Seeing Prince Fu being dragged out, no one in the palace was surprised. It would have been a surprise if the emperor had not brought Prince Fu to the capital.
I just cursed in my heart that this lucky king was so stupid. He didn't even have a word of his horoscope, but he rushed to live in the palace and sit on the dragon chair. Now that he was caught in such a big way, the throne would probably be abolished.
However, everyone was relieved at the same time.
The imperial concubine is actually trying every possible means to find an excuse to win over King Fu, which means that she really won't mention the rumors and establish a new king anymore.
Otherwise, there is no need to find such an excuse, just charge King Fu with treason and capture him.
"Where is the Minister of Household Affairs in Nanjing?"
"I'm here!"
Gao Hongtu, the Minister of Household Affairs in Nanjing, rushed out of the queue and replied.
"How much money and grain are there in the Ministry of Household Affairs' warehouse now?" The red lady looked at him and asked directly.
"Go back to your Majesty, there is no money or food in the warehouse." Gao Hongtu replied carefully.
The red lady immediately laughed angrily, tightened her hand on the hilt of the sword, and said sternly: "Since October last year, the provinces in the south of the Yangtze River have not sent a penny of grain to Beijing. Where have all the taxes and money collected gone? Are you waiting for me?
have you eaten?"
"Your Majesty, calm down. Last year's summer and autumn taxes from each province did total more than six million taels. However, in May, your majesty sent people to raise grain, so we used it to buy grain, totaling two million taels."
Gao Hongtu hurriedly explained again.
"The provinces south of the Yangtze River are so prosperous, why do they only collect a mere six million taels of silver in one year?"
The red lady said in a deep voice.
Zhang Yan also looked straight at the ministers in the palace. She also wanted to know why the fifth brother increased taxes every year, but the taxes collected by Jiangnan were getting less and less.
"Alas, Queen Mother, I don't know something. In the past few years, rebels have been raging, and Hu, Guang, and Sichuan have been unable to collect taxes. Last year, large-scale civil unrest broke out in Zhejiang. Although it finally subsided, it was still full of holes.
Therefore, those who can really collect taxes are the states and counties in southern Zhili and some states and counties in Zhejiang, as well as Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian.
And 80% of them are from Nanzhili. Now that your Majesty has exempted them from the three bells and corvee service, it will be good if all the places can collect a total of three million taels of silver from now on."
Qian Qianyi saw Zhang Yan looking over, so he had to stand up and sigh, and then slowly explained that his words were not false at all.
In recent years, Chongzhen has indeed been relying on Nanzhili, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang for support.
"I don't care how much we can collect in the future. Let's talk about last year and this year first. So for six million taels of silver, we only bought two million stone grains?" The red lady waved her hand, obviously not wanting to hear Qian Qianyi's words.
What a nonsense, but looked at Gao Hongtu again.
"Hui Niangniang, mainly due to the war in Huguang, the grain production has been greatly reduced. In addition, last year's civil strife in Zhejiang and floods in Jiangxi, so the price of grain has been rising steadily since the beginning of this spring. In May, it reached three taels and two yuan per stone. This is still the imperial court's centralized procurement.
The grain merchants were concerned about the safety of the imperial court and took the initiative to reduce prices, otherwise they might not be able to buy two million shi."
"yes!"
"There is a food shortage everywhere now."
After Gao Hongtu finished explaining, everyone nodded frequently.
In May of this year, after the imperial court announced that tax money would be used to buy grain, the price of grain in the city did rise to three taels, but after the purchases were completed, it dropped to around two taels.
"Okay, the war in Huguang has reduced production, Jiangxi is flooded, and Zhejiang is in chaos. We only bought two million shi of grain. So where is the grain now?"
The red lady suppressed the urge to kill and asked.
Now that the north is in urgent need of food, we should first obtain these two million stones and transport them there immediately.
"At that time, for some reason, all the grain was temporarily sealed in the dock warehouse. Unexpectedly, the weather was dry and the water actually escaped. Two million stones of grain were burned to nothing. The general responsible for guarding has been dismissed from his post and investigated. I have neglected my duty. Please ask
Your Majesty convicts you!"
After Gao Hongtu finished speaking, he knelt down with tears streaming down his face, obviously deeply worried about this matter.
"Going round and round, that is to say, there is not one tael of silver or one stone of grain in the Nanjing warehouse right now, right?"
The red lady spoke calmly.
Zhang Yan's face looked very ugly.
"I would like to report to the Queen Mother, Your Majesty, this is too strange. I suspect that someone has enriched his own pockets and embezzled all the taxes and grain from the wharf, and then deliberately set fire to cover up the situation. I sincerely ask Your Majesty to investigate this matter thoroughly."
Ma Shiying rolled his eyes and stood up immediately.
"Your Majesty, your Majesty, it was really strange that the pier suddenly caught fire at that time. Everything was fine for more than a month, but he and King Fu had just crossed the river and arrived in Nanjing with their troops. Two days later, the pier caught fire. If this matter has anything to do with him, Ma Shiying has nothing to do with it.
It has nothing to do with it, I will never believe it."
"Hou Xun, don't talk nonsense. I'm afraid that the granary at the dock will be empty before I and Prince Fu arrive in Nanjing. As for who is lining his own pockets and who is setting fire to cover up others' eyes and ears, you know it very well!"
"Bah, old man, you are obviously a thief shouting to catch a thief..."
For a time, the hall became a mess, but Ma Shiying was obviously weak and weak. In the end, he was scolded by Hou Xun, Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu and others for saying that he could only parry but had no power to fight back.
