345 three million taels

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"Master Li, are you really sure that you can move the Tartar? Why does this king believe you? ”

Although King De didn't believe it in his heart, he still held on to a glimmer of hope, he didn't want Jinan City to be really attacked by the Tartars, and end up with a tragic end of ruined family and death.

Li Zixiao saw that King De asked like this, and his heart was a little bigger, and he said confidently: "King De doesn't believe that the lower officials can understand."

But I have proved it to the prince with facts, you see, those Tartars outside stopped attacking at this time, isn't it the best proof!

And Xia Guan did not betray the Ming Dynasty, Xia Guan just used some special ways, huge benefits, and impressed Tartars. ”

Li Zixiao was worried that King De would think that Li Zixiao would be a lackey of the Tartars, so he deliberately emphasized it.

In fact, in King De's heart, he didn't care much about whether Li Zixiao secretly took refuge in Tartar, and there were too many half-hearted and inactive officials in the entire Ming Dynasty.

King De didn't have the leisure to care at all, anyway, he was just a prince, and he couldn't worry about those things, what he was most concerned about now was how to keep Jinan City.

As long as Jinan City is kept, it is equivalent to saving his net worth and life, and keeping his glory and wealth, which is the most real.

"Our Tartars stopped the siege, was it your handiwork? How do you do it? This really shocked King De.

"The lower officials have their own ways to lower the officials, I hope the prince will not ask more, the prince only needs to know that the lower officials have this ability." Li Zixiao said very smartly.

At this time, King De pondered for a moment, did not look at Li Zixiao again, but turned his head to look at Lu Xiangsheng, and asked, "Master Lu, do you think this method is feasible?" ”

King De had actually made up his mind in his heart at this time, if what Li Zixiao said was true, if Tatar could really take the money and leave, he gritted his teeth and prepared to bleed once.

It's just that this matter can't be bypassed, Lu Xiangsheng is at this level.

If Lu Xiangsheng later reported the matter of them secretly suing for peace with the Tartars and paying heavy compensation to the Tartars, and was known by Chongzhen, King De would be in great trouble.

Therefore, if this thing wants to be done, it is necessary to pull Lu Xiangsheng into the water and obtain Lu Xiangsheng's consent.

Lu Xiangsheng couldn't see King De's thoughts, Lu Xiangsheng was actually in his heart, and he really didn't agree with Li Zixiao's method.

If he had been before, he would have refused, and then defended the city of Jinan, and finally died in the city.

But this time Li Zixiao saved his life, and Li Zixiao persuaded him even more bitterly beforehand, and even promised him a benefit that was difficult for him to refuse.

Lu Xiangsheng glanced at Li Zixiao helplessly, saw Li Zixiao's eager eyes, and sighed in his heart: Maybe what he said before was right, I will help him once.

"Lord Wang, this official also thinks that what Lord Li said is feasible, after all, it is most important to keep Jinan City at this time, and the three of us know about this matter.

The official can assure the prince that this matter will never be leaked, and as long as the prince and Master Li don't say it, no one will know about it.

After the war, the world will only know that in this battle, under the wise leadership of King De, the soldiers and civilians of Jinan fought bloodily, repelled the attack of the Tartars, and kept the city of Jinan.

At that time, not only will the saint reward the prince, but the people of Jinan will also be grateful to the prince. ”

Lu Xiangsheng's words suddenly made King De's face smile.

Since Lu Xiangsheng promised him not to tell him about it, King De was relieved, after all, with his consent, if this matter was leaked in the future, Lu Xiangsheng would also be implicated.

As for the rest of King De himself and Li Zixiao, who came up with this idea, it will not be revealed, and as for the gratitude and love of the people in the city afterwards, it can be regarded as a small compensation that King De got in exchange for silver.

"Lord Li, since Lord Lu also approves of your method, then this king is willing to make a deal with those despicable Tartars for the sake of hundreds of thousands of people in Jinan City."

When Li Zixiao heard King De say this, he was happy in his heart, but he also had a burst of contempt for King De.

'Obviously just to save your life and glory, you have to say such a righteous and awe-inspiring thing, but Lao Tzu doesn't bother to care about you, as long as the plan can be realized, you can pay obediently. ’

"King Virtue is benevolent." But Li Zixiao still has to say words of praise.

"I don't know how much silver the Tartars will ask for before they are willing to withdraw their troops? Does Master Lee know? ”

At this time, King De finally asked the question he was most concerned about, and at the same time stared at Li Zixiao with a pair of eyes, waiting for Li Zixiao's reply.

