Chapter Seventy-two: Confrontation

  Wang Chengen saw that Chongzhen Emperor attached great importance to it, and his heart was slightly worried, but it did not affect his actions. He quickly handed over the paper in his hand.

  Chongzhen Emperor held back his excited anticipation and took it over to examine it carefully.

  The content on the paper is not much, it's a summary of donations from various places and a summary of labor used.

  The Chongzhen Emperor quickly finished reading and his face sank, saying to Wang Chengen: "Is that all? Is there anything missing?"

  Wang Chengen knew he couldn't avoid it and bowed his head to answer: "Your Majesty, all the records of the people I sent out have been summarized here."

  He paused, took a surreptitious glance at Emperor Chongzhen's expression, and added: "Perhaps today the proclamation has not reached everyone's ears; maybe tomorrow there will be an improvement."

  Chongzhen Emperor listened and remembered what Zhong Jiwei said about the rumors, saying that the court's propaganda methods were not as good as those of the wind and dust. His mood became even more unpleasant, and after thinking for a while, he ordered Wang Chengen: "Pass on the edict, let the Grand Secretariat inform Shuntian Prefecture, and have the proclamation issued level by level, making sure that every household knows about this matter."

  "Yes, Your Majesty." Wang Chengen hastily took orders and went forward to inform.

  As Wang Chengen left, Emperor Chongzhen picked up the paper on his desk again and looked at its contents. It read: Today's total donation of silver is 7,214 taels and 5 mace of standard silver; other materials are worth about 678 taels of standard silver; approximately 346 laborers are needed, mostly requiring corresponding skills, with carpenters in the greatest demand.

  Even those who don't know the prices of things know that this amount of money is simply not enough for a show.

  Chongzhen Emperor thought to himself, after these few days, Master Zhong and Master Sun will have finished counting the number of refugees who were displaced by the troop reduction. Then he would calculate how much relief supplies in silver would be needed for all the refugees to get through this winter.

  Emperor Chongzhen looked at the list of donors and found that more than half of the silver money donated was from ordinary people. There were only a few officials, nobles, and royal relatives among them. In his heart, he couldn't help but think: Since you are so short-sighted, I will take care of it for you.

  As for the large camp outside Beijing, Zhong Jinwei and Sun Chengzong, as well as Lu Xiangsheng, were discussing the details of troop deployment, only to find that there were many omissions. One would mention something, and another would supplement it, until the sky had unknowingly darkened.

  At this time, with Sun Chengzong's action of putting down his pen, Zhong Jinwei let out a long sigh and said: "It's finally done, it was even more brain-racking than when I used to do project design!"

  This is of course nonsense, later generations Zhong Jinwei did project design, not immediately put into use, there is a series of processes, in the middle of the discovery problem can be changed again. This elimination of soldiers details, but it is Ming early to be used, related to tens of millions of people's things, of course, more detailed, more effort is spent.

  Lu Xiangsheng was more meticulous and heard Zhong Jinwei's words, somewhat puzzled, and asked: "Supervisor, what is project design?"

  Zhong Jinwei found his slip of the tongue and hastily said, "It's just a term used in my hometown to refer to a job."

  After finishing speaking, he immediately used a diversion tactic and said: "How come there is still no response from the Emperor?"

  Sun Chengzong listened on one side and explained with a smile: "It's far from the capital, but it's not close either. Now it may have just arrived at the imperial court, and it's still early to wait for a reply."

  He said resolutely: "No matter when the emperor replies, we must do our thing first."

  It just so happens that the people here are all practical and they all agree with Sun Chengzong's idea.

  Sun Chengzong looked at the sky and then said to Lu Xiangsheng, "Jiutai, it's getting late, go back and rest early, tomorrow will be busy again."

  Lu Xiangsheng cupped his hands and said, "Yes, I will definitely lead the troops to gather at the designated location before the troop reduction arrives, and maintain order. After finishing everything here, let the deputy envoy of Bingbei lead the personnel who have been laid off back to Daming Prefecture."

