Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 341 No Motivation
These days, because the 300 million yuan planned earlier was inexplicably used up halfway through the construction of the reservoir.The laborers recruited by the local government could not get their wages and were not motivated, which seriously delayed the progress of the reservoir construction.Although the Son of Heaven and the imperial court previously sent Yushitai and Dali Temple to investigate and deal with it, and now they have let the Supervision Department of the Huaxia Weifu take over the matter, but the construction of the reservoir cannot be delayed, so Luo Gongming, the envoy of the third department, has become the target of public criticism. His Majesty tried his best to keep it, no matter what, the God of Wealth of the Song Dynasty was about to be forced to resign.

The Song Kingdom fought wars every year, and today it did not impose heavy taxes on farmers. In the past few years, commercial taxes had been ignored, and the collection was somewhat small.So the treasury can't get enough money now.Zhengshitang asked the third division for it, but the third division could not come up with any extra money.In the end, the three prime ministers of the Zhengshitang decided to ask His Majesty's internal treasury for money.

It's just that when Zhao Kuangyin first established the internal treasury, he had already set the tone. The money in the internal treasury was only used for military affairs, but he didn't want to break this practice.

Ever since, Prime Minister Zhao Pu came to the palace, obviously the communication between the monarch and his ministers was not very peaceful.

The emperor coughed, and vaguely mentioned Princess Yongqing, Wuyue Kingdom's dowry tribute, and the inspection department of the Huaxia Weifu found out corrupt officials, ransacked homes and collected money, and other vague words.Prime Minister Zhao Pu's complexion finally improved.

Zhao Pu lowered his voice, but his face was full of worry, and he said solemnly: "Officials, I am afraid that time is too late, the weather is getting colder, and the earth and rocks in Guanzhong are frozen, so it will take more time, effort and money to build the reservoir. And the river is corrupt. I'm afraid the matter is a bit complicated, otherwise Yushitai and Dali Temple would not have found out anything famous after more than a month of investigation. The Supervision Department of the Huaxia Weifu... no matter how powerful it is, I am afraid it will take a lot of time. Therefore, it is probably too late to rely on copying the money collected by those corrupt officials."

The emperor laughed and comforted Zhao Pu and said, "I asked Ye Chen to leave to escort Princess Yongqing to Wuyue Kingdom in a few days. As soon as Yongqing leaves here, Wuyue Kingdom will definitely send a betrothal gift and money when they get the news. It should be in time. Hmm! Find an opportunity to hint to the deputy envoy of Wuyue Kingdom who has not left yet, that it is best to exchange all the dowry money into silver, and it should not be less than 30 taels of silver."

Zhao Pu responded, and left the Chongzheng Hall with a smile.Both of them are very business-like people, especially when no one else is around, they speak more directly.Xin Shi next to him heard that although his face did not change, he was already taken aback in his heart, thinking that the emperor and the prime minister at this time actually looked the same as when his father married his sister when he was a child.

Thinking of this, Xin Shi suddenly became agitated, thinking that this matter should not be very important, and there is no need to take the risk of telling Lord Hou.

In the carriage leaving the palace, Ye Chen and Zhao Defang sat facing each other, talking happily.

Zhao Defang looked at Ye Chen's eyes glowing, and asked one question after another curiously like a baby.Ye Chen didn't show any impatience, and told him with a gentle face, just like telling a story.

In addition to the hundred black cavalry brought by Hei Yue, there were ten more guards, two court ladies, and two eunuchs outside the carriage.Ye Chen glanced at the ten big inner guards, and found that the martial arts were not weak, especially the one who took the lead, already had the strength of a first-rate master, and the other four had also reached the level of a second-rate master.

From these ten people, it can be seen that the guards in the imperial palace are quite strong.

As far as Ye Chen knew, the core officers and leaders of the guards in the Great Song Palace were all from Zhao Kuangyin's own barracks back then, and the rest were selected from the Forbidden Army in the capital.Of course, the origin and loyalty must have been investigated and tested repeatedly.

From this point of view, there should be no people from the Holy Church and Maitreya among the guards in the palace.Even if there are, most of them are among the eunuchs and maids, or... directly some nobles in the palace.

When Ye Chen came back from Sichuan and Shu a few days ago, he had already asked the intelligence department to secretly investigate the origins of all the nobles in the palace. Because this matter was too taboo, he did not dare to touch too many people during the investigation. They are all the absolute confidantes of Ye Chen, Li Junhao, and Xu Fangyi. Most of them come from the Southern Gang who originally came to Kaifeng from Yongle Border City. The number of people is limited, and they dare not be blatant, so the progress seems to be very slow. So far there is nothing reward.

Thoughts flickered in Ye Chen's mind, while telling Zhao Defang some of his own deeds, he soon arrived at Ye Mansion.

Ye Chen didn't tell the whole Ye family that he brought a prince back.But he sent someone to send back the news in advance, saying that he had accepted a student.Ma Gangzi had already gathered all the servants in the mansion together and stood at the door to greet him.Ye Chen's other two students - Shui'er and Kou Zhun also stood aside curiously.

After saluting to Ye Chen from all over Ye Mansion, Ye Chen said: "This is a student I have accepted. From now on, the status in the mansion will be the same as that of Shui'er and Hu Zi. When you see him, please call him Master Riming!" Zhao Defang’s character was not found in the information, because Zhao Dezhao’s character is ‘Rixin’, so he made up a random word ‘Riming’ for Zhao Defang), Shui’er and Huzi stay, and everyone else retreats!”

