346 slaughtered pigs

(Today's chapter is presented, please collect and subscribe!!) ）

"King De, he actually agreed!"

After King De left, Lu Xiangsheng recovered from the shock and said with a look of disbelief.

Li Zixiao shook his head secretly when he saw Lu Xiangsheng in front of him, of course he knew why Lu Xiangsheng was so shocked.

Before, in order to raise the salary of the Guanning Iron Cavalry for Chongzhen, he could be said to have exhausted his brains, and in the end, the monarchs and ministers did not come up with a good way.

Chongzhen had no choice but to hope that the ministers of the court and the relatives of the emperor would donate some silver for military salaries.

As a result, in the morning of the next day, when Lu Xiangsheng cooperated with Chongzhen to ask the ministers to donate silver, all the officials in the hall knelt down.

One by one, they lamented how poor they were, shouted that they couldn't open the pot at home, and the last one gritted their teeth and donated dozens of taels or more than a hundred taels one by one.

For this reason, Lu Xiangsheng was scolded behind his back, which made Chongzhen and Lu Xiangsheng feel embarrassed, and really thought that those ministers' families were so poor.

But in fact, there are really high-ranking court officials like Lu Xiangsheng who are not corrupt, do not accept bribes, and are dedicated to the country, which can be said to be rare, and they are basically extinct.

Lu Xiangsheng's family is also a group of wives and children, and with his little money alone, life is indeed tight, and he is still a dignified military secretary.

He thought that other court officials were similar to him.

Chongzhen's beggar emperor is also, sitting in the palace all day long, being played by a ** minister.

Chongzhen also thought that his ministers and eunuchs, and the emperor's relatives did not have much silver in their hands, so he was embarrassed to force them to donate.

To put it bluntly, Chongzhen and Lu Xiangsheng are a pair of monarchs and ministers, but they are used to being poor, otherwise when Li Zixiao shouted 'three million taels' just now, Lu Xiangsheng was taken aback.

And in the end, King De actually agreed to this shocking amount, Lu Xiangsheng was scorched by thunder, a full three million taels, more than the taxes collected by the imperial court in the whole year of the Ming Dynasty last year!

If the Holy Lord can have these three million taels, he can almost pull up two more Guanning Iron Cavalry, how can he still be so afraid of the Tartars as he is at this time, and dare not start a war with them!

But now, King De actually gave the Tartar for nothing, begging him to withdraw his army, which is simply ...... It's just .......

The more Lu Xiangsheng thought about it, the more angry he became, and he even wanted to scold, but he was extremely self-contained, and he didn't scold in the end.

"Hey!" In the end, Lu Xiangsheng sighed heavily, and his face showed a look of loneliness.

When Li Zixiao saw Lu Xiangsheng's appearance, he secretly shook his head, feeling worthless for this capable minister who was loyal to the Ming Dynasty and died in the end.

At the same time, it is more of a pity, it is a pity that such a talent cannot be used by him.

Of course, on the one hand, this is related to Lu Xiangsheng's loyalty to Daming, and on the other hand, it is also related to the identities of Lu Xiangsheng and Li Zixiao at this time.

After all, Lu Xiangsheng was the secretary of the military department at this time, and Chongzhen was one of the ministers he trusted after all, and he was in a high position.

As for Li Zixiao, a guerrilla of the Tun army who was almost forgotten by the imperial court, the identities of the two can be said to be very different.

In this case, it was difficult for Li Zixiao to persuade Lu Xiangsheng to play for him.

In the end, Li Zixiao could only settle for the next best thing and cooperate with Lu Xiangsheng.

So when Lu Xiangsheng was still in the White Dragon Army, Li Zixiao pulled Lu Xiangsheng for a long talk.

Finally, Li Zixiao relied on his three-inch incorruptible tongue, plus throwing out all kinds of benefits, as well as a lot of promises, as well as Li Zixiao's life-saving kindness to Lu Xiangsheng.

finally moved Lu Xiangsheng and promised Li Zixiao that the two could cooperate, Lu Xiangsheng actually admired Li Zixiao very much, and he wanted to win him over in his heart, and the two hit it off.

In the end, the two agreed that on the premise of not harming the interests of the Ming Dynasty, betraying the Ming Dynasty, and betraying Chongzhen, the two would cooperate with each other for mutual benefit.

This calculation of King De is the preliminary cooperation between the two.

To be honest, after Lu Xiangsheng immortalized this time, his thinking changed a lot.

If it had been placed in the past, it is estimated that he would never have done such a rebellious thing with Li Zixiao, using silver and tartar to make peace.

