From a son-in-law to a favorite of the empress

Chapter 185

Cao Ye, the Earl of Yong'an, the Grand Commander of the Five Military Camps, one of the giants of the Beijing Camp, and a prominent figure of the Zhejiang Party, actually fell in one day and even lost his life. It was really shocking.

It was not until this time that everyone realized that the southern boy who was kneeling on the ground and asking for death was not that simple.

A boy with no foundation actually relied on unimaginable means to overthrow the military earl of the court and the Grand Commander of the Five Military Camps...

Could this be a coincidence? Obviously impossible.

This boy is very cunning and ruthless. This battle can be said to be earth-shaking.

A rising star has appeared in the Chu Party! He will become a great trouble in the future.

The ministers and officials have countless feelings in their minds at this moment, and they all classify Zhou Yuan as an extremely dangerous person.

Empress Zhaojing's hands were hidden in her sleeves, trembling slightly.

She was extremely excited. She thought that the person she was optimistic about was about to die.

Unexpectedly, my junior brother was retreating to advance, digging a big pit for Cao Ye to jump into, and solving the key figure of the Zhejiang Party for her.

This really surprised her, so much so that she didn't speak immediately, for fear that she couldn't control her emotions and let the important officials notice her joy.

Hey, why is my junior brother still kneeling? You are so young, don't tire yourself out.

"Zhou Yuan, please stand up."

Her tone was calm, but her eyes were full of concern.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Zhou Yuan stood up, neither humble nor arrogant, neither arrogant nor impatient.

Empress Zhaojing liked him more and more, and then said: "You just arrived in Shenjing and took over the North City Military Department for a few days. You were able to rectify the chaos in the department, organize the soldiers to patrol overtime, find the arsonist, put out the fire in time, and save the lives of the people in Mingxuanfang... It's rare."

"Dereliction of duty is nonsense. In my opinion, you are conscientious in your duties and should be a role model!"

Zhou Yuan said respectfully: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your praise. I am just doing my job and I don't deserve it."

Empress Zhaojing looked at He said to the ministers present: "Dear officials in the court, have you heard what Zhou Yuan said? A young man from the south knows that the country is the most important thing. He would rather be sentenced to death than harm the country because of himself."

"You are all well-educated people and have been officials for many years. Is there anyone who puts the country above his own interests?"

Many important officials knelt down and said in unison: "We are ashamed!"

They can say polite words, but how to do it depends on the interests.

Empress Zhaojing was in a very good mood and said slowly: "Zhou Yuan, you just arrived in Shenjing and your foundation is not stable. I will not reward you this time. How about rewarding you when you make contributions in the future?"

Zhou Yuan immediately said: "I don't ask for rewards, I only have one thing to report to Your Majesty."

"Oh?"

Empress Zhaojing said: "What is it?"

Zhou Yuan took out another memorial and said in a deep voice: "I have inspected the entire North City for a few days after taking office. There are many problems and chaos, so I have some rectification plans."

"I was going to submit it to the general manager of Wucheng Bingma Division, but today happened to be a coincidence, so I will submit it directly to Your Majesty. Please read it."

Hearing this, the eyes of the current prince consort lit up and he couldn't help but nodded secretly.

As the general manager of Wucheng Bingma Division, it is actually a nominal position, just for receiving rewards, and everyone knows it well.

But this new Zhou Yuan still regards this son-in-law as the chief officer and deliberately mentions him in front of His Majesty. Not bad, not bad, he is a wise man.

He is very useful.

But the other ministers frowned. Rectify the North City? What does this mean? There are many problems and chaos? Is this implying that the previous commanders did not do a good job!

Zhou Yuan is still immature. He was just praised, and now he is greedy for merit and reckless.

No matter how smart this kind of person is, he can only be glorious for a while, but he can't get long-term benefits.

Empress Zhaojing looked at the memorial in her hand, her eyes became brighter and brighter, and she became happier and happier.

Good! Good! Junior brother actually has this method to turn waste into treasure.

She raised her head, her usual cold tone was gone, her voice became a little gentle: "Zhou Yuan, you should talk about this matter for your colleagues in the court and listen to their opinions."

"Yes."

Zhou Yuan clasped his fists to the ministers and said solemnly: "My lords, Zhou Yuan has been in office as the commander of the North City Army and Horse Division for a few days. He has inspected many streets in the North City in detail, especially the six major alleys in the market, and found many current problems and chaos."

