Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 18
At this time, under Zhao Qianzong's deliberate instigation and dissemination, the soldiers and civilians in the entire Haimen Weicheng already knew that King Lu had ascended the throne in Taizhou to supervise the country, and when they came to Haimen Weicheng, they also heard that Lu Wang was going to recruit troops in Haimen To resist the Qing army, I also heard that Bo Luo, the commander of the Qing army, was leading an army of [-] to come from Hangzhou.

For a time people were panicking.

Rich people are preparing to flee for their lives, but poor people are still busy with three meals a day.

As soon as Mr. Zhao Qian provoked them, everyone didn't care too much, and they all came to King Lu to ask for payment.

Even if the Qing army calls, you have to be a full-fledged ghost first, right?
Don't give enough silver and moon food, and ask everyone to return to the camp to defend the city and fight. Isn't this nonsense?
If you don't work for a day, there will be no food for the family.

The general's mansion was completely surrounded.

Everyone is more concerned about the arrears of payment than the news that the Qing army's [-] troops are coming.

Zhu Yihai could only feel a heavy heart about this.

The Haimen Acropolis was originally managed by the commander of the Haimen Guards. Later, after Qi Jiguang was the first Taizhou general to garrison Haimen, the general's yamen became the highest manager of the Acropolis instead.

Wu Kai, Commander of the Guards, Qian Shi and other battalion generals and guards stood there in awe.

"How much money and food can the city provide now?" Zhu Yihai asked directly. The guards and battalion soldiers owed a lot of money, and there were many cases of false names. Now Zhu Yihai doesn't want to deal with these bad debts for the time being, and wants to calm down If there is a riot, you must first come up with some real money and rice.

Can't see, who will listen to those big words?
Wu Kai is not only a general in Taizhou, but also has the title of Haimen guard. His family has been in Haimen for generations, and he belongs to the kind of military leader and local tyrant. Then take advantage of Haimen's convenient geographical conditions to do some smuggling trade, so the Wu family has a good fortune.

The guards are poor and the military camp is poor, but Old Wu's family is quite rich.

Wu Kai also knew that this incident was too much, so he could only grit his teeth and donate at this time.

"There is no money or food in the guard and the camp, and all the rats in the warehouse have run away. Finally, the general is willing to donate 3000 taels of silver for payment."

Zhu Yihai glanced at Wu Kai, "How can I let my ministers donate for the affairs of the country."

"Borrow it. I just borrowed 2 taels of silver from Master Zhang Guojun, Commander of Jinyiwei, with a monthly profit of three cents. General Wu will also lend it to Gu at this rate. I will give you an IOU."

Wu Kai was stunned for a moment.

Then his face turned a little ugly, what does Jian Guo mean?Look down on 3000 taels, too little?
What do you mean Zhang Guojun borrowed 2 taels for a three-point profit? This is directly asking for 2 taels of silver?Wu Kai felt depressed and distressed. Although the old Wu family had some wealth, it was accumulated little by little by the eleven generations of their old Wu family in Haimen for nearly 300 years. of.

He could afford 2 taels, but it was almost all of the Wu family's cash, and some of it was stock money or loans from banks, shops, etc., which had to be recovered in advance.

Otherwise, you can only sell some gold and silver property or land pavement first.

Zhu Yihai glanced at Wu Kai, "I will write a 3000 tael debt to General Wu right now, how about a three-year term, with three years' interest of 240 taels, and a total of 240 taels of principal and interest repayment at maturity." As he said that, Zhu Yihai asked Wang Chuang to fetch paper and ink, and he wanted to pay the IOU on the spot.

The bear-like Wu Kai was stunned for a moment, and immediately recalled it.

"Your Highness, I would like to donate silver to help pay. The donation of 2 taels is a donation, not a loan."

Zhu Yihai just chuckled.

Emperor Chongzhen also asked his ministers to borrow money, but Chongzhen’s borrowing money was a farce that made people feel emotional. He borrowed 10 taels of silver from his father-in-law, and even made his father-in-law an earl first, but Zhou Kui was only willing to give it away. 5000 taels.

In the end, I felt that 5000 taels was too much, so I ran into the palace to find the queen’s daughter and cried poorly. The queen sold her jewelry and gave him 5000 taels. As soon as Zhou Kui left the palace, he put 2000 taels of it into his pocket and only donated 3000 taels Into the treasury.But after Li Zicheng entered Beijing, Zhou Kui's family was tortured and handed over tens of thousands of taels of silver.

Wei Zaode, the chief assistant of Tangtang, cried poor, took the furniture and utensils at home to set up a stall on the street, and finally gave Chongzhen 500 taels of silver.Then after Li Zicheng entered Beijing, he was arrested and tortured, but he took out tens of thousands of taels at once. After he was finally beaten to death, he ransacked his house but took out tens of thousands of taels of silver.

