Sudi thought Zhao Lin would be shocked, but unexpectedly, his face was calm and he didn't look surprised at all.
"You know?" Sudi asked.
Zhao Lin shook his head. "I don't know, but I can guess. Gao Junliang has been ostracized by them and doesn't even look like a prefect. A mere one million taels of silver isn't much."
Su Di said, "Yes. Gao Junliang can't handle things, and Lü Ze'an is the highest-ranking official in Qingzhou, but he only has a little over one million taels of silver, which is really not much. By the way, although Zhang Hong and his people don't have as much as Lü Ze'an, they still have five or six hundred thousand taels, which adds up to more than two million taels, not to mention the antiques, calligraphy and paintings. What are you going to do?"
Zhao Lin said: "Of course it's for military pay."
Millions of taels of silver for military pay...
Sudi was silent for a moment, then looked around to see if there was anyone around. He then whispered, "Are you planning to rebel and become emperor yourself?"
"How is that possible?"
Zhao Lin laughed and said, "It's just to protect myself."
Zhao Lin sighed, "You also know that everything in this world is false."
“Money is empty.”
"Power is empty."
"Only the soldiers are real."
"As long as you have soldiers, whatever you do is right."
"If you don't have soldiers, you're just chess pieces in someone else's hands. You can use them when you want, and throw them away when you don't want."
"Look at Zhao Jingzhou, commanding 200,000 elite soldiers from the Northern Zhen Army. Even if the civil service is noble and the military is humble, who would dare to say a single unpleasant word to his face?"
Sudi agreed, "You're right. We must have our own army, but isn't it a bit extravagant to spend over two million taels of silver on the army?"
"Of course not." Zhao Lin said.
"First, we need to protect our own safety. We need at least 5,000 elite soldiers. Not just some incompetent soldiers, but real elite soldiers like the Zhenbei Army."
"Secondly, if we want to expand our maritime business, we need military support. It would take at least several thousand soldiers, right?"
"That's ten thousand."
"Adding those odds and ends, there must be at least 100,000 soldiers and horses, right?"
“Ahem…”
Sudi almost choked.
Everything seemed to be going well as planned according to Zhao Lin's calculations, but it suddenly turned into a force of 100,000 soldiers and horses.
Sudi asked, "You still say you don't want to rebel?"
Zhao Lin smiled and said, "Self-protection, self-protection."
Sudi stopped asking and said, "It's not easy to hide a hundred thousand soldiers."
Zhao Lin said: "Go to the sea."
Sudi's eyes lit up.
There are many unknown islands on the sea, so it is easy to hide tens of thousands of dollars.
"I promised you the position of Tongzhi before. Now that Lu Ze'an has been arrested, I can fulfill my promise." Zhao Lin said.
Being a sixth-rank Tongzhi was a bit unfair to the Tanhua scholar, but Sudi accepted it with pleasure.
"Let us brothers join forces and kill everyone." Sudi said with a smile.
"Sir, someone wants to see you."
The doorman came to report.
"Who is it?" Zhao Lin asked.
The doorman said, "He didn't say anything, only that he was from the capital and his last name was Li."
"Beijing, surnamed Li?"
Zhao Linwei pondered and said, "Could it be her?"
Zhao Lin hurried to the gate of the government office and saw a carriage parked there. Who else could be standing beside the carriage but Han Shuang, the maid of Princess Li Weibai?
Zhao Lin quickly stepped forward to greet him: "Your Majesty..."
"Sir Zhao, His Highness has ordered us not to reveal her identity." Han Shuang said hurriedly.
Zhao Lin understood and said, "Please come in, distinguished guest."
When they arrived at the government office, Zhao Lin bowed again and said, "Your Highness, Zhao Lin, respectfully welcomes Her Royal Highness the Princess."
The door curtain opened, and Li Weibai got off the carriage with the help of Han Shuang, saying, "Master Zhao, please stand up."
"Thank you, Your Highness."
Zhao Lin stood up and asked, "Why did His Highness come here in person?"
Li Weibai said: "How can I dare to give you so much silver without taking a look at it myself?"
Zhao Lin laughed: "A mere few tens of thousands of taels of silver isn't worth a trip for Your Highness, is it?"
Li Weibai remained noncommittal and said, "You're quite efficient. You actually managed to get the Emperor to approve the establishment so quickly."
Zhao Lin said, "The people here are so fierce that they even dare to steal the flower and stone convoy. It's because the emperor is considerate of me and worried that I can't handle it, so he approved the establishment and allowed me to train 3,000 soldiers to escort the flower and stone convoy."
"Stop talking such high-sounding words. Take me to the military camp." Li Weibai said.
Li Weibai got back on the carriage, and Zhao Lin drove the carriage himself, taking them to the military camp.
The military camp has been built and is heavily guarded. Even if Zhao Lin comes in, he has to check the token.
Inside the huge camp, three thousand soldiers were practicing assassination.
Each of them held a wooden spear in his hand and rushed forward under the leadership of the officer.
"Not bad, not bad."
Li Weibai was very satisfied: "They are all young and strong, without any old, weak or sick people making up the numbers. Very good. How many people are there?"
Zhao Lin said: "Your Highness, three thousand people."
"Only three thousand people?"
Li Weibai frowned slightly: "You promised this Highness 3,000 men, and Zhu Zhongyan's servant 3,000 men, how can this number be enough?"
Zhao Lin said, "Your Majesty has only approved a force of 3,000 men, so we can only recruit 3,000. However, the auxiliary troops are not bad either, and will not waste your money."
Li Weibai looked at the auxiliary troops, all of whom were as young and strong as the regular troops, and nodded. "That's true. But how can I be sure that these 3,000 regular troops will be given to me and not to that slave?"
Zhao Lin smiled and said, "These three thousand soldiers belong to Eunuch Zhu, and the people who trained them are also Eunuch Zhu's men. As for your Highness's three thousand soldiers, they will be selected from those auxiliary troops."
Li Weibai's face darkened. "You have trained 6,000 people out of a 3,000-man system. If people find out, even if the Emperor values you highly, I won't tolerate it."
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