Quick Wear: Random Cheats

Chapter 124: The Humiliated Woman Beheaded and Abandoned in the City (7)

"His Majesty!"

Seeing that Emperor Qixiang remained silent, Zhu Xiangyang immediately called out "Your Majesty" again. He was determined to get the money. After all, if he couldn't get money from the court to reward and support the soldiers, then he would have to pay for it himself. If he didn't, how could he guarantee the soldiers' loyalty?

He is not a king, so he has no reason to ask his soldiers to be loyal and patriotic, so he can only rely on what can bring them benefits.

Thereby gaining the support of the soldiers.

Maintaining an army is very expensive.

Naturally, we have to seize every opportunity to get money.

The rest of the officials present were basically silent. After all, they did not dare to offend Zhu Xiangyang, the governor of Hedong Province, nor did they dare to support Zhu Xiangyang, the governor of Hedong Province at this time, for fear of being hated by Emperor Qixiang in the future.

Zhu Xiangyang took the silver and left.

They still have to work under Emperor Qixiang.

Therefore, the entire imperial palace was quite silent for a while. Just when Zhu Xiangyang was getting impatient, Emperor Qixiang finally had to compromise and said:

"This is what should be done. Later, Grand Tutor Zhu will go to the Minister of Revenue to calculate how much reward and relief should be given.

How about the Ministry of Revenue allocating funds?"

As soon as these words came out, the Minister of Revenue had to stand up and say, "Your Majesty, this cannot be done!"

"Grand Master, it's not that I'm unwilling, it's just that the Ministry of Revenue is completely out of money. There aren't many prefectures and counties across the country that can still pay taxes. Officials and the royal family all need money, and local disaster relief also costs money. The Ministry of Revenue now has less than 100,000 taels of silver left.

Even if I give you all of it, it will still be a drop in the bucket."

"Moreover, the salaries of all officials have been in arrears for nearly three months. If I give you all of this 100,000 taels of silver, the salaries of all officials will probably be in arrears until the summer tax is successfully collected next year, and then they can be paid back!"

The Minister of Revenue was also very clever. He pointed out the difficulties very clearly and brought all the officials along with him. His meaning was very clear: you must help me. If you don't help me, the Ministry of Revenue will allocate the money, and you won't have to think about your salary for the next six months.

It is true that a large number of officials cannot rely solely on their salaries to survive, but there are also some officials who really do rely on their salaries to make a living. Moreover, the money they are entitled to is always delayed, even if they do not rely on that money to make a living.

Anyone would feel unhappy.

It was not until this time that some officials began to support the Minister of Revenue and point out the difficulties of the court.

Some said that the rebels looted the court and took nothing.

That amount of assets should be quite large.

Some asked if they could hold off until next summer when taxes came in, or if they could simply offset the tax with next year's Hedong Dao taxes. Anyway, they couldn't collect any taxes from Hedong Dao every year, as they were all intercepted by the Hedong Dao Jiedushi, Zhu Xiangyang. It would be better not to collect them directly to annoy him.

Of course, it's impossible to say it so bluntly.

But that's basically what I mean.

Moreover, these two proposals are actually not mainstream. The real mainstream is that everyone is hinting that the treasury has no money, and the emperor should have a lot of silver in his treasury. After all, this country is a family empire, and it is reasonable for the emperor to pay for rewards and pensions for the soldiers himself.

Zhu Xiangyang's purpose was very clear. He wanted to get the money immediately, cash. He would not accept empty promises. As for whether it was money from the national treasury or the emperor, it did not matter. There was no name written on the silver anyway.

The most important thing is to get cash.

Emperor Qixiang had no military power at all, and the imperial guards were basically controlled by a few eunuchs around him. He relied on checks and balances from all sides to barely hold on to his current position as emperor.

There is really nothing I can do at this moment.

He could only grit his teeth and agree to pay the money from the treasury.

After all, if he doesn't want to be decent, Zhu Xiangyang will definitely force him to be decent.

Rather than being forced to take the silver in the end.

It is even possible that it will be robbed directly.

It’s better to compromise in advance!!
After getting this result, Zhu Xiangyang was quite satisfied. He quickly stepped aside to close his eyes and rest. He was too lazy to care about other things. As long as he got the money, it was fine.

Next, of course, is to discuss what happened before.

Originally, Emperor Qixiang had intended to let the matter slip. After all, forcing raped women to commit suicide, or even killing them if they didn't, was unseemly. Now that they had fled, there was the possibility of suspected immortals or at least powerful individuals capable of controlling spirits and gods. Pursuing the matter would likely yield no results and might even escalate into a scandal.

