My father is Chongzhen? Then I have no choice but to rebel.

Chapter 191: Potatoes and sweet potatoes for the silver disaster victims!
At this time, the atmosphere in the cabinet was as serious and depressing as ever.

The four cabinet ministers were buried in a mountain of official business. The only sounds in the room were the flipping of memorials and the occasional soft cough.

There's no way around it. Those who can reach this position are at least in their fifties, and the oldest are almost seventy. They all have some health problems.

Suddenly at this moment, two hearty laughs came from the door without any warning. The laughter was like a thunderclap, instantly breaking the original tranquility of the cabinet.

"Hahahahaha, everyone, come and see, come and see, this is really great news!"

"God bless the Ming Dynasty, God bless the Ming Dynasty!"

The laughter was filled with uncontrollable excitement, and instantly attracted the attention of everyone in the room.

The four cabinet ministers paused with their brushes in their hands, their originally focused expressions instantly replaced by surprise.

Then they all raised their heads and looked towards the door.

Immediately afterwards, Ni Yuanlu and Li Banghua walked in hurriedly.

The excitement and thrill on their faces almost overflowed.

When Xue Guoguan saw the two people's extreme excitement, a strong sense of speculation suddenly surged in his heart.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, a sharp light flashed in his slender eyes, and then he asked slowly:
"Why are you two so happy? Could it be that we've received good news from Liaodong?"

His voice was steady and calm, yet it carried a subtle hint of anticipation.

When Li Banghua heard this, the smile on his face became even more intense, and he quickly responded:
"Master Xue is truly brilliant! He guessed it right away!"

Then, he took a deep breath, calmed his excitement, and continued:
"The victory report from Liaodong just arrived this morning. The Ming Dynasty won a resounding victory in the Liaodong Campaign. We killed a total of 130,000 Jiannu soldiers, recovered thousands of miles of lost territory, and rescued hundreds of thousands of Han civilians!"

what?
This news was like a bombshell, exploding in everyone's hearts in an instant.

Not only was Xue Guoguan shocked to the point of widening his eyes, the other three cabinet ministers were also stunned to the point of being unable to close their mouths, with surprise and shock written all over their faces.

Even the eunuch Wang Chengen, who was in charge of writing beside him, was so shocked that he stood there in shock, unable to recover for a long time.

Afterwards, Xue Guoguan hurried forward a few steps, carefully took the victory report from Li Banghua, opened it and began to read it word by word.

After a moment, Xue Guoguan could no longer contain his inner joy and burst into laughter:
"Hahahahahaha, God bless the Ming Dynasty, God bless the Ming Dynasty!"

His laughter echoed in the house, the sound was hearty and cheerful, full of joy and pride, as if it was going to sweep away the haze that had accumulated in his heart for many years.

"This great victory truly enhances our nation's prestige and can be considered as revenge for the Battle of Sarhu!"

His voice became louder and louder, and his emotions became more and more excited.

"Long live the Ming Dynasty! Long live His Majesty! Thousand live the Crown Prince!"

Unconsciously, Xue Guoguan started to flatter Chongzhen and Zhu Cilang again.

However, at this moment, everyone present was immersed in the huge shock and joy brought by this victory, and no one cared about this at all.

After a long while, when everyone's emotions had calmed down a little and the wave of excitement had gradually receded, Li Banghua cleared his throat and said:
"Everyone, in addition to this victory report, His Majesty has also sent several imperial edicts back to the capital. Let's all take a look."

After saying this, he carefully took out several imperial edicts from his bosom and showed them to everyone.

When several cabinet ministers heard this, their expressions instantly became solemn.

After all, this is an imperial edict, representing the emperor's majesty, and due respect is essential.

Xue Guoguan was the first to step forward and take the imperial edict with both hands, bowing slightly to show respect.

Then he opened the imperial edict and examined it carefully.

After reading the first imperial edict, he carefully passed it to the next person.

Before long, everyone had finished reading several imperial edicts.

What was said in the imperial edict was actually not complicated.

In general, there are only three things.

The first thing is about post-war compensation and rewards, which simply means money.

A total of 15 million taels of silver are needed this time, but the Ministry of Revenue does not need to bear all of this money. The Ministry of Revenue only needs to pay half, and the remaining half will be paid from the emperor's treasury.

The second thing is about the resettlement of people outside the capital.

According to the imperial edict, all these people should be relocated to Liaodong to increase the population and complete the immigration and border defense.

One last thing, about potatoes and sweet potatoes.

He even asked the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works to help cooperate in transporting potato and sweet potato seeds to Liaodong for widespread planting in Liaodong first.

In Xue Guoguan's view, these three things themselves were not too difficult, and since they were directly presented in the form of imperial edicts, no one dared to refute them.

It’s just that the implementation will be a bit cumbersome, involving many details and coordination among all parties.

