The Wang family is very rich, so rich that even Shen Yi feels a little surprised.
Because coastal cities in this era are still different from coastal cities in later generations. In places like Taizhou Prefecture, seven mountains, two rivers and one farmland are divided into two. Because there is not much farmland, the people rely on the mountains to survive and the water to survive, so they can only make do. It's just a way of making ends meet. Although you won't be very poor, you won't be rich either.
Only these wealthy households doing business along the coast can make some profits by taking advantage of the seaside advantage.
Even so, compared to places like Taizhou Prefecture, not to mention places like Jiankang, Gusu or Lin'an Prefecture, even Shen Yi's hometown Jiangdu Prefecture is far behind. But Shen Yi and Li Mu, After taking possession of the Wang family's property, they counted it and found that the number was such that Shen Yi was shocked.
In terms of silver alone, there are more than 270,000 taels hidden in the cellar of the Wang family's mansion!
Adding together the remaining land deeds, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, jewelry, and some gold nuggets, the Wang family's property is estimated to be close to one million!
It's not like Shen Yi has never seen people with millionaire wealth. In places like Jiankang and Jiangdu, although there are not many millionaires, there are still some, but places like Taizhou Prefecture...
When Shen Yi handed the Wang family's property list to Li Mu, he couldn't help but sigh: "The Wang family alone has become so fat. We don't need more. We just need to copy two or three more Wang families to form a resistance force." The Japanese army’s military pay is enough.”
Li Mu originally only knew about the two hundred and seventy thousand taels of cash. After hearing what Shen Yi said, he immediately took the list, read it over, and clicked his tongue. He opened his mouth and said, "It's richer than my own, Prince Jin's Palace."
After saying this, he glanced at Shen Yi and said, "Although the Wang family is very fat, His Majesty has promised to allow us to confiscate the property of those who have collaborated with the Japanese to build coastal defense, but those in the imperial court Civil servants may not be willing to..."
The prince said slowly: "Some people in the court are with these local nobles or wealthy businessmen, and some people are jealous of the money. Those people have very sharp ears and eyes. Maybe in a few days, someone in the court will report Our brothers are involved in embezzling government funds."
Having said this, Li Mu smiled, pointed at the list in front of him and said, "There is still this money."
"Maybe in a few days, the God of Wealth Zhao from Jiankang will send a document saying that the money should be deposited into the treasury of the Ministry of Household Affairs."
Shen Yi smiled: "It is really possible that Uncle Zhao will send this document, but he has no selfish motives. As the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, he tries to find ways to enrich the treasury of the Ministry of Revenue. It is his duty to be the accountant of the imperial court."
"His old man's house in Jiankang was bought by my aunt."
Li Mu smiled hoarsely: "Okay, I know that the people of your Ganquan Academy are united."
Shen Yi shook his head and stopped talking about this topic. Instead, he said: "Your Majesty, your Majesty probably knows in his heart that this trip to the south to patrol the sea is difficult, so he did not choose those civil servants with high positions and senior qualifications to do it. Afraid that they would be careful and cautious at every step, they sent us two young people here just to ask us to use our momentum to accomplish this."
"What I mean is that no matter which yamen of the imperial court sends us any documents, we will ignore them at all. Unless the imperial court sends people from the Dali Temple to arrest us, otherwise we will just keep doing it with our eyes closed."
"You put it lightly."
Li Mu glanced at Shen Yi and said angrily: "I am the imperial envoy on this mission. Ziheng, when you meet everyone, you say that you are just an eighth-grade official. If something really happened, why don't I, the imperial envoy, take the blame? "
Shen Yi smiled at Li Mu and said, "When something happens to the prince, he will be brought to the clan house for questioning. The outer court has no right to intervene. Isn't it just a matter of your majesty to pardon the prince?"
Li Mu narrowed his eyes slightly, looked up at Shen Yi, then shook his head and sighed: "This may be the reason why His Majesty sent me to take the blame for you."
"After all, I am a member of the Li family, so I can shoulder the big responsibility."
…………
In the next few days, Shen Yi and Li Mu became busy.
The two men were not in a hurry to use the Wang family's private property. They only used the Wang family's 270,000 taels of cash to formally form an anti-Japanese army.
This anti-Japanese army was established in accordance with the emperor's decree. It was nominally to eliminate Japanese pirates and stabilize the coastal areas.
In other words, this is a temporary establishment.
One day in the future, after the Japanese pirates are eliminated, this anti-Japanese army will be disbanded on the spot.
However, His Majesty the Emperor's ambition is not only to annihilate the Japanese pirates. After the anti-Japanese army is able to annihilate the Japanese pirates, they may transform into another brand-new army.
But this is all for later.
The current situation is that two young men, Shen Yi and Li Mu, need to first build the skeleton of the anti-Japanese army.
First of all, there were the two young men from Linhaiwei who killed the Japanese pirates.
The young man named Wan Zhong was still recovering from his injuries in bed, but the young man Xue Wei, who had killed a Japanese pirate but was unharmed, was "directly recruited" by Shen Yi into the Anti-Japanese Army and promoted to the general banner.
The general banner is under one hundred households and has fifty people under its command.
Theoretically speaking, this is a seventh-level military position.
But this is only theoretical, because the Anti-Japanese Army is currently a temporary establishment, and Xue Wei's general banner has positions but no titles.
Or, after he has made some achievements in the anti-Japanese army in the future, he will become a regular official and become a serious court official.
The reason why he is only given a general banner is because when he reaches the position of Baihu, it is not just a matter of personal bravery, but also requires a certain command ability. At present, neither Shen Yi nor Li Mu have seen Xue Wei's Any ability to command.
And giving Xue Wei several levels in a row actually means buying horse bones with a thousand gold. Let these soldiers see that as long as they kill the Japanese pirates, the court will definitely give them a reward!
After accepting Xue Wei, Shen Yi set up a tent at the gate of Linhai County and officially started recruiting troops.
The remuneration is favorable, more than twice that of local guard sergeants.
If you have money, naturally there will be many people signing up, and soon, a long queue formed in front of Shen Yi.
The reason why the queue is so long and there is no rush is not because they are very qualified, but because the fierce-looking Xue Wei, with several of his little brothers, holding big sticks, is kindly maintaining order.
Mr. Shen personally sat in the tent and recorded the names of those who came to sign up.
After most of the day, Shen Yi's registration paper was filled with names. At a rough glance, there were already more than 500 people.
This speed made Shen Yi very satisfied.
Although he knew that most of these people were not here to exterminate the Japanese pirates, but to pay for the army.
But it doesn't matter, as long as the base of people is large enough, a few useful ones can always be selected.
As the names were reported one by one, Mr. Shen lowered his head and recorded them one by one.
A big man stood in front of Shen Yi.
Shen Yi didn't even raise his head, and repeated mechanically: "Sign up."
"Ling Su."
Upon hearing this name, Shen Yi subconsciously wrote the word "Ling", then stopped writing and looked at the burly man in front of him.
Mr. Shen put down his brush and smiled hoarsely: "Ling Qianhu, the court has not settled the accounts with you for Linhaiwei's last unfavorable incident against the Japanese. Do you think you want to join the anti-Japanese army to avoid responsibility?"
Ling Qianhu bowed his head respectfully, clasped his fists at Shen Yi, and bowed his head deeply.
"Ling came here just to get rid of his merits."
He lowered his head and said: "Ling is willing to give up his identity as Linhai Guard Qianhu and become a small soldier in the anti-Japanese army!"
(End of chapter)
