In my previous life, I killed my whole family. In my next life, I killed the royal family.

Qi Wan looked at the sad expressions on the faces of everyone in the family and knew that they were worried and uneasy about the impending retaliation from the Second Prince.

She pondered to herself, a strong determination rising in her heart.

"You don't have a way to deal with it, but I do!" She said secretly, "I must protect my family's safety."

Seeing that his family was in a depressed mood, Qi Ze turned the topic around and told them a piece of good news: "The Prime Minister said that he would persuade the emperor to return the one million silver as soon as possible, and we will only owe one month's interest."

"That's a good thing." Pei smiled.

Qi Lu also nodded, "That's a good thing. Remember to thank the Prime Minister handsomely in the future."

"Yes, father." Qi Ze stood up and agreed respectfully.

The people in the Qi Mansion began to talk and laugh again, and mentioned Qi Yuan's marriage. "After the six ceremonies, we will try to find an auspicious day next year to get married." They put the matter of the second prince aside for the time being.

That night, Qi Wan turned the rosary beads on the bed and said silently: "Sweep away all the gold, silver and jewelry of the Second Prince."

A few flashes of light flashed across the sky, illuminating the darkness and attracting Qi Wan's attention.

Qi Wan was curious, "How much gold and silver is there to cause so many flashes of light?"

She flashed into the space and saw hundreds of large iron boxes neatly arranged on the ground.

She was shocked. “I didn’t expect that such an inconspicuous prince would have so many gold, silver and jewelry!”

She walked over and opened the lid, and saw it was full of gold bars.

On the lid of the box, there was a bright yellow paper: Reward for Concubine Lu.

Qi Wan searched through more than a dozen boxes and basically figured out where the second prince's gold and silver came from:

Some of it was the wealth left by Concubine Lu;

Some of it was gold and silver that the second prince had obtained through selling official positions and embezzlement. This amount was the largest, accounting for half.

The second prince was in charge of the court's water conservancy, rivers, and building construction. It was obvious how much he had embezzled, and the quality of the things he built could hardly be guaranteed.

There were several boxes of gold and silver which were the betrothal gifts given by the Zongzheng Temple to the Second Prince when he married the Second Imperial Concubine. However, they were withheld by the Second Prince and put into his private treasury instead of being given to the Second Imperial Concubine.

"He is so stingy that he even embezzled the betrothal money for marrying the imperial concubine." Qi Wan said contemptuously.

She suddenly came up with a plan, called Wu Yi, and whispered, "Go tell the Second Prince's guard Qu Er, 'I heard that the Qi Mansion colluded with bandits and stole the tax silver.' Ask him to pass this message to the Second Prince."

Wu Yi was startled and tried to persuade him, "Master, you can't say such things carelessly. It will cause great trouble to the Qi Mansion. The Second Prince is trying to find out what happened to the Qi Mansion. Isn't this giving him something to hold against him?"

"He wants to find out what happened at the Qi Mansion, and he also wants to find evidence." Qi Wan smiled and whispered, "Once he knows the news, he will definitely send someone to follow him. Then I will set up a trap for him and let him know the benefits and disadvantages."

Wu Yi was half-believing and half-doubting, "Master, you must be careful."

"Well, don't worry."

Wu Yi had no choice but to obey. She thought to herself, "Let the master have fun for a while. If the Second Prince really wants to attack the Qi Mansion, I will kill him!"

Qi Wan was laughing secretly, "Second Prince, I don't think you will have the time to make things difficult for our Qi family in the future."

The next day, Commander Zuo went to the imperial study to report, "Your Majesty, we searched several mountains and found no suspicious people."

He hesitated for a moment and didn't mention the Ghost Valley first.

The people he sent in never came out, and their lives or deaths were unknown.

He himself didn't dare to go in and check.

Commander Zuo was afraid and reported it to the emperor, who forced him to go in and check.

If there really was something inside, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to get out once he got in.

Commander Zuo decided, "Let's find a scapegoat and check it out first."

"Where could he be hiding?" the Emperor asked anxiously.

Commander Zuo suggested, "Your Majesty, why not let General Hu get involved? He lost the tax money, so we must get him back. Using the excuse of looking for the tax money, we can secretly look for the man, killing two birds with one stone."

"Don't tell him the truth." The emperor warned.

"Your Majesty, that's for sure." Commander Zuo said sincerely, "I will only ask him to find the bandits and tax silver."

The emperor nodded, "Okay, you will be responsible for arranging for him to find someone."

"I obey, Your Majesty."

Before leaving, Commander Zuo said something to take credit, "Your Majesty, I have arranged for someone to protect me on the official road, and the tax money for September has been delivered safely."

"You did a good job." The emperor praised, "Do this every month from now on."

