A shifty-eyed henchman approached and whispered in Jiang Ming's ear, "Sir, what do we do next?"

"What should we do? Of course, we need to gather all one million taels first. Lan Linxue will show no mercy when she gets serious. Even if she really confiscates our property, the Emperor won't say she's wrong in the end!"

"But if all the money is given to Lan Linxue, what about the Prime Minister..."

Jiang Ming gave his subordinate a sinister look and said in a low, vicious voice, "What kind of time is this? You still have the leisure to think about those things? If we offend Lan Xiuyuan, we can just quit our official positions! But if we offend Lan Linxue, our homes will be confiscated! Which do you think is more important?"

"Yes! I understand! I will distribute the silver equally right now. Rest assured, sir, we are always of one mind with you and will share your burdens!"

Jiang Ming nodded, and before leaving, he whispered to his subordinate, "Prefect Gu Minglang of Yangzhou should take 300,000 taels of silver himself!"

The subordinate was a little stunned, looking up at Jiang Ming with blank expressions, not understanding why he wanted to take so much by himself.

Jiang Ming looked at him coldly: "This guy's not very savvy. We can take advantage of this opportunity to get rid of him with the help of the Lan brothers. Haven't you been eyeing the position of Prefect of Yangzhou for a long time? Soon it will be yours!"

The subordinate was so excited he wanted to rip his heart out and give it to Jiang Ming. "I will never forget your kindness in mentoring me, sir. I will go through fire and water for you!"

Jiang Ming smiled and nodded, then sat down in the sedan chair with a gloomy expression.

Lan Xiuyuan leaned against his bed, his face showing an unshakeable weariness.

Feng Zhouyuan was also feeling very unwell, with pain all over his body, but at this moment he absolutely could not leave Lan Xiuyuan alone to be depressed.

"Fifth Master, it's alright that Lan Linxue let Third Master go this time, allowing him to take advantage of the situation! In any case, Third Master's hand is undeniably broken by the Crown Prince, and the two of them will inevitably fight to the death sooner or later! However, the millions of taels of silver involved will probably still end up coming out of our pockets. The Prime Minister's birthday gifts this year will likely suffer losses in the Jiangnan region!"

Lan Xiuyuan covered his head with his hands, closed his eyes, and sighed wearily, saying, "Losing some silver is probably not so bad. The most important thing is that we can't win over the hearts of these officials in Jiangnan!"

Feng Zhouyuan lowered his head and thought for a long time before slowly looking at Lan Xiuyuan and asking, "Master, since you already know that these people in Jiangnan have ulterior motives, why didn't you leave Jiang Ming and the others a way out just now? Wouldn't that make Jiang Ming even more dissatisfied with Fifth Master and the Prime Minister, and cause us to lose the family business we have built up for nothing?"

Lan Xiuyuan smiled slightly, turned his head to look at Feng Zhouyuan and said, "Mr. Feng, do you think a dog that has contracted the plague can still be used to guard the house?"

After saying that, Lan Xiuyuan slowly lay down again, sighed deeply, and said, "Jiang Ming being the Governor-General of Liangjiang is like occupying a toilet without doing anything. With his brains, he simply can't handle the responsibility of governing Jiangnan. Besides lining his pockets, what else do you think he can do?"

"Not to mention the others. The Prime Minister is getting old, and the people he uses are all incompetent fools. Besides buying their way into office, they are not only of no help, but they also hinder us at every turn. Why should we keep such people around? Rather than keeping them in the way, we should take this opportunity to cut off all these cancerous growths."

"But the Prime Minister might not be too happy! After all, he has been using these people for many years. If we deal with them, it will be difficult to explain to the Prime Minister."

Lan Xiuyuan gave a cold laugh, closed his eyes, and said in a deep voice, "The Prime Minister is an old man after all, and his heart has softened. Let's do these things if we can, since we are the ones who really need our manpower."

After saying that, Lan Xiuyuan wearily closed his eyes and moved his body, clearly not wanting to continue the topic.

Feng Zhouyuan's eyes flickered strangely as he looked at Lan Xiuyuan, but he didn't say anything more.

Just as Feng Zhouyuan thought Lan Xiuyuan was about to fall asleep and he was about to leave, Lan Xiuyuan slowly opened his eyes and said slowly, "However, Lan Linxue's actions don't necessarily mean that we'll suffer a complete loss!"

"Oh? I don't know what Fifth Master means?"

Lan Xiuyuan slowly sat up, and the maids below quickly went to serve him.

"Didn't Lan Linxue order these officials to hand over all the treasury silver within a few days? Do you think it's even possible to accomplish that?"

Feng Zhouyuan stared intently at Lan Xiuyuan, then suddenly smiled slightly: "The officials in Jiangnan are all incorruptible; even if they sold everything they owned, they wouldn't be able to find that much silver. Your Highness is truly asking the impossible!"

Lan Xiuyuan immediately smiled, pointed at Feng Zhouyuan and said with a smile, "Mr. Feng truly understands me!"

After saying that, Lan Xiuyuan looked into the distance with a bit of excitement and said, "The officials in Jiangnan are all civil officials. Even a rabbit will bite when cornered, let alone these proud and unyielding scholars. How could they easily succumb to Lan Linxue's tyranny? Do you think if one or two officials couldn't bear it and hanged themselves from their own roof beams at this moment, wouldn't that be a tragedy that shocked the world?"

Feng Zhouyuan smiled slightly and continued, "In this way, it's as if the Crown Prince has forced someone to their death in Yangzhou! If all the scholars in the land knew about this, they certainly wouldn't let such a willful and inhuman Crown Prince live. So, Fifth Master's plan is excellent. Even if we can't get rid of the Crown Prince this time, we'll definitely make him suffer!"

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