When Wei Zaode, the chief minister of the cabinet, and his party members heard that Li Banghua had donated his family property, they all lowered their heads and sneered.
High emotional intelligence: Donate money for promotion.
Low EQ: Selling your position!
They laughed at Li Banghua because he was an official fan and had no brains. Li Banghua was already a second-rank official, and with the title of Young Master, he would be a third-rank official and first-rank official.
If the time were to go back one year, donating money to buy an official position would still be justified. After all, the Ming Dynasty still had a strong voice at that time.
Now the Ming Dynasty is on the verge of collapse and is in danger. Even if you raise a million taels of silver, you can't prevent destruction.
Why bother?
It is better to keep the money and prepare for the change of government as early as possible.
What's even more ridiculous is that Chongzhen only said that there would be a big reward, but he didn't say what the reward was. It was obviously empty talk.
"My slave has received the emperor's favor and is willing to donate half of his family property to help suppress thieves!" Wang Zhixin, the admiral of Dongchang, then knelt on the ground and reluctantly donated half of his property.
The corner of Chongzhen's mouth twitched. This guy is a real money addict. After being beaten, he still dared to keep half of his family property. It really means that he is willing to die for money.
He squinted his eyes, and although he was dissatisfied in his heart, he pretended to be very happy: "The king's heart is very loyal, and he has been promoted to the third rank!"
Wang Chengen also wanted to donate, but he had already donated his money, and he couldn't get rid of the only ten taels of silver left in his pocket, and he suddenly felt a little upset.
Wu Mengming remembered what Chongzhen had said when he summoned him before the court meeting. In order to cater to the emperor and protect himself, he could only bite the bullet and said: "My lord, I am willing to donate one thousand taels of silver!"
"Okay! Commander Wu has promoted his rank to a higher level! Is there anyone else who can donate money?"
"I would like to donate five hundred taels of silver to meet our urgent needs."
"I would like to donate one thousand taels."
"I would like to donate eight hundred taels."
...
Under the leadership of Li Banghua, more than 40 courtiers donated money.
Chongzhen did the math and found that the donated silver ranged from dozens of taels to thousands of taels, and the total was only fifty thousand taels!
"Is there anyone else who wants to donate money?" Chongzhen asked again with an expressionless face.
All the officials were silent.
Everyone who wanted to donate donated, and the rest expressed their attitude with silence.
"Okay!" Chongzhen paused, "Since there is no one to donate money, I have to borrow money."
"Did you lend me any money?"
Borrow money?
Hearing these two words, Wei Zaode, the chief minister of the cabinet, almost laughed out loud.
Chongzhen, Chongzhen, you are the emperor and you borrow money from your ministers. You are so shameless. Doesn’t the royal family also want it?
In this situation, is there any difference between borrowing and donating? If you can’t raise money through donations, will someone lend you money?
What a pig brain!
Others thought differently.
If Chongzhen borrowed money from them, could he not borrow it?
Obviously not.
How to deal with it? The courtiers and nobles lowered their heads and thought hard.
Wang Chengen was a little anxious when he saw no one answered. I was afraid that if this continued, I would be embarrassed by the cold emperor, so I hurriedly winked at Wang Zhixin.
Wang Zhixin was hurt by Wang Chengen's glare. He sighed in his heart, knelt down again and said, "Your Majesty, I would like to lend you five hundred taels to help the court suppress the thieves."
"Okay, okay...children can be taught!"
After waiting for a while, when no one spoke, Chongzhen called the name directly: "The left minister of Hubu?"
Wang Zhengzhi, the left minister of the household department, first surrendered to Li Zicheng and then to Jiannu. He had a chaste face but a bitch-like character.
Chongzhen decided to operate on him first.
Wang Zhengzhi curled his lips secretly, stood up and bowed his hands in a polite manner: "Your Majesty, I am here."
"How much cash do you have at home?"
"This..." Wang Zhengzhi hesitated, asking too directly. He knew that Chongzhen must be holding something bad, but he didn't know what it was.
After thinking about it, the worst possible outcome would be to have the house ransacked.
If he really dared to raid his home, he would be the first to open the city gate when Li Zicheng came.
After Wang Zhengzhi calculated the fraction of his family's money, he said, "Your Majesty, I have about a hundred taels of silver in cash at home. I do have some other properties, but they are all objects, not cash."
"Oh." Chongzhen squinted, "Since we don't have much money, I'll borrow less. How about borrowing half?"
Wang Zhengzhi looked incredulous.
Is Chongzhen out of his mind?
Don't let go of a hundred taels of silver...
"This..." He wanted to say no, but he was too intimidated by the emperor's majesty to open his mouth.
borrow?
The money you borrowed will definitely not be returned.
After holding it in for a while, he stuttered and said, "Your Majesty, I have ministers both old and young. I'm afraid fifty taels of silver won't last more than a few days."
"Don't worry, Minister Wang, as long as I have something to eat, your whole family will not be hungry."
Chongzhen's words had reached this point, and Wang Zhengzhi could no longer refute, so he could only agree with a sad face.
Chongzhen continued to ask expressionlessly: "Where is Fan Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry?"
Fan Jingwen, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, bowed and saluted, "I am here."
"How much cash do you have at home?"
Fan Jingwen said respectfully: "The current silver is less than fifty taels."
"Since there are so few, I won't borrow them from you."
Others raised their eyebrows and grasped the point.
Although Fan Jingwen was telling the truth, as long as he pretended to be poor and pitiful like him, he could avoid disaster.
"Where is Zhang Jinyan?"
"I'm here."
"Do you have any cash at home?"
Zhang Jinyan, the Secretary of the Ministry of War, knelt on the ground with a look of embarrassment: "Your Majesty, I am an honest official, but my family has no money for a long time."
Wang Zhengzhi squinted at Zhang Jinyan and sighed in his heart: This guy is so cruel that he doesn't even want to borrow a penny.
Chongzhen asked expressionlessly: "Is Zhang Shangshu telling the truth?"
"My lord, don't dare lie."
"Chief Minister of the Cabinet?" Chongzhen's face became increasingly ugly.
Under the gaze of everyone, Wei Zaode, the chief minister of the cabinet, slowly stepped out of the queue and said unhurriedly: "I am willing to lend you five hundred taels of silver to help suppress the thieves!"
"No, no, no, Wei Qing misunderstood what I meant. I'm asking you how much cash you have at home!"
Wei Zaode snorted coldly in his heart and said loudly: "My family is poor and has no cash, so I rely on borrowing money to survive. I also borrowed the five hundred taels of silver just now."
Wang Chengen stood nearby and gritted his teeth. These people were greedy for more money than the national treasury. When the imperial court was in crisis, not only did it not donate generously, but it also left nothing, which is really hateful.
He looked at the back of Emperor Chongzhen and hated that he was not Wei Zhongxian, that he could not intimidate the court, and that he could not relieve the emperor's worries.
"Duke Cheng?" Chongzhen didn't care and immediately turned his attention to this first-class Duke.
