The ministers begged me to ascend the throne

Chapter 496: Could his luck be too good?

After summer, the swamp mansion is getting hotter and stuffier. Although there were ice cubes in the palace, Zhao Yao still felt uncomfortable and stuffy. He decided to go to the mountains to cool off for a few days.

The former governor of Marsh Prefecture had a village in the mountains specially used to escape the summer heat. Last year, after Zhao Yao came, this village naturally became his.

It's much cooler in the mountains and there's basically no need for ice. However, there is something bad about the mountains, that is, there are many snakes, insects, rats, and ants. However, Zhao Yao was surrounded by Xiaobai and General Tiger, as well as cats, dogs, snakes, insects, rats, ants, and wild beasts in the mountains who did not dare to approach him.

In the past two days, Zhao Yao often went up the mountain to walk around and pick rare flowers and herbs if he came across them. If you see valuable medicinal materials, dig them out.

Early this morning, Zhao Yao took Tongxi and four brothers up the mountain to play. In the past two days, they had been wandering outside the mountain without going deep into the mountain. Today, they plan to explore deep into the mountains. With General Tiger following them, the wild beasts in the mountains did not dare to approach them.

There was no fog at the foot of the mountain, but unexpectedly, it was shrouded in fog in the mountains. Zhao Yao and the others were careful, but still got separated. Fortunately, General Tiger has been following Zhao Yao closely.

Zhao Yao was worried that Tongxi and the others would be in danger, so he asked Xiaobai to find them and take them down the mountain. He took General Tiger and walked down the mountain first. It's very foggy in the mountains today, so it's not suitable for hiking.

When going down the mountain, Zhao Yao didn't pay attention to his feet. He accidentally slipped and rolled down the mountain. It took nearly a moment to roll before it stopped.

Zhao Yao felt like there were stars in his eyes and the world was spinning. General Tiger licked his face for a long time before he came back to his senses.

General Tiger pushed his head against Zhao Yao's stomach and asked with concern: [Yao Yao, are you okay? 】

Zhao Yao reached out and touched General Tiger's big head, and said to him with a smile: "It's okay, it's just that my whole body hurts." After saying that, he raised his eyes and looked around, and found that he was in a valley at the moment. If it weren't for this mountain depression, he didn't know how far he would have rolled.

He was a little disoriented now, unable to distinguish between north, south, east, and west, and couldn't figure out where he was for a while. He patted General Tiger's head gently and said, "Big Tiger, it's up to you, the king of the forest, to take me out."

General Tiger raised his big head proudly and said proudly: [Don't worry Yaoyao, I, the king of the forest, will definitely take you out. 】

Zhao Yao held General Tiger's back with both hands and stood up slowly. Just the act of standing up made Zhao Yao grin his teeth in pain: "Hiss...hiss...hiss..."

Hearing Zhao Yao's gasping sound, General Tiger asked with concern: [Yao Yao, are you okay? 】

"It's nothing serious." After Zhao Yao finished speaking, he heard the faint sound of water, "Is there water near here?"

General Tiger sniffed, smelled the water vapor, and turned his head to the east: "Yes, over there." 】

Zhao Yao saw scars on the backs of his hands and scratches on his face, so he decided to find a stream of water first and clean the wounds, otherwise the wounds would easily become inflamed.

"Take me there."

General Tiger flicked his tail and said to Zhao Yao: [Yao Yao, I will carry you there. 】

"Okay." Zhao Yao was not polite and sat on General Tiger's back.

General Tiger carried Zhao Yao steadily and walked slowly to the stream.

While Zhao Yao was cleaning the wound, General Tiger found some herbs to treat the wound. When their animals are injured or uncomfortable, they will find herbs. He crushed the herbs General Tiger found and applied them to the wound.

After treating his wound, Zhao Yao looked around. He found that there seemed to be a cave in the south, but he couldn't see it clearly because it was far away.

He pointed to a place that seemed to have a cave in the distance, and asked General Tiger beside him: "Big Tiger, is there a cave there?"

