Chapter 227: Keep Your Mouth Shut, Stay Safe

"What kind of martial arts does Chen Tou practice?" the medical official asked.

"Is there a problem?" Chen Guanlou pressed.

The medical official shook his head slowly. "No problem, absolutely no problem. Chen Tou's body is extremely robust; I rarely see such a robust body among prison guards, and it's not common even among ordinary people. Chen Tou's martial arts have some depth!"

Chen Guanlou felt relieved instantly. He had almost thought the medical official had seen through the secrets in his body. Sure enough, no matter how one looked or checked, he was someone without a Wu Mai. Unless he was forced to make a move.

"The medical official doesn't know; everyone sees that I earn a lot of money and thinks I have a vast family fortune. Little do they know, most of my money is spent on myself."

"Oh! I said so. Chen Tou practices martial arts long-term and lives in the dark and damp Heavenly Prison long-term, yet has such a strong body; it must be inseparable from medicinal and dietary supplements. How about this, I'll prescribe you a medicinal bath prescription."

"Thank you! Previously, I bought ordinary tonic prescriptions from medical clinics; I hope Medical Official Mu can prescribe a new one for me. If you do it, it will definitely be more brilliant than the medical clinics outside."

"Hahaha! Chen Tou has insight." Medical Official Mu was not humble at all, picked up a brush to write the prescription, and separately wrote a list of precautions.

Chen Guanlou offered two taels as a diagnosis fee, but Medical Official Mu refused to take it no matter what; in the end, Chen Guanlou forcibly placed the silver in the other's pocket.

This trip could be considered a win-win for everyone.

Medical Official Mu was old and shrewd; in fact, he had some doubts about Chen Guanlou's body. He found that the strength of Chen Guanlou's pulse was far superior to ordinary people, and likewise far superior to other warriors, but he truly did not have a Wu Mai. He did not doubt at all that Chen Guanlou could kill a cow with one punch.

This was the first time he had seen such a formidable warrior.

Although he had doubts in his heart, he did not reveal them at all. Having been in the Heavenly Prison for many years, the most useful knowledge he had learned was to keep his mouth shut and not have curiosity.

He was not curious at all about Chen Guanlou's secrets, nor did he have the desire to investigate. He just treated the other as an ordinary person.

As a doctor, one must have the cultivation to treat all strange things as nothing, to be able to remain calm, with eyes not wandering and heart not panicking, no matter what strange situation one encounters, to stay safe. It's like fortune-telling; keep your mouth shut to live a long life.

Autumn went and winter came!

The first snow of this year came exceptionally early.

The heavy snow crushed a large number of houses, and people died one after another. This was still the capital; the situation outside the capital would only be ten times more serious.

The imperial court demanded disaster relief; this was the proper thing to do.

The Ministry of Revenue was very decisive and allocated a batch of grain and fodder. However, there was no money.

If they wanted to help the commoners repair their houses, there was no money.

Where did the money go?

It was all spent.

The autumn taxes had only been collected for a few months, and they were already spent.

The Ministry of Revenue then counted on their fingers to calculate the accounts for the court officials: the supplementary salaries for officials in the capital, the supplementary silver for various government offices, the silver for the Ministry of War, and the titles and salaries for the imperial clan—with these few items, the silver was visibly bottoming out. The most important item, which the Ministry of Revenue did not mention but everyone knew, was that the Emperor's gardens and palaces also drew a sum of silver from the Ministry of Revenue every year.

The Ministry of Revenue still had a little silver left, which had to be kept for year-end expenses.

Last year, officials in the capital suffered, especially the poor low-level officials, who didn't even have a place to scrape oil and water, and didn't even eat meat during the New Year.

This year, no matter what, it couldn't go on like this. They had to be meticulous with money.

The heavy snow crushed many civilian houses, and post-disaster reconstruction was needed. Everyone should pool their wisdom and think of ways, not always staring at the Ministry of Revenue every time something happened. The Ministry of Revenue was not an immortal and couldn't conjure silver.

