Jiuxi

Chapter 324 Chapter 322 [Observe the Mind]

The square was spacious and the spring breeze was blowing. The smell of blood dissipated quickly, but the dignitaries of Beiyan did not dare to be careless and ignored it. They all stood in their positions in a dignified manner.

Lu Chen slowed down his tone slightly and said: "I know your background very well. Although there are not many good people, you can barely come close to the standards I set for His Majesty. In other words, as long as you no longer are obsessed with it and commit crimes that are outraged by both humans and gods. , probably won’t end up being beheaded.”

Wang An took the lead and said, "Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty!"

Lu Chen added: "But your Majesty has been a little troubled recently, because the border areas have been constantly warred in the past two years, the court has been unable to make ends meet, and the treasury is almost dry. Your Majesty loves the people like a son, and is really unwilling to allocate taxes to increase the burden on the people of Daqi, but how can you fight a war without money? Everyone , I have to express my grievances to you today, and by the way, I hope that all the rich people can generously donate your money to help the Qi frontier army with some military pay."

Everyone was in a miserable mood. They had known for a long time that Lu Chen wanted to kill the chickens to scare the monkeys, but after seeing the bloody heads with their own eyes, no one dared to make excuses.

There was silence in the room, and it was clear that no one wanted to be the first person to stand out.

Lu Chen was not in a hurry and asked by name: "What do you think of the king?"

Wang An had been waiting for this sentence for a long time, and immediately used the cultivation skills he had spent in Beiyan Hall for nearly ten years, pretending to be afraid and said: "Captain Lu has spoken, how dare I disobey you? Zhai Lin The Wang family is willing to give out two hundred thousand taels of silver to finance the use of the army."

Lu Chen chuckled and said, "The Prime Minister is not afraid of being blamed by people in the future?"

Wang An said in a tough voice: "Captain Lu didn't directly send troops to the humble house to get it. How dare I not know how to commend him?"

The dignitaries of Beiyan next to them couldn't help but feel sad.

However, Lu Chen's expression turned cold and he said quietly: "Two hundred thousand taels? Prime Minister, are you sending beggars?"

"This this……"

Wang Anana, in the eyes of those around him, he seemed not to have thought that this young man had such a big appetite, even two hundred thousand taels of snowflakes and silver would not satisfy him.

Although the Wang family of Zhai Lin has a deep foundation, most of their family assets consist of properties and shops in various places. The money deposited in the big house in Beijing is not very large, and two hundred thousand taels is not a small sum.

Everyone else felt sympathy, but no one would step forward to rescue Wang An at this time.

As the saying goes, a dead Taoist friend is not as good as a poor Taoist. You are the head of the largest clan in the North, so you should handle it yourself.

Lu Chen said slowly: "I didn't alarm you during this period. I just wanted to check your details. After checking, I found out that it's no wonder that the people in the North are in dire straits. It turns out that all the money has gone into the hands of you people. Zhai Lin Wang's inheritance is five hundred Yu Nian actually wanted to spend 200,000 taels to send me away. Prime Minister, maybe you feel that Yu Yuchen is lonely down there alone, and you want to go down and accompany him?"

Although he knew that Lu Chen was acting, Wang An couldn't help but feel chills all over his body when he heard his cold tone. He quickly bowed and said, "Please tell Captain Lu a number, and the Wang family will do their best."

Lu Chen said: "Since it is for the labor of the army, it is not easy for you to bankrupt your family. Just 50% of the floating wealth will be fine. Is that okay, Prime Minister?"

Wang An's face was pale, with beads of sweat on his forehead, and he said in a trembling voice: "The Wang family... The Wang family is willing to donate 600,000 taels to reward the army."

Everyone else looked at the young man on the steps nervously.

Lu Chen seemed to be calculating, and said after a moment: "The king is quite kind, he did not let me down, and also saved the lives of you Wang family children."

Wang An forced out a smile that was uglier than crying, lowered his head and said, "Thank you, Captain, for your understanding."

Lu Chen smiled and said slightly louder: "Li Chengen."

"The end will be here."

"Take people to record them one by one. Each person in the square counts as one. Ask them to tell the specific amount of military donations. Whether it is one hundred taels or one hundred thousand taels, you only need to record it. As for whether this number meets the five You don’t have to pay attention to the standard of making a fortune, I believe that these gentlemen will understand the difficulties of our Qi court.”

"Follow the order!"

Li Chengen suppressed a smile, and then led his soldiers to count the amount.

Everyone present looked bitter, but after witnessing Lu Chen's beating of Wang An, they still didn't understand that this young man had already figured out their ins and outs.

Although the numbers Lu Chen has are not necessarily very accurate, who dares to gamble with the lives of the whole family?

That's all, it's better to achieve 50% by 50% than to lose the whole family and have nothing.

On the steps, Song Shifei and others looked at Lu Chen as if they were looking at the God of Wealth.

Lu Chen couldn't help laughing and said: "Brothers, we have no right to use this money without permission. It must be handed over to the Governor for unified disposal."

Song Shifei said hey, "It's natural. In fact, I have never thought of using this money. Brother Lu, if Emperor Jingguo is willing to exchange war horses for prisoners, can you give me a few hundred horses at that time?"

Duan Zuozhang laughed and scolded: "You Feiyun Army have always been infantry, what do you need horses for?"

Song Shifei glared and said, "Can't I get a scout ranger? During the last victory at Leize, the governor hid all the captured war horses. I, Old Song, was too shameless to get fifty horses and was almost beaten by the governor. pause."

Lu Chen then smiled and said, "As long as your majesty and the governor agree, I will give you five hundred war horses."

