Chapter 213 Two People Support a Country
"Today, we have stopped the family of You Huaizhong, the Minister of Revenue. His wife brought thirteen concubines and maids with her, twenty-three legitimate and illegitimate sons, eighteen legitimate and illegitimate daughters, and more than two hundred slaves and guards."

"Search the banknotes and gold and silver belongings you brought with you as follows!"

"More than 50,000 taels of gold!"

"More than 560,000 taels of silver!"

"Thirty-two pieces of brocade fabric!"

"Eighty pieces of brocade of various colors!"

"Thirty-five hu of pearls..."

"..."

As the shocking figures were read out, You Huaizhong, who had just been so loyal that he wanted to bang his head against the pillar, completely collapsed to the ground and trembled.

However, all the civil officials in the court looked at You Huaizhong with shock and disbelief.

The property seized from your house alone is enough to support the entire court and the army for more than a year!

Just like this, you still dare to confront the emperor? !
You're still hitting the pillar?!
Emperor Fu Zhonghai waited for the list to be finished before he asked You Huaizhong slowly, "You Huaizhong, do you have anything else to say?"

You Huaizhong was no fool. He knew that he was beyond help, so he could only kowtow and beg for mercy: "Your Majesty, I am guilty! I deserve to die! I only ask Your Majesty to spare my family..."

Fu Zhonghai was kind: "Since you said so, then let it be..."

"You Huaizhong is corrupt and has committed treasonous acts. The source of his huge amount of money is unknown. The Ministry of Justice is to conduct a thorough investigation."

"Their families were demoted to commoners, and those over ten years old were exiled three hundred miles away."

Now that we are full and satisfied, let’s go and start reclaiming some wasteland.

After the You Huaizhong incident, the other civil officials were like having bazookas on their buttocks. They worked and kowtowed extremely seriously and efficiently, for fear that they would be dismissed, have their property confiscated, and be exiled if they went against the emperor.

Before leaving the court, Emperor Tianwu Fu Zhonghai smiled faintly and said, "I have rescued some family members on the way. When I leave the court later, you can take them back."

"I have also recovered some property for each family. You can come to me later with a list of your lost property to claim it back."

"Anyone who can explain where these properties came from will have them returned."

"I have no other words."

After Fu Zhonghai finished speaking, a eunuch began to read out the names of the people and told all the officials to go and get the people.

Civil and Military Officials: !!!
Those whose family members and property were seized all cursed in their hearts, but could only say "thank God for his grace".

Who dares to really go and get the property back? !

Don't want to die? !
The noble families whose property was confiscated had at least hundreds of thousands of taels!
Do they dare to stand up and say that the money came from a legitimate source?

Can it stand up to scrutiny?
Forget it, just consider it as spending money to avoid disaster!

woo woo woo...

It turns out that before Fu Zhonghai entered the capital, he had already ordered people to hunt down and intercept all the wealthy and powerful families who had fled the country.

Now, if anyone says that Fu Zhonghai is loyal to the emperor and patriotic, these people will rush over and beat that person to death!
The newly appointed Minister of Revenue Cui Chaoyong returned home with a stern expression and hurried steps.

Madam He was panicked: "Master? What happened?"

Cui Chaoyong looked at He with a dark face and said, "From today on, no gifts will be accepted from anyone who comes to our house. The main door will be closed. The master of the house can go in and out through the side door, and the maids can go in and out through the corner door."

"Yes..." Before He finished her promise, Cui Chaoyong had already hurried to the study, "Call the gentlemen over here, I have something to say."

Madam He was terrified. She asked someone to notify the young masters to come over while looking at the long-servant beside the master: "What happened?"

The long-servant was confused, but his face showed some uncontrollable joy: "Master has been promoted, and today he became the Minister of Revenue..."

Mrs. He was also confused: "This is a good thing, why did the master react like this?" It was as if he had been fired.

How would a long-servant understand this?
“Maybe to keep a low profile?”

Cui Chaoyong naturally had to keep a low profile, but not only that, he was also reflecting: Why did the emperor choose him to be the Minister of Revenue?

There are so many officials in the Ministry of Revenue, and he is neither the most capable nor the most honest.

As they were both in the Ministry of Revenue, he had to collect some money.

