Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Quan Shuyu was amused by his appearance and couldn't help laughing twice before asking him, "Yes, why doesn't the young master want you?"

Fu Jiu immediately looked at Chen Shao. Although Chen Shao did not reject him, his eyes were full of accusations.

Chen Shaoyang raised his eyebrows, but did not raise his eyes from the letter from the General of the Auxiliary State.

Quan Shuyu was amused by him again. After laughing, he said with a serious expression that he had never had before: "You have never thought that the young master would not want you. Those merchants must have never thought that the government would not allow them to do business. Many merchants have been doing business for generations, and they have long lost their ability to farm. Many merchants have made money from the land with great difficulty and have an easy life as merchants. Now, for our own selfish reasons, we forbid them from doing business and ask them to go back to farming. What are the consequences? Have you ever thought about it?"

Fu Jiu asked subconsciously: "What are the consequences?"

Quan Shuyu said seriously, "There are only two consequences I can think of. One is that they will be forced to rebel. The other is that they will use the money they earn from business to hoard land, hire poor people to farm for them, and then use the money they earn to continue hoarding land, and eventually develop into the same manors as the Zhu and Gu families that were uprooted. If, in order to avoid this consequence, we order them not to hoard land, they will eventually become bandits, just like the Wang and Liu families did in the past."

Fu Jiu muttered, "How can it be that serious?"

"As the saying goes, to take away someone's wealth is like killing their parents," Chan Yi glared at him unhappily, "Do you think it's that serious?"

Quan Shuyu nodded and added: "If it were a peaceful and prosperous era, it might not be so serious, but don't forget that we are still facing many enemies, such as the princelings of the previous dynasty. The Zhu family, Gu family, Fan family, and Qi family have been great noble families for decades, and they still can't stand the instigation of the princelings of the previous dynasty. These merchants are really treated harshly here. I believe that the princelings of the previous dynasty can easily instigate them to rebel with just a few random instigations."

Fu Jiu stopped talking, mainly because she was at a loss for words and didn't know how to refute.

Li Tianliu looked at her calmly, then looked at Chen Shao, then looked at her again, and snorted, "As expected, people who keep bad company are bad. It's only been a short time since you started talking to her, but she already has her own way of speaking."

Chan Yi hummed, "Do you have any objections?"

Li Tianliu leaned against the door and shrugged, "What if there is, what if there isn't?"

"So what if there is something, so what if there isn't anything," Chan Yi said in a strange tone, "as if no one cares."

Li Tianliu was speechless.

Upon seeing this, Fu Jiu immediately laughed out loud in relief.

Li Tianliu glanced at him, snorted again, and looked at Chen Shao with a cold face.

Chen Shao had already finished reading the letter from the General of the State, and handed it to him, saying, "Take a look first."

While he was reading, she also opened the letter from the capital.

The moment he saw the handwriting, Chen Shao frowned slightly.

The letter was again written by the prince.

After looking through all the letters and confirming that there was no handwriting from Chen Zhao, Chen Shao couldn't help but frowning again.

Before receiving this letter, she had already written three letters to Chen Zhao.

One letter was to inform Qingyu about his problem.

One letter asked Chen Zhao to check how many court officials surrendered to Datong and how many ministers were appointed when the previous dynasty fell.

One letter was for him to help pass on to Huiyin, asking her why her handwriting was similar to that of the great-grandson of the former prince.

The reply letter in her hand was very thick. From the brief glance she took when she was looking through Chen Zhao's handwriting earlier, she knew it was a response to her first two letters.

Holding back his worry about why it wasn't Chen Zhao who replied, Chen Shao quickly read through the letter.

When the previous dynasty fell, the officials who surrendered to the court totaled nearly 900 people, and the court continued to employ nearly 600 people. Among the nearly 400 people, 73 people were ranked fifth or above, 491 people were ranked seventh or above, and the rest were ranked eighth and ninth.

Those who are not up to standard are not included.

Nearly 600 people continued to be employed by the court, 349 of whom have been passed down to the present day, and 77 of their family members are still serving as officials in the court.

Among the seventy-seven people, twenty-six were ranked fifth and above, thirty-one were ranked seventh and above, and the rest were ranked eighth and ninth.

The 349 people who have been passed down to the present day, whether they are officials or not, still need to be investigated in detail whether they have any connection with the princelings of the previous dynasty, and no results have been found so far.

As for Qingyu... the situation is more complicated than that of the prince's party in the previous dynasty. You won't know unless you investigate. Once you investigate, you will find that most of the powerful and noble families in the capital, including wealthy businessmen, have private collections of Qingyu.

Even many people around the prince have private collections.

According to the investigation of the people around them, a small part of the jade they kept was inherited from their families, and most of it was given by others. Even if the jade inherited from their families was carved with Buddha, no dagger-shaped flesh bun was found, which means it was normal jade. On the jade given as gifts, many Buddhas were found to be carved with lotus patterns and dagger-shaped flesh bun. But the people who kept this part of jade privately did not know its meaning.

Chen Shao's brows, which had just relaxed, were twisted together again unconsciously.

The prevalence of sapphires, especially those with lotus patterns and dagger-shaped Buddha buns, was enough to prove that her previous speculation about the level was wrong.

"The General of the State denied that those calligraphy and paintings were from his hand," Li Tianliu frowned after reading the letter from the General of the State. "In order to clear up the misunderstanding, he has asked Miss Gu Liu to go to the border guarded by the Duke of Chen's Mansion... What does he want to do?"

The general who assisted the country was named Gu.

Miss Gu Liu is his youngest daughter. It is said that she is both civil and military, and her ability to lead troops in battle is even better than that of the generals who assist the country.

Li Tianliu naturally scoffed at such rumors, but even if he didn't believe them, he was somewhat worried that the General of the State would send her to the residence of Duke Chen at this time.

Without waiting for Chen Shao to answer, he looked at the military seal and private seal of the General of the State specially stamped at the end of the letter, and said, "I think these two seals are no different from those on the calligraphy and paintings!"

Fu Jiu came over to take a look and agreed, "I don't see any difference either."

Seeing Chan Yi waiting on the side, Li Tianliu handed the letter over.

Chan Yi looked at it for a moment and couldn't help but frowning, "Not only are there two seals, but the handwriting is also no different from those calligraphy and paintings."

Quan Shuyu nodded aside, she couldn't see any difference either.

Chen Shao's thoughts were interrupted by them. He looked up at the letter in their hands and ordered, "Arrange someone to call Xu Guang back."

After Fu Jiu left, Chen Shao looked at Li Tianliu and asked, "Have you received any news from the capital recently?"

Li Tianliu looked at the letter in her hand: "No."

Chen Shao stared into his eyes: "Are you sure?"