"Evil?" Xu Hongji asked, "How is he so evil?"
"He claims to be the reincarnation of Emperor Taizu Gao!" Xu Yongji took over his cousin's question, "If Huang Yushi didn't tell me, I almost forgot... The new army stationed in Yangzhou to overcome the difficulties is an evil army. , everyone is superstitious that the prince is the reincarnation of Emperor Taizu Gao, and he does two or three exercises a day. He trains like crazy and shouts from time to time, "Emperor Taizu Gao is reincarnated - invincible"! "
"Haha," Xu Hongji sneered, "What's the use of calling?"
Zhao Zhilong also echoed: "If it was useful, I wouldn't come to Yangzhou in desolation!"
He paused and exchanged glances with Zhu Guobi and Huang Shu.
Zhu Guobi snorted: "I think we still have to let the Holy One come out and take charge!"
"Yes! The Holy One is still alive and healthy, so why did he let the prince take power?" Huang Shu said, "Since ancient times, there has been no such precedent..."
In fact, there are still such precedents! It's just that Huang Shu didn't want to mention that the man who held power as the prince was called Li Shimin! He was the crown prince for more than two months after the Xuanwu Gate Incident on June 4, the ninth year of Takeori, before he was promoted to emperor.
"What Huang Yushi said is absolutely true!" Zhao Zhilong clapped his hands and said, "We are all ministers of the Holy Emperor, not the prince!"
He looked at Xu Hongji and said, "Wei Guogong, what do you think?"
"I..."
"Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh..."
The sound of coughing interrupted Xu Hongji's words, but this time it was not him, the consumptive man, who was coughing, but his son Xu Yunjue.
The old man saw his son's face glowing red, and he didn't look like he was sick!
Xu Yunjue leaned into his father's ear and whispered: "Sir, raising troops to serve the king costs money!"
yes! Raising troops costs money!
The money in the Nanjing Household Department has been taken to Shandong by Shi Kefa and Gao Hongtu, and now it is empty enough to run away with rats. Now that Nanjing's soldiers in the Beijing Camp and Caojiang Navy are in arrears with their pay, do you still want them to fight a tough battle against the crazy New Army to overcome difficulties?
To make this group of battalion soldiers summoned from various guard posts in the southeast obey orders, money must not be spent less.
And where can the money come from?
Can the Wei government, which is extremely wealthy, be left with nothing?
The thought of having to pay for it himself made Wei Guogong Xu Hongji reluctant to bear it. This is not a small amount of money!
There are now 40,000 people in Nanjing's capital camp and navy! One tael of silver per person is 40,000 taels!
In addition, the guardsmen and servants of various families will also be gathered in Nanjing, totaling no less than 60,000 to 70,000 people.
Moreover, these 60,000 to 70,000 people are not all soldiers, there are also many officials. If you don't feed them, will they follow Qianqin Wang? The prince has millions of taels of silver on hand, so he can't buy it with money? To feed the entire Nanjing army, even a million taels may not be enough!
In addition, Nanjing's battalions and navy did not have good equipment. You still have to spend money to buy it! To equip 60,000 to 70,000 people, it would cost a million taels, right?
Besides, no one knows how long this battle between King Qin will last? If the fight lasts for a year and a half, how much savings does the old Xu family have? Can you fill this bottomless pit?
"Yu Shi Huang, Shou Bei Zhao, Admiral Zhu," Xu Hongji twirled his white beard, "If we want to raise an army to serve the king, how much military expenditure will it cost? And how to raise it?"
This old guy is almost dead, and he still thinks about money...
Huang Shu, Zhao Zhilong, and Zhu Guobi couldn't help cursing in their hearts after hearing this.
"It is estimated that 3 million taels of military expenses will be needed!" Zhao Zhilong said, "The Nanjing battalion and navy will spend at least 2 million taels on reorganization. In addition, Huang Degong of Fengyang and Zuo Liangyu of Wuchang have to spend money to win over each other. Give me at least 500,000 taels of silver."
"Where can I get these 3 million taels?" Xu Yunjue asked.
Don’t you have one at home?
Ten of the sixteen famous gardens in Nanjing have the surname Xu! Your family will not have 3 million! ?
Zhu Guobi's face was livid: "Every noble family can pool together a little, collect some taxes from passing merchant ships, and ask merchants in Nanjing for money. We can finally get 3 million taels..."
"My family took the lead in providing 100,000 taels!" Xu Hongji looked pained and stretched out his two palms tremblingly.
There's a lot of bleeding!
100,000 taels!
