Regent, please maintain your aloof image.

Then, Mu Jinchen looked at the other two and asked, "What about Lord Li and Lord Mo? Could it be that they are doing the same thing as Lord Xu and Lord Wang?"

"I am incompetent and truly cannot afford such a large sum of money. Please forgive me, Your Highness," said Lord Mo.

Lord Li replied, "My money is all in my wife's hands, and she is obsessed with money. I really have no choice but to accept this. Please forgive me, Your Highness."

"I've never heard of Lord Li being afraid of his wife before."

"It's normal that Your Highness is too busy to have heard of it."

"So, this is Lord Li's reason for not repaying the money. As the Minister of Justice, does Lord Li intend to knowingly break the law?"

"Your subject dares not."

Mu Jinchen was too lazy to waste any more words with them. "If you two don't pay back the money today, then you don't need to keep your positions as ministers anymore."

Left with no other choice, the two could only reply, "Yes, Your Majesty, we obey."

Then, Mu Jinchen looked at Prince Qing and the others, "Prince Qing, Prince Min, Marquis of Nanyang, General Li, I wonder when you plan to repay the money?"

Prince Qing said calmly, "Your Majesty, it's not that I don't want to repay the money, but I simply don't have that much money to come up with at the moment."

"In the same situation, my several properties have recently encountered some problems, so all the money has been spent there. Therefore, I don't have much money on hand right now. Please forgive me, Your Majesty," Mu Jingfeng said.

The Duke of Ming echoed, "I feel the same way. Please forgive me, Regent."

The Marquis of Nanyang said, "I am incompetent and have failed to educate my son properly. My unfilial son has squandered all the money in the house. I beg the Regent to forgive me."

"Your Majesty..." General Li was about to speak when he was interrupted.

"Enough," Mu Jinchen said, too lazy to listen to their excuses, and turned to Su Jing'an, "Lord Su, what suggestions do you have for this?"

The old Marquis was afraid that Su Jing'an would say something shocking, so he secretly gave him a wink, signaling him to be careful with his words.

However, Su Jing'an ignored this and replied, "Your Highness, I believe that their property can be used to settle the debt, and the recovered property can be managed by a professional or sold."

"Yes, this method is indeed feasible. Didn't Prince Min just say that your properties have run into problems? In that case, they can be used to pay off the debts, saving you the trouble of managing them. However, Prince Min owes a lot of money, and I'm afraid those properties are not enough. If I remember correctly, Qingfeng Tower and Xifeng Tower also belong to Prince Min, right? Why not add these two properties as well? What does Prince Min think?"

Mu Jingfeng then realized that the real intention was not what it seemed. Debt collection was just an excuse; the real target was his businesses. Qingfeng Tower and Xifeng Tower were places he used to gather intelligence, and were important sources of information. Therefore, there was no way he would hand them over.

“The Regent is right. It is only right to pay back debts. I will definitely pay back the money. However, as the Regent also said, the amount I owe is very large. I really cannot come up with so much money in a short time. Therefore, I hope the Regent will give me some time.”

"How long? Ten days should be enough."

"This... is probably not enough."

"Then half a month."

Mu Jingfeng wanted to delay any longer.

Mu Jinchen said directly, "Just half a month, no more delays. If Prince Min still hasn't paid back the money after half a month, then your property will be used to settle the debt."

"Yes," Mu Jingfeng could only reluctantly agree.

Then, Mu Jinchen looked at Prince Qing and slowly said, "As everyone knows, Prince Qing has several horse farms with nearly a hundred fine horses. If these are used to pay off the debt, it should be enough."

Prince Qing looked at him with a probing gaze. Those horse farms seemed to be used for horse racing, but in reality they were used to raise private soldiers. Each horse farm had nearly three hundred people hidden in it. Therefore, he was not sure whether Mu Jinchen knew the inside story or simply liked his horses. So he said, "As Your Majesty knows, this is my only hobby. To me, those horses are like my children. How could I bear to use them to pay off my debts?"

"So, what does Prince Qing mean...?"

"Your Majesty, rest assured, I will repay the debt within a month."

“Then we will give Prince Qing another month. If he has not started riding after a month, then Prince Qing will have to reluctantly give up the horse farm.”

"Yes".

"As for the Duke of Ming, the Marquis of Nanyang, and General Li, you are given three days to repay the debt, or your property will be confiscated."

Now that even Prince Qing and Prince Min had no choice but to submit, how could the three of them dare to be arrogant? Therefore, they replied, "Yes, Your Majesty, we obey."

After the court session ended, the old Marquis found Su Jing'an and angrily said, "Are you crazy, or do you have a death wish? You offended Prince Qing and Prince Min for such a small matter. Do you think you're living too well?"

“It’s a small matter. In my opinion, it’s a small matter. Prince Qing owes more than 60 million taels of silver, and Prince Min owes more than 40 million taels of silver. Together they owe more than 100 million taels of silver. Do you know what this money can do and how many people it can benefit?”

The old Marquis naturally knew this, but he didn't care. For him, protecting the Marquis's mansion was the most important thing.

Just then, Prince Qing and his entourage walked over.

"Lord Su is truly resourceful."

Upon hearing this, the old Marquis couldn't help but feel a little nervous. "Your Highness."

In contrast, Su Jing'an remained calm and composed, and slowly cupped his hands in greeting, saying, "Your Highness."

"It's not a bad thing that Lord Su is conscientious and responsible, but sometimes it's better to be flexible. Otherwise, it would be bad if something unexpected happened to you one day, wouldn't you say?"

"Thank you for the reminder, Marquis of Nanyang."

Prince Qing said nothing more and walked away, with Mu Qiyang following behind him.

General Li glared at Su Jing'an before leaving as well.

The Marquis of Nanyang looked at the old Marquis and said meaningfully, "The Marquis of Anping is very fortunate." After saying that, he walked out without waiting for the old Marquis's response.

The other ministers in the hall also looked at them with strange eyes. When they met Mu Jingfeng's gaze, the old Marquis guiltily looked away and then whispered to Su Jing'an, "Return to the manor immediately." After saying that, he took the lead and walked out with a hurried pace.

Chaoxiyuan

Su Qianrou was reading the letter Xu Linlin had sent. It contained everyday conversations and some interesting things that had happened recently. In addition, it mentioned Gu Mingxuan, saying that he was coming to participate in the imperial examination. This reminded her of what she had said before: that she would invite him to dinner when he arrived in the capital. So she said, "Seven days later, have someone go to the dock to wait for Young Master Gu."

"Are you referring to Young Master Gu Mingxuan, Miss?" Juxia asked.

"Ok".

"It's probably not appropriate for Miss to send someone to wait. It would be better to have the eldest young master send someone instead."

Su Qianrou thought for a moment and said, "Never mind, he should contact my brother, and he will definitely send someone to the dock to pick him up."

“What you say is true, Miss.”

Then, Su Qianrou picked up the envelope and took out a stack of silver notes, totaling as much as 30,000 taels.

"Miss Xu, the money has arrived just in time. You were worried about not having enough money, but now you don't have to worry anymore," Chunzhu said with a smile.

Su Qianrou took out 10,000 taels of silver and handed it to her, saying, "Have Li An send this money to the Lin residence for my eldest cousin."

"Yes," Chunzhu accepted it.