So it is best to just ignore it.

But that was before.

Now, when Emperor Qixiang thought about having to take out a large sum of silver from the treasury to give to Zhu Xiangyang, he felt extremely distressed. If he didn't find a way to make up for it from other places, he felt that he would not be able to sleep well for the next six months.

So soon, he said shamelessly:
"The escape of over a thousand prisoners is no small matter. This is a crime of deceiving the emperor. All those involved are guilty, but I am not a tyrannical emperor.

You are allowed to pay gold to atone your sins!
Those who have insufficient or insufficient gold will be exiled.

Furthermore, the Shaofu will conduct a city-wide search for the fugitive. Anyone who knows about the fugitive but fails to report it, conceals the truth, or even helps the fugitive escape will be guilty. Officials must assist the Shaofu in the search."

These words may sound righteous, but in reality, everyone present could see that Emperor Qixiang was completely shameless for the sake of money. He had previously declared all those involved guilty and demanded they pay gold to atone for their sins. If the gold wasn't pure enough or the quantity wasn't sufficient, they would be convicted and exiled. It's hard to describe how shameless this was.

The following remarks are truly shameless.

If a prisoner escapes from prison, that is the concern of the local government. Even if this is Luoyang, at most the Dali Temple may need to worry about it. It has nothing to do with the Shaofu mentioned by Emperor Qixiang.

What kind of institution is Shaofu?
The money earned by the institutions that made money for the emperor went into the emperor's treasury. In this case, asking the Shaofu to track down the missing female prisoner was a clear sign. He was not looking for the female prisoner, but was clearly trying to seize the opportunity to extort surplus wealth from the people and increase the emperor's treasury income.

This operation is extremely straightforward.

It's just Sima Zhao's intention, everyone knows it.

The result, of course, was that all the officials tried to persuade him, saying it was not possible. They all cited classics and believed that such matters should be handled by the Dali Temple or local government offices. In addition, ordinary people were completely powerless in matters involving talented people, so how could they vent their anger on them?

After hearing this, many people may think that these officials seem to be quite good, at least they are not as shameless as the emperor.

I know that the emperor wants to use this to plunder the people.

But in fact, the real reason they tried so hard to stop it was that they were afraid that the emperor would plunder them, their relatives, and even the wealthy merchants who had taken refuge with them.

Ordinary people have been plundered two or three times by the rebels and the soldiers brought by Zhu Xiangyang, the governor of Hedong Province. Apart from their houses and land, they have no remaining wealth. Most of them are currently struggling to even get enough food, and no money can be squeezed out of them even if their bones are squeezed dry.

Emperor Qixiang should also be aware of this, so he would most likely not target ordinary people, but instead target the surviving wealthy businessmen.

Emperor Qixiang certainly wouldn't dare to directly rob or blackmail officials and nobles, nor would he have the ability to do so. However, it would certainly be possible for him to try to bully some wealthy businessmen who had not suffered any losses before.

Why didn’t these wealthy businessmen suffer any losses?

Because they have connections, they are either relatives of some officials and nobles, or they are the white gloves of officials and nobles, or they are businessmen who have simply taken refuge with officials and nobles. It is with the help of those officials and nobles that they can get the news in advance, escape in advance and keep most of their assets.

These wealthy businessmen were not robbed by the rebels, or they fled with most of their assets before the rebels entered the city.

Therefore, the officials thought for a moment and realized that as long as Emperor Qixiang was not stupid, he would definitely not take action against the ordinary civilians who could no longer make money. He would only take action against the wealthy businessmen who were between the civilians who had no money and the officials and nobles who dared not offend him.

But in the eyes of officials and nobles, at least half of the assets in the hands of those wealthy businessmen belong to them.

Some of them were even their former slaves.

Send it out to do white glove business.

All assets belong to them.

Now that Emperor Qixiang is so clear about wanting to take action against those wealthy businessmen, how can the officials not be anxious?
Naturally, we have to do everything we can to stop it.

"No need to persuade me any further. I have made up my mind. After all, the prisoners we need to search are female, and they are most likely hiding among the female family members. It is not appropriate for a group of men from the Dali Temple to search, and the Shaofu is mostly composed of eunuchs.

There is no need to worry about gender distinctions, it is more appropriate!"

After finally finding an excuse, Emperor Qixiang continued to threaten, "If you still refuse, I may have to ask the Grand Tutor for help. The 100,000-strong army is still in Luoyang, and they can search faster."

