Jiuxi

Chapter 953 951 [Dying]

To be fair, Empress Dowager Ning did not object to Lu Chen's request to pursue the victory.

Firstly, the death of Emperor Jing was indeed a heavy blow to the Jing army, but this does not mean that the Jing Kingdom has become a vulnerable waste. Judging from the current situation, the other side still has a large number of troops deployed in the north of Dingzhou, the west of Dingzhou, and the central and western parts of Jingzhou, totaling about 200,000 to 300,000 people.

Right now, Da Qi has the upper hand. If we don't take this opportunity to recover the lost territory, will we have to wait for Jing State to recover?
Secondly, although Empress Dowager Ning was a woman, she knew the humiliation suffered by the Great Qi Dynasty in the past, and she would never forget the will of her father-in-law Emperor Gaozong and her husband Emperor Zhezong, which was to recover the lost territory and return it to the old capital.

From this point of view, she had no reason to reject Lu Chen.

The third, and most important, point is that the troops of Da Qi are now all in Lu Chen's hands. She does not want to cause a split between China and foreign countries at this moment.

But Empress Dowager Ning did not expect that there would be problems with Gao Huan.

She was not completely ignorant of the situation in the national treasury, otherwise she would not have taken out more than 9 million taels of silver from the inner treasury and transferred it directly to the Ministry of Revenue.

This money is hard-earned.

This included the eight million taels that Lu Chen had extorted from the wealthy families in Heluo, as well as the proceeds from the confiscation of funds from the four rebellious families in the capital.

Because of these two receipts, the inner treasury had more than 24 million taels of silver, of which more than 4 million taels had been used up when Li Duan was alive. After Li Zongben succeeded to the throne, he spent more than 5 million taels of silver on the hasty Northern Expedition. In addition to the national mourning for the two previous emperors, by the time Empress Dowager Ning took power, there were only more than 11 million taels of silver left in the inner treasury.

Even so, Empress Dowager Ning gritted her teeth and took out more than 9 million taels as military supplies, leaving only 2 million taels for emergencies.

In her opinion, this amount of silver plus the previous reserves of the national treasury could support the expenditure from last autumn to the beginning of winter this year. When the financial taxes of various states began to be delivered to the capital in September this year, it would be about 20 million taels, which would be enough to last until the summer and autumn of next year.

This was the greatest support she could give to Lu Chen. At that time, even if Lu Chen wanted to continue fighting, she could only force him to stop.

Otherwise the court will collapse completely.

"It's only the beginning of December now. There are still ten months before the next year's tax revenue arrives in Beijing. There are only more than 7 million taels of silver left in the treasury."

Queen Mother Ning's eyes gradually turned colder, and her tone gradually became higher: "Minister Gao, you need to give a reasonable explanation."

"Your Majesty, calm down and allow me to report in detail."

Gao Huan did not dare to be careless. Although the important officials in the court respected him very much because of Lu Chen, he had witnessed the decisiveness of Empress Dowager Ning.

Even if Queen Mother Ning would not take his head for Lu Chen's sake, if this matter could not be explained clearly, Longlin Gao family would definitely be in trouble.

He said nervously and hurriedly: "Your Majesty, as of December last year, the national treasury had 21.73 million taels of silver, of which 18.9 million taels were the revenue of the year, and the rest were the surplus from the previous year. Later, Your Majesty transferred 9.32 million taels from the inner treasury, a total of 31.05 million taels."

"In the past year, the treasury actually spent 33.7 million taels, so the deficit was 2.65 million taels. This money was borrowed from the market in the name of the Ministry of Revenue. It has now been repaid and the accounts are clear."

"Starting from September this year, the revenues from various states have been transported to the capital, totaling 21.3 million taels of silver. After deducting the repayment of the loan, there is another 8.7 million taels that must be allocated to the various departments of the court and the lower states at the beginning of the year. After deducting the cost of the latest batch of food, fodder, weapons, winter clothing and other supplies and military pay for the Jiangbei army, there is only a little over 7.47 million taels left."

