Eunuch Liu was trembling. The Emperor was also very concerned about the princes. Eunuch Liu sighed. It was because the princes were almost the same age and there was only one throne, so none of them were willing to accept it.
In the afternoon, Zhulan looked at several boxes in front of her. The boxes had been opened and all of them had interlayers. The silver bills in the interlayers were taken out. There was only one silver bill in each box, with a face value of five thousand taels. There were five boxes in total, and each of the five young men of the Zhou family had one.
Several young men from the Zhou family were terrified. They thought it was just an ordinary tea box. If they hadn't dropped the box while playing today, they wouldn't have known there were silver bills inside.
Zhulan signaled the young men to go back. It was useless for her to ask since she didn't know any of them. She might as well ask Mrs. Song, "What's going on?"
Mrs. Song said, "It was sent by a scholar from Jiangnan. Someone has been sent to investigate."
Zhulan held the silver bills in her hand. In fact, she was not afraid even if the young men didn't find them. She was such a cautious person that every time the young men brought back something, she asked Shenxing to check it secretly. These layers could not be hidden from Shenxing and others.
In the evening, when Zhou Shuren came back, Zhulan told him about the banknotes, "Mrs. Song went to check, and the scholar is missing."
Zhou Shuren narrowed his eyes, "This time they tried to frame me, but they didn't find any evidence against me, so now they're trying to make one!"
Zhu Lan thought the same. "If there is one, there will be another. These are not enough to frame you. They will continue. However, that was before they were discovered. Now they find that the youngsters lack training and cannot act."
Zhou Shuren laughed, "They don't even have the chance to send our children away if they want to."
Zhulan also smiled. Her children had already developed a cautious character and would carefully check everything they brought back home.
Zhulan asked, "What are you going to do with this money?"
Zhou Shuren's eyes were bright, "Give it to the emperor, and hand it over during the morning court session."
If they gave it to him, he would dare to hand it over. Of course, it would be even better if the emperor gave it to him as a reward.
Several young men from the Zhou family were particularly nervous. They had been flattered for the past few days and were now confused.
Zhulan didn't care about the young men. She just wanted to scare them so that they wouldn't think the capital was a wonderful place.
In the morning court, Zhou Shuren stepped out and handed over the memorial in his arms, "I have something to report."
The emperor looked at Zhou Shuren. He knew what the Zhou family had been doing, but he didn't expect that Zhou Shuren would say it directly at the morning court. This was really a surprise. He took the memorial and opened it. The first thing he saw was the folded silver notes. He picked up five silver notes, put them aside and looked at the memorial.
The ministers in the court were stunned when they saw the silver notes. Putting silver notes in the memorial
Xiao Qing turned her head to look at Zhou Shuren frequently. What was going on
Li Zhao almost choked. What did he see
Even Mr. Wang was stunned. The court was unusually quiet for a moment. Everyone was very curious about what was written on the memorial.
Zhou Shuren was calm and composed, all he wrote in the memorial were flattering words, but he wrote it with the spirit of writing an essay for the college entrance examination, and he was sure to let the emperor see his loyalty and integrity!
The emperor's face was a little distorted. He felt that Zhou Shuren had made progress. The memorials in his collection could not compare with this one. He never expected that Zhou Shuren was so sweet-mouthed!
The emperor saw that everyone was craning their necks, so he handed the memorial to the prince and said, "Take a look."
The prince took it curiously, and after reading it, he looked at Zhou Shuren with a complicated expression. He didn't expect that you are such a person, Lord Zhou. Not to mention praising your father, it is too shameless to praise yourself. What noble character? Bah, he just saw an old fox, a shameless old fox, and so skinny!
Zhou Shuren's face did not turn red, he remained calm because he knew that most of the memorials were now reviewed by the crown prince, so it was normal for the crown prince to see them!
However, Zhou Shuren's expression changed soon. The emperor actually asked the prince to show himself to the ministers in the court.
Zhou Shuren raised his head and looked at the emperor in disbelief, as if asking, "How could you treat me like this?" He looked very sad!
The emperor was holding the banknote, and he almost tore it up, it was so eye-irritating. He turned his eyes away from Zhou Shuren. He only remembered the last sentence on the memorial, which said something like "in view of my loyal character", implying that he should be rewarded with some silver.
After reading the memorial, Xiao Qing felt that he was really old and he could not write such shameless words.
Zhou Shuren's old face turned red and he cursed in his heart. He really shouldn't have thought that the emperor had so much integrity. He was also a shameless old man. He could already imagine how he would be recorded in history books from now on. The name of a famous minister who would be remembered through the ages was completely gone.
The people who could read the memorials were at least of the second rank. Although not all of them read them, there were quite a few who were above the second rank. They all looked at Zhou Shuren with complicated expressions, and they were convinced.
The memorial was returned to the emperor, who coughed and said, "Lord Zhou is indeed honest and upright, and is worthy of emulation by all the ministers."
Zhou Shuren rolled his eyes in his heart. If you hadn't let the ministers read the memorial, he would still be the same after listening to it. Now all he can do is laugh.
The emperor continued, "These twenty-five thousand taels, in consideration of Mr. Zhou's noble character, are silver."
Zhou Shuren moved his ears and looked at the emperor hopefully.
The emperor was not going to reward them. This was not a good start. If they continued to do this in the future, one could imagine how many bribes would be involved. "Lord Zhou sent me a memorial the day before yesterday, which stated that silver was needed to prepare for the disaster."
Zhou Shuren just thought there was no hope, but he was still looking forward to it. After hearing this, he realized that there was no hope at all, so he stepped forward and said, "I feel that the disaster is unpredictable, so I want to prepare silver in advance, in case there is really no silver to use."
The emperor nodded, "I approve. The 25,000 will be used as disaster preparedness money."
Zhou Shuren was happy, for he knew well that although the Ministry of Revenue had plenty of money, there were too many places in the country where money was needed. If he were asked to spend it, the Ministry of Revenue would not have enough money. By reserving money in advance, he could save some hair, so that if something really happened and he had no money, everyone would be blamed on him.
Zhou Shuren was tired, he used his abilities to gain a foothold, but the pressure was also great. If nothing went wrong it would be fine, but if something did go wrong, everyone would be counting on him, and he would get praise and rewards. If nothing went right, he would be in trouble. The higher he stood, the harder he would fall. In order not to hurt himself, he had to take precautions in advance.
In ancient times, natural disasters were the most serious, so he had to think ahead.
The ministers looked at Zhou Shuren even more differently. Zhou Shuren actually thought so much. Natural disasters have always happened, but no one has ever mentioned reserve silver. Only when something really happened would they tear down the east wall and the west wall.
The Emperor was truly satisfied with Zhou Shuren, the Crown Prince's gaze was also exceptionally gentle, and the expressions of the several princes were complicated. Why couldn't they win him over
After the court session, Zhou Shuren held the silver in his hand, thinking about what the emperor had said when he passed by just now, what it meant for the memorial to be written into his autobiography, his reputation, reputation!
Old Master Wang stroked his beard with a smile and patted Zhou Shuren on the shoulder. Everything was said without words.
Zhou Shuren, “… .”
Old man, listen to me, I'm really not a flatterer!