They selectively forgot one thing: the army sent to escort the silver was led by Qi Lu's subordinate Qi Quan.

Commander Zuo took all the credit for Qi's army and Qi's achievements.

Before Qi Quan went to Yangzhou to escort the tax silver, General Qi Lu repeatedly instructed him, "You must open the box and check the silver in front of the escort chief every night, and check it again every morning to ensure that nothing goes wrong."

The positions of Chief of Staff are held by two eunuchs who are trusted by the Emperor.

Qi Quan was extremely careful and followed the general's instructions to check the silver every day. It was more tiring than before, but much safer.

Fortunately, the silver returned safely and was deposited into the basement of the Ministry of Revenue.

Originally, the Emperor and Commander-in-Chief Zuo were worried that the September tax money would be robbed.

Fortunately, this did not happen. In September, nearly two million taels of silver were sent from Yangzhou to the capital and deposited into the Ministry of Revenue's treasury.

Commander Zuo took credit for the achievement and received the emperor's recognition, so he happily bowed and went out to look for General Hu.

Prime Minister Pei then went to the imperial study to see the emperor.

He first reported a series of good news, "The Crown Prince has given birth to another grandson, and the Zongzheng Temple has sent a gift for congratulations."

"People have been sent to clean up Princess Yong'an's mansion so that she can move in smoothly when the princess gets married."

"The Ministry of Revenue allocated 500,000 taels of silver for the harem."

"Okay." The emperor said weakly.

For the emperor, these things are not exciting at all.

Only if his younger brother Wang Qin was captured or killed could he hold his head high and rest assured.

Prime Minister Pei took the opportunity to say, "Your Majesty, after the Ministry of Revenue spent this month, there is still 1.2 million taels of silver left. Why don't you pay back the borrowed silver first?"

"The tax silver and grain shipped from Shu in October will be even more."

The emperor didn't say anything. He didn't want to use his own tax money to pay for the silver that was stolen by the bandits.

The emperor glanced at Prime Minister Pei with dissatisfaction, knowing that Prime Minister Pei was related to Qi Ze and was speaking for Qi Ze, and did not want Qi Ze to pay more monthly interest.

He heard that Qi Ze had to pay tens of thousands of taels of interest every month.

The emperor secretly thought: "This is as it should be. If I were to buy a Shangshu as a pawnshop, I would have to pay hundreds of thousands of taels."

Prime Minister Pei was shrewd and had many ways to persuade him, "Your Majesty, if you let a minister borrow money and pay monthly interest, it will affect the reputation of our Pu Dynasty in the long run."

"This will easily give foreigners the illusion that we are fighting without silver, and they will definitely cause trouble at the border."

"Foreign invaders will steal our women, ride our horses, and take our food. If we send a large army to fight them, the cost will be high."

The emperor thought about it and felt that it might really be the case.

For example, he once thought, "The barbarians in southern Xinjiang came to us to borrow grain, which means they have no silver and grain to fight. It is better to send troops to destroy them."

Later, he needed money to build a villa and did not want to fight, so he gave up the plan.

When the emperor heard what Prime Minister Pei said, he did some calculations in his mind and felt that compared to the invasion and looting of wealth and women by foreign invaders, the loss of one million taels of tax silver was a small matter.

"Okay!" He nodded, "Let Qi Ze pay back the money he borrowed, and the interest as well."

"Your Majesty is wise." Prime Minister Pei saluted respectfully.

In the morning, Qi Ze was handling affairs when a clerk hurried in and told him that Prime Minister Pei wanted him to come over.

Qi Ze did not dare to delay and immediately followed the clerk to the Prime Minister's residence. After seeing the Prime Minister, he bowed respectfully and greeted him.

Prime Minister Pei looked at him and said seriously, "Master Qi, I called you here today to tell you something. You must return the money you borrowed last time with interest today."

Qi Ze was pleasantly surprised when he heard this, and replied calmly, "Don't worry, Prime Minister. I will return the money today."

Prime Minister Pei listened to his words, nodded slightly, and then lowered his voice and said to Qi Ze: "You should act quickly, so as not to cause more trouble at night."

Qi Ze was filled with gratitude. He knew that this was an opportunity that his uncle had secured for him from the emperor, allowing him to pay off his debts as soon as possible. He bowed to the prime minister with tears of gratitude and said, "Thank you, uncle."

This is not just a matter of tens of thousands of taels of silver in interest a month, there is also one million taels of silver in principal. If the emperor does not agree to pay it back, Qi Ze will be saddled with a huge debt.

Qi Ze wanted to say a few more words to the Prime Minister.

At this time, an official walked in. Qi Ze didn't want to say anything more, so he bowed deeply to the prime minister and said, "I understand." Then he turned and left.