Chapter 553: Actively Responding to the Call

"Money?"

Liu Zheng was stunned for a moment.

Immediately, he felt relieved.

Of course.

Xie Tianyao's birthday was coming up soon. Just looking at the atmosphere throughout the entire Longyan Dynasty, one knew that the expenses for this grand event would likely be extraordinary. The whole country was celebrating, and just arriving at Yang'an Pass, one could see an endless stream of teams and horse carriages coming from all over to see Xie Tianyao.

Do you think these people are all coming to pay tribute?

No, no, no.

According to the usual nature of the Longyan Dynasty, no matter how much these people offered Xie Tianyao each year, Xie Tianyao would wave his hand and have the Ministry of Rites prepare gifts of double the value to "bestow" back!

It was euphemistically called: as a Celestial Empire, they would not take advantage of these small vassal states.

Magnanimous!

Overbearing!

Therefore, although Xie Tianyao had been in court for nearly forty years and the Longyan fiscal revenue had been in deficit year after year, he had never faltered in this regard—otherwise, one could not buy the title of a County Marquis with just one million taels of silver.

This year, it was even more so.

Everyone probably knew that Xie Tianyao's time was running out, and this was likely his last birthday.

Whether it involved the struggle for the succession or the fate of this dying Longyan Dynasty, the various complex and intertwined situations had led to this grand event this year, which seemed like a final flash of brilliance!

An unprecedented grand event!

Firecrackers everywhere, trees of silver flowers—such a description was not an exaggeration at all.

One could imagine how much financial power the Longyan imperial court would consume just for this grand event. Plus, there were the rewards to be given out.

How large was this fiscal gap?

"Haha, I heard that the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, Ma Zhizhong, has been begging everyone lately. Just a few days ago, he sent a letter to this Mandarin, asking us Feudatory Kings to help prepare... but you think, this time Xie Ling almost squandered the entire wealth of Jiangnan for you..."

The Prince of Yong was a legitimate imperial relative, so he naturally understood the truth of the matter.

"Oh? Is it already that miserable?"

Hearing this, Liu Zheng breathed a sigh of relief, slapped his thigh, and laughed: "Not to mention, Liangzhou is not short of money right now! Good, anyway, there is no rush for time. I will write a letter immediately, have people prepare a large amount of gold and silver, and we will show off our wealth all the way to the Capital! Let's see if that old Emperor has the heart to kill me!"

The Prince of Yong listened and smiled bitterly.

Jinghua.

The defeat was like a collapsing mountain.

With Xie Ling dead, Empress Zheng Fu could already be considered a lonely person.

All political enemies moved at the same time upon hearing the news.

Crown Prince Xie Fang, leading men from the Dali Temple overnight, used the name of the Eastern Palace and the pretext of thoroughly investigating "Imperial Birthday Corruption" to arrest more than twenty officials from Xie Ling's former faction overnight. In this process, his spearhead had once pointed toward Zhu Zhen's side.

Fortunately, at this time, Zhu Zhen decisively cut off his own arm to avoid the sharp edge.

As the Minister of Personnel, he did not come forward to protect any of Xie Ling's former subordinates. This was equivalent to the Scholar-Official Group losing nearly half of its territory in an instant.

These scholar-officials were bleeding in their hearts.

Shangshu Mansion.

At night.

Zhu Zhen sat in the center position again.

Below him on the left and right were the bigwigs of the Scholar-Official Group.

"Everyone, please think of a method!"

Zhu Zhen threw an account book from his hand.

The crowd looked at each other and passed it around.

"This..."

"My Lord, for the Emperor's birthday this time, the deficit actually reaches five thousand taels of silver?"

Five thousand taels!

This was the fiscal revenue of the Longyan Dynasty for two years!

Zhu Zhen gave a cold laugh: "This is only a conservative estimate. There are still some vassal states coming from afar that have not been counted yet. If they all take out as many things as the Qiang People Royal Court did, how are we supposed to pay it back?"

This statement shocked everyone.

"But my Lord... this is the business of the Ministry of Rites!"

"That's right! What does it have to do with our Ministry of Personnel?"

"We don't have money either..."

Zhu Zhen rebuked angrily: "Stupid!"

"The Emperor's birthday is a major event for the country! Do you really think the Ministry of Personnel can escape responsibility? Don't mention the Ministry of Personnel; this time the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works are all helping to raise money! Fellow colleagues, we have already lost one battle regarding the Third Prince. If we let those Feudatory Kings get ahead of us on the issue of funds? Then our voice in the court will become less and less! According to what I heard, the Emperor intends to emulate Liangzhou after this birthday and create a Cabinet in the court. Everyone, I believe you all understand what that Cabinet is. This is a great transformation for the Longyan Dynasty in a thousand years! If we lose this round too..."

Zhu Zhen's words plunged everyone into deep thought.

The situation was urgent!

There was no time to delay!

For the first time in thousands of years, the scholar-officials encountered such a predicament.

"Good!"

"We will go down and arrange it immediately!"

"If we scrape together, there will still be some."

The group also knew that as things stood, Crown Prince Xie Fang was the sole power, and Zhu Zhen intended to support the Eleventh Prince Xie Ming. If they lost another battle on these funds, they would completely deviate from the political center of the Longyan Dynasty.

Scrape!

Since ancient times, the Scholar-Official Group has controlled the elites, Powerful Clans, and noble families across society, among whom there is no shortage of merchants.

If one thinks of a Method, one can always scrape something together.

……

The Eastern Palace.

The Crown Prince has been in high spirits and showing his sharp edge these past few days.

Following the downfall of Xie Ling, more and more people have begun to lean toward him.

He led the men of the Dali Temple to strike out in all directions.

Consort Shu, Consort De, and others in the inner palace have already begun to sideline the Empress.

The entire Jinghua is in a state of extreme tension, with every rustle of grass or tree looking like an enemy soldier.

"Hahahaha, delightful, truly delightful! These past few days, I have truly been delighted!"

Xie Fang took a large gulp of wine and laughed wildly.

His Think Tank was also there, offering all sorts of flattery.

"It is just that..."

Xie Fang suddenly sighed: "That Prefect Liu..."

As soon as these three words were spoken, the atmosphere of the entire room became oppressive.

Prefect Liu...

Although these three words sounded ordinary, to the people present, they represented an absolute suppression in terms of momentum, spirit, and psychology.

The lively banquet suddenly turned eerie.

"Hahahaha, he is but a Prefect, why fear him?"

A Strategist said stubbornly.

Others followed suit and laughed: "Exactly, Your Highness, no need to worry; if he didn't die, it is just his good fortune!"

"Besides, he forced Xie Ling to his death; how could the Emperor easily let him off?"

"However, this Longyang Princess is..."

That white-haired Strategist chuckled: "The Empress's faction, which had been operating in Jinghua for decades, collapsed just like that; what is there to fear from a Longyang Princess with no roots and no foundation?"

He cupped his hands toward the Crown Prince and said: "Your Highness, this time, the Feudatory Kings from all regions are actively responding to the imperial court's call and raising funds everywhere. When the time comes, it will all be presented to the Emperor in the name of the Eastern Palace! On this point alone, no one can compare. Your Highness can rest easy this time!"

"Congratulations, Your Highness!"

"Felicitations, Your Highness!"

The group was in high spirits.

Xie Fang could only laugh along with them.

But for some reason...

Every time he thinks of Prefect Liu, and that he actually didn't die, his heart always skips a beat from time to time...