The ones kneeling in the front were naturally the remaining few in the cabinet. After picking them up, they silently passed them to the people behind them, and passed them down one by one.

Suddenly, someone muttered in a low voice: "These bitches will seek fame!"

At this time, there was almost no sound around except for the howling north wind and the sound of war horses. Therefore, although the muttering sound was small, many people still heard it.

By chance, Hu Guang also heard it, and his previously suppressed temper suddenly burst out: "Who is it? Come out for me!"

Quiet, very quiet, no one moved!

Hu Guang's eyes were very cold at first sight, so he turned to look at Gao Shiyue, and his meaning was very clear.

Gao Shiyue and the others could tell that they looked around and listened to all directions, and they naturally knew who was talking. Immediately, two eunuchs turned over and dismounted, quickly entered the kneeling crowd, dragged out one person and pressed it in front of the emperor's horse.

From the original memory of Emperor Chongzhen, Hu Guang recognized that this person was Xue Lian, the Marquis of Yang Wu, who was about 20 years old, and his face was pale at this time.

"Haha, seek fame!" Hu Guang smiled, but there was no smile on his face, "Is your name on the list?"

"No...no!" Xue Lian seemed to be about to cry and said stammeringly.

When Hu Guang heard this, he immediately shouted sternly: "Is it because I have issued an order to seek fame? You are so arrogant and so disdainful to donate, right?"

"Your Majesty, please spare me!" This man knew that he had caused a big disaster and hurriedly begged for mercy.

Zhou Yanru knelt in front, lowered his head, and was disdainful in his heart: "The emperor is angry, but he has no eyesight, he is really seeking death!"

The other civil officials had the same idea as him. No one spoke, but they just lowered their heads silently. Even if they thought so in their hearts, they could not say it in front of the emperor!

How could Hu Guang spare him at this time? He immediately issued an order: "I seized his title and searched his house. The income is his donation. In addition, I went to Yihongyuan to serve those who seek fame and reputation for ten years. If I don't work hard, I will be castrated again!"

A word from the emperor can instantly make a family fall from the clouds to the eighteen levels of hell. However, Hu Guang did not feel guilty at all. A person like this even became a Marquis of the Ming Dynasty. It’s a joke! Such a person is a hundred times better than his!

He didn't know that in his original history, Xue Lian was killed by Li Zicheng's army because he was famous for his violent nature, good at whipping civilians and plundering money. If he knew this, he would probably have been castrated.

After dealing with Xue Lian, Hu Guang's anger was vented a little, and then waved his hand and said, "Let's just calm!"

The refugees on the side of the soldiers and soldiers in the five cities looked here curiously. In general, let alone the emperor, even an ordinary Ming official here would never be able to see him. Now, when he saw the emperor scolding the high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty for them, he couldn't help but feel a little happy, and he secretly thanked that he had met a good emperor.

Hu Guang had no time to control the system's prompt sound at this time. He pointed at the refugees with one hand and said to these people coldly: "You are going to go around and come back!"

With his order, the cabinet leader went there. The first thing he saw was the corpse lying all over the ground, with more than a hundred people, mostly old and weak, with a longing for life on his frozen face.

No matter which dynasty is in, human lives must be treated solemnly at least in name. If a murder occurs, it is a big deal. Now, more than 100 people who died of hunger and cold are already lying in front of the emperor. This situation is very shocking.

The refugees who were still alive were dressed like beggars, and thousands of people gathered together, which was also shocked. Senior officials of the ministry and royal relatives walked among the refugees, forming a strange scenery.

After these officials walked around and stood in front of Hu Guang for a while, Hu Guang said coldly again: "A month ago, people started to die one after another, and more and more people died every day. If I hadn't just passed by, the days to come would be unimaginable. Or so many refugees died, at most I saw the memorial in the palace and used one sentence to pass it lightly, right?"

No one spoke, no one looked up, and they bowed their heads and were scolded.

"This is still in the capital city, what about the refugees outside? Don't tell me, it's the worst here, right?"

Hu Guang spoke, looking at every official present with cold eyes, "The entire Liaodong fell, how many people in the Ming Dynasty suffered? Can you think of it? In addition to military disasters, how can the victims of drought in the north and floods in the south be properly resettled? I am very suspicious! I have to think that the people in the Ming Dynasty have already lived in dire straits?"

Hearing this, all the ministers fell to the ground and responded in unison: "I am incompetent!"

Hu Guang looked at each of them, took a deep breath, tried to calm down, and asked coldly, "Tell me, how to place these refugees? You are senior officials of the Ming Dynasty and nobles, are you not as good as the girls of Yihongyuan?"

When these people heard this, they realized that the emperor wanted them to donate money. At this moment, these people lowered their heads and looked around at their colleagues, but no one answered for the moment.

In the end, everyone's eyes focused on the people kneeling in front.

The old cabinet minister Cheng Jiming had no choice but to speak first: "I am willing to donate forty taels of silver and ten stones of grain."

"I am also willing to donate 39 taels of silver and 10 stones of grain." Zhou Yanru, the assistant minister of the cabinet, followed behind and continued.

With both of them speaking first, the others followed suit. However, the number of reports decreased in turn.

Hu Guang listened expressionlessly, without saying anything, not telling what he was thinking. After they all finished speaking, he said coldly: "Haha, are they all very generous!"

No one would think that the emperor was praising them. When Cheng Jiming saw the donation list, he had already expected that the number he had reported would make the emperor dissatisfied. However, he had a solution and immediately replied: "Your Majesty, I don't want it, but I will do my best."

Speaking of this, he raised his head and continued to proclaim with confidence: "My Ming official has an annual salary of 1,044 shi, and from a ninth rank official, it is only 60 shi, which is just paper. The salary paid by the court is all broken, or converted with silk, cotton, pepper, and suma, and the actual value is far from the prescribed salary."

What he said was that the salary was just a little bit. Before this was over, he continued to preach: "But the number of officials in each yamen set by Taizu is far from enough to deal with all the miscellaneous matters. As a last resort, all the funds will be paid by the ministers and others for the employees. The ministers and others will spend more money and have almost no extra money. However, the amount they donated has been done, and the world can learn from them!"

If it were Emperor Chongzhen who had been in the palace since childhood, he might have been fooled by him. After all, what he said is indeed the case in terms of official terms, and it sounds very reasonable.
Chapter completed!