Da Ming: I told you to die for your cause, why are you actually going to die?

Chapter 26 Ordering Takeout at Fengtian Palace?! [New Book, Please Add to Favorites]

Zhu Yuanzhang rose from a beggar to become emperor, and the hardships he endured were probably the most arduous for any emperor in history.

People who have suffered all kinds of hardships have one thing in common: they will stop at nothing to avoid suffering again.

Therefore, the fiscal structure of the Hongwu reign was quite peculiar.

The money in Zhu Yuanzhang's private treasury was more than the money in the national treasury, meaning that the Hongwu era had a monetary system centered on the private treasury.

This resulted in Emperor Zhu sometimes blurring the lines between public and private funds, leading to chaos in the allocation of the imperial treasury and frequent deficits.

After all, the imperial treasury controlled the issuance of paper money.

Zhu Yuanzhang (the Hongwu Emperor) had done things like issuing tens of millions of banknotes with a principal of tens of thousands of taels of silver, so it's no wonder that the Ministry of Revenue was often short of money.

Inflation is so severe that money doesn't last long at all. If you're greedy, you'll lose everything.

"emperor."

Zhang Biao's weak voice rang out again, with an expression that said, "I understand, but I'm hungry," as he looked at Old Zhu: "I understand the difficulties of the court. But my neighbor, Imperial Censor Shen, is in an even worse situation than me!"

Zhu Yuanzhang was taken aback: "Imperial Censor Shen? Who?"

"It's Censor Shen Lang from the Jiangxi Circuit of the Censorate, who lives across the street from me!"

Zhang Biao immediately perked up, as if he had found a fellow sufferer: "Your Majesty! Imperial Censor Shen has an eighty-year-old mother and a three-year-old child at home, and they all depend on his meager salary!"

"Now he's in the same boat as me, owed seven months and twenty-one days' salary, and his family is already starving!"

"His elderly mother is still ill, and they don't even have the money to buy medicine! The child is crying loudly from hunger! Just a few days ago! I personally witnessed Imperial Censor Shen trying to get some meat soup to nourish his mother and child."

As he spoke, his voice choked with emotion: "He pawned his ancestral jade pendant! That one, supposedly passed down from his great-grandfather, a jade pendant of decent quality! for three hundred copper coins! Just to buy half a pig's head from Wang Mazi's family, Your Majesty!"

Old Zhu: "."

"Your Majesty! Just think about it! A dignified seventh-rank censor! A man of integrity and upright conduct! He pawned his ancestral jade pendant for half a pig's head!"

"If this gets out, whose face will be lost? The face of our Great Ming Dynasty!"

"We keep shouting that we're the Celestial Empire, but our Ming Dynasty's censors are so poor they're practically selling their pants. Who's going to believe us then?!"

"."

Old Zhu was completely silenced.

Zhang Biao's description is incredibly impactful.

A penniless censor, clutching his ancestral jade pendant, desperately tried to exchange it for half a greasy pig's head.

This scene caused Zhang Biao a more piercing pain and an absurd sense of shame than when he himself was demanding his unpaid wages.

The Fengtian Hall fell silent once again, with only the rumbling of Zhang Biao's stomach providing a clear accompaniment.

Old Zhu sat on the dragon throne, his expression shifting constantly, with a hint of barely perceptible embarrassment.

Throughout his life, he was decisive and ruthless; when had he ever fallen into such a 'down-to-earth' predicament?

After a long time, so long that Zhang Biao wondered if Old Zhu had fainted from anger, he finally heard a tired sigh filled with deep frustration.

"Jiang Huan!"

Old Zhu's voice was hoarse and low, as if he had used up all his strength.

"Chen is here!"

Jiang Huan immediately rushed in from outside the hall with a knife, as if he would kill Zhang Biao at Old Zhu's command.

However, Old Zhu weakly raised his arm and waved his hand: "Go to the imperial treasury and fetch fifty taels of silver." Jiang Huan: "???"