It is also because of this that this matter requires several ministers to discuss with each other. After all, its implementation requires the cooperation of multiple departments and there cannot be any mistakes.

Then, Xue Guoguan looked up at everyone and said calmly:
"Everyone has just read the contents of the imperial edict. In that case, let's discuss these three matters together today. We must come up with a plan before today and implement it as soon as possible."

"Although the Ming Dynasty won this war, if the post-war issues are not dealt with quickly, it may still cause unnecessary trouble!"

After hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement.

Xue Guoguan then said:

"Then let's talk about the first thing, which is the issue of the 15 million taels of silver."

"Your Majesty stated in the imperial edict that the Ministry of Revenue does not need to bear the entire cost of the 15 million taels. The Ministry of Revenue only needs to contribute 7.5 million taels. Does the Ministry of Revenue have any objections?"

As he spoke, he turned his gaze to the Minister of Revenue Ni Yuanlu, waiting for Ni Yuanlu's answer.

To be honest, if it happened in the past, this kind of thing would definitely give the Minister of Revenue a headache.

After all, 7.5 million taels of silver was not a small amount at that time. The annual silver tax revenue of the entire Ming Dynasty might not be that much.

Whenever money was needed, the Minister of Revenue would rack his brains and try all kinds of methods, but it was often difficult to raise the required amount of money.

But right now, this is not difficult!
Firstly, Zhu Cilang had previously allocated more than 30 million taels of silver from his confiscated property to the Ministry of Revenue, and now there are still more than 20 million taels of silver left.

Secondly, there has been a recent tax reform. Since the reform, a large amount of commercial tax has been collected every day, ranging from tens of thousands of taels to hundreds of thousands of taels.

Most of it came from the salt tax!
Since the new salt tax policy was promulgated, salt tax revenue has been growing at an astonishing rate every day.

Take this month for example, the salt tax collected by the Ministry of Revenue amounted to 10 million taels of silver!
Correct!
You heard that right!
That’s a full ten million taels!
Ultimately, the profits brought by the salt tax were too great, so every day big businessmen from all over the country came to the capital to apply for salt permits from the Ministry of Revenue.

The Ministry of Revenue is not short of money nowadays, so a mere 7.5 million taels of silver is naturally no problem.

So, Minister of Revenue Ni Yuanlu nodded directly and said with a confident smile on his face:
"There's no problem with the Ministry of Revenue. We can get the money."

Xue Guoguan nodded with satisfaction when he heard this, and couldn't help but think to himself:

It seems that the Ministry of Revenue is indeed rich, as they agreed so readily!
In the past, every time they asked the Ministry of Revenue to pay money, they would cry poor and make all kinds of excuses to shirk responsibility, and in the end they might not even be able to get the money.

In this way, everyone successfully finalized the matter of the silver.

Cough
Then, Xue Guoguan coughed lightly, cleared his throat, glanced at everyone, and continued:
"Now that the silver issue has been settled, let's move on to the second matter, which is the relocation of 300,000 civilians outside the city to Liaodong."

As soon as these words came out, Minister of Revenue Ni Yuanlu suddenly spoke again:

"In my opinion, there's no need to discuss this matter. We can just implement it according to the instructions of the imperial edict!"

When they finally heard this, they nodded in agreement almost without thinking.

You should know that in the past two months, the cabinet and the Ministry of Revenue have been overwhelmed by the resettlement of these 300,000 people.

Because the disaster in Shaanxi, Anhui and Henan continues to rage with no signs of stopping, and no one can predict when it will completely end.

Under such circumstances, if these people are hastily repatriated, it will undoubtedly push them into the abyss of death, which is tantamount to killing them with one's own hands.

What's worse is that if we are not careful, these desperate people may join Li Zicheng's peasant army, and the situation will become even more complicated.

So their original plan was to continue to provide for these people until the disaster was completely over.

But this is not an easy task, because in just this one month, many more people have come to the capital, and now the number of people outside the capital has exceeded 400,000!
As the number of people increases, management becomes a problem. Even if the court tries its best, various problems are inevitable.

But now, this doesn’t seem to be a problem anymore!

Because as long as these people are moved to Liaodong, all problems will be solved.

Moreover, the cost of migration was already included in the 15 million taels of silver, so there was no need to negotiate additional expenses.

Of course, there are still many details that need to be considered to complete this large-scale migration.

At that time, the Ministry of Revenue may also need to prepare winter clothes for these people, properly arrange their food and accommodation along the way, etc.

However, the Ministry of Revenue now has sufficient funds, so these things are not difficult.

However, tasks such as transporting supplies and building temporary shelters may require cooperation from the Ministry of Industry.

In this way, the second matter was still passed smoothly without any obstacles. Originally, the third matter was to be discussed next, but Xue Guoguan did not rush to speak.