Of course, he is still very stubborn, such as being loyal to Chongzhen and revitalizing the Ming Dynasty.

"Brother Li Xian, you said that King De can really come up with three million taels?" After Lu Xiangsheng came back to his senses, he asked Li Zixiao.

"Since King De dares to agree, he will definitely be able to do it, and we don't need to care about this. The important thing is that our next actions must be foolproof, and we must not let King De discover the abnormality.

After this time, I will never break my promise to adults.

With such a sum of money, the adults can also have a proper settlement for the families of the soldiers who died in Jiazhuang with the adults. ”

Li Zixiao said solemnly.

"Hey, I'm on your thief ship, just listen to Lord Li."

Lu Xiangsheng listened to Li Zixiao's words, and the original trace of wavering in his heart disappeared, and he said with a sigh.

One of the most important reasons why Li Zixiao was able to persuade Lu Xiangsheng to calculate King De so much was that Li Zixiao promised to give Lu Xiangsheng a sum of silver afterwards.

Lu Xiangsheng can use this silver to compensate the wives and children left behind by the more than 3,000 soldiers who died with him in Jiazhuang, which is his promise to those soldiers.

But Lu Xiangsheng also understood that with the financial resources of the imperial court at this time, it was impossible to have the silver to compensate the families of these fallen soldiers.

So if Lu Xiangsheng wants to fulfill his promise, he must find another way to raise silver, and he was still having a headache about this matter, so Li Zixiao gave him an idea.

In the end, Lu Xiangsheng still compromised and agreed to join Li Zixiao once, but he never thought that Li Zixiao would dare to extort three million taels from King De.

So how much will Li Zixiao give him afterwards, it will never be too little, such a large sum of silver, Lu Xiangsheng can not only comfort the families of his fallen soldiers.

Even when he rebuilt his Tianxiong Army and did more things, thinking of this, the last trace of resistance in Lu Xiangsheng's heart disappeared.

Subsequently, Li Zixiao wrote a letter and handed it to Tie Dan to take him out of the city, because King De informed the generals of Jinan to defend the city, Li Zixiao sent people out of the city and was not blocked.

At this time, in the Tartar camp outside the city, after Dolgon returned from negotiations with Li Zixiao, he ordered the whole army to garrison the camp and not block any small group of people entering and leaving Jinan City.

For Dolgon's order, Yue Tuo and Hauge and others were very dissatisfied, and they even guessed that Dolgon might want to give up attacking Jinan City.

At this time, Jinan City, in the eyes of Tartar generals such as Yue Tuo and Haoge, was a big piece of fat meat, and it was about to be swallowed in their stomachs, so let them give up at this time, how could they be willing.

However, Yue Tuo and Hauge did not dare to question Dorgon's orders, after all, he was still the commander of the three Tartar armies at this time, and even if he wanted to impeach him, he could only return to the gate and complain to Huang Taiji.

Dolgon must go his own way, in his opinion, although the city of Jinan in front of him is indeed a 'fat meat', if Jinan is defeated, it can make the Tartars gain a lot.

But even if the city of Jinan is captured, Dolgon's Zhengbai Banner will not benefit much, after all, there are other eight banners, the Mongols, have already taken most of the wealth from Huang Taiji.

However, in this way, Dorgon is finished, and without the support of his brother Dordor is afraid that Dorgon will lose the support of the white flag.

That would be equivalent to cutting off one of Dorgon's arms, and compared to the benefits he gained from capturing Jinan City, this kind of loss was simply fatal.

At this time, no matter how stupid Dolgon was, he also knew how to choose, so after he came back from negotiating with Li Zixiao, he strictly ordered that no Tartar army should leave the camp.

…………………………………………

At this time, Jinan Dewangfu Hall.

"See the prince!"

In less than half a day, King De asked his personal guards to invite the heads of several major merchant families in the city.

There are more than a dozen of these businessmen who came, and the industries they control in their hands almost occupy more than eighty of the commerce in Jinan City.

King De only needs to find these trading houses, the heads of the merchant families, knock out the silver from their mouths, and they will share the rest of the money from their mouths, and the king will not care.

"Well, it's all here, let's all sit down." King De said in a deep voice.

"Lord Wang, can you really let the Tartars retreat?" An old man with a gray beard and a gorgeous dress was the first to speak.

King De took a look and knew that this old guy was Hou Jitong, the head of the largest commercial house in Jinan City, Wanhui Commercial Bank, and Hou Jia was also one of the largest merchant families in Jinan City, with a lot of wealth.

Originally, Hou Jitong didn't want to be the first to speak, but these businessmen had already quietly bumped into each other in private before entering King De's Mansion.

