met free Chapter 204 Zhu Chong 8: Girl, don't you feel sorry for us?
Chapter 204 Zhu Chong 8: Girl, don't you feel sorry for us?
Feeling increasingly exhausted from thinking about it, Empress Ma couldn't help but roll her eyes, then rubbed her forehead and said, "Alright, you're being scolded by scholars all over the world, and you're still acting proud!"
Emperor Zhu Chongba snorted and said with his neck stiff, "I am proud! Sister, you know that I am the emperor. I have to stand with the people so that they can be of one mind with me. I was simple-minded before and had no other choice, so I had to rely on those scholars."
“Take Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen, Yang Xian and the other officials, including the civil and military officials in the court. Don’t we know that sometimes they’re just fooling us? We know! We’ve been monks and begged for food, and we’ve climbed our way to where we are today. We’ve been officials and even the King of Wu. How could we not know what they’re thinking?”
"For example, this time they called our son-in-law the greatest villain of all time—we've already said that we're the ones who want to cancel preferential treatment for scholars and force them to become officials, so why don't they criticize us, but instead criticize our son-in-law, Zhu Chongba?"
"To put it bluntly, the one they want to criticize is still Zhu Chongba, but they don't dare to criticize us openly, so they can only criticize us in their hearts and point at Zhu Chongba's son-in-law to criticize Zhu Chongba."
“But there’s nothing we can do,” Emperor Zhu said, grasping Empress Ma’s hand and holding it in his palm. He sighed and said, “We can’t just kill all the officials and scholars, can we? We need them to govern the country. So even if we know they’re deceiving us, even if we know they’re cursing us in their hearts, as long as we can still get by, we can only turn a blind eye and let them deceive us.”
"But it's different now."
Emperor Zhu chuckled and said, "This good son-in-law of ours, who seems to have appeared out of nowhere, also seems to be wholeheartedly devoted to the people. He also dislikes officials and scholars. He would rather slowly cultivate scholars in Ningyang County than ask the court for ready-made assistant officials. He also finds ways to torment the officials and scholars in the court. We must seize this opportunity and give them a good thrashing."
Empress Ma also sighed, took Zhu Chongba's hand in return, and said, "You, you just like to keep all these things to yourself and bear them alone. If you had told me and Biao'er earlier, wouldn't we, mother and son, have sided with you?"
Zhu Chongba chuckled again and said, "Why would I tell you? You two are just a woman and a child. Telling you would only make you worry unnecessarily. We..."
As he spoke, Emperor Zhu Chongba's voice gradually lowered. Seeing Empress Ma's furrowed brows, Zhu Chongba could only say in a low voice, feeling wronged, "We were just afraid that you would get anxious and upset along with us. After so many years of hardship, we just wanted to let you have some peace of mind and enjoy yourself a bit more."
Empress Ma's expression softened somewhat, and she said, "Once I entered the Zhu family, I became Zhu Chongba's wife. We are husband and wife as one. If you are a beggar, I will be a beggar's wife; if you are a general, I will be a general's wife; if you are the emperor, I will be the empress. If you are anxious or upset, I will naturally accompany you."
Zhu Biao suddenly didn't want to wait for dinner in Kunning Palace anymore.
full!
I can hold on!
Unable to bear it any longer, Zhu Biao finally coughed, pushed the memorial in front of him towards the Emperor, and said expressionlessly, "Father, what do you plan to do with my brother-in-law's memorial?"
Emperor Zhu glanced at Zhu Biao with a puzzled expression, trying to recall when Zhu Biao had arrived at Kunning Palace, and asked, "What do you mean, what should we do?"
Zhu Biao pointed to the memorial and said, "My brother-in-law submitted a memorial saying that shops that exchange paper money for copper coins and silver should be opened in different tiers. Different shops should have different reserves of gold, silver, copper coins, and paper money to meet daily needs. He also said that large-amount exchanges should be made by appointment in advance."
"Of course, these are not the key points. The key point is that if my brother-in-law knew about the problems he mentioned in his memorial, which you, Mr. Shanchang, and Mr. Qingtian have already discussed and devised solutions for, what do you think my brother-in-law would think? What might he do?"
Upon hearing Zhu Biao's words, Emperor Zhu Chongba suddenly felt something was amiss.
That scoundrel has always been petty. If a scholar criticizes him a few times, he'll find all sorts of ways to torment them. If he knew that Old Zhu had already prepared a countermeasure but hadn't told him, he would have wasted his time writing... writing over 20,000 words in a memorial...
Emperor Zhu glanced cautiously at Empress Ma, only to see her resume her needlework, which she had just put down, completely ignoring him. Zhu Chongba felt wronged again—so, sister, don't you care about me?
Then, Emperor Zhu Chongba chuckled and said, "We have indeed discussed this with Li Shanchang and Mr. Qingtian, but we haven't reached a conclusion yet. His memorial is very timely and enlightening."
After saying that, Emperor Zhu Chongba instructed Zhu Biao, "When you have time, go and urge the Ministry of Justice and Yingtian Prefecture to send a few people to Ningyang County. They're still dragging their feet!"
……
Because Emperor Zhu Chongba had not yet officially named the bank, and the corresponding official documents had not yet reached Magistrate Yang, the shop in Ningyang County specifically for exchanging banknotes was temporarily named "Banknote Exchange Office."
To be honest, Magistrate Yang had always disliked the name "Baochao" because it had two meanings during the Ming Dynasty. One was the paper money issued by the Baochao Tiju Si under the Ministry of Revenue, and the other was toilet paper issued by the Baochao Si, one of the four inner court departments along with Xixin Si, Zhonggu Si, and Huntang Si.
But there was no other way. Zhu Chongba, that old fool, probably didn't even know what the straw paper made by the Treasury Bureau was called. Coincidentally, the paper money made by the Treasury Bureau could be used as money, so it naturally became the real precious paper money in Emperor Zhu's heart.
With a look of disgust, Magistrate Yang walked towards the shop where the paper money was exchanged.
The shop wasn't very big, but it wasn't too small either. As soon as you entered, there was a counter, and behind the counter were several tables and stools.
The people were responsible for exchanging paper money. Magistrate Yang selected a few literate soldiers from among the wounded and disabled soldiers. After teaching them to memorize the various denominations of paper money, how to keep accounts, and how to distinguish between genuine and counterfeit money overnight, he arranged for these wounded and disabled soldiers to start working at the shop.
Work hours are from 9 am to 5 pm, with one day off per ten-day period.
Before starting work each day, these soldiers would first go to the county treasury to move the banknotes, copper coins, and silver fragments to the shop. After get off work, they would move the banknotes, copper coins, and silver fragments back to the county government's treasury.
It's a bit of a hassle, but without a treasury, it's better to be in trouble than to encounter other messy situations.