During the past few months of intense conflict in Azure Sun County, the imperial court had been just as restless.
West of the imperial palace stood the Palace of Eternal Life, a structure built entirely from white jade. Its outer walls were decorated with engraved floral designs, while its inner walls were paved with purple bricks covered with all kinds of strange inscriptions.
The iron pillars inside the palace were engraved with magnificent portraits of ancient immortals achieving ascension. There was also a crystalline shadow wall that contained flowing water, with goldfish swimming inside.
The Palace of Eternal Life was like a prized jewel nestled in the heart of the capital city, and it had cost an absolute fortune to build. In order to complete its construction on ti, the Yong'an Emperor had even taken money from the northwestern disaster relief fund at the ti, sparking fierce resistance and dissatisfaction from many officials.
Ever since the Palace of Eternal Life was constructed, it had beco the Yong'an Emperor's place of seclusion. From the second year to the fifteenth year of the Yong'an Era, thirteen years had already passed since he last took even a single step out of the Palace of Eternal Life. Whenever officials were summoned to et him, they had to co to this palace.
Even though it was the height of sumr, the conditions in a side hall of the Palace of Eternal Life were cool and pleasant.
At this mont, Wu Siqi was seated in the side hall with his eyes closed in a state of faux sleep, seemingly having entered a deep state of ditation.
Right at this mont, a red-robed eunuch approached him and said, "His Majesty has summoned you, Grand Secretary Wu."
"What did His Majesty say, Eunuch Chen?" Wu Siqi asked as he opened his eyes.
The eunuch's na was Chen Zhong, and he was the chief eunuch, the most powerful eunuch of all and the one the Yong'an Emperor trusted the most.
Wu Siqi had always been on very good terms with Chen Zhong, and they had even joined forces in the past to oppose the forr grand secretary, Fei Yi.
Wu Siqi had been responsible for dealing with Fei Yi in the imperial court, while Chen Zhong had constantly spoken ill of Fei Yi in a subtle manner in front of the emperor.
In response to Wu Siqi's question, Chen Zhong explained, "His Majesty's main concern is still the spirit veins of Azure Sun County. The fall of the Ding Clan is hardly of any consequence, but the destruction of spirit veins affects His Majesty's cultivation, and that's an unforgivable cri."
The incriminating evidence against the Ding Clan that Wu Wei had sent over hadn't been presented to the emperor through official channels by Wu Siqu. He knew that if he had tried to do that, then Fei Yi would've surely gotten in his way, and the evidence wouldn't even have been able to reach the emperor.
Thus, he had presented the evidence to the emperor through Chen Zhong instead.
Chen Zhong was a very shrewd man who knew the emperor extrely well. He knew that the Ding Clan's dealings with the fiend race, the collusion between the border military bases and powerful officials in the imperial court, and even the illegal trade of rations and weapons didn't truly count as severe transgressions in the emperor's eyes.
Instead, there were only two things that the emperor was truly interested in. The first was how much money the Ding Clan, the border military bases, and the officials of the imperial court had made through illegal trade. The second was the Ding Clan's destruction of the Plum Mountain spirit veins, as this hard the overall feng shui of the empire, thereby negatively affecting the emperor's cultivation.
Money and power. Those were the only two things that the emperor really cared about.
Thus, the first piece of incriminating evidence Chen Zhong presented was the evidence of the Ding Clan's excessive coal excavation on Plum Mountain, and sure enough, the emperor was instantly furious.
After receiving this tip from Chen Zhong, Wu Siqi knew how he had to approach this eting with the emperor. He made his way to the Immortal Ascension Hall, which was situated in the deepest part of the Palace of Eternal Life, and there, he saw a young man dressed in a Daoist robe. The young man's skin was as fair as jade, and he was seated with his legs crossed atop a golden lotus flower.
Wu Siqi imdiately knelt down, but the young man gave him a dismissive wave and said, "You may remain standing. I called you here to answer my questions, not to kneel."
"Please go ahead, Your Majesty," Wu Siqi prompted as he returned to his feet.
"I hear that your son has claid close to two hundred thousand acres of land in the county, is that right?" the emperor asked.
Wu Siqi imdiately knelt down again and said, "I'll order him to return the land right away."
The emperor didn't say anything, and the entire hall fell silent. All of a sudden, the air beca heavy with tension, and cold sweat began to flow down Wu Siqi's face.
Wu Siqi was a Dao Comprehension-state martial artist, but the emperor was a Dao Comprehension-state Dao artist. Furthermore, the Five Origin Earth Song that he cultivated, combined with the feng shui array in Divine Capital City, made him essentially invincible within the city.
