Chapter Thirty: Money Can Make a Ghost Grind a Mill

  "It's not clear who leaked the information, and it won't be easy to investigate this matter for a while. As for the merchants, they have always been considered lowly people. But now, His Highness is treating them with favor, which goes against the principles of our country. I was appointed by the Emperor as the Minister of Defense, and I will do my best to assist His Highness, but I cannot just stand by and watch him make mistake after mistake."

  The Minister of Rites shook his head and said with righteous words, gaining recognition from most officials.

  "It's just that, Your Highness cannot continue making mistakes,"

  "The merchant is despicable, taking advantage of the prince's verbal slip to blackmail him. This shows the inferior nature of merchants. Such unscrupulous merchants absolutely cannot be let off lightly."

  "If any of you ministers have a clever plan to relieve the refugees, I will give it the same treatment as the king's decree. Otherwise, don't bother trying in vain. The king has already made his choice before tens of thousands of refugees and his own reputation." Yao Si-lian shook his head somewhat annoyed.

  "By the way, according to secret reports, in three days' time, a large number of refugees will enter Jingzhao Prefecture. You all should think about how to settle them." Yao Silian said, without waiting for a response, and returned to the Disaster Relief Office. He still had a lot of work to do today and didn't have the energy to waste on arguing with these people.

  "We went to find the Crown Prince's concubine willingly, now we can only rely on the Crown Prince's concubine." There were still officials who refused to give up.

  "Right, let's go find the crown prince's consort."

  "No need, I just passed by the East Palace on my way here, and the East Palace has already been sealed off." Bone Instrument arrived fashionably late, as the second most important person in Daxing, his influence was not small either, and many officials gathered around him.

  The East Palace closed its doors ahead of schedule, and it's clear that Yang Yu had already taken the lead in informing Wei Fei. In fact, Wei Fei was also furious with the officials, not to mention handing over the burden of tens of thousands of refugees to Yang Yu, but now that there is an opportunity to resolve the refugee crisis, they are obstructing it in every way. Isn't this just a guarantee for the merchants? I really don't know what these people are afraid of.

  Even Wei Fei sometimes maliciously suspected that these people were intentionally obstructing Yang You's success, and would deliberately let Yang You fail before seeking help from them.

  In Wei Fei's view, Yang You's move won over the entire Daxing business community, binding them to Yang You's chariot. This was a powerful force that would be of great help in future struggles for power, at least not lacking in financial support.

  "Please, Your Excellency, persuade His Highness the Crown Prince!" an official implored.

  "Everyone, please withdraw! The young master is vigorous and has just entered politics, and he's a bit eager to achieve results. He was moved by the refugees' miserable situation and being radical is understandable. After all, who hasn't been young before?"

  "But..."

  "No need to say anything more, just do your own job well as a minister. Although the prince is being reckless, he is also doing it out of pity for the refugees, and some minor flaws can be overlooked. The officials were already exhausted from arguing for so long, and Gu Yi's words struck the final blow, dissipating their last bit of energy."

  "Alas!" Many officials walked away with their heads hung low, a painful and sorrowful look on their faces, making people feel deeply saddened.

  After all the ministers had left, Gu Yi was ready to leave.

  "Today, Duke Gao is highly righteous. Dong saw it with his own eyes and will certainly report the truth to His Highness, the Crown Prince." Dong Yue stepped forward to express his gratitude.

  "Dong Tongling is serious, and Gu Sou is just doing his duty as a minister." Gu Yi didn't take credit for himself, that's the essence of being an official, without bottom line, it means tightly holding onto the royal thigh.

  ……

  He's finally gone.

  All the wealthy merchants let out a sigh of relief. The confrontation between the officials and the East Palace was watched by everyone with bated breath, it was truly thrilling to the extreme.

  In case the Crown Prince can't withstand the pressure, they will suffer the most severe retaliation. Fortunately, the Crown Prince did not disappoint them. At this moment, they are overjoyed in their hearts and cannot express their gratitude to the Crown Prince. Some of those with a high price on their heads thought that 100,000 kan was perhaps a bit too little.

