Chapter 155

Chapter 155

After returning from the palace to the Cui residence, Cui Xuan secluded himself in his room.

Unlike Xie Yiguan, he was not skilled at drawing people, but if it was Su Yu, he could almost effortlessly pick up the brush and complete the drawing in one go.

The portrait of Su Yu was strikingly lifelike.

Cui Xuan stared at the portrait for a long time.

After hesitating for a moment, he changed the paper, picked up the brush, and drew Su Yu again, but this time, the Su Yu under his brush was dressed as a woman—

There was no hint of incongruity.

It even made Cui Xuan feel that Su Yu should have been a woman.

He slowly closed his eyes, and every smile and frown of Su Yu appeared before him. Su Yu had ascended the throne at eighteen, and now at twenty-one, her voice had not changed, her figure had not changed, and she had never grown a beard...

Cui Xuan's eyes snapped open. There were only two explanations: Su Yu was either a eunuch or a woman disguised as a man—

But could a woman truly disguise herself as a man?

He had personally seen the royal family tree, which clearly recorded the nineteenth prince. The births of palace consorts were overseen by specialized officials, and records were made only after verification by specialized officials. Even the empress or favored consorts would find it nearly impossible to report a princess as a prince, let alone Su Yu's mother, who was not favored at the time and completely lacked the ability to falsify.

Cui Xuan laid the two portraits side by side, recalling that before Su Yu ascended the throne, few people had seen her. Even the teachers responsible for the princes' education said that the nineteenth prince only learned a few characters before taking long-term sick leave and not attending classes. Later, at the age of thirteen, she went to her fiefdom.

Though Su Yu's penmanship was lacking, judging by her actions and courage, she was by no means ignorant or unwilling to learn...

He recalled another detail: Emperor Xuanzong's eighteenth prince was born on the same day as Su Yu, but unlike Su Yu, the eighteenth prince's mother was Emperor Xuanzong's most beloved imperial concubine. The birth of the favored consort's child would naturally draw the attention of the entire palace, thus neglecting Su Yu's mother. Was it because of this that a mistake occurred?

Yet, after twenty-one years, uncovering the truth of that time was nearly impossible. Moreover, on Su Yu's journey from the Pingshan Kingdom to the capital, her personal maidservant and eunuch who had followed her were killed by assassins. Even if Su Yu was indeed a woman disguised as a man, no one knew about it.

Cui Xuan gazed at the imagined portrait of Su Yu in women's attire for a long while, then burned both portraits, leaving no trace.

The following day, at the court assembly, Xie Yiguan noticed, unusually, that Cui Xuan seemed distracted during the court session.

He cast a thoughtful glance at Cui Xuan. Yesterday, Cui Xuan was the last one to leave the imperial study among them. Had the emperor spoken to him?

Cui Xuan sensed the gaze from behind and immediately turned around, meeting Xie Yiguan's eyes, then turned back as if nothing had happened.

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Su Yu spoke leisurely: "It was I who ordered General Wei to attack Luosuo."

The civil officials who disliked Wei Chi Yi said: "Your Majesty might be unaware, but Wei Zhongyun has a personal grudge against the Luosuo people. He urged Your Majesty to attack Luosuo purely out of personal vendetta."

Su Yu said: "If you are aware of it, how could I not be?"

The civil official: "..."

Su Yu then asked: "Since you think I am so easily incited, why don't you try it too?"

The civil official dropped to his knees, too afraid to speak further.

To everyone's surprise, Vice Minister of Revenue Shang Guanyi stepped forward at that moment.

He said: "Your Majesty, now that the realm is finally recovering and the national treasury is full, if we start a war again, the previous efforts may be wasted."

In front of everyone, Shang Guanyi roughly calculated the funds required to attack Luosuo, and not only that, after recapturing the fifteen states occupied by Luosuo, labor and funds would be required for reconstruction, which would be another huge expense.

Su Yu listened with keen interest as Shang Guanyi finished speaking, then abruptly asked, "I remember, Minister Shang, you once claimed you were not adept at accounting."

Shang Guanyi was taken aback. Was that really the point? The real issue was that the Great Qi treasury simply didn’t have enough funds!

Of course, he would never admit that all these figures had been crunched by his wife, Wang Ruo.

Su Yu didn’t call him out for miscalculating: "Minister Shang's calculations are indeed correct, and the amount of silver required to reclaim the fifteen prefectures will only increase. So, because of this, are you all just going to let Luosuo trample over Great Qi’s lands and let our people be butchered like animals by the Luosuo people? And you, who call yourselves the backbone of the nation, serving the country and its people—yet you lounge in the capital, basking in its wealth, while ignoring the plight of those outside the city walls?"

