Chapter 36: Henan Drought (Six Updates, Fourth Update)

  400,000 taels of white silver, 30,000 taels of yellow gold, and a certain amount of copper coins. A national treasury with only this little silver can be said to be empty.

  But at the moment, the disaster is urgent, and rescue is like fighting a fire. Zhu Houzhao shook his head and sighed: "I didn't expect that there would be only this little silver in the national treasury. Never mind, let's allocate 300,000 taels to relieve the drought in Henan first."

  "Your Majesty!" Li Dongyang had not yet responded, when the Minister of War, Mao Wenju, stepped forward and bowed to Zhu Houzhao. "The matter of allocating disaster relief funds needs careful consideration," he said. "The northern border is frequently breached by the Tatars, resulting in heavy casualties among our soldiers. The Ministry of War has repeatedly requested military pay and compensation from the Ministry of Revenue, but they have been evasive. As a result, our soldiers on the border have not received their salaries for nearly half a year, and the compensation for fallen soldiers has yet to be allocated. I estimate that this will require at least 400,000 taels of silver."

  "Another 400,000 taels of silver?"

  Zhu Houzhao was slightly stunned and directly cast his gaze at Li Dongyang.

  On this imperial court, Mao Wenhui's words did not leave much face for Li Dongyang. This is normal, because firstly, Mao Wenhui belongs to the military system and is in a different camp from Li Dongyang. Secondly, Mao Wenhui is not a member of the inner cabinet and does not need to be managed by Li Dongyang, the chief assistant of the inner cabinet. Therefore, Mao Wenhui does not need to be too afraid of Li Dongyang. Moreover, Mao Wenhui must have a strong attitude, as it has been the case since ancient times that civil and military officials look down on each other. If Mao Wenhui, the leader of the military officials, shows weakness in front of the civil officials, then all the military officials of the Ming dynasty may not be able to hold their heads up in front of the civil officials.

  Originally, Zhu Houzhao readily agreed to allocate funds for the drought relief in Henan. However, Mao Wenhui suddenly intervened and immediately changed the situation. Cao Yuan, who was standing beside Li Dongyang, felt somewhat annoyed and turned his head to look at Mao Wenhui: "Mister Mao, at present, the national treasury is empty and there's not enough silver. Shouldn't we prioritize our actions? Although the soldiers' wages on the border have been delayed, they will eventually be paid."

  Besides, even if there was no soldier's pay, wouldn't there be food and grass? Wouldn't they go hungry? The refugees in Henan are different. If there is no disaster relief silver, they will starve to death. At that time, the cries of Henan will fill the fields, can Master Mao really bear to see it?"

  Mao Wenju also gave Cao Yuan a glance, and he hummed softly: "This official really can't believe that such words would come out of Mr. Cao's mouth. Mr. Cao also said that there are degrees of urgency in handling matters, but now the border soldiers are fighting desperately with the Tartars, while we still owe them their military pay. This move is likely to dishearten the officers and men, isn't it? This official would like to ask Mr. Cao a question: if the border soldiers become demoralized and lose the battle, allowing the Tartars to invade and threaten the Ming dynasty's rivers and mountains... will Mr. Cao take responsibility for such an outcome? Or should we ask whether Mr. Cao can afford to take on this responsibility?"

  "Cao Yuan was suddenly speechless. Mao Wenju could be the first general, leading military officers and civil officials in the court to confront each other, which was not an easy task. It was clear that Cao Yuan was no match for Mao Wenju."

  Zhu Houzhao sat upright on the dragon chair, frowning tightly. The disaster in Henan must be rescued, and the military salary of the border generals could not be delayed for long. Zhu Houzhao cast his eyes to Li Dongyang, but Li Dongyang's line of sight did not meet with Zhu Houzhao, instead he lowered his head and was deep in thought, it was clear that he had not yet thought of a better solution.

  Zhu Houzhao shook his head and said in a deep voice, "Let's stop here for today. Everyone can disperse after the morning court and think of a solution on their own. My first priority is to rescue Henan from drought, and my second priority is to distribute military salaries to the border generals. I give the cabinet three days to consider this, and at the next court meeting in three days, I want the cabinet to come up with a plan to solve the current crisis."

  "We obey your orders." Li Dongyang led several members of the cabinet to kneel down and receive the imperial edict, and then announced the retreat of the court.

  Mao Wenhui glanced at Li Dongyang who was being helped up by others, and then coldly smiled before turning around to leave.

  "The national treasury is empty, and the emperor has asked us to think of a way to solve the Henan disaster relief funds and the military salaries of the border generals. But our cabinet doesn't have a mountain of gold or a mine of silver, how can we solve it?" The Minister of Rites, Jing Gui, who was standing beside Li Dongyang, said with some annoyance.

  The Ministry of Rites is in charge of the five rites of auspiciousness, felicitations, military affairs, guest etiquette and funeral rites; it manages national school affairs, imperial examinations, and diplomatic relations with vassal states and foreign countries. Among the six ministries, there is a saying that the Ministry of Rites is the first among the six, so its words carry weight. Moreover, Jiong Gui is also an old minister who has been around since the Hongzhi era, and in the Ming dynasty, he is renowned for his extensive learning and upright character, so when he speaks, no one finds it inappropriate.

  Li Dongyang let out a soft sigh and said, "We eat the emperor's salary and bear his worries. We, as officials, shouldn't think about these troublesome matters; should we still expect the emperor to consider them himself? Alright, let's each go back and think of a strategy."

  When Li Dongyang said that, Jinggui also didn't dare say anything more and could only sigh and walk out.

