Li Zian returned to his study, took out the letter sent by the prince, opened it and read it carefully.
Several subordinates looked at him eagerly below.
Li Zian read the letter at a glance, showed a noncommittal expression, and handed the letter to Fan Yuru beside him, asking him to take it and circulate it to all the ministers.
The useful content of the letter is probably that it allows Prince Rui's palace to recruit and train troops as needed, but the number must not exceed 10,000.
All commercial taxes and grains paid this year are allowed to be controlled by Prince Rui's palace and do not need to be handed over to the court.
Allow the Prince's Palace to temporarily call on local officials and garrison troops in emergencies.
Fan Bingrong frowned and said: "The imperial court doesn't want to pay at all. It only uses a little tax and food and puts all the responsibility on us?"
As soon as he opened his mouth, several other ministers immediately started to complain.
"This year there is drought in many places in Huguang. The grain harvested in the autumn may not be as large as the field tax collected last year. We haven't asked the court to open a warehouse to release grain!"
"With this little thing, the emperor has the nerve to send someone to deliver the message!"
"Isn't it? The imperial court has become more and more outrageous in the past two years. Who can't see what their intentions are!"
"So what if we can see that we can still go to the capital to complain and complain?" Li Zian originally did not expect the court to give him much support. "It is already very good if we are allowed to recruit troops and temporarily mobilize the local garrison."
This is quite true.
Prince Rui's palace did not lack money to raise troops, but as a vassal king, in order to avoid the jealousy of the court, not only could they not raise private soldiers in a big way, but they also had to keep a distance from the local garrison.
Now that we have this letter, there is much room for maneuverability.
At least some of the soldiers training in private can be transferred to the public.
Although there is still a limit of 10,000 soldiers, once the soldiers are recruited, they cannot be dismissed casually without any special circumstances.
If the imperial treasury had not been full in recent years, and the food harvest in the south had been poor due to floods in the past three years, the imperial court would not have been able to withstand the drag of the war. With the emperor's petty mind, it would have been impossible to allow Prince Rui's palace to accumulate too many private soldiers.
Fan Bingrong frowned and said: "Although we have obtained some benefits, once Xirong really takes any action, the imperial court will definitely ask us to take the lead."
"Master Fan, what you said is wrong." Guo Xianglei sneered, "Even if there is no benefit, will the court let us go if something goes wrong? It's better to take whatever we can get."
There is nothing wrong with saying this.
And there are some things that people don’t say, but they know in their hearts.
Four years ago, Prince Rui was suddenly injured and fell into coma, which was not entirely without benefits for the Prince Rui's palace.
According to the news from the court, the emperor had actually already had the idea of withdrawing from the vassal state.
However, Prince Rui's sudden injury and the death of the Queen Mother forced the matter to be shelved.
This shelving lasted four years.
Apart from the initial chaos, Prince Rui's Mansion has used the past four years to recuperate and recuperate. Today's money and food reserves are far from what they were four years ago.
There is even an additional elite army of nearly 5,000 people, which is currently invisible.
Now, these people can finally transform into private soldiers of the Prince's Palace recognized by the imperial court.
Thinking of this, even Fan Bingrong, who usually kept his emotions in check, couldn't help but have a look of satisfaction flash in his eyes.
Compared with the other two heirs of the prince's family, Li Zian's excellence is obvious.
As long as Prince Rui's body can last for another two years and Li Zi'an is given more time to grow up, even if he cannot resist the imperial court by then, if the emperor still wants to withdraw from the vassal, he will have to think more about it.
Thinking of this, Fan Bingrong couldn't help but ask: "Sir, how is your health lately? Counting the days, Lady Tong should have come for follow-up consultation a few days ago, right? Why has there been no news?"
Li Zian couldn't help but frown when he mentioned this matter.
He had originally sent someone to ask Shen Tianshu to come to Wuchang Mansion again in the name of the Dowager Empress.
Unexpectedly, Shen Zhonglei declined on the grounds that Mrs. Shen came to Yongzhou Mansion from her hometown and Shen Tianshu wanted to serve his grandmother.
Faced with such reasonable and reasonable reasons, even Princess Fengrong did not stop Shen Tianshu from fulfilling her filial piety and must call people to her.
"Don't worry, Mr. Fan, my father's condition is fine. Madam Tong has some things that have delayed her. She will come back for a follow-up visit in a few days.
"And now that the prince is in the house, I think it would be better not to let him see Mrs. Tong."
"The prince is still thoughtful." Fan Bingrong nodded repeatedly after hearing this. Although the news that Lady Tong was treating Prince Rui has spread, it is not a good thing to bump into each other.
But I don't know that Li Zian was also thinking in his mind at this time. This is not a long-term solution, and he should find a way as soon as possible to let Shen Tianshu come to Wuchang Mansion legitimately.
Shen Tianshu had no idea that Li Zian had contacted Shen Zhonglei and had been rejected.
She had just received the news from Zhang Muqiu and was rushing to the hospital in a carriage.
Although she had asked her before at home, she still couldn't help but ask Gao Xiuer while sitting in the car: "Tell me again, what's going on?"
Gao Xiuer didn't understand why Shen Tianshu was so excited, but she still said honestly: "Madam, Mrs. Guo introduced a patient to me. The other person's family has a medical record written by Dr. Jiang, saying that as long as Madam can treat the patient Once cured, this medical record will be given to you along with the consultation fee."
Even though it was the second time he heard the news, Shen Tianshu still felt his heart pounding.
She just got a clue from the medical records, but she didn't expect that another patient with medical records would come to her door so soon.
However, she was not carried away by the ecstasy yet. She tried to calm down her excitement and asked, "Did the patient come too? What is the situation?"
Gao Xiuer shook her head and said, "The patient has been in the car all along, and Dr. Zhang has asked someone to open the door and invite them in. But the other person's family is very insistent, saying that they will not let the patient get out of the car and come in until they see my wife."
"Didn't you say what's wrong?" Shen Tianshu frowned upon hearing this.
"They refused to say it. It's very mysterious. You didn't see it. The weather is quite hot now, but the carriage was covered very tightly, for fear that others would see what was going on inside." Gao Xiuer had never seen such a secretive thing. The patient who refused to talk about it when he arrived at the hospital was very curious and guessed, "It must be a very strange disease!"
Shen Tianshu had encountered such situations in his previous life, some because of the noble status of the patient, and some because the condition was really difficult to talk about.
But no matter what the situation is, it seems that this medical record is not so easy to get.