Chapter 356: Jiajing

Capital, West Garden, Renshou Palace,

Jiajing, wearing Taoist robes, was currently exercising his body.

Coming to his side, Jia Jingzhong handed him tea: "Your Majesty, please rest for a while!"

"Has news come from the two provinces? Are there still Japanese pirates?"

Looking at Jia Jingzhong, Jiajing asked while sitting on a meditation cushion.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, after Zhang Xinzhi arrived in Jiangnan, he immediately launched a campaign to suppress the pirates! There has been no news of Japanese pirates recently!"

Speaking with a face full of smiles, Jia Jingzhong also broke into a cold sweat for Zhang Cheng.

Because the Japanese pirates in Jiangnan were truly like cutting leeks—one batch after another!

But just as Jia Jingzhong finished speaking, a young eunuch reported from outside: "Your Majesty, Commander Lu Bing requests an audience!"

"Oh? Let him in!"

Hearing it was his foster brother, Jiajing spoke casually.

Not long after, Lu Bing walked in quickly: "Your Majesty, this subject has something to report!"

"A matter that requires you to come personally is probably not a small one, right? Could it be about the two provinces of Jiangnan?"

Frowning, Jiajing turned serious.

Because he had trusted that Zhang Cheng could pacify the Japanese pirates, which was why he sent him there, but now it seemed that even Zhang Xinzhi couldn't settle this matter!

"Your Majesty, this is a joyous occasion, a great joyous occasion!"

Seeing Jiajing like this, Lu Bing stepped forward happily, his face full of smiles.

"A great joyous occasion, what joyous occasion?"

Looking at Lu Bing with curiosity, Jiajing asked in great confusion.

"This is a secret memorial from the Regional Commander of the two provinces' navy; I ask Your Majesty to read it personally!"

Stepping forward to hand it to Jia Jingzhong, Lu Bing was full of joy.

Because when he first saw this memorial, he was also quite frightened, but after seeing the numbers, he was completely dumbfounded.

"In that case, let Us take a look!"

Opening the memorial, when Jiajing saw what Zhang Cheng had done, he nodded in satisfaction.

After all, Zhang Cheng was quite capable when writing memorials and never wasted words, which made him very comfortable to read.

But in the next second, Jiajing frowned, because Zhang Cheng had actually attacked Jiuzhoudao without authorization!

You have to know, the Founding Emperor had set down the "Non-Conquest Nations" decree back then!

But in the next moment, Jiajing gasped: "Twenty million taels of silver? And forty thousand taels of gold..."

"What?"

Looking at Jiajing in astonishment, Jia Jingzhong also shrieked.

But just as he covered his mouth, Jiajing laughed while holding the memorial: "Good, good, good! Worthy of being the Regional Commander of the two provinces' navy personally appointed by Us; he truly has brought Us a great surprise!"

Speaking with excitement, Jiajing had long since forgotten any ancestral teachings.

Because in the face of twenty million taels of silver and forty thousand taels of gold, those were nothing more than "jokes"!

Jiajing: Founding Emperor, you were joking back then, right? You must have been joking!

Zhu Yuanzhang: You come here, the Founding Emperor will talk to you slowly!

"Annual silver production of fifteen million taels..."

But the moment Jiajing read the last part, he was completely stunned.

Because this twenty million taels wasn't a one-time income, but an annual one, and it could continue for four hundred years!

When Jiajing gasped, he felt as if he were floating.

Because if the Great Ming really had such a large tax income every year, wouldn't he become a wise and holy monarch?

"Lu Bing, you are to immediately dispatch the Embroidered Uniform Guard to Jiuzhoudao; I want to know if this is true or false!"

Looking at Lu Bing with scarlet eyes, Jiajing was now completely enraged with greed.

Because he had been stunned by this sudden wealth.

Now, never mind ancestral teachings; even if the Great Ming Founding Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang came in person, he would still go grab the silver!

A month later, when Shen Lian, Lu Jianxing, and Jin Yichuan arrived at Jiuzhoudao by ship, looking like salted fish, they saw Zhang Cheng in a military camp, holding silver and rewarding the "courtesans" below!

