People in Zongwu: Starting with the Yin Gui Sect

Chapter 318

"Anything else? If not, I will say one more thing, about the memorial to Master Sun's military barrier. Prime Minister, tell us what your cabinet means!"

Hearing his name being called again by His Majesty, Huang Liji could only step out again.

"Your Majesty, our cabinet agrees with this memorial!"

"Since you agree, can you talk to Mr. Bi of the Ministry of Revenue?"

Huang Liji nodded first, but then shook his head, "Although Mr. Bi also agrees with this plan, he can't come up with so much money at once!"

"So you mean to let my treasury pay?"

At this point, Wu Yu didn't know what these people were thinking. It was clear that after seeing Wei Zhongxian and others pull the silver into the palace, they had their eyes on the money.

As expected, Bi Ziyan stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, it's not that I don't want to pay this money, but the Ministry of Revenue doesn't have much money left.

Last year, the total tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty was only more than 17 million taels. After deducting various expenses and the support of the royal family, plus the military pay in various places, the remaining amount was less than 8 million taels.

This 8 million taels also includes the salaries of officials and the expenses of the court's sacrifices.

Not to mention the 1 million taels allocated a month ago because of the concern that the Jiannu at Shanhaiguan would detain the customs, and the 1 million taels allocated just now for disaster relief, so now the Ministry of Revenue really doesn't have much money, and we have to leave some for emergencies."

"Okay, okay, don't play pity on me, just tell me how much you want me to pay?"

Listening to Bi Ziyan clearly explaining the various expenses, people who didn't know would think he was very harsh to his subordinates.

Hearing that Wu Yu was willing to pay, Bi Ziyan immediately stretched out three fingers.

"Three million, you dare to ask!"

Wu Yu took a breath of cold air. He was really scared by Bi Ziyan, the old miser.

"Ahem, it's all for the Ming Dynasty, so please don't be stingy with this little silver."

Knowing that the other party was right, Wu Yu had to grit his teeth and give the money out no matter how reluctant he was!

"Okay, I'll pay for this three million!"

There was no other way. What the Ming Dynasty needed most now was stability, and he had to pay several million taels of silver in exchange for more than ten or twenty years of stability in the Shanhaiguan area. Of course, the premise was that Yuan Chonghuan could win the upcoming Ningjin War.

"Your Majesty is wise!"

"Your Majesty is wise!"

Hearing that Wu Yu was willing to pay, all the civil and military officials followed up loudly.

"Dismiss the court!"

Wu Yu, who was worried that his blood vessels would burst if he continued, immediately announced the dismissal of the court.

As he stood up, it also marked the end of the second court meeting since the new emperor ascended the throne.

On the way back to the Qianqing Palace, Wu Yu was not idle either. He asked Wang Chengen to stop Li Banghua, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, who was about to leave.

Li Banghua, a Jinshi in the 32nd year of Wanli, and the Right Censor-in-Chief in the 4th year of Tianqi, was directly promoted to the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War after Wu Yu came to power.

The reason why he summoned him this time was also very simple, that is, to rectify the Beijing camp.

"I, Li Banghua, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, pay my respects to Your Majesty!"

"Do you know why I summoned you this time?"

"I don't know, please tell me, Your Majesty!"

Li Banghua didn't know, and he was even a little puzzled that Wu Yu suddenly promoted him to the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War.

"Forget it. Since that's the case, I won't keep you in suspense. Do you know the Beijing Camp?"

"Of course I know!"

The Beijing Camp is also known as the three major camps of the capital, namely the Five Army Camp, the Three Thousand Camp and the Shenji Camp. It was established by Emperor Taizu in the past. It reached its peak during the reign of Emperor Taizong and was the most elite force in the entire Ming Dynasty.

It's a pity that the Tumubao Incident during the reign of Emperor Yingzong caused the elite of the three camps to be wiped out, and they have never recovered since then.

Even after the support of Emperor Xianzong and Emperor Wuzong, it has not been able to recover to its heyday, and now it has become a place where the children of nobles eat and wait for death and eat empty salaries.

"Since Li Aiqing knows, I won't waste my breath. Yes, the purpose of summoning you this time is to let you help me to reorganize the Beijing Camp!"

"What!"

Li Banghua was shocked. You know, the Beijing Camp is now in the hands of Zhang Weixian, the head of the Ming Dynasty nobles. Your Majesty asked him to reorganize the Beijing Camp, how could the Duke of Yingzhou agree? And even if the Duke of Yingzhou agreed, I'm afraid other nobles would not agree. Your Majesty's doing this is clearly to make him offend people.

"Why, Li Banghua has scruples? Or is he unwilling to share my worries?"

"Your Majesty, calm down. It's not that I don't want to, but the Duke of Yingzhou..."

Okay, Wu Yu knew that Li Banghua came to ask for a guarantee from him, but he was prepared for this.

"Don't worry about the Duke of Yingzhou, Li Aiqing. I will explain it to him. You can boldly do it to reorganize the Beijing Camp. As for other nobles, if they dare to stop..."

SaidA cold light flashed in Wu Yu's eyes, and then he turned to look at Wang Chengen.

Wang Chengen, who got the signal, quickly took out the things he had prepared and handed them to Li Banghua.

"My dear Li, there is an order from me and the Shangfang sword in it. If anyone dares to stop me, you can kill them first and report later!"

In history, Chongzhen was not unaware of the degree of corruption in the three major camps of the capital, and even asked the right assistant minister of the Ministry of War to rectify it. Unfortunately, Li Banghua's efforts were burned because he could not bear the pressure brought by the nobles.

Now that Wu Yu is in charge, he will naturally not do as they wish. It's not that he looks down on those nobles, but even if he gives them ten thousand courages, they dare not rebel.

Moreover, even if someone dares to take risks, he is not afraid. Not to mention the four guards of Tengxiang in Fangzhenghua, they are the elite of the elite in the Imperial Horse Administration.

After a few months of reorganization, Cao Huachun's 3,000 Yulin Guards have begun to show combat effectiveness, far from being comparable to the group of playboys and the old, weak and disabled in the Beijing camp.

In addition, he had secretly inspected the three camps before. Although there were more than 100,000 people reported on the surface, in fact, more than 90% of them were empty salaries, and the actual number was less than 20,000.

Even more than half of them were the sons of the nobles who lived a life of luxury and the old, weak and disabled left behind. The real young and strong were less than one-third. Those people, let alone combat effectiveness, could be beaten to a pulp by a random bandit of equal number.

So Wu Yu was not only not afraid of their rebellion, but also hoped that they would revolt. Only in this way could he have an excuse to clean up those termites.

Of course, not all nobles deserved to die. For example, the family of the Duke of Ying was a rare loyal minister. Although they were also greedy, they were at least willing to take money to do things, unlike some people who only wanted to take benefits and ran away faster than anyone else when something happened.

As for Li Banghua, after receiving Wu Yu's assurance, he quickly kowtowed to express his gratitude, and then took the imperial edict and the Shang Fang sword and left.

After Wu Yu left, he also instructed Wang Chengen to pass his oral order to Zhang Weixian, asking him not to interfere in the affairs of the Beijing camp for the time being.