Eagle-eyed and wolf-watching

Chapter 1688 The Empress's Right to Know
Yijing Palace
In a certain room, An Miaoyi was engrossed in reading a memorial in a book. Born into a powerful family, the Empress of the Great Qian Dynasty had known the wonders of Q power since childhood, which made her extremely interested in Q power. As she grew older, she also developed the idea of ​​controlling power.

There was a time when she dreamed of becoming a powerful woman, an empress, who commanded the respect and awe of countless men!
However, as An Miaoyi grew older, she became increasingly aware of how difficult it was for a woman to stand out in a world order dominated by the sexes.

In such an order, if a woman wants to have power, she must depend on a man. Especially in the political arena, you should first become the emperor's woman, then give birth to his children, and then gain a noble status by relying on your son. You should then support your son to become emperor, and finally achieve the goal of ruling from behind the curtain as empress dowager, or even go further and become emperor yourself!
Whether it was Mi Yue in the pre-Qin period, Empress Lü in the early Han Dynasty, or Wu Zetian in the Tang Dynasty, they all relied on this method to become the rulers of the world at that time!
This is the only realistic path for women to wield power; apart from this, there has never been a time in Chinese history when women held power.

An Miaoyi, well-versed in history, understood this perfectly. Therefore, driven by strong political ambition, after discovering the immense potential of Ye Mingsheng and the Fengwu Army, she carefully considered her options and staked herself on Ye Mingsheng.
Reality proved her judgment to be exceptionally astute. Ye Mingsheng did not disappoint her; despite some setbacks, he successfully unified the country, ascended the throne, and made her his empress…
Human desires are endless. Even though she was already the Empress, the mother of the nation, An Miaoyi was still not satisfied!
She loved the feeling of having great power and controlling the life and death of all people. If she could, she would love to stand in the forefront like Wu Zetian and be honored as the two saints by all the officials, along with her husband Ye Mingsheng!
However, although An Miaoyi had such thoughts, Ye Mingsheng, who single-handedly founded the Daqian Dynasty, was not Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Li Zhi!

At Ye Mingsheng's request, An Miaoyi had no choice but to restrain her sharpness and minimize her influence on the court to avoid angering Ye Mingsheng.

Although she bore Ye Mingsheng his eldest son, Ye Jingren, Emperor Ye Mingsheng had quite a few offspring, a total of five sons and three daughters, especially his fourth son, Ye Jingxuan. Furthermore, Ye Mingsheng's exclusive favor towards Ye Jingxuan's mother, Pei Zhixiu, instilled a sense of crisis in Empress An Miaoyi of the Great Qian Dynasty.

Ye Mingsheng's inspection with his son Jingren did not alleviate An Miaoyi's sense of crisis, but the memorial in his hand at this moment reassured An Miaoyi a lot.

As with his previous southern tour, Ye Mingsheng arranged military affairs for this inspection tour in the same way. The military affairs were handled by Chief of the General Staff Zhao Han, while the internal affairs were discussed by cabinet members, especially Cui Shao, Minister of Revenue, and Gu Sansi, Minister of Personnel. In addition, Empress An Miaoyi, as before, had the right to know about all matters of domestic, foreign and military affairs in the Daqian court. All such matters needed to be reported to An Miaoyi for information.

Although it was only the right to know, not the right to make decisions or change them, An Miaoyi, who had been suppressed by Ye Mingsheng, was quite satisfied. This feeling of legitimately knowing about the affairs of the Great Qian court was very good for her…
She even couldn't help but think how wonderful it would be if she could continue like this, or even go further and have decision-making power!
Although she had such thoughts, An Miaoyi understood that it was unrealistic. After all, she was only the empress, not the emperor, which was a somewhat helpless regret in her heart.

Just as An Miaoyi picked up her pen to write "read" on the essay in her hand, there was a knock on the door.

An Miaoyi, without even looking up, said:

"Enter!"

With An Miaoyi's permission, Zhang Yufeng, a first-class attendant from the Attendant Department, entered the room. Holding a memorial in his hand, he bowed to An Miaoyi and said:
"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Rites has just received news that the Golden Horde has sent another envoy to our Great Qian Dynasty. They are expected to arrive in Yijing in about a month and a half!"

