Three days later, Lord Qiu from the Ministry of Revenue led his men and a large army to set out for Jianghuai. As for the imperial edict to confiscate property, it had already been sent away on horseback.
After Lord Qiu left, Zhou Shuren realized that he had to go to court again without any rest days, and he had no rest days until Lord Qiu came back.
Also, Qiu Yan has left, and he has to take over Qiu Yan's work, which means that not only will the workload double, but there is no overtime pay!
Zhulan massaged Zhou Shuren's head, "Today is the first day that Master Qiu has left, and you can't come back on time for dinner. Are you not staying at the Ministry of Revenue for a few days?"
Zhou Shuren said weakly, "That's about right. I already have a lot of work to do. Qiu Yan left quickly, and now all the work is piled on me. It's only been one day, and I feel like I have a lot more white hair."
Zhulan, "Your hair has turned white faster since you came to Beijing."
"I worry about it. This place is too tiring."
The entire court is inseparable from the Ministry of Revenue, or to be more precise, everywhere is inseparable from money. Being busy with accounting is a small matter. You also have to practice Tai Chi in various ways. The people you have to face are all old foxes, and every word they say is a trap, which is very stressful.
Zhulan took the wooden comb and said, "Lie down, I'll comb your hair."
Zhou Shuren didn't move. His greatest enjoyment now was to have his wife give him a massage when he got home. He was a little busy this year, so his scalp relaxed a lot and he fell asleep in a daze.
Zhulan's legs are numb. Since the beginning of winter, her weight has been rising sharply. It's a sad story. Even if she controls her food intake at night, she can't stop the trend of gaining weight. She lowered her head to look at Zhou Shuren who was sleeping with his head on her legs. She carefully lifted her husband's head and placed it on the pillow, rubbing her legs. She felt especially fleshy!
Before dawn the next day, Zhou Shuren was very depressed. He had just rested for a few days and had to get up early to attend the court. He ate dried meat and walked slowly. The officials attending the court today were particularly quiet, even the Minister of War was extremely quiet.
Yes, the big case in Jianghuai involved tens of millions of taels of silver. Of course, the silver was accumulated in recent years. Currently, the Fourth Prince has only found the amount involved in the past five years, and no clues have been found for earlier periods.
The Fourth Prince did not touch this huge amount of silver, and he searched Jianghuai thoroughly but did not find much silver. In addition, the number of officials involved was like a big net covering Jianghuai, and the Emperor was really depressed.
Zhou Shuren didn't close his eyes to rest today. He was also afraid. He stood honestly and seriously, looking up at the emperor sitting on the dragon throne. The emperor had a blank expression on his face. He was already old, and especially in recent years, the emperor had aged very quickly. His deep eyes staring at you made you feel scared.
The emperor swept the ministers in the court. How many of them were hidden chess pieces? Whose house did the more than 10 million taels go to
The emperor was furious when he thought of the pitiful state treasury that was running low every day. He now suspected everyone except the few people he trusted. His eyes fell on Zhou Shuren. Ah, it was Zhou Shuren who discovered Jiang Huai's problem first. "My dear Zhou, come forward."
Zhou Shuren was confused. He had been very honest today, so why was he called out by name? Seeing that everyone was secretly glancing at him, the corners of his mouth were a little stiff, but he still stepped forward honestly, "Your Majesty."
The emperor curled his lips and said, "My dear minister, please don't be polite. This time, you have made an indelible contribution to the investigation of the Jianghuai case. You should be rewarded for your merits."
Zhou Shuren didn't know what medicine the emperor was selling, but he didn't want to take advantage of it. Bah, it would be unfair to not take advantage of it, especially now was not the time to refute the emperor, but he was humble and said, "I dare not take credit for it."
The emperor raised his hand and said, "If you hadn't discovered the problem, how much tax would have been embezzled. You like to collect books, and your family in Jianghuai has a long tradition. This time when your family is confiscated and brought back to Beijing, I will give you two boxes of books and paintings."
The emperor paused, "This time it's the real thing."
It doesn't mean hand-copied or copied.
Zhou Shuren was delighted. Books were a legacy. What the Zhou family lacked was books. He could get some books before, but after entering the capital, he could rarely get any. "I thank the emperor for his grace."
The emperor looked at Zhou Shuren and felt relieved, "Get up!"
Zhou Shuren didn't care about the jealous eyes, nor did he care whether he had attracted hatred or not. Anyway, he happened to destroy the layout of the suggestion power several times, and the other party was already eager to chop him into meat paste, so this little hatred didn't matter.
Today's morning court was still very exciting. Lord Sun from the Ministry of Justice and others stayed. When Zhou Shuren left, he could feel Lord Sun's knife-like eyes staring at him.
Zhou Shuren seemed a little innocent. Lord Sun wanted to comfort him and transferred him away. The constant accidents really had nothing to do with him. Well, it did have something to do with him.
At Zhang Jinghong's house, Yao Xin held her handkerchief tightly, "This coincides with Jiang Huai's case. When will there be a conclusion to your case?"
Zhang Jinghong was not in a hurry. "There will be a conclusion before the end of the year, so don't worry. It's good for me now. At least I can recover peacefully."
Yao Xin bit her lip and said, "But now the doctors in the clinic are unwilling to come to your house to check your pulse. I went to buy herbs, but no one sold them to me."
This is what she is most worried about. Her husband needs to recuperate and replenish his body, but he can’t even get the herbs. How can he do that
Zhang Jinghong was silent. At that time, he was only thinking about taking away more silver and other things, and didn't think about the medicinal herbs at all, not to mention his wife's dowry. There was not much dowry to begin with. When he didn't care about his wife before, she had given him a lot of silver as dowry, but there were no medicinal herbs.
Yao Xin stood up and said, "I, I."
Finally, she sat on the chair dejectedly. Her husband's life story had spread throughout the capital. Not only did they not sell them medicinal herbs, but even the food and daily necessities were all moved here when they moved. Now there was only a maid by her side, a servant, a cook in the kitchen, and three servants trusted by her husband in the mansion. Although there were not many people, the daily consumption was large, and they would not be able to eat much for long.
Zhang Jinghong held his wife's hand. Among the princes, only the Second Prince was relatively nice to him. But now, he would not care about him since he was not his biological brother, let alone the Crown Prince.
Zhang Jinghong thought about who he could ask for help, but there was no one. Even if there was, he wouldn't dare to involve them because of his background.
At noon, Zhou Shuren was called over by Lord Xiao and met the Crown Prince. "I greet His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
The prince said, "Master Zhou, please don't be polite."
Xiao Qing continued, "Your Highness the Crown Prince is here for the Fifth Prince."
Zhou Shuren, "..."
A bad feeling!
The prince cleared his throat and said, "Xiaowu has performed well recently, so father wants Xiaowu to gain more experience. After thinking it over, the Ministry of Revenue is in need of people, and Xiaowu has made a good calculation. So starting tomorrow, Xiaowu will report to the Ministry of Revenue."
Zhou Shuren kept smiling, even though he wanted to curse in his heart, he knew that it was not easy to get the emperor's favors. It must be that the stingy emperor felt he was at a disadvantage after leaving the court. He had clearly rewarded him once, and he rewarded him again, which brought trouble to the Ministry of Revenue.
Zhou Shuren continued to smile, "Sir, I caught a cold yesterday and my head hurts a bit. Sir Qiu left in a hurry and there are still many things that have not been sorted out."