***
"His Majesty."
"Your Majesty has arrived."
"Long live His Majesty, long live His Majesty, long live His Majesty!"
When Qin Mu got off the carriage, most of the people in Nanjing City knew him and they immediately knelt on the ground.
Qin Mu raised his hand and said loudly: "Stand up, no need to be polite!"
"Long live His Majesty, long live His Majesty, long, long live His Majesty!" Although the people had stood up, their excited shouts were louder and louder, one after another.
No matter how the ministers in the court risked their lives to make suggestions, the common people's goodwill and respect for the Emperor of Qin never diminished.
No matter how the emperor built large-scale projects or raised troops to fight the enemy, he never raised taxes on the people. On the contrary, ordinary people benefited greatly from it.
Ordinary people don’t care about the great principles of the rise and fall of the world. They only know that they will be grateful to whoever gives them a stable and prosperous life.
"His Majesty!"
"Auntie Li, please stand up."
Qin Mu said this, and went up to help Aunt Li, which frightened her so much that she kept saying, "You are such a jerk, such a jerk."
"Auntie Li, you don't have to do this. You have done me a favor, so how can I let you kneel outside the gate of Daqin? How about this, Old Han, give Auntie Li a jade token that allows you to walk in the palace. From now on, Auntie Li, you can enter the Daqin Palace whenever you want."
"Your Majesty, I can't do that. I am just a commoner, how can I overstep my bounds? Your Majesty's grace, I have no way to repay it, I can no longer accept this great grace.
Your Majesty, today Eunuch Lin in the palace took out the palace treasures to pawn and lamented to me that Your Majesty would rather live frugally and pawn the palace treasures in order to raise money for the army. Even though the Queen was pregnant with a prince, the expenses were reduced by half. She also took out all the jewelry from her natal family to pawn, and did not pay the people.
Your Majesty, you have done this. It makes me, a humble woman, who has been deeply blessed by the emperor, feel ashamed. Today, I brought the gold that Your Majesty gave me and the little savings of my family.
I don't know any great truths, I just know that without Your Majesty, my family wouldn't have the good life they have today. This is a small token of my family's love, please accept it, Your Majesty."
"Auntie Li, there is no need to be so. There are only a few petty bandits on the border. The court will be able to calm them down soon. There is no need to panic. Trust me. Trust the soldiers of the Great Qin. They will definitely keep the Great Qin peaceful."
"Your Majesty, I naturally believe your words, but your Majesty, please accept my kindness. If you don't accept it, I will kneel outside the Great Qin Gate and won't get up."
Just as Qin Mu was about to speak, someone in the crowd outside suddenly said loudly, "Your Majesty. I, Li Datong, would also like to donate two dragon coins as a token of my appreciation. I hope Your Majesty will accept them."
Qin Mu looked in the direction of the voice. But an old man in his 50s came out, holding two white dragon coins in his hands, and knelt down tremblingly.
"I am fifty-eight this year. In troubled times, human life is as cheap as a dog's. I have seen a lot and tasted a lot of hardship, but only in the past two years. Thanks to your majesty's blessing, I have truly lived a stable life and my family has saved a little money. Now the soldiers in the front are fighting the enemy, your majesty is tightening his belt, and the queen has even donated her dowry. It would be fine if I didn't know, but now that I know, I can't go against my conscience and pretend I don't know. I donated these two dragon coins to show my gratitude, and I hope your majesty will not despise it."
The crowd outside who were originally whispering suddenly became quiet, and you could hear a pin drop.
Then, one by one, they all bowed down again, and took out their purses one by one, either a dragon coin or a few copper coins, and raised their hands high above their heads, saying:
"This is just a small token of my appreciation, Your Majesty, please accept it."
"This is just a small token of my appreciation, Your Majesty, please accept it."
“… ... ... .”
Qin Mu listened to the calls and looked at the countless pairs of hands raised high. He felt that the sky of the Qin Dynasty was supported by these pairs of hands.
He forced a smile and said loudly, "Everyone, please get up quickly. If I accept your money, what difference will it make from paying you salaries? Everyone, get up quickly and go back."
Aunt Li said immediately, "Your Majesty, this is a voluntary donation from everyone. How can it be compared with the levy of military pay? The previous dynasty levied three levies, which was a forced levy without regard for the lives of the people. Now everyone is donating voluntarily, and they donate as much as they can, and those who don't have any donate don't have to. This is completely different. Your Majesty, please accept this as a token of our kindness."
“Yes, yes, these are all donated voluntarily.”
"Your Majesty, please accept it."
