At this point you can see the differences between the three.
Like Sudi and Zhao Lin, those who refused to cooperate were directly threatened with their families.
Gong Qiubai could not threaten his family, but he was not polite and tortured him severely. He soon confessed honestly.
Su Yinghan tortured and sowed discord at the same time, and also reaped great rewards.
A steady stream of information converged to Zhao Lin.
"Officials from the Qingyuan Governor's Office seized 1.2 million taels of gold, 17 million taels of silver, 800,000 strings of copper coins, and countless other antiques, calligraphy and paintings, mansions, farms, gold, silver, and jade artifacts."
"Officials from the Jian'an Governor's Office seized 1.3 million taels of gold, 15 million taels of silver, and 1.01 million strings of copper coins. They are still counting other antiques, calligraphy and paintings, mansions and farms, gold, silver, jade, maids, and servants."
"Officials from the Lingnan Governor's Office seized 500,000 taels of gold, 8,000,000 taels of silver, 600,000 strings of copper coins, and countless other valuables."
Zhao Lin laughed out loud when he saw the message sent by Sudi.
The property seized from the house searches in Lingnan was only half of that in Qingyuan and Jian'an provinces. It seemed that Sudi had deliberately embezzled it.
Because once registered, it must be turned over to the national treasury.
Zhao Lin risked his life for it, why would he give it away to others without leaving anything behind?
Su Di, Gong Qiubai and Su Yinghan all stood in front of Zhao Lin.
There were only four of them in the room.
Zhao Lin asked Sudi, "How much is there actually?"
Sudi simply said, "Double it."
One million taels of gold, sixteen million taels of silver, and one million and two hundred thousand strings of copper coins.
Astronomical figures.
Zhao Lin suddenly thought of the fall of the Ming Dynasty in his previous life.
The imperial court could not come up with the money, so it borrowed from various ministers. As a result, the princes of the royal family only took out a few hundred taels of silver, and the most the ministers could give was only a thousand taels.
After the rebels broke through the city, they found hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in their homes.
He would rather have his entire family killed and the money left for the rebels than give the money to the court.
These royal relatives and ministers of the Ming Dynasty are very similar to the officials of the three provinces today.
It is said that due to years of war and natural and man-made disasters, the treasury of Daqi is empty and even the salaries of officials cannot be paid.
Who would have thought that Zhao Lin could find so much just by randomly searching the house?
These properties are equivalent to the taxes collected by Daqi for nearly ten years.
"How ironic!" said Zhao Lin.
Sudi and the other two didn't understand.
Zhao Lin didn't explain, saying, "Twenty-and-a-half percent... one percent goes to the national treasury, and twenty percent goes to His Majesty. We'll divide the rest among ourselves."
Sudi remained calm, these treasures did not move him.
Su Yinghan was ecstatic, but forced herself to suppress her excitement.
Only Gong Qiubai said, "No, we can't keep so much money. We should give half to the national treasury."
Su Di and Su Yinghan suddenly turned their heads and stared at Gong Qiubai.
Zhao Lin looked at Gong Qiubai calmly.
Gong Qiubai said seriously, "It's not that I have other ideas, nor am I a pedantic and stubborn person. The court is in urgent need of money right now. Whether it's the border war or the disaster victims, a lot of money is needed. But you all know the current situation of the national treasury. There is not much money at all. If this amount of money could be put in, the people of the world would be much better off."
Sudi sneered and said, "If it goes into the national treasury, can it be used to support the people?"
Gong Qiubai explained earnestly: "Maybe some money will be embezzled, but the more money goes into the national treasury, the more money can be used for the people, right?"
Su Yinghan shook his head repeatedly: "Master Gong, you're overthinking it. The more money you bring in, the more greedy they become. Believe it or not, out of ten taels of silver, they'll be greedy for five, and out of a hundred thousand, they'll dare to be greedy for fifty, or even sixty, or seventy,000."
Gong Qiubai retorted, "No matter what, wouldn't it be better to have more money for the people?"
Zhao Lin smiled and said, "Then why can't we just use it directly for the people?"
Gong Qiubai was stunned.
Zhao Lin said, "The money we handed over to the treasury was originally intended to satisfy the imperial court and save them from trouble. I don't have high hopes for much of it to be used for the people. And the reason I kept so much was because I wanted to use the money directly for the people. Isn't that better than having it go through their hands?"
Gong Qiubai suddenly realized and said guiltily: "I misunderstood you, sir."
Zhao Lin waved his hand and said, "When money reaches a certain level, it's just a number. There's no use keeping so much money, but I can't just give it away to corrupt officials, so we'll use it directly for the people."
Gong Qiubai nodded repeatedly and said, "In that case, paying 10% to the national treasury is too much. It would be sufficient for each province to pay 200,000 taels."
This guy's face changes so quickly.
Su Di and Su Yinghan secretly complained.
Zhao Lin smiled and said, "It's too little and it won't stop those adults from talking. Quite a few people have come to visit me these past few days. Aren't they all here for this little bit of money? Or are they really concerned about my safety?"
"snort!"
Sudi snorted coldly and said, "Zhao Lin risked his life to lure these thieves out and capture them all, even taking a few hits for it. They expect to share in the profits without even doing anything. How can such a good thing happen? In my opinion, we should just make another pirate come ashore and take care of them all."
Su Yinghan was eager to try: "I can pretend to be a pirate."
"No, no," Gong Qiubai said with a cold sweat, "This kind of thing is normal. Money can move people's hearts. If they come to rob us, we can also rob them. This is the unspoken rule. How can we kill people just for this?"
Zhao Lin nodded and said, "Qiu Bai is right. Just leave them alone. Do they dare to rob us?"
Zhao Lin laughed: "It would be even better if we could just snatch it by force."
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