First, he heard that the preaching general was taking action in Beitong Prefecture, and then Mou Bin reported the tragedy of three thousand households in Beitong Prefecture. Zhu Youtang was almost certain that something would happen in Beitong Prefecture.
But Zhu Youtang couldn't figure out what would happen. Zhu Youtang first glanced at Liu Chengfeng, and then fell on the pale Mou Bin.
"Your Majesty, Wei Chen will die. As the commander of the Royal Guards, Wei Chen has allowed the thieves to be so arrogant. The Beizhen Prefecture will definitely investigate this matter thoroughly."
"A thorough investigation?" Zhu Youtang smiled faintly. For so many years, the Mingjiao had been operating under the eyes of the imperial court. It was so arrogant that the factory guards did not notice the slightest clue. Now that things have reached this point, the Beizhen Fusi
I still don’t know who did it, so if I really want to investigate thoroughly, what’s the use?
"Well, I don't blame you for this matter. You don't have to blame yourself." Zhu Youtang said calmly: "The incident happened suddenly. I have to think about it again. Don't send thousands of households to Beitongzhou for the time being. I will let Dong
The factory needs to stabilize Beitongzhou for the time being, and this matter needs to be considered in the long run."
Immediately, Zhu Youtang glanced at Liu Chengfeng and said: "Liu Chengfeng, you did a good job this time and made great achievements. However, I still have to think about the reward. I will give you a favor in a few days."
Liu Chengfeng said quickly: "Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty."
Zhu Youtang said: "By the way, everyone who has made merit this time will be rewarded. You can draw up a detailed list and I will divide the rewards according to merit."
Liu Chengfeng thanked him again.
Zhu Youtang said tiredly: "Okay, I'm tired, you can leave. I will go to the cabinet to discuss matters later."
What Zhu Youtang is thinking about now is no longer Beitong Prefecture. Beitong Prefecture can affect the whole body. The most urgent task now is to discuss countermeasures with the ministers. After all, it is the suburbs of Beijing. If something happens, we must take precautions.
Yes, only when the capital is stabilized can what happened in Beitongzhou be minimized.
But having said that, Zhu Youtang has not yet thought about the reward for Liu Chengfeng. Over in Beitongzhou, Zhu Youtang also had his eyes darkened. It would be too hasty to make a decision now. Although he knew that the matter was urgent, Zhu Youtang
Youtang still felt that he should think about it carefully.
Liu Chengfeng and Mou Bin resigned and went out of the palace together. Seeing Mou Bin's frown, Liu Chengfeng couldn't help but comfort him: "Sir, what are you going to do about Bei Tongzhou?"
Mou Bin calmed down his worries in front of Liu Chengfeng and said calmly: "Of course I will do as His Majesty said. Don't take any action for the time being and let Dongchang maintain it first. Dongchang..." Mou Bin sneered.
He said: "Although Your Majesty did not blame him, he asked Dongchang to maintain Beitong Prefecture, but he blamed the incompetence of our Beizhen Prefecture and Mou Mou's failure in doing things."
"By the way, His Majesty just said that you took out the rebels. What kind of rebels were they?"
Just now in front of Mou Bin, Zhu Youtang did not reveal anything about Mingjiao, but just used the term "rebellious party" to summarize it. That's why Mou Bin asked this question. Liu Chengfeng said vaguely: "It's just an ordinary thief. Take care, sir."
, I still have some things to do in the humble Baihusuo, so I’ll take my leave for now.”
Mou Bin smiled bitterly and couldn't help scolding Liu Chengfeng: "You boy, it seems like you are the only one in a hundred households who has something to do, while I, the commander, have nothing to do. That's all, let's just say goodbye today. I don't know how to do it."
I'm going to argue with you, but I'll have to think about Beitongzhou's response later."
Generally speaking, calling someone a brat was nothing more than a curse in later generations. In this era, it was considered a form of swearing. However, when Mou Bin said it in this tone, he made it clear that he meant closeness.
