I support the army through farming and business.

Chapter 11 Loyalty is more important than filial piety
Yin Wei sat in the chair, his eyes wide open. "How much did you say?"

The lawyer was panicking. He turned around and made eye contact with the accountant. He felt a firmness in his eyes and said with a trembling voice, "Your Excellency, according to the market price, Miss Tang has donated her and her mother's dowry, totaling 478,300 taels of silver."

Four hundred seventy-eight thousand three hundred taels!
Yin Wei was torn between his conscience and his desires.

"Among them, the dowry of Mrs. Song, the original wife of Duke Wei, is worth nearly 400,000 taels," the lawyer lowered his head and added fuel to the fire.

"Done!" Yin Wei neatly arranged his official uniform and ordered, "Prepare the sedan chair and go to the palace."

*****
Bidan Courtyard.

Tang Zhao crawled into the warm bed, holding the hot water bottle in her hand, and Nanny Song personally served her hot tea.

"It's snowing so hard, why did you go out without saying a word?" Nanny Song complained, "What if you get frozen?"

He glared at Chunfeng, who was sitting quietly beside him drinking hot soup, and said, "This is also a useless thing. He doesn't even know how to persuade the girl."

Chunfeng listened obediently and said, "Don't be angry, Mammy. I won't dare to do it again next time."

Nanny Song didn't believe it.

"Mammy, I did something big today," Tang Zhao said, shifting his focus. "Mammy, do you want to know?"

"What's the big deal?" Nanny Song was very supportive.

"I will be able to get my mother's dowry back soon."

"Really? Miss, please don't lie to me!" Nanny Song was so surprised that the wrinkles on her face faded a lot.

"Really, the news will come out tomorrow, no, as early as this afternoon," Tang Zhao estimated.

"Oh my," Nanny Song was so happy that she kept bowing to Buddha. After a while, she remembered to ask, "How did you do that, young lady?"

"I asked someone for help," Tang Zhao said calmly.

"Who?" Nanny Song couldn't think of which powerful family in Luoyang had such magical powers.

Tang Zhao pointed his index finger out the window.

Everyone in the inner room looked up at the dark sky outside the window.

*****
Imperial Palace, Imperial Study Room.

Emperor Kangzhi, who was over sixty years old, held the memorial in his hand, but he felt that the words on it seemed to be blocked by layers of fog and he could not see clearly.

"Bring the golden elixir," Emperor Kangzhi said in a deep voice.

The chief eunuch hesitated, "Your Majesty has already taken three pills before the morning court this morning. The Imperial Master has repeatedly warned us that the Golden Pill is very potent and that we should not take more than three pills a day..."

The remaining dissuasion was swallowed back by Emperor Kangzhi's cold gaze. He took small steps forward quickly, took out a brocade box from his sleeve, and raised his hands above his head.

Milky white pills the size of pearls were arranged in a row. Emperor Kangzhi skillfully picked up one and put it into his mouth, swallowing it with tea.

This time, he waited for half an incense stick before a familiar heat surged in his lower abdomen. The heat flowed along the meridians and blood vessels to all parts of his body, and the aches and pains all over his body were instantly relieved.

Emperor Kangzhi picked up the memorial again and began to review it with ease.

"Your Majesty, the prefect of Luoyang requests an audience."

"Xuan."

Yin Wei walked into the hall and bowed respectfully, "Your Majesty, I, Yin Wei, pay my respects to you."

"No need for formalities," Emperor Kangzhi took a sip of tea, "What's the matter?"

"Your Majesty, I have something to report."

*****
In the Bidan Courtyard, Nanny Song looked at the empty sandalwood box and screamed like an old groundhog, "Did the girl really donate it?!"

Tang Zhao was so happy that he fell on the bed. Chunfeng replied silently, "I donated it. The young lady and the late wife's property were all donated."

*****
In the imperial study, Emperor Kangzhi looked at the two familiar dowry lists and said after a while, "Just follow the rules."