On top of that, he had spent the past thirteen years in seclusion, striving to reach the state above the Dao Comprehension state, and his powers were growing more and more unfathomable with each passing year.
Even as a Dao Comprehension-state martial artist, Wu Siqi was completely at the emperor's rcy. Thus, his reverence for the emperor stemd not only from his respect for authority, but also from fear for his own life.
The tension in the hall was suddenly broken by a light chuckle from the emperor.
"Stand up. Don't be so anxious. Just make sure to discipline your son. I've received so many impeachnt slips against you that the entire stack is even taller than I am! There are many people saying that I'm showing you undeserved favoritism."
Wu Siqi didn't dare to stand up, and he said guiltily, "I have failed in my duties as a father."
The emperor stood up and helped Wu Siqi to his feet as he said, "The fault of the son is not for the father to bear. Right now, you are my grand secretary, so don't be so quick to kneel. Answer this: if even the tiny and insignificant Ding Clan was able to earn two hundred thousand taels of silver a year through illegal trade, how much extra revenue would our imperial be able to earn once trade relations are established?"
"That would depend on what we can sell to the northern fiends," Wu Siqi replied. "For example, Jiangnan has a very temperate climate suitable for raising silkworms and producing silk. The northern fiends aren't skilled at farming and weaving, but their land is rich in silver deposits. A pi of premium silk can only be sold for six taels of silver here, but on the northern grasslands, it can be sold for at least fifteen.
“The Imperial Silk Manufactory in Jiangnan has a total of fifteen thousand looms. Right now, with the dragons wreaking havoc along the Jiangnan coastline, the silk can no longer be sold overseas. As a result, most of the looms have already stopped operating. If we can transport our silk to the northern fiends, we could easily sell a hundred thousand pi a year, and that would amount to 1.5 million taels of silver in revenue from silk alone."
"It sounds like trade relations with the northern fiends will indeed be very profitable for our empire," the emperor mused. "Right now, everyone is calling you the empire's greatest traitor, the grand secretary of surrender, and the people of the nine border military bases are strongly opposed to you as well. You can't ignore them for now, but you can't ignore them forever. What are you planning to do about this?"
"I propose that we abolish the military bases and establish manors and offices in their place," Wu Siqi said with a solemn expression.
"The nine border military bases are ho to millions of soldiers and residents, yet you intend to abolish them just like that?" the emperor asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"The border military bases are already rotten to the core and beyond repair. They're like rotting limbs that can only be severed, and the more we delay the inevitable, the more they'll poison the entire empire," Wu Siqi replied.
"Go on," the emperor prompted with a nod.
After a long conversation, the emperor was satisfied with Wu Siqi's answers, and he suddenly smiled and asked, "I heard that all of the incriminating evidence against the Ding Clan was secured by a young man called Chu Qiguang, is that right?"
"That's correct," Wu Siqi confird.
"Has he entered the officialdom yet?" the emperor asked.
"Not yet," Wu Siqi replied. "However, I've heard that he's planning to take part in the martial examination to serve the empire."
"He's quite a bright talent, that one," the emperor mused. "Not only has he gotten Azure Sun County wrapped around his finger at such a young age, he also seems to be well-versed in practical skills like accounting and investigative work. I think he'll be quite a capable official if he manages to pass the martial examination."
Wu Siqi knew that Chu Qiguang had already made an impression on the emperor. As a Dao Comprehension-state Dao artist, the emperor's mory was impeccable, and if Chu Qiguang managed to enter the officialdom in the future, then this favorable impression will serve him very well.
However, at the sa ti, this was a double-edged sword. Wu Siqi knew that soone was intentionally bringing Chu Qiguang to the emperor's attention ahead of ti.
Not only had Chu Qiguang made an impression on the emperor, he had also been lumped into Wu Siqi's political faction. Once he began to make a na for himself, he would quickly attract unwanted attention from Wu Siqi's political enemies.
I wonder if he'll be able to withstand so much pressure at such a young age...
***
Of course, Chu Qiguang was completely unaware that his na had already been made known to the emperor. At the mont, he was racking his brain trying to draw water-powered spinning machines and looms from the mories of the few photographs he had seen of them in his past life.
However, even though he could now revisit his mories with incredible clarity, the truth was that he had no idea how these machines worked. As a result, he could only draw their exteriors, but didn't know anything about the internal chanisms.
Why didn't I take so ti to study these machines in my past life? Chu Qiguang thought in frustration.
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