Qian Qianyi and other nobles looked on with cold eyes, secretly looking at the expressions of the red lady and Zhang Yan from time to time.
But one of them had no expression on his face, and the other looked like he was watching a good show, and sat back on the small stool next to Zhang Yan.
"The... Queen Mother, Mother... Your Majesty... this matter has absolutely nothing to do with me, it is clearly..." Ma Shiying breathlessly defended herself to the Red Lady and Zhang Yan.
But he was only halfway through his words when he was interrupted again by Hou Xun: "To the Queen Mother, the Imperial Concubine, I impeach Ma Shiying to enrich his own pockets and embezzle taxes and food!"
"I second the proposal..."
For a time, most of the civil servants in the palace knelt down to impeach Ma Shiying. Ma Shiying knelt on the ground, angry and anxious. She pointed tremblingly at Hou Xun and others and cursed: "Shameless people..."
"enough."
Seeing Ma Shiying kneeling on the ground, leaning on her back, wanting to be scolded to death, Zhang Yan finally couldn't stand it anymore, stood up and shouted lowly, then walked away with a puff of sleeves.
"Farewell to the Queen Mother." Although everyone was a little disappointed that the Queen Mother did not deal with Ma Shiying, they had no choice but to kneel down and say goodbye.
Ma Shiying collapsed directly in the hall. It was obvious that he had exhausted all his energy and mind by just talking to the Confucian scholars.
After everyone got up and were about to leave, they found that the imperial concubine was still sitting motionless on the stool, with a faint smile on her lips, so they had to stand up again.
"Why aren't you noisy anymore? This is much better than singing on stage."
When the red lady saw that everyone was silent, she got up, came to the palace, and kicked Ma Shiying who was like a dead dog.
The latter hurriedly got up, knelt down again, and shouted: "Your Majesty, I am wronged. Hou Xun and others clearly want to frame me, please forgive me!"
This time Hou Xun and others did not speak to refute, obviously they all felt that this red lady was more difficult to deal with than Zhang Yan.
The red lady just glanced at Ma Shiying and ignored him. Instead, she looked at Qian Qianyi and said: "Qian Qianyi, you are your Majesty's newly enthroned Second Assistant. You will be responsible for investigating this matter. Hou Xun, Gao
Hongtu, you two will help me. I will only give you three days. I don’t want to know who is lining the pockets and who set the fire. After three days, I only need to see two million stones of food. One stone is missing. I will go first.
The three of you will be confiscated and beheaded, and then we will select someone to investigate!"
After the red lady finished speaking, she also turned and left.
Everyone looked at me, and I looked at you, and knelt down to bow down again. Ma Shiying sneered with a look of gloating on his face, and then strode away.
But Qian Qianyi, Hou Xun, Shi Kefa and others breathed a sigh of relief. They just wanted to test the temperament of the imperial concubine.
Nowadays, the north is short of food. Without the support of money and food from the south, it will definitely not work. His Majesty actually pardoned them and restored many of them to their posts and promoted them. In any case, we must find a way to collect some money and food and transport them to the north as soon as possible.
As for the food on the dock, it was indeed someone who had enriched their own pockets, and they all knew who it was. At that time, they were worried that the food would be swallowed up by Ma Shiying and King Fu, so they turned a blind eye.
"Mr. Qian Ge, this noble concubine is completely unruly and has such a murderous intention. What should we do in the future?"
Gao Hongtu whispered with a worried look on his face. Everyone could understand the look in the red lady's eyes when she left just now.
If they cannot produce two million stones of food in three days, they will definitely go on a killing spree.
"Isn't there still a Queen Mother? Everyone should be more careful in the future. If you eat the emperor's salary and be loyal to the emperor, you should hurry up and collect food!"
Qian Qianyi squinted his eyes and waved his hand.
Everyone said nothing and hurriedly left the hall.
The nobles on the side have not left yet, they are all gathered around Wei Guogong and discussing in low voices.
"My lord, how about we go and see the queen mother and the noble concubine again?"
Obviously, no one saw His Majesty's attitude towards these nobles, whether they were in Jiangbei or just now, so they were really unsure and wanted to take the initiative to test it out.
After all, it is normal for the emperor to pardon civil servants in order to win people's hearts, but it is difficult to say the same for nobles like them.
"Wait a little longer and see if the Queen Mother and the Empress will take the initiative to summon us!" Wei Guogong pondered for a moment and waved his hand.
He estimated that the Queen Mother and the Imperial Concubine would summon them first, beat them up, or even punish them, and then comfort them.
But after waiting for half an hour, there was still no movement, and they became even more panicked.
Duke Guo of Wei gritted his teeth and had to take the initiative to ask for an audience.
"Everyone, the Queen Mother and the Imperial Concubine have taken a rest after a long journey. I have asked the general to tell you to go back first and talk about anything tomorrow."
Xu Lan left and returned, then came to the front of a group of nobles and said.
"Let's go!"
Wei Guogong sighed, then waved and left the hall.
He knew that His Majesty would probably punish them severely this time.
In fact, he was unwilling to get involved in establishing a new king at first, but King Fu forced him to make a choice. In order to preserve the glory and wealth of Wei Guogong's lineage, he had to choose to support King Fu.
Because if he didn't choose to support him, once King Fu came to the throne, he would definitely clean up Wei Guogong's lineage.
Although other nobles were also worried, they were not as worried as Duke Wei. After all, it was Duke Wei who took the lead and they had to follow his lead.
