"Lord Lin, for your kindness, I would like to express my gratitude on behalf of the many refugees in the Southern Territory."
Jiang Li also looked excited and expressed his gratitude regardless of his status.
"Your Majesty, absolutely not. I do not deserve this gratitude. Compared to those martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the great cause, what is this little bit of silver of mine?"
Lin Che's voice was even more agitated. Outsiders would have suspected that the Earl of Jing'an was about to burst into tears.
"It's good that Minister Lin has such awareness. However, this one million silver coins is no small sum. Where did you get it from?"
"Your Majesty, these are all earned from selling poems..."
Although this matter was a hot topic and many people knew about it, Lin Che still spoke the whole story out loud.
"Alright! Donating a million silver coins like this, don't you feel bad?"
"My heart aches for the millions of disaster victims! I don't have any way to donate, so I can only come and give it to Your Majesty. I will be going on a diplomatic mission to Yanyun in three months, so there is no point in keeping this money. It would be better to donate it to the victims in need."
Lin Che placed the one million taels of silver notes that he had prepared earlier into a small box and handed it over respectfully.
As for why he only donated one million taels, it was of course to keep 400,000 taels for his own use.
He donated to save his life, not to starve himself to death.
The people at the city gate saw this and praised:
"Is this the Young Master Lin Che from the Zhenguo Mansion? His love truly knows no bounds."
"One million taels! My goodness! Even if I didn't eat or drink, I'd have to work for three hundred years to earn that much."
"Such a good person will be sent as an envoy to an enemy country in three months. He must come back alive."
Amidst the discussion, Jiang Li took a few steps forward. She did not pick up the small box, but went over to help Lin Che up.
Jiang Li was so happy at this moment that she couldn't express it in words. If she hadn't been so proud of her status, she would have definitely cheered for joy.
Ever since she personally saw the flood situation in the southern region, she started looking for ways to raise money.
But there is no good way.
Lin Che's move wasn't just a simple gift of a million silver coins. She could use this opportunity to build momentum and show these officials that a newly conferred Earl of Jing'an had donated a million.
How dare you, a bunch of guys who usually enrich yourselves, use hundreds of thousands of dollars to fool me?
"Marquis Jing'an is a role model for my people. This million silver taels will definitely be handed over to the victims..."
She glanced at the ministers in front of her, as well as the densely packed people, and circulated her true energy to make her voice carry further, saying:
"Tomorrow at noon, I will lead all the ministers to the imperial mausoleum to burn incense for the deceased emperors."
"I pray that the late emperor will bless me with great success, good weather, and peace and prosperity for the country and the people. Marquis Jing'an, please come as well."
Lin Che was immediately overjoyed when he heard this. He looked away from the empress's white and tender little hand and quickly shouted "Long live the emperor" again.
Among the crowd, there were also some students who had followed along. When they saw Lin Che's back, they were filled with grief and indignation, and they wanted to roar to the sky:
The money he donated was all ours!!!
We were charged one thousand taels for the entrance ticket, and then we had to collect money to read the poetry. Now we don’t have a penny left.
That damn Lin Che, he's so good. He donated a million dollars and stole the show. We're going to starve.
Books contain golden houses and beautiful women. But books don’t have fish or meat, so I can’t help but feel hungry…
…
Zhenguo Mansion, at the entrance.
Lin Pojun jumped off his Beiyuan warhorse and glanced at the group of Confucian scholars with his sharp eyes, scaring them so much that they retreated and no longer dared to gather outside the Zhenguo Mansion.
Lin Pojun has always looked down on these students and didn't want to ask any more questions, so he strode into the Zhenguo Mansion.
"What are those students outside doing gathered at the gate of the mansion?"
After Lin Pojun entered the mansion, he happened to meet Cheng Qiuci and asked casually.
Cheng Qiuci personally took off Lin Pojun's cloak and said, "They're all here for Lin Che. Didn't Che write three poems in Zuiyue Tower? These students don't think they were written by him, and they're trying to get an explanation from us at the Zhenguo Mansion."
"Hmph! Now that he's left the Zhenguo Mansion, there's no need to worry about his life or death. Just let him fend for himself. What good poetry can he produce? It's just a pretense of elegance. Poetry and songs are like cockfighting and dog walking. Can they be of any use to Dagan? Can they repel a million powerful enemies?"
Lin Pojun gets angry whenever he mentions Lin Che. This rebellious son is really becoming more and more outrageous.
I've only been away from home for a few days, but I've already attracted so many students.
Then he will definitely get into big trouble and get hurt.
Cheng Qiuci also understood Lin Pojun's temperament, so she simply asked about the business:
"Did you find out how much other officials donated when you went to the Ministry of Revenue this time?"
Lin Pojun sat down with great confidence, took a sip of tea and said:
"I've found out. Just like in the past, the biggest donors are those heroes from the farming family. In addition to donating grain, they also donated 400,000 taels of silver. Our donation of 500,000 taels this time is naturally the highest."
Cheng Qiuci was still a little worried. "Five hundred thousand taels, isn't that a bit unsafe? According to past practice, if you come in first, His Majesty will give you some kind of reward. Yaoguang has run out of Zhen Yuan Pills, so he's waiting for this reward to ask for some pills."
"It's enough. The donated silver taels don't exceed 500,000. Otherwise, the Mirror Bureau will trace the source of the silver taels. Besides, I will be fined for three years, and I need to keep some money for household expenses."
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