Chapter 46

This Great Ming is truly too miserable.

You can't even add a single chili pepper to a bite of jianbing guozi!

Before Su Qiao could curse a few more times.

The mouth that had been chewing the jianbing guozi suddenly froze in place.

For Su Qiao clearly saw that in the distant main hall, a slightly aged back was quietly seated...

Forty-eight: The root of the illness is Your Majesty himself!

The evening breeze brushed past.

The corners of Su Qiao's mouth twitched slightly twice.

If this person isn't Old Zhu, then who could it be!

Are the Emperors of Great Ming all this rude?

Forcing their way into someone's home like this?!

If something goes missing, whose fault will it be!

Hearing the commotion behind him, the little eunuch beside him could not help but scold:

"Su Qiao, why do you not kneel before the Son of Heaven?"

Before Su Qiao could open his mouth, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang could not help but scold:

"Get out of the way! Can't you see we are busy here!"

Hearing Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang finish scolding the little eunuch beside him, Su Qiao finally came to his senses.

Looking at Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang with some embarrassment, he asked:

"May I ask why Your Majesty has come to your subject's home late at night, and for what purpose...?"

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang took a deep breath, sized up Su Qiao, and snorted coldly:

"It is still that hypothesis from the other day in the palace."

"If a future ruler of our Great Ming used your method and successfully extorted over a million taels of silver from the nobles on the first try, what should be done?"

Su Qiao knew the historical trajectory of Great Ming.

Hearing this question, a slight smile inevitably appeared on his face.

A mere million taels of silver is nothing at all!

Do you know how much silver Li Huang Zicheng found after he entered the city?

Seeing the smile on Su Qiao's face, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang asked with some displeasure:

"We are asking you a question; what are you laughing at?!"

Su Qiao stared coldly at Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang and said:

"Nothing else."

"Your subject was just thinking that if the entire court of nobles could dismiss the Son of Heaven with a mere million taels of silver."

"Then that Son of Heaven must be worth far too little."

Hearing this, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang immediately flew into a rage and scolded Su Qiao:

"What do you take all the future officials of our Great Ming for?!"

"Are they all massively corrupt and utterly evil?!"

Hearing Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang's words.

Su Qiao looked at Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang as if he were a fool and asked:

"Your Majesty, if every official in the entire court were not massively corrupt and utterly evil, how could the Jurchen beyond the passes and the refugees within the passes have grown so powerful?"

"If there were even one loyal, righteous, and impoverished official stationed in a region where the people were in turmoil, the commoners would never have been forced to rise in rebellion!"

Looking across the twenty-four histories.

Apart from Great Ming, which other dynasty collapsed so inexplicably?

So many experts and scholars in later generations were utterly unable to find a single direct cause that played a decisive role in the fall of the Ming Dynasty.

The Han was crushed by the Yellow Turban Rebellion before power was seized by Boss Cao.

The Tang, after the An Lushan Rebellion, had power seized by the regional military governors, plus a bunch of eunuchs in the palace who made a habit of deposing emperors for fun.

As for the Song, there is no need to mention it; it was simply beaten into submission from the north.

And Great Ming?

Did it fall to the Jurchen?

The crucial point is that Chongzhen had already hanged himself from a tree in the southeast long before the Jurchen crossed Shanhai Pass.

Did it fall to the rebellious masses?

That fellow Li Huang Zicheng never properly managed his rear; just a few years prior, he was beaten down to fleeing into the Shangluo Mountains with only a dozen riders.

Then he turned around and suddenly emerged leading hundreds of thousands of men to kill their way out.

Were there regional military governors?

The Four Garrisons of Jiangbei plus that piece of trash Zuo Zuo Liangyu were not even qualified to carry the shoes of the Tang Dynasty's regional governors.

It was simply that the common people were inexplicably forced into rebellion, then the rebels broke into the capital, forced the emperor to his death, and the realm was lost.

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang's expression gradually turned gloomy.

Staring intently at Su Qiao, he asked:

"Then what exactly do you mean?"

A look of fierce ruthlessness suddenly appeared on Su Qiao's face as he said:

"Pay them the interest, return their principal, let them taste some sweetness, cast a long line to catch a big fish!"

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang stared intently at Su Qiao and asked:

"Then at what amount of silver should we stop?"

"Thirty million!"

"We absolutely will not stop until we reach thirty million taels!"

Originally, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang thought that one million five hundred thousand taels was already fantastical enough.

He never expected Su Qiao to open his mouth and demand thirty million taels of silver!

Old Zhu's face turned gloomy as he gritted his teeth and asked,

"Thirty million taels of silver? Why thirty million taels?"

To put it plainly,

Old Zhu simply did not believe that the entire court of civil and military officials could possess thirty million taels of silver!

Unexpectedly, Su Qiao's words directly shattered Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang's illusion.

"Because the entire court of officials would never hand over their entire family fortunes; stopping after extorting roughly half is just appropriate."

Upon hearing this statement,

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang nearly spat out a mouthful of old blood.

"Thirty million taels of silver, and that is not even their entire family fortune?"

"It is only half?"

Su Qiao snorted coldly and said,

"To be precise, it should not even reach half."

"The family fortunes of the entire court of officials amount to at least seventy million taels of silver!"

"As for the remainder, the Son of Heaven must rely on the prestige of a great victory to raid their homes."

Seventy million taels of silver!

Let alone Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang!

Even Zhan Hui, the Minister of Revenue of the Great Ming, would not dare to imagine such a figure!

Even in the Guo Huan case, the loss inflicted upon the Great Ming was merely twenty-four million shi!

Moreover, that was grain.

Even if converted into silver, it would not amount to so much silver.

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang stared fixedly at Su Qiao.

Gritting his teeth, he asked,

"Are you so certain that my future ministers of the Great Ming will become scoundrels to this extent?"

Hearing this, Su Qiao could not help but feel secretly delighted in his heart.