The Ming Dynasty: Starting with the border troops, it was overthrown and the Qing Dynasty was destro

Chapter 272 The King of Shu's Immense Wealth

"Please, Your Majesty, declare yourself King and establish a new order!!"

The deafening shouts nearly lifted the dome of the main hall.

Jiang Han stood there, seemingly stunned by the enormous sound.

To establish a kingdom and a system of governance?

His heart skipped a beat, and he began to think carefully.

Is it too early to declare oneself king now?

Although Chengdu has been captured, Chongqing Prefecture, Xuzhou, Luzhou and other places in southern Sichuan are still under the control of the imperial court and have not completely submitted.

If I were to declare myself king now, it would feel somewhat undeserving.

But then he thought about it again, and it seemed... not so bad.

With the fall of Chengdu, the Prince of Shu and officials at all levels in Sichuan were almost all killed or wounded, and the backbone of the Ming Dynasty in Sichuan was completely broken.

The remaining prefectures and counties were leaderless and their soldiers had no will to fight. It was only a matter of time before they were taken back, and it would be as easy as turning one's hand.

Looking at the brothers who had risked their lives with him, and at their excited and expectant faces, Jiang Han had no more hesitation.

To hell with it, let's do it first!
He raised his hand and pressed it down, signaling the soldiers to quiet down, his tone carrying a hint of reproach:
"You guys are just being ridiculous!"

"We've just entered Chengdu, and we haven't even had a chance to sit down properly."

"Furthermore, many prefectures and counties in southern Sichuan have not yet been recovered. How can I declare myself king so quickly?"

Regardless, Jiang Han, as the head coach, should still maintain the necessary composure.

The generals inside the hall were also very sensible and immediately spoke up to advise:
"General, the court has lost its virtue, and the people are starving everywhere; you have lofty ambitions and have raised a righteous army to save the people from their suffering."

"We, the soldiers and civilians, all wish to make the Commander-in-Chief our King, so that the world may be at peace!"

Jiang Han sighed and waved his hand:
"I was just a lowly soldier who raised an army only to relieve hunger. I dare not claim to be a superior."

"Besides, the hard work of all the soldiers and civilians is not my achievement alone."

Jiang Han originally wanted to pull off a three-fold refusal and three-fold decline trick, but the generals and soldiers below him were all roughnecks who were unaware of this procedure and had no idea what to say to continue advising him.

The group simply lowered their heads and shouted in unison:
"May the General declare himself King!"

Seeing this, Jiang Han knew that these bastards were really ignorant, so he stopped worrying about the formalities.

He nodded and said in a deep voice:

"Since you have entrusted me with this task, I can only reluctantly accept it."

"I need to think this over carefully."

Upon hearing this, the generals in Chengyun Hall had a bright idea and immediately jumped up from the ground.

Shao Yong stepped forward, cupped his hands, and asked:

"General, what's a good name for it?"

"In my humble opinion, we should adopt a resounding name in order to unite the people and command the people."

"According to the principles and style of our army, in my opinion, we should either call him the Grand Marshal Who Upholds Heaven's Righteousness and Promotes Righteousness, or he Who Responds to Heaven's Difficulties and Helps Those in Need."

"Only by establishing this name can we demonstrate our original intention of upholding justice on behalf of Heaven."

Many generals nodded in approval upon hearing Shao Yong's suggestion:

"Great! These are good!"

"That sounds impressive!"

However, Cao Er, who was standing to the side, raised a different opinion:

"But...aren't we going to let the commander-in-chief become king?"

"The title of Grand Marshal doesn't sound as imposing as that of a prince."

"Now that we've captured Chengdu and occupied the Shu King's Palace, let's just call ourselves the King of Shu!"

"After that, when they established their own government offices, that was truly magnificent!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Han glared at him irritably:
"You're the one who's a turtle!"

"Can you speak?"

Cao Er was glared at by Jiang Han and realized he had broken his promise. He scratched his head awkwardly, and a burst of laughter erupted around him.

After hearing this, Hei Zi muttered to himself:

"King of Shu... isn't that a bit unlucky?"

"The Prince of Shu from the Zhu family is still soaking in the well; they haven't been pulled out yet..."

His words sparked a lively discussion among the crowd.

"Yes, it doesn't sound very auspicious..."

"That's called King Chuan?"

"The King of Chuan? He's not even as good as the King of Shu!"

"How about calling him King of Hanzhong? I remember in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei occupied Sichuan and called himself King of Hanzhong, didn't he?"

"What you're saying is misleading. Hanzhong is still in the hands of the government troops. It's not true that it's in the name."

