Chapter 159
"Third brother, do you want to show off your old ways in front of my father?" Tang Yu said with a smirk on his face.
"Laojiu, Laojiu!"
Tang Shuheng was really pissed off by Tang Yu. He had no choice but to look at Emperor Tang and said, "Father, for the sake of the Tang Dynasty and the country, I am willing to sell all my property and collect 100,000 taels of silver to donate to the court!"
"Only one hundred thousand taels?" Tang Yu's face darkened.
In order to win over Xu Shize, Tang Shuheng did not hesitate to spend one million taels of silver. Now that the Tang Dynasty was in trouble, Tang Shuheng only offered one hundred thousand taels. Compared with this, it was just drizzle and not worth mentioning.
Xu Shize smiled at the side: "Your Highness, that's quite a lot!"
"That's okay!"
Seeing that Xu Shize had said this, Tang Yu naturally couldn't say much. He could vaguely feel that Xu Shize, the old fox, was making wishful thinking again.
Seeing Tang Shuheng's contribution of 100,000 taels of silver, Tang Long, as the eldest prince, was naturally not far behind: "Father, although I am not as rich as my third brother, and the military usually spends a lot of money, I am willing to sell all my family property. Donate one hundred thousand taels of silver to the imperial court!"
"Well, not bad!" Emperor Tang nodded.
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"Father, I am not as rich as my eldest and third brothers, but for the sake of the Tang Dynasty, I am willing to donate 80,000 taels of silver!"
"Father, I only have 50,000 taels of property left. I will donate all of it to the imperial court!"
"Father..."
In an instant, several other princes stepped forward to donate silver.
Surprisingly, the nine princes donated a total of 900,000 taels of silver. Adding in the existing treasury, there were exactly 8 million taels of silver.
Emperor Tang frowned and said: "There are still two million taels short of the ten million taels of silver. I wonder who among the beloved ministers will contribute?"
"this..."
At this moment, the faces of all civil and military officials in the court stiffened, and they naturally understood that Emperor Tang still planned to ask them to pay.
Nowadays, the number of relatives of the civil and military royal families in the Manchu Dynasty is only a minority, and more officials come from aristocratic families. Since ancient times, aristocratic families have been the richest.
Especially the aristocratic families in the capital, all of them are fat and oily. Although two million taels of silver is not a small amount for them, it is not impossible to come up with.
It's just that any aristocratic family taking out two million in silver at once is enough to break their muscles and bones, so no one intends to give out two million in silver alone.
"What? Can't I get the two million taels of silver together?" Tang Huang looked sullen.
Xu Shize stood up in time and said: "Your Majesty, two million taels is an astronomical figure. No one can afford it!"
"Yes, yes, what the Prime Minister said is absolutely true!"
Seeing Xu Shize standing up to speak, a group of ministers nodded quickly. None of them wanted to be the one who was wronged for investing two million.
"What does the Prime Minister mean?" Emperor Tang asked in a deep voice.
Xu Shize cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, there is no need to be anxious. At worst, our court can borrow these two million silver!"
"Borrow?" A group of courtiers were confused.
They knew well that there was a huge disparity in strength between the Tang Dynasty and Chu Dynasty. If they lent money to the court and the Tang Dynasty was defeated, the money would be wasted.
Many people looked at each other and shook their heads secretly. It was obvious that they did not intend to lend a single tael of silver to the court.