Gao Huan was obviously familiar with these figures. He had been suffering from headaches and insomnia recently. At this moment, he said with great guilt: "Your Majesty, I guarantee that every income and expenditure of the Ministry of Revenue can be clearly checked. I...I really did not embezzle a single cent."

Queen Mother Ning was silent for a long time, and then said, "I believe you."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Gao Huan looked up and said carefully, "Your Majesty, there is one more very important matter. The battle of Lei Ze Plain has ended. The victory report states that more than 30,000 of our soldiers were killed. The battle outside Jingzhou and Pingyang City has also come to an end. I estimate that the post-war compensation for these two battles will cost about 10 million taels."

Empress Dowager Ning frowned deeply.

There is a gap of more than two million taels for this item alone, and the court's expenditure in the coming year is not limited to military expenses!
The 8.7 million taels that Gao Huan mentioned earlier was the budget for next year. This was the result of careful calculations and even forced deductions in many aspects, but who can guarantee that there will not be any problems in various places next year?

The simplest example is, if a place suffers from floods, droughts, or even an earthquake, should the imperial court provide relief to the victims?
Even without talking about the troubles next year, the national treasury cannot even take out 10 million taels right now, unless the 8.7 million taels budget is deducted. But in that case, the court and the provincial governments below will be directly paralyzed.

Both prime ministers fell into deep thought. The trouble Gao Huan mentioned was indeed tricky, but it was not so severe that they, especially Xu Zuo, were helpless. It was just that it was not convenient for them to express their opinions publicly at the moment.

Minister of Rites Kong Yingdong stepped out of the class and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, I dare to ask if the Prince of Huai'an can stop his march. Although I am not familiar with the affairs of the Ministry of Revenue, I know the difference between active and static military expenditures. The transportation of food and fodder is very expensive, four to five times more than usual. If the army is stationed to rest, the court can breathe a sigh of relief, otherwise it will be difficult to continue."

Yao Chong, the Minister of Personnel, said, "Your Majesty, what Minister Kong said makes sense. It's not that the court doesn't support the Prince of Huai'an and the border troops. We all know the principle of making a concerted effort, but we also have to consider the actual situation. Minister Gao just said that the court's military expenditures over the past year have reached a huge amount of 24 million taels, including more than 9 million taels that Your Majesty took out from the inner treasury. This is enough to prove that the court spares no effort to support the border troops."

"Yeah, maybe you can slow down a bit."

"Once Emperor Jing dies, the overall situation will be settled. Why rush?"

"This year's situation is so difficult, but our army can still defeat the strong enemy. We only need to rest and recuperate for two or three years. Then, won't it be easy to recover the lost territory?"

"The national treasury is almost dry, we can't levy heavy taxes and exploit the people."

The discussion among the ministers gradually became more heated.

Li Jingda watched indifferently, sneering in his heart.

Of course he knew that what these people said was true and the court was indeed short of money. After all, this was what Gao Huan said himself.

Gao Huan was Lu Chen's confidant. If he hadn't spoken first, others would not have dared to propose a withdrawal. Otherwise, they might have followed the footsteps of Qu Hongyi, Zhu Ruiqian and others. Li Jingda also believed that some of these people were thinking about the overall situation of the court, but there must be someone who wanted to fish in troubled waters and didn't want Lu Chen to further gain credit.

Killing Emperor Jing in battle was already a great achievement, and now asking Lu Chen to recover the territory in Jiangbei that had been lost for twenty years was a terrifying thing to think about.

Gao Huan’s face became increasingly ugly.

He knew very well that the turmoil in the palace at the moment was caused by his power, but even if he sold the Gao family's ancestral home, he would not be able to help Lu Chen make up for the gap of 10 or 20 million taels of silver.

