Chapter 11 Loyalty and Treachery

"So what the imperial court has to do is to fortify the city and clear the fields, prevent the people from being harmed, win a victory at the same time, and then use the power of the victory to reward Ligdan Khan. Ligdan Khan will not dare to ask for too much!"

Wang An swung his fist as if he was the monarch of the Ming Dynasty. Chongzhen felt strange watching this scene but he did not dare to interrupt.

Wang An continued, "They should be grateful to us, and at the same time, we can let Lin Danhan know that it is not so easy to plunder our Ming Dynasty. At least Xuanda is not something he can come to whenever he wants. This will ensure the safety of our Ming Dynasty's northern border. The court only needs to concentrate its forces in Liaodong, which can greatly reduce the pressure on the court."

Chongzhen was so excited that he couldn't help but hold Wang An's hand and said excitedly: "Brother, this plan is brilliant!"

The Ming Dynasty that Chongzhen took over from his father and brother was already in tatters, and had suffered successive defeats in border wars. The Ming Dynasty really needed a big victory to boost morale.

Especially since this opponent was considered by people at the time to be no less threatening than the Later Jin's Lin Dan Khan. Although in the original history Lin Dan Khan failed to capture Datong, he massacred tens of thousands of civilians. This could not be considered a victory, but rather a typical defeat!

This once again proved the weakness of the Ming Dynasty, which could only retreat into its cities and watch foreigners slaughter its own people.

Wang Chengen was naturally very happy to see his master happy, and he also suggested: "Since Lin Danhan dare not attack with all his strength, why should we reward him? I heard that the court does not have much money."

After these words were spoken, Chongzhen immediately wilted as if a bucket of cold water had been poured on him.

After all, all the crises in the late Ming Dynasty were caused by lack of money.

People only know that the Jurchens were invincible, but they don’t know that the Ming army was even more terrifying!
When the battle of Datong broke out, silver was required for rewards after the war, and silver was also required for the reward given to Ligdan Khan, but where could the court get the silver?

If the imperial court had money, there would not have been a situation like Ligdan Khan marching to the city of Datong to demand rewards.

However, Wang An said disdainfully: "Who said that the Ming Dynasty has no silver? Let alone far away places, aren't there many mobile silver vaults in Beijing?"

Chongzhen was stunned, like a drowning man grasping at a straw, and asked hurriedly: "Brother, what do you mean by this? Why haven't I heard of a mobile silver vault in the capital? And how can this silver vault be moved?"

Wang An laughed and said jokingly, "Killing a few of the civil and military officials in the court would be enough to feed the border for a while. Isn't this a mobile silver vault?"

Chongzhen's face turned pale when he heard this. Although he vaguely knew that the ministers had money, he couldn't kill them just because they were short of money! Moreover, "Although there are corrupt officials in the court and the country, how can we kill them all? If we kill one or two people, how much money can we get? It won't help the situation."

Chongzhen shook his head in refutation, feeling that he had finally stood up in front of Wang An.

However, Wang An sneered. If he told Chongzhen that seventeen years later Li Zicheng would capture the capital and extort 70 million taels of silver, wouldn't his "cousin" be scared to death?

After thinking about it, Wang An decided not to talk too much about what happened in the future, so as to avoid being unable to explain.

Chongzhen felt very uncomfortable with Wang An's gaze and frowned, "In your opinion, is it just killing people and confiscating their property? Isn't that the same as robbery?"

Wang An's performance had always been miraculous. Chongzhen didn't believe Wang An and could only come up with a "solution" like confiscating his property.

Sure enough, Wang An drank another glass of wine and said with a smile: "The Ming Dynasty is rich, and it is easy to make money. It depends on whether the new emperor can save his face."

Chongzhen shouted in his heart, I can do it, I can do it!
He pretended to be casual and said, "Oh, I wonder what the rules are?" Wang An shook his head and sighed, "It's too late. Let's not talk about whether the emperor can save face. Even if he can save face, it's not suitable for the emperor to do such dirty work as collecting money. He needs to find someone to do it."

After that, he calculated the time and said, "The only person who can do this now is probably going to be killed by the emperor soon."

Chongzhen was confused, thinking frantically in his heart how could he kill an official who could make money for the Ming Dynasty? Moreover, he was in Wang An's shop now, so he didn't have time to kill anyone.

Wang Chengen was more direct and asked, "Master...Master, who are you talking about?"

Wang An laughed and said, "Who else could it be? There is only one person in the world who can do this, and that is Wei Zhongxian!"

Chongzhen was a little displeased when he heard this and retorted: "Brother, what you said is absurd. Wei Zhongxian brought disaster to the country and the people and engaged in factional strife. I believe that he can make money, but I don't think he can increase the income of the court."

Wang An once again looked at the child and said, "Wei Zhongxian was undoubtedly a treacherous minister, but who in the court was a loyal minister? You said Hai Rui was a loyal minister, but if he could live to this day, could he have solved the crisis of the Ming Dynasty?"

"Zhang Juzheng was dealt with by Emperor Wanli, but who can deny that Zhang Juzheng was indeed a capable official? If Zhang were put in the present, the Ming Dynasty would definitely have a much better life!"

Chongzhen frowned and said nothing. Although he wanted to oppose Wang An's words in his heart, he had to admit that Wang An was right.

Although Hai Rui's name is recorded in history, he actually did not play much of a role in the country and society at that time. At most, he set a moral benchmark for the officialdom.

Although Zhang Juzheng was a powerful official and even controlled the government for a time, he had a profound impact on the Ming Dynasty. His reform of the Single Whip System greatly increased the Ming Dynasty's fiscal revenue.

In the fifth year of the Wanli reign alone, the emperor earned 4.35 million taels of silver, nearly double the amount during the Longqing reign. After deducting various financial expenses, there was still a surplus of 850,000 taels.

During his reign, the Ming Dynasty had "enough grain in Taicang to last for ten years, and the Zhou temples had accumulated more than 4 million gold coins."

The three famous expeditions during the Wanli period would have been impossible without the small fortune that Zhang Juzheng had earned for the Ming Dynasty.

Chongzhen also hoped to have a capable minister like Zhang Juzheng under his command.

Seeing Chongzhen deep in thought, Wang An said with a smile: "Wei Zhongxian is certainly not as good as a leg hair of Zhang Juzheng, but he is not inferior to Zhang Juzheng in terms of shamelessness and fearlessness of offending people. Only people like him can receive money from the literati."

"Otherwise, relying solely on the taxes collected by peasants, it would be impossible to support the current military expenditure of the Ming Dynasty."

Chongzhen pondered for a moment and thought that if Wei Zhongxian could really bring money to the Ming Dynasty, it would not be impossible to spare his life first.

"But how is Wei Zhongxian going to get the money? He can't just let the guards extort money from princes and ministers, right?" Chongzhen said.

Wang An patted Chongzhen on the shoulder and said with a smile: "This young man is teachable. Don't tell me that this is also a method."

Seeing Chongzhen's grim expression, Wang An said seriously, "In fact, the Ming Dynasty is not without money, but the rich are all the scholars and merchants."

(End of this chapter)