I want to be emperor

Chapter 131 The Mountain of Gold and Silver

Thousands of defenders relied on the walls of Nanyang City, but they couldn't stop the onslaught of the army protecting the countryside. It was absolutely impossible for Tang Wangfu to block the attack of the army defending the countryside relying on a few slaves to guard it.

At around [-]:[-] p.m., the Township Protection Army formally captured the Tang Palace. The Tang King Zhu Yujian hanged himself to death.

Tang Wangfu is also the place where Nanyang City resisted to the last moment, while other places have surrendered or been conquered long ago.

The magistrate of Nanyang Prefecture, shortly after the city was broken, hanged himself in a hurry before the soldiers of the rural protection army arrived at the magistrate's yamen.

Tong Zhi committed suicide at home.

The pushing officer Zuo Binglin absconded and disappeared.

Chen Qi, magistrate of Nanyang County, was captured.

In addition to the above four important civil servants, a group of low-level civil servants were also captured. Few of these people committed suicide or were killed for stubborn resistance. Most of them chose to escape. If they could not escape, they surrendered and became prisoners. .

Among the military generals, it was even more special. Some people fled the city with their soldiers at the last moment, some absconded with makeup, and some were forced to surrender as prisoners of war.

but……

There are still quite a few generals who turned around with their men and turned to the thief...

Regardless of the choices made by the civil and military officials and vassals in Nanyang City, it is a fact that Nanyang City was completely controlled by the Township Protection Army in just a few hours.

Now the rural protection army entering the city has begun to patrol the city in groups, searching for sporadic and recalcitrant defeated soldiers.

Before the siege, Director Chen Xingkai of the Grain Requisition Department had already expected a large amount of spoils, and had prepared dozens of elite troops to accompany the army.

As soon as the army entered the city, the grain requisition officers at the grain collection office followed the army into the city.

After the army captured the official warehouse in the city, they immediately seized the inventory.

Follow-up investigations were conducted in various official institutions.

But the big heads are not in these official warehouses or yamen, but in the homes of various officials and the Tang Palace.

Especially the Tang Palace, the Tang Palace has ruled Nanyang for more than 200 years, and its accumulated wealth is definitely an astonishing figure.

This was also true during the actual check and inventory. Just gold, silver, copper coins and other cash were confiscated. A huge amount of 30 taels was confiscated.

Really piled up like a mountain!

There are also a lot of other rare calligraphy and paintings, and it is even difficult to judge the value in a short period of time. At the same time, a lot of various real estates, real estate deeds, land deeds, and a large number of various IOUs have been copied out.

Such a large Tang Palace has huge assets, but it is a pity that the only confiscated proceeds that the Township Protection Army can directly use in a short time are cash.

As for all kinds of real estate, it is not easy to realize it, let alone quite a lot of them are still in other places.

On the contrary, some curios can be sold at a low price, but it is hard to say how much money can be recovered.

After all, antiques in prosperous times and gold in troubled times.

In such a chaotic world, these curios are not as valuable as imagined, and if they are sold to those merchants on the spot, I am afraid that they will not get much money back.

If you want to buy a good price, you can only ship it to Jiangnan and other prosperous places that have not been affected by the war for the time being, but this is relatively difficult for the rural protection army, and the time required is too long.

The rural protection army who entered the city confiscated a large amount of assets not only in the Tang Palace, but also in the residences of various officials in the city.

During this process, in fact, the soldiers of the Rural Protection Army who entered the city would more or less hide some loot.

As long as you don't do too much, the higher-ups generally don't care too much.

Although it is said that all kinds of seizures in the rural protection army must be turned over to the public, it cannot be said that the soldiers are not allowed to keep their own "trophies"!

As for the jewelry in someone's bosom, it is difficult to say clearly whether the jewelry in someone's arms was stolen from the loot captured by the enemy or when it was confiscated.

But even if some of the 'trophies' were taken away by the soldiers, in fact, the soldiers couldn't hide much secretly.

After all, most of the things are stored in various cellars and warehouses. For example, the several 10 taels of gold and silver and copper coins in the Tang Palace were piled up in several cellars. There is no way to directly take things from this kind of vault and hide them openly.

Most of the soldiers still took some jewelry and scattered gold and silver.

Most of the gold and silver and other materials were seized by the grain requisition office.

In the evening, Chen Xingkai from the food requisition office found Luo Zhixue with a blushing face, and reported to Luo Zhixue the results of this confiscation operation.

"According to our previous confiscations against Guancang, Tang Wang, various recalcitrant and captured officials today, we have confiscated gold, silver and copper coins, including all kinds of gold and silver jewelry, with a total value of 53 taels of silver."

"In addition to cash, we also confiscated a total of 26 catties of various grains, mainly from official warehouses, the Tang Palace, and grain storehouses controlled by some officials."

