Unable to enlist or rush to the front, the common people could only support the Imperial Court with money.
This time, the Imperial Court neither levied the Three Surtaxes nor found excuses to add miscellaneous taxes. From gentry to ordinary folk, everyone generously opened their purses.
Some impassioned gentry donated more than a hundred taels on their own. Ordinary households sent eight or ten copper coins to the yamen, while some landlords and philanthropists who had originally been stingy, seeing this, also donated quite a bit for the sake of their reputations.
When the yamen across the country tallied the donated silver they had received, they discovered that it actually exceeded the amount raised through properly levying the Three Surtaxes.
Newspapers in various regions successively reported the total donations from each locality. Some telegrams sent by the yamen to the Capital City were even slower than the local newspapers.
Yet after the newspapers came out, the general ledgers from yamen across the country were transmitted to the Capital City one after another.
The Emperor and the entire court instantly realized the importance of newspapers.
Xue Shao directly wrote a memorial praising the Newspaper Industry in every region, proposing that the Imperial Court support its development while also assigning the Ministry of Rites to supervise it.
Yu Qian also recognized the Newspaper Industry's role in overseeing officials and people's livelihood, and he supported Xue Shao's proposal.
However, this matter was merely a side branch compared to the current military campaign. Whether the Emperor or the officials, all of them buried this realization in their hearts and placed the war first.
Of the money raised across the country, one portion was sent to the Capital City, while another was ordered to be used locally to purchase military provisions, cotton-padded clothing, quilts, sugar,