Chongzhen chat group

Chapter 41
The ones kneeling at the front are naturally the few remaining in the cabinet. After they picked it up and looked at it, they silently passed it on to the people behind them, and passed it down one by one.

Suddenly, someone muttered in a low voice: "These sluts are known for their fame!"

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

Coincidentally, Hu Guang also heard it, and his suppressed temper suddenly exploded: "Who is it? Come out!"

Quiet, very quiet, no one moving!
When Hu Guang saw the cold eyes, he turned his head to look at Gao Shiyue, and the meaning was very clear.

Gao Shiyue and the others can say that they look around and listen to all directions, so they naturally know who is talking.Immediately, two servants dismounted from their horses, walked quickly into the crowd kneeling on the ground, and dragged out one of them to press in front of the emperor's horse.

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

"Hehe, trying to catch fame!" Hu Guang smiled, but there was no smile on his face, "Is your name on the roster?"

"No...no!" Xue Lian stammered as if he was about to cry.

As soon as Hu Guang heard this, he immediately yelled: "Is the decree I made just for the sake of fame? You are the only one with a high character, so you don't bother to donate, don't you?"

"Your Majesty, forgive me, Your Majesty, please forgive me!" The man knew that he had caused a catastrophe, so he hurriedly begged for mercy.

Zhou Yanru knelt in front, lowered his head, disdainful in his heart: "The emperor is so angry, but he has no eyesight, he is really asking for his own death!"

The other civil servants almost had the same idea as him, no one made a sound, they just lowered their heads silently.This kind of thing, even if you think so in your heart, you can't say it in front of the emperor!
How could Hu Guang spare him at this time, and immediately decreed: "Take his title and ransack his house, and the proceeds will be counted as his donation. In addition, he will go to Yihong Courtyard to serve the famers for ten years. If he has to work hard, then Castrated!"

A word from the emperor can make a family fall from the clouds to eighteen levels of hell in an instant.But Hu Guang didn't feel guilty at all. It's a joke for a person like this to become the Marquis of Daming!Such a person, even a prostitute is a hundred times better than him!
He didn't know that in the original history, Xue Lian was famously violent by nature, good at flogging civilians, and plundering money, so he was beaten to death by Li Zicheng's army for money.If he knew this, he would probably be eunuched directly.

After dealing with Xue Lian, Hu Guang vented his anger a little bit, and waved his hands and said, "Let's all be flattened!"

The refugees on the side of Wucheng Bingma Sijun's soldiers all looked at this side curiously.Under normal circumstances, let alone the emperor, it is impossible for them to see even an ordinary Ming official here.Now seeing the emperor reprimanding those high-ranking officials for their sake, he couldn't help but feel a little relieved, and at the same time secretly grateful that he had met a good emperor.

At this time, Hu Guang didn't hear the notification from the air traffic control system, and pointed to the refugees with one hand, and said to these people in a cold voice: "You all have to go around and come back!"

With his order, the cabinet leader went there.The first thing I saw was the corpses lying on the ground. There were more than 100 people, most of whom were old and weak. On their frozen faces, there was still a desire for life.

No matter which dynasty you are in, human life should be treated seriously, at least in name.When a murder happened, it was a big deal.Now in front of the emperor, there are already more than 100 people who died of hunger and cold lying down. This scene is very shocking.

The refugees who are still alive are dressed like beggars, and thousands of people gather together, which is also very shocking.Senior officials of the ministries and relatives of the emperor walked among the refugees, forming a strange landscape.

After these officials walked around and stood in front of Hu Guang again, Hu Guang said in a cold voice: "A month ago, people started to die one after another, and more and more people died every day. If we It just happened to pass by, and the days to come are simply unimaginable. Or if so many refugees died, I would at most see it in the palace in a single sentence in an understatement, right?"

No one spoke, and no one raised their heads. They all bowed their heads and were scolded.

"This is still in the capital city, what about the refugees outside? Don't tell me that this is the worst place, right?"

As Hu Guang spoke, he stared coldly at every official present, "The entire Liaodong fell, how many Ming people suffered and suffered, can you figure it out? In addition to the military disaster, there are also droughts in the north and floods in the south. How to properly resettle the victims? I'm very skeptical! I have no choice but to think, are the people of Ming Dynasty already living in dire straits?"

Hearing this, all the courtiers fell to their knees and responded in unison: "The ministers are incompetent!"

Hu Guang looked at each of them, took a deep breath, tried his best to calm down and asked in a cold voice: "Tell me, how do you resettle these refugees? You are high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty, and the emperor's relatives are honorable. Isn't it better than Yihong?" The girls in the courtyard?"

As soon as these people heard this, they understood that the emperor wanted them to donate money too.This time, these people lowered their heads and looked around at their colleagues, but no one answered for a while.

In the end, all eyes were on the people kneeling in the front.

Cheng Ji, a veteran cabinet minister, had no choice but to play first: "I would like to donate 40 taels of silver and ten stones of grain."

"The minister is also willing to donate 39 taels of silver and ten stones of grain." Zhou Yanru, an assistant minister of the cabinet, followed behind and said.

The two of them spoke first, and the others followed suit.It's just that the numbers reported are all in descending order.

Hu Guang listened expressionlessly, without saying a word, unable to see what was really going on in his mind.After they all finished speaking, he said coldly: "Hehe, are you all generous!"

No one would think that the emperor was praising them. When Cheng Jiming saw the list of donations, he had already expected that the amount he reported would make the emperor dissatisfied. If the minister is unwilling, the minister will do his best."

Having said that, he raised his head and continued to play with confidence, "I am an official of the Ming Dynasty. The annual salary of the first-rank official is 1044 shi, and the official salary of the ninth-rank official is only 60 shi. This is only on paper. The salary issued by the imperial court , all have folded colors, or converted with silk, cotton cloth, pepper, sumac, etc., the actual value is far less than the set salary."

What he meant was that the salary was just that little.This is not over yet, so I heard him continue to preach: "But the number of officials in each yamen determined by the Taizu is far from enough to handle various miscellaneous affairs. As a last resort, they are all funded by ministers and other employees. The ministers spend more and earn less. There is almost no money left, but the amount donated has been exhausted, the world can learn from it!"

If it was Emperor Chongzhen who grew up in the palace, he might be fooled by him.After all, what he said, from an official point of view, is indeed the case, and it sounds very reasonable.

(End of this chapter)