After everyone retreated, Ye Chen turned around and said to Ma Gangzi: "Release the small courtyard next to Huzi courtyard for Riming to live in. You first take Riming's followers and move Riming's things there. Then go get ready."

Ma Gangzi respectfully said yes, the ten guards, two eunuchs, and two maids saw that Zhao Defang didn't move, and the latter hurriedly said: "I don't want to go, what the teacher said will be the same as what I said in the future."

Zhao Defang's fourteen attendants then respectfully said: "Yes...Young Master." Then they saluted Ye Chen, and then followed Ma Gangzi, with the help of some Yefu servants, and began to carry the things that Zhao Defang pulled from the palace. Two carts of stuff.

Ye Chen knew that the news that he accepted the little prince Zhao Defang as a student and brought him to live in his mansion would soon reach the ears of the real people in Kaifeng.But before he left the palace, he had already told Yue Defang that there was no little prince in Yefu, only his students.Not only was Zhao Defang not displeased at the time, but he agreed happily, and told his entourage to call him Young Master after they came to Ye Mansion.

When Shui'er and Huzi saw Zhao Defang's ostentation, they wondered about Zhao Defang's identity, but they only knew that his identity must be something special, but they didn't think that he would be the little prince.

Ye Chen didn't immediately introduce Shui'er and Huzi to Zhao Defang, but took the three teenagers to Yefu's school.

Zhao Defang looked left and right along the way, with a curious face, hesitant to speak several times, and wanted to ask Ye Chen where the "half-dead labyrinth" was, but he was smart enough to know that Ye Chen should take him to do something like apprentice ceremony Well, the good royal education let him know that this is not the time to ask other things, so he just kept it in his heart and didn't speak along the way.

Soon, the four of them came to the school,
Yefu's school was designed and rebuilt by Ye Chen himself.It combines some structural features of private schools of aristocratic families in this era and the classrooms of later generations of schools.It may seem weird at first glance, but if you study it carefully, you will find that the design is extremely reasonable.Zhao Defang was amazed at the sight, and finally couldn't help but said: "Teacher! The school in your house looks so magical."

Ye Chen and Kou Zhun smiled silently, while Shui'er burst out laughing out loud. The little girl was so charming that Zhao Defang blushed and stopped talking.

Ye Chen walked to the front of the desk, and the three of them consciously sat down in the student's position below.

Ye Chen then said casually: "This is your senior brother and senior sister. You three little guys should get to know each other first!"

"My name is Kou Zhun, and I'm a big brother. I'm 15 years old." Huzi said first, and saluted Zhao Defang.

Zhao Defang was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly returned the gift, then glanced at Ye Chen, seeing the latter nodding, he said awkwardly: "Hello, big brother, my name is Zhao Defang, I am 13 years old this year."

Hearing the words, Huzi couldn't help being stunned for a moment, then suddenly remembered something, stared at Zhao Defang dumbfounded, couldn't speak for a long time, and wanted to kneel down to salute, but when he thought about what Ye Chen said at the gate of the mansion before, plus he was Eldest brother, he didn't know what to do for a while, he turned his head and glanced at the teacher instinctively, and saw that Ye Chen didn't say anything, his expression returned to calm, but the gaze he looked at Zhao Defang was different.

Although Huzi is young, but he has a careful mind, but he has already thought of the real meaning behind the fact that the little prince worshiped his teacher as his teacher, and his mind was shocked for a while.

At this time, Shui'er was grinning, raised his hand and rubbed the top of Zhao Defang's head twice, making the latter's hair a little messy, then looked at Zhao Defang with a slightly unnaturally shy expression, and Huzi opened his eyes again when he saw him. Looking at Shui'er's expression, she pursed her lips and said playfully, "I'm your senior sister Shui'er. The little junior is really good-looking, much prettier than Huzi. From now on, I have to listen to my senior sister!"

At the end, Shui'er stretched out her white and tender hands again, and pinched Zhao Defang's slightly chubby face.Huzi could no longer pretend to be calm, and said, "Shui'er must not be rude."

Shui'er was stunned for a moment, bowed with his little hand, and the strike was like lightning. Before Huzi could react, he had already knocked on Huzi's forehead, and said: "You are rude! Of course I know that little Who is the younger brother?"

Ye Chen kept looking at Zhao Defang's face from the side, and found that Zhao Defang was not only not displeased with Shui'er's rudeness, but was a little embarrassed and shy facing Shui'er after a moment of surprise.

Seeing this, Ye Chen couldn't help showing a knowing smile, and at the same time felt that Shui'er, under the guidance of Yu Daoxiang, was indeed very courageous, and had a strong aura and charm.On the one hand, he was also very satisfied with Zhao Defang's performance.Apparently, compared to his brother Zhao Dezhao, Zhao Defang hasn't developed the somewhat domineering and arrogant character of the latter, on the contrary, his nature is quite good.

Zhao Defang stared blankly at Shui'er for a long time before reacting and said, "I've seen Senior Sister."

"Okay, now you all know each other. Let me talk about your Highness's course schedule first." Ye Chen said at the right time.

(End of this chapter)