By the time the craftsmen installed the wrought iron door, two hours had passed and the sun had risen to 10 o'clock.
Zhu Ping'an had previously petitioned to change the vault door in order to request a seal to seal the silver vault and prevent the possibility of fraud by Zhang Guanku and others in Taicang. Now that the new vault door has been replaced, the silver vault can no longer be sealed, so it is necessary to take inventory of the Taicang silver vault as soon as possible to prevent the Taicang people from committing fraud.
Therefore, as soon as the craftsmen replaced the new door, Zhu Ping'an decided to take inventory of the Taicang Silver Vault.
Zhu Ping'an stood up and whispered a few words to the Bloody Sword of the East Factory who was standing beside him. The Bloody Sword then waved his hand and ordered the East Factory men to stand in two rows on the open space outside the silver vault and forbid any irrelevant people from entering the silver vault.
The officials who were watching the replacement of the warehouse door in Taicang understood that Zhu Ping'an was going to take inventory of the warehouse.
Zhang Guanku of Taicang and others looked at each other, and then walked towards Zhu Ping'an at the same time.
Among the officials watching the ceremony at this time, there were two very young officials sitting in the corner. They seemed to deliberately avoid Yan Shifan and others and sat in a corner far away from Yan Shifan.
One of them was holding a certificate of qualification for Prince Yu's residence, claiming to be the Right Chief Clerk of the Chief Clerk's Office of Prince Yu's Palace. He wore a black gauze hat, but pulled his scarf very low. He looked young, but had a thick beard, a round beard, which looked a bit out of place.
This man is clearly the Right Chief Clerk of Prince Yu's Palace, a fifth-rank official, but he gives people the feeling of a thief. His beard is clearly thick and strong, but the overall impression he gives people is quite the opposite, cautious, and weak.
The other person also held a certificate of qualification from Prince Yu's Mansion. According to the certificate, this person was a ninth-rank companion reader from the Chief Secretary's Office of Prince Yu's Mansion. He was not very old, and looked to be only fourteen or fifteen years old. He was very young, and it seemed that there was a circle of fuzz deliberately left on his lips, but even so, it could not hide his handsome appearance.
It looks like a woman dressed as a man, but in this era, the atmosphere of ** is still very strong. A handsome and delicate study companion can be like a book boy who grinds ink and accompanies the study, or like a maid who adds fragrance to the study. Haha, this is not a strange thing.
Perhaps Prince Yu also had this interest, and since it involved the prince's privacy, the people in Taicang were tactful and did not ask any further questions.
The two officials from Prince Yu's Mansion did not come here to watch the ceremony, they just happened to arrive there, they had other purposes.
The two men came with a handwritten letter from Prince Yu, which ordered the Taicang Silver Treasury to pay the annual gift that had been overdue for three years according to the rules.
However, as soon as he took out the handwritten order from Prince Yu, Doctor Zhao of Taicang pushed it back to the Ministry of Revenue with a random reason, saying that Taicang had a rule that only after seeing the official document from the Ministry of Revenue could silver be issued. The Right Chief of Prince Yu's Palace argued on the basis of ancestral precedent, but Doctor Zhao easily pushed it aside with the excuse of changing the storehouse door and being busy with official duties.
Doctor Zhao and others had long received hints from Yan Shifan and deliberately withheld the annual gift from Prince Yu. As for the reason, Doctor Zhao did not know, but since Lord Yan had given the hint, they just did as he was told.
"I'm so pissed off. What a dog servant! He said he was our housekeeper, but he didn't even give the master's annual gift!"
As soon as the ninth-rank tutor in Prince Yu's Mansion opened her mouth, her identity as a woman disguised as a man was exposed. She spoke in a clear, female voice that sounded a bit unruly.
It is not difficult to analyze her identity from the words such as housekeeper, master, and annual gift. She is obviously a little princess from the royal family.
"Royal sister, keep your voice down." The right chief secretary of Prince Yu's mansion quickly reached out and covered the little princess' mouth. At the same time, he looked around and saw that everyone around him was attracted by Zhu Ping'an's actions in front of him and no one noticed this scene. He then breathed a sigh of relief.
From the words of the Right Chief Clerk of Prince Yu's Palace, it can be seen that the identity of this Right Chief Clerk is not simple and he must be a member of the royal family.
"Royal brother, I am just standing up for you. They even dare to withhold your annual gift. These dogs and slaves should all be reported to their parents and dragged to the Meridian Gate for execution! Let's see if they dare to do it again!" The little princess snorted and said angrily.
"Ning'an! I've told you so many times, you're not a child anymore, stop shouting for war and killing all the time. A girl should always remember virtue, integrity, and words... If you're always so willful, how can your father find a prince consort who dares to marry you?" Prince Yu's Right Chief Clerk said helplessly.
Yu Wang You Changshi, or more precisely, the third son of the Ming Emperor, His Royal Highness Yu Wang Zhu Zaihou (hòu), was one of the only two surviving princes of the Jiajing Emperor, and the older one. Theoretically speaking, after the death of Zhu Zaihou, the Crown Prince Zhuangjing, the year before last, according to the principle of primogeniture, he, the older prince, should have been made the Crown Prince.
Unfortunately, the third prince had not been made the crown prince yet, and there was no sign of him being made the crown prince in the future. On the contrary, because his mother, Concubine Du Kang, was not favored by Emperor Jiajing, and because of his own personality and abilities, this prince was not favored by Emperor Jiajing.
The last time he saw his father was during the Chinese New Year, and he only listened to a few words of lecture from him.
Compared to him, Emperor Jiajing obviously preferred his younger brother, the fourth prince, Prince Jinggong Zhu Zaizhen, who was one month younger than him.
The girl dressed as a man in front of Prince Yu was none other than his younger sister, Li He, the third princess of the Ming Dynasty who was most favored by Emperor Jiajing. To be precise, she should be the eldest princess of the Ming Dynasty at present, because the former eldest princess, Princess Chang'an, and the second princess, Princess Sirou, died one after another the year before last.
Princess Ning'an was the second daughter of Concubine Cao Duan, the favorite concubine whom Emperor Jiajing missed day and night. The eldest daughter was Princess Chang'an.
Concubine Cao Duan was the most beloved concubine of Emperor Jiajing, bar none. Unfortunately, during the Renyin Palace Coup ten years ago, Empress Fang took advantage of Emperor Jiajing's shock and falsely accused Concubine Cao Duan of the crime, and forged an imperial decree to have Concubine Cao executed by slow slicing for treason.
What you can't get is the best. Emperor Jiajing missed Concubine Cao Duan day and night, so he transferred his favor to the two daughters left by Concubine Cao Duan. The eldest daughter died the year before last, so Emperor Jiajing transferred all his favor to Princess Ning'an.
It can be said that Princess Ning'an was the most favored among all the princes and princesses, which also led to Princess Ning'an becoming spoiled and willful.
"Emperor~! Brother~!"
Princess Ning'an stomped her feet vigorously and stared at Prince Yu with her big eyes. Prince Yu kept glaring at her until he waved his hands and said, "Okay, okay, I won't say anything more."
"Brother, I think you are too kind. That's why you are bullied by these dogs. If it were me, we would report it to our father and have them taken to the Meridian Gate for execution."
Seeing that her brother begged for mercy, Princess Ning'an raised her head proudly and suggested with a pout.
"If I trouble your father with such a small matter, he will think I am cowardly and incompetent." Prince Yu shook his head and said no.