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

Chapter 240

In fact, it wasn't just Cui Wenkui; Li Xian, the president of the Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce, and the gentry mostly transferred their money and the majority of their family members to their ancestral homes in the countryside.

As for Xia Yan, she and Zhang Cong had already set off for the capital more than half a month ago.

They were merely censors, acting on behalf of the emperor to inspect the realm; they couldn't stay in Jiangnan indefinitely, and it was time for them to return and report on their duties.

The countryside is relatively safe. Zhou Chu's forces have already plundered the towns and cities of Jiangnan to the limit. After all, manpower is limited, and it is impossible and not worthwhile to search all the countryside.

After this round of looting, Zhou Chu didn't even know how much money he had amassed. The money was so much that the ships at the dock couldn't hold it all, and even the warehouses at the dock couldn't hold so much money.

Zhou Chu directly left 50 million strings of cash as military expenses, and symbolically kept 2 million taels of silver for himself, which went into Zhou Chu's own pocket.

Not much, but some must be left. A person cannot be too without desires, otherwise the emperor will not be able to sleep.

The reason he didn't keep more for himself was because it wasn't necessary. Zhou Chu's business was already making enough money, and since others didn't know how much he made, it wouldn't be too conspicuous.

Leaving too much behind wouldn't be a good thing. It's alright for Jiajing not to settle scores with Zhou Chu over this money, but what about after Zhou Chu dies? Or what if Zhou Chu is still alive after Jiajing dies?

Who knows if the next emperor will settle scores with him for money?

Wasn't Emperor Wanli in history a good example? Zhang Juzheng made so much money for him, but after Zhang Juzheng died, Wanli confiscated Zhang Juzheng's property for money, and only found 100,000 taels of silver.

Zhou Chu kept a reasonable amount of the money allocated for military expenses, because the money would ultimately be spent on the army and would not go into Zhou Chu's pocket. If Zhou Chu kept too much, even Jiajing would feel somewhat uncomfortable.

Of course, Zhou Chu took it upon himself to keep some of the calligraphy and paintings by famous artists.

For example, Li Bai's "Shangyangtai Post" and Han Yu's "Elegy for My Nephew" are rare and hard to come by.

Zhou Chu hadn't noticed it at first, since there were just too many antiques and paintings that had been confiscated. However, his subordinates, the Imperial Guards, knew that Zhou Chu was Tang Bohu's disciple and had a great love for calligraphy and painting. They all presented Zhou Chu with the paintings and calligraphy that they considered to be special.

Zhou Chu selected some of the most exquisite pieces to keep, but only a small portion of them. Most of them were stored away, with the intention of transporting them to the capital.

However, these days the entire Suzhou Prefecture and even the entire Jiangnan region seemed to have come to a standstill. Zhou Chu directly and openly had these valuables transported to Tianjin through various docks in Suzhou Prefecture, which greatly improved transportation efficiency.

However, the pressure was put on the docks in Tianjin. Today, the Tianjin docks have become the exclusive docks for the royal family, and other ships are prohibited from docking.

"My lord, what exactly did Lord Zhou do in Jiangnan?"

A Jinyiwei (Imperial Guard) commander stared dumbfounded at the mountain of boxes piled up before him. While others might not know, he was certain that these boxes contained nothing but real gold and silver.

"What's wrong? You're tired of living?"

Lu Wanshan squinted at the centurion, a dangerous glint in his eyes.

Upon hearing this, the centurion instantly realized what was happening and shuddered.

"My lord, I was ungrateful."

After saying this, fearing that Lu Wanshan would take notice, he hurriedly pretended to be very busy and went to help the dockworkers carry boxes.

At this moment, the Imperial Guards were all full of fighting spirit. During this period, they had made a fortune, and each of them earned a considerable income for each transport trip.