Zhu Cihong first raised his glass and drank a cup with the moats, and then without any nonsense, he went directly to the topic, he said: "You are all rich and noble people, and now the influx of displaced people in the capital, it is inevitable that there will be lawbreakers who will endanger the capital, but this palace will let the government pay more attention to ensure the safety of your family." ”

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is benevolent!" These financiers lost no time in taking the lead in singing praises, and immediately responded to countless people.

Zhu Cihong lightly pressed his hand and continued: "But if you want to be truly safe, you have to resettle the displaced people, to do these things, in the final analysis, it is a matter of silver, and now that the court is in difficulty, this palace needs to rely on you to care for the people." ”

"Your Highness! The grass people are willing to contribute to the country! Someone immediately jumped out and answered in a loud voice.

Zhu Cihong looked at him, with undisguised appreciation in his eyes.

Seeing Zhu Cihong's expression, the rich businessman who took the lead in speaking out was immediately excited, bowed down and said: "With the respect of His Royal Highness, I personally provide disaster relief, not disdainful of businessman's identity, let me wait to enter the palace, it is already a thousand graces, and Zhang Dabiao, a grass citizen, is willing to donate 5,000 taels of silver to contribute to the country!" ”

Zhu Cihong listened to the words of this rich businessman, took a sip of wine in delight, and suddenly heard his name, and almost squirted out, Zhang Dabiao? Italian cannon?

Zhu Cihong took the white silk scarf on the plate of the palace maid beside him, wiped his mouth gently, and then nodded and said, "Not bad!" Give the word! ”

Hearing that someone had started to donate, two little eunuchs were immediately responsible for recording their names and the amount of donations, and Wu Zhong personally took a piece of rice paper with the word 'Shang' written on it and gave it to this Zhang Dabiao.

Zhu Cihong said with a smile: "This is a book written by the palace himself, if you are not ashamed, find someone to frame it and put it at home." ”

When Zhang Dabiao heard this, he immediately knelt down to thank him, holding a page of rice paper in both hands, and was excited, although this is not a gift from the emperor, but after the prince ascends the throne in the future, this word is a priceless treasure.

Hearing His Royal Highness the Prince's personal praise and words, many wealthy businessmen opened their mouths to donate, 4,000 taels, 8,000 taels, 10,000 taels, and even those who were half drunk, and directly shouted out 100,000 taels.

Everyone shouted out the amount of donations, and Zhu Cihong did not hesitate to give words and praise, which immediately made these originally drunk financiers feel surging in their hearts, and added some donations.

That night, Zhu Cihong grinned with a fundraising bill, and after a day, Zhu Cihong received a total of 1.2 million taels of silver from these wealthy businessmen.

Zhu Cihong was not worried at all that these merchants would not donate money after reporting the money, because when the banquet was dismissed, he had already sent Jinyi Wei to follow these rich merchants to collect money in the name of protecting the safety of the financiers.

Escorted by the brocade guards, although there is only one, it is also a great honor. Some of the donors felt that they were too drunk after returning home, and some of the donations at that time were too impulsive, but they couldn't go back.

The amount promised in front of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and then repent? What about death? It is estimated that as soon as he said it, the brocade guard behind him would turn his face and draw his knife.

Zhu Cihong felt that he was a genius, and he deliberately arranged businessmen and officials to wait together. He expected that some officials would refuse to sit at the same table with the merchants, thus creating a conflict between the two classes, and then through the courtesy of Wu Zhongyu to the merchants, the merchants would be grateful to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince from the bottom of their hearts, which was used to stimulate the merchants to donate.

The continuous pouring of wine at the feast did not stop the rich merchants from letting go of eating and drinking, just to make these gold owners slightly drunk and easy to do.

When encountering some wealthy businessmen who are reluctant to drink, there will immediately be guards from the East Palace to toast until they are slightly drunk. His Royal Highness the Prince's personal guards represent the Prince, who dares not to give face?

Of course, Zhu Cihong will not let anyone get drunk and fall asleep, if he drinks over, how can he collect cash? Isn't that a loss-making sale?

If you are half-drunk, it is easy to speak without going through your brain, and if someone reports money, someone will start to compare. What do wealthy businessmen like to compare the most? Of course, it's wealth, and there are many don't bad money owners in the capital.

Of course, there are also many wealthy businessmen who fully embody what it means to cut the door, and donate a few hundred taels of silver to finish. For these people, Zhu Cihong doesn't care.

However, they still drew a small circle mark on their names. If there is any 'good thing' in the future, Zhu Cihong will definitely think of them as soon as possible.

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※

The next day, it was still in the Carrier Palace, still the same dishes, hot pot, fine wine, and entertaining the top 50 officials on the 'wealth list' in the capital.

However, no matter how Zhu Cihong was complacent about himself, most of these dog officials only donated a few hundred taels of silver, the highest one was only three thousand taels, and Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo, even donated fifty taels!

Zhu Cihong had a dark face, knowing that they would not give face, but he didn't expect to be so faceless!

Tang Shiji, the imperial historian of Zuodu, came out and said: "Your Highness, the minister's family has always been poor, and I am willing to donate the two hundred taels of silver accumulated over the years to relieve the worries of the king." ”

"Your Highness, the old minister dragged his family and brought his family, and he couldn't even eat, but the old minister went back today to pawn the items in the seller and pledged three hundred taels of silver."

“.......”

For a while, the trench officials present collectively started the performance, some pretended to sell houses on the spot, and some simply shouted that they wanted to set up stalls on the street, all kinds of dramas, one by one like an actor.

After tossing for a long time, 50 officials donated a total of 17,000 taels of silver.

Zhu Cihong knew that many officials in the imperial court were not small landlords, and when they were promoted in the examination, the township party would drag their families to join their subordinates in order to avoid the imperial court collecting taxes. If someone refuses to accept it, they will be poked in the backbone by their clan relatives.

Besides, the fifty officials he invited were all confirmed to have more than 100,000 taels of family assets, how could they have no money?

Zhu Cihong remembered that it was recorded in the history books that when Li Zicheng was about to enter the city of Beijing, Emperor Chongzhen put down his dignity and begged the ministers for donations in order to pay the soldiers who defended the city of Beijing at the last moment of the crisis.

As a result, hundreds of civil and military officials, relatives of the emperor and the country did not pull out a dime, and collectively cried poor, and the entire capital donated a total of 200,000 taels of silver.

In the end, Chongzhen was so poor that he sold all the valuables such as gold and silver utensils in the palace, and even the copper kettle in the main hall was used as military salary.

Those important ministers who used to cry poor, after Li Zicheng invaded Beijing, were branded by the army's artillery, gouged out their eyes and intestines, and these officials in the capital howled continuously, and they all handed over amazing wealth under the punishment service.

Historical records: After severe torture, Li Zicheng obtained a total of more than 70 million taels of silver.

"Hehe, pretend to be poor with the master, right? There are a hundred ways to kill you locally! Zhu Cihong sneered, and had a plan in his heart.

In the afternoon of the same day, Zhu Cihong issued an order to let the Nancheng Soldiers and Horses Command Division transfer the ten soup kitchens. As for the new location to be transferred, it was personally selected and painted by Zhu Cihong, which was in front of the mansions of several ministers with the best acting skills at the banquet.

On the second day, many homeless people unexpectedly found that the porridge factory was gone! It's hell-shattering! Later, I inquired everywhere and found that the porridge factory had moved, so a large group of homeless people rushed to the new soup kitchen.