Instead, he slowly picked up several copies of this morning's "Da Ming Daily" from the desk beside him, and distributed them to everyone present one by one.

"Before we discuss the third matter, let's take a look at today's Da Ming Daily."

Although the people at the scene were full of doubts and did not understand what Xue Guoguan's intention was, out of respect for the Prime Minister, they took the newspaper and read it carefully.

What caught their eyes was a detailed report on potatoes and sweet potatoes.

After three months of careful planting and cultivation, 100,000 acres of sweet potatoes and potatoes finally had a bumper harvest.

In recent times, a large number of disaster victims have been recruited to help with the harvest in the fields where sweet potatoes and potatoes are grown.

The newspaper clearly recorded that the potato yield per acre was as high as more than 3,500 kilograms. Although the sweet potato yield was slightly lower, it also had a high yield of more than 3,000 kilograms.

You should know that during this period, the rice yield was only about 300 kilograms per acre, and the wheat yield was less than 200 kilograms.

This means that the output of potatoes and sweet potatoes is at least ten times that of rice and wheat!
Moreover, these crops are extremely easy to eat. They can be eaten directly by simply boiling or roasting them. They have a unique taste and can be promoted as food on a large scale.

Regarding potatoes and sweet potatoes, apart from Xue Guoguan who already knew about it, probably only the Minister of Revenue Ni Yuanlu knew a little about it.

After all, as the Minister of Revenue, in charge of the country's money and grain, he naturally cares more about this aspect.

But even so, he was still shocked when he saw such an astonishing output with his own eyes.

The yield per mu is often three to four thousand kilograms, which far exceeds the output of all existing grain crops in the Ming Dynasty.

"Are these potatoes really that productive? If so, they should be promoted nationwide as soon as possible. That way, no one in the Ming Dynasty will ever starve to death again. This is a magical tool that can save the people of the world!"

Before Ni Yuanlu could say anything, Li Banghua on the side suddenly spoke with excitement on his face.

When the others heard this, they nodded in agreement.

But it is inevitable that some people still have doubts in their hearts. After all, they have never seen these two crops with their own eyes, and they don’t know whether such things are really edible?

Or how does it taste?

But obviously, Xue Guoguan had already anticipated everyone's reaction and was fully prepared.

He was actually planning to discuss the promotion of potatoes and sweet potatoes with several cabinet ministers today, but he didn't expect to receive the imperial edict from Liaodong, so he simply discussed the two matters together.

Then, Xue Guoguan looked at Wang Chengen who was waiting nearby, bowed slightly, and said politely:

"Eunuch Wang, thank you for your help."

When Wang Chengen heard this, he immediately understood and trotted out.

Everyone was confused by this scene and didn't know what Xue Guoguan was doing.

Xue Guoguan continued to smile and said:
"Everyone, rest assured, the production of these potatoes and sweet potatoes is absolutely true. I assigned someone to monitor the harvest, and they weighed the yields one by one. There's absolutely no possibility of falsification!"

"As for how these two things taste, everyone will know soon!"

Just as Xue Guoguan finished speaking, Wang Chengen, who had left not long ago, suddenly walked in again with two exquisite food boxes in his hands.

When the food box was slowly opened in front of them, what appeared in front of them was a plate of steamed potatoes and a plate of steamed sweet potatoes.

Each potato is round and plump, of uniform size, and obviously carefully selected.

The skin is steamed until it is slightly wrinkled, giving it a rustic texture while exuding the unique fragrance of potatoes.

Look at the steamed sweet potato next to it. The skin of the sweet potato is slightly shiny, as if it is wrapped in a thin layer of sugar coating, which looks particularly tempting.

Xue Guoguan smiled warmly and said:

"Everyone, once these two crops are ripe, I'll send someone to get some of them here."

"Everyone try it first, and then we can discuss what to do next."

After saying that, Xue Guoguan didn't care about his identity as the chief minister of the cabinet, and directly picked up a potato and started to eat it.

Seeing this scene, everyone looked at each other, feeling a little at a loss for a moment.

The reason is simple: the way he eats is simply too unsightly. Just imagine, which cabinet prime minister would be so disregarding of his image as to just stuff food into his mouth?

But Li Banghua on the side didn't care about this. He had already been driven by curiosity and followed suit. He reached out and picked up a sweet potato and started to eat it.

The moment you put it in your mouth, the sweet taste spreads in your mouth instantly. The sweetness is just right, not too sweet. It is that kind of natural sweetness, accompanied by a hint of potato fragrance, which is really unforgettable.
The rich and sweet taste instantly conquered his taste buds.

Li Banghua couldn't help but exclaimed loudly:
"I didn't expect this thing to be so sweet. It's really a pleasant surprise!"