The hall became noisy and bustling, like a marketplace.

The two factions, one advocating for the title of marshal and the other for the title of king, each held their own opinion.

Those who called themselves marshals felt this was a more prudent move, as it both established a name to rebel against the court and left room for maneuver, avoiding prematurely provoking the Ming court.

The best course of action is to make a fortune quietly, allowing the imperial court to focus its efforts on dealing with Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong in the Huguang region.

Those who felt it was better to be king argued that the government troops were no longer able to invade Sichuan, and that they had now become a de facto separatist regime.

The land of Shu is rich and its natural defenses are formidable, making it the foundation for a powerful and influential state. Only by becoming a king can one secure the peace and stability of one's soldiers and the people of Sichuan.

Seeing everyone arguing heatedly, Jiang Han suddenly raised his hand and silenced the noise in the hall.

"Okay, stop arguing."

"Becoming king is possible, but not now."

He paused, then slowly explained:
"We have just been through a major battle, we are covered in blood, and the city has not been completely cleared yet."

"Under these circumstances, hastily declaring oneself king and establishing a system would be too much like a makeshift operation, and would only make one a laughing stock."

"If we're going to do it, let's do it in style!"

"Let me make some preparations and organize a grand celebration!"

He walked to the center of the hall and pointed to the main generals present:

"It is now the eighth day of the third month."

"I'm giving you five months to take over the remaining prefectures in southern Sichuan."

"By the time you take over the entire Sichuan region, I'll be almost ready!"

"When the time comes, I will reward the army handsomely, declare myself king, and establish a new regime. Wouldn't that make my claim to the throne even more legitimate?"

After listening to this, the soldiers thought about it carefully and realized that their commander-in-chief was indeed right.

Declaring oneself king now is a bit hasty and shows a lack of confidence.

If we wait until the entire Sichuan province is pacified before holding the grand ceremony, then it will truly be what everyone hopes for and be worthy of the name!

Thinking of this, the people in the hall stopped arguing and unanimously clasped their hands in agreement to take on the task.

"Your subordinate obeys!"
Seeing this, Jiang Han nodded in satisfaction, then waved his hand dismissively:
"Alright, we've finished talking about the important stuff."

"Let's go and see what good stuff is in the Shu King's treasury."

"I heard that the King of Shu has been entrenched in Sichuan for more than two hundred years, is extremely wealthy, and is known as the number one among all the feudal lords."

"This amount of money and provisions should last us for quite some time."

These words immediately enlivened the atmosphere, and everyone cheered loudly, their attention instantly shifting to the wealth of the Prince's mansion.

Led by several clerks from the Prince's Palace, Jiang Han and his entourage marched through numerous palaces and pavilions, arriving at a magnificent complex of buildings on the west side of the Prince's Palace.

This palace also has red walls and golden tiles, with a solemn atmosphere. There are more than ten palaces and pavilions connected one after another.

The clerk leading the way stopped there, bowed deeply, and dared not go any further.

Jiang Han was somewhat surprised to see him stop:

Why stop?

"Continue leading the way. Which one is the Shu King's treasury?"

The scribe cautiously pointed to the vast palace complex ahead, his voice trembling:
"Your Majesty, this area has a total of eighteen rooms... all of which are the royal palace's storehouses..."

"what?!"

Jiang Han was stunned, somewhat unable to believe his ears.

He pointed to the magnificent palace complex in front of him,
"What did you say?"

"This entire area is a warehouse? The Prince's palace's warehouses for storing gold and silver treasures?!"

The clerk nodded with a wry smile:

“That’s right, Your Majesty. You’ll see for yourself when you go in.”

Jiang Han took a deep breath, suppressing the shock in his heart, and waved his hand forcefully behind him:

"Let's go! Let's check each room carefully, one by one!"

"Let's start with the leftmost one!"

Jiang Han took the lead and forcefully pushed open the heavy door, a musty smell of ink wafting out.

The hall was dimly lit. By the light of the candlesticks held up by his personal guards, he glanced around the hall and immediately gasped.

Inside were rows of enormous rosewood shelves, several feet high, densely packed with countless scrolls, albums, porcelain vases, jade artifacts, and more, arranged in neat categories…

The variety was dazzling, and the end could not be seen.

Jiang Han casually pulled a scroll from a jar next to him, unfolded it, and saw that the signature was actually the work of Ni Zan, a master of the Yuan Dynasty!
He turned to look at the wooden shelf beside him, where labels clearly read "Da Yuan - Calligraphy and Painting" and "Da Yuan - Epigraphy"...

