At the same time, these rumors outside the palace were also reported to Emperor Chongzhen through the Jinyiwei and the East Factory.

To be honest, Emperor Chongzhen suspected that the source of these rumors was Yang Sichang. Because Yang Sichang knew Xue Guoguan’s proposal, and now this rumor is very similar to Xue Guoguan’s proposal. In the words of later generations, Yang Sichang seemed to have enough motives for the crime.

However, no matter what, the rumors are somewhat different from Xue Guoguan's proposal.

On the surface, these rumors were derived from the affairs of Wu Qinghou.

For rumors like this, if you want to find out the source, you may not be able to find it out by means at this time. Even if you can find it out, it will probably take a lot of time and manpower to check it out, which is not worth it.

After Emperor Chongzhen measured it a little in his mind, he no longer struggled with the source of the rumors. However, he understood one thing that someone would definitely make trouble for the matter of Wuqing Hou!

After thinking for a while, he went to the harem to find Empress Zhou, asked her to come forward, summon the wife of Wuqing Hou to the palace, and comforted her about what happened today.

Let the Marquis of Wuqing know that the emperor had no other intentions, but in response to the strong suggestion of the ministers, there was no way to help Li Guochen get what he should have. Marquis of Wuqing didn't have to worry, at least he still had half of his family wealth, and he was still the owner of the Marquis of Wuqing's mansion.

I have to say that the palace had a reaction so quickly, and the queen was so concerned and comforting. The wife of the Marquis of Wuqing who summoned her to the palace was very grateful and hurriedly said that she would convince her master to hand over the inheritance as soon as possible, and went back with great gratitude.

However, she did not expect that Emperor Chongzhen had been waiting for her in her must-pass place. Of course, she did not meet directly, but was far away. She only saw her within the sight of Emperor Chongzhen and "rewarded" her the Class A eavesdropping seed that was not long after she rewarded her.

And this is the real purpose of Emperor Chongzhen's request to Queen Zhou to summon her into the palace. Because at this time, Emperor Chongzhen was not convenient to see the Marquis of Wuqing, otherwise the best choice would be to give the seeds of Wuqing.

In the evening, Li Zushu, the Marquis of Linhuai, suddenly visited the Marquis of Wuqing, saying that he heard that Marquis of Wuqing was seriously ill and came to visit him. In this regard, whether it was the Dongchang mansion guarding the door or the Ministry of Revenue, it was impossible to stop him, so he could only let him visit him.

After he left, the wife of the Marquis of Wuqing went to see the Marquis of Wuqing and said, "Master, I have counted a few cellars and counted 200,000 taels out. I will hand over it myself tomorrow morning!"

"Take it? What to pay, don't pay it!" When Li Guorui heard this, he immediately shouted coldly in anger, and even brought his wife up to the ground to knock it over to the ground.

Seeing this, Mrs. Wu Qing was very surprised and a little shocked. She came to her senses and didn't care about cleaning up the broken bowls on the ground. She asked in surprise: "Master, what's wrong? Didn't you say it well before? The emperor had no choice but to all the ministers..."

"What do you know, a woman?" Before she finished speaking, she was interrupted roughly by Li Guorui. "Twenty hundred thousand taels, do you think it is twenty taels? Besides, that bastard, who was a bastard, dared to humiliate me in public at the door of the mansion. How could I swallow this tone?"

"..." Seeing this, Wu Qinghou's wife didn't know what to say for a moment.

She naturally understood in her heart that the master had already agreed and had made a sudden change now. This might be related to the Linhuai Marquis who had visited before.

To be honest, she couldn't bear to leave her at 200,000 taels.

However, the Dongchang Fanzi and the Ministry of Revenue were living in the mansion, and she was afraid, thinking that the queen was right and at least half of her wealth was still there, so she accepted it. However, now that the master refused, she had no choice.

Thinking of this, she asked Li Guorui: "Master, since that's the case, how can the court explain it?"

"If you have anything to explain, just say you don't have money!" Li Guorui said resentfully, "If you don't have money, you have to force me. Are you not afraid of the coldness of other nobles and arousing public anger?"

Speaking of this, he stopped and ordered his wife, "Put some pots and pans. If you dare to force me to pay tomorrow, take them out and sell them on the street. I don't believe it anymore. I don't want this face anymore. Do the court still want this face, and do the emperor still want this face!"

"..." After hearing this, Mrs. Wuqing Hou couldn't speak again.

After a long time, she reminded worriedly: "Master, this approach will really damage the face of the court and will embarrass the emperor. What if the emperor is furious?"

