At the same time, Gu Yun left the Yangxin Palace. Emperor Mingzheng sat on the chair with a gloomy expression. When Gu Yun's figure completely disappeared, he suddenly exploded and swept all the memorials, inkstones and washbasin on the table to the ground.

The eunuchs serving on the side kept silent, watching the situation with their eyes and noses fixed on their minds.

Without any notification, Cheng Ying, dressed in the vermilion eunuch's court robe, walked in slowly, bent down to pick up the memorial on the ground, waved to the eunuch beside her, asking him to pick up the broken cups on the ground, and then waved her hand to order all the palace maids and eunuchs in the hall to go down.

Emperor Mingzheng raised his eyelids, his face was extremely cold, he stared at Cheng Ying and said angrily, "Is this the good job you did?"

Cheng Ying bowed her head slightly, "Your Majesty, please calm down. It was my fault that I was careless."

Emperor Mingzheng snorted coldly, his displeasure was very obvious, and his tone was full of suspicion and deep meaning, "How did Gu Yun find the place where the new silver was melted? You have been getting less and less capable of doing things recently."

A dark light flashed across Cheng Ying's feminine and treacherous eyes. His cold face showed no fear or intimidation that ordinary people would have when facing an emperor. He said calmly, "That idiot Qin Huaiyuan got fooled by Young Marquis Gu and that's why something went wrong."

Before Emperor Mingzheng spoke again, Cheng Ying said, "Your Majesty, don't worry. Taoist Taixu predicted that the north would be hit by a flood. It is not appropriate to waste money and manpower to build the Taihe Temple. It will be detrimental to the harmony of nature and will also do more harm than good to Your Majesty in refining the elixir."

"Is that true? Why haven't I heard Taoist Taixu mention this?" Emperor Mingzheng breathed a sigh of relief, but then said, "Taoist Taixu is going to get the elixir for me soon, so the construction of Taihe Temple cannot be delayed."

A eunuch brought up a new set of tea sets. Cheng Ying stepped forward and poured a cup of hot tea for Emperor Mingzheng. "I heard the news of the incident outside the palace. I was afraid that it would disturb Your Majesty's sleep. I was also worried that the construction of Taihe Temple would not be completed, which would delay the refining of the golden elixir. So I went to Fengtian Hall to see Taoist Taixu. Taoist Taixu made a divination and found that June next year would be the best time to refine the supreme golden elixir for Your Majesty. By then, the golden elixir can be fully prepared, and Your Majesty can enjoy eternal life after taking the golden elixir."

"So, it doesn't matter if the Hall of Supreme Harmony is completed later?" Emperor Mingzheng looked better.

Cheng Ying nodded. "The north of the Yangtze River suffered from floods, but the south of the Yangtze River is safe and prosperous. Now that the Spring Festival has come, the salt merchants in the south of the Yangtze River should also exchange salt permits with the imperial court. In previous years, the salt merchants were asked to transport grain to the border in exchange for salt permits. After the Spring Festival, why not let the salt merchants exchange tax silver for salt permits? Then I will arrange for manpower in the salt administration and move several million taels to build the Taihe Temple. It will be an easy task."

After hearing what he said, Emperor Mingzheng finally felt relieved. He patted Cheng Ying's hand and said, "Cheng Ying, you are an old man who has been with me. You know my mind best. With you around, I can rest assured about everything."

It seemed as if he had completely forgotten what he had just said. Emperor Mingzheng used to give a sweet reward after a slap in the face.

A flash of sneer flashed across Cheng Ying's lowered eyes, and a smile appeared on his cold face, "It is the duty of a servant to share His Majesty's worries."

"It is the way of a minister to know one's duty clearly." Emperor Mingzheng said meaningfully, "But some people may not be as clear-headed as you."

Cheng Ying understood the meaning of Emperor Mingzheng's words, and lowered his head and said, "I have sent people to take the Qin family away. Qin Huaiyuan is a Ming man, so I don't think he would be so confused as to speak nonsense."

Emperor Mingzheng smiled, looking much more relaxed, "Your work is most in line with my wishes."

If the people of the world knew that the official silver used for disaster relief and dredging in Jiangbei was embezzled at the instruction of him, the ruler of the world, and such a dirty thing spread, how would he maintain his dignity as the ruler of a country?

"It's getting late. Your Majesty should change his clothes and go to court." Cheng Ying ordered the palace maid outside the palace to get the court robes for Emperor Mingzheng.

Cheng Ying stepped forward and changed Emperor Mingzheng's clothes personally.

Emperor Mingzheng rubbed his brows and said impatiently, "I have to clean up the mess that Gu Yun made this morning, and I have to go to Fengtianzhai to listen to Taoist Taixu's lecture."

Cheng Ying smoothed the wrinkles on the hem of the dragon robe. Although her voice was slow, it calmed the mood of Emperor Mingzheng very well. "Young Marquis Gu secretly took 50% of the soldiers of the Bingmasi out of the city late at night, and even secretly mobilized the city defense guards. He broke the curfew and abused military power. It is indeed a serious crime."

This gave Emperor Mingzheng a good reason to punish Gu Yun, and he could also take the opportunity to remove Gu Yun's authority to command Wucheng Bingmasi. The Annan Marquisate was indeed a thorn in the eyes of Emperor Mingzheng. If it wasn't for the fact that it couldn't be touched...

At the morning court, Wei Minzhong, the Minister of Dali Temple, who knew nothing about what happened last night, presented a memorial to convict Xu Youzhi, but this aroused the wrath of Emperor Mingzheng.

When the memorial was thrown in Wei Minzhong's face, he was completely confused.