Zhang Sizhi was not unhappy, glanced at him Lu Chengye, and then said in a deep voice: "This pavilion does not matter whether you have hardships or not, in short, after five days, this governor must see silver and grain!" Whether you go to borrow or rob it, this pavilion doesn't care, this pavilion only needs silver and food! There is no silver and food, how do you tell the officials and soldiers to pacify the thieves, is it true that Li Zheng wants to fight under the Jingshi City, do you know the powerful cadres! ”

"The subordinate officer receives the order!"

Lu Chengye is waiting for this sentence, the treasury of Tongzhou has no money and grain, but the gentry in the city have, originally the Ming Dynasty treated the gentry preferentially, he would never dare to ask them for silver, but now with the decree of Zhang Sizhi, the second assistant of the cabinet, he can open his mouth to collect money and grain from the gentry in Tongzhou.

"Wang Zhoucheng, you go and invite all the gentry in the city for the official, and the official will invite the Tongzhou gentry to a banquet in the palace."

After Zhang Sizhi's departure, Lu Chengye convened the gentry in the city with Wang Bingwen, the king of Tongzhou Prefecture, to discuss the matter of donation.

The Jingbei Army pressed the border, and the lord of Zhizhou held a banquet at this juncture, which was definitely not a good thing, but the official level crushed people to death, and the gentry did not dare not come, so they had to order the housekeeper to prepare gifts and go to the Zhizhou Yamen.

Tongzhou is close to Jingshi, which can be regarded as the foot of the Son of Heaven, and is an important wharf for Caoyun, and the rich gentry in the city are not in the decimale.

Just after that time, the street in front of the Yamen of Tongzhou Zhizhou was blocked by the carriages and sedan chairs that rushed to the meeting, so that Wang Bingwen of Tongzhou Prefecture had to mobilize the officials of the state government to evacuate the traffic, and finally invited a group of rich gentry into the mansion.

Lu Chengye is also a decent person, saying that if he invited the gentry in the city, he would invite the gentry in the city, and a total of fifteen tables of banquets were set up in the lobby, and six tables were placed in the flower hall.

Since ancient times, there was no good banquet, and the gentry also knew that Lu Chengye's name was to set up a banquet, but in fact, there must be something important, either to pay for it themselves or to give it to others, so after sitting down, they all looked at Lu Chengye who was sitting on the main seat.

"Ladies and gentlemen, now that Li Wei's army has arrived in Dezhou, according to the official's estimate, within a few days, they will definitely come to the city, for the people of Tongzhou, for the Ming Dynasty, for Your Majesty, this official intends to ask you to donate generously to raise 300,000 taels of silver for my rebellious army, and I hope you will not shirk."

"What? 300,000 taels? Lu Yizun, we are a small person in Tongzhou City, where can we raise so much money and food, and I also ask Lu Yizun to be considerate of the people of Tongzhou. ”

Lu Chengye asked for 300,000 taels when he opened his mouth, which made the gentry in Tongzhou staggered, just kidding, how could the money we had worked so hard to accumulate be given away like this.

"Everyone, it's not that the official is not sympathetic to the place, but Huang Shuai has no money and food and is unwilling to transfer troops, Zhang Ge Lao has issued a clear edict, if you are willing to fund, I think Zhang Ge Lao will definitely remember it, and Li Rei's army is only a few days away from Tongzhou, this official heard that the Shandong army is not much better than the original Kong Rei, before the battle of Agate Mountain, Li Rei slaughtered hundreds of thousands of people coerced by Zhang Rei, this battle of Shenyang, he slaughtered more than 100,000 Dongju, if he broke Tongzhou, the official is afraid that Li Rei will slaughter the city again!"

Lu Chengye is also a human spirit, he knows that it is impossible to make these rich gentry who only have gold and silver in their eyes conform to the righteousness, so he brought out the second assistant of the imperial court, trying to lure them with profits, and he was afraid that these gentry would not buy it, but he deliberately smeared the Jingbei Army and described Li Xingzhi as a butcher who killed people without blinking.

