Not to mention Qin Shi Huang, even the emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty, known as the wealthiest dynasty in China, were bewildered when they heard the figure.
Holy cow!
The Great Tang is this rich now?
Seventeen billion taels of silver in cash!
That's cash!
At its wealthiest, the Northern Song Dynasty's annual tax revenue was only one hundred and sixty million taels...
And this was calculated after discounting silver and various goods.
Even so, it was still less than a tenth of the Great Tang's treasury silver!
Shocked...
All the emperors, without exception, widened their mouths.
This scene not only made Li Shimin proud.
All the civil and military officials in the court also felt a sense of pride.
Li Xiaogong smiled, scanned everyone present, and then looked back to see Zhu Youjian's dark throat...
He waved his hand in front of him with disdain, "You smell quite strong. Haven't you been eating lard recently?"
If it were anyone else, such an action would have caused extreme embarrassment.
But what kind of person was Zhu Youjian?
He had been beaten by Li Shimin!
He had been beaten by Qin Shi Huang!
He had been beaten by Zhao Kuangyin!
And he had been beaten by Zhu Yuanzhang!
Who else present had such an honor?
Of course, that group with queues didn't count...
In any case, having been beaten by so many people, he had long since thrown his dignity to the winds.
Seeing Li Xiaogong teasing him like this, he directly seized the opportunity and shamelessly stepped forward another two paces.
"What are you saying, Ninth Uncle!"
"Little Emperor hasn't just not eaten lard recently!"
"Since His Majesty Taizong and King Kun left the Great Ming, I haven't eaten lard since!"
"My Great Ming is poor!"
"Ninth Uncle, I heard you made a fortune trading with King Kun. You are kind-hearted, why not lend me tens of millions of taels of silver to spend?"
Li Xiaogong's face instantly turned as dark as the bottom of a pot...
Damn Ninth Uncle!
A tree without bark will surely die; a person without shame is invincible in the world!
Is this lard-grabbing guy so open now?
Looking at Zhu Youjian's feigned pitiable appearance, he actually felt a trace of sympathy!
This damn, misplaced compassion!
He pointed to Fang Er beside him.
"Little Zhu, Ninth Uncle is giving you a clear path!"
"When it comes to borrowing money, you should find King Kun!"
"He is the wealthiest man in the Great Tang!"
"Not to mention anything else, as long as he sponsors you with a batch of weapons, the countless silver mines on that little island to the east of Huaxia are waiting for you to dig!"
Upon hearing this, Zhu Youjian's eyes almost sparkled.
He immediately cupped his hands in thanks, then turned and walked towards Fang Er.
Fang Er, who was chewing on a piece of gum and watching Li Shimin show off, had no idea he had been sold out by Li Xiaogong!
Hearing footsteps beside him, he turned around and saw Zhu Youjian grinning at him.
"Greetings, Prince Kun, it has been many years, I have missed you dearly!"
"My admiration for you, Little Emperor, is like the mighty Yellow River, uncontrollable..."
"Stop!"
Fang Er directly waved his hand to interrupt his subsequent words. Damn it, who did this old guy learn from?
His flattery skills were almost as good as his own from previous years!
"Just say what you have to say!"
Zhu Youjian glanced at Li Shimin and Qin Shi Huang, then nervously tugged at Fang Er's sleeve.
"Prince Kun, can we speak in private!"
Fang Er, confused, followed him to a corner of the city wall.
With no one around, Zhu Youjian nervously stated his request.
"Prince Kun, you know that the Great Ming's treasury has always been very empty. I, Little Emperor, shamelessly want to ask you to lend me some silver!"
"Don't worry, this silver is for building a sea fleet. I promise."
"Once we find a silver mine on the island of Wa, I will return it double!"
Fang Er: ???
Go to the island of Wa to dig for silver mines?
You're probably not even going to dig up a single slag.
The Ishimitsu Silver Mine in your world has already been completely depleted by Sister Tong!
Besides, where would he get the money now?
Fang family's finances were all managed by Chai Yue, and he didn't even know how much money they had.
What he could take out from the system warehouse was nothing more than some weapons and supplies. Silver?
He didn't have a single coin!
Thinking of this, he casually took out a Type 54 pistol.
"Here, no money, but I have weapons!"
"Are you interested?"
Chongzhen's eyes went straight to the Type 54 pistol. The weapons Fang Er left behind back then helped him sweep away the Jurchens in Liaodong, and he even dealt with some chieftains in the south, capturing a lot of wealth.
However, those weapons had long since been used up over the years, and he was eager to replenish the Ministry of War.
So he nodded repeatedly, calling out that it was possible.
"We'll discuss this in detail after the grand ceremony!"
Seeing his agreement, Fang Er simply dropped a sentence and turned back to the city wall.
He no longer cared about trivial business transactions and would let Ma Fei handle the follow-up. It was more interesting to watch Li Shimin show off.
"The eight tribes of the grassland congratulate Your Majesty on the grand relocation!"
The military review was over, and it was now the segment for congratulatory gifts.
The Heavenly Gang Eight Tribes, which had disappeared for several years, were the first to walk onto the square.
"Tian Gang Tribe, He Yi Jike, presents ten thousand fine horses!"
"Tian Kui Tribe, Le Mo, presents ten thousand camels!"
"Tian Ji Tribe, Ashina Bobi, presents ten thousand Western Region lions!"
"Tian Xian Tribe, Yi Nan, presents ten thousand Arctic polar bears!"
"Tian Yong Tribe, Nai Dabie Rou..."
"Tian Meng Tribe, Balle Meng Gan..."
"Tian Xiong Tribe, Gu Rou Xiang Lian..."
"Tian Wei Tribe, Ge Zhi Wo Yang..."
"Tian Ying Tribe, Yelü Gou Dan..."
"Tian Gui Tribe, Mo Luo..."
One by one, they stepped forward and looked up at Li Shimin as they read out their gift lists.
In recent years, beyond the Great Tang, they had traveled north to the glaciers, west to the English Channel, and east to the Americas. Their footprints covered every corner of the entire Eurasian continent!
Everywhere they went, the dragon flag of the Great Tang was planted!
And this was achieved without a single sword being drawn or a soldier being dispatched!
"Let's take land to the end" was their slogan!