"I guarantee with my life that not a single cent of the money given to the national treasury is corrupt money!"
Li Jinglong slapped his chest on the spot and spoke righteously.
"Not greedy? You can get three to five million at any time?" Zhu Yunxi said with his eyes closed as he swayed on the corvee.
Li Jinglong was eager to show off in front of the emperor and did not delve into the meaning of this sentence.
But Hu Guan felt that something was wrong. The emperor seemed to be tempting Cao Guogong to talk?
"Your Majesty, both generations of my grandfather and father fought with the Supreme Emperor. You also know that their generation went wherever they went to plunder... that... they fought hard all their lives. They didn't save much for anything else. They just saved these.
Yellow and white things!" Li Jinglong explained, "I am greedy for money. I have been doing some business in private these years."
"What a bitch, I'm so irritating. I fought a lot of wars back then, so why didn't I grab a lot of things?" Hu looked at Cao Guogong's mansion, which was even more magnificent than his princess's mansion, and cursed in his heart, "
Are you doing business in private? Isn’t it collusion between government and businessmen? You, Mr. Cao Guogong, have a strong brand, and your reputation means money! Hey, look at this person!"
Li Jinglong continued, "The emperor treats his ministers generously. In the past few years, the salt and iron monopoly in Goryeo and the tea gardens in Yunnan were the profits of daily income. Although I have a lot of money, it is all clean. I have no future.
, but I also know what money I can take and what money I can’t take!”
"Actually, I have thought very clearly. How much money can be gained through corruption, but in the end you will end up with the consequences. Although the money from these transactions does not sound good, it is still innocent."
Zhu Yunxi half-opened his eyes and glanced at him, "Oh, Mr. Cao Guogong is so gentle, has he really never been greedy for a penny?"
"Absolutely not! When I was in the army, I never drank soldiers' blood and took empty pay." Li Jinglong said loudly.
"Oh, I remembered it wrong!" Zhu Yunxi sat up straight, "It is said that someone tried to get a job as the commander-in-chief of Guangdong last year, and they used your Cao Guogong's path. I heard that just on the day of the meeting, the meeting gift was a leading ticket.
Fifty?"
"What a good boy! That's five thousand silver dollars..." Hu Guan cursed in his heart, "It's still a greeting gift. Duke Cao Guo is too shady. It's useless to look for me...it's useless to look for me, the Governor's Mansion and the Ministry of War
Who the hell knows me?"
In an instant, Li Jinglong was sweating profusely.
He thought he was doing this secretly, but he didn't expect that the emperor knew everything about it.
"I'm guilty!" Li Jinglong quickly kowtowed, "Your Majesty, listen to my explanation. I'm also entrusted with this matter, so I can't refuse it. If I don't accept it, I'll offend the other person's face. I accept it, but the money is divided."
The article has not been touched..."
"Taking a state official position to take away the favor of Duke Cao Guo, this is a very clever calculation!" Zhu Yunxi smiled, "I just said there was no corruption, doesn't this count?"
"This..." Li Jinglong said with a bitter face, "Long live my lord...my minister..."
"You also said that your family's money is all from private business!" Zhu Yunxi continued to laugh, "How do you get it from monopolizing the market and taking advantage of it, do you still need me to say it? Do you need me to let people take it?
Bring the ledger?"
"Long live my Lord, I just said something wrong!" Li Jinglong suddenly said seriously.
"Well, I'll give you a chance to say it again!" Zhu Yunxi lay down again and swayed with the rocking chair, closing his eyes.
"The savings in my family shouldn't be only three to five million yuan, it should be much more than this!" Li Jinglong thought, "You also know that I don't care about the owner of the family, my wife is in charge of the money, you know.
Probably!"
"What I just told the emperor in a hurry was about the recent income of the family, not the original savings of the family!"
Zhu Yunxi hummed, "I gave you three to five million yuan, and your family still has savings!"
"Three generations of father and son have run the business in my family. In addition, my natal family is also very wealthy, and there were many dowries in those days... As the saying goes, a widow has a bad fortune when she gives birth to a son!" Li Jinglong said with a smile.
"Oh!" Zhu Yunxi responded without saying anything.
