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

Chapter 578

The Ministry of Revenue today is not the same as it was during the Zhengde era; the current Ministry of Revenue is incredibly wealthy.

Over the years, silver has been continuously transported from Japan to the Ming Dynasty, and the silver reserves of the royal bank have reached an extremely alarming figure.

The Ministry of Revenue was in charge of the national treasury. Although the money in the royal bank had nothing to do with the national treasury or the Ministry of Revenue, some of the money from Zhou Chu's previous confiscations of the homes of countless officials in the capital and his continuous confiscations in Jiangnan went into the national treasury.

In addition, with the implementation of the performance evaluation system in recent years, the commercial and agricultural taxes that were previously uncollectible have been collected. Furthermore, with the continuous increase in maritime taxes in the past two years, the Ministry of Revenue has so much money that it doesn't know what to do with it.

Looking at all that money in the national treasury, they were all thinking about whether to launch a big project and spend the money. In this way, the money would pass through their hands and they could also keep some of it.

Unlike the officials of the Ministry of Works, the officials of the Ministry of Revenue were not greedy. The most important one was the current Minister of Revenue, who was none other than Zhang Cong, who had been transferred back to the capital.

During the years Zhang Cong served as governor of Southern Zhili, he implemented the performance evaluation system exceptionally well. He was impeccable in terms of both political achievements and other aspects. Since the Ministry of Revenue was in charge of the national treasury, Emperor Jiajing was not comfortable entrusting it to anyone else. Therefore, he transferred Zhang Cong back to the capital to take charge of the Ministry of Revenue.

As for Southern Zhili, Wang Yangming had already finished his mourning period, and Jiajing directly reinstated him, allowing him to resume his original post and once again take charge of Southern Zhili, becoming a high-ranking official in the province. At the same time, Wang Yangming was also in charge of the entire academy.

The academy was officially located in Yuyao, but it had been split into many parts. Most of Zhou Chu's students followed him to the capital. Even Yan Shifan, who had originally run away, was sent to the capital by Yan Song after Zhou Chu returned.

Yan Song discovered that since his son followed Zhou Chu, he had become much better than before. Even though Yan Song always thought his son was perfect, he was only deceiving himself. He had seen Yan Shifan's change for himself.

Yan Song originally wanted to send Yan Shifan back, but Zhou Chu had already entered Tibet by then, so Yan Song gave up the idea.

In the past two years, without Zhou Chu's strict discipline, Yan Shifan has relapsed into his old ways. So when Yan Song learned that Zhou Chu had returned to the capital, he immediately sent Yan Shifan to the capital without delay.

Wang Yangming's students followed him to Nanjing. Since neither Wang Yangming nor Zhou Chu were in the academy, Tang Bohu naturally couldn't stay there any longer. Tang Bohu hadn't seen Zhou Chu and Wen Zhengming for more than two years, so he took his students directly north and came to the capital again.

Only Nie Bao and a few other teachers remained in the academy to continue teaching.

The academy has been recruiting students once a year for the past two years, and each time the enrollment is full. Even someone as lazy as Tang Bohu already has forty or fifty students under his name.

"Up on that mountain, my mouth was so bland I could hardly taste it. The cooks at the academy are really no good. It has to be Zuixianlou that makes the food."

Inside the Drunken Immortal Pavilion, Tang Bohu spoke as he picked up some food and put it in his mouth, then took a sip of wine, revealing an expression of utter enjoyment.

“I knew you wouldn’t stay in Yuyao for long. I was just talking to Hengqi about it a couple of days ago, and here you are, heading to Beijing today.”

Wen Zhengming couldn't help but tease him.

"You're doing well now, a high-ranking official of the third rank, unlike me, who's just a schoolteacher."

Tang Bohu looked at Wen Zhengming, his face full of frustration.

He used to mock Wen Zhengming for failing the imperial examinations repeatedly, but now that Wen Zhengming has actually passed, he feels bad.

"It's just a sinecure. His Majesty is wise and powerful now, so I have nothing to advise him on."

Wen Zhengming smiled.

"Bah! The Ming Dynasty has now been restored. Given time, it is not impossible for it to surpass the Han and Tang Dynasties. When that time comes, Your Majesty will be Emperor Taizong of Tang, and you will become Wei Zheng, your name will be remembered in history."