Chapter 147

Chapter 147

Su Yu laughed heartily, tilting her head back to take a swig of wine.

Yu Chiyi followed with a hearty laugh, clinked his wine jar against Su Yu's and gazed into the distance.

The west wind ruffled the lake's surface, stirring the moonlight reflected in the water.

He stood up casually, and under the night sky, he performed a vigorous set of martial arts moves. As he had said, the tiger tattoo on his back seemed to come alive with his movements, as if the slumbering beast king had been awakened.

Yu Chiyou watched, itching to join in, and couldn't help but step forward.

Seeing Yu Chiyou step forward, Yu Chiyi grinned strangely.

Yu Chiyou had a bad premonition, but before he could retreat to Su Yu's side, Yu Chiyi ruthlessly wrestled him to the ground.

Su Yu watched from the side. The young man was stubborn; every time Yu Chiyi knocked him down, he rose again. Yet, his uncle seemed to be taking revenge, as every time he rose, Yu Chiyi would mercilessly beat him down again.

Finally, Su Yu had had enough and said with a laugh, "Enough, it's autumn and you're not afraid of the cold. Both of you, put your clothes on and come drink with me."

Only then did Yu Chiyi and Yu Chiyou cease their antics.

The three of them, with a row of wine jars, drank until they were thoroughly disheveled.

Both uncle and nephew were somewhat drunk and bleary-eyed, while Su Yu remained completely sober.

She stood up and asked them, "Can you two get up?"

Yu Chiyou grinned foolishly, "Your Majesty, I'm fine."

He sprang to his feet.

Yu Chiyi, however, remained seated on the ground, gazing up at Su Yu until she offered her hand. He grasped her hand and used it to pull himself up.

But being so tall and sturdy, Yu Chiyi's pull made Su Yu stumble slightly. He quickly steadied her, "Your Majesty, be careful."

Maybe it was the alcohol, Yu Chiyi's voice was slightly hoarse.

The palm resting on Su Yu's arm felt scorching hot.

Su Yu looked up, the galaxy reflected in her eyes.

She slung Yu Chiyi's hand over her shoulder, "Come on, I'll help you get back."

Yu Chiyou darted over and, using his height, took Su Yu's place, letting Yu Chiyi's hand rest on his shoulder instead, "Your Majesty, my uncle's too heavy. I'll help him back to his tent."

Yu Chiyi: "..." His hand still itched with the urge to hit someone.

Su Yu laughed, "Alright, Ayou, you take Zhongyun back to his tent. I'll go back first."

Su Yu returned alone to the entrance of her tent, where she saw Cui Xuan, Xie Yiguan, and Liu Wushi standing in a row, nearly usurping the guard's post.

She first glanced at the westward-moving moon, then at the three of them, "Couldn't sleep?"

Cui Xuan said, "Your Majesty, I was worried about you, fearing General Yu might overstep."

Xie Yiguan said, "I was too."

Liu Wushi nodded.

Su Yu smiled and said, "Don't worry, I can still outdrink the three of you. Go get some rest."

The three hesitated to speak, but upon seeing Su Yu yawn and appear tired, they silently chose not to say anything.

Su Yu slept for a while and forced herself to get up at dawn. It wasn't like the palace here, but before she could finish washing up, she heard Cui Xuan's distinctive voice outside the tent.

He said coldly, "Please go back, Li Qiniang."

Li Qiniang had always been a bit afraid of Cui Xuan, and since he became the prime minister, his cold demeanor seemed even more intimidating. She bit her lip and reluctantly decided to give up for now.

She hadn't walked far when she encountered Xie Yiguan coming her way. Her eyes brightened, and she curtsied gracefully before him, speaking in a soft voice, "Xie Yiguan, could you take me to see Her Majesty?"

She was beautiful, and her demeanor was quite charming.

Xie Yiguan glanced at her and strangely thought that if Su Yu were to wear women's clothing, the title of the most beautiful woman in the capital might change hands...

He narrowed his eyes and smiled, "If Her Majesty wants to see you, she'll call for you."

He returned the gesture politely and walked on.

Frustrated and unwilling to give up, Li Qiniang stomped her foot and turned around. She then ran into Liu Wushi.

She glanced at Liu Wushi's face, and being with him, she wasn't sure who was the one trying to seduce the emperor. She quickly dismissed the idea of asking this favored courtier to take her to the emperor and walked off determinedly.

Liu Wushi: "?"

When Liu Wushi reached the tent entrance, he heard Su Yu calling Cui Xuan inside. He immediately shouted, "Your Majesty, I'm here too."

"Oh, wait outside for a moment," Su Yu lazily replied, sounding like she wasn't fully awake yet.

Liu Wushi looked at Xie Yiguan, who was also standing at the door.

