The days when I fished in Daming

"Yundi is located in the southwest. Unlike the north, the mountains are high and the roads are long. There are also poisonous insects and miasma. In the next period of time, you will continue to take over Huimin Pharmacy to collect medicines for the army. At the same time, you will summon doctors to Yundi to escort the army. Is there any problem with this?"

This made Zheng Xiong feel relieved. If this was the case...

"No problem, I will deal with this matter as soon as I get back."

"No hurry, no hurry. There is one more thing I need you to do."

"Your Majesty, please speak."

Old Zhu rubbed his hands. The words were on the tip of his tongue, but he found it difficult to speak.

"Then let's talk about it. The army still needs three million taels of silver to march south. Is it difficult?"

I was dumbfounded. He was praising and supporting me, but I never expected that Lao Zhu was only after my money.

Don’t you know how much money you have?
The taxes from Yingtian Prefecture, tea, profits from Huimin Pharmacy, plus glass perfume and other miscellaneous income, would at most make a million taels a year.

Similarly, Zheng Xionghua spent his money quickly as he came.

Not to mention tax cuts and road construction, the cross-river bridge that is about to start construction is a money-eating beast.

No one knows how much it cost just to dig the river and divert the river. Zheng Xiong is not a black-hearted developer. That is real money outflow.

So, there is not much money in the account book.

Fortunately, the construction of the bridge will not be a matter of a day or a night. It may take several years to complete. Moreover, the main purpose of building a bridge is to revitalize the economy. It doesn't matter even if it cannot be built. Zheng Xiong is not in a hurry, but it is true that there is not much money in the account.

Although Mr. Zhu knew the bill, he still made this request to me. Could it be that he had his eyes on my pig farm?

Even though I invested millions, there’s still no return!

There is still some money that has not been used, but it is only used for the subsequent pig-raising expenses, so it can only be said to be enough.

Zhu Yuanzhang would not spend such a small amount of money and give himself a bad reputation of robbing his subjects of their wealth. It was not worth it.

What does Lao Zhu mean?
Zheng Xiong was confused and replied in a low voice.

"There is still 100,000 taels in the account of Yingtian Prefecture. It should not be a problem for me to go back and collect 200,000 taels. Now that the tea picking season has just arrived, it is really difficult to deal with the remaining taels."

Zheng Xiong gritted his teeth and glanced at Lao Zhu secretly.

"If Your Majesty needs it, I will not build the pig farm. I will sell it to Your Majesty to supplement the military funds."

Old Zhu's face gradually calmed down.

The flattery was effective, and Zheng Xiong even took out his family fortune to support himself, so there was nothing to say.

But it was too far from what Lao Zhu expected, so he became a little suspicious.

"You want to get the money to buy cotton, why can't you get it?"

"It's still early! Let Chagatai know now that there should be some money left in Yingtianfu's account in August or September. We will take whatever money we can get then."

"As for cotton from other places, I can ask those merchants to buy it for me, and then make it into cotton clothes or quilts, and then return it to them after selling it."

Old Zhu frowned slightly, what a good trick of getting something for nothing.

Was it a wrong payment after all?
The arrow is on the string and must be fired.

Perhaps after a few years of recuperation, we can start a war again.

However, the achievements comparable to those of the Qin Emperor and Han Emperor were right before his eyes. The more he thought about it, the more intense the impulse became, and it was not something that could be dispelled by Zheng Xiong's two words.

"We don't need it now. You won't be harvesting cotton until August or September, and we should start the rebellion in August or September as well. We still have time."

"Shangshang, how much can the Ministry of Revenue give?"

The Ministry of Revenue had already prepared the budget for this year. Li Shanchang knew something about it and after a little thought, he told it.

"One hundred thousand taels."

"So little? Let's increase the tax by half and make up 500,000 taels."

"According to the order."

Old Zhu pondered for a moment.

"Now that the situation is stable, the garrisons in various places should be able to spare some food if they work hard on farming."

After saying this, Lao Zhu looked at Zheng Xiong again, his eyes burning and somewhat intimidating.

"We know your difficulties and we won't make it difficult for you. You said you couldn't afford three million taels, so we'll ask the Ministry of Revenue to pay 500,000 taels, and the Garrison to pay a portion. We'll give you the remaining two million taels. That should be no problem, right?"

Is it too much?

a lot of.

The Ministry of Revenue only squeezed out 500,000 taels, and it was absolutely unreasonable to ask himself to pay 2 million taels.