If he didn't accept it, it would be difficult for Shangguan to accept it. Why did he have to accept it? !
For this reason, as soon as he got home, he immediately called his three adult sons to come and analyze the situation.

After hearing what their father said about what happened in the court today, the three sons were all surprised and delighted: "Congratulations, father!"

Cui Chaoyong waved his hands and said, "Tell me why His Majesty chose me as the Minister of Revenue?"

If he cannot find the reason, he will not be able to hold the position of Minister of Revenue with peace of mind.

After a thorough analysis and comparison, the three sons finally came to the conclusion: among all the high-ranking officials in the Ministry of Revenue, only the Cui family's family members and property had not been sent out of the capital.

Could it be that this was the reason why she won the emperor's favor? !

When Cui Chaoyong heard this, he thought of something else: "Why didn't our family send all our property and family members out of the capital?"

The three sons looked at each other in bewilderment: "It's because of our eldest sister..."

The four father and sons suddenly realized: it was because of Ningyuan Marquis Mansion.

Cui Chaoyong's eldest daughter, Cui Yanyun, was the widowed wife of the prince of Ningyuan Marquis's Mansion.

When all the aristocratic families in the capital were fleeing, the Ningyuan Marquisate did the opposite and acquired a large number of shops.

Cui Chaoyong once asked his eldest son Cui Ziyao to privately ask Cui Yanyun whether he wanted to leave.

Cui Yanyun told Cui Ziyao at the time that the Ningyuan Marquisate was more optimistic about the Fu family army and there was no need to leave Beijing.

Cui Chaoyong thought about it carefully and agreed with the Ningyuan Marquisate's opinion, so his family did not send him away.

I didn’t expect that I would get such a great bargain from this!
Not only did he save his family property, but he also got promoted!

When Emperor Tianwu ascended the throne, Ao Guangchun returned to the capital as a young general of the Fu family army. Only then did Cui Chaoyong realize that the Ningyuan Marquisate had actually made its choice so long ago.

In addition to expressing his gratitude, Cui Chaoyong also sighed: The old lady of Ningyuan Marquis’ Mansion has a far-sighted vision, which is amazing!
What happened in the court spread quickly to all the noble families after the court session ended, and each family had different reactions.

In the imperial study, Fu Zhonghai and Fu Chenan were sitting face to face.

The emperor at the top was explaining to his son how to govern the country using gestures.

"It's just like the way people in the countryside dig out field mice. When they run out of food, they go to the fields and find a few field mouse holes to dig up."

"There are at least one or two kilograms of food in it, and at most more than ten kilograms of food. Doesn't that mean we have food to eat?"

Fu Chenan was speechless: "Father, does it mean that the Tianwu court will have to rely on digging field mice to make a living in the next year?"

Fu Zhonghai glared at Fu Chenan: "Of course that's impossible!"

Although there are few absolutely clean civil and military officials in the court, we cannot kill them all. Killing a chicken to scare the monkeys is enough.

As for making money... Fu Zhonghai smiled lovingly: "Don't we still have you and Miss Xiao? From now on, the money-making matters of the court will be handed over to you..."

Fu Chenan's eyes widened in shock: "Dad..."

"Call me father!" Fu Zhonghai glared, "Are there any rules left?!"

Fu Chenan readily agreed: "Father... now it's the entire court! It's not just tens of thousands of troops! It's millions of people across the country!"

"Feeding millions of people depends on me and Miss Xiao?"

"You want me to be the first prince to die from carrying a heavy bag?!"

Fu Zhonghai thought about it and agreed.

So Fu Zhonghai changed his mind and said, "Why don't you talk to Miss Xiao and ask her to get more rice and wheat seeds?"

"Let the people farm on their own. They will recover in a year at most..."

Fu Chenan fell silent, thought for a moment and stood up suddenly: "I'll go and discuss what to do with Miss Xiao?"

Miss Xiao has read a lot and knows a lot. There must have been a solution to this situation in their history, right?

Upon hearing this, Fu Zhonghai hurriedly stopped his son and said, "Don't worry! How can you go empty-handed? Go to the warehouse, gather all the good stuff, and send it to Miss Xiao!"

Fu Chenan: "Okay."

(End of this chapter)