When the cabinet chief Wei Zaode and his cronies heard that Li Banghua had donated his property, they all lowered their heads and sneered.
High emotional intelligence: donate money to get promoted.
Low emotional intelligence: selling official positions!
They laughed at Li Banghua for being obsessed with power and having no brains. Li Banghua was already a second-rank official with the title of Junior Tutor, which would have made him a third-rank official and a first-rank official.
If we go back one year, the act of donating money to buy an official position would be justifiable, after all, the Ming Dynasty was still alive at that time.
Now the Ming Dynasty is on the verge of collapse and is in danger. Even if we raise a million taels of silver, it will not prevent its demise.
Why bother?
It is better to save the money and prepare for the change of dynasty early.
What's even more ridiculous is that Chongzhen only said that there would be a great reward, but he didn't say what the reward was. It was clearly empty talk.
"Your servant Wang Zhixin has received much grace from the Emperor and I am willing to donate half of my property to help suppress the bandits!" The governor of the East Factory, Wang Zhixin, then knelt on the ground and donated half of his property with great reluctance.
The corner of Chongzhen's mouth twitched. This guy is really a money-grubber. After being beaten, he still dared to keep half of the family property. It really seems like he is dying for money.
He narrowed his eyes, and although he was dissatisfied in his heart, he pretended to be very happy on his face: "The king's loyalty is evident, and he will be promoted to the third rank!"
Wang Chengen also wanted to donate, but he had already donated his money long ago, and he was unable to give away the only ten taels of silver left in his pocket, which made him feel a little annoyed.
Wu Mengming remembered what Chongzhen had said when he summoned him before the court meeting. In order to please the emperor and protect himself, he could only bite the bullet and say, "Your Majesty, I am willing to donate one thousand taels of silver!"
"Good! Commander Wu is promoted to a higher rank! Is there anyone else who wants to donate silver?"
"I am willing to donate 500 taels of silver to relieve the urgent need."
"I am willing to donate one thousand taels."
"I am willing to donate eight hundred taels."
......
Under the leadership of Li Banghua, more than 40 court officials donated money.
Chongzhen calculated that the amount of donated silver ranged from dozens to thousands of taels, and the total amount was no more than 50,000 taels!
"Is there anyone else who wants to donate silver?" Chongzhen asked again with a blank expression.
All the officials were silent.
Those who wanted to donate have donated, and the rest expressed their attitude with silence.
"Okay!" Chongzhen paused, "Since no one is donating silver, I will borrow money."
"Is there anyone who can lend me money?"
Borrow money?
Upon hearing these two words, the Cabinet Chief Minister Wei Zaode almost laughed out loud.
Chongzhen, Chongzhen, you are the emperor, but you actually borrow money from your subjects. Don’t you have shame? Don’t the royal family have shame too?
In this situation, is there any difference between borrowing and donating? If you can't even raise money through donations, will anyone lend you money?
It's just a pig's brain!
The rest of the people had different ideas.
If Chongzhen asked them to borrow money, could he refuse?
Obviously not.
How to deal with it? The court officials and nobles lowered their heads and thought hard.
Wang Chengen was a little anxious when no one answered. He was afraid that if he continued like this, it would be embarrassing for the emperor, so he quickly winked at Wang Zhixin.
Wang Zhixin felt uncomfortable being stared at by Wang Chengen. He sighed in his heart, knelt down again and said, "Your Majesty, I am willing to lend you 500 taels to help the court suppress the bandits."
"Okay, okay... this kid is teachable!"
After waiting for a while, seeing that no one spoke, Chongzhen called out the name directly: "Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue?"
Wang Zhengzhi, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, first surrendered to Li Zicheng and then surrendered to the Jian Nu. He had a chaste face but a bitch-like personality.
Chongzhen decided to start with him.
Wang Zhengzhi curled his lips secretly, then stood up and bowed politely: "Your Majesty, I am here."
"How much cash do you have at home?"
"This..." Wang Zhengzhi hesitated. The question was too direct. He knew that Chongzhen must be planning something bad, but he didn't know what it was.
After thinking about it, the worst outcome would be a house raid.
If anyone really dared to raid his house, he would be the first to open the city gate when Li Zicheng arrived.
After Wang Zhengzhi counted the remaining silver in his home, he said, "Your Majesty, I have about 100 taels of silver in my home. I do have some other property, but they are all objects, not silver."
"Oh." Chongzhen narrowed his eyes, "Since the money is not much, I will lend you less. How about half?"
Wang Zhengzhi looked incredulous.
Was Chongzhen crazy because of poverty?
One hundred taels of silver will not be spared...
"This..." He wanted to say no, but he couldn't open his mouth because of the emperor's majesty.
borrow?
The money you lend out will definitely not be recovered.
After holding it in for a long time, he stammered, "Your Majesty, I have old people and young children to take care of. I'm afraid fifty taels of silver won't last me a few days."
"Don't worry, Minister Wang. As long as I have something to eat, your family won't starve."
Chongzhen had already said this, and Wang Zhengzhi could no longer refute him. He could only agree with a sad face.
Chongzhen continued to ask expressionlessly: "Where is Minister Fan of the Ministry of Works?"
Minister of Works Fan Jingwen bowed and said, "I am here."
"How much cash do you have at home?"
Fan Jingwen said respectfully, "I have less than fifty taels of silver."
"Since it's so little, I won't borrow from you."
The others raised their eyebrows and grasped the point.
Although Fan Jingwen was telling the truth, you could escape the disaster by pretending to be poor and pitiful like him.
"Where is Zhang Jinyan?"
"I am here."
"Is there any cash at home?"
Zhang Jinyan, the Minister of War, knelt down on the ground with an embarrassed look on his face: "Your Majesty, I am an honest official, and my family has no money to spend."
Wang Zhengzhi glanced at Zhang Jinyan and sighed in his heart: This guy is so cruel that he doesn't even want to lend me a penny.
Chongzhen asked expressionlessly, "Is what Minister Zhang said true?"
"I dare not lie."
"The Prime Minister of the Cabinet?" Chongzhen's face became more and more ugly.
Under the gaze of the crowd, the cabinet chief Wei Zaode slowly stepped out and said calmly: "I am willing to lend you 500 taels of silver to help you suppress the bandits!"
"No, no, no, Wei Qing misunderstood my meaning. I was asking how much cash you have at home!"
Wei Zaode snorted in his heart and said loudly: "My family is poor and I have no cash. I live by borrowing money. The five hundred taels of silver I just borrowed were also borrowed by me."
Wang Chengen stood by and gnashed his teeth. These people had embezzled more money than the national treasury. In times of crisis, not only did they not donate generously, but they were stingy. It was really hateful.
He looked at the back of Emperor Chongzhen and hated himself for not being Wei Zhongxian, unable to intimidate the court and unable to relieve the emperor's worries.
"Duke Chengguo?" Chongzhen didn't care at all and immediately turned his gaze to this first-class duke.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
