A teahouse in Beijing

"Brother, do you know that our prince started killing people again in Hangzhou?"

"Which prince?"

"Who else, of course, is Duke Xin!"

"Oh, it turns out that he is, but the Duke of the State was originally a military general. Are there few Tartars and bandits killed by these people? What's so strange about killing a few people?"

"This time it's different. This time the Duke killed the gentry and merchants in Hangzhou. He even arrested the governor of Zhejiang."

"What? There's still this?"

"This is still fake, and it's spread all over the court now."

The person who spoke was a famous Baobao asked nearby, nicknamed Zhang Damu.

This person has no hobbies on weekdays, just likes to ask for some gossip, then go to the teahouse to tell the guests, and then rely on the guests' rewards to make a living.

The teahouse is also tolerant of such people. After all, with such people, tea shoppers will prefer to run into the teahouse. Otherwise, who can often go to the teahouse to drink tea can't afford to buy loose tea and melon seeds and peanuts that cost dozens of cents a pack? Why do you have to go to the teahouse to drink? Isn't it the atmosphere?

Seeing that everyone's curiosity was aroused, he opened his mouth and smiled slightly, picked up a peanut on the table and peeled it open, threw it into his mouth and chewed it slowly.

Seeing the people who were curious about the airs, they were both angry and funny. A man in his forties dressed in a very particular way took out a piece of silver weighing two cents from his sleeve, and still put it on the table with a muffled sound, laughing and scolding.

"Okay, open your mouth and don't keep it aside. This amount of money is rewarded to you, but if you can't say it well or make me dissatisfied, be careful that you will be beaten together."

Seeing this, he opened his mouth and brushed his sleeves on the table. When the sleeves passed by the table, the silver disappeared instantly. He smiled with a shy face and said, "You are polite, Master Liu, thank you Master Liu for your reward."

"Don't talk nonsense, hurry up."

"Okay, I say I say."

He opened his mouth and cleared his throat and said, "Everyone, did Duke Xin take orders to suppress the bandits a few months ago? These bandits are so capable that they can run away. The Duke led his Jiangning army from Henan Prefecture to Jiangnan.

Those bandits are really cruel. These days have caused trouble to Jiangnan. Many prefectures have fallen into the past few days. They almost took down Hangzhou Prefecture a few days ago. Fortunately, the Duke of the State led the Jiangning Army to chase and kill them all the way, and finally lifted the siege of Hangzhou Prefecture. Unexpectedly, something happened after Hangzhou Prefecture was saved."

With the words of wide mouth, guests at other tables in the teahouse were also attracted, and soon a large number of people gathered around.

Because there were too many people, the shopkeeper in the teahouse quickly ordered the staff to carry the tables around them and put them into a long table.

The tea shops around them also knew the rules. After sitting down, they ordered a few plates of peanuts, melon seeds and tea. Some took out some copper plates and threw them in front of the mouth.

Seeing this, he opened his mouth so much that he couldn't even close his mouth. He bowed to everyone and said, "Thank you for your neighbors, I thank you for your thanks to Xiao Zhang."

Everyone waved their hands impatiently: "Hurry up, don't be fucking."

"Okay."

He opened his mouth and cheered up and said quickly: "Our ancestors have an old saying, "Mi En fights with a grudge. It is said that the Duke of the State has traveled thousands of miles to lift the siege of Hangzhou. The officials and gentry in Hangzhou should kill pigs and sheep to reward the three armies. But not only that, the officials and men of Hangzhou Prefecture did not allow the Jiangning army to enter the city, but wanted them to set up camp outside the city."

"This is too bullying, how can this be done?" The tea shoppers frowned.

"These southerners are not authentic in their work and come from afar, so how can they keep people out of the door?"

“It’s more than that.”

He opened his mouth and continued, "In the end, Duke Xinguo got angry on the spot and forced his army to break in, threatening that anyone who dared to stop him would be an affair with the bandits."

"Okay...a man!"

"That's what we should do to cure those people!"

Everyone applauded.

"Who said no?"

He sighed: "It was so happy at that time, but then the trouble came. After offending the officials and gentry in Hangzhou, these people did not provide food and salary to the army. Later, the Duke of the State got angry and told the governor of Zhejiang that if he did not send food and salary to him, don't blame him for leading the troops to take it away."

"This is too unreasonable." Sixth Master stroked his beard and shook his head, "In the rules of our Ming Dynasty, the army goes to war, wherever he goes, the food and money needed should be raised by the local government. There is no reason to cut off his own army's food and money. No wonder the Duke got angry."

"Who said no?"

Zhang Dawei showed anger on his face: "When those gentry saw the Duke getting angry, they first held a banquet to invite the Duke to the banquet. After the talk broke, they set up an ambush on the way back and sent hundreds of dead soldiers to ambush the Duke. What is even more infuriating is that the dead soldiers actually had a bed crossbow that only the defenders had. They clearly wanted to kill the Duke!"

"What, what happened?"

When everyone heard this, they opened their mouths wide. A few gentry dared to assassinate the current princess. This could no longer be described as bold. This behavior is no longer different from rebellion.

"Where is your prince? Is he okay?" someone asked quickly.

"Of course it's okay. The Duke of the Kingdom is Erlang Shen in the sky. How could he be assassinated by a few little thieves?" said proudly: "In the end, the Duke of the Kingdom defeated all the assassins, and captured all the gentry and confiscated their homes."

"Okay, good job!"

Everyone applauded.

"It's time to do this, please feel free!"

He smiled as he opened his mouth, and a mysterious smile appeared on his face: "Do you know how much silver the Duke of the State has found from those homes?"

"How many?"

He opened his mouth and said word by word: "The total is 18.6 million taels of silver and 861,000 taels of gold!"

"My good..."

The tea shops in the teahouse exclaimed in awe, and everyone's mouths were all open, and there was no problem with stuffing a duck egg in it.

It took a long time for someone to sigh, "My mom, so much money."

"Yes, our tax revenue in the past Ming Dynasty was only more than 5 million taels. In the past two years, the customs in Fujian area have been opened, and it is only tens of million taels. But the family of these gentry can exceed nearly 20 million taels of silver. This is too exaggerated. No wonder everyone in Jiangnan is said to be rich enough to rival a country!"
Chapter completed!