There are 400,000 taels of silver, 30,000 taels of gold, and several copper coins. A national treasury has only such a little silver, which can basically be called the treasury empty.

However, the disaster is urgent now, and relief is like putting out a fire. Zhu Houzhao shook his head and sighed: "I didn't expect that there is only such a little money in the treasury. Maybe it's better to allocate 300,000 taels to rescue the drought in Henan first."

"Emperor!" Before Li Dongyang could agree, the Minister of War Mao Wenju took a step forward. He bowed to Zhu Houzhao and said, "I am afraid that the issue of distributing disaster silver will have to be discussed for a long time. The Tatars in the northern border repeatedly invaded the border, and the soldiers were killed and injured. The Ministry of War asked the Ministry of Revenue several times for military pay and pensions, and the Ministry of Revenue had repeatedly shirked the responsibility. Now the soldiers at the border have not paid military pay for nearly half a year, and the pensions for the soldiers who fell into the battle have not been settled. I calculated that this fee would cost at least 400,000 taels of silver."

"I still want 400,000 taels of silver?"

Zhu Houzhao was slightly stunned and turned her gaze to Li Dongyang.

In this court, Mao Wenju did not give Li Dongyang much face when speaking. This is normal, because firstly, Mao Wenju belongs to the military officer system and belongs to a different camp from Li Dongyang. Secondly, Mao Wenju is not a member of the cabinet and does not need to be managed by Li Dongyang, the chief minister of the cabinet. Therefore, Mao Wenju does not need to be too afraid of Li Dongyang. In addition, Mao Wenju must also be tough. Since ancient times, civil and military officials are neglected. If Mao Wenju, the head of military officer, weakened his momentum in front of civil officials, then the military officers of the entire Ming Dynasty may not be able to raise their heads in front of civil officials.

Originally, Zhu Houzhao agreed to allocate funds for the treatment of the drought in Henan, but Mao Wenju stepped in at this time and immediately made the matter change. Cao Yuan, who was standing beside Li Dongyang, was a little angry. He turned his head to look at Mao Wenju and said, "Mr. Mao, the current treasury is empty and the money is not enough. Do we get a priority when doing things? Although the military pay of the soldiers of the border are in arrears, they will be paid down.

Besides, although military pay is not distributed, there is always food and grass, right? You won’t be hungry, right? The victims in Henan are different. If there is no disaster relief money, they will starve to death. Then Henan is full of misfortune, so will Lord Mao really bear to see it?"

Mao Wenju also glanced at Cao Yuan, and he snorted softly: "I really can't believe that this statement was actually said from Lord Cao. Lord Cao also said that there are priorities. Now the border soldiers are fighting against the Tatars, but we still owed their military pay. This move may disappoint the soldiers? I am like asking Lord Cao, if the morale of the border soldiers is depressed and defeated, and the Tatars enter the pass and threaten the country of the Ming Dynasty... Is this result borne by Lord Cao? Or should I ask, can Lord Cao afford it?"

"You..." Cao Yuan immediately concluded. It is not easy for Mao Wenju to be the leader of a military general, and leading military officers to compete with civil servants in the court. It is obvious that Cao Yuan is not Mao Wenju's opponent.

Zhu Houzhao, who was sitting upright on the dragon throne, frowned. The disaster in Henan must be saved, and the military pay of the border soldiers should not be delayed for a long time. Zhu Houzhao turned his eyes to Li Dongyang. Li Dongyang's gaze did not face Zhu Houzhao, but lowered his head and pondered. It was obvious that he had not thought of a better solution.

Zhu Houzhao shook his head and said in a deep voice: "Let's go here today. After the family of the ministers dispersed, they will go back to think of ways. First, I want to save the drought in Henan, and second, I want to pay military salaries to the soldiers of the border. I give the cabinet three days to consider. In the court meeting three days later, I want the cabinet to come up with a plan for me to solve the current crisis."

"I will obey the order." Li Dongyang led several members of the cabinet to kneel down and received the imperial edict, and Xuanren announced his resignation.

Mao Wenju looked at Li Dongyang who was being helped up. He sneered and turned around and left.

"The national treasury is empty. The emperor asked our cabinet to find a way to solve the problem of disaster relief silver in Henan and the military pay of border soldiers. Our cabinet does not have gold and silver mines, how to solve it?" Jin Gui, the Minister of Rites standing next to Li Dongyang, said with some anger.

The Ministry of Rites is in charge of the five rituals of good fortune, good fortune, military, guest, and evil; it manages national school affairs, imperial examinations, and exchanges between vassals and foreign countries. Among the six ministries, there is a saying that the head of the six ministries, so Jin Gui speaks directly. In addition, Jin Gui is also an old minister left during the Hongzhi period. He was famous for his extensive knowledge and integrity in the Ming Dynasty, so no one thinks that he has said this.

Li Dongyang sighed slightly, and said, "Eat the king's fortune and bear the king's worries. If we ministers don't think about these troublesome things, do you still want the emperor to consider them yourself? Forget it, let's go back and think about countermeasures."

Hearing Li Dongyang say this, Jin Gui couldn't say anything more, so he could only walk out with a sigh.

After the court meeting, Zhu Houzhao did not stay in the palace for too long. After he returned to Qianqing Palace and changed his clothes, he asked Zhang Yong to accompany him to Xiaoyao Villa to play mahjong. Zhu Houzhao was bored when he had a court meeting. He didn't know how to relieve his depressed mood if he didn't go to have fun.

