Chapter 18                                                             �

For a moment, there were three palace masters and five ministers. Except for the Minister of War Yang Bo, who is now in Heshuo, everyone else is here.

But no one wants to speak first.

After all, they can't solve this problem.

Jiajing was a little angry and asked, "Ministry of Revenue, tell me, how much can it cost?"

Fang Dun heard this and immediately stepped out of the line, knelt on the ground with a "splash" and said, "Your Majesty, the military expenditure of the north and south this year has exceeded 12 million taels. Jiangnan suffered a military disaster, and all the gold, flowers and silver were put on hold. The Ministry of Revenue had no surplus food at all. Is there really no way for me?"

Jiajing knew that Fang Dun was right, but this was not the result Jiajing wanted. He shouted loudly: "How much? How much can it be produced?"

Fang Dun said: "Xi'an and Kaifeng, there are 300,000 stones of grain stored in total, which can be allocated directly to local disaster relief. The Ministry of Revenue can pay 500,000 silver. More, even if Your Majesty kills me, I will not have any more."

After hearing this, Jiajing couldn't help but frown and said, "Five hundred thousand?"

Is it less than 500,000 taels? Not many.

But facing such a natural disaster, it is a drop in the wine truck. This time, the disaster relief will be at least one million.

But Jiajing also understood that Fang Du had already squeezed the court's finances to the limit. Fang Du said that there was no such thing as that, and that no more could be achieved.

Jiajing asked, "What should I do?"

Yan Song said: "Your Majesty, there is priority, and the most important thing now is to stabilize the overall situation of the world. I think it can provide disaster relief in batches."

Jiajing said: "Disaster relief in batches? How to do it in batches?"

Yan Song said: "Where the most serious earthquake is the road has been cut off. I don't know what happened? It's better to start disaster relief from the outside where the disaster is not serious and advance it little by little. In this way, you can have both. The court can also have more time to raise funds."

When Jiajing heard this, his hand suddenly shook and said, "Do you really want this?"

Jiajing is not a fool.

Jiajing may not know what the golden seventy-two hours are, of course, but now it has been seventy-two hours. But he knew that the later the disaster relief, the fewer people and victims were starving to death while waiting for disaster relief.

In this way, fewer people need disaster relief, and less money is needed.

Many people understand this principle, it is nothing else. The court lacks financial resources. Many times, disaster relief is like this. After the elderly and weak starve to death, the young and strong are left behind, and then go to disaster relief.

He heard a roar in the hall and shouted loudly: "Your Majesty, the three Qin elders are hungry and they will not be late for a moment. I would like to ask Your Majesty to give me kindness and provide relief to the disaster immediately."

Everyone saw that this person was either someone else, but Wang Yongbin, the Minister of Rites.

Wang Yongbin was very low-key among the six ministries. Because Wang Yongbin knew that he was the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, he had to be a low-key person. Otherwise, his official hat would be unsecured, so he was a deaf man and said nothing.

But today, he had to speak because he was from Shaanxi.

Shaanxi is the worst hit now. Due to two consecutive years of severe drought, Guanzhong had not saved much, and this time it encountered a natural disaster, which made it even worse. If Yan Song's method was used, Guanzhong probably wouldn't know how much he could survive. For the sake of his hometown, he had to speak.

Yan Song's brows slightly condensed, and he said to himself: "Wang Yongbin, I originally wanted to keep you for a while. Since you are so ignorant, don't blame me."

The 35th year of Jiajing, that is, next year, is the Imperial Examination Year. The Minister of Rites had the right to speak in the Imperial Examination. Yan Song's original intention was to take Wang Yongbin off the position of the Minister of Rites and replace him with his own people. However, Yan Song had another goal, so he let Wang Yongbin go. However, he did not expect that if he let Wang Yongbin go, Wang Yongbin was not honest.

Yan Song said: "Your Majesty, this is also a temporary solution. If Lord Wang can immediately create millions of taels, he will naturally do whatever he wants to provide disaster relief. It is difficult for a good wife to cook without rice."

