Chapter 86: I heard that you and Mingxuan are not close...

Zhao Changning looked surprised, shook his head quickly, and bowed, "Your Majesty, where do you get this from?"

The emperor looked at her with a genuine look, and the words in his throat were choked back.

He spoke with some difficulty, his tone tinged with pity, "I'm sorry to have wronged you this time, but I have no choice. The court in Dayong is complicated, I..."

If it were anyone else, the emperor might not have explained any nonsense, but this person was Zhao Changning. He had been with him until now and had experienced a lot. Regardless of whether it was true or false, they had already been friends.

When people face their friends, there is always a little more emotion.

Zhao Changning was a little puzzled. He was the emperor and didn't need to explain, and he had never explained before.

She didn't want to guess what he was thinking at the moment. She just felt tired and wanted to sleep.

"Your Majesty, I am always on the same page with you." Zhao Changning expressed his sincerity again, "I would rather be loyal to Your Majesty and accept your orders."

Sure enough, she saw that the emperor looked satisfied.

She also breathed a sigh of relief.

But how could a female official stand on the same side as the emperor? It would be inappropriate to speak out what you know in your heart.

The emperor stood up and said with a smile, "Changning, from today onwards, our obstacles will not be as great as they are now."

There was a gleam in his eyes, and a hint of ambition that had not been there before appeared on his handsome face, as if the road ahead was smooth.

Zhao Changning knelt respectfully, "Your Majesty is wise, and I will follow you."

The emperor personally helped her up, his eyes gentle and smiling, "You look tired, go back and rest."

Zhao Changning returned to her residence, washed up, and finally lay down on the bed with Xiaobai in her arms. The scenes of those poor people crying and begging for mercy during the day appeared in front of her eyes one by one, but she still closed her eyes peacefully.

This is the cause and effect. She did not sow the seeds, so naturally she should not bear the consequences.

She thought indifferently that no matter how difficult the road ahead was, she would get through it.

Although the enclosed land will be returned, not much can actually be returned because there is no evidence. There are too many tricks at the local level, and there are even more ties between people. Those who stole the country's land must have tried every possible means to hide. This requires a lot of manpower and material resources to investigate, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and will only cause turmoil without much benefit.

Those who chase the deer don't care about the rabbit, and those who decide on goods worth thousands of gold don't argue over the price. Zhao Changning didn't dare to dig too deep, and he knew to stop while he was ahead. Gao Yun had been defeated, and these people didn't dare to be so blatant. This was already the best outcome.

You can't really get yourself involved.

After she established her authority, it was particularly obvious that she used a gentle strategy. The people below could see it clearly. The more they resisted people like Lord Sun, the harsher the tactics would be. On the contrary, if they spoke in a gentle and kind manner, the tactics would be mild and there would be no intention to kill them all.

This way, some of the criticism can be curbed.

But she became famous among the people after she became famous through Song Huan's poetry society, and her reputation became much better.

No ordinary people like corrupt officials; they wish these people would die.

Zhao Changning felt that the mixed feeling of praise and criticism was not that bad. At least until today, no one dared to actually run up to her and curse her.

The higher up she goes, the more important her power becomes, and the greater the cost of bringing her down.

Most importantly, the emperor's attitude has obviously become much tougher.

She finally got involved and no longer wandered around on the periphery, doing things that others were unwilling to do. She finally had a place in the court.

This was enough to cheer her up.

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, there was no rain in Yujing, but it became hot again.

Minghui Hall has bright windows and clean desks. The breeze carries the rich fragrance of osmanthus flowers. The rosewood tables and chairs are filled with snacks and tea.

"Nu Shu Ling, I wonder how much the Maritime Customs brought back this time? Why are there no account books?" The person from the Ministry of Revenue spoke first.

Zhao Changning took a sip from his teacup and said calmly, "This is a matter between the Maritime Customs and the ladies-in-waiting. I'm not directly involved in it now, and you all knew about it at the time."

The others looked at each other in bewilderment. They had indeed argued a lot at the time, but they had not expected that Zhao Changning could climb so fast.

"It hasn't rained since June this year. Even the area around Yujing is quite dry, not to mention Hebei, Shanxi, and other places." The Ministry of Revenue doctor said gently, "The court is currently spending a lot, and taxes won't arrive until the beginning of next spring. The money from the Maritime Customs is extremely important."

Zhao Changning was incredulous. How could this hole be so huge? How much money would it cost to fill it? Hadn't it been filled before by just squeezing in?

"It's not even September yet, and you're out of money? When will we get a break from living beyond our means?"