Everyone thought that he was highly respected and could best represent them, and Qi Qi recommended him to talk to King De, but he couldn't help it.

Before they entered King De's Mansion, King De had actually secretly asked Zhang De, the chief of the guard next to him, to point out the reason for calling them over in a particularly obscure way.

These merchants were all shocked in their hearts, and while they were happy, they also felt a pain in their flesh, because they knew that King De would definitely cut their flesh this time.

But the news that the Tartars are expected to retire is simply great news for them.

For the rest, these merchants hoped to bargain with the king and try to make them pay as little money as possible.

Of course, the king will never leave any trick in this way.

Next, the king opened his mouth to ask these merchants for silver, which was also a name for preparing grain and grass, building weapons, and raising military salaries for the soldiers defending the city.

But in fact, these businessmen should understand everything in their hearts, otherwise they would never have come up with much money if they were just to raise food.

This time it was entirely because it involved their net worth and lives, and they reluctantly planned to produce blood once, and they all had the intention of being able to produce less at this time.

"Old lady Hou, you still can't trust this king? Now we should share the same hatred, this king will not joke with his own life. ”

King De's answer is actually a meaning: That's right, let's pay the money, and the Tartars will retreat.

After hearing what King De said in person, these businessmen here are even more scoreful, anyway, King De took the lead, if there is really someone who has a heart to dig it out afterwards, there is also King De on top.

"I wonder how much silver they want?"

Hou Jitong continued to ask, of course 'they' meant the Tartars, and the other merchants had made up their minds and weren't ready to speak.

King De smiled and held out four fingers.

Hou Jitong is not King De, and when he saw King De stretching out four fingers, he almost fainted with his eyes.

"Lord Wang, is it four hundred?" Although Hou Jitong already had a guess in his heart, he still couldn't help but ask with a trembling voice.

King De nodded slightly, and did not say anything more.

When the other merchants saw the four fingers stretched out by King De, they couldn't bear it anymore, and they turned their heads to each other one by one, muttering quietly.

"Their appetite is also too big, and they even ask for four million taels."

"This is simply a lion's mouth wide open, how can it be possible to take out so much silver."

"That's right, these Tartars are simply robbers, no, they are more ruthless than robbers!"

"Silence!"

At this time, Zhang De, the chief of the personal guard standing behind King De, roared angrily, causing the whispering businessmen to all shut their mouths.

At the same time, Zhang De also sincerely admired his own prince in his heart, in fact, he only needed three million taels, but he directly opened his mouth to these businessmen for four million.

In addition, Zhang De was in charge of the letters sent to other officials and eunuchs in the city just now, and King De must have knocked out a sum of money from those people.

In this way, in the end, it is estimated that the prince himself will not want to give out a penny, and even if he does, he will not be able to give much.

"Lord Wang, I'm afraid these four million taels shouldn't be borne by us!" Hou Jitong asked in a trembling voice.

"Of course, this king will set an example and is willing to take out a million taels, and you will share a part of the rest, and when Lord Luo and them arrive, they will also share a part.

Since it is a matter of saving the whole Jinan City, it is naturally impossible to let all of you business houses out. King De took a sip of tea and said with a smile.

Zhang De, who was standing behind King De, grinned at this time, and thought in his heart: The prince's method is really ruthless, he simply slaughters these businessmen as pigs!

In fact, the million that King De gave was just an open mouth, he didn't need to pay a penny, it was really ruthless!

The reason why King De dared to do this was because he was not Chongzhen, and he knew the wealth in the hands of these merchants well.

Even if he doesn't pay a penny, it's completely okay to squeeze out a mere three million taels from these people.

Of course, if he really didn't pay a penny, these people would inevitably be unbalanced in their hearts, so he added the total amount by one million taels, and it was his out.

"Lord Wang, please allow us to discuss."

Hou Jitong and other businessmen knew that if they didn't bleed once this time, King De would not let them go.

When he came, Zhang De deliberately mobilized a garrison of 3,000 officers and soldiers, who were on standby outside the palace of King De, fully armed.

These businessmen are all human spirits, and they deliberately stuffed Zhang De with some silver, and they had to listen to some inside information from Zhang De's mouth.

And these German kings have known for a long time, and even in order to warn these guys through the mouth of Zhang De.

Zhang De secretly signaled to them, no one can escape today, they all have to bleed, even King De has a lot of blood, you still want to hide.

If you don't want to bleed, then take your life, it just so happens that on the front-line city wall, there is still a lack of young people who can resist the Tartars.

Since you don't want to take the money, let all the young sons of your people go up to the wall to defend against the Tartars, and you will have to pay something.