Chapter 1: The Miserable Transmigration

  In the morning, the sun had just risen. It was around 7:00 am.

  At this time, many ordinary people may still be sleeping, while Zhu Houzhao and the seven cabinet ministers have already begun holding an inner court meeting in the Qianqing Palace.

  Those who are familiar with the history of the Ming Dynasty know that Zhu Houzhao, although indulgent in pleasure, is not a person who does not love to manage state affairs. On the contrary, compared with the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, he can be said to be a diligent ruler. Many times, even if he did not want to enter the palace for an early court session, he would let the officials from the Imperial Censorate attend the court and read out his imperial edicts, or have someone bring memorials to the Leopard House for him to review.

  Henan disaster is urgent, Zhu Houzhao also knows that he cannot drag on for long, and if he drags on for too long, there may be changes. So he summoned the seven Grand Secretaries to hold an emergency meeting in the Qianqing Palace at dawn.

  At this moment, Zhu Houzhao was sitting upright on the dragon chair, with five people standing in front of the yellow case and two people sitting. The five people standing were Cao Yuan, Liang Chu, Liu Zhong, Fei Hong, and Yang Yiting. The two people sitting were Jin Gui and Li Dongyang.

  The reason why Cao Yuan and the other four stood, while Jing Gui and Li Dongyang sat, was that on the surface, it was because Jing Gui and Li Dongyang were old in years. In case the meeting lasted long, the two might not be able to stand for a long time due to physical reasons, so the emperor specially granted them seats as a care for the elderly ministers. Of course, everyone knew there was another reason. Jing Gui and Li Dongyang were both old ministers of the previous dynasty, one being the Minister of Rites, known as the head of the six boards, and the other being the Chief Assistant of the Grand Secretariat. Letting them sit was also a respect for their status.

  The content of the cabinet meeting was still discussing how to rescue the drought in Henan and the matter of issuing military salaries to border soldiers. At first, Zhu Thick didn't mention Jiang Xia's intention, but instead let the seven members of the cabinet speak up with a solution.

  Seven senior officials went back and forth for half a day, either supporting the rescue of drought relief first and then issuing military rations, or thinking that they should issue military rations first and then rescue drought relief. Anyway, after talking for half a day, they couldn't come up with a two-way strategy.

  As the seven ministers couldn't come up with a perfect solution, Zhu Houzhao was even more impressed by Jiang Xia's intelligence. He thought to himself, "The seven ministers in the cabinet can't even match up to my brother alone, it would be great if my brother could enter the court and assist me." However, as soon as this thought arose, Zhu Houzhao shook his head and added another sentence: "Forget it, if my brother knew my identity, he would definitely treat me with utmost respect, and that wouldn't be fun at all."

  The seven ministers saw Zhu Houzhao shaking his head and thought he was dissatisfied with the seven of them. The seven ministers were frightened, immediately knelt down on the ground and loudly called out: "Your subjects are incompetent, we hope Your Majesty will punish us."

  Zhu Houzhao was taken aback for a moment, and suddenly understood that the seven ministers had misunderstood. Zhu Houzhao smiled slightly and waved his hand: "The seven of you please get up, I have no intention of blaming you."

  "Thank you, Your Majesty." The seven ministers stood up, and Li Dongyang and Jing Gui also dared not sit in their seats.

  Zhu Houzhao said: "The silver that can be mobilized in the national treasury now is 400,000 taels, which is already the limit."

  Indeed, the current silver reserve in the treasury is 400,000 taels, and gold is 30,000 taels, with some copper coins. After mobilizing 400,000 taels, it's likely that even the officials' salaries will have to be delayed, waiting for the autumn taxes to come in before they can be paid.

  Zhu Houzhao paused for a moment before continuing: "There are only 400,000 taels of silver, but disaster relief and salary payments require 700,000 taels of silver. Where will the remaining 300,000 taels of silver come from? I won't blame you, my ministers, if you can't come up with a solution - after all, it's hard to cook without rice."

  However, I have a plan, let me share it with you all for your consideration and see if it is feasible.

  First, we need to create a time difference by dividing the 400,000 taels into two portions and sending them separately to Henan and the border areas for emergency use, in order to stabilize the people's minds. Then, during this spare time, we will raise the remaining 300,000 taels that are lacking. As for raising the silver, I have already made plans. I have decided to entrust this matter to the 'Shanrenhui' to handle. Perhaps many of you do not know what the 'Shanrenhui' is, let me explain...

  Zhu Houzhao repeated Jiang Xia's plan in a lengthy and grandiose manner, talking about "beating the time difference" and other things that the seven cabinet ministers didn't understand. However, they did manage to grasp one thing - that the emperor already had a solution to the problem.

  Is there anything more blissful in this world than a boss who proposes a plan and then goes to execute it himself, while the employees get paid for doing nothing? As a result, the ministers naturally couldn't oppose, and they all bowed to Zhu Di, saying: "Your Majesty is wise!"

  He had fooled seven cabinet ministers, and Zhu Houzhao was over the moon with excitement. He declared the meeting adjourned and decided to go see Jiang Xia immediately to discuss raising disaster relief funds.

  At this time, at the entrance of the Carefree Mountain Villa, a man wearing a black cross-collared long gown was standing there with a long sword in his arms. The man looked up at the signboard of the Carefree Mountain Villa, and after confirming that it was here, he walked straight towards the gate.

  Because the Peach Garden is a membership-based place, there are always two teams of guards at the entrance responsible for checking membership cards. For regular members, the guards basically all recognize them, but this man was unfamiliar and also carried a weapon. The two teams of guards immediately stopped him.

