On the third day after writing the letter to Meng Lie, Chang Suining went to the school that was under construction to check on the progress. When Shen Sanmao saw her coming, he gave her a very detailed list of expenses.
Chang Suining sat in the carriage on the way back to the governor's mansion, flipping through the book of details. Every time he turned a page, he seemed to hear the sound of the silver bills burning.
"More than 300,000 coins..." Xi'er was very worried: "It's just to build a school, why does it cost so much money?"
Also sitting in the car were Yao Ran and Li Tong.
Today is the day when the imperial envoy who investigated Xu Zheng's amateur party escorted the criminals out of Jiangdu City. In fact, Eunuch Pan and his men should have left a few days ago, but Chang Suining had people check the transcript again and again in order to avoid even a single mistake.
With everything done and his bags packed, Eunuch Pan had no choice but to wait there with his men for four or five days - there was no other way, since they were copying books under the emperor's order.
Chang Suining went out today to see Eunuch Pan off.
Eunuch Pan was extremely flattered, but most importantly, he was afraid that the other party had set his sights on something again... God knows how he had been living in fear these days!
The other party's exorbitant request for his collection of books left him with a trauma second only to the experience he had that night in the purification room.
After confirming that Chang Suining had only sent people to help him escort his collection of books in order to fulfill his promise, Eunuch Pan breathed a sigh of relief and bowed repeatedly to express his gratitude.
The moment he got on the carriage and successfully left Jiangdu City, Eunuch Pan finally felt relieved. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief, feeling like he had survived a calamity... He didn't want to come to Jiangdu a second time unless a new governor was appointed!
After seeing off Eunuch Pan and his entourage, Chang Suining took Yao Ran, who had been working hard to copy the books in the collection, to see the school under construction.
Li Tong happened to be doing business near the academy. When he heard the guards say that Governor Chang had arrived, he went to look for Chang Suining. After Chang Suining had looked around accompanied by Shen Sanmao, they went back to the Governor's Mansion together.
At this moment in the carriage, Yao Ran listened to Xier's worried words about the total amount of subsequent expenses listed for Shen Sanmao, and said: "If it is just an ordinary school, it will naturally not have such a large expense, but the school you want to build is so large in area and has so many functions, which are rare, so the cost is naturally not cheap."
To build this kind of school, it is not enough to just build a wall.
The most visible things are the bricks and tiles, and the invisible things include the craftsmen's wages, etc. And the subsequent things, from the garden landscaping to the small things like a table, a chair, a coffee table, and all the teaching supplies, also need to be purchased with money.
"Three hundred and thirty thousand strings of cash... not much." Chang Suining sighed, "It's only Sanmao who can do it. If it were someone else, the cost would probably be at least 30% more."
Li Tong nodded in agreement: "Sister Chang, what you said is true. I have been walking around these days and have met Shen Sanmao several times when I had some free time. He is indeed a good housekeeper and has eyes all over his body. No craftsman can be lazy or idle without being able to hide it from him."
Because this academy was privately built by Chang Suining, the manpower used were not those in military service. Instead, they were all hired with real silver. No wonder Shen Sanmao kept a close eye on it.
"Then... girl, do we have enough money?" Xier asked eagerly.
Others get rich by getting promoted, but since the girl came to Jiangdu, she has been spending money.
Chang Suining nodded: "Don't worry, it's enough for now, I'll find a way later."
The more than one million strings of wealth accumulated by Old Chang in his early years sounds like a huge sum. If it was kept in the capital and used for eating and drinking, the family would not be able to use it up in several lifetimes. But outside the capital, after being tossed around by her several times, it seemed to be useless.
When the wealthy merchants in Jiangdu donated silver at the beginning, Chang Kuo also donated 300,000 strings of cash. Now that a school has been built, all the trouble has been put into it.
"Sister Chang, if you don't have much money, why don't I send someone to send a letter back to Xuanzhou and ask mother..."
Before Li Tong finished speaking, Chang Suining put away the detailed list and shook her head with a smile: "No need, Sister Li Tong. It's enough for now. When you really have no more money to spend, you can ask Her Royal Highness the Grand Princess for more."
Li Tong couldn't make the decision for her, so he could only say, "Sister Chang, please don't be so reserved."
Chang Suining nodded: "Thank you, sister. I know."
Li Tong pursed his lips and smiled, and said in his heart - you don't know.
Chang Suining really knew it, but even if she knew that relationship, she thought that she should not treat Princess Xuan'an as her treasury to use at will. Even brothers should settle accounts clearly. No matter what the relationship is, blindly asking for things is not a long-term solution.
The Grand Princess Xuan'an had already helped her a lot, especially in helping Jiangdu restore its business. She had already written a lot of IOUs to the Grand Princess in the name of the Governor's Office, so it would be inappropriate for her to borrow money again for the purpose of building a private school.
