The next day's morning court session, yes, it was a morning court session that was notified at the last minute last night. When Zhou Shuren learned the news, he was shocked as if he had been struck by lightning. How could he not be shocked? This time he was going to be extremely embarrassed.
Zhou Shuren greeted the emperor in Mandarin in his heart, and kept his head down. This time he didn't need to watch the show and just focused on staring at the floor tiles!
The ministers at today's morning court were all very happy. How could they not be happy? Look at the letter submitted to the foreign monarch. He looks like a country bumpkin. The envoy this time is the prince of a foreign country.
Great powers all hope that one day all other nations will come to pay tribute to them; this is an honor.
The emperor was naturally happy. There were more than a dozen countries that came to him on this diplomatic mission. It would be a great honor for him to have this chance before abdicating.
Today is the Ministry of Rites' home game. The Minister of Rites is ready to go and vows to demonstrate the country's prestige.
Zhou Shuren came here with his ears today, thinking that it was because his country's military strength and wealth were too attractive, so after the diplomatic delegation sent back the news, the people in power wanted to see it for themselves.
The emperor sat on the dragon throne. He did not act today. He chatted a lot with Zhou Shuren. Zhou Shuren was very wary of foreigners in his words and had a bad impression of some neighboring countries. He remembered all of this, so he would not look down on small countries just because he felt that he was the Celestial Empire.
He always remembered that Zhou Shuren said gunpowder was one of the four great inventions of China and that foreigners had made great use of it. He sent out spies to follow the caravans and a lot of news was brought back over the years. He became more and more vigilant. The most intuitive thing was glass, which showed that the foreigners' technology was also very powerful.
However, the emperor looked at Zhou Shuren who kept his head down and frowned, "My dear Zhou, why do you keep your head down?"
Zhou Shuren recited the Mandarin in his mind again. Seeing that everyone was staring at him, he moved his cheeks and slowly raised his head, "Your Majesty, I have a stiff neck from sleeping."
The emperor's eyes fell on Zhou Shuren's face. His eyesight wasn't that good at his age, so he only saw that Zhou Shuren's cheeks were a little red. "I see that you not only have a stiff neck from sleeping, but you also have two bumps on your face. Are mosquitoes so poisonous this year?"
Zhou Shuren, “… .”
He was sure that the emperor was not deliberately trying to trick him because his eyesight was poor due to his age. The emperor did have glasses given to him by foreigners, but he was not used to them and seldom wore them!
Puff, followed by continuous low laughter!
Xiao Qing looked up at the sky speechlessly. He was closest to Zhou Shuren, and Zhou Shuren lowered his head, so he could see him clearly. He secretly looked at him all the way into the palace. He really didn't know what to say. He was already so old!
Xiao Qing didn't doubt that Zhou Shuren had a concubine. In his eyes, Zhou Shuren was the one who was really afraid of his wife, so it could only be left by Zhou Shuren's wife, Tsk tsk!
Zhou Shuren heard the laughter and knew he had seen everything. He raised his head expressionlessly, then smiled at everyone while shaking his shoulders.
Then, facing Zhou Shuren's gaze, their shoulders stopped shaking and they all looked straight ahead with expressionless faces!
The Emperor took the glasses handed to him by Eunuch Liu and put them on. He looked at Zhou Shuren's face with an indescribable look in his eyes. Then he felt extremely envious. The Empress would not let him touch her hand, let alone kiss him. She glared at Zhou Shuren!
Zhou Shuren pretended not to see it, and the emperor didn't even look at him again until the end of the court session!
After the morning court session, the older people left one after another. When asked about Zhou Shuren's face, one said in a pedantic way, "How disgraceful!" The others laughed and left.
Li Zhao has always been a person with a bad mouth, "Let me see, these two sides are quite symmetrical!"
Zhou Shuren touched his face, and his wife really bit him symmetrically, "Are you jealous? You are not jealous, this is proof that my wife loves me!"
Li Zhao was disgusted. He never thought Zhou Shuren could say such shameless words. He clicked his tongue twice and said, "I think he wants to test how thick your skin is. Well, it is indeed quite thick. I didn't even bleed when I bit it!"
Zhou Shuren, “… .”
This is why he hates Li Zhao so much!
At sea, Rongchuan had already returned to the ship. He got up early in the morning and brought out a table with a lot of papers on it.
Yang Wen came over and said, "Cousin, what do you want to write? I'll help you grind the ink."
Rongchuan, "I'll write a letter to your cousin."
Yang Wen retracted his outstretched hand. Since the letter was quite private, he would not help.
Yang Wen went to stand guard. When he got off duty, he could still see his cousin's husband continuing to write. He had already written a thick stack of letters. Yang Wen asked, "Are these all written to my cousin?"
Rongchuan looked at the letter he had worked so hard on for a long time, touched it, and smiled, "Well, your cousin must have noticed that the letters in recent days were not written by me, and she might be worried about me."
Yang Wen felt a little choked, even though he hadn't eaten!
In the afternoon, Zhou Shuren entered the palace. The Minister of Rites also entered the palace this time to pay for the expenses of the reception.
The Minister of Rites was really quick. He had finished writing the expenditure report. The Emperor took a look at it and finally his eyes fell on the total amount. He curled his lips and said, "Three hundred thousand taels is too much."
The Minister of Rites' mouth froze. No, it should be Zhou Shuren who said this. He had already thought of how to refute, but now the words were stuck in his throat.
Zhou Shuren took a deep breath. Three hundred thousand taels made him angry. "Your Excellency really doesn't know how expensive firewood and rice are. The Ministry of Revenue really doesn't have that much silver. If you think I am wrong, I will settle the bill for you."
The Minister of Rites said, "I am also doing this for the court, to demonstrate the country's prestige, so as not to embarrass myself abroad."
Zhou Shuren would be crazy to allocate money. He let the Minister of Rites continue to talk nonsense, and Zhou Shuren insisted, "There is no money."
It was Lord Xiao who was supposed to come, but he asked for leave after the morning court session. How cunning!
The Minister of Rites had seen Zhou Shuren's skills, and after talking for a while, he got bored and stopped talking. "How much do you think you can give?"
The emperor remained silent and looked at Zhou Shuren.
Zhou Shuren, "Not a penny."
The Minister of Rites was angry, "Your Majesty, I have already shown the attitude of negotiating, but Zhou Shuren deliberately provoked him."
The emperor signaled the Minister of Rites to shut up first and asked, "Does Shuren have any way to avoid spending money?"
Zhou Shuren really didn't want to use the money in the national treasury, especially when he knew that there would be chaos in the future and money would be needed everywhere. "I think we can attract investment?"
The emperor silently recited the word "recruitment" and understood what it meant. "You mean that the food and clothing needed for the reception should be left to the merchants?"
Zhou Shuren was silent. He didn't need to explain now. He really influenced the emperor a lot. "Yes, this is a kind of publicity. Merchants who attract investment can have their family emblems engraved on their clothes and supplies. Being able to entertain foreign princes is recognized by the foreign upper class. When the delegation returns home in the future, they can also bring some souvenirs and publicize it back to foreign countries. The caravans will get higher benefits when they go to these countries."
There are so many benefits. If a prince is the spokesperson, anyone who is smart will maximize the profits.