Although there was a hook buried in his words, Song Shifei knew the temperament of this young colleague very well. He immediately smiled and rubbed his hands and said, "It's settled! I, Old Song, will never frown if Brother Lu gives you orders from now on!"

Everyone laughed.

The square was desolate and miserable, but here there was constant laughter and laughter.

After about a stick of incense was burned, Li Chengen ran over quickly and said with great excitement: "Captain, the amount of military donations from the noble families in the city has been calculated!" Lu Chen said calmly: "How much?"

Li Chengen's voice trembled slightly: "Total 13.75 million taels!"

Even though they knew that this number would definitely not be low, Song Shifei and Liu Jiangdong couldn't help but take a breath, and even the usually calm Duan Zuozhang's expression changed drastically.

What is the concept of 13.7 million taels?

In the thirteenth year of Jianwu's reign, that is, last year, the Qi Dynasty's annual tax revenue amounted to more than 16 million taels of silver.

These generals naturally did not know the income and expenditure of the imperial court, but they still understood that this was an extremely terrifying figure.

In other words, any mansion in Heluo City that is qualified to be called a wealthy family has more than 27 million taels of money alone. If all this money is brought back to Huaizhou...

Lu Chen looked at the suddenly red eyes of the three men and shook his head calmly: "Brothers, it is not advisable to fish in the dry lake. Moreover, if the news gets out in the future, it will be difficult for our army to move forward in the Northern Expedition. Today we have set a 50% target. Standards, one is within the range they can bear, and the other is a reckoning for their betrayal of Daqi, no matter which party they can give an explanation to."

Duan Zuozhang was the first to wake up and sighed: "Brother Lu is right."

Song Shifei smacked his tongue regretfully, "It's easy for these idiots."

Lu Chen smiled and said: "Everything is too much, and now this result can give you a perfect answer in front of Your Majesty and the Governor."

One sentence made the remaining three people become eager again.

It was Lu Chen's decision for the West Route Army to attack Heluo, but as generals in charge of the army, the three of them did not dissuade them. It was equivalent to advancing and retreating together to bear the risks.

The significance of recovering Heluo could not be fully revealed in a short period of time. It was mainly to boost the morale of the people within the Qi Dynasty. However, they all knew that Lu Chen had long decided to avoid a decisive battle with Jing's army and would retreat south after staying for a while.

As a result, this great victory seemed to lack the meaning of victory, as if the attack on the city and the stronghold was just to demonstrate the strength of the Huaizhou Army.

But now they have more than 10 million taels of snowflake silver as a base, and it will not have a bad impact on the future. As participants in decision-making, they can naturally straighten their waists.

"Brothers, we still can't be careless next. When to withdraw, how to withdraw, and negotiations with Jingjun are all very important issues. I hope you can cooperate with me."

Lu Chen said with a smile.

The three people immediately expressed their stance: "We will definitely only follow your lead!"

Duan Zuozhang said again: "Brother Lu, how long do we have to wait?"

Lu Chen thought for a moment, then turned to look at the far north, and said calmly: "Then it depends on whether Emperor Jing Chao has the skills to resolve internal conflicts."

……

In the north of the mainland, most of the Jing Dynasty.

In the palace, go to the study.

Emperor Jing was sitting behind the imperial desk, with three pieces of letter paper spread out from left to right on the table. On them were Qingyu Huaijin's handwriting, and the contents were the conditions for Jingqi's peace talks that Lu Chen forced her to write down.

There were more than ten ministers standing in the hall. The man ranked first on the right was tall and tall, and he was expressing his position eloquently: "Your Majesty, these three conditions of Southern Qi simply don't take the great scenery into consideration. That Lao Shizi The peace covenant is completely nonsense. Why does Dajing need to enter into an covenant with Nan Qi? Now that Zhao has been pacified, our army is gathering strength to move south, and we are about to wipe out the land south of the Yangtze River. Heluo must take it back. This covenant is not for me. To add constraints to yourself?"

"Furthermore, if we follow the demarcation proposed by Lu Chenxiao'er of Southern Qi, doesn't it mean that our court will spit out the territories we conquered back then? This is absolutely impossible! Your Majesty, in order to capture those territories back then, our court suffered heavy casualties. , Never give it up just because of Prince Changshan’s precious daughter!”

"As for the last one, although I still feel it is inappropriate, as long as Prince Changshan is willing to use his own wealth to exchange for Princess Yongping, I can't say much."

This person is Marshal Sa Gai of Dajing Beiyuan. He was born in the Hui Luo clan, one of the major nobles in the Jinglian clan. His real name was Hui Luo Yejin. When he became an adult, he changed his name to Sa Gai in the Jinglian clan. It means favor in native language.

Emperor Jing moved his eyes away from the table, looked at Sa Gai and said, "Are you done?"

Sagai nodded honestly and said, "I've finished."

"I understand."

Emperor Jing's tone was flat, and then there was nothing more to say.

All the other ministers stood respectfully.

At this time, the fireman outside could be heard kneeling down and saying: "Your Majesty, the Prince of Changshan County wants to see you!"

Emperor Jing's eyes narrowed slightly and he said calmly: "Yes."

After a while, a dusty middle-aged man in court clothes walked into the upper study room. He was Qing Yugong, Prince of Changshan County of Dajing and Marshal of the South Campus.

Emperor Jing looked up and saw Qing Yugong's face was solemn, slightly different from before.

The reason is not difficult to guess. Emperor Jing's eyes fell on the three pieces of letter paper again. Looking at Qingyu Huaijinjuan's beautiful handwriting, this king who had integrated various forces within the Jinglian clan in just over ten years faced Gujing. Wubo, a curiosity quietly emerged in his heart.

He wanted to know what decision Qing Yugong would make today.

　3 updates today, still owe 15.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)