  The donations afterwards became even more enthusiastic, and gradually no longer limited to 100,000 yuan. Various wealthy merchants began to increase their donation amounts on condition. Those who had donated less before secretly made up their minds to donate more in the future.

  Finally managed to withstand the pressure, and now it's time to maximize the gains.

  Yang You secretly changed the concept, and the disaster relief agency operated consistently until midnight, when the donation work finally ended.

  In the disaster relief center, Yang You's eyes were blurry as he lay on the table, while Yao Si Lian was counting today's results on the side.

  "Your Highness..." Yao Si Lian's voice trembled slightly.

  "How much?"

  "Seven hundred and fifty thousand taels!" Yao Si Lian's voice trembled with fear.

  "Seven hundred and fifty thousand strings of cash!"

  Yang You was stunned all of a sudden. Originally, Yang You had already mentally prepared himself and knew that there would definitely be a lot of money, but he hadn't realized it would be this much.

  Even though he overestimated the wealth of the local tyrants, he didn't expect to receive so many donations on this day.

  Seven hundred and fifty million guan is a concept, as the richest dynasty in Chinese feudal history, seven hundred and fifty million guan was almost the annual tax revenue of the Daxing era.

  "Is this... isn't it a bit too much, Your Highness?" Yao Si Lian's face was numb, these riches were truly too many, so many that he felt a little overwhelmed.

  It's not surprising that the wealthy businessmen were so decisive, but rather Yang You didn't realize his own credibility.

  Yang You was the son of Crown Prince Yang Zhao and his wife, the Crown Princess. As the eldest legitimate son of the Eastern Palace, he was first in line to inherit the throne according to the rules of imperial succession.

  The opportunity to ascend the throne in the future is not a trivial matter, and currently being the de facto supreme ruler of Daxing, at least in Daxing, it can be said that the credibility of the king's token is second only to the imperial edict.

  Moreover, having successfully helped the Lu family once before, with such a successful example in front of him, combined with his illustrious status and recent extraordinary performance.

  As the most courageous and adventurous class of businessmen, how could they not go all in, especially when it's not their entire fortune at stake.

  "First seal these up." Yang You's eyes turned red in an instant, the money was already in hand, and it was impossible to spit it out now.

  "Let it be,"

  Yang You has been holding on until now, and he was already very sleepy, but at this moment, where did he still have a bit of sleepiness?

  Yang You did not go to rest, let alone others, and there were also many officials in the court who needed to be comforted.

  "Knock knock."

  A sudden and urgent knocking sound echoed through the empty streets, carrying very far away.

  The gate of the mansion opened quietly, and a figure flashed in.

  "Director Dong is calling for you over here."

  Kui's housekeeper led a figure in, and by the light of the lamp, it was none other than Dong Yue, the commander of the Eastern Palace Guards.

  Dong Yue entered a brightly lit room, under the candlelight, two figures were secretly discussing something.

  Before long, Dong Yue walked out of the Qu family with a satisfied heart and rushed towards the mansion of Master Yinsi. Tonight his task was to comfort the military side.

  As soon as Dongyue walked out of Qu's house, he happened to brush shoulders with another group of people.

  Yao Si Lian and Dong Yue nodded in tacit agreement, each heading towards their respective goals. Yao Si Lian's mission for tonight was to appease the literary officials' faction.

  The next morning,

  This was a grand court session. The entire imperial court was as usual, with piles and piles of memorials stacked on Yang Jiong's desk.

  Bang Bang

  A series of seals and desk collisions echoed in the great hall.

  Everything is as usual, as if yesterday's conflict was a dream that has dissipated with the dawn.

  Yang You let out a loud yawn and continued to make up for lost sleep, bringing an abrupt end to today's tasks.

  The civil and military officials who had come down from the early dynasty then gathered together, starting a new round of debate.

  Yao Si Lian and Dong Yue exchanged a smile. To calm down yesterday's incident, they paid a total of 1 million guan for the military officials and 1.7 million guan for the civil officials.

  The only condition is that the use of this money must be under the supervision of the disaster relief agency.

  Two hundred and seventy thousand yuan, brought about today's harmonious atmosphere. Whether this price is expensive or not, no one knows, but it has proven a famous saying.

  Money can make a ghost grind a mill.