How about everyone exert some effort and let the old Emperor give up the gold, silver, and copper mines to be managed by the Ministry of Revenue? Or allow the Ministry of Revenue to collect mining taxes on these mineral resources. Either of these two methods could greatly improve the situation of the Ministry of Revenue.

Impossible!

No way!

The old Emperor would never loosen his mouth.

Then they could only settle for the next best thing and let the wealthy families in the capital and the officials present pool some money to help the commoners in the capital get through the difficulties.

Digging silver out of officials' pockets was a public outrage.

However, the old Emperor strongly agreed with this plan and specifically held a court meeting for this purpose to unify thinking. Whoever didn't contribute silver was going against the old Emperor.

Even the Marquis of Pingjiang, who was idle at home, received a notice that he must attend the court meeting to discuss disaster relief.

The Marquis of Pingjiang had long received internal news that the so-called court meeting was a fundraising meeting, and the old Emperor even set a task for how much money must be raised.

The Master snorted coldly on the spot. "Disaster relief is fake; taking the opportunity to fleece silver to repair the gardens is the truth. It's true the Ministry of Revenue has no money, but it's fake that the inner treasury has no money. The old Emperor refuses to take out money to use, and it's all been embezzled by that bunch of vermin, fattening Jiang Tu and his gang. It's simple if there's no silver to spend; just pull anyone from Jiang Tu's subordinates and raid their home, and it will surely solve the problem of no money for disaster relief."

The guest advisor beside him laughed. "Does the Master forget that when Liu Daowen's home was raided, hundreds of thousands of taels of wealth were confiscated, and most of it went into the old Emperor's inner treasury. The Ministry of Revenue only touched a bit of oil."

The Master sneered. "That bunch of Embroidered Uniform Guard agents are more active than anyone in the business of raiding homes; they grab it even if they have to snatch it. It can only be said that the Ministry of Revenue is incompetent; the Minister of Revenue is good at meticulous calculation but not at competing for interests.

For tasks like raiding homes, even if the Embroidered Uniform Guard is blocking the front, the Ministry of Revenue cannot stand idly by. At worst, send people to charge in, and then file a lawsuit before the Emperor afterwards; no matter what, they can share a bit of the spoils.

As a result, the Embroidered Uniform Guard said they didn't need the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Revenue really didn't send anyone to show their face. A bunch of cowards, it serves the Ministry of Revenue right to have no money. Money is all snatched; how can one count on tax revenue every year?"

As a military general, the Master's way of doing things was simple and crude, speaking with force. Whoever had the bigger fist ate the bigger share. Others feared the Embroidered Uniform Guard, but he didn't. If he were made Minister of Revenue, he guaranteed he would fight all the major government offices in the court and be invincible; no one would want to share the interests of the Ministry of Revenue.

It was just a pity that the Great Gan had its own national conditions and absolutely did not allow nobles to serve as high-ranking ministers.

Counting on the produce from the land, it would take until the year of the monkey and the month of the horse to become wealthy.

Anyway, the Master had never counted on the income from the manor to spend money. The manor was just a part of the family foundation, ensuring everyone had food and drink. To live a wealthy and luxurious life, one had to be willing; one had to be willing to spend money, and also have the courage to risk everything.

"How much silver does the Master plan to donate?" the guest advisor asked curiously.

The Master laughed. "Give the old Emperor some face; this Marquis is kind and charitable, at most one thousand taels. Unless someone takes the lead in being a big spender, then this Marquis will have to follow the trend."

He didn't expect, however, that the palace hoped he would come forward to be the big spender.

When the eunuch in the palace conveyed the old Emperor's intentions to the Master, the Master only wanted to curse, and incidentally greet the old Emperor's ancestors for eighteen generations. ===== CHAPTER 228 =====