To withdraw silver? Right here in the Hall of Supreme Harmony?!
Jiang Huan thought he had misheard and stood there, frozen in place, as if petrified.

But Old Zhu ignored Jiang Huan's shock. He looked at Zhang Biao below the steps, his expression indescribably complex, finally settling into a heavier sigh, filled with a resigned resentment: "Fifty taels and forty taels, consider it our personal compensation for your and Zhang Biao Shen Lang's owed wages! And another ten taels..."

He paused, as if saying those words was more difficult than beheading ten people, and added through gritted teeth, "Tell that Imperial Censor Shen to go and redeem the ancestral jade pendant!"

"Buy him two more! No! Buy him three pig heads!"

"So that we won't embarrass our Great Ming Dynasty again over a piece of meat!"

Jiang Huan glanced at Old Zhu, then at Zhang Biao, and with a look of utter disbelief, left the main hall. After a while, he returned carrying a heavy, coarse cloth bundle.

The package wasn't sealed, and inside were gleaming silver ingots that made one dizzy.

He walked down the steps with a complicated expression, handed the cloth bag to Zhang Biao, and stiffly handed it over as if he were dealing with some hot, stolen goods.

Zhang Biao's eyes lit up instantly, and like a vicious dog pouncing on its prey, he grabbed the cloth bag.

The heavy, cool touch almost moved him to tears.

He didn't even care about being impolite in front of the emperor. He quickly untied a corner of the cloth bag, twirled the five ingots of ten-tael silver inside with his fingers, weighed them in his hand, grinned, and revealed an extremely sincere smile. He then kowtowed to Emperor Zhu with a thud: "Your subject! Thank you for your great grace! Your Majesty is wise! Long live the Emperor!"

The flattery was swift and loud, a stark contrast to his earlier fawning attitude when demanding back wages.

Sitting on the dragon throne, Old Zhu looked down at Zhang Biao's pathetic, money-grubbing demeanor and heard his soulless "Long live the Emperor!" He felt an even greater tightness in his chest.

This payment was so unfair! So unfair!
The emperor, a dignified figure, was cornered by his subjects in the Fengtian Hall demanding back pay, and had to pay it out of his own pocket!
If this gets out...
"roll!"

Old Zhu squeezed out the word through gritted teeth, then waved his hand wearily: "Take your money! Get out of the palace! Don't let us see you again!"

"Your Majesty, I obey! I will leave now! I will leave gracefully!"

Zhang Biao quickly got up, stuffed the silver into his pocket like a precious treasure, held it tightly, bowed deeply to Old Zhu again, and turned to slip away.

However, after taking only two steps, his stomach emitted another long and loud sound—

"Gurgle gurgle~~~"

The voice echoed in the empty hall, louder and more assertive than before.

Zhang Biao paused, his face instantly switching to an extremely troubled and embarrassed expression:

"Your Majesty! I am deeply grateful, but my stomach is so hungry that I can't walk anymore. It would take at least half an hour to roll out of the palace gate from Fengtian Hall. I'm afraid I'll faint from hunger halfway through, and if that happens to disturb any noble person or soil the gold bricks in the palace, I would be guilty of a thousand deaths!"

He swallowed hard, trying to make his eyes appear more sincere: "Your Majesty, could you perhaps have the Imperial Kitchen simply give me a bowl of noodles?"

"Clear broth noodles will do! I wouldn't even dare to think about adding an egg! Just this will fill my stomach, and I'll roll away as fast and far as I can, without causing you any trouble!"

Zhu Yuanzhang: "."

Jiang Huan: "."

The air in Fengtian Hall froze once again.

Everyone was stunned by Imperial Censor Zhang's unparalleled 'pushing his luck'.

Need money? Here you go!
Do we still need to order takeout from Fengtian Hall?
It's just plain noodle soup?!

Old Zhu felt as if his temples were no longer throbbing, but rather as if a canal was being dug inside them!

Where's our knife?!
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(End of this chapter)