Li Jinglong lowered his head, his mind working rapidly.
This scene made Hu Guan confused again.
"Three to five million is not enough, he wants to come up with more? My dear, how much money does Cao Guogong have in his family? No, no, it's not that he didn't hear the emperor's words clearly just now, he deliberately gave the emperor a pretext, and went to
Let’s talk about this!”
Hu Guan thought to himself, "How did Li Jinglong get such a brain?"
"I've done the math. What the family can afford now is almost..." Li Jinglong gritted his teeth and said, "Almost 1.2 million."
Suddenly, the rocking chair stopped, Zhu Yunxi opened his eyes and stared at Li Jinglong, making the latter feel scared.
He thought that Li Jinglong's family had a lot of ill-gotten wealth, but he didn't expect there to be so much. There were so many provinces in the Ming Dynasty, and some of them did not have such a large annual grain tax balance.
And based on his understanding of Li Jinglong, this guy is definitely the one who will leave the younger ones and stay older. The head of the family...
With this in mind, Zhu Yunxi looked again at the towering warehouses in the Li family's backyard.
"The imperial court is temporarily in difficulty, and the subjects who have received the kindness of the country should repay the country's favor!" Li Jinglong continued, "I will have people count them tomorrow, and then personally deliver them to the national treasury, firstly to relieve Yunnan's urgent military needs, secondly to relieve the worries of the emperor and father, and thirdly.
Ministers, please set an example..."
"It depends on what you said!" Zhu Yunxi stood up and looked at the blooming roses in the flower room with his hands behind his back. "I'm not here to ask for money from you. It's not that the treasury has no money, but it's just that I can't move it away for the time being. With you, a minister of the country,
I want money, but I can’t afford to lose this person. What will others think if the news spreads? Oh, I am an emperor who wants to take advantage of his ministers when he is in trouble. You have been with me for so long and you don’t understand this?"
"Your Majesty, I am voluntarily serving you!" Li Jinglong said loudly, "I am the emperor and duke of the Ming Dynasty. Who can serve the country better? Only good ministers of the Ming Dynasty can be good, and only good ministers of the Emperor can be good!"
"That's not right!" Zhu Yunxi waved his hand, "It's not good for outsiders to know!"
Li Jinglong suddenly had a bright idea and laughed in a low voice, "Long live Lord, let's do this. Instead of sending this money to the treasury of the Ministry of Household Affairs, I will send someone to send it directly to the palace. Where to use it, Long live Lord, you have the final say."
!”
"The more you talk, the more outrageous you are!" Zhu Yunxi glared, "If outsiders know about it, what will they think of me?"
"I respect the emperor's private house, who can be picky about it? Besides, except the emperor and his ministers..." As he said this, Li Jinglong looked at Hu Guan, who was studying silently beside him.
"What the hell do you think I'm doing? Am I a talkative person?" Hu Guan was furious, "Besides, I'm the consort, and I'm an outsider?"
"I still don't think it's right!" Zhu Yunxi thought deeply, "No matter how difficult it is to raise money for military expenses, we can still raise it. The national treasury will provide part of it. I really have some private property, so I can just make it together!"
"Long live my lord, you...you, an old minister, feel very uncomfortable! How have you been wronged?" Li Jinglong said worriedly, "They say that the emperor is the emperor, but the food you use is only slightly less than that of a small household.
Just a little bit stronger, the last time I saw you, you had a bowl of noodles for lunch, with at most an egg added!"
"The palace looks splendid, but I see it every day when I enter the palace. The palace on the queen's side and the prince's side are all in need of repairs. The paint on the pillars has fallen off, and you don't allow them to be repaired. Inside the palace
, not even any decent furnishings.”
"There is also the Supreme Emperor. His old man is now in a state of honor, but the Yong'an Palace... As I said, I couldn't even sleep after seeing it. The old man has suffered all his life, and now it's time to enjoy the blessings."
"It's okay in winter, but in summer the Forbidden City becomes unbearably hot. I'm so sorry that you don't even have a garden to escape the heat. I feel sad when I see you!"
"It's almost the New Year again, and you still have rewards for the palace guards, the royal ministers, and the vassal states..."