The result of their going out to defend was to cause even greater riots! Many nobles directly refuted their remarks and described the hard life of soldiers at the bottom! Liu Haojia, in particular, took the lead in condemning these officials!
Unlike those nobles, he has lived at the bottom of society for a period of time, and has come into contact with many low-level soldiers, so the things he tells are true and more convincing!
Especially when he told about how after paying the soldiers, all the soldiers rushed to Quanzhou City to buy food. He almost said that Quanzhou's food was sold out, which made Emperor Wanli and some officials have red eyes!
In Liu Haojia's words, the navy soldiers are simply models of loyalty and bravery! In the past, when there was insufficient pay, they guarded the sea frontier hungry! But now that the navy has been established, it can't even get the original salary, and it has to continue to fight with the pirates, and it has achieved so many results! If he were not completely loyal to the Holy Emperor and the imperial court, how could he have achieved this?
At the end, Liu Haojia said loudly, almost in tears: "Your Majesty, these loyal and brave soldiers are rare in the world! But they were forced to a dead end by a group of greedy and despicable people! Your Majesty, we must not let these soldiers bleed. Crying again!"
His accusation brought the atmosphere in the entire hall to a climax! It attracted many nobles to pursue and beat the civil servants with impassioned attitudes! Although the civil servants tried their best to defend themselves, their language seemed so feeble in the face of so many examples!
Even Zhang Juzheng and several other pavilion elders were very moved! Shen Shixing even asked Wang Xijue in a low voice: "Are the lives of these soldiers really so miserable?"
Wang Xijue pondered for a moment and said in a low voice: "The things Wu Ningbo said must be exaggerated, but the exaggeration is limited! It can be seen that the life of the people is still difficult!"
Shen Shixing was from Changzhou, which is now Suzhou, Jiangsu. His family is a wealthy local businessman, so he grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth and has never seen the suffering of the people at the bottom!
As for Wang Xijue, this is even more true! The experts in Shen Shi were only local wealthy businessmen, while Wang Xijue's family was a wealthy businessman, and they lived a superior life, surrounded by servants and maids, and they didn't know the hardships of the people at the bottom! And after they entered the officialdom, as they were promoted step by step and lived in eight seats, they were completely cut off from the people at the bottom, so it is normal to have such doubts!
Hearing this, Shen Shixing sighed and said, "These honorable nobles have really caught us this time! Seven or eight months without pay is really too much! I just don't know how Your Majesty will deal with it?"
Zhang Han interjected at this time: "Don't worry, these people dare not say anything else, but their accounting skills are top-notch! On the surface, I'm afraid they can't find anything wrong. In the end, it's just an oversight!"
Just as the two sides were debating, Zhang Jia escorted a group of scribes and walked into the main hall carrying the account books. Seeing them come in, the people arguing in the middle of the hall calmed down and went back to their classes.
Zhang Jia stepped forward and saluted Emperor Wanli and said, "Long live Lord, the scribes from the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of War are already here. I wonder which one Long Live Lord wants to check first?"
Emperor Wanli sat up straight and said, "Let the people from the Ministry of Revenue speak out and explain clearly how much money has been allocated to the navy in the past few months?"
Zhang Jia raised his hand and pointed at one of the scribes with a whisk, and the eunuch behind him immediately pushed him hard. The scribe himself was frightened to death. He was trembling all over as he knelt in the main hall. As a result, he was pushed by the eunuch and almost fell to the ground!
At this time, I heard Zhang Jia say: "Don't be afraid. Let me tell you, how much money should be allocated to the navy in these months? How much was actually allocated in the past? How much is actually allocated now?"
Hearing that this was what Zhang Jia asked, the scribe was obviously relieved! These people have been dealing with account books all their lives, so it can be said that they are very familiar with it! So when it comes to their own jobs, they are obviously more courageous!
Then the scribe reported a series of numbers in a trembling voice, and his voice slowly stabilized. And he said it in an extremely organized manner. The figures such as how much payable was calculated when the navy was established, how much was actually allocated every month, etc. are clearly stated!
Everyone understood as soon as they heard that the money allocated to the navy in previous years should probably be allocated
About 70% of the money is given. As soon as everyone heard this, they knew that the amount of money should be correct. As for the missing 30%, there is a very interesting name called drifting away!
In fact, the word "floating" refers specifically to the loss of food or other supplies due to accidents such as water leakage and capsizing during water transportation. But by the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the word "floating" was expanded countless times, and even things transported by land would appear "floating"! In fact, everyone knows where these money and things went, it was just put into personal pockets!
However, one thing about the figures reported by the clerk caught everyone's attention, that is, the amount of money allocated by the Ministry of Revenue to the Ministry of War was 40% of the 70% in previous years! In other words, the amount of money actually paid was less than half that in previous years!
With the scribe's testimony, Guo Xiaoxing and several officials from the Ministry of Revenue were obviously relieved, and they began to talk about how difficult it was for the Ministry of Household Affairs, which made everyone frowning!
Emperor Wanli was impatient to hear this, and directly waved his hands to several officials to stop crying, and said to Zhang Jia: "Let the Ministry of War come out and answer!"
However, this time Zhang Jia did not point out a single person, but signaled several scribes to take turns to speak. It seems that Zhang Jia had asked in advance and done his homework on the way here.
These scribes knelt there and explained everything they knew, letting everyone know clearly where the navy's salary went. The money was either sent to build a barracks somewhere, or was used to purchase weapons and armor or for other purposes. In short, judging from what they said, it seems to be watertight, and it is indeed used for serious purposes.
After they all finished speaking, Zhang Jia presented the account books one by one and showed them to Emperor Wanli. Emperor Wanli looked through it briefly and found that it indeed recorded the flow of each stroke. Although he couldn't calculate the specific amount in a short time, he also knew that there was no problem in the books. But whether the money actually built the barracks and purchased supplies requires further investigation.
Thinking of this, Emperor Wanli closed the account book and said to Zhang Jia: "Zhang Jia, put all these people in prison first, and then go to the Ministry of War to detain all the people who handled it, and check where the money went to see if there is any corruption in it. Something?"