As Zhang Yufeng spoke, he placed the memorial he was holding on the table. Without hesitation, An Miaoyi picked it up and began to read. After glancing at the contents, An Miaoyi asked:

"Did the Ministry of Rites say what the intentions were of the Golden Horde sending envoys?"

Zhang Yufeng thought for a moment and then said:
"It's said that it's all for the sake of a marriage alliance. The Great Khan of the Kipchak Khanate, Habib, is determined to marry a princess from our Great Qian Dynasty for his son, Aska. I heard that even women from the royal family won't do; it has to be His Majesty's daughter..."

Hearing this, An Miaoyi was somewhat surprised. If she remembered correctly, Habib had previously sent someone to say that he wanted the Kipchak Khanate and the Great Qian to form a marriage alliance, and to ask for a princess of the Great Qian for his son Aska. However, Ye Mingsheng believed that the Kipchak Khanate had no sincerity at all and was only trying to sow discord between the Great Qian and Luobei. In addition, Ye Mingsheng was unwilling to sacrifice his daughter's lifelong happiness for these things and push her into a fire pit, so Ye Mingsheng ignored the Kipchak Khanate.

But I didn't expect them to be so persistent. They've sent people again now, which really shows they're determined to stick to their guns.

Just as An Miaoyi was pondering, Zhang Yufeng spoke up again, asking:
"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Rites is undecided regarding this marriage alliance. What do you think should be the course of action?"

Hearing Zhang Yufeng ask this question, An Miaoyi gave him a cold look, thinking to herself that Ye Mingsheng and the people around him really had no sense of propriety.

If Minister of Rites Su Yi can't make up his mind, how can she?
She only has the right to know right now!

And this is a marriage alliance!
Ye Mingsheng is not dead yet, and I am not the Empress Dowager. What decisions can I make?

Thinking about this, An Miaoyi felt more and more that Zhang Yufeng was doing it on purpose!
There are two main administrative offices in the palace!

One is the Inner Court Department, led by An Miaoyi, which is responsible for managing the palace maids, eunuchs, and nannies, as well as the palace's internal treasury procurement expenditures and assets under the palace's name in various places.

The other was the Attendant Department, which directly served Ye Mingsheng. The main function of the Attendant Department was to assist Ye Mingsheng in completing his official duties, acting as a secretary and advisor.

Because the Attendant's Office was primarily responsible for state affairs, and Ye Mingsheng had consistently and explicitly instructed An Miaoyi not to interfere excessively in or influence court matters, and given that the Director of the Attendant's Office, Ye Cheng, had also been disciplined by An Miaoyi, everyone in the Attendant's Office outwardly kept their distance from her to avoid suspicion...

In particular, although Zhang Yufeng and his attendants were usually very respectful and courteous to An Miaoyi, they always handled matters strictly by official procedures.

An Miaoyi knew perfectly well that by doing this, they were expressing their political stance to Ye Mingsheng, telling him that they had nothing to do with her...
Thinking of this, An Miaoyi felt very irritated. The attitude of the Attendant Department made her feel that Ye Mingsheng was guarding against her like a thief.

She had no idea what Ye Mingsheng was wary of her for!
Under Zhang Yufeng's questioning gaze, An Miaoyi gradually regained her composure and said calmly:
"Send someone to deliver this message to His Majesty!"

Zhang Yufeng was not surprised by An Miaoyi's decision, and then bowed and left.

An Miaoyi continued to look at the memorials submitted by the Ministry of Revenue, but after an incense stick had burned, someone came to An Miaoyi's room again to ask her questions.

However, unlike Zhang Yufeng, this time the person didn't knock and walked directly into the room. When An Miaoyi heard the familiar footsteps, she immediately looked up.

The visitor was none other than Qiqige, An Miaoyi's most trusted confidante and her maid who had served her for decades. Under her mistress's watchful gaze, Qiqige went straight to the point:

"Your Majesty, our agents in the Yijing government office have just reported an emergency!"

"What's the emergency?"