But unlike those people who painted their faces white, Zhang Cheng preferred the feeling of a lotus flower rising from clear water.

"Come, come over!" Hooking his finger, Zhang Cheng chuckled.

"Yes, my lord!"

Speaking in unclear words, the woman twisted her slender waist and stepped forward.

"My lord, my junior brother is here!"

Pushing the door open and entering, Ding Xiu was excited.

Looking at Ding Xiu, Zhang Cheng tossed out some silver: "Can't you shout? I was just about to take a bath!"

"Taking a bath in broad daylight, you truly have no sense of decorum!"

Pointing at Zhang Cheng, Ding Xiu said in surprise: "Hey, isn't this the young lady from that daimyo family?"

"That's right, she serves well, so my lord decided to let her father mine for two years less!"

Looking at Ding Xiu with a face full of smiles, Zhang Cheng explained.

And just at this moment, Jin Yichuan, who had walked in, looked at the silver on the ground: "Bai Yin, holy crap, so big!"

But the moment Jin Yichuan picked up the silver, Ding Xiu and Zhang Cheng looked at him with faces full of disdain.

"Junior brother, what's with those expressions? This is silver!"

!. Read

Picking up the silver, Jin Yichuan couldn't help but bite it: "And it's pure silver!"

"Junior brother, can you not be so embarrassing? Bai Yin, senior brother has plenty here!"

Pulling out a handful of silver, Ding Xiu couldn't help but cover his face.

"Ah, senior brother, how do you have so much silver!"

Looking at Ding Xiu in disbelief, Jin Yichuan was stunned.

"Junior brother, you haven't forgotten, have you? We are at a silver mine, a silver mine!"

Looking at Jin Yichuan, Ding Xiu was now truly desperate for someone to offer a price to kill his junior brother, otherwise he wouldn't have the face to look at Zhang Cheng.

"Uh!"

Looking at Ding Xiu awkwardly, Jin Yichuan stuffed the silver into his pocket: "Senior brother, you know, I've been poor since I was a child, I've never seen such big silver..."

"Take your junior brother to the warehouse in the back; take as much as you want, this lord is not short on money!"

Pointing at Ding Xiu, Zhang Cheng pinched the "courtesan" in his arms: "Alright, get out of here!"

"Thank you, my lord!"

Bowing charmingly and leaving, the woman waved her hand and led a group of "courtesans" away.

In the warehouse in the military camp,

When Shen Lian, Lu Jianxing, and Jin Yichuan arrived, they were stunned in place: "This is a mountain, right!"

"That's right, it's a mountain!"

Looking at the silver covering the floor, turned into small mountains, the three were shocked.

This was simply like Wang Duoyu seeing a billion in cash; their legs went soft!

"Can we really just take it?"

Looking at Ding Xiu in disbelief, Shen Lian asked.

"Take it! If your hands aren't enough, use bags! If bags aren't enough, use crates..."

Patting Shen Lian on the shoulder, Ding Xiu said quite heroically: "Bai Yin, what is that... this lord is not short on silver!"

"How much silver must this be?"

Swallowing his saliva, Lu Jianxing was stunned.

"Probably fifty million taels; recently, two more daimyo families were raided and exterminated, after all, the mine can't be short of miners."

Speaking indifferently, Ding Xiu smiled.

Because in front of them, anyone alive would become a miner for the daimyo.

As for food, that went without saying—either you send it yourself, or the Great Ming will "borrow" it from you!

Anyway, Zhang Cheng had already clearly understood the phrase "righteous cause."

Borrow silver, borrow food; if you don't lend, you're not giving face. It's a double blessing—I'll beat you, and you'd better hold up, don't you dare surrender!

And under such "righteousness," the Great Ming had already conquered everything around it.

Even when the so-called Shogun sent people over, Zhang Cheng slapped them back, clearly not giving them any face!

Zhang Cheng: In the Great Ming, I'm timid, but if I'm still timid here, wouldn't I have come for nothing?

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 357 =====