At noon, the duty room in the imperial city was a bit stuffy.

The door was pushed open and several officials hurried in, bringing a gust of fresh breeze that broke the stagnation in the room and also made Huang Cheng, who seemed to be drowsy sitting at the table, open his eyes.

"Sir, the document from Duke Cheng requesting military merit has arrived," they said.

Huang Cheng smiled as he looked at the thick documents that were handed over to him.

"Duke Cheng has a big appetite. He has written so many memorials. This must be a great achievement," he said.

"This is only part of it." An official said, also with dissatisfaction, "There is more at the Ministry of War."

Huang Cheng smiled without saying a word, took the document and looked through it.

"The Qingshan Army has really become an army." He said as he looked at the document.

"Just based on those magical weapons, Duke Cheng will not let them go." An official said, "Instead of keeping them as private soldiers, it is better to recruit them into the army. That way, it will be more legitimate to expand the power."

They did not want to see Duke Cheng expand his power.

"Sir, should this memorial be delivered?" another official asked in a low voice.

Huang Cheng smiled and threw the document in his hand onto the desk.

"Send it," he said. "I won't read these. Just present whatever he wants and read it out in public during the grand court meeting."

During the grand court meeting?

Huang Cheng thought of something again, leaned against the pillow and pointed at the table.

"If this isn't exciting enough, you guys should follow along, those who come to defend the king, those who come to support, those who are on guard because of the invasion of the Jin people, everyone has made contributions, everyone should take part, everyone should grab it."

As he said this, he flicked his sleeves and smiled coldly.

"Let everyone see how much money war can make and how much war can whet people's appetite."

The people sitting there understood and nodded.

"Yes, let everyone see how arrogant he, the Duke of Cheng, is."

"Besides, what kind of merit is this? He was clearly disobeying orders. So many officers and soldiers were killed to rescue him. What is he so proud of?"

"If he wants to be rewarded for this, then Shanxi, Shandong and Zhejiang Road can certainly ask for rewards too, so that everyone can see how he has messed up the military and political affairs."

"Your Majesty is kind. Although he hates him for bringing disaster to the country and the people, he is still very happy that he has returned alive and is willing to reward him generously. This is a gift from Your Majesty, not what he deserves as the Duke of Chengguo."

"Give it to him, give it all to him. Let the people see how well your majesty treats his subjects, and let everyone see how arrogant and rude Duke Cheng is."

Listening to his subordinates' discussions, Huang Cheng closed his eyes again, tapping the table with his fingers and a slight smile on his face.

The more noise you make today and the higher you climb, the harder you will fall tomorrow.

Duke Cheng, this time you come to the capital in glory, you must come in glory and die in glory.

Huang Cheng suddenly opened his eyes. There was no trace of cloudiness in his eyes, but a chill that made the people who were talking shudder and fall silent.

"Everyone, hurry up and don't let Zhu Shan use his military achievements as an excuse to avoid coming to Beijing." He said in a deep voice.

Several officials hurriedly responded.

As the first group of angels left the capital carrying the emperor's imperial edict summoning Duke Cheng back to the capital, the news that Duke Cheng would return to the capital to receive an award spread like wildfire.

Duke Cheng had not returned to the capital for nearly ten years. When the emperor passed away, he only wore mourning clothes and paid his respects from afar in the north.

In addition to this war in the north, the death and resurrection of Duke Cheng moved the people, and everyone was eager to see this famous Duke.

The whole capital city was bustling with activity, and at the same time various urgent documents and letters were flying in and out.

Fang Chengyu's front was filled with letter registers. It seemed that he had no time to clean them up and was too lazy to do so. He just left them piled up in a haphazard manner, with some of them scattered at his feet.

At this time, he was holding a pen in one hand and about to write something, while with the other hand he took the letter that Manager Gao had just opened and handed to him.

“…This just came from Dingzhou, and there should be more later…” said Manager Gao.

Before he finished speaking, he heard footsteps and someone walked in.