"For example, there is garbage everywhere on the streets, people and animals defecate on the spot, the feces and urine are stinking, and mosquitoes are everywhere, which is shocking."

"Shenjing is the best place. The appearance of the city and the cleanliness of the streets are related to your majesty's face and the body of our Great Jin. How can it be so dirty and smelly?"

"At the same time, the trading stalls are not fixed, illegal gangs occupy them, oppress the people, and charge illegal fees. Good people are not allowed to be so dirty and smelly."Generations have been exploited for a long time and have lived in poverty and hardship. "

"Gambling houses lend money, forcing people to break up their families and die. These are things that need to be dealt with urgently."

Speaking of this, Zhou Yuan paused slightly and said in a deep voice: "As the commander of the North City Military Division, Zhou Yuan has the responsibility to manage the filth on the streets, rectify the chaos in the market, and rectify illegal gangs."

"Therefore, on the night before yesterday, I summoned the leaders of the nine major gangs, moved them with emotion, reason, and law, and finally persuaded them to stop bullying the market, lending money, collecting black money, and a series of other behaviors."

"I asked them to organize people to carry out the excrement removal work of the entire North City, and also be responsible for cleaning up the filth on the streets. It is a legitimate job."

"This is considered to have completely solved the root cause of the nine major gangs' chaos in North City. "

All the ministers frowned when they heard this. This... Let the gangs stop bullying people and go to dig feces? Are you kidding me!

The Minister of Punishment frowned and said, "Commander Zhou, is what you said true? Those gangs are like maggots, are they so obedient? They live on this."

Many ministers had similar questions.

Zhou Yuan said solemnly, "The gangs are just for profit. If you hit the snake's weak spot and get the lifeline, you can naturally make them good citizens."

"In the land of Shenjing, every household has to clean up the filth. This is a necessity of life. For most families, dealing with filth is a dirty and troublesome thing. They are willing to pay a reasonable amount of money to let others help them deal with it."

"What is a reasonable amount of money? Two taels of silver a year. Two taels of silver to solve a year's filth, the people are absolutely willing to do it one thousand and ten thousand times."

"And there are 1.7 million households in Shenjing, which means 3.4 million taels of silver a year! "

The ministers' eyes widened.

Liu Jing, the Minister of Revenue, looked at Zhou Yuan even more suddenly. He smelled the smell of money.

So he said immediately: "Three million four hundred thousand taels! More than that! Some big families have dozens or hundreds of people at home. How can they only charge two taels!"

Zhou Yuan was slightly stunned, and then smiled: "This lord is right. I haven't considered it carefully. You can charge a tiered fee. If there are more than ten people in the family, it will be four taels. If there are more than fifteen people, it will be twenty taels, and it will be doubled."

The Minister of Revenue counted on his fingers and said anxiously: "According to this calculation, there can be at least four million taels of profit every year!"

Zhou Yuan smiled and said: "In fact, it is more than that, because the manure can be transported outside the city, and countless farmers need it for fertilizer and are willing to spend money to buy it. It can also generate about hundreds of thousands of taels of profit here."

"I calculated it, about four and a half million taels a year. "

Liu Jing's eyes were shining, and he hurriedly shouted: "Your Majesty! Your Majesty! This is a great thing! The treasury is tight, and Commander Zhou not only reorganized Shenjing, but also created more than 4 million taels of revenue. He is really a young talent!"

The ministers frowned when they heard this, secretly thinking that Liu Jing was too uncultured. He was full of energy as if he had eaten spring grass when he heard about money.

They also thought about whether they could make some money from it.

Empress Zhaojing was very pleased and smiled: "Since Minister Liu is so sure about this, it must be a good thing."

Zhou Yuan said: "It can not only make the outer city of Shenjing look brand new, but also prevent the poor people from being bullied, and solve the gang problem from the root. There are also millions of taels of silver in revenue, and farmers can also buy manure and fertilizer. This is a five-birds-with-one-stone deal!"

Wu Qingrong couldn't help but exclaimed: "Good! Commander Zhou! He is really a young talent! "

Empress Zhao Jing smiled and said, "In that case, I will leave this matter entirely to you. We will see the results by the end of the year. If it is as you said, it will be a great achievement and I will not fail to reward you."

Zhou Yuan immediately bowed and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty!"