Your Majesty, please beg for mercy. The prince's rebellion was successful.

I thought I could get some information about the Xiao family from Xiao Guan, but I never expected that the Xiao family would actually have no money.

How glorious and powerful is it to be one of the five great families? !

In Zhou Zheng's opinion, it would not be a problem to easily take out tens of millions of silver.

But Xiao Guan shook his head, causing Zhou Zheng's heart to plummet instantly.

"Although the Xiao family is one of the five great aristocratic families, the Xiao family basically got out of the business world twenty years ago."

"Although they still have some wealth, the Xiao family also has a large family to support."

"If you want hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, the old man will naturally give it to you."

"But what you want is not millions of taels but tens of millions of taels!"

"Not to mention the current Xiao family, even the Xiao family at its peak would be unbearable."

With a bitter smile, Xiao Guan's words were not false.

The five major aristocratic families basically control many businesses in the Great Zhou Dynasty, and their cash flow has reached an astonishingly crazy level.

Tens of millions of taels of silver can be obtained by all the five major families.

But once it is taken out, it means that the family will face great risks.

Since ancient times, the royal family has not allowed one family to be both rich and powerful.

Therefore, when the Xiao family and Emperor Tianjing were tied together, they naturally had to divest their businesses, otherwise Emperor Tianjing would not be relieved, the royal family would not be reassured, and neither would the court.

After losing their business, the Xiao family is still one of the top five aristocratic families, but economically it is far behind the other four major aristocratic families, and has even begun to lag far behind.

But the Xiao family has never regretted it, because the Xiao family's strength has been greatly improved with the help of the army.

"Over the years, Emperor Tianjing has become more and more wary of our Xiao family."

"Even military pay is severely deducted. Most of the money is paid by the old man himself."

"To be honest, the Xiao family is almost exhausted now and cannot hold on for long."

Speaking of this, Xiao Guan also looked disappointed with the current emperor.

The Zhenbei Army has more than 200,000 people. To support such a huge army, even the Xiao family, one of the five great aristocratic families, cannot support it.

But the court turned a deaf ear, and military pay was never paid on time.

Therefore, when the second prince went to the north and tried to seize power of the Xiao family, Xiao Mu's reaction was not great.

Because handing over most of the soldiers now may be a good thing for the Xiao family.

After all, no matter how powerful the Zhenbei Army is, it still belongs to the imperial court.

But the money belongs to the Xiao family!

After Zhou Zheng listened, he remained silent.

It seemed that he still underestimated the Xiao family's plight.

Unexpectedly, not only was he struggling, but the Xiao family's situation was not much better either.

"Hey!"

"It seems that everyone is poor."

If this is the case, it will be impossible to rely on the power of the Xiao family in a short time.

"The Northern Expedition is such an important thing!"

"Your Majesty actually refuses to pay the soldiers!?"

Xiao Guan got angry when he mentioned this. This was not a matter for Zhou Zheng alone, but for the entire Zhou Dynasty.

"Maybe it's a good thing for me that he doesn't give it."

Waving his hand, Zhou Zheng never thought about asking the court to pay from the beginning.

Only in this way can Zhou Zheng be able to take control of the army he has trained in a legitimate and clear manner.

"Uncle, please train this army first."

"Don't worry about money."

Hearing Zhou Zheng's words, Xiao Guan also looked guilty.

The Xiao family was so big that they couldn't help Zhou Zheng.

He only thought that Zhou Zheng was afraid of him worrying about him, so he forced a smile like this.

"It seems that I need to communicate with the old man later."

"These thousands of Zhenbei elites really need a lot of money."

"If Zheng'er trains a new army, it won't be a small start."

He secretly murmured in his heart that Xiao Guanyuan didn't know where Zhou Zheng spent his money, but it was much more than that.

......

Kyoto, the imperial city.

"Your Majesty, I am afraid that the purpose of the four major families joining forces will be in vain."

"Now there is no turmoil in Xiang County. It is even thriving and showing signs of prosperity."

Gu Qianfan knelt in front of Emperor Tianjing and reported what happened in Xiang County one by one.

These words made Emperor Tianjing slightly shocked.

He had been waiting for Zhou Zheng to ask for help from the court, but there was no news.

"impossible!"

"Their salt won't last!"

"Is it possible that they haven't discovered this problem yet!?"

Long frowned, and Emperor Tianjing looked suspicious.

He has long known that the purpose of the four major families is definitely not something that Zhou Zheng can solve now.

Asking for help from the imperial court and Emperor Tianjing was the only way.

"I don't know either, Chen."

Gu Qianfan's eyes were also full of doubts.

Many spies from the Imperial City Division entered Xiang County, but they still didn't get any news.

Nothing seems out of the ordinary in Xiang County, and no one has noticed that the supply of salt has been cut off.

The strange thing goes beyond that. From the beginning to the end, no one from Xiang County took the initiative to find the four major families, and there was no business even with the outside world.

They don't seem to care about these things.

Or, they didn't react at all.

However, none of this makes sense.

In order to completely block Xiangjun's economy, the four major families withdrew many stores. Many businessmen left Xiangjun overnight.

Such movement was open and aboveboard, and it was not concealed.

Why, there is no movement in Xiangjun! ?

Even if Zhou Zheng doesn't understand this, doesn't a county guard like Gu Jiang know the powerful relationship? ?

"Your Majesty, the Crown Prince has begun recruiting troops in Xiang County."

After a slight hesitation, Gu Jiang continued to speak.

It's just that Emperor Tianjing doesn't seem to be interested in this. After all, conscription is a very common thing.

But when Gu Qianfan spoke out the requirements and rewards for the conscription, Emperor Tianjing was no longer calm!

Where is the conscription here? !

This is simply giving money to a boy.

A few people are fine, dozens or hundreds of people are fine.

But Zhou Zheng recruited troops in units of ten thousand!

"How much money does he have!?"

"Even if we have millions of silver from Great Xia and the money stolen from the big landowners in Xiang County, it's still hard to do it."

At this moment, Emperor Tianjing finally panicked.

At this time, he discovered for the first time that this prince, whom he did not like very much, was completely incomprehensible to him!

Gu Qianfan also lowered his head deeply, not daring to take a breath.

Because the Imperial City Division tried their best but could not find the source of Zhou Zheng's money, let alone how Zhou Zheng would maintain order in the future.

"It would be great if Gong Tan was still one of ours."

I felt a little bitter in my heart. When Gong Tan was lurking beside Zhou Zheng, these top secrets were not a problem.

"Give it to me!"

Emperor Tianjing's pupils shrank slightly, his expression was cold, and he spoke in a deep voice.

"In addition, the movements of the four major families are closely followed."

He waved his hand and signaled Gu Qianfan to retreat.

Emperor Tianjing stood in front of the document with his hands behind his back, a hint of murderous intention slowly emerging.

"I hope the aristocratic families won't go too far."

"Otherwise, I have no choice but to take action."

......