"In addition, more than 8000 pieces of various kinds of cloth and more than 500 pieces of silk were confiscated."

"There are also a lot of other materials. This is a detailed list. General, please have a look."

"There are also some guns, weapons, mules, horses, carriages and other supplies that have been directly handed over to the military, so I don't have statistics here."

While listening, Luo Zhixue took over Chen Xingkai's report and began to read it. There were hundreds of confiscated items on it, and gold, silver, grain and cloth were just one of them, and there were many other messy things. For example, livestock, wine, tea, porcelain, all kinds of ironware, and even all kinds of wooden furniture and clothes.

After all, it was confiscated, of course everything was confiscated, even toilet paper was included.

Although Luo Zhixue flipped through it, but in fact it was just a simple look, but he didn't look through it one by one. There were too many types of items on it, and they were complicated. The most important thing was that there were many messy materials. Luo Zhixue didn't care. He only cares about cash and some easily cashable materials, as well as materials such as cloth that can be used directly.

When Luo Zhixue flipped through it, Chen Xingkai continued: "This is just what we confiscated today. Tomorrow we will continue to confiscate the remaining recalcitrant officials and gentry in the city, and we expect to confiscate some more cash and supplies."

"This time the confiscation of Nanyang City has exceeded our expectations. It is only cash, food, cloth and other materials that we can use directly. This will not only relieve our current military expenditure pressure, but also support us. Increase the output of various types of ordnance, and then expand a large number of troops."

Luo Zhixue put down the account book, and said with a smile on his face: "This time, your food requisition office did a good job. It seized a large amount of supplies in a timely and accurate manner, which is very good!"

"Follow-up, your food collection department will continue to work hard, closely cooperate with the military's operations, and do a good job in the seizure work."

As he said that, Luo Zhixue thought for a while and then said: "Also, the last time you applied for funds, I agreed to increase the manpower of the grain requisition office, so I will follow the plan you mentioned last time, recruit people as soon as possible, and familiarize yourself with them as soon as possible." For business, the pressure on your food collection department will be even greater in the future, so you have to prepare in advance."

"There will be more confiscated businesses of all kinds. In addition, it is more important that you make preparations as soon as possible for the summer grain collection in a few months. If everything goes well, when the summer grain collection starts, maybe the grain collection office will We can afford the summer grain collection work in the entire Nanyang Basin."

"The matter of collecting grain is directly related to the lifeline of our army protecting the countryside, and there must be no negligence."

Hearing that Luo Zhixue approved the plan to increase the manpower of the Grain Collection Department, Chen Xingkai's face became more joyful, and he immediately said loudly: "Our people at the Grain Collection Department can't do war when it comes to fighting, but when it comes to copying and not collecting grain, this matter We're good at it."

"Don't worry, General, I will definitely make proper arrangements. When the summer grain collection comes, I will complete the grain collection task on time and in the right amount."

Chen Xingkai has reason to be happy, as an official organization how to reflect the importance and status?

It is difficult to evaluate other aspects, but one point is easy to understand, that is, the amount of funds and the number of personnel.

After this expansion, the Grain Requisition Department under Chen Xingkai's command will surpass the Industrial Department and become the organization with the most funds and the most personnel in the Rural Protection Army.

This means that the Grain Collection Department will become the most important institution in the General's Mansion of the Rural Protection Army.

This is what really makes Chen Xingkai happy.

Luo Zhixue said: "Okay, they are all my old brothers, so there is no need to say more. You are busy at night, go and busy with your affairs."

Chen Xingkai, as the head of the food requisition department, is destined to be very busy this evening, and needs to keep an eye on the work of confiscation and inventory everywhere, so as to avoid any mistakes.

So soon Chen Xingkai left. When he was going out, he happened to meet Huang Guangmao, Chief of the Staff Department, and Xu Zhixian, Deputy Chief of the Staff Department, who also came to report to him.

After the three of them greeted briefly, one continued to go out, and the other two continued to move forward. After walking a few steps, Xu Zhixian looked back at Chen Xingkai's light footsteps, and immediately said in a low voice: "It seems that the food collection department Today's harvest is not small, maybe it can overwhelm the industrial department."

Huang Guangmao said: "It's just a bargain. We've already taken down the place, and they're just doing an inventory. I'm afraid the people in the industrial department will not accept it."

"However, this has nothing to do with us. Anyway, the more money and food confiscated by the grain requisition department, the more ordnance and ammunition produced by the industry department, the better for us."

Xu Zhixian chuckled and said, "That's true!"

Regardless of how the grain requisition department and the industry department compete for the top spot in internal affairs, they will not affect the interests of the military. Even the more they compete, the better it will be for the military.

Because in essence, the entire system of the Rural Protection Army today is a very pure military priority system.

All the institutions under the General's Mansion, no matter what they do, are still serving the military in the final analysis.

(End of this chapter)