TGPSAC – Chapter 96

Emperor Shengyuan still agreed to welcome Princess Lin’an back to the capital, dispatching An Yizhi as an envoy to lead a delegation to Beining.

However, they would have to wait for the Beining delegation to return, and the two parties would travel together.

To prevent Beining from going back on their word, Yu Jiuzhou and Chi Wan made several preparations. They would absolutely not allow any changes to a matter that was already settled.

But just as they had expected, Emperor Shengyuan was furious with Chi Wan’s performance, feeling that she was using the soldiers, scholars, and common people to force him into doing something he didn’t want to do.

Chi Wan offered no defense. Even if she had, the emperor would not have believed her.

When she went to see the emperor, Yu Jiuzhou had told her that she didn’t need to say anything; it was enough that Yu Jiuzhou was handling it.

Sure enough, Emperor Shengyuan soon dismissed her. Before she left, he even put her in charge of the Capital Garrison, saying it would be best to have them model themselves after the Embroidered-Robe Guard.

What had happened? What had Yu Jiuzhou done? Not only had the emperor not punished her, but he had even expanded the power in her hands?

As the two lay in bed, Chi Wan couldn’t help but ask, “Your Highness, what did you say to His Majesty?”

“I told His Majesty to replace the Fuma.”

“What?”

But why? Things were fine, why replace her?

Chi Wan pressed down on Yu Jiuzhou in displeasure. “Your Highness wants to replace me?”

“No, but that’s what His Majesty wanted to hear.”

Yu Jiuzhou had said to Emperor Shengyuan, “Chi Wan has no regard for Your Majesty and has acted on her own authority. She even demanded that I cooperate with her in public displays of affection, threatening me, and has now caused trouble for Your Majesty. I implore Your Majesty to allow me to divorce my Fuma.”

How could he allow that? Having finally found an obedient and capable Fuma, there was no way Emperor Shengyuan would let Yu Jiuzhou cast her aside so easily.

He was angry, but on second thought, the Khan of Beining was dead, yet they still demanded a princess of Great Zhou—his own sister—as a concubine for Daluoyan. Where would that leave the dignity of Great Zhou, the dignity of the imperial family, and his own dignity?

Chi Wan had also acted with his imperial dignity in mind. Thus, he had reprimanded Yu Jiuzhou instead.

“That’s not right. Then why did His Majesty put me in charge of the Capital Garrison?”

Yu Jiuzhou must have done more than just say those things.

“I passed some information to His Majesty.” The information was delivered through the emperor’s own intelligence network, not by her directly, which was why Emperor Shengyuan believed it implicitly.

She knew the emperor too well. He would never believe information he hadn’t uncovered himself. Even with information he found, he would verify it repeatedly.

But Yu Jiuzhou had her ways of making the emperor thoroughly believe the information she sent.

Yu Jiuzhou explained the inside story, and Chi Wan’s eyes sparkled. “Your Highness, you’re truly amazing.”

Of course Yu Jiuzhou was amazing. Despite Emperor Shengyuan’s vigilance, she had discreetly developed her own power, and now half of the capital was under her control.

She had accomplished so much right under the emperor’s nose. Rebirth was one factor, but her ability was what mattered most.

A fool who was reborn would still not become a genius.

Yu Jiuzhou tilted her head. She didn’t know when it started, but the two of them, who used to discuss matters outside, had now grown accustomed to lying down to talk about serious business.

It was as if there were no longer any boundaries between them. They could discuss official matters or whisper sweet nothings anytime, anywhere. After all, their schedules were highly synchronized.

Chi Wan had also entered the Grand Secretariat, so their arrival and departure times were nearly identical.

Court was not held every day. The current rule was one grand court session every seven days, and a Grand Secretariat meeting every three days.

Of course, if anything came up, Yu Jiuzhou could convene a court session or a Grand Secretariat meeting at any time.

This was the power of the Regent Grand Princess, a power only the emperor possessed, unless the emperor was too young to rule or had been made a figurehead.