Of course, this was not meant sincerely, it was purely a threat.

If Zhu Xiangyang were to send his 100,000-strong army to search, it would be uncertain whether they were searching for female prisoners or conducting another city-wide raid. Their lives might even be in danger.

What kind of character are soldiers today?

How could the officials not be clear about this?

For a moment, the faces of all the civil and military officials in the court were quite ugly, but Zhu Xiangyang was very cooperative:

"If Your Majesty needs it, I will do my best to assist you!"

Of course, he was also very clear about Emperor Qixiang's true intentions at the moment, but he was happy to help. Emperor Qixiang had just agreed to give him at least one million taels of silver from the treasury. What was the big deal in helping out a little at this time?
The most important thing is that he won't suffer any loss.

In the end, it would be Emperor Qixiang himself whose reputation would be ruined, and the officials and nobles who would suffer losses, so why wouldn't he do it?
There was another debate afterwards, but with Zhu Xiangyang's support, Emperor Qixiang was able to suppress the dissatisfaction of the ministers and successfully issued the imperial edict.

And ordered the Shaofu to act quickly.

It would be best to complete the task before Zhu Xiangyang leads the 100,000 troops away. At the same time, all the officials and nobles who have left the court should of course quickly send people to contact their relatives or their own white gloves, asking them to try to take their assets and hide elsewhere immediately.

Or move the assets to your own residence.

As for the wealthy businessmen who simply rely on them and pay some protection fees every year, who would care about them at this time?

Furthermore, if Emperor Qixiang were not allowed to enjoy any benefits at all, who knows if he would go crazy and do something even more extreme. Therefore, they could only abandon those wealthy businessmen with whom they had less close ties, hoping that Emperor Qixiang would restrain himself after gaining some benefits.

In addition, they did not let go of public opinion.

Emperor Qixiang must be condemned to eternal damnation.

Less than an hour after the court session ended, the Shaofu's men, assisted by the Imperial Guards, began a city-wide search for female prisoners. Although the Imperial Guards were controlled by several high-ranking eunuchs, who wouldn't want to take advantage of something advantageous? Besides, they didn't have to bear the brunt of the infamy.

So naturally I'm happy to help out a little.

Poor Emperor Qixiang was so shameless that he didn't care about his reputation and was willing to plunder the place. It was destined from the beginning that a lot of the final harvest would be divided up by the imperial guards.

But there was no way he could refuse.

Moreover, without the assistance of the Imperial Guards, it would be difficult for the Shaofu to go to the mansions of those wealthy merchants to plunder. No, no, it is to go to those wealthy merchants' mansions to search if they are hiding female prisoners. As for whether there are any, it depends on whether they are willing to pay enough.

For a moment, the entire Luoyang city was in chaos again.

Ostensibly, they were searching for an escaped female prisoner.

In reality, it is just a cover of legitimacy, and it is doing the same things that the rebels did when they entered Luoyang City before.

As for whether or not they could find those female prisoners, it didn't matter. Who cared? Making money was their core goal. If they could find them, that would be great. If not, they could just capture a few at random to save face.

Really able to get the job done.

It all depends on how much silver they collect.

At the same time, the city gate guards who knew that they had to pay gold to be pardoned, otherwise they would be exiled, basically regretted it at this time. If they had known earlier, they should have escaped through the hole last night.

How can they afford to buy gold to atone for their sins?

To put it bluntly, some people have never seen gold in their entire lives, and they are lucky to have a piece of silver jewelry at home.

This cannot be paid for in gold.

Those who could afford the gold were privately cursing Emperor Qixiang with great hatred. After all, this was no longer the time of the prosperity of the Great Qian Dynasty over a hundred years ago, when the Silk Road was open and the countries of the Western Regions continuously sent gold to buy their Great Qian silk and porcelain. The value of gold was rising, and it was not easy for anyone to save up some gold.

Who wouldn’t feel bad after having so much sex at one time?
Even if he served Emperor Qixiang for ten years and saved up the salary without eating or drinking, it would not be enough to buy the amount of gold he paid this time.

It's really frustrating to have to take out a loan to go to work.

But no matter what, at least no one in Luoyang City was investigating the situation outside the city, let alone running out of the city to chase Ding Shui and his group. So Ding Shui and his group were completely safe. After dawn, Ding Shui used his mental power to look far away for a long time, but he didn't see any pursuers.

He quickly asked everyone to stop and rest.