To avoid arousing the suspicion of the Yong Country Delegation, Emperor Zhou was not in a hurry to summon the Yong Country envoy, planning to leave them hanging for another day or two.
During the morning court, a group of ministers who were unaware of the situation continued to offer advice, either requesting Emperor Zhou to punish Shen Jing or imploring Emperor Zhou to consider the actual situation of Great Zhou and not easily start a war.
However, Emperor Zhou had been mentally adrift since he sat on the imperial court, completely ignoring the words of his officials.
Silver!
Emperor Zhou's mind was now filled with these two words.
After chatting with Shen Jing last night, he thought he could get a good night's sleep.
But he still tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.
He didn't know the cost of Shen Jing's broken pills, but he knew without thinking that for a pill costing one thousand taels of silver, Shen Jing would at least earn nine hundred taels with tears in his eyes!
If that pill could truly make people addicted, Yong Country would undoubtedly buy a large quantity from him.
With so much silver flowing into Shen Jing's pockets, if he said he wasn't envious, it would be a lie!
But the problem was, he had already told Shen Jing that he wouldn't take food from his mouth.
A ruler's word is law!
He wanted a share of the pie, but it was hard to ask!
But if he didn't get a share, his heart felt truly uncomfortably itchy.
What he was thinking now was how he could legitimately get a share from Shen Jing.
Preferably, he also wanted Shen Jing to be grateful to him.
Alas!
If only Shen Jing hadn't signed a marriage contract with the Su Family.
That way, he would have made him a consort no matter what!
In this way, everyone would be family, and it would be perfectly reasonable for him to ask Shen Jing for help, wouldn't it?
How should this matter be handled after all?
Emperor Zhou was very worried and wanted to ask for advice several times, but in the end, he held back.
This matter, let alone not being able to speak of it now, could not be spoken of in the future!
"Father Emperor, Father Emperor…"
Just as Emperor Zhou was racking his brains, the voice of Crown Prince Ye Shen suddenly sounded in his ears.
Emperor Zhou struggled to regain his senses and then realized that all the civil and military officials were staring at him.
"Father Emperor, are you alright?"
Ye Shen looked at Emperor Zhou with great concern.
"I'm fine."
Emperor Zhou forced a smile and casually said, "I will carefully consider the matters that all my beloved ministers have reported!"
…
Hearing Emperor Zhou's words, the officials immediately had black lines on their faces.
Carefully consider?
Do you even know what everyone is reporting?
"Your Majesty, the budget for the court's expenses next year has already been drafted."
Yao Jian bowed and said, "The Ministry of War's budget is fifteen million taels of silver, and the Ministry of Works' budget is six million taels…"
Yao Jian began to report in detail to Emperor Zhou.
All in all, it added up to thirty-six million taels of silver.
And the estimated tax revenue for the court next year was only twenty-six million taels of silver.
This was still a relatively ideal situation.
In addition, this did not include the portion withheld by various prefectures and counties.
This was Yao Jian's ultimate move!
Didn't the court want to prepare for war with all its might?
He would conjure up the silver, and they could prepare for war however they wanted!
"Don't mention the word 'silver' to me now! I have a headache!"
Emperor Zhou raised his hand to stop Yao Jian, who was still talking endlessly, and then instructed Ye Shen, "I'm feeling a bit unwell. You preside over the morning court for me!"
After saying that, Emperor Zhou directly got up and left.
He truly couldn't stand to hear the word "silver."
He was already envious of Shen Jing's extremely profitable business, and when he thought of the court's tight finances, he became even more envious.
But as the ruler of a country, he couldn't just openly seize it!
Headache!
A real headache!
…
Two days later, Emperor Zhou officially appointed Pei Ji as the chief envoy, with Tang Zhi and Yu Zhaoxing as deputy envoys, to negotiate with the Yong Country Delegation at the Four Directions Inn.
"Do you know how much silver one catty of white sugar costs? Damn your ten thousand catties of white sugar!"
"This is the price for Great Zhou holding us captive! If you don't give it, you'll just wait to bear the wrath of my Great Yong!"