The current situation was completely different. Emperor Shengyuan wanted to prop up a shield. In her past life, Yu Jiuzhou had trusted him implicitly and had served as an excellent shield, only realizing his schemes when it was too late. In this life, Yu Jiuzhou would only continuously grasp for power. Only power could ensure her victory in the struggles to come.

Seeing the admiration and respect in Chi Wan’s eyes, Yu Jiuzhou felt a little embarrassed. “Don’t look at me like that.”

“Your Highness is so amazing, how can I not look?” Chi Wan said with a smile.

The longer she spent with the person lying beside her, the more she discovered her charm, and it wasn’t just her intellect.

However, while Yu Jiuzhou completely fulfilled the requirements for a sapiosexual, her private tenderness and cuteness were even more captivating.

Yu Jiuzhou helplessly reached out and covered her eyes. “Have you figured out the matter with Nanyue and Beining?”

Whenever it came to this, Yu Jiuzhou would always change the subject, too shy to talk about such things.

Chi Wan knew to quit while she was ahead. “Your Highness, Nanyue drugged the horses with a substance that makes them agitated. That’s why they were able to win first place in the equestrian competition. The strangest thing is, I also found this drug on the Great Zhou contestants, and in a higher concentration than in the horses’ blood. So, on top of the horses already being agitated, this drug was also placed on the Great Zhou riders.”

Nanyue’s victory was dishonorable, but the competition was over. Great Zhou’s overall score from the three events was higher, and the one who lost most miserably was Beining. Under these circumstances, Great Zhou naturally turned a blind eye.

The most important question was why the drug on the riders was the same as the one the horses ingested.

Yu Jiuzhou frowned. “Are you saying Nanyue was responsible for the drug on our riders?”

Chi Wan shook her head. “Although there’s no concrete evidence to prove who drugged the riders, based on the circumstantial evidence, the person who did it was the Duke of Xin.”

“Nanyue had no motive. Furthermore, the Imperial City Division discovered that there is a man from Insect Valley named Yun Sheng. He is the junior martial brother of the valley’s master and was expelled for meddling in political affairs. Recently, news of his misdeeds reached the valley, and the Young Valley Master, Xi Wu, was ordered to come to Great Zhou and bring him back. Yun Sheng was the one who used poison at Xuanyang Temple, and the person he was cooperating with was the Duke of Xin.”

Chi Wan had been very surprised when she uncovered this. She had always thought the poisoner’s collaborator was Prince Ying, never expecting it to be the Duke of Xin.

The Duke of Xin had been incredibly low-key before collaborating with Prince Bao’an. Who would have known he had been doing so much in secret?

Indeed, many people were developing power in the shadows. You never knew which one harbored wolf-like ambitions.

Yu Jiuzhou slapped Chi Wan’s mischievous hand. “The Duke of Xin is a man of immense ambition. Given the chance, he’s capable of rebelling and making himself emperor. And Yun Sheng is the person he promised to marry.”

Yun Sheng was a male Kun Ze. No wonder he followed the Duke of Xin so devotedly. He’s been bound by love.

Chi Wan raised an eyebrow. “I heard that in the battle against Beining back then, although the one leading the troops was Duan Hefeng, the person who actually used poison to destroy thirty percent of Beining’s fighting force was the Duke of Xin.”

That’s how he was able to inherit his title so easily and become the commander of the hundred-thousand-strong army in Yanbei.

You have to understand, the emperor originally wanted to abolish the Duke of Xin’s title.

Titles of nobility were like that. When they were useful, you were allowed to hold them. When they weren’t, the succession would be delayed, and after dragging it out for three to five years, an excuse would be found to revoke the title.

Because that year, someone had submitted a memorial detailing how much it cost Great Zhou to support its nobles. The money-loving Emperor Shengyuan was naturally unwilling to keep supporting a group of useless nobles and even wanted to reclaim some silver. During that time, the aristocracy was in a state of panic, each fearing their title would be the next to be revoked.