This was no longer a problem he could solve, and the Lu family business was also unable to bear this burden.

From beginning to end, Empress Dowager Ning and the two prime ministers did not express their opinions.

"Your Majesty, I have a script!"

Amidst the chaos, Li Jingda's loud voice suddenly appeared.

Empress Dowager Ning nodded and said, "Tell me about it."

Li Jingda said solemnly: "Your Majesty, although Emperor Jing is dead, the Jing army still has hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses. If we let them survive this difficult time, they will still be a powerful enemy of our dynasty in the future. The only way is to take advantage of their weakest moment and take back the lost land in Jiangbei with a decisive momentum to boost the people's morale. As long as we can drive the Jing army back to the north of the Jing River, our dynasty will recuperate and accumulate strength, and we will be able to destroy Jing and pacify the world in the future! Your Majesty, the opportunity will not come again!"

Queen Mother Ning said slowly, "I also know what Lord Li said, but you have just heard what Lord Gao said. The court is in a difficult situation now, with insufficient income and expenditure, and can hardly withstand the slightest storm. What can we do?"

Li Jingda bowed and said firmly: "Your Majesty, I have received your grace many times and have no way to repay you. At this difficult time for the country, I still have some floating wealth and some farms in my family. I am willing to convert them into silver and present them to the court as a gift-"

The officials suddenly changed color.

"Marquis Nanxun!"

Xue Nanting interrupted Li Jingda with a shout. Looking at this military minister who was over fifty years old, he couldn't help but admire him and feel a headache.

Killing one's family to help others in need is certainly an extremely valuable virtue, but where would Li Jingda put the civil and military officials in the court if this were the case?

If he donated his fortune to support the court, would others just turn a blind eye?

If this statement were to get out, Li Jingda and the Ninghua Li family behind him would immediately become the target of public criticism. Even if he doesn't consider himself, he should at least think about the hundreds of people in the Li family, right?

Furthermore, if the imperial court forced all civil and military officials to sell their homes and property to raise funds for the military, wouldn't Empress Dowager Ning and the young emperor be criticized by the people of the world?

The problem needs to be solved, but not with such drastic means.

Xue Nanting slowed down his tone and said, "Marquis Nanxun, this matter is of great importance. We can discuss it later. There is no need to rush at this moment."

Li Jingda smacked his lips. Although he disliked civil officials like Kong Yingdong, he still respected Xue Nanting, the prime minister who had worked hard for twenty years, so he retreated honestly.

At this moment, the gentle but powerful voice of Queen Dowager Ning came from the throne.

"Regarding the matter of the silver box and the border troops' next plan, each of you is required to submit a memorial within three days to explain your countermeasures."

"Today's court meeting ends here for now. Prime Minister Xue and Prime Minister Xu, please stay and talk."

……

South City, Duke Wei’s Mansion.

Ever since the news of the great victory in Jiangbei spread in the capital two days ago, the city has been filled with a festive atmosphere, as if the New Year had arrived early, or even more grand than the New Year.

However, in this famous Duke's Mansion, the sadness on the servants' faces could not be wiped away.

The Duke of Wei, who devoted his entire life to the Great Qi, has reached the end of his life.

Even though the palace was very concerned about his health, sent him various famous medicines, and even had two imperial doctors living in his house, they could not change the fundamental truth of life: birth, aging, sickness and death.

In the bedroom of the main house in the inner courtyard, Li Liangyu, who was unemployed at home, stood by the bed and described the happenings in the capital as slowly and clearly as possible.

After a long time, a very weak voice was heard from the bed.

"You go to the palace and tell them that I am an old minister with a weak body and cannot walk. Please ask the Empress Dowager, His Majesty the Emperor, and the two Prime Ministers to condescend to visit my humble abode."

"Yes, father."

Li Liangyu knelt on his knees and kowtowed to accept the order.

When he stood up again, his face was filled with grief and tears were streaming down his face.

(End of this chapter)