At the same time, these rumors outside the palace were also reported to Emperor Chongzhen as soon as possible through Jinyiwei and Dongchang.

To tell the truth, at the first time, 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 seems to have sufficient motive for committing the crime.

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

These rumors, on the surface, were deduced from the affairs of Marquis Wu Qing.

If you want to find out the source of this rumor, you may not be able to find out with the means at this time, and even if you can find out, it is estimated that it will take a lot of time and manpower to investigate, which is not worth it.

After Emperor Chongzhen weighed it a little in his heart, he didn't bother with the source of the rumors. However, he understands one thing, this matter on Wu Qinghou's side, someone will definitely come to make trouble!

After thinking about it for a while, he went to the harem to find Queen Zhou, asked her to come forward, summoned Mrs. Wuqing into the palace, and comforted her about today's affairs.

Let Marquis Wu Qing know that the emperor has no other meaning, but at the strong suggestion of the ministers, there is no way but to help Li Guochen get what he should get. Marquis Wuqing doesn't have to worry, at least he still has half of his family wealth, and he is still the owner of Marquis Wuqing's mansion.

I have to say that there was a reaction in the palace so quickly, and the queen was so concerned and appeased, which still played a great role. Mrs. Wuqinghou, who was summoned to the palace, was very grateful for this, and hurriedly said that she would definitely persuade her master to hand over the inheritance as soon as possible, and went back with great gratitude.

However, she didn't expect that Emperor Chongzhen had been waiting for her in the place where she had to pass for a long time. Of course, it was not a direct meeting, but it was far away, but I saw her within the sight of Emperor Chongzhen, and "rewarded" her with the first-class eavesdropping seed that the system rewarded not long ago.

And this is the real purpose of Emperor Chongzhen asking Empress Zhou to summon her into the palace. Because at this time, it was not convenient for Emperor Chongzhen to go to see Marquis Wuqing, otherwise it would be the best choice to give the seed of eavesdropping to Marquis Wuqing.

In the evening, Li Zushu, Marquis of Linhuai, suddenly visited the Marquis of Wuqing's mansion, saying that he had heard that Marquis Wuqing had a sudden illness and came to visit. In this regard, whether it is the Dongchang fan guarding the door, or the household officials, it is impossible to stop them, so they can only let them enter the house to visit.

After he left, Mrs. Wu Qinghou went to see Wu Qinghou and said, "Master, the concubine has counted several cellars of silver and counted 200,000 taels. Wait until tomorrow morning, the master will hand it in person! ”

"Turn it in? What to pay, what to pay, not to pay! When Li Guorui heard this, he immediately snorted angrily, and knocked over the bird's nest brought up by his wife.

Seeing this situation, Mrs. Wu Qinghou couldn't help but be surprised, a little stunned, came back to her senses, and didn't care about cleaning up the broken bowl on the ground, and asked in surprise: "Master, what's wrong?" Didn't you say it well before? The emperor is also forced to do so, and the ministers are all ......"

"What do you know as a woman?" Before she finished speaking, she was rudely interrupted by Li Guorui, "Two hundred thousand taels, do you think it's twenty taels?" Besides, that bastard bastard dared to humiliate me in public at the gate of the house, how could I swallow this breath? ”

"......" Seeing this, Mrs. Wuqinghou didn't know what to say for a while.

She naturally understood in her heart that the old man had agreed well before, but now he had suddenly changed, and this was not related to the Linhuai Marquis who visited before.

To tell the truth, 200,000 taels, she can't bear it.

However, Dongchang Fanzi and the household officials all live in the house, and she is also afraid, thinking that the queen is right, at least half of the family wealth is still available, and she can always live, so she admits it. However, now that the old man refuses, then she can't help it.

Thinking so, she asked Li Guorui: "Master, if this is the case, how can the court explain it?" ”

"If there is anything to explain, just say that there is no money!" Li Guorui said hatefully, "If you don't have money and still have to persecute, aren't you afraid of chilling the hearts of other nobles and causing public anger?" ”

Speaking of this, he paused and then instructed his wife: "You pack up some pots and pans, and if you dare to force me to give money tomorrow, you will take them out and sell them on the street." I don't believe it, I don't want this face, the court still wants this face, and the emperor still wants this face! ”

"......" Mrs. Wu Qinghou listened, but she was speechless again.

After a long time, she reminded worriedly: "Master, this practice really damages 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's face turned red and shouted, "I am the cousin of the Empress Dowager Xiaoding!" ”

When Mrs. Wu Qinghou heard this, she was still scared in her heart, and bowed her head and was silent.

