Chapter 1686 Another Reward

Emperor Jingyuan looked at Ming Cong and frowned: "What do you mean by this, do you want to ask for credit from the Gu family?"

Emperor Jingyuan was very smart as long as he had a calm temper, otherwise he would not be favored by Emperor Jingwu and sit on the throne.

Ming Cong did not deny it, nodded and said: "Reporting to Your Majesty, I do have this intention. Gu's meritorious service in medicine should be rewarded."

Emperor Jingyuan was silent and looked at the old lady of Yuan Guogong who was sitting in a corner of Mingwei Hall.

His mother-in-law was old and had been weighed down by heavy makeup for more than two hours. Her face was pale now and her body looked a little swaying.

Emperor Jingyuan said: "Although Gu made the insect attractant, she has dedicated it to me in the name of an anti-Japanese soldier for her man, so this insect attractant is not from her, but from the anti-Japanese army." The Rong soldiers offered... only one thing, so we can't let her take advantage of two things, right, old lady."

Oh, since you have won the hearts of the soldiers with insect attractants, you should no longer expect royal rewards.

Mr. Yuan Guogong was almost fainting from exhaustion. When he heard this, he got excited and hurriedly stood up: "My wife is here."

But I got up too quickly and drank too much, and almost fell down.

The four maids next to her hurriedly supported her, and only then did Mrs. Yuan Guogong stabilize her body.

"Your Majesty, Mrs. Qin Gu said when she handed the prescription to Gao Lei that she had already benefited from using this prescription. I just hope that your Majesty will not think that she is being tricked and punish her. She just didn't want to do this. Be a widow. As for rewards, she doesn’t dare to ask for them anymore, but the soldiers who fought against the enemy really worked hard and they should be rewarded.”

Mrs. Yuan Guogong said this important statement in one breath. After finishing speaking, she was out of breath and took a moment to recover.

Emperor Jingyuan sneered: "Oh, I guess she is self-aware. In this case, I think that since she did make a good medicine to cure the insect, I will absolve her of the guilt."

This result is considered the best and what Gu Jinli could have guessed.

Although Emperor Jingyuan was not doing well in governing the country, he was an emperor after all. As long as he was an emperor, he could not be a fool. He could see her purpose of offering the medicine in the name of fighting the army.

"As for rewards." Emperor Jingyuan looked at Dai Shangshu, who had been huddled in the palace for a long time: "It is my decree to give the soldiers who go to the northwest a heavy armor, 30,000 pigs and sheep, and each of them will be rewarded with two taels of military pay."

Dai Shangshu's feet were numb as he stood. Hearing this, he hurriedly said: "I obey the decree!"

Just after answering, he was in trouble again. He glanced at Emperor Jingyuan and asked cautiously: "Your Majesty... where will this reward go?"

Don't go to the Ministry of War. The Ministry of War has no money and can hardly even afford military pay.

The Ministry of Accounts is in charge of money, so you have to go to the Ministry of Accounts.

But there are hundreds of thousands of soldiers fighting against the enemy. Not to mention the silver taels for armor and meat, the extra two taels of silver reward is not a small amount.

When talking about the silver, Emperor Jingyuan's face darkened.

War is the most expensive thing. The money in the national treasury is almost at the bottom, and there is not much gold in his private treasury. He wants to reward all the soldiers who resist the army, at least nearly two million taels.

Two million taels, how many aristocratic families and nobles must be copied to get enough?

Continue to raise taxes?

What's worse, the taxes collected in the past two years are already heavy enough. If we add more taxes, the south may rebel!

Emperor Jingyuan stared at Ming Cong with a faint gaze: "At the beginning of the year, you read an article to me. I think the article is a good idea at this time."

Ming Cong was startled, thought for a moment, and remembered the article about collecting taxes from shops in various places to replenish the national treasury.

It was just that when Emperor Jingyuan took it out to discuss it with the cabinet elders and ministers, most of them disagreed, so there was a huge quarrel.

Today's major shops are mostly owned by royal families, aristocratic families, and high-ranking officials. Increasing taxes on shops in various places is cutting off the flesh and blood of these families.

Moreover, some time ago, due to the relationship between the Shen family and the Sun family of the husband of the founding princess, the wealthy families and high-ranking officials had donated gold and silver to the court, which was bleeding, so almost all the ministers were opposed.

Ming Cong said: "I have no objection, but the other adults don't agree. To get them to nod, I'm afraid some extraordinary means will have to be used."

Emperor Jingyuan sneered: "Now that the army and bandits are invading, the northwest is in urgent need of silver to support troops for the war. If they don't agree, send their whole family to the northwest to fight!"

Shangshu Dai turned pale when he heard this. If this happened, his Dai family would suffer a lot of losses.

After hearing this, Mrs. Yuan Guogong sighed. The aristocratic nobles have been hiding from the emperor's collection of family property, but this time I'm afraid they won't be able to escape.

The old lady of Yuan Guogong didn't feel sorry for the silver. The Yuan Guogong Palace had already given up enough, and they didn't care if they gave up some more gold and silver. What she couldn't accept was...why did Dachu become like this?

She remembered that when she was young, apart from the excessive punishments, Da Chu was still very clear-minded in the court. The monarchs and ministers were very united and worked hard with Emperor Jingwu to establish Da Chu more and more firmly.

When did Da Chu stop working?

Maybe Da Chu has never really stood up... The wealthy families are too stubborn, and the mud-legged people are not good at it... If Emperor Jingwu had ignored all the noble families and killed them all, or prevented them from entering the court as officials , using only children from poor families, the situation in Da Chu should be much better now.

However, Emperor Jingwu tried.

But the problem is that the children of aristocratic families do have the talent to govern the country, and the consequence of giving too much power to poor people is that too few of them can achieve anything. Most of them suddenly become rich and powerful, and soon get into bad habits, which makes them The imperial court became even more corrupt.

I’m old, I’m old, I don’t think about this anymore.

Mrs. Yuan Guogong has given up. Anyway, Yuan Guogong is no longer in charge of the army, so she has a sinecure, and she has no ability to fight for anything anymore. The only person who makes her resentful is the queen.

The Empress, her daughter, was also a well-known figure in Beijing back then. However, after entering the palace, she only lived a good life for a few years. After that, she suffered and was wronged and could not complain.

"Come here, call all the ministers and ministers here!" Emperor Jingyuan was determined to get the money, and he didn't want to delay it any longer, so he immediately sent someone to call the ministers to talk about the matter.

"Yes." The chief eunuch immediately sent someone to do it.

Emperor Jingyuan looked at the palace servants and ordered them: "Send the old lady to the side hall."

Mrs. Yuan Guogong can't leave yet, he still has some questions to ask her.

"Yes." The palace people responded softly and helped Mr. Yuan Guo and his wife to the side hall.

Mrs. Yuan Guogong was already very tired, but she could only hold on.

Emperor Jingyuan began to discuss with Ming Cong how to deal with the elders. When the elders arrived, the two of them had agreed on their words.

Emperor Jingyuan didn't waste any time and said directly: "The army invaded and the battle in the northwest was difficult. Fortunately, our soldiers were brave and good news came. I was very relieved and decided to reward the generals who resisted the army. However, there is not much silver in the national reserve, and The war against the Japanese will continue to be fought, and it will cost a lot of money. Therefore, I have decided to collect taxes from shops in various places. I have called all my ministers here to ask you, what is the appropriate tax for this shop? Is it 50%, 30%, or... 10%?”

These words made several pavilion elders and ministers almost scold their mothers.

How much is appropriate to charge?

It’s best not to charge!