The doctor from the Ministry of Revenue sighed, his expression showing helplessness.

Someone suddenly said, "Now that Gao... is gone, it's extremely difficult to balance the payment between all parties."

This is true. Gao Yun has his own strengths.

At this time, someone else spoke up, "Now the six ministries have enough manpower. Nvshu Ling, can you please withdraw your female officials?"

Zhao Changning cast a cold glance at them and sneered, "Throw it away after use. Is this the rule of your six departments? Then why haven't you retreated yet?"

She looked at these people and said calmly, "Let's not talk about others. Just looking at Song Huan alone, you who claim to be well-versed in poetry and literature and unparalleled in mathematics should feel ashamed of yourself. Why? Can't you stand seeing a woman who is more capable than you standing next to you? Or are you afraid that she will steal your job?"

Everyone who was talking on the phone was afraid to speak out, they were angry but could not say anything, they could not believe that she was becoming more and more powerful.

Zhao Changning also began to understand recently that people should be more superior, especially women. If you are a little weak and expose your shortcomings, they will step on your face and jump around.

Since she started to face everything with a cold eye and stopped trying to please these men, she saw smiling faces all around her and she didn't do things as verbosely as before.

That's how people are.

Yunsheng followed behind his aunt and asked, "Aunt, if you intercept the money, will the emperor blame you?"

Zhao Changning sighed, "Mingxuan wants to build a river channel. Fujian is a mountainous country with abundant tea. The tea there tastes good and has a wide market. He wants to unite tea farmers and merchants and ship the tea out to sea through the Maritime Customs. It's a pity that Fujian's ports have been abandoned for so long."

In addition, in Zhejiang, Zhou Mi said that the people in Zhejiang have now recovered a little, and with the return of land by the powerful, the situation is getting better. In the future, there will be more tea, silk, cotton and paper. The profit from going north is far less than that from going south.

Everything is related to the future of the court.

The emperor's Armoury Bureau was also a major spender. Each of those bird guns and cannons cost a fortune, and Mingxuan added two more red-haired cannons, which were developed by the Armoury Bureau itself. They had failed many times and were extremely expensive.

When I returned to the Qinzheng Hall, the emperor was still reviewing memorials.

The autumn heat is coming with great force, but the ice basins in the hall have not been removed. It is cool and dry, and there is a sweet aroma of goose pear.

He casually asked Zhao Changning to sit down before asking, "You intercepted the money from the Maritime Customs? Why?"

Zhao Changning didn't expect the news to come so quickly, but since it was 10 million taels of silver, he could understand those people's anxiety, so he found Mingxuan's memorial and handed it to the emperor.

"Master Ming is right. The Japanese pirates are difficult to eliminate because there are civilians here. Fujian is a country with many mountains and rivers. Most of the Japanese pirates are poor people from Fujian. They have no way to make money and their families can hardly support themselves. They can only become pirates, bandits, and pirates. The merchant ships have suffered heavy losses. If we can eliminate this hidden danger, the southeast will be stable. We don't have to worry about Japanese pirates anymore, and our ships will be safer."

She paused, then continued, "The most important thing is that porcelain is frequently sold to Southeast Asia, and it seems to be saturated. This time, two ships went out together, and although there was a lot of fine porcelain, the money brought back was not much increased. It is clear that the ship must go further, and then it is even more necessary to suppress the Japanese pirates and bandits."

The emperor didn't look at her, but turned his head to the side, supporting his forehead with his hand, and looked at her steadily, his eyes calm and gentle.

"I heard that you and Mingxuan have a special relationship?"

Zhao Changning was surprised and handed over a cup of tea. "Your Majesty, where did you hear this? It's nonsense. I just know him."

The emperor chuckled. "This isn't difficult. The hard part is whether you can get past those people in the six ministries. It's not easy to get money from them. Now that Prime Minister Gao is gone, the cabinet is not what it used to be. If you want to help him, you have to act quickly."

Zhao Changning understood the meaning of the emperor's words, which was to ask her to execute first and report later, and she immediately laughed.

"Changning is a little nervous about the emperor's trust in her." She said honestly that she felt relieved to have such trust.

"Nu Shu Ling, you don't even believe what you're saying." The emperor laughed. "How's the return of the enclosed land going? Your female officials seem quite capable. I see many officials looking unhappy these days."

Zhao Changning pursed her lips. She naturally had to speak up for the female officials. "Led by Song Huan, those women are all proficient in numerology and are no worse than the petty officials in the Ministry of Revenue..."