There are only two people in the Fang family who can enter and leave Fang Chengyu's study without notifying him.

Manager Gao bowed without even looking up.

"Ma'am," he said.

Her earrings tinkled and her skirt fluttered as Mrs. Fang walked straight past him and stood in front of Fang Chengyu's desk.

"Mother..." Fang Chengyu raised his head and smiled.

As soon as he opened his mouth, Mrs. Fang reached out and pulled the letter from his hand, then looked down at the letter with a cold face and said nothing.

Fang Chengyu was not in a hurry either.

"Mother, sit down and watch," he said.

Manager Gao has already brought over a round stool.

"Madam," he also asked.

Mrs. Fang stood still and ignored him, just looking at the letter in her hand.

Fang Chengyu nodded to Manager Gao, who stepped back and sat down again, and the room fell into silence.

Until there was a swish sound, Mrs. Fang put the letter in her hand away, slammed it heavily on the table, and looked at Fang Chengyu.

Fang Chengyu looked at her and laughed.

"How many pearls have you pawned?" Mrs. Fang asked, reaching out to touch the hairpin on his head.

Fang Chengyu likes pearls, and the ones he uses as accessories are all top-notch, hard-to-find pearls.

"Mother." Fang Chengyu laughed, "How could it have come to the point where you have to pawn it?"

Mrs. Fang didn't smile at all and just said "oh".

"Not yet? I just noticed that the house is half empty, and you didn't tell me. Your grandmother and I were still eating, drinking, having fun, and wearing gold and silver. When the house is completely penniless and everyone has moved out, you must tell us so that we can pawn our gold and silver, take off our silk and satin, put on rags and linen clothes, and go begging for food and survive with bamboo sticks and porcelain bowls." She said.

Listening to Mrs. Fang's threats, Manager Gao lowered his head even more deeply. Logically, he should have left.

Fang Chengyu laughed.

"Mother, you have seen a lot of drama, this word is really well said," he said.

Mrs. Fang looked at him coldly.

"Don't smile at me. I'm not like you. You can conquer the whole country just by smiling at others," she said.

Fang Chengyu put away his smile and replied seriously.

"As the daughter-in-law of the Fang family, can I ask where our family's money has been spent?" Mrs. Fang said, pointing to the letter on the table. "It seems that Miss Jun has finished her work and is about to come back. I wonder if asking this will not disturb her?"

Fang Chengyu nodded.

"Mother," he said, "she had two business deals up north and spent some money."

"Business?" Mrs. Fang asked coldly, "This business has cost half of our family's wealth. This business must be big. I wonder how much profit it will make?"

"There is profit, there is profit." The shopkeeper Gao at the side raised his head and said, grabbing a book from the scattered account books on the ground, "It has just been credited."

Mrs. Fang glanced at him.

"Four hundred thousand taels." said the shopkeeper Gao.

Mrs. Fang laughed.

"Four hundred thousand taels! That's a lot of money!" she said.

These words sounded like a surprise, but Mrs. Fang did not look surprised at all.

Besides, four hundred thousand taels was nothing to be surprised about for Mrs. Fang.

Manager Gao laughed twice and lowered his head.

"Mother, take your time. Doing business always involves..." Fang Chengyu said.

He was interrupted by Mrs. Fang before he could finish his words.

"She made armor, bought weapons, helped hundreds of thousands of refugees, raised private soldiers, commanded the official army, and went to the Jin territory to kill the enemy." She looked at Fang Chengyu and spoke in a low voice, "Fang Chengyu, is her business going to the sky?"

This "ding le tian" can be understood as the business is so big that it reaches the sky, or it can be understood that the "tian" refers to the emperor. Then the word "ding"...

"...She wants to replace the emperor..." Mrs. Fang continued.

This time, before he could finish his words, both Manager Gao and Fang Chengyu jumped up.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." They shouted in unison in panic, surrounding Mrs. Fang. "You can't say that. You can't say that."