There was a change in the army, and the general in Fanhou Mansion naturally didn't know about it.
The banquet was very lively with people drinking and drinking.
It is well known that the general is a good drinker, but today the general does not drink much. After three glasses of wine, he will not ask for more wine.
However, Pei Shiqing seemed to be in a good mood today.
Everyone toasted many times, but Pei Shiqing did not refuse anyone who came, and he was already a little drunk at this moment.
After drinking for three rounds, Fan Ziqi suddenly clapped his hands, and then saw a servant coming over with a tray with a wooden box on it, and walked to Fan Ziqi's side.
When everyone saw this, they were all curious.
Fan Ziqi didn't talk nonsense. He stood up and opened the wooden box. He actually took out a stack of silver notes from the box. Everyone present was a little surprised. Some people remembered that at the previous banquet, Fan Ziqi donated 50 yuan to the general on behalf of the Fanjun family.
Regarding the matter of 10,000 taels of silver, at that time, the banknote of 500,000 taels of silver was personally handed over to Su Changyu.
Fan Ziqi took out the banknotes again today, should he continue to donate?
The general was also a little surprised, but Fan Ziqi smiled and waved the silver notes in his hand, and said loudly: "Everyone, here are three hundred and seventy thousand taels of silver notes. Today, you will be my witnesses. I will donate these silver notes to the servants."
Your Excellency." He put the banknote back into the box, closed it, held it up with both hands, and sent the box to Pei Shiqing, saying respectfully: "Your Excellency, I am true to my word. I gave you 230,000 yuan before.
Two taels of silver, plus the 370,000 taels here, is exactly 600,000 taels."
Pei Shiqing looked a little embarrassed and laughed twice, but did not reach out to pick it up.
"Your Majesty, please accept it." Seeing that Pei Shiqing did not accept the box, Fan Ziqi went forward and gave it to him: "This is the money that our Fan family needs to save their lives. If your Majesty does not accept it, the lives of our Fan family will not be saved. What are you talking about today?"
You have to accept it too."
Pei Shiqing finally said: "Master Hou, we can talk about this later."
"I can't wait." Fan Ziqi shook his head and said, "I will hand over this money to you in front of the general and everyone. Only when someone testifies will I feel at ease. Otherwise, if I give you hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in private, someone will refuse to acknowledge it.
So what should we do?"
Tonight's birthday banquet was filled with people drinking and drinking, and the atmosphere was originally very lively. However, as soon as the banknote came out, and Fan Ziqi's few words, the atmosphere suddenly solidified, and the surrounding noise fell silent.
Everyone looked at Fan Ziqi and Pei Shiqing, wondering for a moment what was going on.
Pei Shiqing's face turned a little ugly.
He never thought that Fan Ziqi would bring this kind of secret operation to the forefront.
"Master Hou, is this...?" Yao Mubai finally couldn't help frowning and asked: "Why did you talk about the six hundred thousand taels of silver?"
Fan Ziqi put the box on the table and said calmly: "What the Lord Protector is asking is that everyone must think that something is strange. Let me explain it to you. After the Lord Protector came to Heiyang City, he talked with me alone and asked me
Have you ever donated 500,000 taels of silver to the general? A few days ago, I met with some gentry from aristocratic families in Fan County. We all felt that when the general returned to Xiling and reorganized military affairs, he would have to spend money on everything, so everyone wanted to donate
With my heart, I collected five hundred thousand taels of silver as military expenses."
The general nodded and said: "The thoughts of the Marquis and other noble families are deeply felt by me and the soldiers.
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Excited."
"The general's words are serious." Fan Ziqi sighed: "When the Wutuos invaded, the Xiling family did not immediately support the protective army. It is really shameful. Because of this, for many years we have been thinking that one day we can make up for our mistakes.
fault."
Everyone thought that the Fanjun family could do their part by quickly donating five hundred thousand taels of silver after the general returned.
"Originally, this matter is something that everyone is happy about." Fan Ziqi said slowly: "We spent five hundred thousand taels of silver as military expenses, which can help reduce some pressure on the court. We can also make up for some of our mistakes in the past. The general also has
Recruiting troops and buying horses with money can be said to be a matter of killing three birds with one stone. In fact, we do think so." His eyes turned to Pei Shiqing and sighed: "But the words of Sir Shiqing two days ago made me suddenly wake up.
I still have lingering fears.”
Pei Shiqing's face was ugly, and his lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but couldn't.
"Your Excellency, the Minister said that the imperial court has decrees. The military affairs of Xiling belong to the general, and the raising of money, food and supplies is the responsibility of the Protectorate. In other words, we should donate the money to the Protectorate, and then the Governor
It is in line with the rules to allocate it to the general." Fan Ziqi said: "If we hand over the money directly to the general, it will harm the general and the Xiling family. At that time, someone in the court will say that the general not only controls the military power, but also
We can obtain military supplies from the Xiling family at any time, so that we can split the territory and establish ourselves as king."
As soon as these words came out, everyone present suddenly changed their expressions, even the general frowned.
Pei Shiqing said coldly: "Master Hou, what do you mean by what you said at the banquet today?"
