The civil officials and military officers of the Ming Dynasty were not on good terms. When Chongzhen saw that the conflict between Lieutenant General Li and Fang Yuegong was about to escalate, he quickly spoke out to stop them: "Okay, stop arguing. It's all for the court and the people. There's no need to take advantage of others."

"I think Lieutenant General Li's method has merit. A radius of 100 miles is indeed a bit too large, but a radius of 50 miles should be about the same."

"As for the civil unrest that Minister Fang is worried about...it's not a big problem. Give silver to all the relocated people. The amount will be determined by the Ministry of Revenue. Not too little, and not too much."

Fang Yuegong's mouth twitched: "Your Majesty, the national treasury..."

"Don't worry about the money, I'll take care of it!" Chongzhen said calmly.

If time went back three days, he would never dare to say such a thing. But today was different from the past, the gains from the house search were too much, so much that he could hardly believe it.

First, two million taels of silver were dug out from behind the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Soon after, two hundred thousand taels of silver were seized from the residences of Wei Zaode and Wang Zhengzhi.

Two million taels of silver (including 110,000 taels of gold converted into silver, totaling 1.1 million taels) and three million taels of property were seized from the Chengguo Mansion.

One hundred and seventy thousand taels of silver were seized from Zhang Jinyan’s home.

On the night the prince moved south, he robbed more than four million taels of silver from court officials and nobles.

The largest number of confiscated items came from the eight unscrupulous merchants. Li Ruolian seized more than 10 million taels of silver in cash from these eight businesses, and other valuables worth nearly 3 million taels of silver!

On average, each business has over one million.

And these are just the tip of the iceberg.

The real wealth is not here, but in their hometown!

There are mountains of gold and silver there!

These silvers are the confidence and capital for him to exempt the whole country from land tax for one year!

Seeing that Chongzhen no longer mentioned the issue of money, Fang Yuegong didn't know what to say and could only nod in agreement.

"Does anyone else have any countermeasures?"

Seeing that the others were silent, the lieutenant general of the Yongwei Camp, Pang Zijin, took a half step forward and said, "Your Majesty, I think there is something to be said about what the deputy general Wang of the Three Thousand Camp said."

"Tell me more about it."

"Yes, the bandit army is heading straight for the capital. We can send a light cavalry to harass along the way. We don't seek to hurt the enemy, but only to slow down their march while protecting ourselves. The time gained can be used to build strong defenses, clear the fields, train new soldiers, and strengthen the city walls."

"What do you think, Your Majesty?"

"Okay! Just pick out three to five hundred people from the Brave Guard Battalion. Remember, the number of people who go must be the number of people who return. There cannot be any casualties."

"Relocating the people is a matter of great importance, and Minister Fang will be fully responsible for this matter. You can mobilize the troops of the Five Cities Military Department to assist, and the rest of you will perform your duties and prepare for war."

"As you wish."

As everyone left, the Qianqing Palace returned to silence again.

Chongzhen sat on the warm couch and began to review the situation.

At this moment, he is not an emperor, but a strategist who is able to make plans and win battles thousands of miles away.

The civil and military officials in the court, the soldiers in the city, and even the people of the world are all his pawns.

He doesn't care about anything as long as he can win!

However, one wrong move can lead to a complete loss.

Every move must be made with great caution.

After a long while, he opened his eyes and shouted, "Wang Chengen, ask Li Ruolian to find me a few trustworthy people. It would be best if they have parents, wives and children. Also, they must be new faces, loyal and not afraid of death."

Wang Chengen didn't dare to ask more questions and hurriedly conveyed the message.

This request was indeed difficult. It was not until after lunch that Li Ruolian brought three people to the gate of the Qianqing Palace.

"Your Majesty, Li Ruo Lian is outside the door asking to see you."

"Xuan."

The three men were all young, thin, and had yellowish faces due to malnutrition. They did not dare to look directly at Chongzhen, and knelt down and kowtowed as soon as they entered the hall.

After performing the etiquette between the emperor and his subjects, Li Ruolian began to introduce: "Your Majesty, these three are the secret guards (informers) that I just transferred back from Henan. There are no more than five people in the entire capital who know them... no..."

He raised his head and glanced at Wang Chengen, then glanced at Chongzhen from the corner of his eye and changed his words: "Seven!"

Chongzhen nodded, "Don't be nervous, come on, introduce yourselves from left to right."

The three of them relaxed a little after being comforted by Chongzhen and began to introduce themselves.

"Wang Baolin, 21 years old, from Jinan Prefecture, Shandong."

"Zhou Tiezhu, 19 years old, from Kaifeng Prefecture, Henan."

"Li Bao, 21 years old, from Jingzhou Prefecture, Huguang."

......

Chongzhen looked at them expressionlessly.

After everyone had introduced themselves, Chongzhen turned his back to them and asked, "Have the arrears been paid?"

Wang Baolin was very excited. This was his first time in the palace. Although Wang Chengen told them not to look around, he couldn't help but take a few peeks.

It is a great honor to be summoned by the emperor this time.

He suppressed his inner excitement and tried his best to control his body so that his voice would not sound so trembling: "Hello...Hello, all sent out."

Chongzhen nodded, saying that the cabinet was indeed very efficient and the salaries of the Jinyiwei and secret guards had even been paid.

"Do you think I can defend the capital? Don't tell lies or empty words, tell the truth."

Wang Baolin licked his cracked lips and looked at Li Ruolian.

"Tell the truth." Li Ruolian winked at Wang Baolin.

I thought to myself, you kid was brought here by me, so don't say anything wrong. If you say something wrong and the Emperor blames me, I will also be implicated.

After receiving Li Ruo Lian's instructions, Wang Baolin said seriously: "Reply Long Live, that's tough!"

Li Ruolian's legs went weak and she almost fell to her knees.

"I think so too." Chongzhen didn't care, he just wanted to hear the truth.

"So, I have an important matter now, are you willing to do it?"

"I am willing to go!"

"I am willing to go too!"

"You may not be able to return, so think carefully."

Wang Baolin paused for a moment and kowtowed very seriously, "Your Majesty, I am young and have not studied much, but I understand one thing: I am a Ming man when I am alive and I am a Ming soul when I die."

"This journey through mountains of swords and seas of fire will lead to death!"