Chapter 179 The Money Is Coming

Nowadays, celebrities gather together and everyone has their ears pricked up. This is exactly the environment He Chunhua needs. He didn't give up and sat down to talk. He didn't mention a word about Zhu Xiuer's role in Xianling Lake. He only said that some villagers secretly informed the army to remind them.

Seeing his well-spoken words and generous demeanor, others nodded secretly.

He Lingchuan paid attention to Ke Jihai.

When he was talking to He Chunhua, he really only had He Chunhua in his eyes, and he talked and laughed as if there was no one else around. The other nobles couldn't help but cheer and applaud when they heard the important points. Ke Jihai became impatient and turned around to yell.

The protagonists of today's banquet were obviously the Zhu family and Zhu Xiu'er, who both said that guests should do as they pleased, but this time he turned the guest over and was completely unaware of it. General Ke seems to have a straightforward temper and doesn't care about offending people.

Zhu Xiyan smiled and didn't take it seriously, but the young men of the Zhu family were frowning and dissatisfied.

Ke Jihai asked detailed questions about the battle strategy and the battle process, especially the time when the supporting army led the whole village, old and weak, to flee westward. He immediately raised questions: "Master He is kind, but women and children are slow to move, and they can throw away the rebel army." The further away, the team must have been left behind. How much was lost in this part?”

"There are thirty-five people in the support force, seventeen horses, and fourteen villagers who stayed to help." After that thrilling night, He Chunhua was already familiar with these numbers. "They held the rebel army close. Three hours."

"Thirty-five people, delayed for three hours!" Ke Jihai was moved, "Okay, there must be brave men among them, Master He must make sure to use them."

He Chunhua smiled slightly and then called He Lingchuan to him: "At that time, I was very reluctant to leave my son after his tassel was cut off. But I didn't know that this kid commanded him well and successfully completed the task."

He sighed deeply: "When he was retreating, he was shot by Lu Yao and fell off the cliff. It is said that the arrow can hit three times in one shot. We all thought he was unlucky. My wife cried and fainted on the spot. Who knew, oh, not only did he not die, He also rescued Wu Shaoyi who was only half alive, otherwise he would not have been able to surrender. This is really a blessing from God."

"Only those who save themselves will be saved by God. Lu Yao's set of bows and arrows has a history. It is one of the most important treasures of Hong Qiang, the thief. It is called the 'Ghost Eye Bow'. If it misses a hit, it will automatically double-click later. The officers and soldiers have experienced its power on the battlefield. Two generals under my command were killed by the Ghost Eye Bow. It is not easy for Lu Yao to shoot you with this bow and still not be able to kill him. "

Ke Jihai turned to He Lingchuan: "You are young, resourceful and brave, which is rare! You are not a hero unless you go to the battlefield. You will be of great use in the north this time. You must work hard to add another tiger general to my Dayuan!"

The purpose of Wang Ting's transfer of He Chunhua to Xiazhou was immediately clear to him, a veteran in the battlefield, which was to increase the military strength against Xunzhou Mu Nian Zanli and the Northern Demon Kingdom. The eldest son of He family followed his father, and there were inevitable battles.

He Lingchuan nodded and said in a sonorous voice, "I will definitely accept the teachings of the great general!"

Ke Jihai admired him for being such an awesome young man who was straightforward and didn't talk nonsense. He immediately took off his sword from his waist and handed it to He Lingchuan: "This sword is for heroes."

"How can this be done!" Before the eldest son could speak, He Chunhua immediately declined.

Ke Jihai ignored him and put the knife directly into He Lingchuan's hand: "This knife is called 'Bai Pi'. It has been with me for twenty-two years. I hope you can make good use of it."

He Lingchuan was overjoyed, took it with both hands, and solemnly said: "I accept it with all sincerity, and I will live up to the general's expectations."

Ke Jihai held such high regard for a sixteen or seventeen-year-old country boy. He praised the hero and gave him a knife, but he didn't take others seriously. The other nobles present were not very impressed. Especially for those in their early twenties, it was even more jarring to hear him say, "If you don't go to the battlefield, you're not a hero."

He Suji, who had previously talked to the He brothers, said: "I heard that General Wu Di's eldest son Wu He went to the battlefield at the age of thirteen and led his troops to capture the enemy general alive at the age of sixteen. Now he is also in the northwest with his father to conquer Dong Haoming. . He is exactly two years older than Brother He. Could it be that our Yuan Kingdom is about to produce another pair of indistinguishable tiger generals?"

The few teenagers who usually surrounded him all responded, but the other nobles only smiled and said nothing. Ke Jihai glanced at He Su: "Who are you?"

"My surname is He, and my father is He Liwen, Yushitai." In order to avoid suspicion, his father did not come to attend the Zhu family's night banquet.

The Zhu family members added: "This is He Su, the third son of the imperial censor."

"Is there any merit?"

He Su's face turned red and he could only shake his head.

"Have you ever offered any advice or suggestions?"

It would be very difficult for other seventeen or eighteen year old boys to offer their advice to the king, but for the son of a royal censor, it would be easy for him to do so.

He Su's face turned even redder and he said, "I have already mentioned a few articles to the Holy One."

But the higher-ups approved it with the words "read" and then typed it back.

Ke Jihai smiled and said: "Since I have no achievements and have never received any advice, I am just a bystander, so I can only watch from the sidelines."

This is to ask him to shut up, in front of so many people! He Su's face swelled from red to purple, and he swallowed a breath of bad breath, but secretly clenched his fists in his sleeves.

Ke Jihai was so rude that everyone at the banquet was speechless.