The clerk beside him explained in a low voice:
"General, the Shu Prince's inventory is managed according to regulations."

"For example, this entire hall is filled with calligraphy, paintings and antiques from the Yuan Dynasty."

"The two rooms on the right are from the Song Dynasty; the rooms a few rooms further to the right are from the Tang Dynasty and some from the Han Dynasty and the Wei and Jin Dynasties..." "The inventory is divided according to the dynasty, and each has its own dedicated warehouse."

Jiang Han was dumbfounded.

He knew the King of Shu was wealthy, but he never imagined he was this wealthy!

Others collect items by piece, but the King of Shu collects halls by palace! And the collection is even organized by dynasty!

He squatted in front of a Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain vase with dragon and cloud patterns, about half a person's height, and ran his fingers over the smooth glaze, marveling at it. He wondered if there were any legendary Ru ware celadon pieces in the Song Dynasty warehouses, as even a single piece of that porcelain could be worth a fortune.

Jiang Han was in the mood to appreciate these art treasures, but the group of roughnecks behind him couldn't resist.

Cao Er scratched his head and shouted:
"That damned King of Shu, what's with the pretense of being a cultured man!"

"Are all these bottles, jars, scraps of paper, and tattered paintings meant to be eaten or used as weapons?"

"With this spare money and space, it would be much better to stockpile more food and armor!"

"That's it!"

Li Laowai echoed this sentiment.

"General, let's hurry and go see the real gold and silver!"

"That thing is still the most reliable!"

Jiang Han turned his head helplessly, glared at the group of spoilsport, and said with a laugh:
"A bunch of murderers, all they know is gold and silver!"

"Let's go and see the vaults where the treasures and gold and silver are stored."

The clerk quickly led the way, bringing everyone to the eastern area of ​​the treasury.

Pushing open the storeroom door, the dazzling jewels emanating from within almost blinded everyone.

The first thing that catches the eye is a dozen or so blood-red coral trees, each nearly as tall as a person, gleaming brightly;
Beside the coral tree, bushels of plump, round pearls, about the size of quail eggs, were casually piled in a brocade box;
Large pieces of agarwood exude a subtle fragrance;

There were also countless gemstones, jade, and ivory carvings whose names I didn't know, piled up together like ordinary goods.

The next warehouse was filled with exotic flair.

Exquisite Western clocks, colorful Persian carpets, shimmering glassware, and uniquely colored cobalt blue from the Western Regions…

The soldiers, like country bumpkins visiting the Grand View Garden, stared intently at the warehouse, which resembled a world exposition.

Among them, several Western-style clocks, almost as tall as a person, firmly attracted everyone's attention.

The wooden casing of the clock is gilded and carved with intricate Western angels and patterns, making it look extremely luxurious.

A group of generals surrounded the largest chiming clock as if it were a rare and exotic object, pointing and commenting on it.

"What is this thing? It looks weird."

"It looks like a cabinet made of gold?"

"There's still a needle spinning up there!"

Just as everyone gathered closer to carefully observe the slowly moving hands and the exquisite dial, a loud and clear chime suddenly rang out without warning.

clang!clang!clang!
The sudden loud noise startled the group of valiant warriors.

"There's an ambush!"

"Protect the commander!!"

On a conditioned reflex, Cao Er, Shao Yong, and the others instantly drew their waist knives and fiercely shielded Jiang Han behind them.

The others quickly formed a battle formation, staring intently at the still-ringing clock as if facing a formidable enemy, nervously trying to slowly retreat from the storeroom.

Jiang Hanxian was also startled, but then he realized what was happening and felt both annoyed and amused. He reached out and grabbed Cao Er's arm, who looked like he was facing a formidable enemy.
"What's the panic! Put your knives away!"

"This thing is a Western clock, a kind of timekeeping machine."

"It's an inanimate object, it won't hurt anyone!"

Upon hearing this, the generals slowly lowered their swords with surprise and uncertainty, but their eyes remained fixed on the Western clock.

Only after it struck the last time, and the lingering sound faded away, and the warehouse returned to silence, did everyone breathe a long sigh of relief and look at each other awkwardly.

Shao Yong asked curiously:
"General, you know about these Western gadgets too?"

Jiang Han nodded. "Yes, I know a little bit about it."

He stepped forward, pointed to the clock face, and explained:

"This is called a self-ringing clock. It keeps time through a precise mechanism and will ring automatically when the time comes."

"Look, this clock face is divided into six two-hour periods. When this hand completes two full rotations, it means a whole day has passed."

"This item was brought to the Ming Dynasty by the Western missionary Matteo Ricci during the reign of Emperor Shenzong and presented to Emperor Wanli."