Xie Yiguan kept his gaze down, feigning ignorance of Liu Wushi's curious look.

After a while, Su Yu called them both in. Cui Xuan had just finished helping her with her hair.

Today, Cui Xuan was unusually not wearing a futou. He secured his long ponytail with a jade hairpin, giving him an elegant and aloof appearance, like the moon. He also took the liberty of tying Su Yu's hair into a ponytail, securing it with a jade hairpin.

Liu Wushi gazed blankly at Su Yu and Cui Xuan—one seated, the other standing—as one combed the other's hair. He suddenly thought of the phrase "a harmonious couple," though he quickly dismissed the thought. Yet, an inexplicable bitterness welled up inside him.

Su Yu still had meetings with the military governors today. As usual, she rode her horse around outside. When she returned to the tent, she heard that the governor who had tried to sow discord between her and Yu Chiyi had fallen off his horse and broken his leg.

"What happened?"

The soldier reporting said, "He ran into a stag being chased and accidentally fell off his horse."

"Who was chasing the stag?" Su Yu pressed.

The soldier paused and honestly replied, "Yu Chiyou went hunting early this morning. His arrow missed its mark and struck the stag's hindquarters, causing it to panic and bolt."

Su Yu turned to look at Yu Chiyou standing behind her.

Feeling guilty, Yu Chiyou lowered his head slightly.

After Su Yu dismissed the soldier, he whispered, "I didn't say he was trying to come between Your Majesty and my uncle. I only mentioned to my uncle that the man was disrespectful during his audience with Your Majesty yesterday."

Su Yu's expression hardened, prompting Yu Chiyou to quickly admit his mistake, "Your Majesty, I was wrong."

Though unsure of his exact misstep, his gut told him to apologize first.

"What did you do wrong?" Su Yu asked.

Yu Chiyou gave Su Yu an innocent look.

Su Yu sighed, "From now on, without my explicit order, you are not to spread any messages, not even to your uncle."

Yu Chiyou nodded solemnly and asked, "Am I to be punished?"

Su Yu: "..." So honest—not punishing him would be unfair to this naive boy.

She smiled and said, "When you return, copy the 'Analects' twenty times."

Yu Chiyou: "..." He felt like crying.

The autumn hunt lasted only three days. Su Yu met all twenty military governors, and the time flew by.

She then decided to return to the capital.

Upon returning to the capital, Su Yu's first act was to assign twenty surveillance commissioners to twenty regional commands and issue a new regulation: Any military action within a regional command requires the joint approval of both the military governor and the surveillance commissioner. If troops are to leave a regional command, a royal decree is mandatory. This measure ensured that regional defenses remained intact while restricting the military governor’s ability to deploy troops outside their command without authorization.

Su Yu was resolute in enforcing this new law, and naturally, some in the court were worried about potential backlash from the military governors of the regional commands. They also feared that the surveillance commissioners sent to the regions might be marginalized.

Sure enough, shortly after, news arrived that the Military Governor of Pinglu had detained the Surveillance Commissioner of Pinglu.

The Military Governor of Pinglu was the one who had broken his leg. He had initially planned to kill the surveillance commissioner, but recalling how swiftly and ruthlessly Su Yu had dealt with rebellious military governors, he opted to imprison the Surveillance Commissioner of Pinglu instead.

Upon hearing the news, Su Yu acted without hesitation. Without even deploying Yu Chiyi, she directly ordered Gao Lan to join forces with the new Military Governor of Weibo and seize the Pinglu regional command, giving the Military Governor of Pinglu no chance. She executed him on the spot and appointed a new Military Governor of Pinglu.

The other military governors were taken aback. They had expected the Military Governor of Pinglu to put up some resistance, but Su Yu's decisiveness caught them off guard.

But on reflection, it wasn’t surprising. In the past, none of the three Hebei regional commands were weaker than Pinglu, yet the emperor had crushed them at will.

Following this incident, the other military governors readily accepted the surveillance commissioners and did not object to their presence in the military camps, where they taught the generals and soldiers to read.

Not only did the military governors accept the surveillance commissioners, but the court officials also came to realize that their emperor was far more formidable than they had thought. Unbeknownst to them, Su Yu had already completed her control over the layout of the regional commands.

Thus, the sycophants emerged once more, even likening Su Yu to the legendary Yao and Shun, suggesting that she should now enjoy her leisure.

Su Yu chuckled, "Do I look seventy or eighty to you? You’re older than me and still serving in court—why should I retire to leisure? Or do you think you can retire? If so, I grant your request to retire to your hometown."

The flattering official was thus dismissed in confusion.