Take the Duke of Xin, for example. At the time, he had not yet inherited the title and was in a period of mourning. The court had already planned to let him observe mourning for three years before discussing the matter of succession. However, he volunteered for the battlefield, won fame in a single battle, and successfully inherited the title.

After inheriting the title, he began to command a hundred thousand troops in Yanbei. Over the years, it became hard to say whether the border army in Yanbei was the army of Great Zhou or the Dong family’s private army.

Fortunately, An Yizhi later arrived in Yanbei and successfully stood as a rival to the Duke of Xin.

Of course, even without An Yizhi, given Emperor Shengyuan’s suspicious nature, he would never have allowed the Duke of Xin to hold complete military authority in Yanbei.

It was just that Emperor Shengyuan had been dangling bait, making the Duke of Xin feel that sooner or later he would be allowed to take full control of Yanbei. But once a suitable general was found, the bait would be pulled away as if it had never existed.

The Duke of Xin had eaten the pie the emperor had drawn for him, only to discover it wasn’t real. How could he not harbor dissent?

“I’m afraid the Duke of Xin started his machinations the moment he learned Yizhi would be going to Yanbei to take over the army.” Based on the clues she had found, Chi Wan felt the Duke of Xin must have been preparing for a very long time.

The drug from Nanyue, the hand of the Duke of Xin—that was her conclusion.

Yu Jiuzhou nodded. “His Majesty has begun to grow dissatisfied with the Duke of Xin. Summoning him back to the capital was a test of his loyalty. Since he didn’t fully pass the test, he is no longer trustworthy in His Majesty’s eyes.”

Emperor Shengyuan never fully trusted anyone, so he would set up one test after another. Only those who successfully passed would be of use to him.

“The Duke of Xin has already sided with Prince Bao’an. To them, as long as they eliminate us, the Prince of Shunchéng is no threat at all. Their target is definitely us.”

Chi Wan had completely broken free from the novel’s framework and was beginning to view this world from all angles. As for Prince Bao’an, the male protagonist, she had always felt he was the type to want his cake and eat it too, a hypocrite through and through.

She had no favorable impression of Prince Bao’an, and thus saw him through no filter. Her view of him was completely unfiltered and real.

Yu Jiuzhou slapped her hand again. “Stop your hands.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about right now. Something has happened at the Ministry of Revenue.”

The Minister of Revenue, Liu Kuo, was finished, but the investigation revealed a deficit of thirty million taels of silver in the ministry’s coffers.

What did thirty million taels mean? It was equivalent to the entire tax revenue of the twenty-eighth year of Shengyuan’s reign. Neither the emperor nor any of the ministries had used it, yet the money was gone.

The emperor needed money, the Six Ministries needed money, and more importantly, the army needed money.

Under these circumstances, the promised military pay would likely be impossible to deliver. It was a massive bombshell.

Chi Wan also knew about this. The Six Ministries were Personnel, Revenue, Rites, War, Works, and Punishments.

All six of these ministries required funds; it was just a matter of how much. All told, it would certainly require several million taels.

The officials’ salaries were gone, the soldiers’ pay was gone, and many of Great Zhou’s future projects were gone.

There had been floods last year, and the dikes needed to be rebuilt. That was another huge expense.

A single coin could stump even an emperor. Emperor Shengyuan had money, but he was unwilling to part with it. Now that Yu Jiuzhou was regent, he was making her figure it out.

Yu Jiuzhou also had money, but she couldn’t take out such a large sum. The source would be impossible to explain, and if she did explain it, she might not be able to hold onto her assets. Even if she could, she would be viewed with suspicion and fear.

“Mmm, mmm, mmm,” Chi Wan replied absently, her mind entirely focused on her hands.

Yu Jiuzhou: “…” Behave yourself. Next time they discussed serious matters, it would have to be only serious matters, and absolutely not while lying in bed.

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