"Your Majesty, Minister Xiao has returned to the city with the money from the fundraising event!"
Chang 'an City, Taiji Palace, Sweet Dew Hall.
The sky was getting dark. Li Er, who had just finished reading the memorials, was about to head to the back of the palace for dinner when Zhao Song walked in.
"Oh? The fundraising event in Lantian County has ended? How much money was raised? "
Li Er's eyes lit up when he heard that. He asked with great interest.
He hadn't forgotten about his bet with Xiao Yu.
Zhao Song smiled and replied, "Your Majesty, the fundraising event ended at a quarter to five. As for how much money was raised, I don't know! But from the rumors, it should be quite a lot. "
Li Er nodded and chuckled, "Haha! Then we'll talk about it when Minister Xiao enters the palace! "
He then stood up from the dragon couch and walked towards the door. Since Xiao Yu hadn't arrived yet, he had to go and eat dinner!
Li Er wasn't too worried about the bet. Firstly, he believed in Li Zexuan's ability to create miracles. Even if he couldn't raise two hundred and fifty thousand strings of cash, Li Zexuan would definitely have other tricks up his sleeves. Secondly, even if Li Zexuan couldn't do it, Li Er had other ways to raise two hundred and fifty thousand strings of cash. The Bureau of Commerce in the Guangdong region would send the tax revenue to the imperial court every three months. He could have Li Xiaogong hand over the tax revenue to the national treasury a month in advance. This wasn't a small sum of money and could completely make up for the deficit from the fundraising event!
Actually, Li Er had another trick up his sleeve, which was to have the Yanhuang Bank print money like crazy. Tang yuan had become popular in all three hundred states of the Great Tang and had gradually replaced copper coins. In times of war, Li Er could have the Yanhuang Bank print more Tang yuan to expand and equip the army. However, when Li Zexuan established the Yanhuang Bank, he had solemnly said that the amount of money that the Yanhuang Bank printed every year had to be determined by the Great Tang's annual gross domestic product. Unauthorized printing of Tang yuan would not only destroy the credit system of Tang yuan, it would also destroy the foundation of the Great Tang. Once this move was implemented, the Great Tang Dynasty would not be far from destruction!
As intelligent as Li Er was, it was impossible for him not to know that Li Zexuan's words made sense. Now that the Great Tang was fighting the Turkic Khaganate, although it was difficult, it was not completely impossible. Therefore, Li Er felt that it was not yet time to use the "money printing machine" that was the Yanhuang Bank. In his view, the Yanhuang Bank and Tang yuan would be of great use to the future prosperity of the Great Tang. They must not be destroyed so easily!
Arriving at Empress Zhangsun's residence, Li Er immediately ordered the palace maids and eunuchs to serve the dishes. Halfway through the dinner, Zhao Song hurriedly ran over and said, "Your Majesty, Minister Xiao requests an audience!"
"Ha! He came rather quickly! Bring him to the Ganlu Palace, I will be there in a while! "
Hearing this, Li Er smiled and said to Zhao Song.
"Yes ~!"
Zhao Song received the order and left.
At this moment, Li Er looked at Empress Zhangsun and sighed. "Sigh, I wanted to have a good meal with Maid Guanyin, but it seems like I won't be able to!"
Empress Zhangsun smiled and said, "Your Majesty, go quickly! For Minister Xiao to enter the palace at this time, it must be something important! Oh, it seems like Lantian County is holding a donation gathering today. I believe that Minister Xiao must be here for this! "
Li Er took advantage of the gap between their conversation to eat two more mouthfuls of food. Then, he stood up and praised, "Haha! My Empress is indeed intelligent. This Xiao Yu is most likely here for the donation gathering! Alright, Maid Guanyin, take your time to eat. I will be going to the front hall! "
Empress Zhangsun nodded.
Li Er stood up and headed in the direction of Taiji Palace.
Speaking of which, it wasn't easy for him to be the Emperor, especially during this period when the Great Tang was preparing for the war with the Turkic Khaganate. There were many times when he couldn't even have a proper meal. It was no wonder that Li Er would become a sage in history. Attitude determined everything!
"This old subject greets Your Majesty!"
Arriving at the Ganlu Palace, Xiao Yu, who had been waiting for a while, quickly bowed and greeted.
"Minister Xiao, you may dispense with the formalities!"
Li Er waved at Xiao Yu as he walked toward the dragon couch.
Since he had already guessed Xiao Yu's intention for entering the palace, Li Er sat on the dragon couch and looked at Xiao Yu. He didn't keep him in suspense and directly asked, "How is it? Minister Xiao? Has the money raised from this donation gathering been enough to fund an army of one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers? "
Xiao Yu's eyes narrowed as he clasped his hands at Li Er and sternly said, "This donation gathering has raised a total of 428,500 strings of string of cash, far surpassing this old subject's estimate! Your Majesty has won the bet, so this old subject congratulates Your Majesty! "
"What? 428,500 strings of cash? "
Even though Li Er had already mentally prepared himself, he still couldn't help but be taken aback by such a massive number from Xiao Yu's mouth. Just fifteen minutes ago, he had been considering what to do if the money raised from this donation gathering wasn't enough, but now … happiness had come a little too suddenly.
"Truly so! In this donation gathering, not only did many merchants donate generously to the country, there were also many people this old subject didn't expect to participate! "
Speaking of this, Xiao Yu took out a book from his bosom and held it up with both hands. He said, "This old official has brought back the 428,500 strings of coins from the fundraising event and handed it over to the officials of the Ministry of Revenue to be counted and added to the national treasury. This is the detailed account of the fundraising event. Your Majesty, please take a look!"