Wang Yongbin said sternly: "Your Majesty, the Yan family's father and son have the wealth of the world, and their family property is millions. Is it so-called "no money?"

"Okay." Jiajing was a little annoyed and said, "Talk about the serious business."

"Your Majesty." Fang Dun thought for a while and said, "I recommend one person to go to Shaanxi to provide disaster relief. It is definitely the best candidate."

Jiajing said, "Who is it?"

Fang Dun said, "Zhou Mengchen. Zhou Mengchen's financial management skills are unparalleled in the world. Now, please ask Zhou Mengchen for a question, maybe he has a strategy."

When Jiajing heard this, the three words Zhou Mengchen were immediately moved. He also felt that Fang Du was right. Zhou Mengchen's financial management skills were simply a bit effective in making gold. What Datong looked like before and now, it was a world of difference.

It seems that no matter what the situation is, Zhou Mengchen can make money.

But now I can ask Zhou Mengchen.

Jiajing also felt that it was not urgent to respond now, but Jiajing still had a bit of love for the people. It would be fine if Yan Song had starved the victims to death. Today, Jiajing would have to approve it and take the blame. How much does Jiajing love face and how can he be accurate?

Jiajing said: "It is said that Zhou Mengchen."

The Zhou family was very close to the palace, and the eunuch ran over. Zhou Mengchen jogged all the way and came to Yichun Palace, and his forehead was sweating slightly. After the salute, before he could speak, Jiajing had already thrown the problem to Zhou Mengchen.

Zhou Mengchen thought to himself: "This is simply embarrassing."

Zhou Mengchen thought of some solutions last night. But he was more of an instinct to compassionate the people. He never thought that he would take on such a heavy responsibility. He did not expect the court to be so tight. Now, Zhou Mengchen didn't know the specific situation, but he knew one thing that he would spend not hundreds of thousands of taels, but tens of millions of taels.

Of course, Zhou Mengchen also knew that the court now provides disaster relief. There is no link to post-disaster reconstruction. It can save the lives of the people and at most taxes are exempted. The rest depends on how the people survive.

But even so, the money is not something that can be done with 500,000 taels.

Moreover, this money is urgently needed, so urgent that it takes almost immediately. Zhou Mengchen has no time to buffer and move. Even if Zhou Mengchen really has the ability to turn stones into gold, this little stones into gold will not be time.

Zhou Mengchen said in his heart: "In this case, I can only borrow money."

Just borrowing money is also a problem, that is, who wants to borrow money.

This issue is very important. The Western government borrowed money from private people very early. Chongzhen finally borrowed money from civil and military officials, and what a joke. Why is the difference between the two? The reason here is very complicated. If you really want to talk about it in detail, you can go to the water for several chapters. But the most basic one is that the West has no unity, and merchants have different countries as safe havens. The country cannot easily default. Secondly, there are banks and other financial institutions, and the state can borrow money from these financial institutions, rather than borrowing money from specific individuals. It cannot kill a person and eliminate a debt.

In the current situation, it is still possible for the government to make small profits in merchants. For example, the silver reward problem in the Battle of Shuozhou was temporarily paid by the Shanxi merchants.

But long-term lending is hard to say.

The reason is very simple. It’s like this time, Zhou Mengchen didn’t know how much disaster relief was needed, but it was roughly more than 3 million taels. When would it be paid off? I really don’t know. The reason is very simple. If you want to save enough financial surplus in Shaanxi for one year, it would be a matter of the year of the Monkey and Horse Month.

It can be said that any businessman will know that the money will be borrowed and cannot be paid back at all.

What will happen if the court owes debts that cannot be repaid?

When you have a great grudge, sometimes it is much easier to kill people than pay off debts. Please don’t overestimate the bottom line of officials.

It can be said that the people of the Ming Dynasty did not have money. Although three or four million taels were more than three or four million taels, the entire businessman group, even the Shaanxi businessmen who were not too rich, may not be able to do it. They just need to find a way to open up some of the joints, and it is even better to form a treasury bond market, which will be of great benefit to the Ming Dynasty in the future.

But what should I do? Zhou Mengchen couldn't think of it for a moment.
Chapter completed!