Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

"Humph, Lord Zhang has already used this excuse last time. Does Lord Zhang dare to deceive His Majesty?"

Li Banghua couldn't help it after all and questioned Zhang Shikang.

Emperor Chongzhen frowned when he heard this. He generally did not like Li Banghua very much. He thought Li Banghua was too stubborn and always had problems with his talented student Zhang Shikang.

He was just about to say something to Li Banghua, but unexpectedly Zhang Shikang spoke first:

"Oh? Is that true? Maybe I didn't ride this horse last time.

But how can Lord Li be innocent out of thin air?

My horse's foot is really sprained. If you don't believe me, Lord Li can go check it out. I came here from the suburbs of Beijing. Look at my shoes, which are covered in dirt."

Zhang Shikang was not angry, he just laughed and showed Li Banghua his shoes.

Li Banghua was too lazy to pay attention to him. He thought Zhang Shikang was a playboy with a thick skin and no shame.

"Your Majesty, I really did not lie. The official road from the capital to the Xishan Camp has been in disrepair for many years, and the road is almost eaten up by grass.

There were several places where some wicked person dug several holes on the road, causing me to fall every time.

Minister Fan, this official road needs to be repaired."

As he said this, Zhang Shikang smiled and said to the Minister of Works Fan Jingwen.

Fan Jingwen was much more active than Li Banghua. Hearing this, he smiled slightly and said:

"Mr. Zhang is right. As long as Your Majesty is willing to allocate money, I will have someone repair it tomorrow."

After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen looked at Zhang Shikang, meaning that if he felt it was really necessary, he would allocate money.

"Master Fan, you are really a non-stick pan, never mind, just let someone fix those holes.

I managed to get that little bit of money, but I can't afford to spend it like this."

Zhang Shikang slandered Fan Jingwen.

Among the ministers present, Li Banghua was the most stubborn and Fan Jingwen was the most smooth-talking. Their personalities were almost opposite. Zhang Shikang was very curious about how they became close friends.

However, no matter how stubborn they are or how smooth they are, after a round of purges, everyone present, regardless of their personality, is capable of getting things done.

Of course Zhang Shikang would not get angry over such a small matter. In fact, sometimes in order to adjust the atmosphere, he would deliberately anger Li Banghua. He succeeded every time and made Li Banghua so angry that he could not say a word.

During this period, he spent money like water. Emperor Chongzhen kept 5 million taels of silver from the 20 million taels he obtained from Shanxi merchants and gave the right to use the rest to Zhang Shikang.

The imperial court spent money on many places, and good steel should be used on the blade. However, Emperor Chongzhen firmly believed that Zhang Shikang knew best where the blade was.

More than 14 million taels of silver were planned to be allocated for military pay, food wages, resettlement expenses for the 40,000-strong expansion of the Beijing camp, military uniforms, and weapons, as well as the order costs for the newly formed firearms battalion's instantaneous muskets. A total of 1.2 million taels were planned to be allocated.

Lu Xiangsheng allocated 600,000 taels to reorganize the Tianxiong Army, while the bulk of the military equipment and firearms were still coordinated by Zhang Shikang and the Ministry of Works, which amounted to several hundred thousand taels.

Sun Chuanting's troops allocated more than 200,000 taels for the purchase of military pay and food fodder.

In addition, the military salaries of the nine border towns of the Ming Dynasty plus the arrears in the past six months totaled more than 2.8 million taels.

However, Zhang Shikang has not yet delegated the money. He still feels that he needs to inspect the nine borders. Otherwise, he will always feel uneasy about who the money is spent on.

Huang Degong and other troops in the three towns of Jiangbei were paid more than 900,000 taels of unpaid wages.

Cao Bianjiao's troops had more than 40,000 taels of military pay and food, and went to Chongqing half a month ago, bringing 1 million taels to Qin Liangyu for expanding the White Rod Army.

The budget for just this half month is a full six million taels.

This does not include the unpaid salaries of court officials, nobles, and royal family members. Recently, many officials and royal family members have written to request back pay.

But Zhang Shikang did not agree. Instead, he paid back part of the salary owed to the nobles and relatives.

The reason is very simple. These useless officials are not short of money. Why not give them back pay and let them clamor even louder to oppose the new policy?

As for the royal family, it is even more outrageous. Princes and dukes with high titles own a lot of land and are extremely rich, so they don't need to be distributed at all.

The royal family members with low titles might be really poor, but there were too many of them, more than 200,000 people, and Zhang Shikang was reluctant to let them go.

If we take into account the sale of those seven or eight hundred carts of luxury artworks, there is still a lot of silver left. Although that silver seems to be a lot, it is really not enough for the current Ming Dynasty.

The reason is very simple. The Ming Dynasty had been in decline for decades, and there were too many places where money needed to be spent.

For example, the very necessary post station system, disaster relief in various places, repairs of major official roads in various places, etc., if each item is calculated carefully, it will cost tens of millions of taels of silver.

But this is not the most important thing. The most important issue for Ming Dynasty right now is the food problem.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty has never been short of silver, it's just that some people hid it in the cellar.

But food is really in short supply.

The north has suffered from severe drought for years, and several major grain-producing provinces are not only unable to take care of themselves, but also need to transport grain for relief.

In recent years, bandits have caused chaos in various places, and food is needed everywhere. Otherwise, Yang Sichang would not have collected food locally because of the lack of food. He is not stupid.

Zhang Shikang had read quite a few novels from the late Ming Dynasty, and he always saw the male protagonists with the halo of the protagonist, as if they would have everything as long as they could get money.

Yes, money can solve most problems, but in Ming Dynasty, a relatively closed country, food is really difficult to solve.

The people in the north are nomadic, and they are extremely poor. From time to time they want to come to the interior to beg for money. There is no hope of success if you look for them.

The climate in the west is dry and there are many deserts, so it is not a grain-producing area. Places like Jiugang in the south are not major grain-producing areas either. Moreover, there are many mountains along the way, so transportation losses are too great.

The only thing Zhang Shikang can think of at the moment is maritime trade, that is, the Ming Dynasty Pirate King Zheng Zhilong. If this guy can cooperate, many problems can be solved.

But the price of grain at that time was not as cheap as it is in later generations. As an absolutely strategic material on which everyone depends for survival, the price of grain has been rising in the Ming Dynasty since the Wanli period.

Today, due to various natural and man-made disasters, the price of grain in the north has approached four taels, and even in the south it is more than three taels.

The overseas price is unknown, but after deducting the cost of shipping by sea, it will probably not be low.

Zhang Shikang made a rough calculation and calculated that the current price of grain in Jiangnan was three taels and five cents per stone.

Just to buy one million shi of rice would require 3.5 million taels of silver.

This is also the main reason why Zhang Shikang, who had a lot of silver in his hands, did not dare to spend it lavishly.

But even so, Zhang Shikang did not order the collection of grain in the country. He could certainly do so, but the people would not be able to bear it.

This is the situation, but compared to more than half a year ago, it is much better.

"Shikang, the main reason I summoned you to participate in the court discussion this time is about tax reform.

Prices are skyrocketing everywhere. The price of grain in the north has already skyrocketed to 4 taels and 6 cents, and is still rising.

People everywhere are complaining about this, and I am worried that if this continues, it may lead to civil unrest."

……