The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Chapter 164

Huang Jin smiled.

"An envoy to Annam? What is the purpose?"

Yan Song did not rush to agree on behalf of his brother-in-law, after all, being sent on a diplomatic mission to another country was not necessarily a good thing.

"Your Majesty wishes to recover Annam, but is troubled by the lack of a legitimate reason for the expedition. He seeks a loyal and capable minister who can emulate the envoys of the Han Dynasty."

As soon as Huang Jin said this, Yan Song understood instantly.

So, the idea was to send someone to Annam to commit suicide. Regardless of whether the envoy died or not, as long as Annam dared to make a move, the Ming Dynasty would have a legitimate reason to intervene.

Envoys of the Han Dynasty? Upon hearing this term, Yan Song broke out in a cold sweat. Those Han Dynasty envoys were so arrogant that they wanted to sleep with the empress and empress dowager. In the end, most of them were beheaded by the emperor or ministers who couldn't stand it anymore.

His brother-in-law, Ouyang Bijin, was known for his virtue and had been advocating that the court should reduce redundant officials, especially the Imperial Medical Academy. However, his voice was weak and no one paid attention to him. At the previous court meeting, Ouyang Bijin was among those who sided with Yang Shen and Yan Song.

"Thank you for informing me, Eunuch Huang. I will definitely inform my brother-in-law."

After bowing, Yan Song left the palace.

Although that's what he said, Yan Song knew very well that his brother-in-law would definitely agree. There was no need to even think about it. In fact, if the opportunity fell to Yan Song, he would agree, even if he hesitated a bit.

This is an immense achievement. Even if his brother-in-law dies, his son will be ennobled for his merit, at the very least as an earl, and possibly even a marquis. Who could refuse such immense wealth and honor?

Yan Song thought about it and realized that it was fortunate that His Majesty hadn't asked him to go, otherwise he would have actually agreed. That would have been good for his family, but he probably wouldn't have come back alive.

If his brother-in-law and sister could benefit from this, then the Yan family would also benefit greatly. Thinking about it this way, Yan Song felt that this mission was well worth it, and that His Majesty had indeed not treated him unfairly.

Yan Song knew better than anyone that Huang Jin was merely a mouthpiece for His Majesty, and that Huang Jin would never dare to act without His Majesty's authorization.

With this in mind, Yan Song went straight to his brother-in-law's house after leaving the palace.

At this time in Suzhou Prefecture, Zhou Chu was preparing his troops. In the past month, Zhou Chu had been recruiting a lot of refugees from Kunshan under the guise of hiring workers, and then selecting a thousand of them to expand the Tiger Legion. The treatment of the Tiger Legion was worlds apart from that of other troops in the Ming Dynasty. While other troops in the Ming Dynasty were cutting their pay, Zhou Chu not only did not cut their pay, but also provided them with meat at every meal.

This has a fatal attraction for these refugees.

As for the displaced people who were screened out, Zhou Chu set up a cloth shop, woven cloth in Suzhou Prefecture, and then distributed it to various parts of the Ming Dynasty through merchants who came to Jiangnan to buy cloth and raw silk.

Chu Li also sold off her raw silk over the past month, earning nearly 28 million strings of copper coins, making a fortune. Zhou Chu had half of it, 14 million strings, deposited into a bank.

Unlike before, this time the money was deposited openly, and Zhou Chu wanted to see if these people dared to embezzle it.

Fortunately, these people weren't beyond redemption. They understood that Zhou Chu's people dared to act so blatantly because they were probably setting a trap. If they really dared to steal the money, it would cause a huge uproar.

So when the money notes were delivered to the palace, Emperor Jiajing, seeing such a high return, regretted not giving more money in the first place.

Although Jiajing was very rich at this time, who would complain about having more money?

When the members of the Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce learned that the people who came to collect the money were from the Imperial Palace, they were immediately terrified. Fortunately, they were not ruthless, otherwise, a major disaster would have occurred.

Winning over these merchants was not easy, since merchants from other places all wanted to rely on the Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce. However, Zhou Chu was not in a hurry. Once he used the Japanese pirates to eliminate Prefect Wang Zan, Yan Song could take office. At that time, his influence in Suzhou Prefecture would grow, and those merchants with a bit of sense would naturally want to come closer to him.

In addition, Zhou Chu also set up a sugar factory and began to have people produce white sugar on a large scale, in preparation for the next step of dividing the members of the Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce.

"My lord, there's been movement at the waters you asked me to keep an eye on. A group of Japanese pirates is approaching Suzhou Prefecture."

Commander Chen Zhao approached Zhou Chu with a respectful expression.

"Then let's help them out and let this fire burn down the prefect's house."

Zhou Chu said with a big smile.