Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 28 Gift Pack
Parade platform
Zhu Cilang, Chen Si and Xiang Rensheng were feasting beside the wooden barrel, while Xu Yinjue and Chang Guanlin, who were also standing beside the barrel, only tasted a little, as if their attention was entirely focused on the clerk beside them.

Although Zhu Cilang got up a little late today, when he appeared in the training ground, the sun had just risen and the militiamen had just begun training.

Before arriving at the training ground, Zhu Cilang was still thinking about whether he could optimize the training program based on his own knowledge, but after watching for a while, he had to admit that his own knowledge did not cover these issues.

In the end, Zhu Cilang pretended to walk around the parade ground for a while, and only stopped when he saw the servants of the noble ministers carrying buckets of breakfast to the parade ground.

Honestly speaking, he had originally planned to find a small flag team to have dinner with them, but the people sent to search the Xincheng Earl's Mansion also came to report at this time.

That's why he had to go back to the platform to eat.

"Your Highness, more than 1.15 million taels of silver, more than 30,000 taels of gold, and more than 72,600 dan of grain were seized from the Xincheng Earl's Mansion. There were also real estate, fields, cultural relics, jewelry, and rare artifacts that cannot be counted for the time being."

After the clerk finished reporting, he looked at Zhu Cilang nervously, as if he was unsure whether the prince would be angry because of Zhao Zhilong's huge fortune.

Chen Si and Xiang Rensheng were so shocked that their mouths opened wide, and they didn't even notice the food slipping out of their mouths.

This is not surprising. In the past, more than ten taels of silver could provide an ordinary family with a comfortable life for a year.

This one million. I'm afraid the two of them never imagined such a huge number in their dreams.

After all, Xu Yinjue was a Duke after all. Although he was a little worried that Zhu Cilang would get angry, that was all. He did not show too much surprise at the string of numbers.

"Put it in the warehouse," Zhu Cilang said calmly, and then said to Xiang Rensheng who was in a daze, "Send some more brothers to guard it together."

When Xu Yinjue saw Zhu Cilang's performance, he had no other thoughts in his mind except to admire the royal family's magnanimity. However, he did not know that Zhu Cilang's calmness did not come from any magnanimity, but from his understanding of the wealth structure in the late Ming Dynasty.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor and the people were poor, but the noble ministers and landlords in between were ridiculously rich. How could Zhu Cilang have much reaction when such wealth was confiscated from the home of the Earl of Xincheng, who commanded hundreds of thousands of troops in Southern Zhili?
You should know that although Chongzhen only raised more than 100,000 taels from his own ministers, when Li Zicheng was soliciting military funds in Beijing, he received more than 70 million taels of silver alone.

Even though those people are officials from Beijing, if it comes to wealth, they can't catch up with Zhao Zhilong, the biggest military leader in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, even if they flatter him.

Trade in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is well developed. As the biggest military leader here, Zhao Zhilong can make a lot of money whether he is corrupt or doing business legally. Those people in Beijing cannot compare to him.

After thinking for a while, Zhu Cilang was not happy about the generosity of the gift package, but felt a little melancholy instead.

Now he has nearly 300,000 dan of grain in his hands, which is enough to feed him for three months even if he conscripts all the young and middle-aged men in Yingtian City into militia.

But it doesn't work that way. At the beginning of the siege, Zhu Cilang only needed to supply the army and civilians with food. But as time went on, when the people's food reserves were exhausted, more than one million mouths had to be supplied by Zhu Cilang.

Of course, if Zhu Cilang was a little more ruthless and only ensured the supply of the army without caring about the lives of the people, there would not be any big problem.

But if that was the case, why did he bother? How different was he from those who surrendered to the Qing for the sake of their own wealth and fame?
"There is still not enough food." The speaker may not have meant it, but the listener took it to heart.

Upon hearing this, the clerk quickly explained: "Your Highness, this is only the Zhao family's reserve in Yingtian City. They also have granaries and warehouses in various places."

Since ancient times, confiscating property has been a top-notch lucrative job, especially confiscating the homes of nobles and meritorious officials such as the Earl of Xincheng, which has been in existence for hundreds of years, is a lucrative job among lucrative jobs.

In the past, the officials in charge of this trip might be able to save enough money for their descendants to spend for several lifetimes. If they were lucky, the clerks who did the actual work might also make some extra money.

But this time is different!
Your Highness sent runners from various departments, coolies in the city, and soldiers from the army, but he did not send anyone with enough weight to take charge.

In this way, the three groups of people are not subordinate to each other, but they monitor each other. Even if there is any hidden evidence during the period, it is just a minor incident and will definitely not have much impact on the final number.

So as soon as Zhu Cilang finished speaking, the clerk thought that His Highness had doubts, so he hurriedly explained.

What he thought of was what Zhu Cilang naturally thought of as well, and what His Royal Highness the Crown Prince thought was even deeper and more far-reaching than what he thought.

By the end of the Ming Dynasty, corruption had already formed a mature system. Whether it was the fire consumption or the ice and carbon respects, they were all corruption directly exposed.

When it comes to matters like property confiscation, there are already established precedents for how much silver each official should take, how much silver the court should take, and how much silver the emperor should take. Those who come after him just have to follow the rules.

But what does this have to do with clerks and runners?
After all, these people are not the ruling class. If the officials in charge are in a good mood, they may take out some change from their own pockets to treat them to a few meals. But if the officials in charge are stingy, they can only curse them behind their backs at most.

Therefore, Zhu Cilang would follow the principle of defending against the big rather than the small when sending personnel.

Although petty thefts were unavoidable, it was impossible for the collective corruption that had occurred in the past, where high officials took the largest share, low-ranking officials took the smaller share, and clerks used the money for drinking, to occur.

Of course, this method is not a long-term solution. If you copy too many times, people will become familiar with each other, and then...

After the clerk finished his explanation, Zhu Cilang did not say anything. He seemed to be considering whether his words were credible, and also seemed to know that they did not dare to take more.

But he didn't know that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince didn't care whether the people who were confiscating the house had taken away even the smallest details. Now His Royal Highness's mind had already flown to the grain and valuables hidden in various places in the Xincheng Earl's Mansion.

With Zhu Cilang’s current ability, he is unable to collect those grains and treasures, but if the Tartars attack and all the cities surrender, then wouldn’t these things fall into the hands of the Tartars?
By then, wouldn't the Tatars, who are already strong in both military and military power, be even more powerful if they were supplemented with these supplies?

Thinking of this, the stew in the bucket suddenly lost its fragrance.

Zhu Cilang put down his bowl and chopsticks, stood up and paced on the stage for a while under the gaze of several people, but in the end he could only helplessly admit that it was not even known whether he could defend Yingtian, so how could he have the ability to care about these things?
What's more, even if there is no wealth from the Zhao family, there are still the Li family and the Wang family. Unless he can drive the Tartars back to Jiangbei now, it is inevitable that the Tartars will eat their fill in this wealthy land of Jiangnan.

By then, how could the Tartars, who had obtained sufficient supplies, easily retreat back to Jiangbei?
(End of this chapter)