readsfreenovel Chapter 143 Someone is interfering
Chapter 143 Someone is interfering
This is the imperial palace, and we cannot recruit people from outside the palace at will. Even if we can, it will be too late in time.
Tang Mao didn't react.
"Blocking someone's financial path is like killing his parents. The silver I give is enough for an ordinary soldier's annual salary with some left over. Governor Tang, you'd better ask your brothers in the imperial guards first." Zhou Chang spoke mercilessly in a hurry.
"Ah..." Tang Mao was startled, then he understood.
Zhou Chang still managed to maintain his calmness and reminded, "However, Tang Duwei, you have to hurry up. Half a day is almost over. We can't waste time. The money has to be calculated according to the time."
"Yes, I'll go right away." Tang Mao turned around and ran back to the east side of the parade ground to convey the order.
The Imperial Guards guard the imperial city and are considered the emperor's close ministers, so many of those selected are from aristocratic families and have a slightly higher status than ordinary soldiers.
But not all the members of the Imperial Guards had good backgrounds. Most of them came from ordinary families. They were able to join the Imperial Guards by practicing hard and had to earn dozens of taels of silver a year to support their families.
Qian Liang, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was listening at a table under the stands and was dissatisfied again.
I don’t know what’s in other people’s heads, but Qian Liang’s surname is Qian, and his head is like a piggy bank. Whenever he hears people mention “silver and money”, his head shakes left and right and he can’t think of anything else.
Yesterday he was dissatisfied with Zhou Kai's sky-high price, but he didn't expect that the price would be doubled before the work started this morning. He couldn't help but bowed and said, "Your Highness Prince Yi, the wages you offer are too high. The labor costs reported for the projects carried out by the Ministry of Works over the years have never been this high. It is difficult for this humble official to report the expenses."
"Ministry of Works? What does it have to do with me?" Zhou Chang didn't care at all, as long as this batch of snake oil was completed on schedule. "By the way, Minister Qian, you just reminded me. Quick, since you heard what was said just now, do as you did yesterday and prepare the twenty taels of wages for each of the imperial guards."
Zhou Chang wants everyone who works to see the benefits they are about to get, so as to motivate them.
At critical moments, those who only talk about ideals and not money are talking nonsense; those who can only make empty promises but not provide answers are all liars.
Zhou Chang put his hands on his head, squinted his eyes, and only looked in the direction of the imperial guards.
After a while, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the imperial guards starting to move.
After dealing with the emergency, Zhou Chang was finally able to sit down and have a sip of tea.
I didn’t sleep well yesterday because I had to change my place of residence temporarily. Now I’m drinking tea to make up for it.
At this moment, the sun is shining on my body, making me feel warm, and my heart is finally bright again.
"Your Highness, the price you offer makes me want to kill a snake." The skinny monkey joked.
He has always been with Zhou Chang, able to eat and sleep, and it doesn't matter where he is, he is not affected at all.
"Still talking about this, Monkey, you shouldn't be standing here, you should go to the inner palace and find out who is deliberately ruining my good deeds and making trouble behind my back." Zhou Chang was extremely anxious. How could she easily ignore the fact that someone was trying to trip her up behind her back at this time?
"Your Highness, it's not that I don't want to go. It's just that it's obvious that there's no use going." The skinny monkey curled his lips and took out two snacks from his arms.
Zhou Chang had just finished digesting his breakfast, and his eyes fell on the skinny boy's watermelon-like belly, feeling worried for him.
"Your Highness, if you have no other instructions, I will take people to count the number of snakes that arrived today. The handover between in and out must be clear to avoid the trouble of checking the accounts in the future." When Zhou Chang brought up this topic again, Shi Song, the general manager of the Imperial Pharmacy, hurriedly wanted to slip away.
Zhou Chang waved his hand and asked people to leave.
The only people left on the stands were Zhou Chang, Shouhou, and Gao Yuan, the master and his servant.
Zhou Chang then asked again: "Who is behind this?"
If she said it was a coincidence, she definitely wouldn't believe it.
"Your Highness, think about it, at this juncture, there are only a few people who can keep the eunuchs and palace maids in each palace in the inner palace consistent. If I go there now, no matter who I ask, no one will dare to speak easily." After all, the skinny monkey entered the palace since he was a child, and he knew the situation in the harem very well.
Zhou Chang's mind was confused, but the consciousness of Prince Yi Fengming had already emerged in his mind.
The skinny monkey was eating, but he didn't hesitate to talk: "Your Highness, if you really want to know, you can only ask Li Zhi, but it's not convenient at this time. It's best to wait until the matter is over. Now at least we have the Imperial Guards to support us, so we can at least get through it."
Zhou Chang looked at the sparse fifty imperial guards, which were nothing in the huge parade ground.
Yesterday, there were over a hundred eunuchs and palace maids who came to kill snakes. The scene was simply incomparable.
Prince Yi Fengming hates people who take advantage of others' misfortune and add fuel to the fire the most.
But what Skinny Monkey said also makes sense.
It is not convenient to ask Li Zhi now, and Li Zhi is the only person in the inner palace with whom Prince Yi has some friendship. This relationship cannot be easily exposed, which will destroy the friendship between Aunt Jing and Li Zhi.
Zhou Chang's heart was in turmoil. If the construction period was delayed due to lack of manpower, who would be responsible?
Thinking of this, she looked up at the sky and couldn't help asking, "Your Majesty should not have left the morning court at this time, right?"
The skinny monkey was startled: "It should be that there is no one, but Your Majesty, we can't go to the court to ask His Majesty for someone at this time, right?"
"What are you thinking about?" Zhou Chang rolled his eyes at the skinny monkey, "Hurry up, while there's still time, go back to Prince Yi's mansion and get something."
"What does Your Majesty want?" the skinny monkey asked, while taking things out of his arms, "Do you want food, incense, spices, fire sticks, tooth powder, or..."
He pulled out a bunch of things, mostly food, including cakes, nuts, dried fruits, candies, and leftover fried food from breakfast, all hastily wrapped in a cloth towel.
Zhou Chang watched the skinny monkey take out a lot of things, and found that his chest and stomach didn't shrink at all, which made him feel even more miraculous.
"You really are alive..." Zhou Chang thought of the blue fat man in the cartoon in his previous life, pointing at a bone that he had chewed cleanly, "Why are you still carrying this? Why don't you throw it away?"
"This is not prepared for myself. You never know when you might encounter a vicious dog." The skinny monkey disagreed and put the bone back.
"I have no use for these things of yours," Zhou Chang did not hide his disdain, "Go back to the study. There is a small transparent bottle made of emerald green glass and inlaid with gold on the table. You should have seen it before. Just bring it over."
"Yes, Your Highness. I'll go right away." The skinny monkey said as he was about to bow and leave.
"Remember, just take it, and don't open it before." Zhou Chang did not forget to add one more sentence, "Curiosity kills the cat."
"What's wrong with the cat?" The skinny monkey didn't understand.
"Go quickly." Zhou Chang prayed that the emperor's morning court session would end later today. "Those who are already rich want more, those who are already rich want more, and those who are still poor have lost their desire. There is no need to hope anymore, just keep going."