"Good! My dear subject, you've worked hard this time! "
Li Er's eyes lit up as he sighed with emotion. Without his instructions, Zhao Song took the account book from Xiao Yu's hands and handed it over to Li Er.
Li Er reached out to take the account book and began flipping through it, ignoring Xiao Yu in the hall. Due to the lack of time, the account book wasn't arranged according to the amount of donations. It was completely based on the order of the people who had appeared at the donation gathering. Li Er recognized many of the people at the front of the list, such as Li Zexuan, Lin Wenyuan of the Flaming Yellow Chamber of Commerce, and the "World's Righteous Merchant" Feng Zhihua, whom he had personally conferred the title of "World's Righteous Merchant".
These people had all donated a considerable amount, with Li Zexuan taking the lead. Not only had he donated 30,000 strings of cash, but his Warm Tang Foundation had also donated 20,000 strings of cash. Altogether, they had contributed 50,000 strings of cash to the imperial court. Li Er couldn't help but be moved by this. He thought to himself,
Li Zexuan might be a playboy most of the time, but when it comes to national interests and foreign wars, he's more attentive than anyone else!
Li Er thought this way not only because Li Zexuan had started the donation gathering and contributed 50,000 strings of cash to the imperial court, but also because Li Zexuan had offered to forge new high-quality equipment for the expanded Black Armored Army. After that, Li Er had done some calculations in private. The new equipment worn by the five thousand Black Armored Army from head to toe, from man to horse, would definitely be worth no less than 100,000 strings of cash!
There weren't many people in the Great Tang who could fork out such a large sum. Even if there were people who could, they wouldn't offer to "gift" money like Li Zexuan had done! This was because not only would this money not benefit him, it might even arouse the suspicions of the emperor!
Li Er knew that Li Zexuan, who had always been shrewd, would do such a foolish thing because of his sincerity towards the Great Tang. He wanted the Great Tang to prosper, and he didn't want the Great Tang to fall into the hands of foreign races!
It was precisely because of this that Li Er had always regarded Li Zexuan in a different light and promoted Li Zexuan as an exception. Furthermore, whenever Li Zexuan made a mistake, Li Er would do his best to lighten the punishment on Li Zexuan. It was also because of Li Zexuan's sincerity that Li Er was willing to place his two favorite sons by Li Zexuan's side to learn and grow!
"Treasure House? What's the background of this shop? They can actually donate 30,000 strings of cash? Also, this name sounds familiar! "
Li Er skimmed through the list and saw that other than Li Zexuan, there was someone else who had donated 30,000 strings of cash. He couldn't help but take a second look at the list. Then, he frowned and muttered in confusion.
Xiao Yu smiled and cupped his hands. "Your Majesty, this Treasure House is the property left behind by Wang Renbiao, the Governor of Qizhou. As for Li Jingchu, who donated after him, she is Wang Renbiao's new wife. The couple donated a total of 32,000 strings of cash!"
"Oh? It's Wang Renbiao? "
Hearing this, Li Er was suddenly enlightened. "I heard that he was getting married a few days ago. I didn't expect that he would come with his new wife to donate money right after he got married. Wang Yu gave birth to a good son and a good daughter-in-law!"
Then, Li Er temporarily put aside Wang Renbiao's matter and continued to read. The more he read, the more surprised he became. Slowly, he finally understood why Xiao Yu had told him that "many unexpected people have come to this fundraising event"!
"Cheng Ji Winery? Isn't that the winery of Cheng Zhijie's family? He also donated 5,000 strings of cash? "
"Qin Ji Clothing Shop? This is Shu Bao's shop! "
"Baochang Pawnshop? This is Jingde's pawnshop! "
"Zhangsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Chu Suiliang, Kong Yingda … all the civil and military officials seem to have secretly participated in the fundraising event!"
Unlike other emperors, Li Er had subdued a large group of civil and military officials in the process of conquering the world. These people had worked with Li Er for so many years and had a very good relationship with him. Li Er knew most of the private lives of his officials like the back of his hand. Therefore, although Cheng Yaojin, Qin Qiong, and the others had participated in the fundraising event in the name of their own shops, most of them were still recognized by Li Er at a glance! Seeing that his officials were so supportive of him, Li Er couldn't help but feel touched. However, when he saw the next name, he couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.
"Wei's Winery, isn't this Wei Zheng's winery? No, didn't this winery close two years ago? Donation of 10 strings of cash?? "
When he saw the words "Wei's Winery", Li Er was a little surprised. However, when he saw the donation of 10 strings of cash, he almost vomited blood. This was because the people before him had donated tens of thousands of strings of cash. When it was Wei Zheng's turn, he only donated 10 strings of cash. This contrast was too big!
"Cough cough! Xuancheng's family's resources are limited. Your Majesty, please forgive us! "
Seeing this, Xiao Yu coughed dryly and pleaded for Wei Zheng in a low voice.
Li Er secretly rolled his eyes and couldn't be bothered to say anything.
"Hmm? Lantian County's government donated 10,000 strings of cash? What's going on? "
Li Er read ten lines at a glance and quickly flipped to the last page of the account book. Suddenly, his eyes focused on a line in the middle of the last page of the account book and he exclaimed in surprise.
…
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