Inside the Qianqing Palace.

Emperor Wanli's face turned green with anger.

It was such a big event that refugees came to Beijing, but no one notified it in advance. Now everyone has arrived at the Qianmen building and only then did they think of what to do?

What's even more annoying is that the cabinet actually said that the Ministry of Revenue and Shuntian Prefecture have no money!

What does it mean?

Isn’t this because of the money I have just saved so hard?

Emperor Wanli was so angry that he finally held back his anger and said, "How many refugees are there?"

The three ministers in the cabinet were silent after hearing this, and they didn't know how to answer Emperor Wanli.

Xu Guo and Wang Jiaping stood aside with their eyes and noses in mind, as if Emperor Wanli didn't ask them.

In the end, Shen Shixing could only bite the bullet and said: "About thirty thousand."

Emperor Wanli couldn't believe his ears.

"Thirty thousand?!"

Then Emperor Wanli said angrily: "Do you know how much 30,000 refugees will cost?"

Shen Shixing's forehead was sweating slightly, and he said: "It will cost about tens of thousands taels."

Emperor Wanli said: "Ten thousand taels? Is tens of thousands taels enough? One person has one kilogram of grain a day. Thirty thousand people have thirty thousand kilograms of grain a day. Now it is the depth of winter. In addition to food, they also need shelter and warmth. .Is tens of thousands taels enough?”

Emperor Wanli really didn't expect to encounter such a terrible problem so early in the morning. After complaining and getting angry, Emperor Wanli finally had to take out 50,000 taels of silver from the internal funds and give it to the cabinet. After all, refugees are also His people can't just die without saving them, right?

If he really refused to save his people, how would he be different from the tyrants and cowardly kings in history? Emperor Wanli still didn't want to be an emperor reviled by history books, so he could only spend his own money to help the refugees.

Emperor Wanli finally said: "Let the Ministry of Revenue and Shuntian Mansion keep the accounts, and when you have money, you will pay me back."

Shen Shixing and other three elders praised the emperor's benevolence, and then took Emperor Wanli's handwriting to the palace treasury to distribute the money.

As for repaying money, it is impossible. How could the court repay the emperor's money? Isn't the emperor's money the court's money?

Zhu Changluo, who was in charge of the ceremonial department, did not expect the refugees to arrive in such a timely manner. He actually knew early on that there was a group of refugees coming from Henan to Beizhili for begging, and he had been waiting for the arrival of this group of refugees.

I thought they would be late, but I didn't expect them to arrive so promptly, directly delaying the officials' plan to establish the crown prince.

"God is really helping me!"

After sighing, Zhu Changluo immediately went to Qianqing Palace.

In the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Wanli was sulking and feeling sorry for his fifty thousand taels of silver.

When he saw Zhu Changluo coming over, his complexion improved a little. Zhu Changluo saluted Emperor Wanli: "My son, I see you, the emperor."

Emperor Wanli said: "Get up, it's so cold on the ground, don't kneel down again when you come here."

Zhu Changluo obediently came to Emperor Wanli, and then said to Emperor Wanli with a cute face: "Father, what's wrong with you? Who made you angry?"

Emperor Wanli said: "It's okay, it's just that something happened. Thirty thousand refugees have arrived in the capital. My father is worried that they have no food, no water, and no place to live."

Zhu Changluo said "innocently", and then said: "Father, you can let these refugees go to the emperor's palace. The emperor's palace is so big, and there is a lot of food."

Emperor Wanli smiled and said: "How much food can your small imperial village have? These 30,000 refugees could have exhausted your imperial village in one day."

Zhu Changluo said: "No way. I heard Wang An tell me yesterday that Huangzhuang now has 300,000 shi of food stored in it. He said it can last for many years."

When Emperor Wanli heard that Zhu Changluo said that his imperial estate actually had 300,000 shi of grain, his eyes suddenly lit up.

Emperor Wanli said excitedly: "How come you have so much food?"

Zhu Changluo said cutely: "I sold coal in exchange for it!"

"Selling coal?"

