Under this line of thinking, some East Hundred ministers resisted with all their might.
But such resistance was obviously meaningless.
Great Ming was simply far too powerful compared to them.
And this time, its resolve was extraordinarily firm.
From top to bottom, failure was simply not allowed.
The emperor wanted Investiture of the Gods, and the ministers wanted it too.
The common soldiers, meanwhile, received military pay that the ministers had scraped together through frugality.
After all, it was impossible to make horses run without feeding them grass.
When a dynasty neared its end and was clearly about to collapse, people refused to contribute money because the organization had already fallen apart.
Everyone had lost heart.
They only wanted to save their own silver and wait to become officials under the New Dynasty.
Of course, there was nothing inherently wrong with thinking that way.
After Great Ming collapsed, more than half of its officials truly did become Qing Dynasty officials.
Of course, once the Qing Dynasty stabilized, it began culling them again.
But that was another matter.
Landlord bureaucrats were always shortsighted.
They only needed to see what lay right before them.
But things were different now. Their interests were highly aligned.
This was Investiture of the Gods.
After being invested as gods, they could ascend to Heaven.
Would land and wealth in the mortal world still be of any use? Naturally, they would stake it all.
Especially the Grand Secretaries, Ministers, and Vice Ministers. Every one of them possessed vast family fortunes.
They were getting old as well.
Why leave land for their grandsons? Better to give it to themselves.
So they secretly donated it as military funds, one after another.
Because they knew that if they donated in secret, Heaven would see it, while others would not.
That