As the youngest son of Xu Da, the Prince of Zhongshan, and the maternal uncle of the Crown Prince, Xu Zengshou naturally knew what he should do. Moreover, his family had been quite strict in their upbringing over the years, and his elder brother had given him a lot of guidance. Therefore, as the Left Commander of the Right Army Commandery, he knew what he had to do and that he was now shouldering a heavy responsibility.

In the Wenhua Hall, Little Zhu sat on a chair and said, “Uncle, Father and Mother have allocated 150,000 taels of silver from the Imperial Treasury. This is no small amount. All of this is to be used to build the Yellow River dike. We must not be negligent in any way.”

"Your Highness can rest assured, I will certainly fulfill my duties faithfully," Xu Zengshou said solemnly. "I will personally escort the silver, and it will only be put into the treasury after it has been counted. I will also discuss this with the Junior Tutor..."

Xiao Zhu immediately corrected him, saying to Xu Zengshou, "Uncle, this trip you went to Kaifeng wasn't for you to discuss matters with the Junior Tutor. Although you are of a higher rank, the Junior Tutor is still in charge of governing the Yellow and Huai River regions."

The Junior Tutor, naturally, is Yan Zhenzhi. Although he has now relinquished his position as Minister of Works, being the Junior Tutor, one of the Three Ministers, is still incredibly prestigious and a dream for countless civil officials.

After all, there are still some groups where the military is stronger than the civil officials, and the status of civil officials is not high. The Three Dukes are reserved for the military elites, and the Three Grand Masters are actually the 'ultimate dream' of some civil officials. Such honorary titles are actually the limit for court officials.

Yan Zhenzhi may seem to have distanced himself from the central government and thus begun to lack real power, but many things cannot be judged by appearances alone.

Yan Zhenzhi had always been a confidant of the emperor, and governing the Yellow and Huai Rivers was an extraordinary undertaking. If Yan Zhenzhi succeeded in this task, it would surely benefit the country and its people, and be a meritorious deed for generations to come.

This kind of work may seem thankless and arduous, but for some ambitious people, what Yan Zhenzhi is doing is their ultimate dream. After all, some people don't just think about wealth and status; they also have their own ideas and aspirations.

Looking at Xu Zengshou, Xiao Zhu continued, "This time you take some guards with you and give those people a good lesson. They're all living in luxury and ease; they need to be taught a lesson."

Xu Zengshou naturally understood and decisively said, "Your Highness, rest assured, I will certainly give them a good training."

“You should train Fu Rang, the son of the Duke of Ying, properly,” Little Zhu said with certainty. “And our uncles should go with us too. Even if they don’t have great uses, they should at least get some experience so they can serve Father Emperor.”

Xu Zengshou's expression turned bitter. He understood many things in his heart, but the people he brought with him this time didn't seem easy to deal with. They were really not easy to deal with.

Others might give way to Fu Rang, the 'youngest son' of Duke Ying, Fu Youde, but Xu Zengshou would not be so polite. In the end, although Duke Ying, Fu Youde, had indeed been very powerful and glorious in recent years, he was still inferior to Xu Da, the Prince of Zhongshan.

Furthermore, besides his father's glory and achievements, Xu Zengshou was also well aware of his family background, which was something the Fu family could not compare to.

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Fu Youde's eldest son was a prince consort, and his daughter was betrothed to the emperor's cousin, the current Prince of Jin, Zhu Jixi.

But so what? Xu Zengshou's nephew is the Crown Prince, and his sister is the current Empress. This status alone is enough to say a lot. The Xu family's real 'opponent' has always been the Chang family. If it weren't for the Chang family's influence over the current emperor, the Xu family would have always been able to suppress the Chang family.

Other military achievements were not to be taken seriously; they were either officers who had served under the Prince of Zhongshan or generals who had served under Xu Huizu.

We don't need to worry about the military families; the main concern is the relatives of the emperor's in-laws. For example, the children of Princess Ningguo and Princess Anqing are the emperor's cousins, and the emperor has always been close to his two aunts. Those are not people to be trifled with.

Looking at Xu Zengshou, Xiao Zhu said, "If Uncle really causes trouble, just send him back. We think it's fine. Our Uncle is a reasonable person, and he shouldn't cause any trouble. At most, he's just ignorant of the hardships of ordinary people and a bit of a playboy."

These are things that only Little Zhu can say; Xu Zengshou wouldn't dare to comment. Or perhaps he feels that his understanding of some things is actually slightly different from what His Highness the Crown Prince sees.

This is quite normal. In front of the emperor and the crown prince, everyone has to restrain themselves and behave well.

Little Zhu continued, "Uncle, the construction of the Yellow River dike cannot be taken lightly. You should stay there for a while. Even if you don't get a title, it will make things easier for you in the future. Why can't all of our uncles be titled?"

When this matter was mentioned, Xu Zengshou was so envious that he almost cried, and he didn't know what to say.

As for the Chang family, Chang Mao inherited the title, which is self-evident. Chang Sheng and Chang Sen built the Busan Three Guards in their early years and constructed a castle on Isan Island (Tsushima Island), so one was the Marquis of Busan and the other was the Marquis of Isan.

Everyone knew that even if they had military merits, they were very limited. But the emperor could still legitimately grant them titles of nobility because the procedures were sound, and the Chang brothers did indeed have military achievements.

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