At this time, Li Zixiao also struggled in his heart, and he didn't know what number to shout.

Li Zixiao thought about it in his heart for a long time, and finally gritted his teeth and stretched out three fingers.

"Three hundred thousand taels, fortunately, these Tartars don't have much appetite."

When King De saw Li Zixiao's three fingers stretched out, his face looked better, and he picked up the tea on the tea table and took a sip.

King De believes that the three fingers stretched out by Li Zixiao cannot be 30,000 taels, and Tatar will not have such an appetite, it should not be 30,000 taels, it should be 300,000 taels.

At the same time, King De even had a contempt for the Tartars in his heart, and he really came from the barbaric land outside the Guan, how could he know that the prosperity of my Central Plains, only 300,000 taels, he could still take it.

"Lord Wang, it's not 300,000 taels, it's 3 million taels!"

Poof...... cough cough cough ......

As soon as King De took a sip of tea, he heard Li Zixiao say this, and choked him directly, and the tea squirted out, coughing violently, and his face was red.

Bang Dang......

Even Lu Xiangsheng, who was on the side, heard Li Zixiao shouting 'three million taels', his hands trembled, and the teacup in his hand fell directly.

Lu Xiangsheng's eyes widened, looking at Li Zixiao in disbelief, Lu Xiangsheng originally thought that Li Zixiao would ask for 300,000 taels with three fingers.

Even Lu Xiangsheng thought in his heart that Li Zixiao already wanted a lot, and 300,000 taels was enough to do a lot of things.

However, Lu Xiangsheng didn't dare to think that Li Zixiao actually wanted three million taels, which was simply more than the tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty at this time.

"Nonsense."

Lu Xiangsheng showed anger on his face, glared at Li Zixiao, thinking that he was simply making a random offer, how could King De get three million taels.

It's just that due to the situation at this time, Lu Xiangshengwan couldn't speak, and could only signal Li Zixiao with his eyes. 、

Li Zixiao noticed Lu Xiangsheng's eyes, of course he knew what Lu Xiangsheng meant, but he didn't see all of them, and he didn't plan to change his words, waiting for King De's reply.

Li Zixiao knew that at this time, the feudal kings of the Ming Dynasty, which one was not wealthy, it was just that Lu Xiangsheng underestimated their wealth.

When the Tartars broke through the city of Jinan, the property copied from the palace of King De alone amounted to more than two million taels, of course, this also includes calligraphy, paintings, jewelry, etc.

But to say, at this time, King De's family can still take out a million taels of silver, and Li Zixiao also knows that King De has industries in Yangzhou, Jinling and other big cities.

If it is calculated in this way, the real net worth of King De is far more than two million, and it is just that the Tartars looted his mansion and took it away.

It is precisely because of knowing these that Li Zixiao shouted out the number of three million taels, and it is estimated that King Huide will definitely not agree to it, and he will have to bargain, and Li Zixiao does not expect to really get three million taels.

"Ahem, ahem, you...... What did you say? ”

King De finally recovered from the violent cough, pointed at Li Zixiao with a trembling hand, and asked.

"Lord Wang, I mean, the price of the Tartars is three million taels, and they say that they can't miss a cent, and if they don't reply to them for an hour, they will attack the city in an all-round way."

Li Zixiao knew his own fire at this time, and he wanted to scare and scare this king of virtue.

"These Tartars, they deceive people too much, they deceive people too much, that's three million taels, why do they have such a big appetite, Master Li, there is really no way to reduce it."

Li Zixiao saw that King De was angry and angry at this time, circling around the mansion, chattering in his mouth, and then turned his head to Li Zixiao and asked.

"Lord, that's a Tartar, and you still expect to bargain with them.

If they didn't know, at this time, we were afraid of paying too many casualties, and we didn't dare to attack the city in an all-out way at the beginning, how could we defend it.

If we don't agree to their conditions now, and then they really attack the city in full swing, with the rabble of our city lords, it won't take two days to show their feet and let the Tartars see the weakness in our city.

When the time comes, we will give another three million taels to others, and they will not stop, and they will directly attack the city at that time, and the entire Jinan City will not be looted by them!

When the time comes, if the Tartars really loot the entire Jinan City, scraping three feet of ground, let alone three million taels, the lower officials estimate that they can have tens of millions of taels. ”

Li Zixiao looked very embarrassed at this time, and persuaded King De bitterly.

After listening to Li Zixiao's words, King De was silent, of course he knew that Tartar was not easy to talk to.