He is in trouble now. Although His Majesty is not offended by what happened in Beitongzhou, his impression of him has probably dropped a bit. And Liu Chengfeng recently solved a rebellion case, which finally restored some of the Weisuo's reputation.
Because of his face, he also favored Liu Chengfeng a bit.
Liu Chengfeng smiled at Mou Bin, then went to get his horse, got on it, said goodbye again and again, and then reined in his horse and drove away.
At this time, Liu Chengfeng was tired and sleepy. He stayed up all night and didn't go home for two days. At this time, he really wanted to go back and have a rest. He just thought that there was still something to do in Baihusuo, and he had to walk through the melting snow.
We walked towards Fireworks Alley in the cold wind.
Returning to Fireworks Alley, Liu Jin was waiting at the door. When Liu Chengfeng arrived, he smiled and asked to lead Liu Chengfeng's horse. Liu Chengfeng said: "Why is Eunuch Liu still here? His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has not returned to the palace yet.
?”
Liu Jian said with a smile: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the two uncles took a nap and asked the servants to wait here, waiting for Master Liu to come back."
Liu Chengfeng couldn't help but smile bitterly and said, "You can lead the way."
Still returning to the cell, Zhu Houzhao was taking a nap in the cell, while the brothers Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling were silently pondering over the mahjong set. They opened it one by one to study it. When they saw Liu Chengfeng coming, Zhang Yanling was furious.
He said: "Why did you go to the palace for so long before coming back? Don't be nagging, now I owe you a total of two thousand eight hundred taels of silver, let's continue!" After that, he went to play mahjong.
Zhang Heling, on the other hand, had a gloomy face. He had lost the most, which was nearly five thousand taels. Sending out such a large sum of money would be more uncomfortable than putting him in prison. His family was big and powerful, and they couldn't withstand such a big torment.
, the annual harvest of the farm in Fuli is only about 10,000 taels. If this debt is not smoothed, the whole family cannot go to eat the northwest wind, right?
Although he was a marquis, he made a lot of money and spent a lot of money. His family had hundreds of mouths, and there were servants and so on. He was already struggling to make ends meet, and Zhang Heling had no choice.
Moreover, this mahjong is really interesting. It is more complex but also more interesting than the usual leaf tiles. Zhang Heling also sat back and pushed Zhu Houzhao, who was lying on the table and taking a nap. Zhu Houzhao woke up with saliva on the corners of his mouth.
He rubbed his hazy eyes, then cheered up and said: "Master Liu is here, come on, come on, let's do two rounds first."
Liu Chengfeng really couldn't do anything about these gamblers. Originally, he was teaching the prince to gamble for fun, but who knew it would evolve to this point. He couldn't help but smile bitterly and said: "It's really too much. I still have things to do at hand."
Zhu Houzhao said: "You just want to leave after winning money. What's the truth?"
Zhang Yanling also said: "That's it, it has a beginning and an end, and we'll talk about it after completing a few laps."
Even Zhang Heling couldn't help but say: "It's the best, it's the best."
Liu Chengfeng couldn't help but get angry. These three shameless people didn't want to play if they couldn't afford it. They took a lot of money on credit, but they kept holding on to the winner. How could they be so shameless?
Liu Chengfeng's face turned cold, and Zhang Heling felt a chill running down his spine. Only now did he realize that Liu was not an economical person. From yesterday to today, even though he was playing mahjong in the cell, there were always supervisors.
Officials and captains came to ask questions, such as how to deal with such-and-such gangsters. While playing cards, this guy could calmly say something like "beat him to death".
The violent ones are afraid of those who are stunned, and those who are stunned are afraid of risking their lives. In fact, those who are desperate are afraid of such trivial human lives. This guy is quite ruthless.
Liu Chengfeng said: "It's easy to continue the fight. Let's settle the accounts first and pay back the money you owe on credit. We can then fight after the accounts are cleared."
Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling immediately felt that they were a little shorter. They were not merchants, but noble lords. What was a lord? A lord just didn’t have any cash, but the owners of the farms were everywhere. If Liu Chengfeng said he was willing to give it,
It is not difficult for them to convert their acres into silver to pay off their debts, but if they are asked to return the cash in cash, they probably won't be able to raise it for a while.
Zhu Houzhao, on the other hand, said nonchalantly: "Isn't it that I owe you a thousand taels of silver? Master Liu, you are too stingy. Are you still fussing over such a small amount? Liu Banban...Liu Banban..."
Liu Jin was waiting outside. When he heard the crown prince calling him, he immediately came in with a smile and said, "What are your orders, your highness?"
Zhu Houzhao said lightly: "Go, go to the treasury and get five thousand taels of silver for me. Now I want to see how Master Liu earns all this money from me."
Zhu Houzhao's words were common to Liu Chengfeng and Liu Jin, but to the brothers Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling, their jaws dropped. They knew exactly how much the prince's monthly salary was.
, even her sister Queen Zhang often complained that the prince's expenses were too little, and occasionally she would secretly stuff dozens of taels of silver into Zhu Houzhao's flowers. When did the prince have so much money? Five thousand taels of silver.
Just take it without even batting an eyebrow?
They also knew very well about their brothers-in-law Zhu Youtang, Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling. The emperor was frugal and very simple in his daily life. Although he doted on the prince, he was very strict about expenses. Where did the prince come from?
money?
Liu Jin listened to Zhu Houzhao's instructions and went quickly.
Zhang Heling couldn't help but pull Zhu Houzhao's sleeves and said: "Your Highness, where did you get so much money?"
Zhu Houzhao was always a cheerful and quick-witted person, and he said straightforwardly: "I and Master Liu earned from doing business together..." He suddenly became wary again, looked at the pair of uncles, and said: "My dividend last month was just
Don't take advantage of me for these five thousand taels. Although we are close relatives, I don't have much money left now."
Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling were stunned for a moment. It was not because of the stingy attitude of His Highness the Crown Prince, but because of the sentence about the dividend of five thousand taels of silver last month. How could they not know what five thousand taels of silver was? He was the majestic Duke of the country.
His salary is only two hundred dan of fine rice. Divided into silver, it is about three hundred taels of silver, which is only four thousand taels a year. Add in the income from the farm, and the expenses of a large family are really not much.
Having extra money seems to be a noble thing on the surface, but in fact you know that you are suffering.
It’s not like no one asked the servants in the government to try to do some business. For example, Zhang Heling once thought about this matter. After all, the harvest of the farm was uncertain. The royal rewards seemed valuable, but most of them could not be eaten or used.
If you want to live a life of debauchery, you have to do business, but this business was done and the capital was taken, but in the end, it was a complete loss.
Either way, the person below is at a loss. He obviously made money, but always underreported it when reimbursing the debt. After all, he is just a noble relative of the emperor and knows nothing about business. How can you see the truth behind this?
Then there was the direct loss. Although doing business depends on connections, it may not be successful if you have connections. The merchants rented ships to bring in some Jiangnan silk and sold them to the capital to make money. But he opened up the joints and let Cao Cao make money.
The boat gang brought the goods to the capital but still suffered a huge loss. The bitterness here is really indescribable to outsiders.
But the prince said that he and Liu Chengfeng would do some business together, and the monthly dividend would be five thousand. Five thousand... this... this...
When brothers Zhang Yanling and Zhang Heling looked at Liu Chengfeng, it was as if this guy was made of gold ingots, and their eyes began to shine.
In this year and age, family background is of course important, but having no money is also difficult everywhere, so what if you are a relative of the emperor? In order to socialize, you usually exchange gifts with the princes and princes of various families, and there are various expenses during the New Year, not to mention all the expenses.
A lot of money wasted for the sake of dignity, which is enough for this pair of royal relatives to suffer. As for the elder sister, Queen Zhang, she actually doesn’t have much money. In addition, Queen Zhang and the emperor have always been frugal. They are so poor that they dare to go to the palace.