Among hundreds of officials.

Some people may really consider Ming Dynasty, but their opposition is because they do not understand the inside story.

But there are also people who are afraid of losing the biggest channel for their greed for money.

Tell the world that after exempting farmers from all taxes, corrupt officials will not be able to use the name of the country to increase taxes on civilians and line their own pockets.

Zhou Lu stared at the faces of the officials as if they were watching a show, took a puff of his cigar, slowly exhaled the smoke, and said leisurely:

"Shut up, everyone."

When the emperor spoke, the ministers immediately became silent and did not dare to speak.

The noisy Jinluan Palace became quiet.

"You don't have to worry," Zhou Lu said with a faint smile, "Old Wang, tell them."

Well, this old Wang next door doesn’t have a second child.

"According to the decree."

Wang Chengen and Yourong Yan discussed the captured Shun army worth nearly 70 million taels.

The whole room was shocked!

Courtiers who are proficient in calculations know best what nearly 70 million taels of silver means.

For the last few emperors of the Ming Dynasty, the treasury had never been so full.

No wonder the emperor was so generous and exempted farmers from taxes for ten years.

There were loud exclamations.

"Nearly 70 million taels of silver?!"

"Oh my God..."

"Great, great, great, God helps the Ming Dynasty, Your Majesty is wise..."

The ministers cheered and were extremely surprised.

"Wait a minute, this money... belongs to us too," Chen Yan reminded.

All the court officials immediately calmed down, remembering that their homes had been robbed by the Shun army.

After the capital city was captured by the Shun army, the Shun army swarmed in and penetrated everywhere, breaking into the houses of wealthy families and looting them.

Anyone who is not stupid knows that those who live in big houses are usually rich people.

The richest class are either wealthy businessmen or officials.

Business is not very developed at present, but corruption is common in official circles, and being an official makes more money than a wealthy businessman.

Chen Yan, Zhu Chunchen and other court officials immediately realized that the nearly 70 million taels of silver seized by the emperor also included the money forcibly taken away from their mansions by the Shun army.

The courtiers looked at me and I looked at you with strange expressions, as if they had just swallowed a fly.

Relying on the fact that he was a relative of the emperor and the emperor's most trusted minister, Zhu Chunchen began to report: "Your Majesty, my home was confiscated and robbed by rebels, and I lost all my silver in stock. I am afraid that I will have to spend a lot of money in the future..."

"Yes, my house was also looted completely by the rebels. I will have no money to buy rice tomorrow."

"My veteran also suffered heavy losses, Your Majesty, please be merciful."

"Your Majesty, I have also been brutally attacked by rebels. My family has an eighty-year-old mother and eight children, including one wife and three concubines, as well as twenty-one slaves, maids, etc. Now, not only have I lost all my accumulated salary and silver, I have also lost all my salary and money.

There are also people who are injured and have no money for medical treatment, and will not be able to live in the future."

The courtiers showed pain and sorrow, beat their chests and beat their feet, and as they talked, some began to wipe away tears and cry, their voices choked with sobs, as if they were extremely miserable.

The emotions are full, the expressions are on point, and the lines are well coordinated.

Those who hear it are sad and those who hear it cry.

Eunuch Wang Chengen's eyes were also wet.

Zhou Lu admired them a little.

He's really good at acting.

All of them are drama queens.

On the surface, they are crying about poverty.

In fact, the subtext was to remind the emperor to return the money to them.

Who can't act?

"My dear friends, you are suffering, don't worry, I will help you."

Zhou Lu put on a comforting gesture of pity for the ministers, "Old Wang, how much each of them has lost, write it down immediately."

"According to the decree."

Wang Chengen led several young eunuchs, took pens and paper, and asked the courtiers to report them, and they wrote them down one by one.

The process and records are very simple, just the general loss figures.

The ministers were overjoyed, thinking that the emperor was preparing to make up for their losses, and enthusiastically reported the lost wealth.