And King De also had to admit that what Li Zixiao said was indeed right, it really made the Tartars see the weakness of Jinan City, and it would be good if people broke the city directly when the time came.

Once the city is broken, the entire Jinan City will be searched, and tens of millions of taels can really be searched.

King De knows much more about the wealth of those businessmen and corrupt officials in the city than Lu Xiangsheng and Chongzhen.

Jinan City is in the territory of Daming at this time, and it is also a large city that can be counted, perhaps not as good as the capital, Kaifeng, Luoyang, Suyang, Jinling, but it is not much worse.

There are many wealthy businessmen and officials in the city, not to mention that there is such a Ming prince as him.

Back then, after Li Zicheng captured the capital, he looted those high-ranking officials and businessmen in the city, but he looted more than 70 million, and these did not include the hundreds of thousands of ordinary people in the capital.

Li Zicheng's looting mainly came from bureaucrats, relatives, wealthy businessmen, eunuchs, etc., and even the emperor's palace did not find much, because Chongzhen was really poor.

Of course, Jinan City is definitely not as good as the capital, after all, the capital is the place where the bureaucrats, eunuchs, and relatives are the most, but these guys are the best at collecting money.

It can be said that at this time, the capital of the Ming Dynasty is the place with the most silver in the Ming Dynasty, which is simply a vault, and Chongzhen is a beggar emperor who lives in the vault.

If the Tartars break through Jinan and loot on a large scale, they will definitely not let go of the civilians, and the entire Jinan City will still be able to squeeze out tens of millions of taels of silver.

Of course, in fact, the wealth in the hands of these commoners was also very small, and most of it was concentrated in the hands of King De and those wealthy merchants and eunuchs, who controlled almost 90% of the wealth in Jinan.

At this time, King De's face changed again and again, and finally gritted his teeth, seemed to have made up his mind, looked at Li Zixiao, and said in a deep voice: "Lord Li, if this king really scrapes together enough three million taels to give the Tartars, will they really retreat."

If the Tartars do not retreat, what will they do? King De stared at Li Zixiao.

On this side, Lu Xiangsheng originally planned to stand up, go to Li Zixiao, and persuade him in a low voice, this number seemed too outrageous to him.

However, as soon as Lu Xiangsheng stood up, he heard King De say these words to Li Zixiao, which made him stunned.

When King De said this, the meaning was already obvious, King De recognized the number Li Zixiao said, but he was worried that Li Zixiao would take the money and run away.

Li Zixiao also heard King De's suspicions, and immediately said: "King De, don't worry, I will leave this matter to my subordinates and Tartars."

And from now on, I will always stay in Jinan City, if the Tartars do not retreat by then, the prince will look at the head of the lower official first.

If the prince still doesn't believe in the lower officials, then the lower officials can't do anything. ”

Li Zixiao has already said this, and his life has been pressed, what else can King De say.

King De glanced at Li Zixiao deeply and said, "I hope that Lord Li can handle this matter well, and if this matter is completed, this king will also thank Lord Li." ”

"Xiaguan did his best, everything was for the sake of guarding Jinan City and the safety of hundreds of thousands of people in the city."

Li Zixiao wanted to scream excitedly at this time in his heart, but he still had a fearless expression on the surface.

Li Zixiao really didn't expect that King De would figure it out so quickly, and the three million taels had not been reduced by a single point, how could he not surprise Li Zixiao.

As for King De getting this silver there, Li Zixiao won't care, as long as he lets him see the three million silver at that time.

Soon, King De left the palace, leaving only Lu Xiangsheng, who was still in shock, and Li Zixiao, who was contemplative.

After King De left the palace, his face was gloomy, and he said in a low voice: "Three million taels, this king can't take it out, since it is to keep Jinan City, you can't let this king bear this silver alone." ”

Then King De said to one of the guards who was leaning behind him: "Ade, take my prayer slip and go and call all the shopkeepers of all the merchants to the palace."

In addition, I will write a handwritten letter later, and you will have a few copies of it, and it will be stamped with the king's seal, and sent to all the eunuchs in the city.

At this time, if those old things don't know how to lift, they will be blamed for the king's cruelty. ”

The chief of the guard was obviously a close confidant of King De, and had followed him for many years, and at this time he saw the ruthlessness on King De's face.

Knowing that King De was estimated to squeeze those people, he said a little worriedly: "Lord, in this way, we will offend all the big families in the city." ”

King De said coldly: "Do you think this king still has a choice, but this matter is not a bad thing for us, we just take the opportunity to clean up those disobedient guys." ”