In the southern city of the Tianjin Acropolis, in the newly built second hall of the Jinguo Mansion, the generals and bureaucrats under Li Zhi gathered together, looking at the newly completed palace curiously. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Li Zhi's Jinguo Mansion was completed last month, covering an area of more than 50 acres. There are city walls and moats around the mansion, cross the white marble approach bridge, and there are three large halls in front of the mansion, which are named "Binggong Palace", "Shouzheng Palace" and "Huaide Palace" respectively. The three main halls use heavy eaves to rest on the top of the mountain, which looks very magnificent.

Basically, the main hall "Pyongong-den" is a place where large-scale ceremonial events are held, and it is not used frequently. The third hall "Huaide Hall" is the place where Li Zhi handles official documents and summons his subordinates, while the second hall "Shouzheng Hall" is the place where Li Zhi and his senior subordinates have meetings.

There are nine rooms and thirteen frames in the main hall, and there are almost two long halls of the general military palace and two wide. The roof of the palace is decorated with tile beasts, beams and eaves and rafters. According to Li Zhi's preference, the pillars inside the palace are decorated with copper patterns wrapped in this tiger pattern. There is also a bronze crouching tiger hanging from the ceiling of the main hall.

There are twenty-one incense burners in the hall, which are burned with spices transported from the South Seas, so that the whole hall is surrounded by a faint incense.

At this time, in the hall, the generals and bureaucrats attending the meeting had chairs to sit on, arranged according to their official positions.

The position of Li Xing, the "Tianjin General Soldier", was at the forefront of everyone. His chair is of rosewood with a tiger motif. The chair is upholstered with cotton cushions, and the backrest is covered with soft cotton pillows, which is very luxurious and comfortable.

Li Xing was followed by Zheng Kaicheng and other three regiment leaders, as well as Xue Sanku, the acting head of the Xuanfeng regiment. These four people are now all staff officers, and the chair is slightly smaller than Li Xing's, but it is also a large wooden chair carved from rosewood, and the chair is also upholstered.

Behind them is the position of the second uncle Li Dao, the eldest uncle Zheng Yuan and other officials, their chairs are smaller, and the carvings are relatively simple.

Li Zhi's position is to the north of the crowd, on a platform half a meter high. In front of the platform, there is a copper fence, and a copper crane-shaped incense burner is placed on the platform, which is very magnificent. Li Zhi sat in the big chair of the Guogong on this platform, and felt that he was a little more majestic when he spoke.

At this time, all Li Zhi's important subordinates were seated, Li Zhi nodded at Li Xing, Li Xing stood up and said: "The Son of Heaven sent a holy decree yesterday, saying that there was a great drought in Shandong, and let us Tianjin Town fund disaster relief. This matter is very important, let's discuss how we will reply! ”

When they heard this, they were a little surprised.

Everyone knows that Shandong has been dry for three months, except for a light rain in Dengzhou and Laizhou, and it can be said that there has not been a drop of rain in other parts of Shandong in these three months. Officials in Tianjin had long known about Shandong's plight from the newspapers and that all of Shandong's crops had been wiped out this year.

This year's crops are finished, and next year the farmers will have nothing to eat, so of course they need disaster relief. But this disaster relief should obviously be done by the imperial court, how can the Son of Heaven throw the burden to Tianjin Town?

Li Zhi's second uncle, Li Dao, is now Li Zhi's chief manager of munitions, in charge of the manufacture of various weapons and munitions, and is also a prominent official in Tianjin Town. He knocked the dry tobacco on the tea table on the right hand, knocked the ash into the ceramic jar, and said loudly: "The emperor collects taxes in Shandong, and we don't collect taxes in Shandong!" We in Tianjin run a newspaper in Shandong and stationed troops, but we didn't earn a penny! It is all made of money from Tianjin Town, and it is beyond its means. No matter how much this disaster relief thing is calculated, it is not our turn to do it in Tianjin! ”