  After the morning meeting, Zhu Houzhao didn't stay in the palace for long. He changed his clothes at Qianqing Palace and invited Zhang Yong to accompany him to Xiangya Mountain Villa to play mahjong with Jiang Xia. The morning meeting had left Zhu Houzhao feeling annoyed and frustrated, and he didn't know how to relieve his gloomy mood without going out to have some fun.

  Li Dongyang got into his own carriage after leaving the imperial palace, and just as the carriage was about to start moving, Li Dongyang suddenly remembered something. He called out: "Jun Yang, wait a minute."

  The one who drove the horse carriage for Li Dongyang was a young man of twenty-seven or eight years old. The young man wore a black linen garment and looked like he had a taciturn personality. On his left waist, there was an ancient long sword hanging from his belt, which seemed to indicate that this young man was skilled in swordsmanship.

  After hearing Li Dongyang's words, Jun Yang pulled the reins of his horse and Li Dongyang said in a low voice: "I'll go back to my mansion myself. You hide outside the palace and wait for a while to see if the Emperor will come out. If he does, follow him and see where he goes. Remember to be careful with your movements and don't get discovered."

  "Yes." Jun Yang only replied with this one word, then Li Dongyang got out of the carriage and walked on foot towards the Xizhimen direction. Although Li Dongyang's age was already advanced, every step he took was steady and firm, as if each step was carefully considered before being taken.

  Zhu Houzhao came out of the palace and went straight to Xiangyashan Villa, where he immediately pulled Jiang Xia, Han Yu, and Zhang Yong to play mahjong with him.

  Perhaps due to bad luck, Zhu Houzhao started losing from the moment he sat down at the table. Although he was the emperor, with all the wealth of the four seas at his command, no one likes to keep losing while sitting at a gambling table. Zhang Yong secretly helped Zhu Houzhao by giving him winning tiles, but Zhu Houzhao still couldn't turn things around and instead dragged Zhang Yong down with him, causing them both to lose a lot of silver.

  "Alright, forget it." Zhu Houzhao pushed his cards away and stood up to leave.

  Han Yu was stunned for a moment before he let out a soft sigh. He knew Zhang Yong's identity, and over time, he had also guessed Zhu Houzhao's identity. Since they were playing mahjong together today, Han Yu naturally didn't dare to be too presumptuous, so he had been letting Zhu Houzhao win all along, and never dared to cheat him out of his cards. As a result, among the four of them, Jiang Xia was the one who won the most money.

  Seeing Zhu Houzhao push the card without playing, Jiang Xia didn't bother with his temper. He counted the treasure notes in his hand while smiling and said: "Ah, ah, today the daughter of the God of Wealth has taken a liking to me, Jiang Xia. This hand is great, tsk, tsk, tsk..."

  Seeing Jiang Xia winning money and being so arrogant, and not caring about Zhu Houzhao's anger at all, Zhang Yong and Han Yu both secretly worried for Jiang Xia. With Jiang Xia's personality, if he didn't know Zhu Houzhao's true identity, it was likely that one day he would provoke Zhu Houzhao's anger, and if so, Jiang Xia's situation would be truly dangerous, always hovering on the edge of life and death.

  After Jiang Xia counted the treasure clearly and put it in his arms, he looked up and saw that Zhu Houzhao was sitting in the waiting hall outside, tasting tea. The tea leaves used in Xiangyang Villa were also of high quality, but after Zhu Houzhao drank two mouthfuls, he suddenly threw the teacup to the ground and cursed in a low voice: "What kind of tea leaves?"

  Hearing the sound of a teacup shattering, Han Yu and Zhang Yong subconsciously glanced at Jiang Xia. Jiang Xia waved his hand, indicating that he didn't want them to approach him as he went to talk with Zhu Houzhao.

  Zhang Yong nodded, and Han Yu turned around and walked out of the mahjong room to the front casino.

  Jiang Xia walked over and sat down beside Zhu Houzhao, smiling as he said: "In my impression, my second brother isn't someone who can't control his emotions. As the older brother, I'll ask you, what's bothering you so much?"

  Zhu Houzhao glanced at Jiang Xia and shook his head: "Forget it, you can't help me even if I tell you."

  "You're underestimating your brother. His abilities are more than what you've seen so far. Why don't you tell me, maybe I can help?"

  Zhu Houzhao thought for a moment, then nodded and said: "The situation is this, my family's roots are in Henan, where there are over 10,000 relatives. Now that Henan has suffered from drought, all the relatives have come to our main household asking for silver to relieve their distress. Currently, we have 100,000 taels of silver available, but if we want to rescue our relatives in Henan, we will need to spend 70,000 taels. However, most of our family's business is in the north, and the north is currently plagued by Tatar bandits, so we've hired many guards there."

  "With the guards' protection, our family business won't be ruined. Now it's time to pay them their monthly silver allowance, but we've already owed them two or three months' worth. The guards themselves have some complaints, and if we owe them again, they might not protect our family business anymore. Paying off all the guards' monthly allowances at once would require over 80,000 taels of silver. Now that I've saved my relatives in Henan, I won't be able to pay the guards their allowance, but if I pay the guards, I won't be able to save my relatives... so I'm stuck here."

  "Hmm, what's the matter? Isn't it just that we're still short of over 50,000 taels of silver? Just because your family doesn't have it doesn't mean that Carefree Mountain Villa doesn't. Right now, there are almost 40,000 taels of silver in Carefree Mountain Villa. You can take all of it first, and the remaining amount won't take long to gather." Jiang Xia said with a smile.

  Zhu Houzhao was taken aback, his eyes wide with surprise as he stared at Jiang Xia and exclaimed: "Our Xiangyang Mountain Villa has made 40,000 taels of silver in just one month? Is Xiangyang Mountain Villa making that much money?"

  PS: I'll sleep for a while and update the remaining two chapters when I wake up. It's 6:30 now, can't hold on anymore...