When the others heard this, they couldn't contain their curiosity. They put aside their usual reserve and ignored etiquette. They reached out and picked up one and started eating.

Potatoes and sweet potatoes are two different foods, each with its own unique taste, which amazed everyone for a moment, and the house was filled with exclamations of admiration.

After everyone finished eating, they still felt a little reluctant to leave.

Cabinet Minister Fan Jingwen was filled with emotion and could not help but sigh and said:
"Oh! I never thought that the Ming Dynasty would have such miraculous crops. If these things had been promoted earlier, there would be no famine in the Ming Dynasty, and the people would not have to suffer so much."

This sentence seemed to touch everyone's heart and was unanimously agreed by everyone present.

After all, they had just tasted it themselves. Although the taste was a bit light, it could indeed be eaten as food.

Besides, people are so poor nowadays that they are almost starving to death. Being able to have something to eat is already a great happiness. What else is there to complain about?

The key is that the yield of this thing is really high. Planting one acre of land may be enough for a family to eat.

However, more effort may be needed in preservation, such as how to prevent moisture and insects, which requires further research and discussion.

Immediately afterwards, without waiting for anyone else to speak, Minister of Revenue Ni Yuanlu stood up and said with a firm look:

"Everyone, I think there's no need to discuss this third matter any further. From today on, the Ministry of Revenue will go all out to promote this crop throughout the country."

"In addition to ensuring the supply of seeds in the Liaodong region, all seeds are managed by the Ministry of Revenue and then distributed throughout the country."

When everyone heard this, they all nodded in agreement.

In this way, the matters required by the imperial edict were smoothly passed by the cabinet resolution without any hindrance.

The whole process took less than an hour, which was so efficient that it was truly amazing.

This is because these ministers may have some conflicts due to their positions, concepts and other factors on a daily basis.

But once it involves major issues concerning the life and death of the people of the world, the sense of responsibility and mission towards their country deep in their hearts will be instantly ignited. They will abandon their previous prejudices without hesitation and serve the country wholeheartedly.

I have to say that the cabinet and the six ministries were still quite united at this time!
Of course, most of this is due to Zhu Cilang's contribution.

If he had not killed many officials before, the cabinet and the six ministries might not have been as united as they are now.
After the discussion, just as Li Banghua and Ni Yuanlu were about to get up and say goodbye, Zhang Zhifa, the cabinet minister who had been silent, suddenly seemed to remember something important, frowned, and asked:
"By the way, did His Majesty and the Crown Prince say when they would be back?"

"I've been away for almost a month. Now that the battle in Liaodong has been won, I should be back as soon as possible."

When he said this, his eyes revealed a hint of concern and worry. After all, the emperor and the prince were both away and not coming back, which was not a good thing!
It would be nice if at least one person came back!
When Xue Guoguan heard this, he immediately shook his head and said:
"This matter wasn't mentioned in the imperial edict, but it should be soon, right?"

When the others heard this, they looked at each other and saw helplessness in each other's eyes, and then they didn't say anything else.

After all, if these two are unwilling to come back, there is really nothing they, as ministers, can do.

Instead of worrying about such things, it is better to handle the affairs of state properly, do the things at hand well, and share the worries of the Crown Prince and His Majesty.

After a while, Li Banghua and Ni Yuanlu stood up to say goodbye, and several cabinet ministers began to handle official business again.

However, the joy of victory continued to spread in the capital, and would soon spread to the entire Ming Dynasty!
After all, with such a great victory, the cabinet must announce it to the world.

By then the whole world will know about this!
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, two days have passed.

Zhu Cilang was far away in Liaodong, but he was still busy with many post-war affairs every day.

Although he didn't know the specific situation in the capital for the time being, he could probably guess that the cabinet would act quickly after receiving the imperial edict.

After all, the matters mentioned in the imperial edict are all national affairs, and they are all reasonable. The cabinet will certainly not dare to deliberately make things difficult and will definitely implement them as soon as possible.

The fact was just as he expected. Various affairs in the capital were being carried out in an orderly manner, and everything was moving in a good direction.

During these two days, Zhu Cilang was not idle either.

Although Liaodong has not yet been completely pacified, the overall situation has been determined, and matters such as post-war reconstruction and rewards for merit should be put on the agenda.

However, with Hong Chengchou in charge of post-war reconstruction, Zhu Cilang was too lazy to take care of it. He was only concerned with rewarding people based on their merits.

Or to put it more bluntly, it is actually the matter of conferring nobility mentioned earlier.

Speaking of which, there are quite a few people who will be banned this time.

Not mentioning anything else for now, all the generals who participated in this war, except those who died on the battlefield and were posthumously conferred the title of marquis.

As long as they are still alive, they will be made earls this time to reward their outstanding performance and heroic fighting on the battlefield.

(End of this chapter)