General Tiger looked in the direction Zhao Yao pointed, and then nodded his big head to Zhao Yao.

[Well, there is a cave. 】

Zhao Yao was hesitating whether to go to the cave to have a look. Storybooks often say that there are treasures or precious flowers and medicinal materials hidden in caves deep in the mountains, or there are secrets of peerless martial arts.

[Yao Yao, I will carry you there. 】

Zhao Yao was still curious and wanted to go over and see if there was any treasure inside.

"it is good."

General Tiger carried Zhao Yao on his back and soon reached the entrance of the cave. Zhao Yao did not rush in, but first observed whether there was any wind entering the cave. If the cave is ventilated, it means there will be no poisonous gas or miasma inside.

Without Zhao Yao's instructions, General Tiger walked in first to take a look. After a while, it came out and said to Zhao Yao in surprise: [Yao Yao, there is someone living inside. 】

"Is there anyone living there?" Zhao Yao looked surprised and walked into the cave immediately. After walking for a while, I saw a place similar to a room with a stone bed and quilts on the bed. In addition to the bed, there are stone tables and stone stools. Next to the stone table, there is a stove built with stones. No one has lived here for a long time. There is a thick layer of dust on the bed and stone table.

Zhao Yao searched around the room to see if there was any treasure. After searching for a while, he finally found a space under the bed. There was a box in it, and the box was locked.

The lock on the box was rusty. Zhao Yao took a stone, knocked it hard a few times, and then knocked the lock open.

When he opened the box and saw what was inside, Zhao Yao was stunned. No, it's really just like what's written in the storybook. Is there really a treasure in the cave? !
Also, isn't his luck too good?

Seeing Zhao Yao staring blankly at the contents of the box, General Tiger asked curiously: [Yao Yao, what is this, a stone? 】

"It's really a stone, but it's not an ordinary stone." Zhao Yao stared at the things in the box helplessly. He was not interested in this thing, but it seemed wrong to leave it in this cave. He struggled for a while and decided to take this thing out.

Zhao Yao took out the contents of the box, put it in his arms, and then put the box back to its place.

"Dahu, take me down the mountain." If he didn't go back quickly, they would be worried about him.

General Tiger asked: [Yao Yao, where are the people living here? Aren't you looking for him? 】

"There's no need to look for him, he's already dead." As for where he died, it's probably near the cave.

General Tiger carried Zhao Yao down the mountain. On the way down the mountain, Zhao Yao also dug up a few medicinal herbs.

Their movements are faster. When they returned to Zhuangzi, they were delighted that they had not returned yet. Just when Zhao Yao was about to send someone to find Tongxi and the others, they came back safely.

After returning to Zhuangzi, Song Jicai and others shouted to go fishing. Zhao Yao had no choice but to take them fishing. They were lucky and caught a lot of fish in the afternoon. In the evening, we had a whole fish feast, including boiled fish fillets, braised fish, crucian carp and tofu soup, grilled fish, etc.

During dinner, Song Jicai and the others also lit a bonfire. Several people were eating, drinking, and dancing at the same time, and they stopped only at the end of the day.

After Zhao Yao took a shower, he sat on the bed and looked at the things he brought back from the cave with bitterness and hatred. This thing is a hot potato for him and cannot be left in his hands. Also, no one should know that he has this thing in his hand, especially his second uncle.

It would be more appropriate to give this thing to the fourth brother, but now is not the time to give it to the fourth brother, otherwise the fourth brother will be in danger. This thing is very dangerous. It is not a good thing to leave it in this world. It is better to destroy it now to save trouble later.

Zhao Yao raised the thing in his hand and slammed it on the ground. There was a loud bang. The thing was not smashed, but a corner was broken.

"This thing is really hard and not so easy to smash." Zhao Yao picked up the object he disliked and said, "Why don't you just throw it into the sea so that no one can find it." A corner of the thing in his hand was broken. Zhao Yao didn't feel any distress at all.