Favors should always be used sparingly, and she didn't want to take advantage of her father and brother and become a scoundrel who only borrowed and never returned. She would make herself have the ability to have equal exchanges with Xuanzhou as soon as possible, and only then could she establish a truly long-lasting and reliable friendship with the Grand Princess Xuan'an.
That kind of healthy relationship is what she really needs.
"Do we need to continue preparing for the workshop?" Li Tong asked at this moment.
"Yes." Chang Suining nodded without hesitation: "Thank you for your continued concern for this matter, sister. I will find a way to solve the problem of the money."
Li Tong smiled and nodded, and took out two booklets: "Then take a look at these first..."
This is what she gained from visiting various major workshops in Jiangdu City during these days.
Ever since Chang Suining mentioned that he wanted to emulate Xuanzhou and set up a workshop in Jiangdu, Li Tong, who had dabbled in such matters when he was in Xuanzhou, immediately applauded and praised this idea as feasible. He gave Chang Suining serious advice and took the initiative to take over the matter. Over the past month, he has been busy with preparations for this matter.
Chang Suining was flipping through the booklet handed to her by Li Tong. Since she was not familiar with business matters, she needed Li Tong to answer her questions from time to time.
Li Tong answered seriously, Chang Suining listened seriously, and Yao Ran didn't say anything, but also listened and learned attentively.
As they were about to reach the governor's mansion, Li Tong helped Chang Suining close the book: "Okay, take a break..."
"There's no rest for a moment on the road. Look how tired my sister Chang is." Li Tong sighed with some heartache, stretched out his finger and lightly touched the faint dark circles under Chang Suining's eyes.
As he was tapping, Li Tong couldn't help but pinch the girl's cheek because of the good touch under his fingers.
Although Chang Suining was not used to it, he did not resist. He slightly raised his face and let Li Tong pinch him, looking very obedient.
There was no way. Princess Xuan'an was her number one creditor, and Li Tong was helping her out so much. If she didn't even allow anyone to pinch her face, she would have no sense of debt.
The carriage soon stopped outside the governor's mansion, and the guards saluted hurriedly when they saw the girl getting out of the carriage.
Chang Suining was in front, and Li Tong and Yao Ran followed behind on the left and right, striding into the governor's mansion with female maids and guards.
As soon as the group arrived at the inner courtyard, they heard the usher Wang Changshi say: "...Sir, you have a distinguished guest!"
Wang Changshi lowered his voice slightly. After all, the arrival of this "distinguished guest" was somewhat mysterious and should not be made public.
Chang Suining went to meet him, and when he saw the middle-aged man in the lead, who was wearing a dark-colored narrow-sleeved robe, he was quite surprised: "General Yu?"
As early as the Battle of Bian River, when she was chasing and killing Xu Zhengye, she had seen this deputy general of Xuan Ce's army beside Cui Jing. Later, they met many times in Bianzhou and Xingyang, so they could be considered familiar with each other.
"It is me!" Deputy General Yu clasped his fists and saluted: "Greetings, Governor Chang!"
At this moment, only Li Tong and Yao Ran were beside Chang Suining. Wang Changshi did not approach him either, but only led people to guard outside the courtyard. Chang Suining asked questions without too much hesitation: "Shouldn't Deputy General Yu be in the northern border at this moment? Why did he suddenly come to Jiangdu?"
Deputy General Yu said without hiding anything: "I was ordered by the Grand Commander to secretly return to the capital to do some work. By the way, I came to Jiangdu according to the Grand Commander's instructions to send some useful things to Governor Chang - that's it."
Chang Suining saw the square boxes that almost filled the entire yard as soon as he entered the courtyard. He followed the line of sight of Deputy General Yu and was about to ask what they were when he heard Deputy General Yu say, "The Grand Commander knows that Governor Chang is in office in Jiangdu, and that money is needed everywhere."
He made up this sentence. The Grand Commander didn't say anything and just asked him to get the money and send it over. But since he had already sent it, he should at least say a few good words for the Grand Commander.
Chang Suining was somewhat stunned. So…are all these boxes filled with silver? Li Tong also looked over and said "tsk" in her heart. She has always been very sensitive to silver and money. From a rough look at these boxes, there must be at least hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. This Grand Commander Cui has been expelled from the Cui family, but he is still so generous.
"I wanted to exchange it for silver notes, but considering the frequent wars, it might be inconvenient for Governor Chang to withdraw such a large amount later, so I sent cash instead." Deputy General Yu said, taking out the note written by Cui Jing that day from his bosom and respectfully handed it to Chang Suining -
"The total amount of money is about 3.67 million strings of cash. Please ask Governor Chang to have someone check and count it."
