Looking at the room full of customers, the shopkeeper was ecstatic.

The business of the store has been very average recently and he is very worried every day.

Unexpectedly, the emperor's move would bring him so many customers.

Since Chongzhen had told him not to keep it secret, he said loudly, "Your Majesty bought some antiques, soap, fine salt, and tea."

"Give me two bars of soap!" said a young woman with a red face.

A dark-skinned man shouted at the top of his voice: "Give me a pound of fine salt and an ounce of tea leaves!"

"Why are you buying fine salt? Wild boars can't eat fine bran, so just buy some salt grains!" The person next to the dark man said contemptuously.

"I'm in a good mood today, but that doesn't mean I won't beat you up!" The dark-skinned man rolled up his sleeves and rushed forward.

"If you want to fight, go outside and fight. You can't afford to pay for damaging the antiques here!" A little girl nearby reminded softly.

The shop suddenly became bustling with activity.

After leaving the business, the imperial carriage did not stop and went west to a large mansion west of the imperial city.

A year and a half ago, this was the Duke Cheng’s Mansion.

The place is crowded with people and traffic is heavy.

It's kind of eerily quiet now.

After all, King Zhao of the Ming Dynasty lived here.

When Prince Zhao arrived in the capital, he had no place to live, so Chongzhen asked him to move here temporarily.

King Zhou and his family lived in another house not far away.

The court officials were too busy hiding from the princes to dare to visit them, so the area seemed very deserted.

Prince Zhao and his Queen Mother were personally waiting outside the door to greet him.

Also welcoming Chongzhen were Prince Zhou and his Queen Mother, who had arrived earlier; the Duke of England, his wife, and Fan Jingwen and his wife.

Prince of Zhao Zhu Chang and Prince of Zhou Zhu Shaojiong led everyone to step forward and bowed, "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you."

"No need to be polite," Chongzhen waved his hand. "Prince Zhao and Prince Zhou suffered so much during the war, and I feel guilty about that."

"Your Majesty, you are too kind!" The Princess Dowager of Prince Zhao took a half step forward and said in a deep voice, "The prince should have lived and died with his fiefdom. He survived by chance thanks to Your Majesty."

The words of the Queen Mother of Prince Zhao were full of signs of weakness.

The Queen Mother of Zhou also imitated the Queen Mother of Zhao and showed weakness.

Chongzhen didn't take it to heart. Anyone could say such high-sounding words.

After some polite exchanges, everyone walked into the mansion.

Chongzhen and other men stayed in the front hall drinking tea, while the women gathered in the back hall and began to give each other gifts.

Looking at Queen Zhou disappearing behind the screen, Chongzhen felt a little uneasy.

Before leaving, he gave Queen Zhou a very important task, hoping that she could complete it.

Arriving at the back hall, Queen Zhou gave the gifts to the Queen Mother of Zhao and the Queen Mother of Zhou respectively.

The two princesses took out jewelry in return.

After some shirking of responsibility, they gradually became familiar with each other.

There are five women in the back hall.

They are Queen Zhou, the two queen dowagers Zhao and Zhou, Fan Jingwen's wife Wang, and Duke Yingguo Zhang Shize's wife Li.

At the instigation of Fan Jingwen's wife Wang, the women began to chat.

From interesting folk stories to embarrassing things in ministers' families.

As they chatted, Queen Zhou suddenly spoke up: "Your Majesty has been complaining about the high expenses in the palace recently, and asked me to find a way to save money. But there are so many mouths in the palace waiting to be fed, we can't let them go hungry, right?"

Fan Jingwen's wife, Wang, just laughed and said nothing.

Before coming, Fan Jingwen explained that her mission was to cooperate with Queen Zhou to convey the reform of the vassal princes' clan salaries in a subtle way to the two concubines Zhao and Zhou, and then see their attitudes.

In theory, the harem cannot interfere in government affairs.

But the King of Zhao and the King of Zhou were too young to make the decision.

All matters were handled by the two concubines.

Chongzhen couldn't talk to women directly, and Fan Jingwen couldn't do anything about it either.

Queen Zhou could only bring it up under the pretext of visiting the second prince.

If they support it, then Chongzhen will unite with Prince Zhao and ask him to take the initiative to propose reforms to the princes' clan salaries.

Lady Li, the Duchess of England, came just to make up the numbers and serve as a witness.

After hearing this, the Queen Dowager of King Zhou was stunned. "The Queen is exaggerating, isn't she? It is said that every penny in the palace has to be split into eight petals. How can the expenses be so high?"

The Queen Dowager of Zhao blinked and asked tentatively, "Queen, could you please tell me about the expenses?"

"Ah, what's so inconvenient about this!" Queen Zhou sighed, "The expenses for a single person in the palace are not that high, but there are so many people in the palace! In addition to the concubines of the Wanli, Taichang, and Tianqi dynasties, there are also eunuchs, palace maids, and guards. Food, clothing, housing, and transportation all cost money! Oh, and the war horses of the Yongwei Battalion also cost money."

"One tael of silver per person means tens of thousands of taels! Oh, it makes me so worried!" Queen Zhou frowned slightly with a sad expression.

The Princess Dowager Zhao's eyelids twitched.

Although she heard some clues from Queen Zhou's words, she was still not sure what she meant.

Thinking of this, the Queen Mother of King Zhao pretended to suggest: "If it really doesn't work, just lay off some useless people."

"It can't be done!" Empress Zhou said in embarrassment, "The concubines of Wanli, Taichang, and Tianqi dynasties must not be touched, right?"

Everyone present nodded at the same time.

Wanli is Chongzhen's grandfather, Taichang is Chongzhen's father, and Tianqi is Chongzhen's brother.

Any one of them you pick up is older than Chongzhen and cannot be touched at all.

"The eunuchs in the Twenty-Four Eunuchs cannot be moved either. They basically all participated in the defense of the capital. Especially during the time when the Brave Guard Battalion went out of the city to fight, these people took up arms to defend the imperial city. They are meritorious people for the harem!"

"There is already a shortage of palace maids. If we lay them off, there will be no one to work!"

"Not to mention the guards, we can't afford to lose even one!"

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!