It was He Chunhua who broke the silence: "I heard that there is a stalemate on the front line in Wuzhou. Why did General Ke return to the capital at this time?"

He also figured out some of Ke Jihai's temper, so he simply asked him straight to the point.

"Oh, it's not just to collect food and wages." The smile on Ke Jihai's face gradually became heavier, "I heard that the tax collectors sent by Wang Ting to the four southern states returned with a full load and collected millions of taels of tax money."

"Dong Haoming has fortified the city and cleared the fields in Wuzhou, leaving us no grain. This year, the autumn harvest in Wujing was good, and they had already arranged it, so there was no surplus food in the fields. In order to ask for money, General Wu and I have sent 12 urgent letters to the royal court, but in the past three or four months, we have only received food and grass twice. Fortunately, after breaking through Baiding City, we can continue to eat and drink."

"If the situation is not urgent, why would I have the audacity to go back to the country to ask for money and food?" He sighed quietly, "The front line has been owed for more than three months, and a day's ration is now We have to hold out for three days. If we don’t distribute it, the soldiers will have no strength to fight. ”

An official present said: “It’s not that Wang Ting doesn’t want to distribute it, it’s just that this year is too difficult. Woling Pass was first attacked by rebels and then by floods, and there was almost no harvest in spring, summer and autumn. That large area has always been one of the grain-rich areas, accounting for 30% of the national grain harvest. This year, not only can we not pay tribute, but we also have to ask the country to provide disaster relief.”

The rebel army and the government army fought back and forth in Woling Pass for several months, and the tug-of-war was a mess. Then they ran into floods, and the grain-producing area became a disaster area. Wang Ting was scratching his head for this.

Zhu Xiyan also sighed: "The grain price in Shihuan City has risen by 40%. Once the grain price rises, everything else will follow suit. The servants said that even candles have become more expensive."

"Coincidentally, I heard a lot of complaints in the royal court." Ke Jihai shook his head, "We are responsible for fighting on the front line, and logistics and raising funds are the officials' job. If I don't ask the royal court for money, who else can I ask for money? Officers and soldiers can fight on an empty stomach, but what about horses? If they don't eat wheat bran and bean cakes, they can't run fast or carry heavy loads just by eating grass."

The official looked heavy: "In fact, the people of Shihuan are also saving money to support the front line. I heard that Lord Cao, who is responsible for the transportation of supplies on the front line, hasn't slept for several days."

He Lingchuan subconsciously looked at the delicacies on the table.

He Yue couldn't help but say, "Dong Haoming has been prepared for a long time. He has a strong army, a strong city and sufficient food. He plans to fight a protracted war with the government troops. Once the government troops can't afford to retreat, he will turn defense into offense."

"That's the truth." Ke Jihai nodded, "Dong Haoming has been on the battlefield for decades, and he understands all this. Once the offense and defense change, and the government troops fail to defend Jixingang in the north, Dong Haoming can board the ship there and go straight into Hongchuan, and Shihuan City and the capital will be in danger again."

Everyone changed color. The last time the rebels took over Woling Pass, the residents of Shihuan City were scared. Once the rebels take a boat from Fenglingdu and go downstream along Hongchuan, they will reach Shihuan within a few days and start killing people, without any cover or stop in the middle.

Some of the nobles present fled with their families after hearing the news, and they returned to Shihuan until they heard that Wu Di and Ke Jihai had defeated the rebels.

No one wants to experience that kind of fear again.

Someone asked Ke Jihai: "General, what are the results after returning to the capital?"

"What we got is just a drop in the bucket." Ke Jihai sighed deeply and shook his head. "Dong Haoming's troops are different from the mob like Hong Xiangqian. Their elite troops are better than the government troops. They cannot be wiped out overnight. Lack of food is the most detrimental to morale. In the middle of winter, the army is short of clothes and bedding. People are freezing to death and frostbite every day. I am not afraid to tell the truth. If this continues, we will have to retreat to Jixingang by the beginning of next spring at the latest."

That's less than three months.

"Jixingang is already building defenses, digging deep trenches and building high walls. But as far as I know, the terrain there can't accommodate more than 100,000 troops."

Zhu Xiyan looked at everyone's faces and knew that the time was almost right, so he coughed and said, "The soldiers on the front line are fighting, and my family will also do their part. So, my Zhu family is willing to donate 50,000 shi of military rations and 5,000 shi of horse feed, and send them to the royal court for military supplies, and they will send them to the front line!"

He Yue secretly counted his fingers and calculated quickly. The price of grain at that time was 800 wen per shi, so the Zhu family would have to spend about 40,000 taels of silver to buy grain and donate it to the front line, not including the money for fodder.

There was a lot of discussion around.

The host Zhu Xiyan had expressed his opinion, and the others stroked their hearts and calculated the accounts, and found that it was more cost-effective to spend a little money on the front-line soldiers to let them withstand Dong Haoming's iron hoof than to have their families destroyed and their lives destroyed later.

So several respected royal relatives also donated money.

Their status was more respected than Zhu Xiyan, so they couldn't be more humble than him. The family with the most promised to donate 120,000 shi, and the rest ranged from 60,000 shi to 90,000 shi, as well as horse feed, clothes, shoes, and bedding.

With them taking the lead, the noble families and officials present had to bite the bullet and follow suit, secretly saying that it was bad luck. They had already given a gift to attend the Zhu family's dust-washing banquet tonight, but they didn't expect that General Ke Jihai was waiting here and asked them to collect the second money.

With so many families needing to buy grain, wouldn’t the grain price near Shihuan have to skyrocket?