No one dared to answer the emperor.

Su Yu leaned forward slightly, resting her chin on her hand, with a complete disregard for decorum. But right now, no one would be stupid enough to call out the emperor for her lack of manners.

She smiled slowly at the officials, sending shivers down their spines.

After a long pause, Su Yu seemed to suddenly recall something. "Speaking of which, since I took the throne, I haven’t gotten around to cleaning up the bureaucracy."

The ministers: "..."

Su Yu continued, "At first, I thought that as a new ruler, no matter what happened before, as long as you all stayed loyal to Great Qi, its people, and me after I took the throne, I could let the past stay in the past. But now, looking at your expressions, I’m starting to wonder if my initial decision was even the right one."

The ministers quickly chimed in, assuring the emperor that her decisions were infallible and always right.

Su Yu nodded, agreeing with their words. "You’re right. I can’t be wrong. So, my plan to strike Luosuo and take back our land isn’t wrong either."

Noticing Shang Guanyi’s hesitation, she smiled. "Minister Shang’s worries are fair. So, I’ve thought of a middle ground. Since I’m not digging into the old books from the last emperor’s time, and now we need money to take back the fifteen lost prefectures, you and the local officials should chip in generously."

"So, I’ve decided to ask for donations from all of you. Your generosity won’t be forgotten."

The ministers: "..."

They’d originally sent in their petitions to slam Yu Chiyi, but they never thought the blowback would hit them instead. Now, they were drowning in regret.

But they were also terrified. No one could say their hands were spotless, and the current emperor was clearly someone you didn’t mess with. On top of that, she had the military under her thumb. And let’s not forget, the capital’s Sixteen Guards were now hers to command. If the emperor wanted to investigate or arrest someone in the capital, it’d be as easy as snapping her fingers.

They’d hoped Su Yu was just bluffing, but to their horror, she immediately sent Yu Chiyi out with soldiers and a donation box, cornering each official one by one.

One official tried to dodge: "This donation box is too small for much silver. I’ll pack the silver in a box and deliver it myself later."

When 'later' would be was anyone’s guess, and where to deliver it was equally vague.

Yu Chiyi grinned. "If the donation box is too small, I can accompany you to the bank to exchange the silver for banknotes. We accept banknotes."

The official: "..." He suspected that the emperor had opened the bank specifically for this day.

He stiffly looked up at the line of soldiers behind Yu Chiyi, who shamelessly added, "These are my brothers here to help. They can carry the silver for you, so you don’t have to lift a finger."

The official: "..." I really thank your entire family!

The capital officials fared better. Having dealt with the emperor before, they knew her temperament and dared not refuse to donate or donate too little. After all, even Yao Feiming, known for his integrity, donated ten thousand taels of silver, not to mention Cui Xuan, the head of a prestigious family, who donated one million taels.

Most local officials had witnessed Su Yu's swift handling of the regional commands and were willing to contribute what they could. Of course, there were still some stubborn ones.

In the late spring of the fourth year of Tianjin, the fourth year of Su Yu's reign, the governor of Anzhou in Huainan Circuit was investigated for corruption and bribery.

When Xie Yiguan brought the governor of Anzhou to the capital and used fifty carriages to transport the governor's belongings into the city, the court was shocked.

Especially the capital officials, who were caught off guard. They only knew that seven days ago, Xie Yiguan had been sent on an official mission by the emperor, but where he was sent, only the emperor, Cui Xuan, and Yu Chiyi knew.

With Cui Xuan’s stern face, who would dare approach him to inquire? As for Yu Chiyi, everyone was annoyed by him lately, fearing he would bring up the donation issue again, so no one would voluntarily approach him either.

So when Xie Yiguan escorted the prisoner and the confiscated wealth into the capital, everyone was shocked and sent people to Anzhou to inquire about the details.

The locals in Anzhou, however, applauded the move. The Anzhou governor was greedy and unlike Xin Jianshui, who knew when to stop, he exploited the people relentlessly, and they had long despised him.

But the people of Anzhou were also unaware of the details, only knowing that after Xie Yiguan arrived in Anzhou, he directly surrounded the governor's mansion, giving the Anzhou governor no chance to defend himself. He then searched the mansion and found piece after piece of evidence of corruption and bribery, quickly arresting the Anzhou governor and confiscating all his family property.

Not only the capital officials, but also the local officials remembered that the Anzhou governor was the one who had recently pleaded poverty and refused to contribute to the emperor. Seeing the emperor's posture, it was clear that he had come prepared, fully aware of the Anzhou governor's actions.