"What else can I do? Do you dare to kill me?" Li Guorui blushed and shouted sternly, "I am the grandson of Empress Dowager Xiaoding!"

After hearing this, Mrs. Wu Qinghou was still scared and lowered her head and remained silent.

After venting, Li Guorui slowly calmed down. Looking at his wife's appearance, he remembered the idea of ​​Linhuai Marquis before. He suddenly felt aroused in his heart and said to his wife: "Bother Jiading and I are also friends. In this way, you can send someone to Jiading's Mansion quickly and invite him to come."

After saying that, seeing that she was still hesitating, she urged her again before urging her away.

Not long after, Jiading Bo Zhou Kui arrived as promised. As soon as he entered the door, he shouted: "Marquis Wuqing, it's really embarrassing. I just heard about you and was about to come to visit the mansion, but I didn't expect you to send someone here first!"

When Wu Qinghou heard this, he sneered in his heart. I'm afraid it would cost the little gift money for visiting?

It’s true that when you come to visit the patient, you can’t come with nothing, right?

After Zhou Kui finished speaking, he seemed to hesitate for a moment before taking out a gift list from his sleeve and giving it to the wife of Wuqing Hou who was with him, saying that he was a little cautious and please don’t see him.

The wife of Wuqing Hou naturally wanted to be polite, and then took her away and took her maid back. She knew that the master must have something to talk to Jiading Bo.

After leaving the room, he opened the gift list and looked down. Mrs. Wuqing Hou was stunned. Then he spat silently and whispered in disgust: "It's really stingy enough, you can take this little thing!"

After saying that, she threw the gift list to her personal maid and drove the maid out. Then, she pressed against the window, trying to eavesdrop on what the master was going to say to Jiading Bo.

In the room, Wu Qinghou sat on the bed and sighed, "I guess Mr. Jiading knew that I was so unlucky!"

When Zhou Kui heard this, he was about to comfort him, Li Guorui changed his mind and said, "But when I hand over the money, I will be more than I will be unlucky."

Zhou Kui had heard some rumors, but when he heard what Wu Qinghou said, his face suddenly became a little unpleasant, and he quickly asked for verification: "Are you saying... you said the court would ask for money from others?"

"No!" Li Guorui immediately replied, "Our relatives are not deep-rooted than those of the hereditary titles. If the emperor has no money, who do you think you should ask for money? Now if I give money here, what about the next one? There is no silver in the treasury, then I will definitely continue to ask for money from us! Maybe it's not Brother Zhou, but it must be another relative. If there is no money around the circle, it will probably be Brother Zhou's turn."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Kui's face looked very ugly and he said with a little uncertainty: "After all, my daughter is the queen and my nephew is the prince, I can't do it?"

"How is it impossible!" Li Guorui immediately showed a sudden enlightenment when he heard this, and said to Zhou Kui, "I can't remember if Brother Zhou doesn't say it. Brother Zhou said this, maybe it's better. Next one is Brother Zhou!"

"How is that possible?" Zhou Kui looked ugly and denied in surprise, "This is impossible!"

Li Guorui saw his expression change in his eyes, sneered in his heart, and then continued to analyze to Zhou Kui: "Brother Zhou, you are the queen's father and the prince's grandfather. Now that the court has no money, the most urgent thing is of course the emperor. If the royal family has no money, they will ask us relatives for money. I am because there is a bastard in my mansion. If it weren't for this, the emperor would be embarrassed to speak directly to us relatives. Then, in order to make everyone pay, we must have an example and take the lead in donating money, right? Then Brother Zhou thinks that who is the most suitable example in the capital now?"

His words were actually already inducible. Therefore, after he finished speaking, Zhou Kui could easily reach a conclusion: this example is the most suitable one. Because he is the queen's father and the prince's grandfather. Once he took the lead, the emperor would be able to reach out to other relatives.

When he thought of paying out the money, and it was not a ounce of one or two taels of money, he immediately felt like a knife.

Seeing his painful expression, Li Guorui knew that he was right, so he continued to add materials: "Also, the court's opening was a lion's mouth, 200,000 taels, is it more? Brother Zhou thought about it again, if it was an example, could the silver be less than 200,000 taels? In my opinion, it must be more than me, so that we can ask other relatives for more silver, right?"

"..." Zhou Kui could no longer speak, and his heart was like a storm, 200,000 taels, and it was no more than this one. This... this was a life-threatening death!

Seeing him in a daze, his face turned pale and a little whiter. Li Guorui felt confident and was not anxious. He stopped talking. Instead, he picked up the bird's nest that had been replenished on the side and moistened his throat, waiting for Jiading Bo to speak first.

