Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

"Your servant, Song Liangzu, is willing to donate on behalf of my father... donate... two hundred and eighty thousand taels!"

After Song Liangzu finished speaking, he fell to his knees with a "duang". He was extremely nervous.

But there were people who were more nervous than him, such as Xining Hou Song Yude. The moment he heard his son's voice, Old Song's head started buzzing.

He wanted to stand up to stop it, but as soon as he stood up he felt dizzy. Fortunately, Taining Marquis Chen Yanzuo was quick and held him up.

"Rebellious son! How dare you talk nonsense? Our family... really doesn't have that much money! You want to kill your father!"

Xining Marquis Song Yude ignored Chen Yanzuo's support and sat down on the ground and burst into tears. His appearance made Song Liangzu a little panicked.

"Liangzu, stay calm. Your father is just pretending. Look, he doesn't have any tears." Xu Wenyuan reminded in a low voice.

Song Liangzu suddenly felt at ease, and he no longer looked at his father, and bowed down again in the direction of Emperor Chongzhen:

"Your Majesty, my father lied. My family has more than a dozen shops. There is a silver vault under the third room from the left in the backyard of my house. If Your Majesty doesn't believe me, you can ask someone to check. There must be so much silver!"

Song Liangzu no longer even stutters when he speaks.

Upon hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen's eyes suddenly turned cold, and he looked at Song Yude, who was sitting on the ground without caring about his manners.

"Marquis Xining, I did not ask you to sell your property. As a noble of the imperial court, you have been blessed by the emperor for three hundred years, but you are unwilling to give out even a little of your surplus wealth?

You disappoint me so much!

Wang Chengen, send someone to investigate immediately. If this is true, punish him for deceiving the emperor!"

Upon hearing this, Song Yude had no time to cry. He quickly stood up and pleaded with Emperor Chongzhen, saying that his house could not withstand the investigation.

Even if you don't have that much cash, as long as the emperor wants to punish you, he can find a pretext to accuse you.

There's no guarantee that armor and weapons might appear out of nowhere in the cellar, which would be a serious crime punishable by confiscation of property and extermination of the entire clan.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty, please have mercy! I am willing to donate... I am willing to donate 280,000 taels. I beg Your Majesty to give me a chance to atone for my sins for the sake of my ancestors."

Only then did Emperor Chongzhen let Marquis Xining go. He ignored Marquis Xining who was kneeling on the ground, but personally helped Song Liangzu up.

"Your name is Song Liangzu, right? I will remember you. Wait for me to serve you."

Song Liangzu was so excited that his eyes turned red and his neck became thick, his chest heaving so much that he couldn't even utter a word of gratitude. All he could think about was the emperor's words, "I'll remember you, and wait for your use."

Song Yude knelt on the ground with a sad expression, and it was Chen Yanzuo who finally helped him up.

"It's hard to guard against thieves in your own home, no matter how hard you try. Fortunately, I have educated my son well, and he will never do such a thing.

Brother Song, I'm not saying anything bad about you, but you have to listen to my advice!"

Chen Yanzuo came from a wealthy family and always felt that he was superior to others. He was very concerned about his reputation and liked to preach when speaking.

As soon as the two of them sat down on the stools, Chen Yanzuo wanted to say a few more words of comfort, but Song Yude pointed in the direction of Emperor Chongzhen with a strange look in his eyes.

"Hey, Brother Song, don't be unwilling to accept this. Now that things have come to this, you have to discipline your child when you go back..."

"It's your son...your son has stood up!"

Song Yude finally came to his senses and pointed at Chen Tao who had just stood up.

Chen Tao was good friends with Song Liangzu. Seeing that Song Liangzu was so highly regarded by the emperor, how could he bear it?

"Your Majesty, I am also willing to donate on behalf of my father. I pledge... 400,000 taels!"

Chen Tao held his head high when he spoke. His family was much wealthier than other marquises, and he would always compare himself with other young masters.

