Chapter 1201: No Money Needed

The next day's morning court session, yes it was a morning court session that was notified at short notice last night. When Zhou Shuren got the news, he felt like he was struck by lightning. How could he not be shocked? This time he was going to be extremely embarrassed.

Zhou Shuren greeted the emperor in Mandarin in his heart, and kept his head down. This time he didn't need to watch the show, and just focused on staring at the floor tiles!

The ministers were all very happy at today's morning court. How could they not be happy? Look at the letter submitted to the foreign monarch. He looks like a country bumpkin. The envoy on this mission is a prince of a foreign country.

Great powers all hope that one day all other nations will come to pay tribute to them; this is an honor.

The emperor was naturally happy. This time, he was on a diplomatic mission to more than a dozen countries. It was a great honor for him to have this opportunity before abdicating.

Today is the Ministry of Rites' home game. The Minister of Rites is ready to go and vows to demonstrate the country's prestige.

Zhou Shuren came here with his ears ready today, thinking that his country's military strength and wealth were too attractive, so the diplomatic delegation sent back the news, and the people in power wanted to see it for themselves.

The emperor sat on the dragon throne. There was no acting today. He chatted a lot with Zhou Shuren. Zhou Shuren was very wary of foreigners in his words and had a bad impression of some neighboring countries. He remembered all of this, so he would not look down on small countries just because he felt that he was the Celestial Empire.

He always remembered that Zhou Shuren said gunpowder was one of the four great inventions of China and that foreigners also used it very well. He sent out spies to follow the caravans and received a lot of news over the years. He became more and more vigilant. The most intuitive thing was the glass, which showed that the foreigners' technology was also very advanced.

However, the emperor stared at Zhou Shuren who kept his head down, frowning, "My dear Zhou, why do you keep your head down?"

Zhou Shuren repeated the Mandarin in his mind. Seeing that everyone was staring at him, he moved his cheekbones and slowly raised his head, "Your Majesty, I have a stiff neck from sleeping."

The emperor's eyes fell on Zhou Shuren's face. His eyesight was not so good at this age. He only saw that Zhou Shuren's cheeks were a little red. "I think you not only have a stiff neck from sleeping, but also have two lumps on your face? Are the mosquitoes this year so poisonous?"

Zhou Shuren, "......."

He was sure that the emperor was not deliberately trying to trick him because his eyesight was poor due to his age. The emperor did have glasses, given to him by foreigners, but he was not used to them and seldom wore them!

A chuckle, followed by a continuous low laugh!

Xiao Qing looked up at the sky speechlessly. He was closest to Zhou Shuren, and Zhou Shuren had his head down, so he could see him clearly. He secretly looked at him all the way into the palace. He really didn't know what to say. He was already so old!

Xiao Qing did not doubt that Zhou Shuren had a concubine. In his eyes, Zhou Shuren was the one who was really afraid of his wife, so the baby could only have been left by Zhou Shuren's wife, Tsk tsk!

Zhou Shuren heard the laughter and knew he had seen everything. He raised his head expressionlessly, then smiled and looked at everyone shaking their shoulders.

Then, those who were in Zhou Shuren’s sight stopped shaking their shoulders and looked straight ahead with expressionless faces!

The Emperor took the glasses handed to him by Eunuch Liu and put them on. He looked at Zhou Shuren's face with an indescribable look in his eyes. Then he became extremely jealous. The Empress would not let him touch her hand, let alone kiss him, and glared at Zhou Shuren!

Zhou Shuren pretended not to see it, and the emperor never looked at Zhou Shuren again until the end of the court session!

After the morning court session, the older people left one after another. One said in a pedantic way "how disgraceful" to Zhou Shuren's face, while the others laughed and left.

Li Zhao has always been a talkative person. "Let me see, the two sides are quite symmetrical!"

Zhou Shuren touched his face, and his wife really gave him a symmetrical bite, "Are you jealous? You are not jealous, this is the proof that my wife loves me!"

Li Zhao was disgusted. He never thought Zhou Shuren could say such shameless words. He clicked his tongue twice and said, "I think I want to test how thick your skin is. Well, it is indeed quite thick. I didn't even bite it and it bled!"

Zhou Shuren, "......."

This is why he particularly dislikes Li Zhao!

At sea, Rongchuan had already returned to the ship. He got up early in the morning and brought out a table with a lot of papers on it.

Yang Wen came over and said, "Cousin, what do you want to write? I'll help you grind the ink."

Rongchuan, "I'll write a letter to your cousin."

Yang Wen retracted his outstretched hand. Since the letter was quite private, he would not help.

Yang Wen went to work. When he got off duty, he could see his cousin's husband continuing to write. He had already written a thick stack of letters. Yang Wen asked, "Are these all written to my cousin?"

Rongchuan looked at the letter he had been struggling to write for a long time, touched it, and smiled, "Well, your cousin must have discovered that the letters in recent days were not written by me, and she might be worried about me."

Yang Wen felt a little choked, even though he hadn't eaten!

In the afternoon, Zhou Shuren entered the palace. The Minister of Rites also entered the palace this time to pay for the expenses of the reception.

The Minister of Rites was really quick. He had already written the expenses. The Emperor took a look at it and finally his eyes fell on the total. He curled his lips and said, "Three hundred thousand taels is too much."

The Minister of Rites' mouth froze. No, it was Zhou Shuren who should have said this. He had already thought of how to refute it, but now the words were stuck in his throat.

Zhou Shuren took a deep breath. Three hundred thousand taels. He was angry. "Your Excellency is really ignorant of the high cost of firewood and rice. The Ministry of Revenue really doesn't have that much money. If your Excellency thinks that I am right, I will do the math for you."

Minister of Rites, "I am also doing this for the imperial court, to show the country's prestige, so as not to humiliate myself abroad."

Zhou Shuren would be crazy to ask for money. As the Minister of Rites continued to talk nonsense, Zhou Shuren insisted, "I don't have any money."

It was Lord Xiao who should have come, but he asked for leave after the morning court session. How cunning!

The Minister of Rites had seen Zhou Shuren's skills, and after talking for a while, he felt bored and didn't waste his words, "How much can you give?"

The emperor remained silent and looked at Zhou Shuren.

Zhou Shuren, "Not a penny."

The Minister of Rites was angry, "Your Majesty, I have already shown my attitude of negotiating, but Zhou Shuren deliberately raised the issue."

The Emperor signaled the Minister of Rites to shut up and asked, "Shu Ren, do you have any way to avoid spending money?"

Zhou Shuren really didn't want to use the money in the national treasury, especially when he knew that the future would be chaotic and money would be needed everywhere. "Do you think we can attract investment?"

The emperor silently recited the words "recruit merchants" and understood what it meant. "You mean that the food and clothing needed for the reception should be handed over to the Merchants' Office?"

Zhou Shuren was silent. Now he didn't need to explain. He really influenced the emperor a lot. "Yes, this is a kind of publicity. Merchants who are attracting investment can have their family emblems engraved on their clothes and supplies. Being able to entertain foreign princes is recognition from the foreign upper class power society. In the future, when the delegation returns home, they can also bring some souvenirs and publicize it back to foreign countries. The caravans will get higher benefits when they go to these countries."

There are so many benefits. If a prince is the spokesperson, anyone who is smart will maximize the benefits.