Since it wasn’t yet time for leisure, the officials turned their attention to another matter. The emperor was already twenty, yet she had neither an empress nor any consorts. In fact, many palaces had been shut down.

Thus, someone stepped forward and suggested that the emperor hold a consort selection.

Su Yu glanced at him coolly and called out Vice Minister of Revenue Shang Guanyi to calculate the cost of the selection for the officials.

Shang Guanyi: "..." He was not the highest official in the Ministry of Revenue anymore; there was still the Minister of Revenue above him. Why didn't the emperor call the Minister of Revenue?

But in front of the emperor, he certainly dared not say so, and could only reluctantly calculate a number: "Even starting from the prefecture level, Great Qi has three hundred and sixty prefectures. Sending selection officials to each prefecture would roughly cost a thousand taels of silver, and three hundred and sixty prefectures would amount to three hundred and sixty thousand taels of silver. Not to mention transporting the selected women from each prefecture to the capital, providing for their food, clothing, and accommodation, and then sending the unselected women back to their households—the cost would at least double. A selection would easily cost a million taels of silver."

The official who proposed the selection stammered, "But Your Majesty cannot remain unmarried forever."

Su Yu smiled lightly, "In the past, Elder Lu was always hoping for me to marry. What the Lu family intended, everyone saw."

Everyone naturally saw and knew that Lu Zhenghan wanted Su Yu to marry and have children so that the emperor could be replaced at any time.

The official who proposed the selection was so frightened that he knelt on the spot, "Your servant, your servant only..."

He was unable to speak and suddenly had an epileptic seizure on the spot, and was carried out of the Hanyuan Palace.

The others dared not speak, only quietly glancing at the two prime ministers standing at the front of the officials. Suddenly, they realized that Yao Feiming, one of the prime ministers, had been a widower for many years since his wife's death and had not remarried, while Cui Xuan, the other, was two years older than the emperor and still unmarried.

Well, there was even less hope from those two.

When the court assembly ended, all the officials left, but Cui Xuan remained standing still in his place. It wasn't until Su Yu returned and stood in front of him, asking, "What's wrong with Xing Jian?"

Cui Xuan lowered his eyes, his calm demeanor subtly revealing a sense of loneliness and desolation. After a long while, he finally said, "It's nothing."

He had wanted to say that the emperor would eventually marry, but he couldn't bring himself to say it, so he kept it to himself. When he opened his mouth, it was to say, "The late emperor's enthusiasm for selecting concubines led to the depletion of the national treasury. Your Majesty should take this as a warning."

Su Yu patted his shoulder, "Xing Jian is right, selecting concubines is out of the question. Spending money on selecting concubines is better spent on holding a couple more Exams and Military Examinations."

Cui Xuan: "..." He somewhat suspected that Su Yu's promotion of female officials like Gao Lan and Pei Baozhen was because, in Su Yu's eyes, all beings are equal and must work.

This year, winter arrived late, and the capital didn't see its first snow until November.

And this year's harvest was exceptionally good. The autumn taxes, originally scheduled to be collected by the end of November, were all collected by the beginning of November.

When Su Yu heard the news, she was stunned, wondering if this was a blessing from heaven.

Now, she was no longer the cannon fodder from the original novel; her luck had surpassed that of any male protagonist.

It was already November, and Xie Yiguan, now the Minister of Rites, entered the palace to discuss the year-end sacrifices and banquets with Su Yu. He had been secretly observing Su Yu.

Su Yu waved her hand at him, "Zhi Wei, you don't need to look at me so warily. I've done a lot these past few years. The plan to have the Ministry of Rites establish schools across the country, I intend to put on hold for now."

For the past two years, she had been smiling on the surface while wielding a big axe behind the scenes. However, her precise strikes did not cause panic among those who were not targeted. But if she continued to exert such force, it would inevitably alert and destabilize the prestigious families and those currently in official positions. So she decided to take a break, to let things calm down for a while, also in preparation for her campaign against Luosuo next year.

Attacking Luosuo was different from attacking the three towns of Hebei; reclaiming the land would require more resources for reconstruction.

Xie Yiguan immediately understood Su Yu's intention, "In that case, I can have some leisure time."

Su Yu suddenly thought of a question and asked Xie Yiguan, "The New Year is approaching, and the New Year's banquet is for capital officials of the fifth rank and above, right?"

Xie Yiguan nodded.

Su Yu pondered for a moment and said, "Set the chief official of the Treasury Department as the Grand Master of the Treasury Department, of the upper fifth rank. Then help me draft an imperial edict to promote Liu Wushi to Grand Master of the Treasury Department."

Xie Yiguan: "..."

The emperor actually created an official position out of thin air for Liu Wushi. He wondered if Cui Xuan felt the same way when he drafted the edict appointing him as Censor-in-Chief...