The envoy had mixed feelings along the way, the task was not completed, and after he returned, he didn't know how Hu Jichen would treat him, so he returned to the barracks with apprehension.

Annam camp tent.

Seeing that the envoy had returned safely, Chen Zheping, who was sitting at the top, breathed a sigh of relief, and couldn't help but secretly say in his heart:

He can return safely, which means that Annan can still be saved!

Hu Jichen's face was still cold, and he took the lead in asking:

"How's it going? What did the Ming officials say? ”

The envoy hung his head and stumbled to say the conditions put forward by Li Jin:

"They... They say that they can negotiate peace, that is... It's a request that needs to... We need fifteen million taels of silver..."

"Fifteen million taels?"

Hu Jichen's eyes immediately widened, and he said with a look of resentment:

"Why don't they rob it!!"

Thinking of the little white-faced general, at first sight, I only felt that his body was indistinguishable and the two flesh must achieve nothing, but I didn't expect the other party to be arrogant, and when he opened his mouth back, it was a lion's big mouth.

Hu Jichen only felt angry, and the anger in his chest had nowhere to vent.

"Bang!"

The teacup on the table was smashed by his strength, and his mouth was even more angry:

"What kind of place is the little white face when Annan? Opening your mouth is fifteen million taels, wasn't it still 10 million taels before? Taking advantage of Annan's defeat, he even dared to increase the price wantonly, it was simply shameless and despicable, what is the difference between this kind of behavior and banditry? ”

"It's dignified, and it's all officials who act like villains, which is clearly a robber, shameless!!"

Hu Jixuan's face turned red with anger, his mouth was full of unscrupulous scolding, and the entire camp was filled with his roar.

When the others heard the sound, they were immediately frightened and trembled, lowered their eyes and bowed their heads and did not dare to speak, and the messenger on the side was even more frightened and lay on the ground, for fear of causing trouble.

Chen Zheping saw that Hu Jichen had been scolding angrily, so he immediately asked cautiously:

"Hu Aiqing, Da Ming asked for so, so... What's next? ”

Hu Jichen was fierce, turned his head and glared at Chen Zheping, so frightened that the other party quickly closed his mouth.

Hu Jichen's nose was panting, obviously angry, and he gritted his teeth word by word and said:

"Da Ming asked for fifteen million taels of silver, this is simply blackmail, they just think that we have lost the army, and they want to take the opportunity to blackmail us."

After hearing this, everyone in the tent was silent, because this is the truth, they Annan are losers, no matter how they can't do it, what else can they do except do what they are asked to do!

Speaking of this, Hu Jichen looked resentful, and seemed to have made a great determination to say:

"Ten million at most, any more is delusional."

Ten million taels, even if it is reduced by five million taels, it makes everyone's scalp tingle.

Annan is a small country with weak people, and they make a living from agriculture, and this 10 million taels is the tax revenue of Annan for 20 years, how can they have so much silver for Daming?

Even if it is given, that... What should Annan do in the future?

At this moment, Li Hao, the Minister of Households, stood up and said tremblingly:

"Your Excellency, the treasury doesn't have so much money at the moment."

When Hu Jichen heard this, his eyes stared at the other party, and he roared with a hideous expression:

"If you don't have it, you have to have it, or do you want to be the first to die!"

Li Hao was so frightened by this roar that he couldn't help but take two steps back, lowered his head, and didn't dare to meet Hu Jichen's gloomy eyes at all.

Hu Jichen snorted coldly and continued:

"If you don't have silver, you have to find a way to get silver, we can't beat Daming, but we can't wait to die on the spot."

"Send officials to the countryside, collect the taxes for the next ten years, and make up the money no matter what."

"If it is still not enough in the end, the civil and military officials will take out the remaining silver, and make up for the shortage."

After Chen Zheping heard this, he was immediately shocked, he wanted to collect ten years of taxes at once, what is the difference between this and letting the people die!

Looking at the angry Hu Jichen, Chen Zheping had to brace himself up and say:

"If we do, those ordinary people will starve to death."

"If the people are in danger, the country will be in danger, and when the time comes, it will definitely cause a lot of people to revolt, internal and external troubles, and Annan is in danger!"

Hearing this, Hu Jichen mercilessly scolded Chen Zheping on the spot:

"Do you want the people to starve to death, or do you want to starve to death yourself?"

"If we can't take out the money, none of us want to live, let alone those people!"

"Whoever doesn't want to pay for his own money, try to scrape together 10,000,000 taels of silver."

"If you can't make up enough, you will pay for it yourself!"

Chen Zheping had to close his mouth and didn't dare to say anything more, and Li Hao also retreated silently like an ostrich, as the saying goes, dead friends don't die poor.

The people must be dead, since this is the case, it is better to think about how to raise these ten million taels of silver, so as not to have to pay for it yourself when the time comes.

In this way, the envoy once again set off with a mission and sent an envoy to the camp of the Ming army.

After the envoy left, Hu Jichen forced Chen Zheping to make a holy decree to forcibly raise the tax revenue of Annam, and forcibly collect taxes for ten years to tide over the difficulties.

Chen Zheping was very reluctant to make an order at first, because he knew that if he made an order and forced innocent people, he would definitely be scolded by the world later, and he was afraid that he would die faster at that time.

But Hu Jichen didn't care about Chen Zheping's reputation at all, didn't say a word, and directly forced him with his life.

Chen Zheping did not have the slightest ability to resist Hu Jichen's ruthless methods, and in the end he had to compromise again, endure the fear in his heart, and lower the holy decree of taxation.

...

Inside the tent of the Ming military camp.

"My lord, general, the envoy of Annan outside asks to see you!"

The attendant respectfully said to Li Jin and Fu Youde in the tent.

Li Jin waved his hand and said:

"Let him in!"

"Yes!"

Fu Youde asked with a puzzled expression:

"Master Li, why did you summon the envoy of Annan again and again, it is clear that Annan Kingdom can't afford fifteen million silver, isn't it a pure waste of time to go back and forth like this."

"Wouldn't it be better for us to take down Annan directly, take the silver and return to Beijing to recover his life?"

Li Jin smiled and said:

"It doesn't have to be like this, it's idle anyway, we have to give Annan a chance, maybe Annan can scrape together fifteen million taels of silver?"

In fact, Li Jin still didn't say a word in his heart, it was precisely because Annan couldn't make it up, so he had to let them make it up.

As the two spoke, the messenger came in under the guidance of his attendant, and as soon as he entered the tent, the messenger bowed to the two of them, this time even more humble than the last.

I saw the messenger hunched over, and smiled extremely flatteringly:

"Two adults, the little envoy is here again, it is really an honor for the little envoy to come to your camp many times, to meet the two adults, it is also a little envoy to live..."

"Stop!"

For the envoy's large list of compliments, Li Jin listened to it with a pain in his eyes, and directly interrupted:

"You, if you have something to say, don't beat around the bush and waste your official's time."

Fu Youde also sneered:

"That's it, I said a lot of nonsense, Lao Tzu's brain hurts when I listen to it, and if there is a fart, let it go quickly, it's no good to hold it!"

"Yes, yes, sir."

The messenger's face turned red when he was said, and then he said what he meant:

"The little envoy came over this time, and it was my king who said that Annan was willing to make amends to Daming and compensate 10 million taels of silver."

"Also... I also hope that the Ming Dynasty will be able to have a large number of countries and hold peace talks with Annan. ”

After speaking, the envoy looked at Li Jin with a worried face, with hope in his eyes, but Li Jin's next sentence caught him off guard.