"It's extremely precious; one is worth more than a thousand gold pieces."

After hearing this, everyone suddenly understood and exclaimed in amazement:
"The General knows more!"

Jiang Han touched the Western clock in front of him and smiled:

"This thing is a good one."

"If our workshop could replicate it, we could make a fortune just by selling these."

Upon hearing this, Li Laowai's eyes lit up:
"That's a good feeling!"

"Once we can make them ourselves, Commander, you must reward each of us with one!"

Jiang Han turned to look at Li Laowai and curled his lip:
"This thing is called a clock!"

"You don't necessarily want me to bring you a clock, do you?"

A burst of laughter erupted around him, making Li Laowai look embarrassed.

Jiang Han ignored him and instead waved his hand dismissively:
"Let's go check out the gold and silver vaults!"

The crowd stood outside the warehouse where the gold was stored, holding their breath and not daring to utter a single word.

Slowly pushing open the door, what comes into view is a stack of camphor wood chests, neatly piled up and seemingly endless!

The guards stepped forward and forcefully pried open the lids of several boxes, and instantly a burst of golden light shot out.

The box was full of standard-sized, gleaming gold ingots!
"Gudong..."

Someone swallowed hard, and then started counting the wooden crates in the warehouse.

"One, two, three... thirty-nine, forty!"

"Wow! Forty boxes?!"

The scene before my eyes was too shocking.

According to everyone's count, the wooden box contained a total of 925 taels of gold.

Forty boxes...that's thirty-seven thousand taels of gold!
"My goodness..."

Old Li's eyes widened like copper bells as he muttered...
"This...this amount of gold, we couldn't earn it even in ten lifetimes, a hundred lifetimes..."

Jiang Han was also stunned by the enormous wealth. He took a deep breath and tried to calm his heartbeat.

With 37,000 taels of gold, he might be able to try issuing currency after establishing his regime.

If anti-counterfeiting measures are implemented effectively and the system is improved, it might even be possible to issue paper currency...

Jiang Han turned and summoned the clerk from the Prince's residence, continuing to press for answers:
"Where is the treasury where the silver is stored?"

"Have you calculated how much silver there is?"

The clerk stroked his beard, pondered for a moment, and then replied:
"Your Majesty, the silver treasury... I have been there before."

"There are at least five such warehouses, each containing about sixty or seventy large silver chests..."

"My estimate... it should be at least four or five million taels of silver..."

"hiss!"

"Four or five million taels?!"

Upon hearing this number, the generals gasped in surprise again, feeling as if their minds were overwhelmed.

Back in Yinchuan, they spent almost half a month plundering and exterminating the entire Qing family, only managing to collect 11,000 taels of gold and 430,000 taels of silver.

But now, the silver of just one Prince Shu's mansion is equivalent to that of ten Prince Qing's mansions!
Is this the wealth that the Land of Abundance has accumulated over two hundred years?!

At this moment, Li Zicheng stepped forward from behind and whispered a reminder to Jiang Han:
"General, I've heard that there's more than just the Shu Prince's Mansion in Chengdu; the Shu vassal state also has many other members of the imperial family."

"In addition, those wealthy gentry and corrupt merchants, each one of them is fat and bloated, with very deep pockets."

"or……?"

A fierce glint flashed in his eyes, and he clenched his fist.

Jiang Han understood the refined meaning behind the music and nodded without hesitation.

"Don't worry, these guys aren't getting away!"

He waved to summon a messenger and gave the order.

"Go and fetch Chief Li from the Grain Tax Office, and have him lead the team to collect the wages."

"Let's use the same methods we used in Yinchuan, and settle accounts with the gentlemen in Chengdu. We must squeeze every last drop of profit out of them!"

After making the arrangements, Jiang Han suddenly turned around, his gaze sweeping over the group of generals who were still immersed in the shock of the enormous wealth.

"Alright, stop looking and focus."

"Li Zicheng, Shao Yong, Hei Zi, Li Laowai!"

"The general is here!"

The group of people shuddered and responded in unison.

"Go back and regroup!"

"After five days of rest, set off immediately and sweep through all the prefectures and counties in southern Sichuan at top speed."

Anyone who dares to resist will be killed without mercy!

Jiang Han's voice, booming like a bell, echoed through the treasury filled with gold and silver.
"Tell all your brothers that the fighting in Sichuan must be ended by August!"

"On the eighth day of the eighth lunar month, I will officially proclaim myself king and establish a new regime in Chengdu!"

"The merits will be assessed and the entire army rewarded!"

(End of this chapter)