"I am here to see you, Your Majesty!"
"No gift!"
"Secretary Liu, I order you to allocate 10,000 taels of silver to Commander Shen!"
Liu Neng was slightly stunned, with a look of embarrassment on his face.
As the general manager of the internal treasury and in charge of the royal purse, he was naturally a member of the Queen Mother's lineage.
The Queen Mother once ordered that no matter what the reason for the emperor to ask for money, any amount of silver exceeding 5,000 taels must be approved by her.
Zhao Hao was also a little surprised. He thought that he was a dignified emperor and it would be easy to get 10,000 taels of silver.
Unexpectedly, the other party did not cooperate.
"Bold, didn't you hear the emperor's order?"
Shen Lian scolded sternly and tightened his grip on the knife.
"I...how dare I disobey the emperor's order? It's just...the Queen Mother once ordered that the transfer of more than five thousand taels of silver must be approved by her. If I transfer the silver without authorization, I may lose my life!"
When Zhao Hao heard this, he immediately understood.
This guy is from the Queen Mother, and he is really a puppet emperor, with no rights at all!
The inner treasury must be in charge of your own people!
Having made up his mind, Zhao Hao didn't want to embarrass this bitch right away.
"Then first allocate five thousand taels to Commander Shen!"
"As you command!"
Liu Neng quickly ordered his men to go to the warehouse to transfer silver.
After a while, Jin Yichuan and Lu Jianxing carried away the silver coins on a cart.
"Your Majesty, please forgive Wei Chen for having the guts to say that the internal treasury has been under the control of Secretary Liu for a long time, which is very detrimental to the Emperor!"
Shen Lian added.
"Do you think I haven't thought about killing Secretary Liu now and seizing the inner treasury?"
Shen Lian was stunned and understood that what the emperor needed was a solution to the problem, not a reminder.
After thinking about it for a while, I finally got an idea.
"Secretary Liu is dedicated to his duty, so killing him is unjustifiable. If there is any crime, then killing him is justifiable!"
When Zhao Hao heard this, he looked at Shen Lian and smiled knowingly.
"It's better that you know what I want, and it's up to you to think of the solution."
"As you command!"
At this time, Wang Chengen interjected: "Your Majesty, this old slave has a foolish opinion. I wonder if I should say it or not?"
"speak!"
"The old slave feels that just killing Treasurer Liu is not enough. A ministerial resolution must be passed at the court meeting to appoint a confidant of the emperor to take over."
"My dear companion, I will remember it!"
Zhao Hao's humble attitude made Wang Chengen more loyal.
At noon the next day, Li Zhong, who had been recuperating all night, felt a little better. He was supported by two young eunuchs and came to Kunning Palace, the residence of the Queen Mother. ...
Originally, he planned to come to the Queen Mother early in the morning to complain, but he only waited until this point after finding out that the Queen Mother returned to the palace very late.
Li Zhong served the Queen Mother for many years and was in charge of palace affairs. Because of his sweet talk and good work ability, he was favored by the Queen Mother.
As soon as she saw the queen mother on the phoenix couch, she immediately groaned.
"Oh, oh, my old bones are about to fall apart!"
The Queen Mother had a lot of fun with a new male favorite last night, so she is still a little sleepy.
After drinking a few sips of chrysanthemum and ginseng tea, he felt refreshed and said, "Eunuch Li, what's going on?"
Li Zhong acted for a long time, waiting for this sentence.
Regardless of the pain, she knelt on the ground and cried: "Queen Mother, you have to take the initiative for me. I was working for you at Shouning Palace yesterday at midnight. The emperor is here..."
He explained in detail what happened in Shouning Palace yesterday.
However, there is strong personal emotion in the narrative.
Deliberately emphasizing how hard he worked for the Queen Mother, how cruelly the emperor scolded him, and even adding fuel to the fire, fabricating the emperor's dissatisfaction with the Queen Mother.
"Is this the opposite? Wait for the Ai family to question the emperor and see what he means?"