Some cunning speculators even falsely report more. After all, they have the final say on how much they will lose in this matter, and there is no way to investigate.

What was seized was a huge amount of wealth of nearly 70 million taels. Given the opportunity, why not get more?

If the emperor becomes rich overnight, he will probably be very generous and not care too much.

At present, when the imperial court is employing people, the emperor has to rely on hundreds of officials to do things, and he also needs to win over them.

Zhou Lu didn't think so in his heart.

He held a cigar in his mouth, crossed his legs, and added: "By the way, in my edict, there is also an allocation of 10 million taels as disaster relief funds, and another 10 million taels as military pay and food."

The ministers were stunned and all looked moved.

It's a huge deal to spend 20 million taels in one go.

In the eyes of corrupt officials, they are super fat!

Chief Assistant Wei Zaode asked: "Who are you going to entrust such an important matter to the country?"

The ministers pricked up their ears.

Including Chen Yan, Wei Xuelian, etc. who reported the loss of family property to the eunuchs.

"They are the two people who went out just now. You should have seen them." Zhou Lu said slowly.

Wang Shouren and Yu Qian came in and out, and all the officials naturally saw it.

"This..." Wei Zaode frowned, turned his head and looked around, making eye contact with Zhu Chunchen and others.

Zhu Chunchen objected: "Your Majesty, disaster relief and military pay and food are of great importance. Moreover, it is a huge amount of 20 million yuan. It affects the national situation and must not be dealt with by those who have rebelled."

"What Duke Cheng Guo said is absolutely true. As far as I know, these two people are rebels and surrendered soldiers. And it is obvious at a glance that they are just farmers in the mountains. They do not know Confucianism and learning. They are not even as good as scholars. Your Majesty must not do it."

Reuse such lowly pariahs."

The implication of Wei Zaode's words is that they have no education and are not qualified to do things. To become an official, you must promote people and become scholars.

Zhou Lu smiled: "Farmers in the mountains are low-class untouchables? Oh, no, without farmers growing food, you would have starved to death. So in my opinion, you so-called civil servants are worse than low-class untouchables."

The faces of all the officials changed drastically.

Wang Chengen was also shocked. The emperor's words would offend all the officials, and the relationship became tense. He opened his lips, but did not speak.

Wei Zaode's eyes twitched: "This... Your Majesty, you, you are disrespectful to the world's literati."

"It is also disrespectful to the ancient sages and Taizu Taizong." Zhu Chunchen agreed, "Such remarks are contrary to the teachings of our ancestors. Your Majesty should think twice."

Bring out various things to apply pressure.

"Your Majesty, all my ministers are very cautious. They only think about the Ming Dynasty and you." Chen Yan said.

"You should think about the Ming Dynasty and me. When I was short of money for disaster relief, I borrowed money from you. What did you do? Yesterday I rang the bell in Jingyang Palace to summon the officials. Where were you? I fought bloody battles in Long Street.

, where are you?"

At that time, the national treasury was depleted and there was an extreme shortage of money. Chongzhen borrowed money from potential ministers. However, Chen Yan, Wei Zaode and others all complained that they were poor and feared that it would affect their image of being honest and dedicated to the public. Chongzhen borrowed very little money.

The capital city was captured, and Chongzhen summoned hundreds of officials, but no one came to the palace.

It's okay to do this in normal times, but doing this in the face of a national crisis is a heinous crime.

The emperor asked three questions in a row, and all the ministers suddenly became ashamed, speechless and as silent as cicadas.

at this time,

The eunuch presented the list of those who had been robbed.

Zhou Lu glanced at him, and his tone turned cold: "Don't you all say that your family has no money? The losses I see here are all more than 10,000 taels."

"Your Majesty, the money is a remnant from my ancestors. I dare not touch it lightly." Zhu Chunchen had already prepared his words.

But the current emperor is not so easy to fool.

Zhou Lu had already seen through everything.

He stretched out, took off the cigar from his mouth, and said calmly:
Chapter completed!