Forget it, let's keep it for now, but he has to hide it well, otherwise he will be in danger.

Zhao Yao found a box at random and put the things in his hands in the box. Take him to Beishan Laboratory in two days.

This thing is not safe in the Han Palace. It is safer to put it in the heavily guarded Beishan Laboratory.

Zhao Yao and the others rested in Zhuangzi for a few days and then left. He and his four brothers were very busy and did not have much time to stay in the village to escape the summer heat.

After leaving Zhuangzi, Zhao Yao went to Beishan Laboratory, and then found a random place to bury the things he brought out of the cave. After that, he didn't care anymore.

After the trade conference, the main task of Beishan Laboratory was to get the rubber out, but unfortunately it has not been successful so far. The secondary task is to continue to improve thermal weapons such as muskets and cannons.

Zhao Yao stayed in the Beishan laboratory for two days and then returned to the Han Dynasty. After resting in Zhuangzi for a few days and staying in Beishan Laboratory for two more days, he had to go back when it was time to go to court.

The content of today's morning meeting is to reward officials who have made political achievements in the first half of the year. Officials with particularly outstanding performance in the first half of the year will naturally receive promotions and salary increases. Other officials with better political performance will receive bonuses. The bonus is divided into three levels. The first-class bonus is one hundred dollars. Second-class bonus, sixty coins. The third-class bonus is thirty thousand dollars. In addition to bonuses, there are also rewards for cloth, meat, porcelain and other items.

Zhao Yao personally awarded awards to officials who had made political achievements in front of all the ministers. This was a great honor for the officials who won the awards. It is an incentive for other officers who did not receive the award.

The award-winning officials were also able to give acceptance speeches, and they did so in front of His Royal Highness the King of Han and hundreds of civil and military officials. This was also exciting and honorable.

After the awards were handed out, Zhao Yao first praised the award-winning officials and asked them to keep up their efforts. Then, he encouraged the officials who had not won the award and asked them to keep working hard. Maybe they would be the ones to win the award in the second half of the year.

In addition to encouraging officials to keep up their good work, Zhao Yao also encouraged officials to innovate. As long as officials create useful things or useful methods of doing things, there will be certain rewards.

He also said that officials who have made outstanding political achievements throughout this year will receive a generous year-end bonus at the end of the year, which may be a mansion.

When the civil and military officials heard that they would get a mansion as a year-end bonus, their expressions became very excited. Although His Highness the King of Han has assigned them a house, no, it's called a dormitory, it's not very big. As for the mansion, it must be much larger than the dormitory. They would rather live in a magnificent mansion than in a dormitory.

After the trade conference, Zhao Yao promulgated a law that officials' residences must be built according to the size of their official positions. The size of the residence of an official with a lower official position must not exceed that of an official with a higher official position. If officials want to live in luxurious mansions, they must find ways to get promoted.

Zhao Yao is still very generous to his officials. In addition to allocating them free dormitories, he also gives them a 30% discount on purchasing homesteads or residences. This 30% discount is only available to officials, but not to others. Of course, in order to prevent officials from taking advantage of the 30% discount to seek benefits, Zhao Yao stipulated that officials could only use the 30% discount once, and it would be gone after using it.

Some time ago, many people went to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development to reserve homesteads and residences in advance, including officials. In addition to the benefit of 30% off, officials can also borrow money from banks in the Ministry of Accounts, that is, banks. Of course, there is interest when taking out a loan to buy a house, but the interest is not high. After the officials have applied for the loan, the Ministry of Revenue will directly deduct it from the official's salary.

At present, borrowing money and loans are only open to officials, and are not open to others for the time being, because Zhao Yao feels that it is not the time yet. He plans to open up loans to everyone in two years.

There is no need to worry about excessive specifications for the mansion rewarded by His Highness the King of Han. Officials naturally want to get it.

In order to obtain a mansion by the end of the year, officials are gearing up one by one, preparing to flex their muscles and make outstanding political achievements in the second half of the year.