  Then Lu Xiangsheng bid farewell to Sun Chengzong and Zhong Jinwei and left.

  Zhong Jinwei saw Lu Xiangsheng leave the tent and went away, stretched his waist greatly, then said to Sun Chengzong: "Today was busy to death, now nothing to do, I will go home for dinner."

  Then he saw Sun Chengzong show a look of astonishment, and immediately came to his senses, he was the supervisor, and it seemed that he should follow the troops.

  Thinking of this, he tentatively asked Sun Chengzong: "Am I not allowed to return to the capital?"

  Sun Chengzong came back to his senses and really didn't know what kind of brain this Zhongxingbo had, thinking that one was coming out after another, and couldn't treat him as a normal person.

  It would be strange if people from later generations went back to ancient times and acted exactly like the people of that time.

  Sun Chengzong said to the somewhat startled Zhong Jinwei, "I have arranged for someone to set up your monitoring camp next to my own camp. If there is anything else you need, just let me know."

  Zhong Jinwei hastily nodded his head.

  At night, when Zhong Jinwei lay down to rest, he still felt a bit chilly. As the supervisor of the army, his conditions were already quite good, but during the Xiaobing River period, in the cold winter months, camping outdoors was naturally not as comfortable as sleeping in the imperial palace.

  Think of the soldiers camping outside, think of the refugees in the refugee camp in Beijing. With this comparison, Zhong Jinwei suppressed the idea of adding more warm bedding that had just risen in his heart. If he adds one more, others will have to subtract one. Now he only feels a little chilly, and it's nothing if he just shrinks into his quilt.

  Thinking of this, I also thought of Qi. Hmm, if I could hug Qi to sleep, I'd endure the cold. This dead girl, she has to wait until the wedding night to let me touch her, but my little brother was touched by her countless times, what a loss.

  Zhong Jinwei thought of his house in the capital again, and it was also funny. He went out to see his own house, but until now, he still hasn't seen what his house looks like. Listening to them say, it should be no mistake. Coming to this time and space, it's considered better than before.

  My previous self had only one job that often worked overtime and was completely unenthusiastic, a snail shell with a down payment, and then nothing else. No girlfriend, just days of mixing and waiting for death to pass by.

  Now I have a villa, which should be considered a villa, with a gentle and considerate beautiful unmarried wife, a high-paying job that doesn't require working on the surface, and a viscount title. Also got to know many celebrities.

  Although I'm currently doing extra high-intensity work, these are all things I'm willing to do. Seeing Emperor Chongzhen becoming more and more dependent on me, thinking about Emperor Chongzhen's true feelings when I first woke up, thinking that I want to change his fate, change the fate of the Great Ming, change the history of the Chinese nation, my body is filled with strength. I must do a good job, destroy the enemy and save the people, and plant the Great Ming flag all over the world.

  Being able to come through like this, I must have done a lot of good deeds in my past life.

  Thinking and thinking, I fell asleep with a beautiful wish.

  Because there was no Arqi to chat with, Zhong Jinwei went to bed very early last night, so he woke up very early. Under the service of Gu Baichuan, after washing and dressing, Sun Chengzong sent his personal soldier to call him to have breakfast together.

  At breakfast time, Sun Chenzong showed him the reply from Emperor Chongzhen and said: "Last night when Your Majesty's reply arrived, you were already asleep, so I didn't have someone wake you up."

  Zhong Jinwei smiled gratefully at Sun Chengzong, then looked at Chongzhen Emperor's reply, and after finishing, he secretly thought to himself: He really didn't misjudge the Chongzhen Emperor.

  Sun Chengzong estimated that Zhong Jinwei had finished reading, and then said: "Since Your Majesty has replied in this way, I can now do things with peace of mind. Today, it's going to be busy for about a day, let's start."

  Jing Zhong entered and nodded, Sun Chenzong ordered someone to beat the drum to gather the generals.

  On December 24 of the second year of Chongzhen's reign, the real troop reduction process began.

  Zhong Jinwei thought to himself, hopefully nothing goes wrong and everything will go smoothly, Jian Yu is still in the capital.