After a while, even the wife of Wuqing Hou who was eavesdropping outside was waiting a little impatiently, she heard Zhou Kui muttering to herself a little at a loss: "What should I do, what should I do..."

This soul has returned, but is at a loss.

"There is no way!" Li Guorui said just like this and immediately attracted Zhou Kui's attention. He seemed to grab a life-saving straw. He reached out and grabbed Li Guorui's hand, with a sincere and panic expression. He quickly asked, "What can the Marquis teach me? As long as he can save his family property, the Marquis will be my Zhou brother. In the future, no matter how many families are there!"

The title of honor has been used while speaking.

"Haha, look at Brother Zhou's words, I'm already grateful for Brother Zhou's ability to come to see me. If you have any, you will naturally share the joys and sorrows." Li Guorui was contemptuous, but said sincerely, "If you want to save your family property, it's simple and simple to say, it depends on whether Brother Zhou can give up his face?"

"As long as you can save your family property, don't say that you can sacrifice your old face, it's okay to kill my life!" Zhou Kui immediately patted his chest and promised, and asked with anticipation, "What are you a good idea, come on!"

At this time, Li Guorui stopped controlling Zhou Kui and taught him carefully: "The most important thing at the moment is to let the emperor know that we can't hold on to so much money, right? We don't have money, so we can't force us to get so much money..."

When he said this, he saw Zhou Kui's eyes lit up and knew that this guy had taken the bait. He would definitely do the following.

"...So, I'm going to go out to sell pots and pans tomorrow! Then, when Brother Zhou heard the news, he also wanted to help me pay for it. But Brother Zhou didn't have money either, so what should I do? Let's sell pots and pans with me to make up for it. In this way, the entire capital knew that we had no money and were forced to sell pots and pans by the emperor. Do you think, then, can the emperor force us to get money again next?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Kui couldn't help but be overjoyed. Obviously, he felt that in this way, the emperor would never force them to pay for their face.

"Besides, if you really want to say money, there will always be more in the palace than us! If we force us to this, will the emperor be embarrassed? Why don't you pay this money? You said, if the capital knew about these things, would there be such an idea?"

"Hey, why didn't I expect it!" Zhou Kui said happily after hearing this, "Good idea, good idea, just do it!"

The nobles can almost guess whether they have money or not, but this is not important. What is important is that they can avoid paying this money. As for the face, can they eat?

Hearing his response, even the wife of Wuqing Hou who eavesdropped outside was a little dumbfounded. Unexpectedly, the queen's biological father and the prince's grandfather did not care about the royal face at all in order not to pay for it! If this matter really happened, where would it be put?

She felt relieved when she heard this.

There was Jiading uncle who went to sell pots and pans together, and the emperor was so angry that even if he wanted to punish him, Jiading uncle was still holding on. Although the Marquis of Wuqing would also hate the emperor, it was 200,000 taels of silver after all, and he would make the master unable to raise his head in the future and admit that he was a slut. It would be better to do this for a while.

With a clear understanding in his heart, the wife of Wuqing Hou stopped eavesdropping and turned around and left happily.

Naturally, she didn't know that all the content she heard was fed back to Emperor Chongzhen by the seeds of eavesdropping on her body.

Not long after, when Emperor Chongzhen paid attention to the eavesdropping system, he saw all the conversation texts.

When Emperor Chongzhen saw these words, he saw Zhou Kui's stinginess and shamelessness, he was so angry that he laughed!

As the father of the queen and the grandfather of the prince, he actually did such a thing. OK, then don’t blame me for being rude, and I will clean up with you!

After making a decision in his heart, Emperor Chongzhen immediately sent an order to summon Cao Huachun, the admiral of the East Factory.

As soon as he met, he issued a cold edict: "Immediately investigate the family wealth of Wuqing Hou and Jiading Bo, and find out the source of their financial income, especially their illegal income. Do you understand?"

Cao Huachun is not surprised to find Wu Qinghou, but...

He confirmed with a little hesitation: "Your Majesty, will Jiading Uncle also investigate?"

"Hmph, there is such a betrothal in the world, which is simply a shame for the Ming Dynasty!" Emperor Chongzhen said in a hatred, and then ordered sternly, "Investigate, investigate it strictly for me, remember, you don't need to be very accurate, as long as there is a rough one, I will do it before noon tomorrow, do you understand?"

It is not easy to find out how much income these two relatives have, but it is still relatively easy for Dongchang to just check the source of money and roughly estimate the wealth of the family. After all, Dongchang must know the land and shops, especially those with a high value in the mansion, especially those with a high value.

After explaining this, Emperor Chongzhen went to the harem to find Empress Zhou.
Chapter completed!