Although it was just past midnight, the air had become unbearably hot in the direct sunlight.

Su Shi called two cups of ice drink, and after taking a sip, he suddenly remembered something, put down the cup, and said: "I only know now that the prince has a decree that soldiers in the army are not allowed to do business. ”

"The prince's brother did issue this decree." Zhou Jin nodded, "Brother Crown Prince once said that it is the duty of the army to protect the family and defend the country, and it must not become a mercenary businessman, otherwise it will be a huge disaster for the big cadres." ”

"I don't have any objection to this, but what I don't understand is why His Majesty would agree to cancel the allowance for the officers and men of the army?" Su Shi looked puzzled, "The subsidy for the soldiers was also set by the prince, the purpose is to let the soldiers in the army have no worries and reduce the income gap with the civil officials. ”

"Childe doesn't know." Zhou Jin sighed: "In the two years after the death of the prince's elder brother, there were frequent disasters in the north, with heavy snow in the north and many people freezing to death, and floods in the south that washed away countless fertile fields. Coupled with the earthquake and drought, the imperial court was engaged in disaster relief all year round, and even the national treasury at that time was too abundant to bear. ”

"The prince's brother's subsidies to the army are not only many, but also very high, and the expenditure of the subsidies accounts for almost half of the revenue of the state treasury. If the treasury is abundant, it is fine, but when the treasury is tight, it arouses the dissatisfaction of the ministers of the DPRK and China, so they write letters to reduce the subsidies for soldiers. ”

Su Shi lowered his head and thought about it, vaguely remembering that the past two years were indeed full of disasters, but he still had doubts.

"When the national treasury was in difficulty, it was understandable to reduce the subsidies for soldiers, but after two years, the disaster has subsided and the national treasury has gradually become abundant, why has the subsidies for soldiers not been restored?"

"After two years of disasters, the wind and rain have been smooth since then, and the national treasury has gradually become abundant. Since then, the Ministry of War has raised this matter many times, but at that time, the country and the people were safe, so the proposal of the Ministry of War was rejected by the other five departments on the pretext that it was time to rest and recuperate, and it was not appropriate to fight again, but to educate the world first. ”

The civil and military disputes have been the focus of court debates since ancient times, but if it comes to court debates, how can those military generals be the opponents of Wenchen, so Su Shi was not surprised by Zhou Jin's words at all.

However, he was very concerned about Zhou Yi's attitude, so he frowned slightly: "Wenchen is not willing to make the generals bigger, and it is not surprising to me that he restricts the army everywhere, but His Majesty should be well aware of its drawbacks, why would he let Wenchen suppress the army?" ”

Zhou Jin hesitated for a moment, and finally turned into a long sigh: "My father has been learning the Tao for many years, and his temperament is indifferent, so my father's concept of governing the country is to rule by doing nothing. ”

Su Shi smiled bitterly: "Doing nothing is not about doing nothing. ”

"Actually, my father pinned all his hopes on the prince's brother, but it was ......"

"It's just that the crown prince died young, so His Majesty will do nothing."

Zhou Jin was silent with his front in his head, obviously agreeing with his statement, but Su Shi couldn't help but ask: "Since the crown prince has a decree first, why would Your Majesty allow me to do business?" ”

Zhou Jin's expression suddenly moved, but then he shook his head and said, "I don't know." ”

Su Shi smiled and said slowly: "Actually, you should think of it." ”

Zhou Jin was silent again, Su Shi didn't speak again, and the study suddenly became silent.

I don't know how long it took, the weather became hotter and more dreary, and the ice cubes in the cold drink had completely melted, so Zhou Jin looked up at Su Shi.

"Why did you suddenly mention this decree of the prince's brother?"

"Because I lost 10,000 taels of silver at the Supreme Gambling House last night."

Zhou Jin tilted her head and looked at him suspiciously, because she really couldn't understand what the relationship between these two things was.

"He Shouzheng, the boss of the Supreme Gambling House, turned out to be the deputy lieutenant of the guard battalion." Speaking of this, Su Shi sighed: "Although I lost 10,000 taels of silver from him last night, he wanted to give me the gambling house." ”

At this time, Zhou Jin suddenly remembered that he had also wanted to give the painting boat to Su Shi, and couldn't help but smile: "I didn't expect your popularity to be so good, no matter where you go, someone wants to send you money." ”

But after laughing, Zhou Jin said with a straight face: "But no one will give away their money-making industry for no reason." ”

"Because they want to change careers and do legitimate business, that's why they came to me."

"Them?"

Su Shi groaned: "Although Boss He didn't say who they were, they should be from the five camps in the capital." ”

Zhou Jin was slightly stunned, then thought about it seriously, and suddenly realized, but his face suddenly became a little worried: "You didn't promise them, did you?" ”

"I didn't say yes on the spot, but I'll give them an answer the day after tomorrow."

"No way!" Zhou Jin exclaimed excitedly, "You must not have any cooperation with them. ”

Su Shi said slowly: "Doing business is all about mutual benefit, so it is not so easy to cooperate with me, in addition to sincerity, I also want to know what strength they have to cooperate with me." ”

Zhou Jin still shook his head resolutely: "You must not cooperate with the people of the five major battalions in the capital, nine years ago, the Chu commander of the Zhongjunwei cooperated with the Changfeng Commercial Bank, and as a result, Shen Junyi, the shopkeeper of the Changfeng Commercial Bank, was imprisoned for misdeeds, and finally died tragically in prison, and Chu Qunfeng was also exiled to the wilderness. ”

Su Shi said calmly: "That was nine years ago, and now the world has changed, I believe Your Majesty will not care." ”

Zhou Jin saw that Su Shi was stubborn, and he was very anxious, and couldn't help but scold: "Do you know how many pairs of eyes are staring at the five major camps in the capital, even if the father doesn't care, if the minister of the court knows that you have business dealings with the five camps, he will still write to the father and the emperor to impeach you, I am worried...... I'm worried about ......"

Su Shi smiled and said, "Are you worried that I will end up like Chu Qunfeng?" ”

Looking at Su Shi's smiling face, Zhou Jin was angry: "You still have the heart to laugh." Now that the capital is full of wind and rain, do you want to add to the chaos? ”

Su Shi restrained his smile, looked into the distance with deep eyes, and said quietly: "It is precisely because of the undercurrent in the capital that I also want to know who is a human and who is a ghost." And ......"

"And what?"

"With the storm, no one can stay out of it." Su Shi seemed to have infinite emotion: "And it is not easy to survive this storm." ”

The sun outside the window was mercilessly scorching the earth, and Zhou Jin looked at Su Shi's gloomy and cloudy face, and his mood suddenly became irritable.

She gently took Su Shi's hand, but found that his hand was cold in such a hot weather.