In the Wenhua Palace, Chongzhen looked at the donation books of the eunuchs and nodded with satisfaction.

is still a domestic slave reliable, and he took out more than 300,000 taels of silver at once, and the donations of dozens of people are far higher than the total amount of thousands of officials.

Chongzhen looked at the list again, and suddenly asked: "Wang Chengen, you donated 50,000 taels alone, where did you get so much silver?" ”

Wang Chengen lowered his hand and said, "Return to the emperor, old slave....... The old slave began to save silver from the Wanli Dynasty. ”

Chongzhen smiled and said: "I'll just say, you have been in charge of ceremonies, unlike Wang Zhixin, who often goes out of the palace to purchase, how can there be a chance of corruption, at first glance, he is an honest person, I am just curious to ask, don't be nervous." ”

Wang Chengen fell to his knees with a bang, and said with tears in his eyes: "The emperor....... In fact....... In fact, the old slave is also greedy, and the old slave's house has hundreds of thousands of taels of silver! ”

"Huh?" Chongzhen stood up from the dragon chair in surprise and asked blankly, "What's the matter?" ”

Wang Chengen bowed his head and said: "The old slave used to think that everything in the world, parents, wives and children are unreliable, brothers and friends are unreliable, only silver is the most reliable, after the old slave entered the celebrant prison, those officials gave bribes to the old slave every once in a while......

Chongzhen threw a stack of notebooks in his hand and scolded: "Bastard, you are really embarrassed to me!" ”

Wang Chengen bowed his head and said: "Emperor, the old slave has also refused, people sent 5,000 taels of silver, the old slave did not accept it, the next day they sent another 10,000 taels, the old slave still did not accept it, and on the third day they sent another 50,000 taels ......."

"People don't believe that the old slave is incorruptible, they think that the old slave is too little, and they even think that the old slave intends to target him and secretly rectify him, otherwise why doesn't this old eunuch even want silver?"

Wang Chengen continued: "Emperor, it is a crime to give and accept bribes, but if the old slave doesn't do it, the old slave will have no place to stand.......

"Great rape, great rape! You're so angry! ”

Chongzhen was very angry, he really didn't expect that the eunuch who had followed him for twenty years was actually a big greed!

Wang Chengen knelt on the ground and was silent for a long time, he didn't dare to tell the emperor that he had been greedy for far more than these over the years, and the silver money that the other eunuchs had embezzled was far from what it seemed, and the amount was so large that he didn't dare to say it.......

Han San, the former eunuch of the imperial palace, stepped forward and said, "Emperor, Elder Xue Ge has asked for an audience. ”

Chongzhen's anger did not subside, and he looked at Wang Chengen who was lying on the ground and said, "Go down and reflect on it!" ”

......

Xue Guoguan once assured the crown prince that the logistics would be worry-free and that the rear would be stabilized, but now that there is a problem with the logistics, he will not be able to explain it.

Although the silver was more than 1 million taels, he was still not at ease, the 200,000 troops on the front line, the monthly expenses were 6,700,000 taels, and more than 1 million taels could not withstand it at all.

If the war drags on for a year and a half, what will happen next? The matter of transporting grain from Jiangnan mentioned by the crown prince is no longer realistic, and the profiteers have already speculated the price of grain in Jiangnan several times in order to make a fortune in the country.

Taking money to do things has always been the principle of being an official that Xue Guoguan attaches great importance to, no matter what, he must do a good job in this logistics work, not for anything else, just for the crown prince's words: either be a marquis or cut off your head.......

Xue Guoguan once again put forward a feasible suggestion to Emperor Chongzhen: the emperor's relatives are very rich, let them donate too!

Chongzhen pondered for a while, and felt that this matter was reliable, the royal relatives belonged to the rentier class, and they were the only people in the world who didn't need to work to take money for nothing, most of them have been passed down for generations, and the family background is extremely deep, ask them for money, and they will do it!

The officials were still boycotting donations, and Chongzhen decided to change his routine, starting with Zhou Guozhang, the father of Queen Zhou, and asking him to set an example for the officials.

As long as Jiading Bo Zhou Kui takes the lead, other royal relatives are embarrassed not to give money, and it is not trivial to make up a few million taels of silver at that time?

Thinking of this, Chongzhen immediately arranged for the imperial eunuch Xu Gao to do this, Xu Gao is thick-skinned and has a flexible brain, so there should be no problem.

Early in the morning of the second day, the eunuch Xu Gao led the order out of the palace and went to Jiadingbo's house.