Emperor Wanli seemed to have some impression of this matter, but he just couldn't remember it.

Zhu Changluo said: "Yes, some time ago Wang An said that the weather was cold and coal would be easier to sell. So I bought all the coal mines in Xishan. I also asked Eunuch Zhang to collect the mining tax."

When Emperor Wanli heard this, he remembered that Zhang Cheng had told him that Zhu Changluo wanted to pay the mining tax. At that time, he asked Zhang Cheng to collect it.

Emperor Wanli looked at the cute and innocent Zhu Changluo and asked: "Son, how much did the coal from your coal mine sell for?"

Zhu Changluo smiled from the bottom of his heart, as expected, he was obsessed with money. Zhu Changluo also pretended to be innocent and said: "Wang An said that he sold hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. Isn't the father's hundreds of thousands of taels of silver a lot?"

Emperor Wanli took a breath of cold air. He really didn't expect that Zhu Changluo was worth hundreds of thousands taels.

Emperor Wanli suppressed his excitement and continued to trick Zhu Changluo into saying, "How did Wang An and the others sell hundreds of thousands of taels of silver?"

Zhu Changluo tilted his little head and said pretending to think: "Wang An and the others seemed to have come up with an idea of ​​briquettes, and then they made all the coal into briquettes, and then sold them all."

Emperor Wanli laughed excitedly, "You are such a good son of mine!" Then he hugged Zhu Changluo tightly and almost kissed him.

Emperor Wanli never expected that everything would turn out to be a turn of events. He had just spent 50,000 taels of silver and was still wondering if the money would be enough. In the blink of an eye, Zhu Changluo presented hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

Emperor Wanli pretended to consider Zhu Changluo and said: "Son, it's not safe to keep this money in Xishan Imperial Mansion. How about I take it to the warehouse in Da Nei and save it for you?"

Zhu Changluo nodded cutely and said: "Okay!"

Emperor Wanli hugged Zhu Changluo excitedly again, "You are really my good son."

After Zhu Changluo had a hard time chatting with Emperor Wanli, he left sensibly. After walking out of the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Changluo couldn't help but trembled, "Pretending to be cute, you are so fucking disgusting!"

As for Emperor Wanli, he immediately arranged for people to go to Zhu Changluo's Xishan Imperial Manor to collect money.

Before that, Zhu Changluo had already told Wang An to separate the money from the coal mine and the money from selling soda drinks at Xishan Commercial Bank, and the accounts were also listed separately to prevent the two parties from tying up the accounts. He also asked Wang An to keep the money from the soda sales.

All the money spent on grain purchases was credited to coal mine profits.

When Emperor Wanli sent someone to collect the money, there were only 60,000 taels of silver left in the entire account.

From hundreds of thousands taels to 60,000 taels, Emperor Wanli felt that there was a huge gap in his heart.

But Emperor Wanli didn't think Zhu Changluo would lie to him, so Emperor Wanli sent someone to find Wang An.

Emperor Wanli looked at this plain-looking and honest eunuch, and asked, "Are you Wang An?"

Wang An nervously whispered: "Back to the emperor, my servant is Wang An."

Emperor Wanli snorted and asked directly: "Where is my son's money?"

Wang An trembled in fright and said quickly: "They are all here."

Emperor Wanli said angrily: "Nonsense! Chang Luo has already told me that there are hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, and now there are only 60,000 taels left. Where is the remaining money?"

Wang An hurriedly said: "I spent 150,000 taels to buy grain, and Eunuch Zhang collected 200,000 taels in taxes. Now there is only so much left."

Emperor Wanli felt a little embarrassed when he heard that it was Zhang Cheng who collected taxes and took away 200,000 taels. Didn't all the tax money belong to him?

Now Emperor Wanli is still a little bit hopeful that Zhang Cheng will escort the silver to the inner treasury as soon as possible.

Then Emperor Wanli said to Wang An kindly: "Wang An, you have done a good job, do it well. I will definitely use you again in the future."

Emperor Wanli encouraged Wang An a few more words, and then prepared to ask Wang An to withdraw.
Chapter completed!