Chapter 52: Confiscating the Family and Forming the Duke's Mansion
Chapter 52: Confiscating the house and turning it into the Duke's mansion
Author: unknown
Chapter 52: Confiscating the house and turning it into the Duke's mansion
"Meet His Highness the County King!"
At this time, Wang An came and paid his respects.
Qin Wei nodded slightly and said, "Your Majesty, do you have something to do with me?"
"My Highness the County Prince asked me to do what I asked you to do before, but I didn't complete it. Please punish me!" Wang An lowered his head and said.
Qin Wei was startled and asked: "What do I want you to do?"
He didn't remember what he had ordered Wang An before, but he only asked Wang An to be responsible for contacting the Imperial City Department.
"It's about looking for Xuanhuang of the Ancient Sword Sect." Wang And said.
Qin Wei slapped his head and suddenly remembered this matter.
It's not to blame for his poor memory. At that time, he just wanted to meet Xuan Huang and learn about the Ancient Sword Sect on a whim, so he ordered Wang An to find Xuan Huang.
Afterwards, he forgot about the matter because of the affairs of Chengguo Palace.
If Wang An hadn't reminded him, he would have almost forgotten Xuan Huang.
"Has he left Kyoto?" Qin Wei asked.
"Well, the people from the Imperial City Department found their whereabouts yesterday, but they knocked out the people from the Imperial City Department and ran away!" Wang An explained.
After seeing what happened to Duke Cheng's Mansion, Ding Ruoheng and Xuan Huang were like frightened birds, wishing to fly out of Kyoto City immediately, not wanting to see anyone again.
So after they saw the people from the Imperial City Division, they ran away without saying a word, without giving the Imperial City Division people a chance to speak.
"Are the people from the Imperial City Division okay?"
"It's okay, the other party didn't do anything cruel." Wang And said.
Qin Wei nodded, thoughtfully.
"The monks can run away, but they can't run away from the temple. They can run away, but the ancient sword gate can't run away!"
"Forget it, let's wait for now. You first go to the Imperial City Department to borrow the files of the Tianzhou sect's forces."
Next Zhenwu Si will go to Tianzhou, but before going to Tianzhou, Qin Wei must first find out the situation of the Tianzhou sect's power.
As for Xuanhuang and Gujianmen, since they have a relationship, they might get close in the future.
Yes, Qin Wei wants to get close to the Ancient Sword Sect. It doesn't matter whether the Ancient Sword Sect is willing or not.
…
Time flies!
The Chengguo government's house raiding operation lasted for half a month.
And when the wealth of Duke Chengguo's mansion was exposed to everyone's sight, everyone was shocked.
Ten million taels of silver, one hundred thousand taels of gold, other jewelry and jade, and countless antique calligraphy and paintings.
It may be an exaggeration to say that the Chengguo Palace is as rich as any other country, but Emperor Li's inner treasury cannot even produce tens of millions of taels of silver, which shows how rich the Chengguo Palace is.
In addition to these, the Chengguo Palace also has millions of acres of fertile land and hundreds of shops, covering all aspects of industry.
In the imperial city, in the imperial study.
Emperor Li looked at the memorial sent by the Ministry of Punishment.
There is no emotion on the wrinkled face.
"The mansions of the four major princes shocked me!"
"Lu Sheng, do you think the other three Duke's offices are also like this?"
When Eunuch Lu heard this, he trembled all over.
"I don't know, but the Jingguo Palace is probably far inferior to the Chengguo Palace."
"Oh! Really?" Lihuang said.
Eunuch Lu lowered his head and said: "The private property in the Duke of Jingguo's mansion is only one million!"
Lihuang raised his head, Gujing Wubo's eyes looked at him, then nodded and asked: "Where are those princes' palaces?"
Eunuch Lu's head dropped lower, "Prince Ping's Mansion and Prince An's Mansion should be no worse than Duke Cheng Guo's Mansion!"
"Where's the East Palace?"
"The East Palace has its own treasurer!" Eunuch Lu said in a deep voice.
Lihuang nodded slightly.
The East Palace has its own treasurer and officials appointed by the court, so there will not be a large amount of private property. However, the chief ministers of Prince Ping's Palace and Prince An's Palace have become retainers of the two princes, so naturally there will be a lot of private property.
"Imperial City Secretary's skills are still a bit lacking!"
Eunuch Lu shook his body slightly, knelt down on the ground, and said in a low voice: "This old slave is incompetent, please punish me."
The Imperial City Department is the eyes and ears of Emperor Li. He is not only responsible for helping Emperor Li find out private information, but is also responsible for monitoring court officials.
As the Duke of Chengguo owned so much private property, the Imperial City Secretary had never mentioned it before.
"Get up, half of your body has been buried in the ground. How can I kill you?" Emperor Li waved his hand casually.
Hearing this, Eunuch Lu breathed a sigh of relief.
