Chapter 70: What she enjoys is the feeling of decision-making…

Chapter 70: What she truly enjoyed was the sensation of making decisions...

In her youth, the phrase Huo Ling heard most often from Huo Shiming was "Return to the capital."

Following "Return to the capital" came the reclaiming the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun.

The Huo family's connection to the Sixteen Prefectures could be traced back to the previous dynasty. For a long time, generation after generation of the Huo family had fought bloody battles defending that land.

"Return to the capital" had been the obsession of three generations of the Huo family, starting from her grandfather. But reclaiming the Sixteen Prefectures was the obsession of multiple generations of the Huo family.

Of course, talking about reclaiming lost territory now was completely unrealistic. At least during the previous emperor’s northern expedition, he had two cavalry divisions at his command.

"I thought only the various ministries were eyeing this windfall. I didn’t expect you’d be after it too."

Hearing Emperor Jingyuan’s words, Huo Ling couldn't help but laugh. "Your Majesty, I first thought Minister Zhou was too hasty. Now I see he was just being prudent."

If you weren’t hustling for funds, your attitude was off.

With the matter of training cavalry hanging in the air, when officials from various ministries came to the palace the next day to beg for funds, Emperor Jingyuan would surely be less inclined to open the treasury.

Sure enough, the next morning, the heads of various ministries arrived early at the palace gates, bickering over who got first dibs.

One claimed he had arrived first, another insisted he had submitted a memorial to the palace the day before, and yet another declared his matter was critical for the realm—utterly urgent.

When the news reached Emperor Jingyuan, he decided there was no need for them to enter one by one—they could all crowd into the imperial study together.

The ministers shot each other confused looks, unsure what the emperor had in mind.

With a mix of anticipation, nervousness, and excitement, they rolled up their sleeves, squared their shoulders, and prepared for a verbal brawl.

If the Minister of Works could secure 300,000 taels, how could they let that geezer show them up?

Well, the Minister of Works had acted too quickly, having already discussed matters with the emperor two months in advance—truly sneaky and shameless.

Even if they couldn’t outfox the Minister of Works, surely they could best the other old-timers around them?

The eunuch who went to announce their arrival soon returned and herded them into the imperial study.

Once inside, they froze seeing the empress there. After a brief moment of astonishment, they quickly bowed in greeting.

This was the first time Huo Ling had appeared in the imperial study with all the ministry heads present.

Huo Ling smiled faintly, perfectly composed, and waved them up.

Emperor Jingyuan also invited them to sit. "I know why you’re here."

At these words, the ministers momentarily forgot about Huo Ling, locking hopeful eyes on the emperor, eager for him to call on them to speak.

Some of the more eager ones had already reached into their sleeves, poised to whip out their petitions.

Emperor Jingyuan swept his gaze over the assembled officials before finally settling on Huo Ling.

"Regarding the use of these funds, the empress has a proposal too. Why don’t you all hear her suggestion first before discussing other matters?"

The ministers were stunned. None of them saw the empress coming at such a critical moment.

Huo Ling dove right in, laying out her plan for training cavalry.

The Duke of Liu had originally come to discuss the development of new crossbows with Emperor Jingyuan. Upon hearing Huo Ling’s words, he snapped his head up to stare at her.

The heads of various departments flooded into the palace simply because their offices had many expenses that needed funding.

But none of these were urgent matters.

If there were truly pressing or critical needs, no matter how tight the treasury was, the Ministry of Revenue would find a way to allocate the funds, and Emperor Jingyuan wouldn’t ignore them either.

So, the main reason these officials came to the palace this time—to complain about budget shortages—was mostly just to take a shot.

You never know—if they made enough noise, maybe they’d end up like the Ministry of Works and actually get what they asked for.

In comparison, Empress Huo’s suggestion was exceptionally practical and clever.

Emperor Jingyuan waited a moment, then when no one spoke up, he commented, “It seems all of you also think this proposal is quite good.”

It really was good—so good, in fact, that no one had the nerve to pull out the memorials hidden in their sleeves.

But Emperor Jingyuan didn’t intend to let them leave with nothing to show either.

He spoke up first and asked them to leave their memorials behind.

Huo Ling looked at the stack of documents before her and said, “Your Majesty is incredibly tolerant.”

Emperor Jingyuan shook his head with a smile. “I can’t just send them away empty-handed. Since they stayed up all night preparing these, I might as well take a look.”

Training an elite cavalry capable of winning battles would require serious money—even two million taels in the treasury might not be enough.

But building a military force was a long-haul project.

There was no need to dump all two million taels into it at once; starting with a few hundred thousand should suffice.

And if any department could propose measures genuinely beneficial to the state and people’s livelihood, the treasury could naturally allocate funds for those as well.

Huo Ling said, “You still have other official documents to handle, not to mention this pile of memorials. How long will it take to get through all of them?”

“Well, the departments probably aren’t in a rush. You can look these over when you have time. I’ll let you get back to work then…”

Just as Huo Ling rose to leave, Emperor Jingyuan caught her hand.

“Don’t rush off.”

“If I work alone today, I won’t finish everything.”