The head of the state Zhou Kui and the first assistant Wei Zaode were not an exception at the time, but a common situation. Chongzhen asked the ministers and relatives to borrow money, and everyone cried poorly.

Zhu Yihai doesn't think he has more face than Chongzhen, but he really has no money now.

He could only have the cheek to borrow it from someone, but he really planned to borrow it, not rob it.

However, Wu Kai is a quick-witted person, and he got into trouble again today, and he might be wrong for a while, so he didn't care about his heart, so he took the initiative and was willing to donate 2 taels.

Zhu Yihai was very emotional. The barracks of the guards were so poor that they couldn’t get rid of it. The 3000-person association camp only raised 120 soldiers, but the general’s family could easily spend 2 taels of silver. It seems that only the imperial court and the emperor were poor in Ming Dynasty. None of the civil servants, military officers, scholar-bureaucrats was poor.

"Wu Qing was so loyal that he took it alone."

Zhu Yihai picked up a pen and wrote an IOU, borrowing 1 taels, with a monthly profit of 800 cents, for a period of three years, borrowing [-] taels, and repaying [-] taels after three years.

He solemnly signed his name under the IOU, and then specially affixed the golden seal of King Lu and his private seal.

"Just borrow 1 taels. I can't let Wu Qing break the family and help."

Wu Kai accepted the IOU with trembling hands, thinking in his heart that the 1 taels was for naught.

But having an IOU can still comfort the wounded soul.

Who let the confidant Mr. Qian surnamed Zhao make trouble? The one who killed Qiandao was his own brother-in-law. It is impossible to lose money and bleed. Besides, the public is raging outside. If those damn guys don’t see some real gold today Silver probably won't give up either.

I'm used to numbness at ordinary times, but occasionally it will bounce back.

Always appease.

"Commander Liu, the national crisis is at stake. I don't know if Commander Liu can give generously. Let me borrow a little money first?" Zhu Yihai smiled and the Haimen Guard Commander Liu Yiming who kept his face stiff and wanted to laugh more like crying, this old man looked like He looked like he was about to fall into the ground, and he had always had the expression of this dead man since he came in.

Liu Yiming opened his mouth and closed it, closed it and opened it again, opened and closed non-stop. After a long time, he finally made up his mind, "The minister's family is poor and can't compare to General Wu, so I can only give 3000 taels."

Wu Kai frowned. Both the Liu family and the Wu family are local tyrants, even a century-old in-laws, "Uncle Liu, in the face of a national crisis, Jian Guo personally borrowed money from you. You have to do your best no matter what. At least you can borrow five thousand." .”

Liu Yiming's face was pained, "I can't get it out, my family has many adults, the expenses are very high, and I don't have much income."

Wu Kai's eyes signaled, "Think of a way, it's really not easy to turn around for a while, I'll help Uncle Liu make up the difference of 2000 taels."

Liu Yiming was full of reluctance, but in the end he had no choice but to agree.

Zhu Yihai didn't have a good expression on this old guy, and finally wrote him a 5000 tael IOU.

"All the generals, officials and gentry present here, and the local rich and powerful merchants, I promise that this is a loan, and the IOU can be exchanged when it expires. The interest of three cents is not low."

Wang Chuangzi snorted coldly at the side, "The Tatars are about to go south. Many of you here must have been to Yangzhou and seen the prosperity of Guangling, but now it has been slaughtered by the Tartars and turned into a ghost town and hell. If we can't hold on My own homeland, all the dignitaries who have been favored by the state, will be nothing more than lambs to be slaughtered by the Tartars."

Zhu Yihai smiled and said, "Once again, this is borrowing money. Just treat it as a normal loan turnover. The three-point profit is still quite high, and the general business is not as profitable as it is. Rest assured, I, Zhu Yihai, have always kept my promises. Debt must be paid!"

That's the end of the story, one is the guerrilla king Chuangzi of the Yongwei Battalion, who is full of murderous looks, and the other is the friendly King Lu Jianguo, who is full of smiles. Franz machine gunner.

"I would like to borrow 2000 taels."

"I would like to borrow one thousand."

"I can take out 200 taels, that's all I can do."

·····
Others offered eight hundred and five hundred.

However, Zhu Yihai only responded with a smile, and expressed his gratitude, and issued IOUs one by one, signed his name and stamped them.

Ten thousand taels is not too much, and a hundred taels is not too little.

But today, those who paid a lot of money with sincerity, he naturally remembered them all, and those who were obviously stingy and refused to pay more, he also took note of them all one by one.

"Wang Guerrilla, send someone back to the manor with these adults to get the money immediately. Don't waste time. Thousands of people outside are waiting for the money. If you delay for a long time, if something goes wrong , but it will be troublesome." Zhu Yihai said.

Wang Chuangzi nodded knowingly immediately, and called his brothers to protect (destroy) the prominent officers, gentry, great merchants, and landlords in the Acropolis to go back to collect the money.

(End of this chapter)