Shen Li deeply understood one thing.
The losses caused by the war were not the greatest losses. After the war, the secondary damage caused by the collapse of the administration and the invalidation of the law was the most terrible. It would often bring a devastating blow to the war zone. This kind of damage was almost irreversible.
For example, the most terrible lesson of the ancients — After a great disaster, there would be a great plague.
Fortunately, it was the cold season now, which was a blessing in the misfortune. If it was midsummer, there would be no place to hide the corpses. They would rot and breed a large number of terrible germs, causing a terrible plague. The number of people who died because of the plague was much more than those who died because of the war.
But it was also because it was early spring and the cold was bone-chilling. Now, even more people would be frozen to death.
The cities destroyed because of the war could not provide shelter for the refugees. The bone-chilling wind would cause the refugees to freeze to death. If the imperial court could not properly settle these refugees, the number of people who died of the cold would definitely exceed those who died because of the war.
There was also a more serious food problem. The current food shortage problem had not been solved. Last year, the entire northern region had a large scale production and there was a serious shortage of food. The food transferred from Jiangnan was given priority to the officials and the army. At present, the food rations of the refugees in the capital had just been solved. If there were tens of thousands more refugees in Shanxi, then …
As soon as Shen Li said that, a few big shots looked at him unhappily.
Hypocrite!
Which one of them was not an elite trained at the grassroots level? How could they not know?
No one would not think of this, but they were not willing to think about it for the time being.
In other words, they had to wait until they achieved their political goals before thinking about these things.
It was not that they were too cold-blooded, but under the pressure of the political environment, they could not think normally. Think about it, the imperial court was in a fierce struggle. For the sake of their hometown, the Jin Party would naturally fight for enough food and disaster relief funds. But Shanxi was not the only place that suffered from the Daming disaster.
Everyone suffered from the disaster, but the Jin Party suffered more. The disaster relief funds and food from the imperial court were limited. If they wanted to spend all of it, what would they do?
Moreover, if the Jin Party succeeded in doing what they wanted, wouldn't it mean that they would be revived? The food that originally belonged to them would be used to help their political enemies recover and then fight with them for power …
How could they do such a thing? Was this something a human could do? He had to wait until the Jin party had completely collapsed, and then he would go and clean up the mess in Shanxi. In this way, everyone would be able to get a certain amount of benefits, and the people and places that were rescued would be able to help him.
The officialdom was very realistic. Why should they save people and places that could not be of help? A model of benevolence?
Instead of helping the enemy recover, why don't we do it ourselves? As for the civilians …
Sorry, you can only blame yourself for being born in Shanxi!
Political animals were willing to do anything for their political goals. Their moral values had long since fallen to the limit of living creatures. No intelligent creature would have lower moral values than political animals. They were all the same, and no one was more noble than the other.
Shen Li might have his own conscience and pursuits, but he was not Wang Yangming. He could not maintain his original ideals in the dark. It was impossible for him to get to where he was today without someone pushing him from the back, without dirty political deals, and without his own interest groups.
The most he could do was to show a little bit of his kindness on the basis of ensuring the interests of the people behind him.
This was the last shred of conscience he had left.
He could not bear to see the people of Shanxi bleed because of this conspiracy. Daming the people were suffering too much. He just wanted them to be more or less relaxed. At least … he wanted to save his own life.
However, it might be difficult to achieve such a request, because there were too many people who were more ruthless than him. There were seven or eight people in front of him.
Shi Xing seemed to feel that Shen Li was speaking up for Yang Junmin. He was unhappy.
"This is also Minister Yang's business. He has been in charge of the Ministry of Revenue and the world's money warehouse for so many years. Every year, the deficit is higher than the previous year, and every year, the income is less than the previous year. This year we eat next year's grain, and next year we eat the grain of the year after that! If we eat beyond our means like this, how long can we eat?
At present, the chaos in Shanxi has not subsided, and there will inevitably be a large number of refugees. The reconstruction after the war is difficult, and the money and grain needed are astronomical. Where will the money come from? Where will the grain come from? "
Shen Li frowned.
"Shi Butang, you are the Minister of War. Don't worry about the Ministry of Revenue!"
Shi Xing smiled coldly and nodded.
"Fine! Minister Shen, I don't care about this. This is a matter of the Ministry of Revenue, a civil affair. It's not my place to interfere! But I am the Minister of War, so I must manage military affairs! The number of Daming soldiers lost in this war is probably not small. Once the war is over, regardless of the outcome, the soldiers who rendered meritorious service will be rewarded, and the soldiers who died in battle will be compensated! This is the most basic of all! How will this sum of money be calculated? "
Shi Xing's words sounded like he was rebuking Yang Junmin, but in reality, he was telling Shen Li not to waste his breath. At this crucial moment, if she jumped out, she would also be rebuked!
How could someone of Shen Li's temper endure this?
"The compensation from Japan will arrive very soon! Six hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver is still not enough for you to use?! "
Shi Xing dryly laughed.
"Minister Shen, let's not talk about this six hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver. The six hundred and thirty thousand taels of silver for the third quarter of next year have already been reserved. When these six hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver set sail from Japan to Tientsin, they will be loaded onto Daming's soil, and then transported to the capital. They won't even enter the national treasury. They will be directly taken away and then disappear from the face of the earth!"
Shen Li's expression froze. Then, it seemed like she wanted to say something, but in the end, she didn't. She could only helplessly look at Yang Junmin.
Yang Junmin's face was pale. Of course, he knew that the accounts of the Ministry of Revenue over the past few years were rotten. If he really opened them up, besides the long-dead Hai Rui, there was probably no one in the government who could escape this rotten account. Everyone had some sort of problem.
Originally, they thought that an additional 2,600,000 taels of silver would improve the financial situation of the Great Ming Dynasty. However, they did not expect that with the increase in income, the appetites of these corrupt officials would also expand. Their adaptability to their appetites was unparalleled in the world, and they would swallow the extra silver in minutes.
There were all sorts of excuses and excuses, and they were all things that he couldn't and couldn't refuse. This sort of thing had become an unwritten rule in the bureaucracy decades ago, so how could he refuse?
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