“If you feel sorry for me, stay and help me go through these memorials. If any look promising, just pick them out for me to see.”

Huo Ling froze for a moment, her gaze shifting from their clasped hands to Emperor Jingyuan’s eyes.

In the past, whenever Emperor Jingyuan came across interesting proposals, he would occasionally pass them to her and ask for her opinion.

But her input had only ever been advisory.

The real decision-maker was always Emperor Jingyuan himself.

Now, however, his words clearly implied that if she found a proposal unworthy, she could toss it aside—only the ones she approved of would reach him.

“If the ministers knew about this, they would surely say it’s not how things are done.”

Emperor Jingyuan repeated yesterday's jest once more: "Then I shall tell them that how to use this sum of money must be discussed in detail with the Empress."

"These memorials don’t involve military or state affairs. If they find it improper and are unwilling for the Empress to see them, they can come and take them back—then they won't get the funds either."

"Since they still have the leisure to worry about such things, they must not be in urgent need of the funds. We might as well give the money to those who need it more urgently."

His wife, who had conceived such an excellent idea as training the cavalry, should have no problem organizing these memorials.

If she could handle it well, why should he take everything upon himself and cling to conventional views?

If the memorials involved military or state affairs, that would be different. But the stack of petitions submitted by various departments mainly concerned internal matters within their own offices.

Wouldn’t it be fine for him to take a little break here?

Huo Ling’s eyes curved slightly and, without further refusal, took the stack of memorials to another desk.

She reviewed them one by one.

Those she found satisfactory were placed on the right, while those deemed optional were placed on the left.

Through these memorials, Huo Ling developed a better understanding of the functions of various departments.

For instance, the Ministry of Works wished to redesign the northern city's drainage system;

The Ministry of War sought additional funds to develop new crossbow designs;

The Capital Prefecture wanted to renovate its prison cells and obtain more torture devices;

The Imperial Academy proposed building a Hall of Sages to display portraits of historical sages for the students to admire...

Between reviewing official documents, Emperor Jingyuan occasionally glanced at Huo Ling.

She caught his gaze as she looked up from a memorial: "What is Your Majesty looking at?"

Emperor Jingyuan set down his vermilion brush: "It’s the first time we’ve sat face-to-face like this going through memorials. It feels rather new."

Huo Ling placed the completed memorial on the left.

She had already reviewed eight in a row, but only two had been placed on the right.

While the Emperor found the scene fresh, she felt somewhat uneasy: "Would Your Majesty like to review them?"

Emperor Jingyuan asked, "Is there anything you’re uncertain about?"

Huo Ling pointed to the stack on the left: "I've rejected all the memorials here. Yet some of the proposals within are worthwhile."

"Then why did you reject them?"

Huo Ling explained her reasoning: "The treasury funds are limited. We must prioritize spending them where they are most urgently needed and most useful."

Emperor Jingyuan understood: "You’re afraid of making mistakes in your judgment."

Huo Ling nodded in agreement.

The Emperor smiled and said no more, only urging, "Keep reviewing. I trust your decisions."

Seeing that he truly had no intention of interfering, Huo Ling steadied herself and picked up another memorial.

This one, too, contained a decent proposal, but after a moment’s hesitation, she still set it aside.

Huo Ling faced similar dilemmas several times.

Only after reviewing the last memorial did she finally let out a long sigh and look up, only to realize that Emperor Jingyuan across from her had long since finished reviewing the official documents and was now idly flipping through a book for pleasure.

"Your Majesty."

Emperor Jingyuan raised his head. "All done?"

Huo Ling nodded. "When did you finish?"

Emperor Jingyuan replied, "About half an hour ago. I saw you were still busy, so I didn’t disturb you."

Huo Ling stood up and handed the three memorials she had selected to Emperor Jingyuan. "What do you think?"

Emperor Jingyuan examined each one. "They’re all good. I’ll have them prepare more detailed plans later."

Most of these memorials were rushed overnight by court officials. While the content was detailed, when it came to budgets, they had only provided rough estimates.

The specifics would naturally be handled once Emperor Jingyuan approved their proposals.

However, even these rough estimates added up to a million taels.

Adding the three hundred thousand taels allocated to the Minister of Works and the funds reserved for the cavalry, the total of two and a half million taels was almost spent.

Emperor Jingyuan never once glanced again at the stack of memorials Huo Ling had rejected, merely instructing Li Man to take them away.

As Li Man walked away, and then looking at the three memorials Emperor Jingyuan had carefully set aside, Huo Ling felt a strange emotion stir within her.

Giving advice and making decisions were worlds apart.

With advice, adoption hinged entirely on the other’s discretion.

With decisions, the consequences fell squarely on her shoulders.

Thus, as she reviewed these memorials, she agonized over each, terrified of missing a worthy proposal or choosing poorly and squandering a fortune of the court’s funds.

In that state of tension and doubt, she’d spent most of the day just to finalize her selections.

Yet, compared to offering advice without much psychological burden, she relished today’s tense, uncertain mood far more.

More accurately, it wasn’t the mood—it was the thrill of decision-making.