"Your Majesty has no money left." Zhou Yanru said calmly.
Hearing this, the Minister of Household Affairs suddenly widened his eyes and said, "Impossible. Your Majesty's internal funds cannot be without money. Mr. Ge cannot be deceived."
Over the years, he had become accustomed to asking for money from internal funds to use on court affairs. When he heard that Chongzhen could not come up with the money, his first thought was that it was impossible.
"I don't need to lie to you, and your Ministry of Revenue should know this kind of thing very well. The internal funds are limited in terms of money. It has been used on court affairs over the years, and it has long been beyond its means. The last few hundred thousand taels of silver were already This is the maximum amount of internal funds that can be used," Zhou Yanru said.
The Minister of Household Affairs did not speak this time.
Looking back on the money that Chongzhen had taken out from the internal funds over the years, I am afraid that the little wealth that the Tianqi Dynasty had accumulated has almost been spent.
"Does the elder want the Hubu to take out the money?" The Minister of Hubu looked at Zhou Yanru and said.
Zhou Yanru said: "This money should have come from the Ministry of Revenue."
"The Ministry of Finance has no money anymore. Even if you want to take out the money, you can't do it. Mr. Ge is asking the wrong person to ask for the money from the Ministry of Finance." The Minister of the Ministry of Finance shook his head.
Zhou Yanru said: "I understand the affairs of the Ministry of Finance. You must have left something at the bottom of the box. It's time to take it out now."
"Since the elders have mentioned it, let me tell you straight away. The Ministry of Revenue does still have some wealth left, but it is for emergency purposes and cannot be used casually. Moreover, no one can touch that point without a personal warrant from the Ministry. Family wealth." The Minister of Household Affairs said frankly.
Zhou Yanru frowned slightly and said: "Now it's the last moment, it's time to take it out and use it."
"It's useless to tell me what the elder says. I can't decide what happens in the ministry. If the elder insists, then go directly to the ministry to talk to him. If the elder can talk to the ministry, I'm willing to Cooperate." Minister Hube said.
Zhou Yanru looked thoughtful after hearing this.
The minister of household affairs in front of him is naturally easy to talk to because he is one of our own, but the minister of household affairs may not be so easy to talk to.
Even the Minister of the Six Ministries may not give face to the cabinet, let alone the Minister of the Ministry of Hubu, one of the Six Ministries.
After hesitating for a long time, Zhou Yanru asked: "Is there no other way?"
He was still unwilling to negotiate with the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance.
Because he knew that even if he went, the Minister of Hubu would not give him this face.
It may be even harder to take out the few things that are at the bottom of the box. As long as Ming Dynasty does not take the last step, it is probably impossible to take out the last things from the Ministry of Finance and use them.
"I'm sorry that I can't do anything about this matter." Minister Hubu rejected Zhou Yanru.
It's not that he meant to shirk, in fact he really couldn't do it.
And his rejection did not make Zhou Yanru unhappy.
Zhou Yanru knew in his heart that although the status of the Minister of Hubu was not low, it was still lower than that of the Minister of Hubu. There were some things that the Minister could make the decision, but the Minister could not.
Zhou Yanru thought for a while and said: "I will personally talk about the payment matter, but it is imperative for Liaodong troops to enter the capital. It must be done regardless of whether there is payment or not. This is His Majesty's request. If you can do this, If you work hard, your name will most likely be on the list of cabinet candidates next time.”
"Those people in Liaodong are masters who only care about money but not people. Without money, it would be difficult to persuade them." Naturally, the Minister of Household Affairs was not a hot-blooded young man who was fooled by Zhou Yanru's drawings. Excited.
If you want to join the cabinet, you need to go through court recommendation, and even the chief minister is not qualified to influence the outcome of the court recommendation.
Zhou Yanru said: "Try it, there is not much time left for the court."
Regarding the movements in Xuanfu and Shandong, he knew clearly that Tiger Character Banner would definitely take action, and it would definitely be towards North Zhili and the capital.
Now he only hopes to transfer Liaodong's troops to the capital before Tiger Flag takes action, to give the capital an extra layer of guarantee.
"I'll give it a try!" Minister Hube gave Zhou Yanru an ambiguous reply.
Although he also guessed that the Tiger Flag would probably take action, he had a lot of confidence in defending the capital. After all, the capital had been attacked by the enemy more than once over the years, but in the end the capital was always unharmed, and only the enemy failed and left.
After the Minister of Hubu left, Zhou Yanru did not go to the Minister of Hubu to ask for pay and silver for the Ming army in Liaodong.
If you ask for something you know you won't get, it will not serve any purpose other than being rejected and losing face.
As the chief minister, he also wanted to save face and did not want to be criticized by the Minister of the Ministry of Finance.
Unable to meet the demands of the Ming army in Liaodong for pay, he could only mobilize his connections and find ways to persuade the Ming army in Liaodong to come to the capital.
On the other side, Wen Tiren's errand is more troublesome.
It is necessary to recover the hundreds of thousands of taels of silver that were robbed for the emperor, and to catch the robbers who took the money.
But he knew that the money would never be recovered, and the only thing he could do now was to catch the robbers.
Everyone in the Beijing camp was taken to the jail of the Ministry of Punishment. Even the foreigner from the Ministry of Revenue who escorted the money could not escape and was sent directly to the jail.
Although Wen Tiren was not directly in charge of the Ministry of Revenue, as the Second Assistant to the Cabinet of the Minister of Rites, it was easy to catch a Yuanwailang who had made mistakes.
No one would offend Wen Tiren, the second minister of the cabinet, for a fifth-grade Yuanwailang.
This is only possible unless the Yuanwailang has a profound background.
However, as long as this Yuanwailang has a profound background, he will not become an angel who goes to Shanhaiguan to announce the decree.
After all, this errand to Shanhaiguan is not easy to do, and all officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs with some background avoid this errand.
Wen Tiren first identified the two coachmen driving the carriage.
Because these two people were said to be spies sent by the robbers.
After some interrogation, Wen Tiren naturally knew who the spy was. He was basically a scapegoat pushed out by people from the Beijing camp.
However, he still took confessions from these two men in scapegoat fashion.
In his opinion, there is no need to offend Jingying for two untouchables.
Of course, the person he was afraid of offending was not the Beijing camp general who was sent to pay the money, but the people behind the Beijing camp.
Although the Beijing camp has fallen, the people behind the Beijing camp are all powerful people in the court.
These people are not easy to mess with.
After some interrogation, Wen Tiren finally came to the conclusion that the person who robbed the money should be a member of the Tiger-Character Banner. He just didn't know how the Tiger-Character Banner managed to arrange a troop of troops to Tongzhou without being arrested by the court. and local officials found out.
But he also knew that if it was Hu Ziqi's doing, it would be impossible to get the money back, and there would be no chance of catching him.
Since Tiger Flag had robbed the money, it was impossible for him to stupidly stay there and wait to be caught. He must have left Tongzhou. It was almost impossible for the court to catch him.
As for how those people who were imprisoned were convicted, that was a matter for the Third Division and had nothing to do with him as the second assistant.
