Since the interview was not conducted in a closed manner, everything that happened in Hongyan Pavilion that night reached Zhao Ji's ears in detail.
Although Zhao Ji was disgusted with Zhao Huan's high-profile recruitment of retainers, he did not react much to the "abolition of the ancestral system".
even……
Zhao Huan's words completely penetrated Zhao Ji's heart.
If the damn patriarchal law of "officials are not guilty of speaking out" can be abolished, the imperial power in Zhao Ji's hands will naturally rise to a higher level.
With Zhao Ji's tacit approval, Tianji Pavilion was built in just a few days.
For convenience, Zhao Huan spent a lot of money to rent the house next to the palace.
Twenty guests, headed by Zhou Boyu, the young man in green, made simple preparations and sent a letter home, informing their family that they would not go back in the short term and needed to stay in Bianjing to assist Queen Ding, so they nervously devoted themselves to the reconstruction of Yizhou Prefecture.
In the midst of heavy work.
Zhao Huan handed over the planned architectural drawings to Tianji Pavilion, and Tianji Pavilion was naturally responsible for coordinating materials, labor hiring, and a series of complicated preparations.
Tianji Pavilion was extremely busy, while Zhao Huan was sitting in the front hall of the palace, crossing his legs and chewing grapes, feeling carefree and comfortable.
At first, Chen Zhao and Zhu Peng were a little jealous, feeling that Zhao Huan paid too much attention to the twenty guests.
As a result, they found that Zhao Huan directly became the shopkeeper, and the two of them were extremely happy.
Fortunately, there are these twenty disciples, otherwise the heavy task of rebuilding Yizhou Mansion would have fallen on them.
Chen Zhao, as always, displayed his flattering character: "The prince is simply amazing. He has recruited a large number of talents so easily."
"These twenty disciples are all hard-working people. They don't understand anything from poems and songs to governance."
"It can be said that these twenty people are worth more than thousands of troops."
"Your Majesty, you really found a treasure."
Zhao Huan dislikes the word "pick up" very much. If the treasure is so easy to pick up, why don't you pick one up and take a look?
The reason why Zhao Huan was able to respond to a hundred calls and recruit wise men was not because of the hard work he had accumulated in the past?
However, Chen Zhao was right about one sentence.
If these twenty disciples are used properly, they can indeed be compared to thousands of troops.
Of course, the most critical point is that with "free labor", Zhao Huan can be his hands-off shopkeeper with peace of mind.
"Chen Zhao, don't you just flatter me, how's the cross-sea trade going?"
"What Yizhou Prefecture lacks most now is money!"
"I estimate that it will take at least several hundred thousand taels of silver to fill this huge hole."
Chen Zhao, who had been so elated just now, instantly wilts when he mentions money.
"It's not that my subordinates are trying to shirk it, but that the preliminary preparations for cross-ocean trade are really time-consuming."
"I said I have decided to rent an ocean-going ship, but the one I rent is not as good as my own, so I still can't be careless about starting construction."
"With both boats moving forward in this way, the money will be wasted."
"And even if the ship and cargo are ready, it will take at least a year and a half to come and go."
Zhao Huan finally understood. Don't expect to make money from cross-sea trade now.
Moreover, even Zhumen Bank was tied up by cross-sea trade and did not dare to take additional money from it.
The Zhu family industry is also a long-term business, and it is impossible to obtain a large amount of funds in a short period of time.
Even the tax revenue from Yizhou cannot be counted on. After all, the previous magistrate of the state has already collected taxes. If Zhao Huan takes action again, wouldn't it be a betrayal? The local people will be forced to death.
Zhu Peng, who was on the side, naturally knew Zhao Huan's dilemma and quickly offered suggestions.
"Uncle! How about I go home and ask for money again?"
"I don't dare say it's too much. Ten thousand or twenty thousand should be fine."
Hearing this, Zhao Huan was so moved that he wanted to slap him twice. Although the Zhu family is a wife family, they are still their own people after all. Even if Zhao Huan cares about the world, he cannot use his own money to fill this bottomless pit.
.
Zhao Huan directly waved his hand and rejected Zhu Peng's kindness: "Even selling the entire Zhu family is not enough."
"Marching and fighting is a matter for the entire Song Dynasty. No matter how rich an individual is, at the national level, it is just a drop in the bucket."
"The gap of hundreds of thousands of taels of silver is enough to drain the entire Wangfu and Zhu family."
"Ultimately, if you want to survive the urgent crisis, you must first find a way to get the coins out of His Majesty's hand!"
To this day, Zhao Huan has not forgotten the 920,000 Guansui coins.
If it remains in His Majesty's hands, it will sooner or later enrich the treacherous ministers and traitors. It is better to use it to strengthen national defense.
But Zhao Ji kept the money secret so tightly that no matter how much Zhao Huan talked about it, he refused to contribute a penny.
It can be seen that Zhao Ji's desire to redeem Jiuzhou has not yet died.
This also means that Zhao Ji's will is actually not firm. Once the war is hindered in the future, Zhao Ji will abandon all the soldiers who fought bloody battles in the blink of an eye and continue to adopt his appeasement policy.
At this moment, Zhou Boyu came to report the work progress and happened to hear the conversation between Zhao Huan and Chen Zhao.
"This subordinate has a plan."
Zhao Huan's eyes lit up: "Oh? Let's talk about it."
Zhou Boyu immediately put down the documents in his hand and said calmly without any stage fright: "Your Majesty refuses to give money. To put it bluntly, it is because he does not pay enough attention to Yizhou."
"In your Majesty's opinion, Yizhou cannot stop the Jin soldiers anyway, so it is better to directly increase Bianjing's defense strength."
"But it's hard to change His Majesty's mind."
"Then it's better to find another way."
"My subordinates can go to Taiyuan Mansion in person and pretend to have military coordination with Taiyuan Mansion. Your Majesty will definitely be nervous."
"After all, the military status of Taiyuan Prefecture is definitely not comparable to that of Yizhou Prefecture."
"As long as Your Majesty does not want the prince to have any contact with Taiyuan Mansion, then the initiative will be in the hands of the prince, and he can set the price as he pleases."
After hearing Zhou Boyu's words, Zhao Huan suddenly became enlightened.
What a trick to create something out of nothing!
Who said that to master negotiation capital, you must have cards in your hand? You can create cards if you don’t have cards!
"Your words have reminded me of this."
"If I send you there, I'm afraid it won't be very convincing. It would be better for me to go to Taiyuan Mansion myself."
As soon as these words came out, Chen Zhao suddenly became nervous.
"My lord, think twice!"
"The members of the Cai faction are ambitious. Once they know that the prince is out of the city, they will secretly kill him."
"Even with elite troops and strong generals, the prince's safety cannot be guaranteed."
Zhao Huan shrugged his shoulders and said disapprovingly: "As long as you don't tell me, who will know that I have left the city?"
Realizing that Zhao Huan was going to repeat his old tricks again, Chen Zhao suddenly became nervous.
But at this moment, a loud shout came.
"If you dare to leave the city, I will fall out with you!"