After venting, Li Guorui slowly calmed down, looked at his wife's appearance, remembered the idea of Linhuai Hou before, he suddenly moved in his heart, and said to his wife: "Jiading Bo and I are also friends. In this way, you hurry up and send someone to Jiadingbo's Mansion and invite him to come over. ”

After finishing speaking, seeing that she was still hesitating, he urged her again before urging her away.

It didn't take long for Jiading Bo Zhoukui to arrive as promised. As soon as he entered the door, he said loudly: "Marquis Wu Qing, I'm really a little embarrassed, I just heard about you, and I was thinking about coming to the house to visit, but I didn't expect you to send someone over first!" ”

When Wu Qinghou heard this, he sneered in his heart, I'm afraid that it will cost the gift money for the visit, right?

It's true that you can't come empty-handed to visit a patient, right?

After Zhou Kui finished speaking, he seemed to hesitate a little before taking out a gift slip from his sleeve and giving it to Mrs. Wuqinghou, who was accompanying him on the side, saying that it was a little careful, and please don't see outside.

Mrs. Wu Qinghou naturally wanted to be polite, and then accepted it and retreated with the maid. She knew that the master must have something to talk about with Jiadingbo.

When she got out of the room, she unfolded the gift list and looked down, Mrs. Wuqinghou couldn't help but be stunned, and then spat silently, and whispered with disgust: "It's really enough to pick the door, and you can get this little thing!" ”

After finishing speaking, she casually threw the gift slip to the personal maid and drove the maid out. Then, she leaned against the window, wanting to eavesdrop on what the old man was going to say to Jiadingbo?

In the room, Wu Qinghou sat on the bed and sighed and said, "Presumably Jiadingbo knows about my, it's really unlucky!" “

When Zhou Kui heard this, he was about to comfort him, but Li Guorui changed his words and said: "But when I hand over the silver, I will not be the only one who is unlucky." ”

Zhou Kui had already heard some rumors, and when he heard Wu Qinghou say this again, his face suddenly became a little unsightly, and he hurriedly asked, "You mean...... Say that the imperial court will ask for money from other people? ”

"Not really!" Li Guorui immediately replied, "Our relatives are no more deep-rooted than those hereditary titles, if the emperor has no money, who do you say it is good to ask for money?" If I give money now, what about the next one? There can't be any silver in the treasury, so we'll continue to ask for money! Maybe it's not Brother Zhou, but it must be another relative, if there is no money around, it is estimated that it will be Brother Zhou's turn. ”

Hearing this, Zhou Kui's face was very ugly, and he said a little uncertainly: "Anyway, my daughter is the queen and my nephew is the prince, I can't do it, right?" ”

"How could it be!" When Li Guorui heard this, he immediately showed a look of sudden realization, and said to Zhou Kui, "Brother Zhou doesn't say that I can't remember it, Brother Zhou said this, it's not good, the next one is Brother Zhou!" ”

"How is that possible?" Zhou Kui's face was ugly, and he denied in surprise, "This is impossible!" ”

Li Guorui saw the changes in his expression, sneered in his heart, and then continued to analyze Zhou Kui: "Brother Zhou, think about it, Brother Zhou, you are the queen's father, the prince's grandfather, and now the court has no money, and the most urgent one is, of course, the emperor." If the royal family has no money, they will ask us relatives for money. It's because there is a mongrel in my house, and if it weren't for this, the emperor would be embarrassed to speak directly to us relatives. So in this way, in order to make everyone pay money, there must be an example and take the lead in donating money, right? So Brother Zhou thinks that in this Beijing division now, who is the most suitable to be this example? ”

His words are actually inducing. Therefore, after he finished speaking, Zhou Kui easily came to a conclusion: he was the most suitable example. Because he is the queen's father and the prince's grandfather. He took the lead, and the emperor reached out to the other relatives.

As soon as he thought that he was going to take out the silver, and it was not one or two taels of money, he immediately felt like a knife in his heart.

Seeing his painful expression, Li Guorui knew that he was right, so he continued to add: "Also, this opening of the imperial court is the opening of the lion, 200,000 taels, how much?" Brother Zhou thought about it again, if it was an example, could this silver be less than 200,000 taels? In my opinion, you must have more than me, so that you can ask for more money from other relatives, right? ”

"......" Zhou Kui was speechless, and his heart was like a stormy wave, 200,000 taels, and it was a lot more than this, this ...... It's a dead end!

Seeing that he was in a daze, his face was pale for a while, white for a while, Li Guorui had a bottom in his heart, and he was not in a hurry, so he didn't speak again, but picked up the bird's nest on the side and moistened his throat, and waited for Jiading Bo to speak first.