Li Zhi's uncle Zheng Yuan said: "I think this is the truth! ”

Zheng Yuan is now the general manager of Li Zhimin's supplies factory, with tens of thousands of people under his command. Over the years he has grown a goatee and has a rather majestic demeanor. At this time, he stroked his beard and said, "Guogong, this matter cannot be done. There are more than 10 million hungry people in Shandong, and this is a bottomless pit. How much money does this porridge shed cost for a year? I'm afraid 20 million taels is not enough! How can we have so much silver? ”

When everyone heard Zheng Yuan's words, they all nodded. Zhong Feng and Xue Sanku glanced at each other, stood up and said, "Commander, this matter is impossible. Not to mention that it costs more than 20 million taels of silver to buy 1,000 stone rice at the market price for disaster relief, let's just say where to buy so much grain for disaster relief? If we buy 10 million stone of grain in a year, I am afraid that the price of grain will be pushed up to the sky. When the time comes, even if you have money, you won't be able to buy it. ”

Zhong Feng said loudly: "Commander, the Son of Heaven threw this burden to us, we can't take it!" ”

Li Zhi looked at Zhong Feng and said lightly: "You don't need to worry about the problem of disaster relief food. The company has its own way to solve it. ”

Hearing Li Zhi's words, everyone was stunned. It takes at least 10 million stone of grain to help the hungry people in Shandong, but Jin Guogong said it lightly.

How did Guogong raise this thousand stone of grain?

However, Li Zhi's methods over the years are really unpredictable, and everyone has a blind trust in Li Zhi. As long as Li Zhi says that he can do it, he must be able to do it.

The crowd then skipped the question of the source of food and began to discuss the benefits of disaster relief.

Li Dao took a puff of dry tobacco and said, "Guogong, the Son of Heaven wants us to provide disaster relief, even if we can get food, we can't do it in vain." 10 million stones of grain smashed down without a sound! We want to collect taxes in Shandong! ”

Li Xing said loudly: "Second Uncle said well, the Son of Heaven asked us to provide disaster relief, we want to collect business taxes in Shandong, and we will pay flat fields, just like Tianjin!" In this way, the cost of disaster relief is recovered. ”

Li Laosi said: "The owner, although the civil officials in Shandong are obedient and obedient on the surface, they are still dissatisfied with us in their hearts. I think we can take this opportunity to appoint the governor of Shandong with the Son of Heaven. In the future, who will be the governor of Shandong will be determined by the grandfather of the country, and those local officials will naturally not jump. ”

Hearing Li Laosi's words, everyone was silent. The right to appoint the governor of Shandong, this requirement seems to be a bit big. If the Son of Heaven agrees to Li Zhi, it will completely divide the territory and turn Shandong into Li Zhi's independent kingdom. No matter how you look at it, this requirement is impossible.

Li Laosi looked at the silent crowd and said: "The sky is asking for a bargain on the spot, and the Son of Heaven has put forward such a ridiculous request for us to provide disaster relief, of course we have to repay him with a few difficult conditions." ”

Everyone was relieved and nodded yes.

Li Xing thought for a while and said, "Also, our soldiers and horses are now illegally stationed in Shandong, and the court is not recognized by the imperial court. If the Son of Heaven asks us to provide disaster relief today, we will ask the Son of Heaven to appoint the eldest brother as the governor of Shandong! In this way, we can legitimately control the military and justice in Shandong. ”

When the people's eyes lit up when they heard this, they all agreed.

The generals and bureaucrats discussed for a while and talked a lot. Li Zhi nodded, and finally concluded: "Okay, we will agree to the Son of Heaven's request for disaster relief." However, we made four demands: the rank of governor of Shandong, the commercial tax, the land endowment, and the appointment of the governor of Shandong by us. ”

"If the Son of Heaven agrees to these four conditions, we will guarantee that no one will starve to death in Shandong."