Thousands of Xuzhou soldiers sat cross-legged on the ground, silently gnawing on dry food.

The taste of the dry cake is really bad, but this thing is pasta, it is extremely anti-hunger, eat it in the stomach, and drink some water to immediately swell.

Trying to swallow the dry cake in his mouth, Zhang Yi asked, "General, will the pseudo-Song Dog Emperor really settle in Quzhou?" ”

Zhang Yi was originally Wang Yan's general, and after Wang Yan surrendered to Qi, he also summoned him back.

"To be honest, I'm not sure."

Wang Yan shook his head, and then chuckled: "But Quzhou is going to be won, for us, this is a deal without capital." Once the puppet Song emperor is in Quzhou and is captured by us, it will be a great credit. One of the brothers present is counted as one, at least three levels in a row, and the wives and children in the family are also stained, and the wives and children are also sealed! ”

"Shhh

These words made the soldiers of the Xuzhou Army breathe quickly and look excited.

For a while, the originally sour and weak body was full of strength again, and the whole person was in a state of excitement.

After eating the dry food and resting for a while, Wang Yan got up and said, "Brothers, work hard to reach Quzhou before dawn." ”

"Order!"

The soldiers did not dare to shout, and answered with their voices suppressed.

However, there was a strong excitement in his tone.

……

……

The continuous rain brought the Qi army's offensive to a standstill, which gave many people the illusion that the Qi army would soon stop fighting.

Kou Zhongwen is one of them.

Since the last time he faced the saint and left a good impression in the heart of the emperor, Kou Zhongwen planned to make persistent efforts.

After all, once this opportunity is missed now, it may never be again in this life.

How to please the emperor?

Money!

Emperor Taishang fled all the way from Jinling to Quzhou, and the money and treasures were left in Jinling and Hangzhou, cheapening the Qi State.

Now is the time when there is a shortage of money, and when the situation is stable, whether it is rewarding ministers, rewarding soldiers, or building palaces and gardens, which one does not need money?

So, Kou Zhongwen hit the idea on the people in the city and the gentry and wealthy merchants.

But he was not stupid, he knew that he couldn't do it alone, so he pulled the general sentence Li Wenqing into the gang.

"Military tax?"

Li Wenqing frowned slightly.

Kou Zhong stroked his beard and chuckled: "Yes, the soldiers protect their families and defend the country, so that the people of Quzhou are protected from military disasters, and they spill their blood on their heads, and they are short of food and clothing at the moment, so they naturally want to reward them well." ”

To make money, you have to pay attention to a clever name.

If it looks too ugly, it's not beautiful.

Li Wenqing hesitated: "The taxes are already heavy, I'm afraid the people don't want to pay them." ”

Kou Zhongwen already had a draft, and said confidently: "This matter is easy to do, let the gentry and landlords take the lead in donating, and if they donate, the people will have no reason to refuse, so they can only donate." First talk to the gentry and landlords under his rule, and when the taxes are raised, their money will be returned in full, and the people's money will be divided into six or four accounts. ”

"Six-four accounts, is it too much?"

Li Wenqing was obviously a little dissatisfied with the proportion of account sharing.

"If you don't say that, how do you get those old foxes to donate money? At that time, the money will be in our hands, and it is not up to us to give it or not? ”

Kou Zhongwen glanced at him with contempt, only to feel that this person was really stupid.

If he hadn't been able to do it alone, he would never have been involved in this fight.

"Wow!"

Li Wenqing's eyes lit up, slapped his thigh and said: "At that time, just find a way to fool around, and don't give a penny!" ”

Kou Zhongwen advised: "The opportunity is this time, whether you can seize it, make steady progress, and soar, it all depends on this experience, you don't want to drop the chain." ”

"Kou Zhizhou, rest assured, my province."

Li Wenqing nodded solemnly.

His family background is not as prominent as Kou Zhongwen, and his ancestor is just a small landlord with mediocre ability.

Now that the opportunity has come, Li Wenqing will naturally not let it go.

The two said they would do it, and immediately started to act.

After some operation, in just three days, more than 500,000 yuan in taxes were raised.

Among them, the majority is naturally the money donated by the gentry and gatekeepers.

It's just that the people under the rule of Quzhou are already heavily taxed, and now they have to pay an extra amount of military tax for Laoshizi, which is completely drained.

For a time, the territory of Quzhou was full of mourning, and many people abandoned their fields and went into the mountains to flee.

But Zhao Ji, who lives in the palace, doesn't know at all, and he has no way of knowing.

Besides, according to his character, even if he knew, he wouldn't say anything.