"Your Majesty, Miss Tang," Yin Wei paused and then changed his words, "I have sent someone to collect the portion of the property donated by the Fifth Young Lady of Prince Xuan's Mansion that belongs to the Fifth Young Lady, but the portion that belongs to the late Lady Song of the Duke of Wei..."

Emperor Kangzhi held the dowry list, which he had reviewed for General Song no less than thirty times and still remembered vividly, and asked with a complicated heart, "Why?"

"According to the Fifth Young Lady, the dowry of the late Duke of Wei's wife, Mrs. Song, is still in the Duke of Wei's mansion and did not follow the Young Lady into the Prince's mansion."

"The Fifth Young Master's wife only has the dowry list. If she wants to obtain the items listed, she needs the cooperation of the Duke of Wei's Mansion."

Emperor Kangzhi said calmly, "I remember that after a woman's death, her dowry should be inherited by her children. Why is Song's dowry still in the Duke of Wei's mansion?"

"I have the same question," Yin Wei replied, "but the Fifth Young Master's wife doesn't know the reason, so I'm afraid I can only ask the Duke of Wei's Mansion for clarification."

Emperor Kangzhi snorted coldly, and the palace maids and eunuchs fell silent. Yin Wei's face was calm and composed.

"What do you think, Lord Yin?"

"I believe that our Great Yu governs the world with laws. The law stipulates that whoever owns property has the right to control it."

"Just as Lord Yin said."

Yin Wei accepted the order and took his leave.

*****
In the Bidan Courtyard, Qiuyu wondered, "Miss, will His Majesty help us?"

"Of course," Tang Zhao said, looking at the heavy snow outside the window. "Now, Your Majesty and I are on the same page."

Her mission was accomplished by taking back the dowry from the Duke of Wei's mansion, and His Majesty had money to provide relief to the victims. It was a win-win situation.

Even if the system doesn't judge that she has completed the task, she will be happy as long as she can get money from the vampires in the Duke of Wei's Mansion!

Trying hard to ignore the pain of losing a large inheritance, Tang Zhao covered his chest and brainwashed himself over and over again: A good son does not seek the family inheritance.

"Miss, why do you have to go to so much trouble? Since there is a law, why don't we just go to the house and take back the lady's dowry?" Qiuyu saw the girl's painful expression and felt very painful too.

"You are stupid. If the girl goes to ask for it, Stepmother An will find any excuse to delay it."

Tang Zhao glanced at Chun Feng with admiration. "My stepmother is six months pregnant. If she were a little more ruthless and pretended to have a stomachache because of my anger, it would be easy to accuse me of being unfilial and unbrotherly."

"Now that I've donated my dowry, if the Luoyang government wants the money, they'll have to go to the Duke of Wei's mansion to ask for it. The Luoyang prefect is on the right side of things and has the law at his back. The Duke of Wei's mansion, for the sake of its reputation, can only swallow its anger."

*****
"Two dogs fight, play off."

Inside the official sedan chair at the Luoyang government office, Yin Wei took a sip of tea and said, "The Duke of Wei's Mansion has hit a wall."

The master agreed, "That's right. Spending such a large sum of money to buy the Duke of Wei's Mansion and then suffering a huge loss is really a big deal."

"Although Dayu governs the world with laws, love is the key to everything. If Miss Tang takes personal action to retrieve her biological mother's dowry, she will surely be criticized by the Confucian scholars as unfilial."

"So I have to rely on others. In this world, the only thing that can defeat filial piety is loyalty."

Since ancient times, loyalty and filial piety cannot be achieved at the same time. Giving up filial piety and pursuing loyalty is the natural law and human ethics.

The master was impressed. If it were him, he might not be willing to give it up.

Yin Wei glanced at him and said, "Those who cannot let go of their possessions will inevitably be dragged down by them."

He glanced at the sky and saw that it was not yet noon, so he ordered, "Go to the Duke of Wei's mansion."

The sedan bearer responded and turned to head towards the Duke of Wei's mansion.

(End of this chapter)