dognovel Chapter 249: Prince Turmoil
Chapter 249: Prince Turmoil
Emperor Wu looked at Ning Yi: "Sixth Brother, tell me."
Ning Yi smiled and said, "This is very simple. We just need to ask people to raise funds."
"Another fundraising?" The other ministers were stunned. "No way, Your Highness, this fundraising campaign will probably make it hard for anyone to contribute."
You asked people to collect donations for disaster relief, and a lot of money was looted. When Emperor Wu ordered the protection of the capital, many people also collected donations.
Now we are going north to raise funds. The court asks people to donate money whenever it encounters a major event. Who would be willing to do so?
Ning Yi didn't care: "Of course, we can't let other people raise funds."
"But doesn't our Dawu Kingdom have several top families? Dawu Kingdom has supported them for so long. Shouldn't they raise money and food in times of national crisis?"
A great family?
The corners of the mouths of several ministers twitched.
Even the Prime Minister looked at Ning Yi leisurely, because he came from a wealthy family.
The Prime Minister said calmly, "Your Highness, the great families will not be so willing to spend money recklessly. If the court forces them too hard, they will have many supporters."
"It's a simple matter." Ning Yi took a sip from his teacup and said calmly, "Now that the country is in crisis, even the vassal kings have sent troops to resist the barbarians. What's wrong with asking those noble families to contribute some food?"
"If anyone is unwilling to donate, it means they are disrespecting the court and being disloyal to the Great Wu Nation. We can directly order that those who refuse to donate can have their vassal kings' troops forcibly attack the aristocratic families. All that is confiscated, except for the military rations, will belong to the vassal kings."
As soon as these words came out, everyone took a breath.
The Prime Minister's eyes widened: "Your Highness, what a trick of killing with a borrowed knife."
"No..." Ning Yi said slowly, "This prince is just driving the tiger to devour the wolf. When the country is in crisis, no one can sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labor. Everyone must contribute to the Great Wu Kingdom. Otherwise, will we surrender to the barbarians when they attack?"
Driving a tiger to devour a wolf, the Prime Minister glanced at Ning Yi and stopped talking.
He believed that if the Sixth Prince used this trick, those big families would not dare to refuse to pay.
Otherwise, even the friendly vassal kings would dare to take action against them. After all, they are a top-notch family with abundant wealth.
Everyone would be very jealous, and now we can use the excuse of national crisis to strike them.
Emperor Wu also nodded with satisfaction. Lao Liu was right. When the country is in crisis, everyone must contribute.
Why should the imperial court fight desperately against the barbarians while they enjoy themselves in the rear?
Finally, the Emperor Wu asked, "Sixth Brother, if these vassal kings were on the border and had made great military achievements..."
Ning Yi was speechless. Emperor Wu was such a calculative person.
It's already this late, and you're still thinking about what would happen if some other prince's military achievements were too great and stole your limelight.
Can I still seize your throne by relying on my military achievements?
Ning Yi had no choice but to say, "Father, each vassal king can only send a few thousand to ten thousand troops at most. No matter how powerful they are, can they really defeat the powerful barbarian army of hundreds of thousands?"
"I believe that every vassal king's army that participates in the war will suffer heavy losses. By then, these vassal kings will be too distressed to even have time to feel sad. Besides, they probably don't need military merits at all."
As soon as these words were spoken, Emperor Wu and his ministers reacted.
Yang Long was the first to laugh and said, "Your Majesty, the Sixth Prince is right."
"After these vassal kings send their troops to participate in the war, their strength will be weakened, and they don't want military merit."
Emperor Wu was also in a relieved mood. To him, a group of vassal kings were all cancer, because of his ancestral teachings and because each of them had powerful troops.
Emperor Wu did not want to touch the vassal kings unless it was absolutely necessary, but he looked at the vassal kings with gritted teeth, wishing that all of them would die.
All decisions were made and Emperor Wu ordered them on the spot. He immediately issued a decree to all the princes in the country, stating that the country was in crisis and all descendants of Taizu had to contribute. Otherwise, it would be regarded as a violation of the ancestral teachings, and the ancestor would be judged as having harmed the country, and the princes would be attacked again.
As for the number of troops each vassal king sends, that still needs to be decided based on the actual individual situation.
Some princes had a large army, perhaps fifty or sixty thousand elite soldiers, and they had to send out ten thousand.
Some princes had only a few hundred or twenty thousand soldiers, but they still had to send a few thousand. After all, all the descendants of the emperor were in danger. If you didn't send troops, if you didn't participate in the war, what did you want to do? Do you still think you are a member of the Wu family?
The imperial edicts issued to several major families stipulated that each family must send a certain amount of military rations to the capital as soon as possible to support the border.
Otherwise, it would be regarded as treason, and the property would be confiscated and the family would be exterminated, and even the princes would be asked to confiscate the property.
In the end, it was discovered that the imperial court could mobilize hundreds of thousands of elite troops to fight against the barbarians in the national crisis without sending a single soldier or a grain of food. Why not do such a good thing?
After Emperor Wu issued imperial edicts to various places.
The imperial edict was delivered to the princes all over the country by express horses that could travel 800 miles.
After reading the imperial edict, they all cursed, thinking that the old emperor must be crazy to let them send troops. Let him dream on.
The Dawu Kingdom is your old emperor’s Dawu Kingdom, not their vassal kings’ Dawu Kingdom.
It has nothing to do with them. Besides, if you, the old emperor, are incompetent and cannot resist the barbarians' attack, then you should step down as soon as possible and stop disgusting people here.
The princes did not want to send troops, but some of them were also afraid. After all, if they did not send troops, they would be scolded as not being the dragon's son or grandson, and would also be charged with treason, which was too terrifying.
One after another, the princes sent out armies of several thousand in number.
However, there were still some vassal kings who were stubborn and refused to send troops. The old emperor was annoyed and gave an order to find a tough vassal king with 30,000 elite troops in the south, and ordered tens of thousands of local troops in the south, as well as several vassal kings who had sent troops nearby, to go out together.
He forcibly ordered an attack on the prince on the grounds that he had violated the ancestral teachings and committed treason and was unfilial.
Not to mention, the soldiers from the princes of various places who arrived one after another, even if they were only a few thousand in number, were still quite a large number when put together.
Together with tens of thousands of elite soldiers from the nearby south, the total army was less than 100,000. Within a few days, the mansion of this stubborn prince was breached, and the prince, princess, prince, and princess were all captured, and their entire families were confiscated.
Originally, the cold-blooded old man, Emperor Wu, was worried about what to do if he couldn't defeat the vassal king.
I was also worried that after the battle to deal with the vassal kings was over, the troops involved would need to pay their wages.
Who knew that right after the battle, a lot of money and food were found in the house search, which was not only enough to pay the soldiers for the war, but also the old man received several million taels of silver.
Not to mention how much money may have been embezzled privately.
Emperor Wu was suddenly filled with pride and he immediately ordered people to warn all the princes in the world that anyone who dared not contribute to the country in the face of national crisis would be considered unfilial to Emperor Taizu and would be expelled from the royal family.
The other powerful princes who had started to act arrogantly were dumbfounded. No way, the prince's palace guarded by tens of thousands of elite soldiers was breached so quickly?
It seems that the imperial court is still very powerful, and they are also worried that Emperor Wu will use the charges of being unfilial to Taizu and treason to deal with them.
By that time, few people in the entire Dawu Kingdom would help them.
Several great vassal kings had no choice but to obey orders and lead their troops northward, but this army heading north was naturally the weakest among their own direct troops.
The small vassal kings dared not disobey, otherwise they would be destroyed at any time.