"Let's fight! Am I afraid of a little bastard like you? If you have the guts, let's have a real fight with real swords and spears right now!"
"Pei Ji, how dare you insult this prince?"
"What's wrong with me insulting you? A useless prince like you, if I met you on the battlefield, I could cleave several of you with one saber…"
The negotiations between the two sides were exceptionally fierce.
To call it a negotiation was more like an argument.
At first, they argued relatively civilly, but later, it escalated directly to personal attacks.
Although Shen Jing did not participate in the negotiations, he could hear the sounds of both sides banging on tables and cursing even while lying in the sun sleeping.
"Damn it, they have no manners at all!"
Shen Jing muttered to himself, really wanting to find a quiet place to hide.
He had always thought that negotiations between two countries involved a battle of wits and words.
He didn't expect it to be like this.
Hmm, learned another useful piece of knowledge!
In the future, if negotiating with someone, just curse at them first, no matter what.
Just as Shen Jing closed his eyes and secretly grumbled, Du Heng leaned over, "Marquis, Princess Qinghe has arrived."
"Huh?"
Shen Jing suddenly opened his eyes, quickly sat up, and saw Ye Li had already walked in.
Before Shen Jing could even salute, Ye Li spoke with a stern face, "Let's talk inside!"
This Xiao Ba Po's expression isn't right!
She wouldn't be here to cause him trouble, would she?
Shen Jing secretly pondered and followed Ye Li into the room.
As soon as he closed the door, Ye Li kicked out.
Fortunately, Shen Jing was quick enough to dodge to the side.
"Princess, what are you doing?"
Shen Jing looked at this violent Xiao Ba Po speechlessly.
Ye Li glared at Shen Jing, "You've lied to this princess for so long, what's wrong with me kicking you?"
Shen Jing looked innocent, "Princess, what do you mean? I don't quite understand!"
"Still pretending?"
Ye Li glared at Shen Jing with wide eyes, "Do you think this princess doesn't know that you're putting on this act just to use white…"
Shen Jing's expression changed, and he quickly covered her mouth: "My dear princess, lower your voice! Are you afraid that others won't know this is a trap?"
Suddenly having her mouth covered, Ye Li was momentarily stunned.
When she recovered, Ye Li angrily stomped on Shen Jing's foot.
"Hiss…"
Shen Jing cried out in pain and let go of Ye Li.
"Who's your dear princess?"
Ye Li snorted angrily, then immediately put on her princess demeanor, "How dare you be rude to this princess?"
"I'm afraid the princess will blab!"
Shen Jing said discontentedly, "If this matter goes wrong, His Majesty will probably chop both of us up!"
"Who wants to be chopped up with you! If Father Emperor is going to chop anyone, he'll chop you, you scoundrel!"
Ye Li's face flushed slightly, and she said angrily, "Do you know how many times I've run to the Su Family these past few days because of your messed-up business!"
Shen Jing was torn between laughter and tears, "Why did you run to the Su Family?"
"What do you think?"
Ye Li glared at Shen Jing, pouting.
She had indeed run to the Su Family several times.
She wanted Su Yourong to persuade Shen Jing, but Su Yourong kept saying that she wouldn't interfere with Shen Jing's affairs, and if something happened to Shen Jing, she would just die with him.
No matter how much she pleaded, it was useless.
It wasn't until today, when she went to see Consort Xian, that she unexpectedly learned from Consort Xian that they wanted to use white sugar to replace other tributes.
Only then did she realize that Su Yourong must have known some inside information, which was why she completely ignored the matter.
Only she, like a fool, was kept in the dark by them, worrying needlessly about this scoundrel every day.
It was because she was so angry that she specifically came over, wanting to kick Shen Jing a few times to vent her frustration.
Meeting Ye Li's gaze, Shen Jing couldn't help but let out a dry laugh, "Princess, this really isn't my fault! His Majesty didn't even tell you, so how would I dare to say anything!"
"I…"
Ye Li's mouth opened slightly, and she said fiercely, "You just wait! See how this princess will deal with you later!"