"Liu Qing, Zhao Qing, and you two also want to accompany Xia Si, so the three of you will go on the road together. It just so happens that you have someone to accompany you on the way."

Liu Qing and Zhao Qing were confused: When did we say we wanted to stay with Xia Shisi?

He didn't give the two of them a chance to speak again. He waved his hand, and soon, the two of them were dragged down silently.

Now, no one dares to mention any sins against oneself.

Not mentioning the imperial edict, the ministers began to propose how to solve the flood problem in the south.

First of all, the rest is easy to say, but when it comes to money issues, Zhou Pei, the Minister of Household Affairs, is in a dilemma.

Zhou Pei, as the Minister of Household Affairs, stood up and said, "Your Majesty, it's not that I don't want to give you money, it's just that the state treasury doesn't have that much money."

Zhou Pei was also in a dilemma. In fact, the money in the treasury was already very small as early as the late emperor.

The late emperor was very happy with his achievements, and from time to time he liked to make a big show, and went to the south of the Yangtze River several times.

When the late emperor was still alive, he loved the queen very much and made various extravagances for the queen's birthday several times.

Because a queen liked to eat lychees, she ordered lychees to be sent from a long distance.

In addition, the border with Lingnan has always been uneasy. There are often wars and money has to be sent from the national treasury.

After His Majesty succeeded to the throne, the extravagance and extravagance in the palace became even more intense, and the money in the treasury was almost at its bottom.

Not only that, he also paid salaries to his colleagues, and these colleagues would borrow money from time to time, but they would not repay the money they borrowed.

Every time Zhou Pei went to see them with written documents, each one of them would either cry out about poverty or not be at home.

Alas! Now he has to use money for disaster relief. Where will he find the money?

Zhou Pei sighed heavily.

When others become the Minister of Household Affairs, they are happy because it is a good job.

When it was his turn to be the Minister of Household Affairs, Zhou Pei's hair was almost gray.

No wonder the Minister of the Ministry of Finance patted his shoulder on the day he was transferred and said earnestly: "Yuan Jing, do your best."

At first he didn't know what it meant, he just thought it was a word of encouragement.

Later, when he saw that the money in the treasury was getting less and less, and he had to pay for it without getting it back, Zhou Pei finally understood this. Maybe the previous president resigned and returned home in anticipation of this.

Alas! How sad!

Zhou Pei sighed again.

Suddenly, Zhou Pei thought of something and looked up.

I think this is an opportunity, maybe I can get my colleagues here who owe money to the treasury to pay back!

Zhou Pei organized his words in his mind and started his performance.

"His Majesty!"

Zhou Pei's tragic shouts suddenly came from the hall, which frightened Chen Jue, who was sitting on the dragon chair, and his heart skipped a beat.

He calmed down, took a sip of the tea from Liu Zhong, and then slowly turned his eyes on Zhou Pei.

I saw Zhou Pei crying and wiping his tears below, crying as if the emperor had died. Wait - what kind of metaphor is this? I'm still alive!

"Your Majesty, I have no shame in treating you and the people... I have neglected my duty. As the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, at this time, I should have provided disaster relief money and food from the national treasury..."

"But I am really incompetent and can't keep the treasury..."

Seeing Zhou Pei crying with snot and tears while pleading guilty, Chen Jue turned his eyes away with slight disgust.

Zhou Pei also knew that it was indecent for a man like himself to cry like a woman.

But at this time, he didn't care about indecency, as long as he could get money.

Chen Jue also understood what Zhou Pei said. It was probably because the state treasury had no money and could not come up with so much money for disaster relief.

"Zhou Shangshu, how could the treasury not be able to get the money?"

A courtier came out and asked, "Are you just a thief and a poor man?"

"I think so. Yesterday afternoon I saw Shangshu Zhou and his family having dinner in a restaurant."

Another minister also came out to echo.

