Chapter 765 Thoughts

The third prince Zhang Jingxi sneered in his heart. This fake fifth prince was getting more and more cunning. He stood up with a cold face and said, "Since the protagonist is not going home, I will also withdraw. Second brother, my younger brother will leave first."

The fourth prince Zhang Jingshi curled his lips and said, "Old Five and Shen Yang, interesting."

The current Lao Wu is interesting!

Zhang Jinghong took the tea handed to him by Shen Yang and sneezed twice.

Shen Yang asked worriedly, "Is the Fifth Prince feeling unwell?"

Zhang Jinghong said quietly, "I am fine, it's just that too many people are talking about me."

At the Fifth Prince's Mansion, Zhang Jingyang narrowed his eyes. It was more than interesting. The Fifth Prince was fake, and it was unknown whether this Shen Yang was real or not. He was too stupid. Now the Fifth Prince had gone to find Shen Yang. They dared to squat in the Fifth Prince's Mansion to block people, but they didn't dare to go to Shen Yang's home. They were not sure about their father's attitude towards Shen Yang.

The next day, in the Hanlin Academy, Chang Lian had just entered the room. It was particularly lively today. Lu Shujishi curled his lips and said, "Look how proud he is."

Chang Lian was a little confused. He had just arrived and didn't know what happened. "What happened?"

Master Lu lowered his voice, "The Fifth Prince was staying at Shen Yang's house yesterday, and he let it slip as soon as he came in this morning, showing off how good he is with the Fifth Prince."

Chang Lian was surprised that the Crown Prince treated Shen Yang differently. The Fifth Prince, who was born of the same mother, also had a good relationship with Shen Yang. He frowned, he really couldn't understand. In his eyes, Shen Yang was indeed well-educated, but his emotional intelligence was not particularly high. The Hanlin Academy was not short of well-educated people. He really didn't see what other advantages Shen Yang had.

Master Lu saw Zhou Changlian deep in thought and asked in a low voice, "Do you know something?"

Chang Lian came back to his senses, "What can I know? Well, forget about him and get back to work."

Master Lu was unwilling to accept this. As a scholar in this room, he could not compare to Zhou Changlian who had a father with a good official career. He was also not as good as some people with strong backgrounds. Shen Yang had a similar background to him, so why was he not as good as Shen Yang?

In the palace, Zhou Shuren went to the morning court and stayed with the Minister. Today's morning court was about the resettlement after the flood in the south. Also staying with him were the Minister of Personnel and the scholars of the inner cabinet.

The emperor said: "The rain in the south has stopped and the water level is also decreasing. Now many people have been displaced. Do you have any good ideas for their resettlement?"

Zhou Shuren sighed. When the flood receded, the farmers' mud houses were destroyed and basically could not be lived in. The houses had to be rebuilt, the land had to be leveled, and the corpses of humans and animals had to be dealt with to prevent the outbreak of plague.

There are too many things to do in this later period. Yes, we have to solve the food problem of the people. Now the people have no food. The last thing is to repair the dam.

Xiao Qing frowned. He didn't listen to any suggestions, and his brows were wrinkled. This would cost a lot of money.

When Zhou Shuren heard about opening the granaries to release grain, he was silent. The flood came quickly and not much grain could be rescued from the granaries. Some grain had been transferred there in recent days to help the disaster victims. As for the granaries in the north, take the granaries in Jinzhou as an example. After the New Year, two-thirds of the grain in Jinzhou was transferred away to support the war army.

This is not just the case in Jinzhou, the situation is similar in all the northern states. The granaries in the capital don't have much food. Now they are asked to open the warehouses to store food. There is no food.

The emperor frowned and looked at the Minister of Finance, "Master Xiao, do you have anything to say?"

Xiao Qing pursed her lips and said, "Your Majesty, this time I am not crying poor, I really have no food."

Master Ding frowned, "It will be the autumn harvest in a few days, Master Xiao, the granary can't be completely empty."

Xiao Qing rolled his eyes in his heart, "Master Ding, you don't know unless you are the head of the household, the granary in the capital really doesn't have any extra food."

The emperor also knew this and signaled Lord Ding to stop. "Lord Xiao, calculate the approximate amount of silver needed in Jiangnan and send it to me tomorrow."

After giving a few more instructions, the emperor signaled all the ministers to leave.

Zhou Shuren thought silently, it was another day of being a background board. He found that after being promoted, he had fewer opportunities to speak. However, that was good, as he wouldn't offend anyone by not speaking.

Unfortunately, the joy did not last long. The emperor said, "Zhou Shuren, you stay here first."

Master Xiao from Zhou Shuren's family looked at him, but he was also confused and didn't know why he was called that.

Xiao Qing was also stunned. It was the first time that she saw confusion in Zhou Shuren's eyes. There was a smile in his eyes. "I'll go back to the Ministry of Revenue first."

"yes."

Several grand scholars also looked over, frowned, and then left one after another.

Xiao Qing squinted his eyes and walked slowly with his hands behind his back. The six ministries and the inner cabinet were restraining each other. Among the several bachelors, he was the most troubled by Bachelor Ding.

The Minister of Personnel also walked slowly, and when he had distanced himself from the people in front of him, he whispered, "The Emperor really values ​​Zhou Shuren. I don't think you will be able to stay in this position for more than two years."

Xiao Qing, "At least the Ministry of Revenue has successors, unlike the Ministry of Personnel, which is in a mess. I'm not saying anything bad about you, but you still have the mind to stir up trouble. You might as well focus more on your Ministry of Personnel."

The Ministry of Personnel is in a mess. Among the six ministries, the Ministry of Revenue is the place with the most intense intrigue.

The Minister of Personnel choked, snorted, and walked quickly.

In the Zheng Palace, the Emperor motioned Zhou Shuren to sit down, "Just now I saw that you also had some ideas. Now I am alone, tell me, what are your ideas?"

Zhou Shuren did have some thoughts, but he kept silent because he was the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and had Lord Xiao above him, so it was not appropriate for him to speak. He just felt overwhelmed when he thought about the people having no food to eat. "I spoke too much and was wrong. I hope the emperor will forgive me."

The emperor raised his eyebrows, and he really had an idea, "You said that there are only you and me here, and what we said today will not be spread out."

This is to protect Zhou Shuren, and he also knows that it is better for Zhou Shuren to keep a low profile for now.

Zhou Shuren said carefully: "The Ministry of Revenue currently has a total of 2.78 million taels of silver on deposit."

There have been a lot of expenses recently, including bonuses for officers and soldiers and some expenses for various departments. Otherwise, there would be more than 3 million taels of silver.

The emperor knew it in his heart, "So?"

"I think that although our dynasty has no food, our neighboring countries do. I have been the prefect of Jinzhou, where Pinggang is located. I know the number of merchant ships that come and go, and I also know the commodities that neighboring countries buy and sell. Some neighboring countries have sufficient food, so I wonder if we can go abroad to buy food."

As the prefect of Jinzhou, he knew everything. If he went to buy the foreign merchant ships carrying food and grain in person, the price would definitely be lower, and he could also train his navy, killing two birds with one stone.

The emperor looked at Zhou Shuren. This man knew the entire Jinzhou very well. He had met many prefects, but none of them was like Zhou Shuren. The emperor stroked his beard. Zhou Shuren was a man of great talent.

Zhou Shuren lowered his head, muttering to himself, don't look at him anymore. If it weren't for the people, he really didn't want to say more. He just hoped that he would be let off smoothly when he retired in the future!

(End of this chapter)