Chapter 200 The National Treasury is Empty
Jueming then said calmly that the abbot of Duolin Temple had sent someone to look for him three times, and he had to go back and do something for the temple.
Zhao Yulin was a little reluctant to see his master leave. He said that he had not taken good care of his master and asked his master to forgive him, but the master must stay and help him guard the foundation of the Shenwei Army.
Jueming sighed and said: All good things must come to an end. There are many capable people in the Shenwei Army who can do the same job.
At this time, the captain of the guard brought up the Chinese medicine, and Jueming watched Zhao Yulin take the medicine and went down the mountain. He felt a little regretful when he saw his master going away, but he didn't care too much and continued his retreat.
At the dock of Xinshi, an official ship marked with Dali docked. The southern king of the town, Duan Xiaolin, hurriedly got off the ship. The tax officer left behind by Dali hurried to meet him and told him that Zhao Yulin, the commander of the Shenwei Army, and his third uncle were in Xinshi Town. It was said that he came here to recuperate. Commander Zhao had suffered serious internal injuries in the battle with foreign monks in Hongyuan.
In fact, Duan Xiaolin had already received the secret report about Zhao Yulin's injury in the Dali Imperial City. At that time, he secretly admired his third uncle.
Zhao Yulin came back from Hongyuan. They had met in Jiading and he didn't notice anything unusual at the time.
He was very surprised. Could this man be made of iron?
However, he must find Zhao Yulin now.
The Dali Kingdom fought a war with the Chen Dynasty of Nanyue. As Nanyue had been planning for a long time and was well prepared, it won victory after victory in the early stage. However, when the war started, the Dali Kingdom was worried that the Shenwei Army would attack from both sides like they did, so it did not dare to withdraw a large number of troops from the north. As a result, it suffered repeated defeats due to insufficient troops, lost cities and territories, and suffered heavy losses.
There was an uproar in Dali Kingdom, and the young emperor was extremely angry.
Duan Xiaolin argued in court that the Shenwei Army would never take advantage of someone's misfortune or add insult to injury, so he sent all the northern troops south to attack South Vietnam, which is how they were able to hold off the South Vietnamese army and drive it out of the country.
Unfortunately, the battle line was too long and too wide, the loss of food and fodder was huge, many cities were destroyed, and the soldiers suffered heavy casualties. How could the small Dali Kingdom withstand such a severe blow?
Dali's treasury was suddenly so empty that there was no need to even close the door.
It was of no avail for this small town's Southern King to empty his family's fortune. His father looked to the north and asked Duan Xiaolin to go to Yibin to see if he could find help from Zhao Yulin.
So, Duan Xiaolin rushed to Xinshi in a hurry.
When he heard that Zhao Yulin was here, he was overjoyed and immediately asked the tax officer to inform him that he wanted to see his third uncle.
However, Zhao Yulin was in seclusion on Zhenwu Mountain. How could ordinary officials see him? They could only report to the higher authorities one level at a time. This made Xiao Linzi very anxious. He personally went to each government office in Xinshi Town to inquire, but there was no news.
Finally, it was the analysis of the spies they left in Xinshi that the third uncle was most likely in a place controlled by Shunfeng. Regardless of his status, Xiao Linzi immediately took the spies to look for the Shunfeng branch of the Shenwei Army.
Three days later, Master Jueming came up the mountain to feel Zhao Yulin's pulse and check his injuries. The red marks on his back had almost disappeared, with only a few spots left, and it was obvious that he was about to recover.
The master was very happy and said that things would get better if I rested for a while, and I should not be careless.
The master and his disciple drank tea instead of wine and looked up at the sky to celebrate.
Jueming then told Zhao Yulin that Duan Xiaolin had come to Xinshi and wanted to see him. He probably wanted to borrow some money to spend. Dali State was in a tight financial situation, and a casual war would empty the treasury.
Zhao Yulin thought for a while and said, a money shop has been opened in Renhuai Fort and uses the new currency. There is also a money shop in Xinshi that uses the new currency, so let him come up.
Jueming hesitated for a moment and said that they could meet, but the time could not be too long as his brother still needed to rest, otherwise all the efforts would be wasted.
Zhao Yulin understood his master's good intentions and agreed immediately.
The next morning, Duan Xiaolin hurried up Zhenwu Mountain.
After the two brothers met, Zhao Yulin smiled faintly and said that he was taking medicine to heal his injuries and could only drink tea instead of wine.
Duan Xiaolin first asked him nervously: Where is the injury of the third brother? Is it serious?
This guy is also an honest person, he doesn't know how to talk. If he wasn't seriously injured, would he come to Zhenwu Mountain to practice?
Zhao Yulin said with a smile that he was much better now. It had only been a short time since we last met. Why are you coming to Xinshi again? If you have something to say, just tell me. We only have time for an incense stick.
Duan Xiaolin heard that it was only an incense stick of time and thought to himself, it’s so short, it will only take a short pee.
He immediately went straight to the point, saying that Dali had suffered heavy losses in the war with South Vietnam and was short of money, so he asked his third brother for help. He asked to borrow 500,000 taels of silver right away, and he would accept any interest.
Zhao Yulin said that the finances of the Shenwei Army were also very tight this year, and he planned to open a money shop in Xinshi to unify the various currencies on the market.
The Shenwei Army must pay some interest on its silver, and can lend 5 million strings of new currency to Dali for free circulation. He can then open branches of money houses in Yongshan Village and Shimen Village, and exchange silver coins in decimal according to the rules of the Shenwei Army. The two parties can trade at any time without distinction.