"Your Majesty, please accept it."
"No, everyone, take the money back quickly. I am the ruler of a country. If an enemy attacks, I can deal with it. There is no need to do this."
Qin Mu shouted loudly, but under the leadership of the old man, people put their money in front of the Qin gate. There was a dragon coin, a copper coin, some had more, some had less, but no matter how much, everyone put it down, bowed to Qin Mu and left.
This scene was something Qin Mu had never expected. What he had not expected was that the news would spread quickly and caused a sensation throughout Nanjing.
There were rumors in the market that His Majesty would rather pawn the palace collection than pay the people in order to raise funds to resist foreign enemies. The Queen Mother was pregnant with a prince, but she also lived frugally. The royal family did this, and ordinary people who lived a good life, what could they say
There was an endless stream of people coming to the Daqin Gate to donate money. They would just leave after putting down their money. One dragon coin after another, one copper coin after another. Those with better-off families donated more, those with lesser wealth donated less, or did not donate at all. No one was forced.
Maybe it's just eating less meat and spending less pocket money. But with a population of more than two million in Nanjing, even if only one tenth of the people donate some of their pocket money, it would be considerable.
In front of the Daqin Gate, a high mountain of silver was piled up in one day, almost blocking the entire Daqin Gate.
Qin Mu had not expected this, nor had any of the ministers in the court. Even the common people who donated money would not have thought that one day they would take the initiative to bring their money to the gate of the Qin Empire and donate it without regard for fame or gain. Some of them were influenced by the herd mentality, but no matter what, they donated their money out of their hearts.
After this incident happened, the number of memorials of advice that had been pouring in like snowflakes began to decrease on that day.
As the saying goes, he who wins the hearts of the people wins the world. If you don’t believe it, you can go and take a look outside the Daqin Gate.
With such popularity among the people, is there anything the emperor cannot accomplish
All the remonstrances pale in comparison to the silver face like a small mountain in front of the Qin Gate. The people said nothing, but they supported the emperor with their silent actions.
Some officials suspected that this was a play put on by the emperor, the empress, and Aunt Li. But no matter what, the people were moved and donated money to Daqin Gate voluntarily. The people were already on the side of the emperor and the royal family.
Those hands raised high were not just holding a few copper coins, they were holding up the heaven of the Qin Dynasty!
There were fewer censors offering advice, and some even did not want to risk their lives to give advice, so they sighed and gave up.
There is a legend that the Minister of Revenue Liu Boquan closed the door in his signing room and cried loudly. No one knew what he was crying about. All they knew was that Minister Liu took the money donated by the people and yelled at the officials of the Ministry of Revenue. Then the entire Ministry of Revenue became busy day and night.
The court was unusually quiet during the past two days, and the emperor did not say anything. All we knew was that he had summoned the generals from the Navy and Army Commander-in-Chief's Offices, as well as the ministers from the Ministry of War, to discuss something in the Huagai Palace.
There was a strange atmosphere flowing secretly in the court, but on the surface it was surprisingly calm, like the calm before the storm.
Battle reports continued to come in from all directions, but there was no victory report. Instead, the situation became more and more pressing. In order to defend the southeast coast, the navy fought a bloody battle with the multinational joint fleet off the coast of Guangdong, killing one thousand enemies and losing eight hundred of its own, with no clear winner.
Soon news came that the Portuguese in Macau had also turned against the Qin Dynasty and joined the ranks to fight against the Qin Dynasty, making the situation on the southeast coast even more critical.
The 20,000-strong army of the Khoshut tribe in Qinghai-Tibet surrounded Lanzhou City and plundered the area around Lanzhou. They were constantly increasing their troops, and were ready to capture Lanzhou in one fell swoop and cut off the eastern end of the Hexi Corridor.
If Lanzhou was lost, the entire Hexi Corridor would be attacked from both sides, and the consequences would be disastrous. Nanjing could no longer hear the roar of swords and horses, but could feel the biting cold north wind.
On this day, there was finally movement in the Daqin Palace, and the first imperial edict was issued: to mobilize the troops of Ma Liuliang, Cui Feng, and Ai Nengqi to encircle and suppress the rebellion in Si'en Prefecture.
Everyone knows that this is just the beginning. What will happen next will probably be the emperor's rage, with millions of people dead.
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ps: I lost the monthly ticket award for last month, and I was very sad. When I woke up in the morning, I found that I was not even on the category monthly ticket list this month. I was heartbroken.
Brothers and sisters, the storm is coming and the war is about to begin. Please support us and guarantee the minimum monthly ticket!
.(To be continued..)
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