The king behind the empress

Chapter 143 Disgraceful waste

The next day, Mo Zizai set up a feast for the two courtyards in his palace. The inner courtyard was a little smaller and could only seat about a dozen people. It was used to entertain those particularly wealthy businessmen.

The scale of the banquet in the outer courtyard is much larger, at least more than 100 people can be seated, and it is used to entertain those businessmen with lower wealth and status.

As for the things used to entertain guests at the banquet, apart from clear water, they are some worthless dried fruits, such as melon seeds and... melon seeds.

No way, ever since Jia Fu knew Mo Zizai's purpose, he specifically ordered his servants to only serve melon seeds, and nothing else was allowed. After all, this product is the cheapest.

As for some food and wine, let this group of dying people have a good meal, that doesn't exist at all.

Dazhou is now so short of food, wouldn't it be a waste to feed these dead people? The prince said that waste is shameful, so let them drink some water and go on the road.

Eating less just happens to be able to run on Huangquan Road faster and reincarnate earlier. Jia Fu feels that he is really a good person and always considers others.

And Chen Ying's door-to-door invitations went very smoothly. Although these people didn't know what Mo Zizai's purpose of inviting them was, they had heard of Mo Zizai's murderous name. They didn't use Chen Yingliang's knife at all, and they came one by one quickly. , I'm afraid Mo Zizai will make trouble if I delay the time.

……

All of a sudden, so many businessmen were invited to the palace, and the movement could not be concealed at all. The princes who were waiting in the court hall obviously also received the news.

Yin Qishan, Minister of the Ministry of Rites, saw that there was still a while before he entered the hall, so he went to Qian Min, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and asked in a low voice: "Mr. Qian Ge, what kind of moth is that guy who invited the merchant over? Don’t you want to do something to those businessmen?”

"He dare not."

Qian Min was thinking about something, when he heard Yin Qishan's words, he answered subconsciously, and when he came back to his senses, he raised his head to look at Yin Qishan, and explained: "People and business are the foundation of a country, and people's livelihood is now Weary, if the merchants are moved again, Dazhou will definitely be in turmoil."

"He doesn't dare to do this, even if he really wants to, His Majesty will stop him, don't worry."

Hearing what Qian Min said, Yin Qishan thought for a while, then nodded, obviously agreeing with Qian Min's thoughts.

Li Zhe, the right servant of the Ministry of Punishment, who was standing at the side, couldn't help interjecting quietly when he heard the conversation between the two, "Before Hu Xiaosheng and Yang Xiong died, I probably thought the same way."

"..."

Qian Min was poked at the sore spot, and after a long silence, he said with a dark face: "Officials and business can be the same?"

"It's different."

Li Zhe nodded in agreement, but before Qian Min was happy, he went on to say: "Officials are much more important than businessmen. He dares to kill officials. Why doesn't he dare to kill businessmen?"

"you……"

Qian Min was choked for a moment, and then said a little angrily: "You really want to make things difficult for me, don't you?"

"It's just a matter of fact, why are you in a hurry?"

Seeing Qian Min's distraught look, Li Zhe put his hands into his sleeves, and returned to the queue at the Criminal Department with his head held high as if it had nothing to do with him.

"These bastards from the Ministry of Criminal Justice!"

Qian Min looked at Li Zhe with a gloomy face. The Ministry of Punishment secretly supported King Bei'an, while the family behind him was the Jiangnan family. The demands of the two were completely different before Mo Zizai appeared.

The Ministry of Punishment wants King Bei'an to take the throne, relying on the military power in his hands, to sweep away the serious illness and regain the glory of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

The Jiangnan family behind the household department wanted the empress to continue to reign and maintain the current situation. No one collected their taxes, and they didn't need to send people out for war. It was simply not too moist.

If the border is really urgent, they might help the court if necessary. In a sense, these Jiangnan aristocratic families are the real royalists, because they feel that the emperor's reign is right. It turned out best for them.

Therefore, when the two appeals are different, the Ministry of Punishment often fights with the Ministry of Households and the Ministry of Rites who are against the Ministry of Households.

As for the other military department that fell to the king of Bei'an, most of their power in the military department was emptied by the late emperor. In addition, they did not completely fall to the king of Bei'an.

Therefore, the Ministry of Punishment often uses one against two, and the combat power is quite amazing, so Qian Min can be said to hate people like the Ministry of Punishment.

Because Yin Qishan often got into fights with the Ministry of Justice in person, he was hated by Li Zhe a lot, and he was used to it, so he didn't take this matter to heart, but asked with some concern: "Mr. Qian Ge, Li Zhe said Is it really possible?"

"No, the people in the capital depend on those merchants for food, clothing, housing and transportation. If those merchants are killed, the people in the capital will wear whatever they eat."

Qian Min snorted coldly, and said solemnly: "I heard that His Majesty raised donations from those businessmen yesterday, but the response from those businessmen was very slim. I think it's because of this that I found those businessmen."

"The most he can do is to scare those businessmen and make them bleed a little. If he really wants to kill someone, he dare not."

Speaking of this, Qian Min looked a little disdainful, "If scaring is useful, those businessmen would have become poor ghosts long ago, so don't worry about it, it's just useless work."

……

Just when Qian Min made a conclusion, almost all the businessmen that Mo Zizai hosted were seated.

The speculation in their hearts was similar to that of Qian Min, and they all felt that the capital could not be separated from them, so although they were a little uneasy, they were not too worried.

After asking each other and knowing that everyone didn't know why Mo Zizai hosted them, they gave up guessing. Anyway, when Mo Zizai came, he would know what he wanted to do, so there was no need to speculate here for no reason.

Just looking at the shabby food on the table, some businessmen couldn't help but complain.

"It's fine if there is no wine on this banquet, why are there only melon seeds? Can this be called a banquet?"

"That's right, I heard that King Zizai stole tens of millions of taels of silver, so using this to entertain guests, isn't it too stingy?"

"I'll give you water and melon seeds now, what will I give you when the meeting starts? You won't be given nothing, will you?"

"Probably not. When I was called here, I didn't even eat breakfast. It shouldn't be the case that I won't be allowed to eat anything?"

"You didn't eat breakfast because you weren't hungry, but I was starving. I was called here just as I was about to eat, and now I'm even hungrier."

"Forget it, don't talk, let's eat some sunflower seeds first, in case you really don't give them food this morning, you will really have some resistance."

Because Mo Zizai was not there, these businessmen didn't have any scruples when they complained, and expressed their dissatisfaction one after another. For a while, the banquet in the outer courtyard seemed to be noisy.

Different from the outer courtyard, there are a total of nineteen people sitting in the inner courtyard. These nineteen people are all important figures in the business circle of the capital, so although they are also somewhat dissatisfied with the shabby banquet, no one complains. A little dissatisfied, he sat there waiting for Mo Zizai to arrive.

　Chapter 2 is being written, it won't be that late, and it will definitely be sent out before six o'clock.

　　By the way, I just found out that today is the Dragon Boat Festival, and the group of sand sculptures in the group tried their best to persuade me to let me take a day off. I refused their unreasonable request with great perseverance and insisted on updating. I am so dedicated . (manual funny)

　　
　
(End of this chapter)