After the Anzhou governor was sentenced to immediate execution, both capital and local officials were terrified, breaking out in a cold sweat. Without Su Yu naming them, those who hadn't contributed before stepped up to donate, and those who had donated too little hurried to donate a second time.

It wasn't until they had donated a significant portion of their wealth that many officials realized that even if they gave all their possessions, they couldn't match ten carriages, much less fifty. The despicable Anzhou governor had embezzled so much and yet was stingy! And he had harmed them!

When the Anzhou governor was taken to the West Market for execution, not only did the common people come to spit on him, but many local officials also traveled from afar to show their contempt.

By early summer, the fundraising campaign had concluded.

Su Yu had Xie Yiguan calculate the total of the donations and the seized assets, which amounted to eighty million taels of silver, equivalent to three years of Great Qi's national revenue.

Not only were the military funds for the campaign against Luosuo secured, but there was also no need to worry about local finances after recovering the fifteen states.

The current emperor could be said to be quite wealthy, young, handsome, and wealthy. Yet such an emperor had not yet married, so someone came forward to propose that the emperor take a queen.

Su Yu looked at the person and said softly, "Are you after my money?"

The advisor knelt on the ground and dared not continue.

When the court was dismissed, a colleague patted the advisor on the shoulder and said, "Why can't you see what's clear?"

The advisor said very aggrievedly, "His Majesty is already twenty-one, it's only natural to marry and start a family."

The colleague paused, then whispered, "You might as well think about what the emperor's era name is."

The advisor: "Isn't the era name Tianjin?"

What's there to think about? He suddenly stopped. How had he not thought of that! The emperor was fixated on money, even his era name had "gold" in it!

But the emperor wouldn't even spend money on a wedding, could it be that the emperor would eventually marry into a wealthy family?

When Su Yu summoned officials to donate, Liu Wushi was busy in Jiangnan setting up a bank. By the time he returned to the capital, it was already early summer, and he had not only missed the donation drive but also the officials' advice for the emperor to marry.

Even though he was not in the capital, Liu Wushi had vaguely heard some rumors. He also knew that Su Yu was already twenty-one, and marrying and starting a family was inevitable, but he felt a weight in his heart.

It wasn't until he entered the palace to see Su Yu.

The emperor, whom he hadn't seen for months, was still smiling and in good spirits. When she saw him, she smiled, revealing a pair of dimples, and called out to him, "Buyi, you're here."

Liu Wushi, disregarding etiquette, stared at her for a long time, then suddenly knelt on the ground and said, "I once said that I would offer all my family property to Your Majesty, and this statement still holds."

Su Yu chuckled and helped him up, "Back then, you wanted to exchange it for Su Yu's freedom, but now what is it for?"

Liu Wushi lowered his eyes, not daring to look at Su Yu, but said firmly, "I wish Your Majesty could realize great ambitions."

Su Yu's eyes curved into a smile, "Buyi's intentions are received, but you should take good care of your family property. You work for me, and I won't let you go bankrupt."

Liu Wushi's long eyelashes trembled slightly, and he said softly, "Your Majesty is too kind to your servant..."

Su Yu tapped his forehead with her finger, "You must be tired, I'll give you a few days off to rest. Once everything in Jiangnan is stable, we might really open a bank in Jiannan Dao."

"Your Majesty..." Liu Wushi paused, then boldly asked, "Why has Your Majesty delayed in taking a wife?"

Could it really be that he’s into men?

Su Yu's smile faded a little as she asked calmly, "Buyi, are you also going to try and persuade me to take an empress?"

Liu Wushi shook his head emphatically. He just really wanted to know the reason.

Su Yu looked at him for a long time before finally smiling and saying, "It's not the right time yet. You'll understand when it is."

What kind of timing was this? Liu Wushi thought through all the historical records of emperors who publicly admitted to being into men, and suddenly realized that a wise ruler would never make that public.

Liu Wushi stumbled out of the palace, nearly falling as he got into the carriage, but Guo Laidong caught him.

"Guo San..." Liu Wushi began, and Guo Laidong was about to respond in agreement, but then he heard Liu Wushi's next words: "I think I might be into men..."

The last time he discovered that his beloved not only turned out to be male but was also the lofty emperor, it was enough to shatter his world. Now, what made him even more despairing was that he realized, despite knowing that Su Yu was an unattainable emperor, he had once again hopelessly fallen for her.

Guo Laidong paused, then exhaled, "Master, you've finally come to terms with it."

Liu Wushi: "?"

The tears that were about to fall were interrupted by Guo Laidong's words. What did Guo Laidong mean by that?