After Li Dongyang left the palace, he got on his own carriage. Before the carriage started, Li Dongyang suddenly remembered something, and he called out: "Jun Yang, wait a moment."

The person who drove the carriage for Li Dongyang was a young man about twenty-seven or eight years old. The young man was wearing a black cloth dress and looked taciturn. He tied a simple long sword to the left of his belt. It seemed that this young man should be a swordsman.

After hearing Li Dongyang's words, Jun Yang pulled the horse back, and Li Dongyang whispered: "I'll just go back to my house by myself. You can hide outside the palace and wait to see if the emperor will come out later. If he comes out, follow the emperor to see where he will go. Remember, be careful of his whereabouts and don't be discovered."

"Yes." Jun Yang only answered this word, and then Li Dongyang came out of the carriage and walked towards Xizhimen. Although Li Dongyang was old, he took every step of his life, as if every step was just a foot that was only after careful consideration.

After Zhu Houzhao came out of the palace, she went directly to Xiaoyao Villa. As soon as she entered, she pulled Jiang Xia, Han Yu and Zhang Yong to play mahjong with him.

Perhaps because of his bad luck, Zhu Houzhao started losing as soon as he was on the table. Although he was the emperor and was rich all over the world, no one liked to lose when sitting at the gambling table. Zhang Yong kept secretly giving Zhu Houzhao a card, but Zhu Houzhao still couldn't make a living. Instead, Zhang Yong lost a lot of money.

"Oh, forget it, I won't play anymore." Zhu Houzhao pushed the card and stood up and left.

Han Yu was stunned for a moment and breathed a sigh of relief. He knew Zhang Yong's identity, and over time he naturally guessed Zhu Houzhao's identity. With the boy playing mahjong together today, Han Yu naturally did not dare to be too presumptuous, so he kept giving Zhu Houzhao Songzhang and never dared to obsess Zhu Houzhao's cards. In this way, Jiang Xia won the most money among the four.

Seeing that Zhu Houzhao pushed the cards and refused to play, Jiang Xia didn't care about his temper. While counting the treasure money in his hand, he smiled and said, "Oh, today the daughter of the God of Wealth's family fell in love with me, Jiang Xia. This luck is, tsk tsk..."

Seeing that Jiang Xia won so well and ignored Zhu Houzhao's anger, Zhang Yong and Han Yu both secretly worried about Jiang Xia. With Jiang Xia's personality, if he didn't know Zhu Houzhao's true identity, he might be angry sooner or later. If this is true, Jiang Xia's situation will be really dangerous, and he is always on the verge of life and death.

Jiang Xia counted a handful of treasure money and put it in his arms. Then he looked up and saw that Zhu Houzhao was sitting outside in the living room to taste tea. The tea used in Xiaoyao Villa was also of top quality, but after taking a few sips, Zhu Houzhao threw the tea cup on the ground, and then cursed in a low voice: "What tea?"

When Han Yu and Zhang Yong heard the sound of the teacup falling, they subconsciously glanced at Jiang Xia. Jiang Xia waved his hand and signaled that they should not get close to him and talk to Zhu Houzhao.

Zhang Yong nodded, and Han Yu simply turned around and left the mahjong room to go to the casino in front to watch.

Jiang Xia walked over and sat down beside Zhu Houzhao. He smiled and said, "In my impression, my second child is not a person who cannot control his emotions. If I am the eldest brother, I will tell you what makes you so upset?"

Zhu Houbao looked at Jiang Xia, and he shook his head and said, "Forget it, I tell you that you can't help me."

"Then you underestimate your brother. Your brother's ability is more than just a little bit you have seen. Let me talk about it first. What if I can help?"

Zhu Houzhao thought for a while, and nodded and said, "This is the thing. My family's foundation is in Henan, and there are more than 10,000 relatives there. Now that Henan is suffering from a drought, all the people of the tribe all reach out to our main family to ask for money for emergency treatment. My family now has 100,000 taels of silver to be mobilized. If you want to save the tribe in Henan, you will have to spend 70,000 taels of silver. But most of my business is in the north, and the Tatars are in chaos in the north, so my family has hired many guards there.

The business of my family will not be destroyed with guards. Now it is time to pay monthly silver to the guards. I have been owed for two or three months before, and the guards themselves have complained. If they owe it, they will probably not protect our business. The monthly silver for these guards will be paid at one time. Now I can’t pay monthly silver for the guards, and if I give monthly silver for the guards, I can’t save Henan tribes, so I’m in trouble here.”

"Ha, I said, what's the matter? Isn't it just that there is more than 50,000 taels of silver? It doesn't mean that Xiaoyao Villa doesn't have it. Now there are almost 40,000 taels of silver in Xiaoyao Villa. You can take it all first. It won't take long to get all the money." Jiang Xia said with a smile.

Zhu Houzhao was slightly stunned, stared at Jiang Xia with wide eyes and said in surprise: "We have earned 40,000 taels of silver in just one month when we opened Xiaoyao Villa? How profitable is Xiaoyao Villa?"

PS: Let's go to bed first, and the remaining two updates will be more frequent after getting up. Now at 6:30 in the morning, I can't stand it anymore...
Chapter completed!