But if you think about it carefully, Lao Zhu is not making a move without a purpose.

The income is one million taels, the pig farm is worth one million taels, and two million is just right.

The price of doing so would be giving up everything, and the economy, which had been improving slightly, would slow down.

The most important thing is that if the pig farm is lost, it would be like digging meat out of one’s own heart!

Zheng Xiong still wants to fight for it.

"Your Majesty, one million taels is okay?"

"No, this southern expedition is extremely important, so we can put other places aside for now."

Perhaps because he felt it was too stiff and a little unkind, Lao Zhu slowed down his tone.

"You must take the Southern Expedition seriously. If it succeeds, we will credit you as the first contributor. Don't slack off."

Although the pancake was delicious, Zheng Xiong didn't want to eat it at all.

How high is considered a high position? It is better not to be an official for Zhu.

But there is absolutely no reason to refuse.

If you don't even have this awareness of going through fire and water, what's the point of going through fire and water?

All I can say is that Old Zhu is too treacherous and leaves no room for maneuver.

He even planned to seize the property of other people's officials, which shows that he didn't care about his own face. Zheng Xiong and Shen Wansan were in partnership, and the little face they lost by breaking their promise was not worth mentioning. It can be seen that Zhu was really determined.

So Zheng Xiong could only accept his fate.

"The minister obeys the order."

Seeing Zheng Xiong agree obediently, Lao Zhu's expression relaxed slightly.

As fatigue set in, Lao Zhu's eyelids seemed to be fighting each other and he couldn't control them.

Even so, Lao Zhu still held on.

"They must be getting impatient, let's go to court!"

The three people present noticed that Lao Zhu was tired and tried to persuade him.

"Your Majesty is very busy. Why don't you take a rest? There is nothing important in the morning court. It will be the same tomorrow."

"It doesn't matter how big or small the matter is. We are fine. Let's get ready."

Old Zhu was in front, Li Shanchang, Liu Bowen and Zheng Xiong were behind. The three of them came together, which made everyone in the court look surprised.

Old Zhu sat high up in the hall.

Zheng Xiong and his companions also found their own positions at the same time.

"Something's going to happen."

As Li Shanchang expected, they were all trivial matters.

It's pretty much the same as a meeting.

Zheng Xiong yawned and looked around.

Seeing Zheng Xiong's gaze, Liu Bowen nodded slightly.

This scene made Zheng Xiong dazed for a moment.

Looking back to those days, I stood like an ant, looking frozen.

Now he is only one step behind Li Shanchang, standing side by side with Liu Bowen.

This is not a good thing.

Zheng Xiong was secretly alert, and his mind began to wander as he thought about it.

In the hall, nothing serious happened.

All that's left is this boring drama of you impeaching me and me impeaching you.

Needless to say, this was a struggle between Li Shanchang's Huaixi faction and Liu Bowen.

But one was actually captured.

He thought he could stay there peacefully until the court was dismissed, but suddenly a voice rang out, causing Zheng Xiong's eyes to widen and he glanced to the side.

"I have a report to the emperor. The doctor, Zheng Xiong, was unruly and fell asleep in the court. I request that he be convicted of impoliteness in front of the palace."

"Any more?"

Of course there is!
"Yingtian Prefecture harbors filth and corruption, and men and women live together. Now they are taking in women on a large scale. This is unacceptable and harmful to the country. I request that they be punished."

Here it comes, this is not a pillow for you when you are sleepy.

Zheng Xiong hurried out.

"I plead guilty."

"My dear, what crime have you committed? You should join the ranks first."

Zheng Xiong had no choice but to leave.

Li Shanchang glanced at Hu Weiyong darkly and frowned slightly.

"What's your name, and which department are you in?"

"Your servant, Wang Shanshui, is currently serving as a deputy minister of the Ministry of Revenue."

Lao Zhu glanced at Mao Xiang, and Mao Xiang understood what he meant. He walked up to Lao Zhu and whispered something in his ear.

Old Zhu's brows were furrowed, but it wasn't ugly.

"Some time ago, a man came to your house to give you a gift, and soon he was promoted to the first rank. Is this true?"

"Yes, but he is indeed a man of real talent and knowledge. The gift is just some tea. Your Majesty, please understand."

"How much is the melon slice worth? Do you know?"

"minister…"

"Forget it. I don't want to hear about the twists and turns of right and wrong."

"Come here, take him to the prison and have him tried by the Dali Temple the next day."

"Yes."

(End of this chapter)