The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, becoming a disciple of Yue Buqun.

Zhu Houzhao was very angry. Liu Jin carefully said, "That's what I thought too, but the Grand Secretary said that the national treasury is currently short of silver."

"Is the national treasury running low on silver?"

Zhu Houzhao frowned and asked, "Weren't the taxes just collected? How could there be a shortfall?"

"Your Majesty, I have also inquired about this matter with the Minister of Revenue."

Liu Jin was clearly prepared for Zhu Houzhao's words and replied, "The Minister of Revenue said that most of the taxes collected this year have covered last year's expenditures. In addition, with some necessary appropriations, such as military pay, the national treasury is now running a deficit. The Minister of Revenue also said that the salaries of court officials have not yet been paid this year."

Zhu Houzhao had only recently ascended the throne and was learning about these things for the first time. Upon hearing this, he frowned deeply.

So you're saying we're living beyond our means?

Liu Jin nodded.

Zhu Houzhao then asked, "How can the national treasury be running a deficit?"

"This……"

Liu Jin stammered and dared not speak.

Zhu Houzhao shouted, "What are you stammering about?"

Liu Jin immediately knelt down and said, "The Minister of Revenue said that this is because the late emperor often transferred a lot of treasury funds for Taoist rituals and ceremonies, which led to a shortage of treasury funds."

Zhu Houzhao was speechless upon hearing this.

The relationship problems stemmed from his father.

After a while.

Zhu Houzhao then asked, "How much silver is left in the imperial treasury?"

Liu Jin replied cautiously, "Your Majesty, the imperial treasury currently has 1.3 million taels of silver."

Zhu Houzhao asked in surprise, "So little? I remember Father... when the late Emperor was alive, didn't we have more than ten million taels?"

"This……"

Liu Jin said awkwardly, "When His Majesty ascended the throne, this servant and other eunuchs took stock of the imperial treasury. At that time, there were only four million taels of silver left. The palace expenses have been considerable in the past two years. The silver spent when His Majesty ascended the throne was also allocated from the imperial treasury. Now, this is all that is left."

Under normal circumstances, the palace would spend several million taels of silver a year, mainly on the salaries of the harem and the palace maids and eunuchs. Fortunately, Zhu Youxin's harem consisted of only Empress Dowager Zhang, which reduced the harem expenses considerably, but other expenditures were still substantial.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Houzhao pondered for a moment and said, "First, allocate 300,000 taels from the imperial treasury to Shaanxi for disaster relief and emergency assistance. Have the cabinet quickly draft a disaster relief plan."

"Yes."

Liu Jin nodded in agreement.

But Zhu Houzhao's brows were still furrowed. Seeing this, Liu Jin said, "Your Highness must be tired now? Would you like to watch a dance?"

Zhu Houzhao shook his head and said, "I'm already tired of those dances."

Liu Jin laughed and said, "Sir, this time is different."

"How are they different?"

"Several Miao women from Miao territory have arrived at the palace today. They are most skilled at dancing their own ethnic dances. I've heard that their dances are quite different from those of Han women. Your Highness will see for yourself when you see them."

"Oh?"

Zhu Houzhao was very interested upon hearing this.

"Then I'll have to see for myself."

Chapter 636: Disaster Relief in Lantian County

September.

Lantian County.

"Please line up patiently and don't rush."

The yamen runners distributing porridge shouted.

"Sir, could you please serve me a little more?"

A woman, holding a bowl, pleaded with him.

"Do you think this is your home? Why are you taking so much more? Or should I just give you the whole place? What about everyone else?!"

The yamen runner said.

"But there's not enough here, and I have two children."

The woman pleaded.

The porridge in the woman's bowl was very thin, not enough for one person.

"Stop arguing, I'll give you one more spoonful at most."

The bailiff was already quite impatient, so he scooped in another spoonful and then directly called to the people queuing behind him.

"next."

"Get out of the way."

The man at the back of the line roughly pushed the woman aside and smiled obsequiously at the bailiff distributing the porridge.

"Sir, it's my turn."

The woman sighed silently and left, arriving at a shed where disaster victims were being housed.

Two children rushed up to the woman when she returned.

"mother."

"We are so hungry."

The woman knelt down and handed the bowl over.

"The porridge is here, eat up."

The two children took turns drinking the porridge, and the bowls gradually emptied.

"Mom, you eat too."

The two children handed the remaining porridge to the woman.

The woman then began to drink the porridge, and soon finished the bowl.

The woman and the child, however, were still hungry, their stomachs rumbling with hunger.

"Mom, I'm still hungry."

A child called out to the woman.

The woman, upon hearing this, didn't know what to say, and could only hold her child.

"You can drink mine."

At this moment, a woman came over and placed the porridge in her hand in front of the woman.

Upon hearing this, the woman looked up and saw the young woman, then quickly waved her hand and said, "Miss Du, this won't do, I'm not hungry."

Du Lanyin pointed to the two children.

"You're not hungry, but the child is. Eat up, eat up."

After saying this, Du Lanyin got up and left, with the woman thanking her behind her.

After leaving the shed, Du Lanyin headed back to the county to find Jiang Ning.

"Junior brother."

Du Lanyin walked over.

Upon seeing Du Lanyin, Jiang Ning nodded and asked, "What's wrong, Senior Sister Du?"

Du Lanyin asked worriedly, "The grain is getting less and less. What's going on? Has the government run out of food?"

At the beginning of the disaster relief efforts, the porridge was quite thick, but it became thinner and thinner, and now it seems to be just water with some rice added. Du Lanyin couldn't help but wonder about this.

Jiang Ning frowned slightly upon hearing this.

“I also asked the magistrate of Lantian County about this matter. The magistrate said that the county’s grain has been used up, and the grain transported from Xi’an Prefecture last time is also almost finished. The next batch of grain has not yet arrived, but it should be back in a few days.”

Du Lanyin was relieved upon hearing this.

"That's good. I thought the government had run out of food."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Ning said, "No, when Master left Xi'an Prefecture, he donated 100,000 taels of silver to the government to buy grain, so there shouldn't be such a problem."

Du Lanyin nodded.

"Speaking of which, I was just thinking of going to check on the disaster relief shelter. Would you like to come, Senior Sister?"

Jiang Ning asked.

"Ah."

Du Lanyin nodded.

Although she had just returned from there, there was no harm in going back again.

The two then headed towards the area where the disaster victims were being resettled.

As soon as he arrived here, someone spotted Jiang Ning and walked over.

A disaster victim said to Jiang Ning, "Jiang Shenxian, thank you for saving my son's life. I will never forget your great kindness."

As he spoke, the man was about to kneel down before Jiang Ning, but Jiang Ning stopped him.

"Saving people and helping the world is what we should do; you don't need to do this."

Jiang Ning said.

"Thank you, thank you."

The man remained deeply grateful. After he left, others gathered around, all expressing their gratitude to Jiang Ning for saving their lives or those of their families.

Because there were so many people, even Du Lanyin was squeezed out.

Seeing this scene, Du Lanyin was not surprised, because Jiang Ning had indeed saved many people during this period. For example, the man's son was rescued from the flood by Jiang Ning at the beginning, and there were many others.