As the saying goes, beating a dog depends on the owner. Regardless of whether Zhao Hao really expressed dissatisfaction with herself, she felt that she had to stand up for Li Zhong.
He stood up suddenly, his still weak body swayed, and he almost fell to the ground.
Several maids nearby rushed to help him.
At this moment, she suddenly thought of another question.
"Eunuch Li, you said that the emperor prevented you from putting on the dowry for the princess. The wedding team from Wala will arrive in the capital tonight. How will the Ai family explain to Wala then?"
The Queen Mother couldn't help but be cautious. She had accepted a rare luminous pearl from the Wala Messenger and vowed to let him come and get married today.
If something goes wrong, it's really hard to explain.
Seeing that the Queen Mother was concerned about this matter, Li Zhong's eyebrows flashed and he thought of another trick.
"The old slave understands the emperor's intention and has no intention of marrying the princess to Wala. The queen mother must find a way to deal with it in advance!"
"That's right! If the emperor blocks this matter, it will be really difficult to handle. The Ai family will feel unwell now and will go to the emperor later."
"Old slave, please leave first."
Li Zhong's eyes flashed with a cunning look, and he felt very proud.
He knew that if the Queen Mother went to the Emperor, she would not get anything good for him.
It can range from a severe scolding to a more severe form of confinement and meditation.
"Qiao'er, go to Shouning Palace to inquire and see if the emperor really dares to prevent the princess from getting married!"
Ye Yi is not a fool. It is impossible for her to believe whatever Li Zhong says.
The emperor was her puppet. He always obeyed her words and never dared to disobey.
She didn't believe that the emperor dared to openly contradict her.
"Slave, you obey!"
The maid known as Qiao'er is quite capable, and among the thousands of maids in the harem, there are many of her spies.
Soon, she found out this news from a palace maid in Shouning Palace: the emperor personally told the princess that she would not be allowed to marry Wala.
"boom!"
"boom!"
"Now that your wings have grown hard, you dare to disobey the Ai family?"
When Ye Yi heard the news, she became furious and smashed the tea set on the table.
"Qiao'er, is this news true?"
"Xiao Mei overheard this through the wall. It's absolutely true. I dare to pledge my head on my neck to guarantee that this is true!"
Compared with Li Zhong being beaten, this incident was more difficult for her to accept.
This means that the emperor has different intentions and will not be so obedient in the future.
After calming down for a while, Ye Yi ordered: "Qiao'er, send Eunuch Yu to see the Ai family immediately!"
"As you command!"
Ye Yi thought about this matter carefully and felt that it was no accident that the emperor had such a change.
There must be someone behind him giving him advice and support.
If you don't understand the situation clearly and rush to question the emperor, you may suffer defeat.
Half an hour later, a man in Feiyu suit, holding a folding fan, who looked to be in his early thirties, with a cold but proud expression walked in.
"Yu Huatian would like to send greetings to the Queen Mother. I wonder what the Queen Mother's instructions are?"
This Yuhuatian is the director of the newly established West Factory, and he is also a eunuch. Although he is young, he has outstanding martial arts skills, deep scheming, and sophisticated methods.
In just seven or eight years, under his leadership, the West Factory became more popular than the East Factory, which had been operating for hundreds of years.
He mainly handles matters outside the palace for the Queen Mother, such as which ministers are disobedient, which generals support their own troops... Whenever the Queen Mother encounters difficulties, Yu Huatian will basically show up.
The Queen Mother relied on and trusted him hundreds of times more than Li Zhong.
"Eunuch Yu, there are two things that the Ai family needs you to do. First, the wedding delegation from Wala will arrive in Beijing soon, and the Ai family will want the delegation to stay outside the capital for two days. Second, investigate the emperor's recent affairs for the Ai family. Please be careful not to alert others when you come into contact with them!”
"Slave, you obey!"
These two things are not difficult at all for Yuhuatian.
Therefore, his answer was clean and crisp.