Duan Xiaolin was very happy to hear him say that. Although Zhao Yulin did not agree to give him cash directly, he gave him 5 million strings of new currency, which were all the hard currency of the Shenwei Army. With the endorsement of the Shenwei Army's money house, there was no need to worry about depreciation.
He agreed immediately.
Zhao Yulin saw that the incense was about to burn out, so he asked him to go to Master Jueming and General Manager Lu Youpeng to discuss the details. He said that he was going to practice in seclusion.
Duan Xiaolin said a few more words to Zhao Yulin, asking him to take care of his health, and then said goodbye and went down the mountain.
In the Lin'an Palace, the imperial envoy Lord Li has returned. As soon as he entered the city, he went to the palace to ask for an audience and presented the secret letter sent to him by Zhao Yulin to the emperor.
The emperor had already received information that the sickly Zhao Wangbing was secretly cultivating followers and amassing wealth. Chengdu had just sent Shi Buhou and the inspector to the Dali Temple, and Shi Buhou died of his injuries the next morning, and the inspector was speechless. The emperor was shaking with anger as he held Zhao Wangbing's letter and the confessions of the two criminals.
He asked about the stolen goods and dirty silver of the criminals.
What he needs most now is silver, and these two criminals must have plenty of it.
However, he never saw any silver enter the palace.
The imperial envoy said that the silver that Commander Zhao had confiscated was not much. Since the Northwest Army was short of money, he used all the cash to issue money to the soldiers. The antiques, jade articles, calligraphy and paintings, houses and land that were confiscated were all on the list, and Chengdu was looking for an opportunity to auction them off. He only brought back a large golden rat.
Then he presented the golden rat.
The emperor turned around and looked at the golden rat, speechless.
The eunuch came in quickly and said that Prince Bing wanted to see him.
The emperor shouted, "No."
After a while, the empress dowager sent a message, asking the emperor to move to the Wanshou Palace.
The emperor walked in and saw Prince Bing kneeling there. He was so angry that he stepped forward and kicked Prince Bing to the ground. The thief was in so much pain that he dared not even scream. He immediately got up and knelt, crying and begging the emperor for mercy.
The Queen Mother said lazily: "Forget it, forget it. He is still hoping to rule the world in the future. Can't he wait any longer?" Zhao Wangbing was selected by the Queen Mother and the deceased Grand Tutor Shi to enter the palace as a precautionary measure. Who would have thought that this guy was so cautious and caused such a mess. The Queen Mother was also angry at him for not fighting back.
King Bing was so scared that he used his own head as a hammer and pounded it on the ground, begging for mercy.
The Empress Dowager said without any care that all the prisoners had been killed, so why were the Dali Temple still trying the case? They were simply framing good people. They should just write a confession and punish the two criminals and be done with it.
The emperor said angrily that this was the only way, what else could he do?
Then another word popped out: "Get lost."
The future crown prince of the Song Dynasty royal family hurriedly thanked the emperor for his grace and fled the hall in a panic.
The Queen Mother said leisurely that Zhao Qi'er was truly a member of our Zhao family. He kept Bing's scandal secret to save the royal family's reputation, and took the money for himself. He was a smart and obedient child. It was a good thing for that boy.
The emperor knew that the treasury was empty and felt a little reluctant.
He gritted his teeth and whispered to his mother: The Imperial City Bureau reported secretly that Zhao Qi'er shipped all the confiscated dirty silver to Jiading Prefecture by ship to mint new coins. Three large ships were loaded with the waterline very low, so there must be a lot of silver.
The Queen Mother admired her delicate fingers and asked absentmindedly, "Isn't it a bit exaggerated? Can a small deputy inspector get so much silver?"
The emperor's eyes lit up with green light, and he said angrily that it was absolutely certain.
The Queen Mother said calmly, "What should we do? Ask Jiading Prefecture to send one million strings of silver coins to Lin'an."
The emperor said that Zhao Qi'er's new currency had silver coins with a face value of one guan and five guan. One million guan was only 100,000 taels of silver, which was not much, so he would bear some of the casting costs. The dirty silver confiscated this time was more than 100,000 taels of silver, humph.
The Queen Mother thought the Emperor was too long-winded, and it was not like the Emperor was making important decisions. She slapped her lips and yawned, saying that she was tired and asked the Ministry of Personnel to do it.
The emperor then realized that he was so anxious about the silver that he lost his mind. How could he be like a small street vendor who was bored and started to calculate the bill for two pounds of cabbage?
When he returned, he asked Zheng Qingzhi to send a letter to Chengdu, asking them to bring 4 million strings of new Jiading currency to Lin'an, of which 2 million strings had to be silver coins.
Damn, the official is so treacherous, he quadruples the money as soon as he asks for it, but it's pure silver.
Zhao Yulin recovered quickly under the careful care of Master Jueming. Seven days later, Master Jueming could see no pain in his back. He himself felt full of energy and could climb rocks, walls and eaves as if they were walking on flat ground. His fighting power was greatly improved, and he went down the mountain to the dock in a good mood.
The brothers had already prepared a banquet at Beggar Chicken on the dock. Zhao Yulin hadn't drunk alcohol for a long time, so the smell of alcohol made him feel good. He tried a drink and felt refreshed.
Even so, Master Jueming still didn't allow him to drink too much, and stipulated that three cups was the limit and he was not allowed to eat more than one bite.
Zhao Yulin took note of his master's teachings. He was severely injured by the Sumeru Hammer and was on the verge of death. He was impressed by the powerful strength of the ancient warriors and vowed to practice kung fu diligently to protect himself.
The next day, when he was about to leave Xinshi Town and go back, Bao Wenli came to ask him to meet with the officials of Xinshi and have a few words with them.
