Chapter 230: Rallying to the Throne Costs Money!

"Heretical?" Xu Hongji asked. "In what way is he heretical?"

"He claims to be the reincarnation of the Great Ancestor, the Exalted Emperor!" Xu Yongji took up his cousin's question. "If Censor Huang had not spoken, I would almost have forgotten that the Hard-Working New Army stationed in Yangzhou is itself a heretical force. From top to bottom they are all deluded into believing the Crown Prince is the Great Ancestor, the Exalted Emperor, reborn. They even drill twice or three times a day, training like madmen, and from time to time they shout things like 'The Great Ancestor, the Exalted Emperor, is reborn — ever victorious!'"

"Heh," Xu Hongji sneered. "What use is shouting?"

Zhao Zhilong chimed in as well: "If it were of any use, they would not have fled in defeat to Yangzhou!"

He paused, then exchanged glances with Zhu Guobi and Huang Shu.

Zhu Guobi snorted. "I say we must have His Majesty come out and take power!"

"Exactly! His Majesty is clearly still here, and free of illness — how is it that the Crown Prince has taken power?" Huang Shu said. "Since ancient times, there has never been such a precedent."

In fact, such a precedent did exist! It was only that Huang Shu was unwilling to mention it. The man who wielded great power as Crown Prince was called Li Shimin! After the Xuanwu Gate Incident on the fourth day of the sixth month in the ninth year of Wude, he served as Crown Prince for more than two months before being promoted to Emperor.

"Censor Huang speaks truly!" Zhao Zhilong clapped his hands. "We are all subjects of His Majesty, not subjects of the Crown Prince!"

He looked at Xu Hongji. "Duke of Wei, what is your honored opinion?"

"This old man—"

"Ahem, ahem, ahem."

The sound of coughing cut off Xu Hongji's words, but this time it was not the consumptive old man himself coughing — it was his son, Xu Yunjue.

The old man looked at his son's ruddy, glowing face; he did not look at all like a sick man!

Xu Yunjue leaned close to his father's ear and said in a low voice, "Father, raising troops to rally to the throne costs money!"

Right! Raising troops costs money!

The money in the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue had already been taken to Shandong by Shi Kefa and Gao Hongtu; it was now so empty that rats could run through it. The Nanjing Capital Camps troops and the Yangtze River Naval Force were already owed back pay — did they still expect them to go fight a hard battle against that mad Hard-Working New Army?

To make these camp troops, summoned from the various guard stations across the southeast, obey orders, money absolutely could not be spared.

And where was the money to come from?

Could the House of the Duke of Wei, rich as a kingdom, refuse to part with a single hair?

The moment he thought of having to pay out of his own pocket, Duke of Wei Xu Hongji could not bear it. This was no small sum!

On paper, the Nanjing Capital Camps and naval force now numbered forty thousand men! One tael of silver per man was forty thousand taels!

In addition, the guard-station troops and the household retainers of various families that would assemble in Nanjing numbered no fewer than sixty or seventy thousand men.

And these sixty or seventy thousand were not all common soldiers — there were also many officers. If they were not fed well, would they follow him to rally to the throne? The Crown Prince had several million taels of silver on hand — could he not spend money to buy men over? And to feed everyone in the Nanjing army, top to bottom, a million taels might not even be enough!

Moreover, the Nanjing camp troops and naval force had no decent equipment. That would also cost money to purchase! What then?

Besides, no one knew how long this campaign to rally to the throne would last. If it dragged on for a year or half a year, how much savings did the old Xu family have? Could they keep pouring it into this bottomless pit?

"Censor Huang, Garrison Commander Zhao, Regional Commander Zhu," Xu Hongji said, stroking his white beard, "if we are to raise troops to rally to the throne, how much military funding will it take? And how is it to be raised?"

The old thing is nearly at death's door, and still he thinks of money.

Hearing this, Huang Shu, Zhao Zhilong, and Zhu Guobi could not help cursing inwardly.

"I estimate it will take three million taels in military funds!" Zhao Zhilong said. "The Nanjing camp troops and naval force will need at least two million taels to be whipped into shape. In addition, Huang Degong in Fengyang and Zuo Liangyu in Wuchang will both need money to win them over — at least five hundred thousand taels of silver for each."

"Where are we to get these three million taels?" Xu Yunjue asked.

Does your family not have it?

Of the sixteen famous gardens in Nanjing, ten belong to the Xu family! How could your family not have three million!?

Zhu Guobi's face was ashen: "Let each noble house contribute a little, levy some tax on passing merchant ships, and also ask the Nanjing merchants for some money — three million taels can surely be scraped together."

"My family will take the lead and put up one hundred thousand taels!" Xu Hongji said with a pained expression, trembling as he held up both open hands.

A great hemorrhage!

One hundred thousand taels!