"Four hundred thousand taels, does Mr. Chen have any solid evidence?" Emperor Chongzhen asked with a calm smile.

"Your Majesty, the Song family only has a dozen shops, but my family has more than twenty, as well as thousands of hectares of fertile land. My family also has a silver cellar. In addition to the silver cellar, my family also..."

"Your Majesty! I am willing to donate on behalf of my son. I am willing to donate!"

Chen Yanzuo was so frightened that he interrupted his son's words, fearing that this rebellious son would reveal all his family assets.

Four hundred thousand taels is not a small sum of money. The family definitely does not have enough cash, so this time it will be a huge expense.

If he had known what happened today in advance, Chen Yanzuo would have been able to transfer a large amount of assets. In that case, he would have pretended that he had never given birth to a son named Chen Tao, and he would definitely not have donated so much.

But the incident happened suddenly, and Chen Yanzuo did not dare to gamble with the lives of his entire family.

"Well, the country is in crisis, and the Marquis of Xining has such awareness. I think your ancestors would be relieved if they knew about it.

Chen Tao, I will remember you and wait for your use."

Chen Tao quickly expressed his gratitude with satisfaction, then turned around and showed off to the other noble sons who had not yet made a move.

Seeing that Chen Yanzuo had pledged so much, Song Yude, who probably knew the financial situation of the Xining Marquis' Mansion, felt much better.

The world is generally like this: the problem is not the scarcity of wealth, but the inequality of wealth.

"Don't you feel bad that your son sold your father's land? Brother Chen, it seems that there is a thief in your family too."

Song Yude poured a glass of wine for Chen Yanzuo and himself, and sighed as he spoke. The two of them clinked their glasses while sighing.

With Zhang Shikang, Xu Wenyuan and other members of the Second Sons' Group leading the way, and Song Liangzu and Chen Tao setting examples in the back, how could other sons of noble families sit still?

A very strange scene appeared in the hall, but when the son of a nobleman stood up, one of the nobles immediately interrupted and placed the donation amount before his son could speak.

These nobles finally understood that instead of waiting for their sons to make up a number, it would be better for them to step forward themselves.

No matter how mean His Majesty was, he only asked them to donate the remaining wealth in their family, but his rebellious son asked for it without hesitation.

If they really acted as recklessly as Chen Tao from the Taining Marquis family, they would not be able to fill such a big hole even if they lost everything they had.

Emperor Chongzhen was very satisfied with the self-awareness of these nobles. Of course, he did not forget to express his appreciation for the descendants of these nobles in his words.

Wang Chengen, who was standing by, saw that Emperor Chongzhen was happy, and he was also happy. He used the brush in his hand to quickly write down the titles of each noble relative, the amount of donation, and the names of their descendants who came today.

Emperor Chongzhen looked at Zhang Shikang and smiled at him, thinking of the tragic situation during the last fundraising, and then looking at the present.

What that guy said is true. Perhaps, our Ming Dynasty really has no shortage of money. With this money, we will not need to increase the suppression pay and training pay, and many things can be eased.

It seems that his ancestors really gave him a person of great talent. Now that today's matter is settled, he will go to the Taimiao to thank his ancestors in person, Emperor Chongzhen thought to himself.

The subsequent donations from nobles were unremarkable and Zhang Shikang was too lazy to even look at them. In fact, all of this was within his expectations, except for two surprises.

Zhang Shikang glanced at Zhu Chunchen and Zhou Kui. The two of them were sitting there as steady as old dogs, and seemed to be mocking other nobles.

They must have felt that they were in a superior position, so they dared to do so, which made Zhang Shikang very unhappy.

He glanced at Zhu Zhengliang, who was lying on a recliner with a broken leg and looked desperate, and Zhou Dasheng, who was looking at others with jealousy as they were appreciated by the emperor, and he immediately made up his mind.

Zhang Shikang stood up and walked towards the two of them with a smile.

……