Suddenly, he turned to look at His Majesty, "Your Majesty, Zhou Shangshu is guarding a thief. I sincerely request Your Majesty to punish Zhou Pei severely."

From the lack of money in the treasury to the self-stealing, Zhou Pei naturally refused to admit it.

"Yang Shixiang, bullshit your mother!" Zhou Pei turned around and scolded Yang Shixiang angrily, even swearing out the curse words in his mouth.

"What I used was my wife's dowry money!" Everyone was shocked, and they didn't expect Zhou Pei to even say such a thing.

Of course Zhou Pei could use his wife's dowry money.

Zhou Pei snorted lightly, he was not like those hypocrites who dared to do but not say anything!

Besides, he really had no money, otherwise he wouldn't have used his wife's dowry money.

Like the ministers who worked with Zhou Pei, Chen Jue naturally knew whether there was money in the treasury and how much money was left.

But - Zhou Pei looked up at the people above and thought that after today, he should be rich.

Thinking of this, Zhou Pei continued to cry.

"Colleagues, the national treasury is really short of money and cannot afford to borrow money. When do you think the money owed to the treasury will be paid back?"

With that said, Zhou Pei took out a large stack of paper from his arms.

With these, Zhou Pei was very glad that he had a habit of carrying these IOUs in his arms when he went out, in case he came to ask for money.

Now these documents are all evidence!

After Zhou Pei took out the written evidence, some people in the court began to panic.

I wished I could go back in time, and I was ready to hold down Zhou Pei who was about to take out the documents.

Regardless of his colleagues' hatred for him, Zhou Pei was secretly happy after handing the documents to Liu Zhong.

Fortunately, he also knew that there were so many colleagues here, so he suppressed his joy and added a little more fire to the situation.

"Your Majesty, as long as your colleagues can replace the money you owe to the treasury, you can probably come up with thirty thousand taels."

Colleagues:...Zhou Pei, you are missing a great virtue!

Chen Jue took a look,

If it's going to be used for disaster relief, that's fine. After all, disaster relief money is not a small amount.

Chen Jue's eyes darkened, and his beautiful peach blossom eyes suddenly turned cold, with a vague hint of the majesty of an emperor.

Hall of Culture

Chen Jue dismissed everyone except Liu Zhong and walked to the table in front of the screen to sit down.

A pair of slender fingers lightly tapped the table. After a while, a dark shadow appeared in front of Chen Jue. He knelt down on one knee and said, "Master!"

The shadow turned from dark to bright, and it was a figure dressed in black clothing, with only a pair of murderous eyes remaining.

But this person was respectful in front of Chen Jue and the sword in his hand was not unsheathed. This was all thanks to the original person.

Chen Jue thought to himself.

This man was the original leader of the secret guard. There were twenty people in the secret guard, all of whom were only loyal to him.

"Have you found out the identity of the dancer?" Chen Jue said casually, shaking his tea cup.

"Found out," the secret guard leader handed the information he found to Chen Jue.

He said: "The dancer's name is Qi Lian, and she is from Nanyang. There was a flood in Nanyang five years ago, and she was the only one left in Qi Lian's family.

One year later, I entered the Xie family, and a year later, I was sent to the palace. In the past three years, I have become close to the Jiang family master."

"Three years ago, wasn't that -" when the original body just succeeded to the throne!

What's the Xie family's plan? Chen Jue thought to himself.

But this is not the focus, you can leave it aside for now.

Hearing the secret guard mention the Jiang family reminded him of another thing.

The Jiang family, isn't that the Jiang family that owes him the most money!

If you don't pay back the money you owe, and you make excuses saying you don't have the money, it's just right, then take action against the Jiang family!

Chen Jue curled his lips and glanced at Liu Zhong, who was standing beside him.

"It was my decree that the Jiang family wanted to assassinate me. Liu Zhong led his men to surround the Jiang family. Except for the eldest princess, all the rest of the Jiang family, men, women, old and young, were taken to the prison and beheaded on a certain day."
Chapter completed!