Chapter 755: There is still more to learn

Zhou Shuren thought to himself that during the war, the maternal families of several princes made a lot of money. Even though they had spent a lot in recent years, they still had some income. It was not good to have too much money, as money could be used to cause trouble. The emperor was thinking about this!

In the palace, the emperor looked at the letter sent by Xiao Qing. Over the years, his second sons and several others had bought young men and hired people, which required silver. They had spent a lot of silver over the years, and they could still take out 200,000 taels at once. His sons were all very shrewd, and they did not dare to take too much. The silver that was stuck happened to be the silver that the merchants had taken out.

Therefore, the sons still had quite a bit of money in their hands, and they took the opportunity to test it out this time, and were pleasantly surprised.

The emperor's heart shifted from the Chen family, the mother's family of his second son, the Qi family, the mother's family of his third son, to the Feng family, the mother's family of his fourth son. The Ning family had always kept a low profile after establishing the dynasty. These three families had never known what restraint was for so many years.

Two days passed in a blink of an eye, and Zhou Shuren attended the morning court again. He and Qiu Yan took turns attending the court, he this month and Qiu Yan next month.

There were fewer officials in the court this time. Those in the front row were all officials who regularly attended court, such as the six ministers!

Zhou Shuren felt a little sleepy as he had gotten up a little early. Actually, he had nothing to do in the court. If he wanted to ask about money, the Minister of Revenue was there. He just saved the soy sauce.

The only big news in the court today is that the army will return to the court in three days. This is not really news to the Ministry of Revenue, as they already knew the specific time of the return. Who asked the Ministry of Revenue to prepare the silver?

After the court session, Zhou Shuren followed the minister. Lord Li quickly came over and asked, "Lord Xiao, is the silver ready?"

Xiao Qing didn't even raise his eyelids and continued walking forward.

Li Zhao saw that Xiao Qing did not hide from him, which meant that he had prepared money for compensation. After all, he had been dealing with Xiao Qing for so many years, and Xiao Qing was still very reliable in major matters. However, "Brother, you should prepare more money."

Xiao Qing pretended not to hear it. As for those who asked for money, no matter how much he gave, it was not enough!

Zhou Shuren had already started chatting with the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, who smiled innocently, "I've heard about you for a long time. Lord Li mentioned you to us a lot, saying that we are stupid and told us to learn more from you when we have time."

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

How should he respond to this?

Li Zhao's face darkened when he heard the loud voice. This simple man smiled and turned around and said, "The Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War are brothers and family. They should learn from each other and do better for the court."

Zhou Shuren twitched his beard. He actually wanted to laugh. Maybe the Ministry of War had their eyes on Lord Li. "What the Lord said is that we should learn from each other and make progress together."

Li Zhao's eyes were filled with regret. Why wasn't Zhou Shuren a military general?

At Zhou's house, Xu Zhao arrived. Zhu Lan smiled and welcomed Xu Zhao in. "I just got two paintings here, so I asked you to come and have a look. Please help me keep an eye on them."

Xu Zhao was very confident in calligraphy and painting. Although she was the daughter of a merchant, she had learned everything she needed to learn. After she got married, she did not give up her hobbies.

Zhulan only used the paintings as an excuse to invite people over, but now that she had said it, she naturally wanted to make it sound more real, so she brought the paintings over. She got these two paintings from the third room, as she had no money to buy paintings now.

Zhulan motioned the maid to open the painting, stood up and walked to the front of the painting. Both paintings were of mountains and ridges. Zhulan sighed, "This picture of mountains and rivers only has many years of peace and stability."

Xu Zhao didn't want to recall the war. When the war broke out, many people in the Xu family died. "Yes."

Zhu Lan changed the subject and said, "The army is about to return to the court. The soldiers have repelled the enemy and protected the country from being invaded by foreign tribes. They are all good men."

He paused, then said with some sadness, "There are casualties in wars. Soldiers shed their blood to protect the mountains and rivers and to ensure that the people can live and work in peace and contentment."

Xu Zhao didn't think much about it and just responded. She just sighed in her heart and then walked away.

Zhulan didn't say anything more and continued to look at the paintings with a smile.

After sending Xu Zhao away, Zhulan thought that she had given all the reminders she could. Whether Mr. Xu could think of it or not depended on himself. Zhou Shuren came back to live yesterday. After much thought, Zhou Shuren decided that he should be more cautious towards the Xu family, because the Xu family belonged to the prince.

Today I gave you a subtle reminder, and if the Xu family understood it, they would naturally know what to do next. If they didn't understand it, they would have missed a great opportunity, and the Ministry of Revenue would have received less money.

The Xu family, every time Mr. Xu's wife went to the Zhou family, he would ask questions when she came back. After listening to his wife's words, Mr. Xu stood up and talked as usual as before, but he stopped at the door.

Old Master Xu pondered Shuren's words again and clenched his fists. He had never thought of this before and walked out quickly, thinking to himself that the Zhou family was really the noble family of the Xu family. If Yang Shuren had not invited his wife to appreciate the paintings today, he would not have been inspired.

In the afternoon, at the Ministry of Revenue, Zhou Shuren was checking the account books that were sent to him, and Qiu Yan came back.

Qiu Yan lowered his voice and said, "I went to deliver the account book. I don't know why the master is so happy."

Zhou Shuren raised his head, "It should be something happy!"

Qiu Yan was puzzled, "How can this be a happy thing? Seeing the army return to the court, and the money is running out, this is such a happy event, and Lord Xiao can still smile?"

Zhou Shuren knew in his heart that it must be the Xu family who came to deliver the silver. "I'm busy now. I have to deliver it to the Shangshu Lord in the evening."

"Oh, okay."

The next day, Zhou Shuren and Lord Xiao went to court together. When they arrived at the palace gate, Zhou Shuren glanced at Lord Xiao's memorial, which was written by Lord Xiao last night.

In the court, Lord Xiao said, "I have something to report."

The emperor looked at the letter and said, "Present it."

Xiao Qing handed the letter to Eunuch Liu, and then felt the gazes of his colleagues. Well, he felt very calm.

The emperor opened the folder. He knew about this. The prince had already mentioned it yesterday, but he didn't mention the silver. He touched the silver on the folder with his fingertips. The merchant really had silver. He spent 500,000 silver at once. "Pass it down and show it to everyone."

The officials below were all very angry. This Minister of Revenue seldom spoke on his own initiative during court sessions. Most of the time he would only fight back after being criticized. However, every time Lord Xiao spoke, it was a big deal.

The folding paper went around, and no one in the court was stupid. Zhou Shuren saw some adults looking at the prince with hidden eyes.

Zhou Shuren lowered his head. Ah, this really had nothing to do with the prince. The prince just took the blame for him. However, this was also beneficial to the prince.

Lord Xiao waited until the memorial was back in the hands of the emperor before he said, "Master Xu donated money to the court. Every word he said came from the heart. I feel ashamed when I hear it. Shang Jia can donate money on his own initiative. I am receiving a salary and am outdone by Shang Jia. I feel ashamed!"

Lord Xiao paused and continued, "Your Majesty, I think the Xu family's enlightenment and dedication deserves recognition. Please judge for yourself."

Zhou Shuren lowered his head even more. He thought, he still had a lot to learn!

Ahem, I will return the chapters I owe, but I will keep updating daily for now. . . .

(End of this chapter)