Chapter 55

Beads of sweat gradually began to seep from Hong Chengchou's forehead.

Right under the bookboy's gaze.

Hong Chengchou, his head covered in cold sweat, watched the bookboy and said through gritted teeth in a low voice,

"Go home, fetch the silver!"

The bookboy couldn't help but be stunned at the words.

"Huh?"

"I said, return to the manor, fetch the silver!"

"Quickly!"

Hong Chengchou suddenly yanked down the sedan curtain and said loudly,

"Hurry back to the manor! Whoever runs fast, the master will reward him handsomely!"

Upon hearing there would be a reward.

The sedan-bearers' feet seemed to have fire-wheels beneath them as they sprinted all the way toward Hong Chengchou's residence!

As the first batch of investments were cashed in.

The carriages at Zhou Kui's residence were almost never out of sight.

By the second day, the silver stored at Zhou Kui's manor had already exceeded two million taels.

And this number was still constantly increasing.

Until finally, Zhou Kui had no choice but to send a portion of the silver ahead of time to Wang Chengen.

Only, those frantic civil and military officials of the entire court who kept sending silver to the Retainer Earl's manor didn't know.

These cartloads of silver had likewise bound them tightly to this leaky ship called the Great Ming….

52. Hong Chengchou: Where the hell is my money?!

After getting the silver, Zhu Youjian didn't stay idle either.

As the silver grew more and more.

What Zhu Youjian now saw was becoming clearer and clearer.

What bullshit about a court full of righteous men.

Not a single one of these bastards was dependable.

On the contrary, after Wang Chengen's rectification, the inner court, with the Directorate of Ceremonial at its core, was actually considerably cleaner.

What Zhou Kui was currently doing was almost the highest secret of the Great Ming.

Only a handful of people knew.

Even without knowing the full picture, although quite a few eunuchs of the inner court also took silver to find Zhou Kui.

But the eunuchs' personal wealth was clearly nowhere near as lavish as that of the civil and military nobles of the outer court.

Compared with those amounts that routinely reached hundreds of thousands, or close to a million taels of silver.

The inner court eunuchs' ten or twenty thousand taels, or at most fifty or sixty thousand taels, by comparison.

Could practically be described as impoverished.

Looking at the account book Zhou Kui had sent over.

Zhu Youjian couldn't help feeling a surge of mixed emotions.

What the hell kind of victim list is this?!

This is clearly the Great Ming's roster of loyal and treacherous ministers!

After seeing the account book, Zhu Youjian almost without hesitation dragged all this silver into the Imperial Privy Purse.

Having the inner court's Bureau of Military Supplies forge weapons and purchase grain.

Zhu Youjian even selected a few young eunuchs to disguise themselves and travel far to the southeast to build sea-going ships.

The reason was none other than this.

The grain produced within the Great Ming's own territory was truly not enough to eat.

What the court actually lacked was not silver.

Rather, the market was short on grain.

Zhu Youjian and Zhu Yuanzhang calculated the accounts over and over for days and nights on end, and the final answer they reached was that, with Jiaozhi's grain supply being abundant.

Purchasing grain from overseas was thirty percent cheaper than raising grain within the Great Ming.

It was just that Zhu Youjian was, after all, still too young.

Although Zhu Youjian had anticipated that the court's nobles had money.

Zhu Youjian had never, ever expected that the court's nobles were rich to this extent!

The entire Forbidden City held a total of just over thirty thousand eunuchs.

At present, every single eunuch was busy running about in a fluster.

But Zhou Kui's side was still continuously sending silver into the Imperial Privy Purse!

Zhu Youjian's speed of spending money was actually no match for Zhou Kui's speed of scamming money!

Late at night.

Zhu Youjian was in Qianqing Palace reviewing memorials to the throne sent in from various regions.

Wang Chengen, however, walked over with a troubled expression.

"Your Majesty…"

Zhu Youjian didn't even lift his eyelids.

"Chengen, hold on a little longer."

Wang Chengen looked at Zhu Youjian with a mournful face and said,

"Your Majesty, this servant does not wish to speak, but, but this servant truly cannot hold out any longer."

Zhu Youjian had just wanted to offer a few words of persuasion.

Wang Chengen stated with unyielding resolve,

"It is not that this servant refuses to serve; the key point is that the silver vaults of the Inner Treasury are already stuffed full."

"If the Father-in-Law of the Emperor sends more into the palace, they will have to pour the silver directly onto the Imperial Garden."

Although this silver cannot be spent in Yishiban Society,

if left lying in the Imperial Garden, it would not take a month before the eunuchs and maids of the harem would pick it clean, five taels from you today, ten taels from me tomorrow.

Hearing this, Zhu Youjian could not help but pause in surprise.

"How much silver is there now?"

Wang Chengen bowed his head and said,

"It is already over thirty-five million taels; the accumulated silver in the Inner Treasury alone amounts to over twenty-two million taels."

Upon hearing this figure,

Zhu Youjian felt his temples throb incessantly.

Thirty-five million taels!

Last year, the court had already raised taxes up to thirty years in advance.

The annual revenue was merely fifteen million taels of silver!

Now Zhou Kui, with just a few words, managed to deceive over thirty million taels of silver!

Zhu Youjian took a deep breath, glanced at the Memorial to the throne before him, and gritted his teeth, saying,

"Issue two million taels from the treasury; first, use it to pay the arrears owed to the soldiers of the Nine Frontiers for past years!"

Zhu Youjian knew.

Once the Inner Treasury began transferring silver to the Ministry of War,

this matter would essentially be like revealing the dagger when the map is fully unrolled.

After all, the ministers and officials are not truly fools.

How much silver the Inner Treasury should hold, those civil and military ministers know even better than Zhu Youjian!

Wang Chengen stepped forward one pace.

He bowed his head low and whispered,

"This servant accepts the imperial decree!"

The next morning.

Yang Yang Sichang, the Minister of War, submitted a Memorial to the throne requesting the allocation of two million taels for the arrears of the Nine Frontiers.