This time it was indeed the Imperial City Department's dereliction of duty, but this cannot be blamed on the Imperial City Department.
After all, the four major imperial palaces have existed for hundreds of years and have accumulated countless wealth. Although the Imperial City Division is very capable of searching for information, it is not easy to find out how much wealth the Chengguo Palace has.
Besides, Emperor Li had no intention of targeting the Chengguo Palace, so the Imperial City Department would naturally not spend a lot of energy on the Chengguo Palace.
"Check out Ning Guo Gong and Rong Guo Gong, as well as several other royal palaces, as well as the Xin'an County Prince's Palace!" Emperor Li said softly.
"Old slave accepts the order!"
Eunuch Lu responded quickly.
…
Zhenwu Division.
Qin Wei also received news from the Ministry of Punishment.
Since the reconciliation with Wei Rong was reached, the relationship between the Criminal Department and the Zhenwu Division has become much closer. If the Zhenwu Division needs the cooperation of the Criminal Department, as long as it is reasonable, the Criminal Department will cooperate.
For such trivial matters as conveying news, Qin Wei did not need to ask. Wei Rong would take the initiative to send someone to deliver a copy to Qin Wei.
Looking at the letter sent by Wei Rong, the corners of Qin Wei's mouth twitched slightly.
"The Chengguo Duke's Mansion is really rich!"
He couldn't help but exclaimed.
Not to mention anything else, these tens of millions of taels of silver and one hundred thousand taels of gold alone made Qin Wei feel that he was beyond his reach.
His county prince's palace is also considered wealthy. Not only does it have its own land, but it also receives a very generous salary from the clan's palace.
Qin Wei had previously estimated that the county prince's palace could earn between 50,000 and 80,000 taels of silver each year, as well as some miscellaneous things, but it could not reach 100,000 taels anyway.
After subtracting the annual expenses of the county prince's palace, as long as Qin Wei doesn't mess around, there should be two to thirty thousand taels of silver left.
Of course, Qin Wei can also embezzle. There are nearly two million taels of silver in Zhenwu Division's warehouse. If Qin Wei wants it, he can take it back to the prince's palace.
"What a pity. If I had known that Duke Chengguo's palace was so wealthy, I would definitely have taken advantage of it!"
Qin Wei said a little depressed.
Now is the time for Zhenwu Division to use money.
As the number of soldiers in Zhenwu Division increased, more and more money was consumed.
In addition, Qin Wei plans to go to Tianzhou to establish the Zhenwu Division branch, which will definitely require a large sum of money.
"But there is no chance now!"
Qin Wei's eyes lit up.
Afterwards, he came to Li Ru's office and study room.
"Your Highness!" Li Ru, who was busy, saw Qin Wei and quickly stood up to salute.
"No need, I have something I need you to do." Qin Wei said.
"Please give me your instructions, Your Highness," Li Ru said.
"Write a memorial to get some money for Zhenwu Division." Qin Wei said.
The silver copied from the Duke Cheng's Mansion will definitely go into Emperor Li's inner treasury and not into the pockets of the Ministry of Revenue.
"We need money!" Li Ru was stunned, "Your Highness, we are not short of money at the moment."
"How come there is no shortage? Now we are recruiting soldiers. It won't be long before our Zhenwu Division will have eight thousand soldiers. Add in the civil servants, and the entire Zhenwu Division will have as many as ten thousand soldiers."
"For ten thousand people, tens of thousands of taels of silver will be distributed every month. Plus other expenses, it will be at least two million per year."
"And I also plan to establish Zhenwu Division in the Thirteen Prefectures. How can I build it without money?"
Qin Wei blinked and said.
The salary of ordinary soldiers of the Zhenwu Division is 30% more than that of the soldiers of the 12th Regiment and Battalion. The 12th Regiment and Battalion themselves are the best of the best, and their pay is much higher than that of other soldiers.
The monthly salary of the soldiers of the Zhenwu Division is about five taels of silver. For more than 8,000 soldiers, the monthly salary is 40,000 taels.
Coupled with the salaries of other officials, the monthly salary expenditure of the Zhenwu Division alone is about 50,000 taels.
There are also horses, crossbows, armor, grain, pens, ink, paper, inkstones, etc., which all cost a lot of money.
"Well, the Ministry of Punishment copied tens of millions of taels of silver from the Duke Cheng's Mansion!"
The previous words are all nonsense, the key is the last sentence.
Li Ru understood Qin Wei's meaning instantly.
"Xiaoguan understands, Xiaguan will write a memorial now!" Li Ru said with a smile.
Qin Wei coughed lightly, "Apply for five million taels first."
When asking for money, you must also pay attention to strategy. When the lion opens its mouth, you must not be soft.
The application for five million taels was the bargaining room left by Qin Wei to Emperor Li.
As long as Emperor Li could give half of it, Qin Wei would be satisfied.