  "Hey, stop! This is a private place, no entry without membership card."

  The man looked up and glanced at the two teams of guards, saying lightly: "I'm looking for Jiang Xia."

  After finishing speaking, the man walked in with his head down.

  The two guards looked at each other, this is not good, even if you are looking for Master Jiang, you have to wait for us to report first, directly rushing in must be malicious. Coincidentally, the Xiangyang Mountain Villa was attacked by assassins again last night, and coincidentally, the assassin was also a swordsman...

  The two guards immediately drew their long knives from their waists, and the eight men stood in a row to block the black-clad man's path: "Even if you want to see Master Jiang, you have to wait for us to report. If you try to force your way into Xiangyang Manor, don't blame us for being impolite."

  The man in black glanced at the eight people and faintly spat out two words: "Get lost."

  The voice wasn't loud, but it immediately enraged eight guards. "Damn it, you're really looking for trouble, asking to die!"

  Eight gleaming steel blades hacked at the black-clad man, who took a step back. Without seeing how he moved, there was a "ting" sound, and then sword shadows flashed. The backs of the eight guards' hands were slapped by the blade one after another, and the steel knives fell to the ground. The black-clad man spun his body and kicked out with lightning speed, sending the eight guards flying backward into the door.

  If it were a master, he would certainly see that the swordsmanship of the man in black was exquisite, and just now he had shown mercy. If not for showing mercy, the eight guards' hands wouldn't have been slapped by the sword body, but should have been cut off at the wrist by the blade.

  With such a high level of swordsmanship, I believe everyone has already guessed who this person is. Indeed, it is none other than Zhong Bin, the number one swordsman of the Brocade Guard.

  Zhong Bin glanced at the eight guards, and seeing their lowly martial arts skills, he couldn't help but slightly furrow his brow. Was he going to have to be with this bunch of trash from now on?

  Zhong Bin slightly shook his head and directly walked towards the entrance of Xianyao Manor.

  Suddenly, a figure rushed out from the door, wielding a long knife. From the moment he rushed out to when he stood still, Zhong Bin had already exchanged more than thirty sword clashes with him.

  He's a master! Zhong Bin's heart skipped a beat. He looked up at the newcomer, who was sturdy and powerful in build, wearing a tight-fitting outfit, with a short beard, and appeared to be around thirty-one or thirty-two years old.

  The newcomer made a fist and bowed to Zhong Bin, saying: "I am Han Yu, the leader of the guards of this Carefree Mountain Villa. May I ask who you are?"

  Zhong Bin's long sword pointed to the ground, and the few moves he had just exchanged with Han Yu made Zhong Bin realize that Han Yu was a master. He was recognized as the number one master in the Brocade Guard, so it was rare for him to meet someone who was willing to exchange blows with him. At this moment, he met someone, and for a person who was passionate about martial arts, Zhong Bin would not let go of this opportunity to fight against a true master. He said calmly: "Want to know who I am? Fight first!"

  Zhong Bin's body suddenly moved, his long sword shook and transformed into ten, several sword shadows enveloped Han Yu.

  Han furrowed his brow and raised the long knife in his hand, slashing it towards Zhong Bin with a sharp and fierce momentum, producing a faint sound of breaking through the air.

  Swords and knives are different, swords are heavy and agile, emphasizing a "fast" word. Knives are heavy with momentum, emphasizing a "fierce" word.

  Han Yu's identity is not simple, otherwise he would not have had such powerful martial arts skills as a small turtle public in the Qinglou group. Unfortunately, Jiang Xia did not see this scene, otherwise he would have guessed that Han Yu's identity was not simple.

  However, Han's exposure of his martial arts skills at this moment was not unintentional, but rather intentional. He himself was one of the secret agents of the Eastern Depot, and a few days ago he had already received Liu Jin's hint, Liu Jin asked Han to slightly reveal the background of the Group Fragrance Pavilion, and then wait for an opportunity to win over Jiang Xia. So at this moment, revealing his martial arts skills can also be considered as making a psychological preparation for Jiang Xia.

  Han Yu's knife skills were not bad, with a strong and powerful momentum between the opening and closing. However, after exchanging over a hundred moves with Zhong Bin, Han Yu gradually fell into a disadvantageous position. Zhong Bin was at the level of Nine Cauldrons, while Han Yu was only at Seven Cauldrons, and there was a difference in their true energy levels. In the end, Han Yu would inevitably lose after prolonged exhaustion.

  Han let out a loud roar and raised his long knife.

  This move left Han Yu's door open, if Zhong Bin stabbed with one sword, he would definitely be able to stab a hole in his body, but if Zhong Bin really stabbed him, Han Yu's knife would also come down and he would definitely be killed by Zhong Bin.

  This is a move that will end in mutual destruction, if Zhong Bin doesn't want to end up like this with Han Yu, he must retreat and dodge Han Yu's attack. A master's move, retreating one step is already showing weakness, showing weakness means defeat is near.

  Zhong Bin's eyebrows slightly furrowed, his long sword met Han Yu's slashing knife, then he used a "xie" character trick to deflect Han Yu's fierce slash to the side. Immediately afterwards, Zhong Bin raised his left hand and slapped towards Han Yu, who also raised his left hand and exchanged a blow with him.

  The two men retreated separately. Zhong Bin took two steps back, while Han Yu took five steps back. Han Yu's long sword stabbed into the ground, stabilizing his stance, and he coldly gazed at Zhong Bin, saying: "Sir, are you friend or foe? If you have the guts, reveal your name; under my blade, I won't spare an unnamed wandering soul."