In Zhou's mansion, Zhou Guozhang was happily counting the number of silver ingots in the warehouse, he had no other hobbies, he just liked the heavy feel of this large piece of gold and silver.

"This person should be like this gold brick, steady!" After saying that, Zhou Kui put down the big gold brick in his hand, and worked tirelessly to count twenty warehouses for storing gold ingots and forty warehouses for storing silver ingots.

When he came to the newly built treasury and looked at the empty shelves that had not yet been loaded with gold and silver, Zhou Kui felt an indescribable sadness in his heart, and a desperate mood surfaced in his heart.

He sighed and said, "The world is really difficult, this gold and silver are really hard to earn!" ”

At this time, Zhou Kui's heart was as empty as this empty warehouse, and even sounded the hard days when he set up a fortune telling stall on the street.

Just when this melancholy old man was sad, he suddenly heard that someone from the palace was coming, Zhou Kui was overjoyed, and said secretly in his heart: "Could it be that the emperor's son-in-law understands that it is not easy for the old man to make money, and there is a reward?" ”

Thinking of this, Zhou Kui went out to greet him without touching the ground, and before leaving, he did not forget to let the family take care of the warehouse, and even mosquitoes were not allowed to be put into the yard.

Zhou Kuishun held a birdcage in his hand, and went to the front hall to see the eunuch in the palace, but saw a family member trotting in and said, "Master, you are fast!" ”

Zhou Kui was startled by the frizzy housekeeper, and with a look of anger, he said, "Isn't it just a eunuch in the palace, what are you panicking about!" Master Ben is going to set rules for this house! ”

The family hurriedly said: "Master, I heard that the Holy Lord is going to give you a marquis!" ”

"What, Marquis?" Zhou Kui was startled, threw the birdcage in his hand directly, and hurried to the front hall, without mentioning the matter of establishing rules.

In the front hall, the eunuch Xu Gao saw Zhou Kui respectfully saluting, and read out the holy decree of the marquis in front of the old prince.

"I'm a marquis?"

After thanking him, Zhou Kui still couldn't believe it, this good and dignified man was actually crowned! The son-in-law is still thinking about himself, it must be the baby girl blowing the pillow wind and raising the status of the old Zhou family.

Zhou Kui began to fantasize, and after a while, let his daughter blow a pillow wind again, and also find an errand for his two sons, get a Jinyi guard commander, a fellow governor or something, and be a governor in the Chinese military governor's mansion, and wait for his son-in-law to go on a big trip, and then find his grandson Zhu Cihong to find a governor for the children and grandchildren of the Zhou family or something.......

Just as Zhou Kui was fantasizing, he seemed to hear someone around him calling him.

"Jiading?"

"Old man?"

As soon as Zhou Kui came back to his senses, he snorted: "What's the matter?" ”

Xu Gao approached him and said in a low voice: "The emperor asked the slave maid to pass a message to you, and asked you to donate 100,000 taels of silver to set an example for the emperor's relatives and relatives......

Xu Gao hadn't finished speaking, only to hear Zhou Kui suddenly stroke his forehead with his hand and say, "Oops! My head ......."

Seeing Jiading's crumbling posture, Master Xu was quick-eyed, and hurriedly stepped forward to support him, and asked anxiously: "Old Guozhang, what's wrong with you?" ”

Zhou Kui was half-lying in Xu Gao's arms, humming and chirping: "Oh, the old man has a splitting headache, I'm afraid that the old disease has recurred, so I have to go back to the room and lie down......."

Got a headache? Recurrence of an old disease? Is a craniotomy needed?

How could Xu Gao not know the thoughts of this old thing, but it was not easy to break it, so he beckoned the two Zhou Mansion family members and asked them to take them away, and said: "Old man, you hold on." ”

Xu Gaozai followed, guarded by the bed for a long time, and saw that the old thing didn't hum, so he spoke: "Old Guozhang, the emperor means that you should take the lead in donating 100,000 taels of silver first, and the emperor will definitely not treat your old ....... badly in the future."

"Oh, my head hurts, father-in-law, go to the palace to find a royal doctor for the old man!" Zhou Kui covered his head and shouted.

Zhou Kui didn't dare to directly offend the slave of the Son of Heaven and let him go, so he had to find a way to get rid of him.

Xu Gao was helpless, and said in his heart that he had been in the industry for more than 20 years, and this was the first time he had encountered this situation, and he had never encountered such a scoundrel thing before......

He didn't stay any longer, and he took his leave.