"This ......, Li is in turmoil, the country is in danger, I will receive the favor of the country in the world, so I naturally want to share the worries and solve the problems for the country, but Lu Yizun will ask for 300,000 taels when he opens his mouth, but this is not something we can bear, or you go and beg Zhang Ge Lao to reduce it a little."

Lu Chengye, who was born as a scholar, obviously knew very well the urine nature of these gentry who were known as heirlooms of poetry and books, and under some coercion and temptation, the gentry in Tongzhou finally agreed to take out some of the money and grain.

"Alas......! For the official for one term, for the benefit of one party, the official since the appointment of Tongzhou, there is no grace to the people in the state, now Li Shun's army is pressing, the imperial army has no money and food to suppress thieves, but this bad debt is counted on the people of Tongzhou, how can the official bear the loss of your family property passed down from generation to generation, so let's do it, the official has a little surplus wealth, if you want to mobilize the officials in the city to donate, want to make a hundred thousand taels of silver, you can take 200,000 taels of silver, can not be less, less of this official I am afraid that Huang Shuai will not use his life, then Li rebels will break the city, we are all going to die without a place to bury. ”

Lu Chengye sighed, his face was full of love for the country and the people, he had already planned, the 200,000 taels of silver collected by Huang Wenchang would be spent 50,000 taels, and Zhang Sizhi would have to take out 50,000 taels to get through the customs no matter what he said.

As for the remaining 100,000 taels of silver, he took out another 30,000 taels and distributed them to the officials of the yamen, and he could get 70,000 taels alone.

"In this way, I will thank Lu Yizun for maneuvering, 200,000 taels is not a small amount, and now Li Yishun is going north along the Grand Canal, we still need to make up the silver before the thief army arrives, otherwise I am afraid that Huang Shuai will not be able to use his heart!"

The official gentry of Tongzhou stood up on behalf of Qian Yuanwai and toasted Lu Chengye with a glass of wine, he was still able to accept the donation of 200,000 taels of silver, although the 200,000 taels seemed to be a lot, but dozens of rich gentry in Tongzhou were distributed to everyone, that is, a few thousand taels per person, everyone guarded the dividends of Caoyun, as long as the imperial court kept Tongzhou, were you afraid that the silver would not be earned?

"Okay, Master Qian, as long as you agree to the donation of 200,000 taels, the official will rest assured, come, the official will give you a cup for the court, and please be sure to appreciate your face!"

"Lu Yizun is polite, Lu Yizun is polite, we are all Tongzhou people, and it is a matter of course to protect my township."

All the gentry raised their glasses and drank together, and this meal was enjoyed by the guests and hosts, and everyone was happy.

"The gold and silver in these five boxes are the silver raised by the lower officials for Huang Shuai, and these five are the lower officials' filial piety to the elders."

The next day is not the same.

Lu Chengye rushed to Zhang Sizhi's superintendent with a carriage full of silver.

"Okay, Lu Zhizhou is really a capable minister, the household department is worried about Huang Shuai's opening of the silver, I can't imagine that Lu Zhizhou will get together the silver in one day, this pavilion will definitely promote you to Your Majesty, according to this pavilion, you are no problem to be a waiter in the household department."

Zhang Sizhi drank silently, and ordered the left and right family members to carry the five boxes sent by Lu Chengye into the inner hall.

"The lower officials thank the old man for his promotion, and the lower officials thank the old man for his promotion, and from now on, he will definitely look forward to the old man of the pavilion and obey his orders."

Tongzhou Zhizhou is just the sixth grade, and now Zhang Sizhi directly promised to ask for himself to be the household servant of the third grade, which made Lu Chengye overjoyed.

"What else do you call a lower official, tomorrow you will send your name sticker to this pavilion, and from then on you and I will be commensurate with master and apprentice!"

"Uh...... The students have seen Eun Sang! ”

Lu Chengye is also a person with a clear mind, and hurriedly knelt down in front of Zhang Sizhi along the pole and knocked his head down.