When the Chongzhen Emperor was nearly beaten to death by Li Zicheng, old Xu had not parted with a single hair; now he was willing to put up one hundred thousand taels to rally to the throne. The Chongzhen Emperor would surely be most grateful, would he not?

Huang Shu shook his head repeatedly. "Duke, what we are doing now — if it succeeds, it is rallying to the throne; if it fails, it is rebellion! If the Crown Prince takes Nanjing, your family's silver, gardens, lands, and shops will all belong to others!"

"This, this..." Xu Hongji gritted his teeth. "Then I will add another hundred thousand taels! Two hundred thousand taels, and not a tael more!"

Only two hundred thousand — still not enough!

"The noble subjects within Nanjing are not the House of the Duke of Wei alone!" Xu Yunjue was already beside himself with heartache. Fearing that Huang Shu and the others would keep asking for money, he rushed to say, "If money is to be given, everyone must give together. Besides, Suzhou, Changzhou, Songjiang, Huzhou, Hangzhou, Huizhou, and other places are full of wealthy households — they must be made to pay too!"

Nanjing, Yangzhou, Huai'an, and such places, being key strongholds, had always been dominated by the nobility. But in Suzhou, Changzhou, Songjiang, Huzhou, Hangzhou, Huizhou, and the like, the scholar-official class held sway. Xu Yunjue had kicked the fundraising ball over to Huang Shu, the Donglin leader.

Huang Shu's brow furrowed deeply — not because he begrudged the money, but because he, the Donglin leader, actually had very little real power.

The so-called Donglin Faction was merely a loose clique of scholar-officials, with no strict organization. Moreover, Huang Shu was not the only leader — Qian Qianyi, whom Zhu Cilang had won over, was also a leader. Huang Shu had no way at all to make those Donglin men below him, who had no organizational discipline whatsoever, raise funds.

Furthermore, the Six Ministries in Nanjing no longer existed. They had been dissolved by a single decree from Zhu Cilang! And the principal officials of the Six Ministries had each gone their separate ways; the only ones still remaining in Nanjing were Zhang Shenyan and Jiang Yueguang.

Relying on just those two, how could they possibly command the Jiangnan prefectures of the Southern Metropolitan Region?

If they could not command the Jiangnan prefectures, how could the Nanjing side possibly raise military funds from Suzhou, Changzhou, Songjiang, Huzhou, Hangzhou, and other places?

But Huang Shu could not flatly refuse Xu Yunjue now — otherwise, if those two misers Xu Hongji and Xu Yunjue refused to go along, what then?

"Indeed, every locality must be made to pay!" Huang Shu nodded. "This humble official will send men at once to the Jiangnan prefectures to solicit donations from our Donglin comrades. One or two million can surely be raised, but it will take some time. Until the silver from the Jiangnan prefectures reaches Nanjing, we must still rely on the noble houses to put up the money."

His idea was to have the noble houses put up the money first to hold things up and get the cause of rallying to the throne off the ground. If this rallying-to-the-throne business went wrong, it would be rebellion, and once begun there would be no turning back. By then, even if the Donglin successors in the Jiangnan prefectures did not follow, the Nanjing nobles would have to play it out even to the ruin of their families!

The ready silver held by the various noble houses of Nanjing was estimated at twenty to thirty million taels! In addition, there were quite a few merchants in Nanjing; squeezing another twenty to thirty million out of them would be no problem either. The two together made forty to fifty million taels — surely enough to compete with Zhu Cilang in wealth, was it not?

Thinking this far, Huang Shu spoke again: "Huang Degong and Zuo Liangyu are in urgent need of money. We must first give each of them two or three hundred thousand taels of silver, must we not? Duke of Wei, you must raise this sum as quickly as possible."

Xu Hongji nodded. "Very well then. This old man will take responsibility for raising one million taels. Any more than that, and I truly cannot produce it!"

"Does the House of the Duke of Wei put up one million?" Zhu Guobi seemed not to have understood Xu Hongji's words, and pressed the question.

Old Xu glared at him. "The House of the Duke of Wei puts up two hundred thousand taels; the other Nanjing nobles and hereditary officers put up another eight hundred thousand. One million taels in all!"

Only one million in all — a bit little!

Zhao Zhilong and Zhu Guobi exchanged glances. Zhu Guobi said, "Then may the Garrison Command collect money from the merchants? May the Yangtze River Naval Force block the river and collect money?"

Many of the businesses within Nanjing and on the Yangtze had hidden shares belonging to the noble houses. Without Xu Hongji's nod, Zhao Zhilong and Zhu Guobi would not dare send men to collect money.

Xu Hongji was silent for a while, then nodded. "In extraordinary times, collecting a little is no harm. So be it. We have exerted ourselves greatly for His Majesty; that may count as repaying the great kindness of the Great Ancestor, the Exalted Emperor."

(End of Chapter)