Seeing Shen Yicheng's meaningful gaze, Shi Xing naturally knew what he had to do.
"The Ministry of War will definitely take out whatever they can to help Xiao Zhennan fight the enemy. Cannons, gunpowder, lead, matchlocks, arrows, armor, whatever they can be taken out from the various arsenals, the Ministry of War will definitely take them out. However, the transportation costs and the reward money are not something the Ministry of War can provide."
Shi Xing naturally supported Xiao Ruxun. He could take out whatever the Ministry of War could provide and fully support Xiao Ruxun to win the war. However, the other problems were indeed beyond his control. The Ministry of War's funds were not used for rewards and transportation. Those were allocated from the national treasury after the Ministry of Revenue's calculations.
At the moment, the person in charge of the Ministry of Revenue, Yang Junmin, had been taken down. Many officials in the Ministry of Revenue were isolated for investigation. The entire Ministry of Revenue was temporarily suspended. No one was in charge, only a few small shrimps were still on duty. They were busy cooperating with Tsai Kuo-chen's investigation. The situation was very awkward.
The national treasury was even more awkward. The Ministry of Revenue had no one working, but they could still fill in. The key was the people. China had never lacked officials since ancient times. However, the key to the national treasury was the silver. If the national treasury ran out of silver, there would really be no silver.
The soldiers at the frontline were fighting. They fought with all their might. To put it bluntly, it was all for silver and promotions. Promotions did not matter. There were many positions in the imperial court that could be promoted. However, along with the promotion, the silver needed to accompany it could not be reduced.
Other than that, there was the merit of severed heads. The imperial court stipulated that the highest merit was to cut off the heads of Northern Barbarians. During the Jiajing era, a Northern Barbarian head was worth 30 taels of silver. Now, it had risen to 50 taels of silver for a Northern Barbarian head. The market was rising.
Yet, Xiao Ruxun was good at fighting. She had never lost a battle before. Back then, the hundred thousand Northern Invaders had been pinned to the ground by Xiao Ruxun, and over ten thousand heads had been smashed into the ground by her. After that, she had gone up to the north and annihilated several Northern Invaders' southern tribes, and she had also obtained several thousand Warriors' heads.
Now that a large number of northern invaders were heading south, there was almost no doubt that they would win the battle. If they fought another battle, they would probably get nearly thirty thousand heads. If they just counted the rewards, it would be one and a half million taels of silver!
Of course, many people chose to exchange heads for promotions. For example, most generals and low-level officers preferred to exchange heads for promotions. They would use silver to buy heads from low-level soldiers for promotions.
There were also robberies. Some officers used their power to snatch heads from soldiers. This happened several times in Xiao Ruxun's army. After Xiao Ruxun found out, the officers who committed the crime were beheaded by Xiao Ruxun in front of the entire army.
There were five officers who committed the crime, and one of them had a lot of merit. After that, there was no more.
With so many heads, including the silver, it was a huge sum of money. They really wanted to reduce the price to the level of the Jiajing era.
However, the big shots knew that other than Xiao Ruxun, no other general in the imperial court could obtain so many heads. Xiao Ruxun was an exception.
Most generals might not be able to obtain 50 heads in a year. If they forcefully reduced the price, not only would Xiao Ruxun's side be dissatisfied, the other border generals would definitely complain. The morale of the army would be shaken, and they would also be passive in avoiding battles. The losses would probably be even greater.
Therefore, the matter of reducing the price was never considered. However, even if they didn't want 1.5 million, they still had to prepare a few hundred thousand taels of silver. After all, the army had won, so they had to reward the army, right?
Where would the silver come from? Was it the empty national treasury?
Shen Yicheng was personally in charge of the audit of the Ministry of Revenue's accounts. The information he had obtained was shocking. Besides the part about the Jin officials, the other parts couldn't be shown to the Emperor. This was for sure. From what the Jin officials had done so far, it was enough to execute their entire family.
Putting these words aside, the silver was indeed an urgent matter. At this time, the Emperor was in a rage. No one dared to use this matter to ask the Emperor to take out the silver to reward the army. They were afraid that the Emperor would kill them in a fit of anger. There was competition within the annihilation group.
Shen Yicheng looked at the silent big shots and sighed.
Even if he got rid of the Jin faction, the other factions weren't to be trifled with. They might not be of the same mind as him. There were many things that he had to be a pawn while they tried their best to reap the benefits from behind. The one who took the lead was always the most eye-catching. This time, he really couldn't avoid it.
"Confiscate the house!"
Shen Yicheng sighed again and helplessly took out his last resort. "Plead to His Majesty to have the Imperial Bodyguard confiscate the house. Sell the antiques and jades obtained from the confiscation and escort them to the border to reward the army!"
Confiscate the house.
This was something that every official didn't want to hear but had to face. Confiscating the house was not something that could be done casually. It required the permission of many big shots and the support of the Emperor. This time, in order to ensure the military expenses, Shen Yicheng had no choice but to use this method.
Shen Li swallowed her saliva with difficulty.
He didn't expect that things would develop to this point. In the 26th year of Wanli, everyone seemed to be a lot more impetuous.
"Has it really come to this?"
Shen Yicheng looked at Shen Li. His meaning was very clear. "It hasn't come to this. Don't you have any f * cking idea in your heart?" My Minister Shen?
Shen Li looked away awkwardly.
He naturally knew in his heart. As for the question, it was because he was a little afraid of the cruel and violent methods of Shen Yicheng and the others.
How long has it been since the capital inspection started, and they want to confiscate the house? Can't you just put on a show for others to see? Don't let others think that you are so poor that you started the capital inspection. Do you know that the imperial court is afraid of your actions?
Shen Yicheng also understood this, but he also understood that he had to kill the snake. He couldn't give them a chance to linger on. He had to kill them in one blow. Otherwise, there would be many variables.
Right now, the alliance of the factions, which was bound by common interests, only existed to settle the score with the Jin faction. Once the Jin faction was defeated, there would be a lot of filth among them. Not to mention other things, there was already filth. Shen Yicheng had already started to be vigilant.
Without a choice, he could only use the hard-earned money of the Jin faction's officials to appease the army.
After all, the army was the first priority.
"Right now, there is no other way. We can only use confiscation to raise a sum of money for military expenses. Otherwise, the 500,000 Northern Barbarians won't reason with us and support Xiao Zhennan with all their might! We have to get through this hurdle. Once these Northern Barbarians are eliminated, the rest will be much easier. "
Shen Yicheng's meaning was also very clear. Everyone had to work together to get through this hurdle. Once the hurdle was over, the problem wouldn't exist anymore.
Because then, everyone could openly attack the Jin faction and those unscrupulous merchants. The silver and wealth in their hands were truly enough to rival a country.
At that time, even if everyone ate until their mouths were full of oil, there would still be enough silver left to replenish the national treasury.
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