After a long while, even Mrs. Wu Qinghou, who was eavesdropping outside, waited a little impatiently before she heard Zhou Kui muttering to himself a little at a loss: "How is this good, how is this good......"

The soul is back, but I don't know what to do.

"It's not that there is no way!" Li Guorui just said this, which immediately attracted Zhou Kui's attention, as if grasping a life-saving straw, he reached out and grabbed Li Guorui's hand, his face was sincere and flustered, and he hurriedly asked, "What did Master Hou teach me?" As long as he can keep the family property, Hou Ye is a good brother of my Zhou, and in the future, there will be no two families! ”

In this conversation, they have already used honorific titles.

"Hehe, look at what Brother Zhou said, Brother Zhou can come and see me, the younger brother is already grateful, if there is anything, it is natural to share the joys and sorrows." Li Guorui was disdainful in his heart, but he said with sincerity on his face, "If you want to keep the family property, it's simple and simple, just to see if Brother Zhou can open his face?" ”

"As long as you can keep your family property, don't say that you want to give up this old face, it's all right to kill me!" When Zhou Kui heard this, he immediately patted his chest and reassured, and at the same time asked expectantly, "What's a good idea, come quickly!" ”

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

When he said this, he saw Zhou Kui's eyes light up, and he knew that this goods had been hooked, and then he would definitely do it.

“…… So in this way, I'm going to sell pots and pans on the street tomorrow! Then, when Brother Zhou heard the news, he also had to help the younger brother pay for righteousness. However, Brother Zhou has no money, so what should I do? Let's sell pots and pans with my younger brother to make money, so that the entire Jingshi knows that we have no money, and we are forced by the emperor to sell pots and pans. You say, then next, can the emperor force us to take money again? ”

Hearing this, Zhou Kui couldn't help but be overjoyed, obviously, he felt that in this way, it would be impossible for the emperor to force them to give money for the sake of face.

"Besides, if you really want to talk about money, there will always be more in the palace than us! Forcing us like this, is the emperor embarrassed? Why don't you pay for it yourself? You say, if the people in Beijing knew about these things, would they have such an idea? ”

"Hey, why didn't I think of that!" After hearing this, Zhou Kui said overjoyed, "Good idea, good idea, just do it!" ”

Among the nobles, they can almost guess whether they have money or not, but it doesn't matter, the important thing is that they don't pay this money if they don't pay this money. As for the face, can you eat it?

Hearing his response, even Mrs. Wu Qinghou, who was eavesdropping outside, was a little dumbfounded. Unexpectedly, the queen's father and the prince's grandfather, in order not to pay money, did not care about the royal face at all! If you really do it, where will the queen's face, the prince's face and the emperor's face go?

Hearing this, she was also relieved.

With Jiadingbo going to sell pots and pans together, the emperor was annoyed and angry, even if he wanted to punish people, there was Jiadingbo in front of him. Although the Marquis of Wuqing's mansion will also hate the emperor, after all, it is 200,000 taels of silver, and it will make the lord unable to raise his head to be a man in the future, admitting that he was born of a cheap maid. It's better to just do it once.

With the bottom in her heart, Mrs. Wu Qinghou stopped eavesdropping, turned around and left happily.

She naturally didn't know that all the things she heard because of curiosity were fed back to Emperor Chongzhen by the eavesdropping seeds on her body.

It didn't take long for Emperor Chongzhen to see all the dialogue texts when he paid attention to the eavesdropping system.

When Emperor Chongzhen saw these words and saw Zhou Kui's stinginess and shamelessness, he really laughed angrily!

As the father of the queen, the prince's grandfather, he actually did such a thing, okay, then don't blame me for being polite, even you will clean up!

With a decision in his heart, Emperor Chongzhen immediately issued a decree to summon Cao Huachun, the governor of Dongchang, alone.

As soon as they met, he made a cold voice and said: "Immediately check the family wealth of Marquis Wu Qinghou and Jiadingbo, and find out the sources of their money and income, especially illegal gains, understand?" ”

Checking Wu Qinghou, Cao Huachun is not surprised, but ......

He confirmed with a little hesitation: "Your Majesty, does Jiadingbo also want to investigate?" ”

"Hmph, there is such a country in the world, it's a shame for the Ming Dynasty!" Emperor Chongzhen said hatefully, and then commanded sharply, "Check, give me a strict investigation, remember, you don't need to be precise, as long as you have a rough idea, before noon tomorrow, I want it, understand?" ”

If it is not easy to find out how much income these two relatives have, it is still relatively easy for Dongchang to just check the source of money and roughly estimate the family wealth. After all, the field shops or something, those are on that house, especially the ones that are popular and have a relatively high value, Dongchang must know.

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