At this time, Zhao Ji was splashing ink in the study.

After finishing a painting, he took the hot handkerchief handed by Li Yan, and while wiping his palms, he admired his masterpiece: "Although Quzhou is a small place, the scenery is also unique. ”

Li Yan opened his mouth to say a sycophant: "Emperor Taishang's painting skills seem to have improved again, and he has chased Wu Daozi, Gu Kaizhi and other sages, which is enough to be called a Taoist saint." ”

Zhao Ji shook his head and said with a smile: "You old slave, don't play tricks with me, I still have some self-knowledge, and I can't compare to Wu Sheng." However, compared to Mi Pei and Dong Yuan, it should not be bad. ”

Li Yan said seriously: "The slave maid thinks that Wu Daozi also occupies a fine character, and he is only for painting idiots all his life." The Emperor Taishang is different, Wen Tao is strategic, and he is all familiar with piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, astronomy and geography, all of which are refined, and he is a rare all-rounder for thousands of years. If you concentrate on studying paintings, I am afraid that Wu Daozi will also have to bow down. ”

This sycophant made Zhao Ji feel comfortable, and laughed heartily: "You have such a mouth." ”

At this time, Li Yan took advantage of the situation and said: "Emperor Taishang, Kou Zhongwen, the governor of Quzhou, and Li Wenqing, the general judge, ask to meet. ”

Zhao Ji asked casually: "What are the two of them doing?" ”

Li Yan praised at the right time: "Kou Zhongwen is a sincere person, he must have found a good treasure again, and he has come to honor the emperor." ”

The previous sycophants were all paving the way for this sentence.

Sure enough, Zhao Ji didn't care about Li Yan helping Kou Zhongwen speak, but quipped: "Honestly, how much did you collect from Kou Zhongwen?" ”

Li Yan immediately raised three fingers, pointed to the sky and cursed: "The conscience of heaven and earth, the old slave can confiscate not a single copper coin." ”

"Forgive me, old slave, don't dare, go, follow me to meet them."

Zhao Ji put his hands behind his back and strode out of the study.

Li Yan touched the position of his heart, smiled slightly, and then followed quickly.

He did confiscate a penny of copper coins, but he collected 10,000 yuan of green coins.

Should I say it or not, the green money made by pseudo-Qi is really very convenient, not to mention hundreds or thousands, it is tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and it is also fluttering on the body, and I can't see it at all.

When the emperor went south, he also suffered.

Most of the family was in Bianjing City, and Han Zhen copied it, and the money he brought to the south was also lost in Jinling and Hangzhou.

Zhao Ji is poor, and he is also poor.

In the main hall, Kou Zhongwen and Li Wenqing had been waiting for a long time.

Seeing Zhao Ji coming, the two hurriedly bowed and saluted: "Wechen has seen the emperor." ”

Sitting on the main seat, Zhao Ji asked loudly, "What do you want to see?" ”

Kou Zhong said softly: "Back to the Emperor, the people of Quzhou and the gentry and wealthy businessmen spontaneously donated money to reward the soldiers of the Shengjie Army, and the total amount of money raised was 580,000 yuan, which is the account, and the Emperor Taishang was invited to look at it." ”

580,000?

Zhao Ji was overjoyed.

He is very short of money now, very short of money.

Last year, Cai Jing helped him make a lot of money, and he planned to use it to build a new palace, but the palace design drawings were not finished, and the Qi army called.

In desperation, he had to flee with some of the gold and silver warehouses.

As a result, when he arrived in Hangzhou, he hadn't been living for two days, and the Qi army sailor called again, this time it was even more dangerous than last time, Zhao Ji didn't even have time to take away the gold and silver, and all of them were cheaper than the puppet Qi sailor's gang of Qiu Ba.

Kou Zhongwen's 580,000 guan really solved his urgent need.

As for whether the money was donated voluntarily by the people, it didn't matter at all.

Looking at the account book in his hand, Zhao Ji praised with a smile: "Yes, the people of Quzhou have been educated by the two Aiqing very well. ”

"This is the Holy Grace of the Emperor, and Weichen does not dare to take credit." Kou Zhongwen hurriedly said.

Zhao Ji said in a deep voice: "Kou Qing is so talented, being a Zhizhou is too condescending, I promoted you to be the head of the household, and the servant of the entry." ”

"Minister...... Thank you, Your Majesty! ”

A wave of ecstasy welled up in Kou Zhongwen's heart, and he bowed to him.

The squire under the door, the deputy minister!

From a Zhizhou to a vice minister, this is really a step to the sky.

(End of chapter)