After all, throughout dynasties, the Ministers of Revenue were the ones most skilled at pleading poverty. Grand Commandant Lu thought Wei Bugong would be no exception…

Wei Bugong knelt behind the table, shook his head, and tucked his hands into his sleeves: “Silver is not a problem. Soon, Princess Yinghui and the Bai Family Army will escort the first batch of Eastern Yi’s reparations back. In the short term, our Great Zhou won’t lack silver. But… this subordinate thinks our Great Zhou could take this opportunity to issue more Great Zhou government bonds, letting the people know that Great Zhou’s bonds are trustworthy.”

Hearing Wei Bugong say this, Grand Commandant Lu nodded: “Indeed! Once Great Zhou’s government bonds start circulating, if His Majesty has any major undertakings in the future, the Ministry of Revenue won’t be in difficulties.”

Bai Qingjue, sitting behind his desk, rubbed his fingers thoughtfully. After a long moment, he looked up at Grand Commandant Lu and Wei Bugong with a composed expression and spoke deliberately: “Since His Majesty has already gone to Yan, we… cannot let this trip be in vain! We should let the Yan people in Great Zhou’s cities know that their Emperor, because an epidemic broke out in Great Zhou’s cities in Yan territory, personally rushed to these cities to share the hardships with the Great Zhou citizens far away in Yan. This way, His Majesty will win the hearts of Yan people while also making Great Zhou citizens under Yan’s jurisdiction understand how good their Emperor is!”

Wei Bugong thought this plan excellent and quickly added: “There’s also the matter of Great Zhou government bonds – we should send people to Yan cities within Great Zhou’s territory to promote them properly! It would be best to have merchants who have already profited from Great Zhou government bonds do the promotion.”

“This prince will handle this matter!” Bai Qingjue spoke steadily with calm eyes. “The affairs His Majesty entrusted will depend on Minister Wei.”

Coming out of the great hall, Wei Bugong took the gray cloak from a young eunuch and put it on, rubbing his hands together. Standing under the magnificent double-eaved palace corridors, he looked up at the falling snowflakes that had already covered the red walls and green tiles of the palace with a layer of pristine white. His heart felt heavy – their Great Zhou Emperor was truly too bold. With the epidemic raging in Yan, so many people wanted to flee from Yan to Great Zhou, yet His Majesty had gone to Yan.

Looking at the swirling snow, he somehow felt that Great Zhou’s future… was becoming more and more promising.

Very well, with His Majesty now risking personal danger and entrusting him, the Minister of Revenue, with heavy responsibilities, no matter what, he had to find ways to fulfill all of His Majesty’s imperial commands. It was just sending medicinal herbs, grain, and silver to Great Zhou’s cities in Yan – not too difficult.

Just when Wei Bugong had gathered the silver, medicines, and grain to send to Great Zhou’s cities in Yan, thinking it would last for a while and he could breathe a sigh of relief, another imperial command from Bai Qingyan arrived.

Their Majesty had approved Qin Shangzhi’s river widening project and ordered Wei Bugong to allocate silver according to all of Qin Shangzhi’s needs.

Right after morning court, Wei Bugong anxiously intercepted Bai Qingyu and Bai Qingjue: “Prince Zhenguo, Prince Huguo, this minister just gathered silver to send to Great Zhou’s cities in Yan, and now His Majesty wants this minister to gather silver for widening river channels. This… this minister manages Great Zhou’s Ministry of Revenue, but I can’t conjure silver out of thin air with just these two hands!”

Bai Qingyu looked at Wei Bugong’s troubled expression, glanced at his third brother, and said with a smile: “They say the most skilled at pleading poverty in the world are Ministers of Revenue. This prince never believed it, but today Minister Wei has shown this prince what ‘truly so’ means.”

Wei Bugong heard that Bai Qingyu was teasing him and simply spread his hands: “Prince Zhenguo… You… even if you mock this minister, this minister still can’t produce silver from nowhere!”

“Minister Wei, stop trying to fool us brothers!” Bai Qingjue stood with hands behind his back, maintaining his steady and solemn appearance, though his eyes held a hint of amusement. “His Majesty had Princess Yinghui and General Cheng Yuanzhi lead the Bai Family Army to escort Eastern Yi’s reparations back, all of which entered the treasury. Minister Wei received them with a face full of smiles, and the silver sent to Great Zhou’s cities in Yan all used Great Zhou government bonds.”

Wei Bugong inevitably felt a toothache: “But in a month, we’ll need to pay interest to citizens holding government bonds – that also requires silver. If we can’t pay, that’s breaking faith with the people, and the Great Zhou government bonds will be hard to promote thereafter! Moreover, our treasury absolutely cannot be empty. If it’s empty and some urgent matter arises, what then? Prince Huguo, Prince Zhenguo… You two truly don’t understand the difficulties of being Minister of Revenue!”

“Otherwise, how could we have Minister Wei Bugong as Minister of Revenue?” Bai Qingyu patted Wei Bugong’s shoulder. “As ministers, isn’t it to share His Majesty’s worries? His Majesty’s edict has been issued… Minister Wei, as Minister of Revenue and an important minister of the Great Zhou, how can you have the face to only pick the easy tasks!”

Bai Qingjue was also amused by Bai Qingyu’s words. He lowered his eyes to hide the smile in them and walked forward with hands behind his back, saying to Bai Qingyu: “Let’s go…”

“Minister Wei… good luck then!” Bai Qingyu said lightly.

“Prince Zhenguo!” Wei Bugong knew Bai Qingyu meant he had to take on this burden. He chased after them for two steps and called again: “Prince Huguo!”

But the two Bai brothers walked side by side without any intention of turning back to acknowledge him. Wei Bugong tucked his hands into his sleeves and looked up at the sky speechlessly…

Originally, Wei Bugong wasn’t skilled at playing pitiful, but later he discovered… when his Emperor gave him orders to get silver, as if he could conjure silver, he sought advice from Lu Jin.

Lu Jin enlightened him, saying that Ministers of Revenue… must learn to play pitiful and plead poverty to the Emperor.

Wei Bugong thought about his previous superior and realized this seemed to be the principle!

So to prepare for future contingencies, he practiced extensively at home in front of the bronze mirror used for adjusting his robes. Who would have thought that before he had practiced well enough… this silver matter had fallen on his head again.

He thought about it and figured he probably hadn’t mastered the art – his pitiful act wasn’t convincing enough, so… Prince Zhenguo and Prince Huguo didn’t take pity on him.

Fine… he’d go back and practice more! Preparing for the next time.

“Minister Wei…”

Just as Wei Bugong was thinking about Lu Jin, he saw Lu Jin also coming out of the great hall, walking toward him.

Wei Bugong quickly turned to bow to Lu Jin: “Minister Lu!”

After returning the courtesy, Lu Jin smiled and said, “Is the method of pleading poverty not working well?”

“Sigh…” Wei Bugong sighed. “Perhaps my skills are lacking. I’ll go back and study it more thoroughly.”

Lu Jin was amused by Wei Bugong, but remembering the matter Grand Commandant Lu had entrusted to him, he wanted to leave the palace with Wei Bugong to test the waters. He smiled and said, “Minister Wei, please. I heard Minister Wei has a daughter – I wonder if she’s married yet?”

Wei Bugong was startled, looked at Lu Jin, then glanced around. Seeing no one else nearby, he spoke: “Minister Lu, you and I can speak directly – speaking like this… makes me feel uneasy.”