She knelt down and said, "I promised Song Huan that I would ask for credit for her after the success of opening the sea. But after returning, I had a lot of things to do. Not to mention asking for credit, I almost couldn't protect myself. Fortunately, she is sensible and never asked for it. But I don't want to owe anyone a favor. Your Majesty, I want to ask for a reward."

The emperor said indifferently, "She is indeed not bad. She is the daughter of Song Zongheng. Those female officials all have relatives in their families. You even recruited the empress's cousin. Changning, this move is really brilliant. You do have the potential to be an official."

He gestured for Zhao Changning to stand up and said, "Tell me, what reward do you want?"

Zhao Changning pondered and said, "She and Zhou Miao have contributed a lot, as have Mingqiu, Zuoyu and others. I hope they can all be promoted to first-class official titles. In addition, let Song Huan be the president of the poetry club."

I believe that with the emperor's order, those girls will obey.

The emperor always responded, it was just a small matter, nothing insignificant.

But unexpectedly, Song Huan found Zhao Changning very quickly.

"Auntie, oh, auntie." Song Huan's face was full of distress. "Why did you let me be the president? I'm almost being scolded to death by them. They said I used your connections to force the position of president, and they are not convinced."

Zhao Changning raised an eyebrow, "You're not convinced by the Emperor's order?"

Song Huan sighed, "If I were convinced, I would have become the president a long time ago. Zhou Miao would have gone to the Queen Mother and said that even I was the president and she wanted to be the vice president."

Zhao Changning thought of the girls who were active in the six ministries. They were all heroines, but he didn't expect that they would change their appearance after returning to the poetry club. He couldn't help laughing.

"Alright, alright, you'll get used to it after a while. Look at me, I can sit quietly amidst all the scolding."

Song Huan looked at Zhao Changning in amazement, then suddenly laughed and didn't refuse anymore.

With the emperor's support, Zhao Changning felt more confident when facing the six ministries. However, if there were any words of dissatisfaction, he would suppress them without hesitation, completely ignoring their ugly faces.

This time, she directly allocated two million taels of the ten million taels to Fujian and Zhejiang. With Mingxuan in Fujian, the ability to make money in the future will not be bad, and Zhejiang can make money anyway.

Zhao Changning felt that it would be easier to make money if he could take over the Weaving Bureau.

However, there was a shortage of two million taels, and the six ministries were also making a lot of noise. Zhao Changning had explained it specifically, but those people didn't listen at all, so she ignored them.

Zhou Min didn't say anything else, but instead said a few words for her.

This surprised Zhao Changning very much. After all, after that incident, Zhou Min was like a mouse meeting a cat when she saw her. It was difficult for them to even meet, let alone talk.

Lian Yunsheng was even speculating, "Could he be harboring some evil intentions? He treated my aunt so badly before, so why would he speak up for her?"

Anyi said impatiently, "Let him say what he wants. As long as Auntie doesn't suffer any loss, at least he didn't say anything bad."

At night, Yunsheng served tea to his aunt. Seeing her yawn, he felt distressed. "Aunt, do you have to look at these account books yourself? Aren't there female officials like Song Huan?"

Zhao Changning rubbed his eyes, sipped his tea, and rinsed his mouth. He smiled and said, "There's a quote in a book that I think is very true: 'When governing a major matter, one must not be irritated, for irritation leads to chaos; when governing a minor matter, one must not be lazy, for laziness leads to failure.' Since it's true, one must follow suit. If one makes a mistake and someone finds fault with it, it will be very difficult."

Yunsheng was quite impressed and started flipping through the account books.

The next afternoon, Zhao Changning happened to meet Zhou Min who came to teach the emperor.

When they met alone this time, Zhou Min was so scared that she turned around and left immediately, fearing that she would be involved with Zhao Changning.

"Lord Zhou, please wait a minute." Zhao Changning stopped him and said with a smile, "Lord Zhou, thank you so much."

Zhou Min took a few steps back in disdain. "You don't have to thank me. I've read your memorial. It's incredibly detailed and there's no nonsense. I can understand it. If it's done well, it might actually be a good thing that will benefit future generations."

He sneered and said disdainfully, "However, not many people can see this level. Otherwise, why are there so many greedy people who are staking their claim on the land?"

Zhao Changning's expression became much more serious when he heard this.

She took a few steps closer to Zhou Min, "Lord Zhou..."

Zhou Min was terrified. "Stop, Zhao Changning, stop..."

He quickly turned around and ran away.

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Author's words: Zhou Min: Kids, come for me! [Angry][Angry]

Thanks to Bingdao Rushuibaobao for the mine, thank you for liking Changning! [heart][heart][heart]