Chapter 441
Chapter 287 - 267: Troublesome (First Update)
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The Emperor was indeed upset, but he did not know whom to direct his anger towards. Himself? An emperor would never admit his faults. The Pingxi General’s Residence? But every approval of military pay was with his consent. Duke Residence? In recent years, Duke Residence has kept a low profile without offending him. He was fully aware of the situation of the soldiers under Duke Residence.
The color of the emperor’s face changed like marbled pork, alternating from pale to bright red.
The entire hall was silent, and you could hear a pin drop.
It was a long while before the Emperor’s heavy panting was heard. The Emperor clutched his head and said to Feng Chang, "Find a solution."
Naturally, he couldn’t blame Feng Chang: all the expenditures of the Ministry of the Revenue were approved by him. Feng Chang, as the Minister of the Revenue, didn’t make any decisions on his own. Feng Chang himself had complained to him several times over the past few years about the Revenue’s inability to meet its expenditures. But he didn’t take it seriously. All his energy and thought were devoted to suppressing the influence and prestige of the Crown Prince and to staying vigilant against the Duke Residence.
Times have changed since then. Could he truly follow in the late Emperor’s footsteps, starting a war with Dawei again, or still being unable to cope with Dawei?
Feng Chang knelt motionless on the ground, "Your Majesty, over the years, I have thought of all available solutions. Unless we increase taxation, I really can’t figure out how to make the Ministry of Revenue generate more money."
The Emperor’s face darkened, and he remained silent.
Feng Chang voiced his pain, "Your Majesty, why not dismiss me from my official position? I really do not have the ability to stay in this position."
"Feng Chang!" The Emperor was furious.
Feng Chang indeed cried, wiping his tears with his sleeve. "Your Majesty, I have thought of all possible ways I could, unless we force Pingxi General’s Residence to cough up some money. Otherwise, there is no way around other than to increase the taxes."
The emperor’s hand veins bulged angrily. He knew without thinking how hard it would be to ask General Pingxi, Zhang Ping, to cough up the gold and silver that the Eastern Palace had swallowed. But this was indeed a solution, so he suggested,"How about soliciting donations from the wealthy?"
Feng Chang was stunned for a moment, and then said, "This idea has also crossed my mind, but if the news reaches Dawei that we are soliciting donations from the wealthy, Dawei will know that our national treasury is empty and the military pay is in severe shortage. If they were to wage war against us again, we wouldn’t be prepared."
The Emperor fell silent. He had agreed to let the Nanchu King and Ye Guixue formally recognize Su Rong directly after his meeting with Ye Guixue earlier today. But considering the current state of the national treasury, how could he dare to do so?
He was silent for a moment, then shouted to the outside, "Summon The Crown Prince."
Feng Chang lowered his head deeply, no longer surprised. Over the years, whenever the emperor faced a difficult issue, he would look for the Crown Prince. Once the Crown Prince solved it, the emperor would again suppress him when he was no longer needed. In his opinion, it was the Crown Prince’s misfortune to have been born into the royal family.
Of course, he would only dare to complain in his heart. Even if he were given ten thousand times more courage, he would never dare speak such words to anyone.
The emperor waved to Feng Chang, "You may get up first."
Feng Chang shakily stood up from the ground, waiting on the side for the arrival of the Crown Prince. There was no way he could leave. Once he was out of this door, he wouldn’t be able to get any silver for the Emperor.
Indeed, Crown Prince Yan Huisheng had also been informed by the secret guards that Crown Prince Yan Li had stopped him on the street after Ye Guixue left the palace and took him to a restaurant. No matter what he wanted with Ye Guixue, it could not be a good intention. But if Ye Guixue was so easily manipulated by Yan Li, then he wasn’t Ye Guixue who was carefully groomed by the Nanchu King and Ye Xiang to be a potential husband for Su Rong.
It was no easy feat for Ye Guixue to pass the Nanchu King’s scrutiny, to stand before Su Rong, and to let Su Rong agree to the marriage proposal after just one meeting. Ye Guixue was indeed extraordinary. The blind actions of Yan Li were laughable, regardless of what he had said to Ye Guixue, the outcome was probably not what he expected.
𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖
Therefore, Yan Huisheng wasn’t particularly worried about Ye Guixue. After all, Su Rong wasn’t someone who could be easily fooled. If she dared to accept the olive branch from Ye Xiang Residence, dared to accept the Tiger Talisman of Ye Guixue’s 100,000 troops, she must have certain abilities to judge people.
What Yan Huisheng was concerned about was another matter: the assassination attempt on Xie Lin after he left the Duke Residence.
In recent years, although the Rui’an King’s Residence had kept a low profile, and Rui’an King had reduced his presence, it was still very useful. His good father highly trusted the Rui’an King’s Residence. Xie Lin, this little prince, didn’t flaunt his power, but he wasn’t too low-key either. It could be said that in the Capital City of Daliang, apart from getting into a fight with Zhou Gu, he had been wandering around the streets on his own or with a group of friends for many years and had never encountered any danger.
No one dared to provoke him.
This was the first time someone had tried to assassinate him with a cold arrow in the street. If it wasn’t for Zhou Gu’s men protecting him, Xie Lin would have lost his life.
Yan Huisheng wondered who was behind this action and what had Xie Lin found out at Duke Residence? Had Xie Lin found something that even the old Duke and the Rui’an King failed to obtain from Wang Su?
However, after the incident, the Rui’an King’s Residence remained quiet. The Rui’an King went to the Buddha Temple with his men, Zhou Gu stayed at the residence to handle the aftermath, and the suicide soldier was thrown into the jail of the Jingzhao Prefecture. The matter was temporarily left to the jurisdiction of the Jingzhao Prefecture.
Yan Huisheng thought that he should see Xie Lin. But how to meet him needed some planning to avoid certain people. Or perhaps he should visit the Duke Residence and meet Wang Su in person.
As he was contemplating, he heard that someone from the palace had arrived, with a message from the Emperor, asking the Crown Prince to come to the palace immediately.
Yan Huisheng had to put the matter aside for the moment, tidied himself up, and went to the Imperial Palace.
In the Imperial palace, for the first time, the emperor felt that his son was taking too long to arrive. While waiting for him, he thought of various ways in which he had suppressed and neglected his son over the years. Even though he didn’t think he was in the wrong, when these past actions came to mind, he felt somewhat remorseful towards his son.
He had no intention of replacing the Crown Prince. Unconsciously, he didn’t want the Crown Prince’s power and prestige to overshadow his own. Would he tolerate history books only remembering Crown Prince Yan Huisheng and not the Emperor Yan Qi from his generation, in future generations? This was something he couldn’t bear.
As soon as Yan Huisheng arrived, he paid his respects to the Emperor and glanced at Feng Chang. Feng Chang hurriedly paid his respects to the Crown Prince.
The Emperor signaled for Yan Huisheng to sit and said to him, "Today, I met Ye Guixue and discussed Su Rong’s matter with him. He came to Daliang this time with the command of the Nanchu King."
The Emperor recounted his conversation with Ye Guixue in a nutshell with Yan Huisheng, without avoiding Feng Chang. Feng Chang was shocked, thinking that the rumors were indeed true. It turned out that Lady Su Qi was really related to Princess Zhenmin and was actually her mother.
This relationship was indeed too significant. No wonder both the Emperor and the old Duke were asking him for silver.
— End of Chapter 441 —