"Your Excellency, don't be anxious, I just want to explain this matter clearly." Fan Ziqi smiled faintly and continued: "When Your Excellency said this, I was naturally scared. We donate military resources with no selfish motives, we just want to strengthen our military strength.
The defense of Xiling is to protect the people of Xiling from being slaughtered by the Wutuo people's sabers, but they did something wrong with good intentions, not only putting themselves in trouble, but also putting the general in danger." He bowed deeply to the general and said
: "General, Fan is here to apologize to you."
The general straightened his body, shook his head and said: "Master Marquis, things may not be as you think, so you don't have to worry too much. If you donate military resources, the saint will definitely be happy when he learns about it, so how can he blame you?"
"The general is an upright hero, but he doesn't know the sinister nature of people's hearts." Fan Ziqi sighed: "Their dirty tricks are beyond the imagination of an upright man like the general. I was really worried that this matter would cause big trouble, so I told him at that time
I asked your Excellency how to make up for our mistakes. Your Excellency was kind-hearted and gave me some advice. He told me that Her Royal Highness wanted to build a royal temple for the saint, which would cost millions. The national treasury is empty and cannot afford such a thing.
The cost was huge, so the princess turned her attention to Xiling, hoping that the cost of building the royal temple could be raised from Xiling."
When the general heard this, he glanced at Pei Shiqing, and his face became even more solemn. Even Yao Mubai's face was hard to look at.
"I asked your Excellency, how much silver should be donated here so that the princess would be satisfied." Fan Ziqi raised his hand to stroke his beard and calmly said, "Your Majesty, the amount of money donated to the princess should not be less than
The military expenses donated to the general, according to the original words of the Lord Chamberlain, how can those soldiers’ salaries be compared with the construction of the imperial palace?
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How can I compare it to Iagoji Temple? Your Excellency, you said that at the time, I must have remembered it correctly, right?"
Pei Shiqing stood up abruptly, snorted coldly, and turned to leave, but Fan Ziqi had already stopped him and said, "Wait a minute!"
Pei Shiqing turned around, put his hands behind his back, stared at Fan Ziqi with cold eyes and sneered: "What else do you have to say, Lord Marquis?"
"Your Excellency, you haven't taken away this silver yet." Fan Ziqi stretched out his hand and pressed it on the wooden box: "There are nearly 400,000 taels of silver here. If you don't take it and send it to Kyoto, how can you tell the princess?"
Pei Shiqing said calmly: "If you really want to relieve the imperial court, just send it to Kyoto yourself." Thinking of something, he took out a stack of banknotes from his arms and put it on the table: "This is the thirty thousand you gave me.
You asked me to count the two silver notes, but it seems that I can’t use them now.”
Everyone present looked at each other.
Whether it is Fan Ziqi or Pei Shiqing, they are not ordinary people. Naturally, their words and actions are not easy for others to see through. But now these two people have directly put unflattering things on the table. In doing so, both sides have a look on their faces.
It's ugly. The most important thing is that both sides are completely torn apart.
Pei Shiqing is from the Beiyuan, and his immediate boss is Princess Sheyue, who is the apple of the saint's eye. From a certain perspective, Princess Sheyue represents the saint.
Fan Ziqi brought Pei Shiqing's request for donations to the table in public, which was like going directly to Princess Sheyue or even the saint.
Nowadays, the Xiling family is in a critical period. The Zhen family and his son were killed, and the Yuwen family was forced to move into the pass. The Fan family maintained its vitality by helping the general return to Xiling. Among the three major families in Xiling, it is considered to be in the best situation.
of a clan.
But what the Fan family is doing now is seeking their own death.
For a shrewd person like Fan Ziqi, no one would have thought that he would do something like this at a birthday banquet.
Some people even think that the Fan family was able to survive because they secretly defected to the imperial court very early, had always been in contact with the general, and even joined forces to bring down two other aristocratic families. No matter how you look at it, the Fan family's efforts over the years have nothing to do with it.
It was to please the imperial court and help the Fan family survive the disaster.
In this case, why did Fan Ziqi openly oppose Pei Shiqing, who represented the emperor's interests, and even made Pei Shiqing unable to step down?
It doesn't look like Fan Ziqi is suffering from heart failure.
"Your Excellency, it doesn't matter if you don't want this money." Fan Ziqi actually sat down and said calmly: "But whether your words are your own or the princess's, you should make it clear. The salary of a soldier is not as good as
It is important to build a royal temple, in the eyes of the imperial court, is it really so?"
Pei Shiqing said coldly: "Of course it's my own intention."
"So, it is your personal intention to amass money in Xiling and hoard the money that was originally used for military supplies?" Fan Ziqi turned to look at Pei Shiqing, his eyes became extremely sharp at this time, like two handfuls
Sharp Blade: "You must explain clearly in front of everyone here today, what are your intentions in enriching your own pockets in Xiling? Knowing that everyone in Xiling is fully deploying defense, but you want to drain the fire, are you doing things for the Wutuo people?
Are you a spy secretly colluding with the Wutuo people?"