Chang Suining paused slightly as he took the note.
Li Tong's eyes suddenly widened - how much? More than three million strings of cash?!
There shouldn't be so many boxes, unless they contain...
At this moment, Deputy General Yu had signaled his men to open the boxes. Li Tong looked over and saw that the boxes were full of golden things...
There was no silver in it, it was all gold! One tael of gold was equal to ten taels of silver, and one tael of silver was equal to one string of money... In this way, the number of coins in the box matched! Li Tong looked at the dazzling golden thing in the afternoon sun and was surprised. She originally thought it was only hundreds of thousands of strings of money, and felt that this Grand Commander Cui was really generous, but now she knew it was clearly millions of strings of money...
Although he is the most outstanding military figure in Dasheng and the general of Xuan Ce Army, he has no family support behind him. He has donated such an astonishing amount. I am afraid he has to give all his family assets to his sister Chang? It should be known that Jiang Hai, the richest salt merchant in Jiangdu, only donated one million silver coins before.
By this conversion, wouldn't it be that one Grand Commander Cui is equivalent to three Jiang Golden Roosters, with some left over?
Li Tong had grown up in Xuanzhou, a wealthy place, and the last thing he lacked was gold and silver. Thirty percent of his surprise at this moment was due to the large amount, and the remaining 70 percent was due to Cui Jing's intentions.
But Wang Changshi was different. He saw those dazzling boxes from afar, and his eyes lit up with excitement... He said they were distinguished guests! When he asked people to help carry them, he guessed that there was money inside!
I thought it was white, but it turned out to be yellow! This color is so attractive! Chang Suining looked at the note in his hand. It was written by Cui Jing, with the words [Three Hundred and Sixty-Seven Thousand Strings].
Three million six hundred and seventy thousand strings of cash...
When she led her army to attack the Northern Di, the annual military pay for an army of 100,000 was only 2 million strings of cash.
Chang Suining didn't have time to think about why the number was mixed with integers, and he subconsciously said, "I'm afraid I can't accept these--"
This amount is too huge, it's like moving all the family assets to her.
Deputy General Yu hurriedly said, "Don't worry, Governor Chang. We came to Jiangdu in secret, and no one knows about this. Moreover, the silver came from a clean source. It was all from the salary and military rewards that our Grand Commander has saved over the years. Just use it with confidence!"
Chang Suining certainly knew that they came from an innocent source, and were all earned by Cui Jing through countless victories and every sword and spear he fought over the years.
That's why she felt the amount was too "heavy".
But he didn't seem to take it seriously. She received his reply letter not long ago, but he didn't mention a word about asking someone to send her money in the letter. Are these millions of strings of cash not worth a single mention in his letter?
"We are here on a military order. If Governor Chang refuses to accept it, I will have no way to explain to the Grand Commander!"
"Anyway, our Grand Commander is all alone now, and he is determined not to be with you... ahem, he is also determined not to marry or start a family, so it is useless to keep these things!"
When Deputy General Yu said this, he couldn't help but think to himself - even if Yuan Xiang was present, he would definitely be amazed by his seemingly careless slip of the tongue, right?
The self-confident Deputy General Yu continued, "Besides, the current situation is unpredictable, and the Grand Commander has no one to entrust in the capital, so it is better to hand them over to you. You can use them if you can, and if you can't, just keep them temporarily for the Grand Commander."
Deputy General Yu tried his best to persuade Chang Suining to accept it, and he was even prepared to hint to several subordinates to run away if Chang Suining did not agree.
As long as he runs fast, the gold can't catch up with him!
On the way, he had already thought it through. Anyway, looking at the condition of the Grand Commander, he was destined to hang on the tree of Madam Chang. It was okay before when he had the Cui family to suppress him, but now the Grand Commander was alone and no one could control him, so there was no possibility of being forced to get married... Therefore, if he couldn't marry Madam Chang, it would be useless to keep this daughter-in-law!
"..." As a fellow soldier who practiced martial arts, Chang Suining silently noticed the alert aura of Lieutenant General Yu, who was ready to escape at any time. Thinking of the agreement between himself and Cui Jing, he did not say anything to refuse.
She looked at the casual handwriting on the note in her hand.
So, how come Cui Jing can always be so unreserved, yet never seem to think that what he does is worth mentioning?
…
That night, when Chang Suining wanted to write a letter to Cui Jing to express his gratitude, he deliberately found the reply letter that Cui Jing had written not long ago.
He listened to her very much. Last time she asked him to write more, he really did write a lot more, several pages of letter paper, without a single word being written to make up the number.
At this time, Chang Suining read it again and suddenly found the answer in the letter - it turned out that he got the 3.67 million strings of cash in both decimal and integer form in this way? Haha, today is a very strange chapter title_(:з」∠)_Good night!
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