sun Chengzong did not dare to hand it over to anyone else.
In the secret memorial, Sun Chengzong is particularly humble and cautious.
After receiving Sun Chengzong's secret memorial, Zhu Youxiao temporarily gave up the idea of mobilizing the military and civilians of the world to directly rebel against the gentry, and only said secretly: "With the continuous income brought by this government-owned industry, it is enough to raise troops and maintain factory guards. , and then relied on the soldiers and factory guards they had raised to seize the traitorous Shanxi merchants. Even if they spent all the existing internal funds, they could quickly make up for the expenditures of the internal funds. These civil servants wanted to rely on their lack of financial resources. To stop what I want to do? No way!"
After thinking this way, Zhu Youxiao immediately asked Wei Zhongxian to inform the four ministers of the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Husbandry, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Industry, as well as the cabinet ministers and eunuchs in charge of rites to see him.
