Chapter 36

Even though bandits had already risen up everywhere in the Great Ming, these imperial clan descendants remained utterly curious about everything before them.

Fortunately, these imperial clan descendants encountered almost no danger on their journey.

It stood to reason; their retinues numbered in the thousands at the slightest movement.

Moreover, although these Prince's Mansions had lost their military authority,

they had all retained at least one Ceremonial Guard Command.

That alone amounted to nearly two thousand official soldiers.

Ordinary mountain bandits, numbering a mere one or two hundred at most,

upon encountering this group,

would have to detour around them just to avoid trouble!

The imperial clan across the realm had caused such a massive commotion that even Gao Gao Yingxiang, who had been engaged in continuous campaigns, could not help but stare in shock.

After all, with so many people, there was no need to fight.

Merely standing there was intimidating enough.

In the Imperial Capital.

Officials of all ranks from the Ministry of Rites had long been summoned by Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian into the Imperial Palace.

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian's expression was gloomy as he stared fixedly at the crowd before him and asked,

"Have you finished calculating? Exactly how many imperial relatives does our Great Ming have?"

"Your Majesty, we have roughly completed the count; there are thirty mansions in total, with 486,500 male descendants..."

By the early years of the Chongzhen reign, excluding Chongzhen's own three sons,

the entire Great Ming had exactly thirty Princes of the Blood.

Adding together the Commandery Princes, Generals Who Establish the State, Generals Who Guard the State, and Captains from each Prince's Mansion, the total exceeded four hundred thousand.

Even though he had mentally prepared himself, upon hearing this figure,

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian could not help but gasp in shock.

Counting every man, woman, and child among the Eight Banners of the Manchus, they numbered only three hundred thousand!

If he still lost the realm under such circumstances,

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian would have no face to meet Old Zhu even in death!

Standing stunned for a moment, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian took a deep breath, then gritted his teeth and asked,

"How many are under the age of forty?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, approximately two hundred and fifty thousand."

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian spun around abruptly, looking at the Ministry of War clerk standing nearby, and asked,

"If all these people are trained into a New Army, how many troops can we raise?!"

"Your Majesty, out of two hundred and fifty thousand, we could train one hundred thousand elite soldiers and one hundred and fifty thousand auxiliary troops, but Your Majesty, these are all imperial relatives!"

Gritting his teeth, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian roared,

"The Great Ming has reached this point, and you still speak to Us about imperial relatives?!"

"If even the Zhu family will not step forward, who else can we expect to do so!"

With a cold and gloomy expression, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian stared fixedly at the map before him, gritted his teeth, and said,

"Go to the Capital Camp and the mansions of the nobles and imperial in-laws to prepare five thousand officers and commanders; have them wait for orders outside the city!"

"Yes!"

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian's expression remained gloomy.

At present, these imperial clan members and relatives had no idea that the court had summoned them to the capital for this purpose.

Right now, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian faced a very critical problem:

namely, how to make these imperial clan members willingly go to the battlefield!

However, ever since raiding Zhou Kui's home,

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian had not logged into the chat group.

Now that he finally had a free moment, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian decided it was best to report to Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang first.

The Martyr Emperor Sizong:

"Grandfather Ancestor, the Ministry of Rites and the Court of the Imperial Clan have finished their statistics."

"As of the seventh month of the fifth year of Chongzhen, the Great Ming's imperial clan totals 486,500 male descendants, of whom 250,000 are young and strong, capable of forming a New Army of 100,000!"

Upon seeing this number, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang fell silent for a long time.

At this moment, only one thought existed in Old Zhu's mind:

—Damn, they really know how to breed!

It is true that many sons bring much fortune,

but with so many,

could the body really withstand it?

However, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang soon snapped back to reality.

The High Emperor Taizu:

"Stop spouting nonsense to Us; how much silver has your father-in-law's family stored up?"

The Martyr Emperor Sizong:

"Grandfather Ancestor, please do not ask..."

The High Emperor Taizu:

"We are saying that, as in-laws at least, you should not be too excessive; leave them something, no matter how little."

"Even if a family is wealthy, it doesn't necessarily mean the money was gained through embezzlement."

"By the way, what business was your father-in-law's family in before?"

Emperor Sizong Lie:

"Setting up a stall on Qianmen Street to tell fortunes..."

Emperor Taizu Gao:

"..."

"I told you to find wives, to find daughters from respectable families."

"I didn't tell you to find them this respectable!"

"Surely it wasn't just a few taels of silver, was it?"

"We are all family; if things truly go south, just take two jars of good wine over and apologize to them."

"He wouldn't dare climb right up onto our faces, would he?"

Emperor Sizong Lie:

"No, it's fine, no need to apologize."

Emperor Taizu Gao:

"No need to apologize? Exactly how much silver? Stop beating around the bush with me!"

Emperor Sizong Lie:

"Just... over five hundred thousand taels, plus over a hundred thousand stones of grain..."

Upon seeing this figure.

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang fell silent.

A fortune-teller running a street stall!

Now you can't possibly claim your ancestors saved this up, can you?

Even if you were a Grave-Robbing Captain, you couldn't accumulate five hundred thousand taels of silver!

"39, open up! Embroidered Uniform Guard!"

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang in the chat group remained silent for a moment.

A moment later, he finally reacted and began typing furiously in the chat group.

Emperor Taizu Gao:

"Didn't you say you dared to kill people?"

"What are you standing there for? Hurry up and sharpen your knife!"

"As an Imperial Father-in-Law, he actually dares to embezzle five hundred thousand taels of silver!"