When Emperor Chongzhen was about to be beaten to death by Li Zicheng, Old Xu had nothing to lose. Now he is willing to pay 100,000 taels to King Qin. Emperor Chongzhen will definitely be very grateful, right?
Huang Shu shook his head repeatedly, "My lord, what we are doing now, if we succeed, we will be a diligent king, if we fail, we will be a rebel! If the prince gets the city of Nanjing...your family's money, garden, land, and shops will be lost." It all belongs to others!”
"This, this..." Xu Hongji gritted his teeth, "Then add another 100,000 taels! 200,000 taels, no more!"
Only 200,000 is still not enough!
"The honorable ministers in Nanjing City are not from the Wei Guofu family!" Xu Yunjue was already heartbroken. He was afraid that Huang Shu and the others would continue to ask for money, so he rushed to say, "If you want to pay, everyone must pay together... .In addition, there are many wealthy households in Suzhou, Changzhou, Songjiang, Huzhou, Hangzhou, Huizhou and other places, so we have to let them pay!"
Because places like Nanjing, Yangzhou, and Huai'an are important towns, they have always had great power. In Suzhou, Changzhou, Songjiang, Huzhou, Hangzhou, Huizhou and other places, scholar-bureaucrats were powerful. Xu Yunjue kicked the fundraising ball to Huang Shu, the leader of Donglin.
Huang Shu frowned, not because he was reluctant to give up money, but because he, the leader of Donglin, actually didn't have much strength.
The so-called Donglin Party is just a loose clique of scholar-bureaucrats and has no strict organization. Moreover, Huang Shu was not the only leader. Qian Qianyi, who was attracted by Zhu Cihong, was also the leader. Huang Shu had no way of asking the Donglin Party members below who had little organizational discipline to raise funds.
In addition, there are no more Nanjing Six Parts now. It was dismissed by Zhu Cixi's decree! Moreover, the main officials of the six departments also went their separate ways. Only Zhang Shenyan and Jiang Riguang remained in Nanjing.
How could it be possible for just the two of them to give orders to the Jiangnan prefectures in South Zhili?
Without giving orders to the governments in the south of the Yangtze River, how could Nanjing raise military expenditures from Suzhou, Changzhou, Songjiang, Huzhou, Hangzhou and other places?
But Huang Shu couldn't reject Xu Yunjue outright now, otherwise what would happen if Xu Hongji and Xu Yunjue, the two misers, quit?
"We have to ask everyone from all over the country to contribute money!" Huang Shu nodded and said, "I will send people to all the governments in Jiangnan to collect donations from Comrade Dong Lin. One or two million can always be raised, but it will take some time. Jiangnan Before the money from each government is sent to Nanjing, it has to rely on the contributions of the noble ministers of each family."
His idea was to first let nobles from various families step forward to support King Qin's career. If King Qin messes up this matter, it will be a rebellion. Once it starts, there will be no way out. By then, even if Donglin's successors from various Jiangnan prefectures don't follow, the nobles in Nanjing will lose their entire fortune and still have to continue playing!
The cash deposits of each family in Nanjing are estimated to be between 20 and 30 million taels! In addition, there are many businessmen here in Nanjing. It is not a problem to get another 20 to 30 million taels from them. The total of the two is 40 to 50 million taels, which is enough to compete with Zhu Cixiang in terms of money, right?
Thinking of this, Huang Shu said again: "Huang Degong and Zuo Liangyu are in urgent need of money. We must give them two to three hundred thousand taels of silver each first, right? Duke Wei, you must raise this money as soon as possible."
Xu Hongji nodded, "Forget it, I will be responsible for raising 1 million taels. I really can't come up with any more!"
"Did Wei Guofu pay 1 million?" Zhu Guobi seemed not to understand Xu Hongji's words and asked again.
Old Man Xu glared at him, "Wei Guofu offered 200,000 taels, and other nobles and ministers in Nanjing offered another 800,000 taels, for a total of 1 million taels!"
The total is only 1 million, which is a bit small!
Zhao Zhilong and Zhu Guobi exchanged glances, and Zhu Guobi said: "Then the garrison department can collect money from merchants? Can the navy commander of the Yangtze River stop on the river to collect money?"
Many businesses in Nanjing and on the Yangtze River involve secret shares of various noble families. Without Xu Hongji's nod, Zhao Zhilong and Zhu Guobi would not dare to send people to collect money.
Xu Hongji was silent for a while, nodded and said: "In extraordinary times, it doesn't hurt to hold back a little... That's it. We have done so much for the Holy Emperor, and we are worthy of the great kindness of Emperor Taizu Gao."