"This morning, Censor Wang Tong of the Censorate was robbed at knifepoint while having tea at a small teahouse in the southern part of Yijing. The person he was drinking tea with was stabbed to death, and Wang Tong himself was also stabbed and robbed of all his money, but I heard he is not in life-threatening danger..."

An Miaoyi was somewhat surprised to hear this. As Yijing's economy has developed better and better, armed robbery incidents like this have become rare.

The fact that the person robbed was an imperial censor from the Censorate is even more outrageous!
Although these censors of the Censorate do not have much power or money in the court, their status is very noble and the consequences of harming them are very serious!
Therefore, from the perspective of robbery, robbing the censor might not be a good choice!

Most importantly, it should be working hours for the Censorate now, so why would a Censor of the Censorate be out drinking tea with people in a teahouse in the south of the city instead of working properly at the Censorate?
Just as An Miaoyi was feeling somewhat puzzled, Qiqige spoke up:
"The Yijing government wants to handle this discreetly to avoid the matter escalating and causing negative consequences!"

"However, our people reported that things might not be that simple. Zhang Mang, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, communicated with Bai Changjiu, the Prefect of Yijing, on the orders of Minister Liu Ning, and ultimately classified the case as an ordinary robbery!"

Hearing Qiqige say this, An Miaoyi's eyes showed even more doubt. It was a bit of an exaggeration that a censor was robbed and the vice minister and minister of the Ministry of Justice would intervene. However, she still felt that something was not right!
After a moment of contemplation, An Miaoyi continued to ask:
Who was the victim who was robbed along with Wang Tong? What is Wang Tong's condition?

"The identity of the deceased is still unclear. As for Wang Tong, he is said to be recovering at home due to excessive shock. The Yijing Prefecture and the Ministry of Justice plan to question him after his condition improves!"

An Miaoyi nodded slightly and then spoke again, offering her further instructions:

"Have someone keep an eye on this matter, especially on Zhang Mang..."

"Yes!"

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Zhuo County, Youyan
Accompanied by County Magistrate Wang Chong, Ye Mingsheng, the newly appointed official, began inspecting the factories in Zhuo County.

"Your Majesty, this factory is called Fugui Match Factory. It is one of the largest factories in Zhuoxian County, employing nearly two hundred people and producing more than 20,000 boxes of matches every month. The factory's match production covers the entire north!"

"The annual sales can reach two thousand taels of silver, and we pay more than two hundred taels of taxes to Zhuo County!"

"Your Majesty, this is Huang Fugui, the owner of Fugui'er Match Factory. He is a well-known philanthropist in our Youyan region. He pays his employees' wages on time every month and has also donated to our Zhuoxian Public School several times!"

Introduced by Wang Chong, a well-dressed, slightly overweight middle-aged man approached Ye Mingsheng, knelt at his feet with a hint of surprise and anticipation, and said:

"This humble subject, Huang Fugui, greets Your Majesty! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"

After saying this, Huang Fugui sincerely kowtowed three times to Ye Mingsheng.

The idea of ​​revitalizing the nation through industry and commerce was a fundamental policy as early as the Fengwu Army period. Ye Mingsheng has always practiced this idea and has always been relatively friendly to people in the business community. This is also an important reason why Wang Chong brought Huang Fugui to Ye Mingsheng!
Ye Mingsheng glanced at Huang Fugui, then smiled and began to speak:
"Get up!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

After a brief chat with Huang Fugui, Ye Mingsheng steered the conversation back to the match factory.

"I remember hearing about this Fugui Match Factory in Yijing before. Did you move the factory to Zhuoxian, or did you open a branch factory in Zhuoxian?"

Faced with Ye Mingsheng's question, Huang Fugui seemed somewhat guilty. After hesitating for a moment, not considering the consequences of deceiving the emperor, he honestly answered:
"Your Majesty, my Fugui Match Factory was moved from Yijing!"

Ye Mingsheng was not surprised by Huang Fugui's answer. Although he had not made any incognito visits for some time, he was still very concerned about the situation in Yijing. He had heard that many factories had moved out of Yijing recently.

Some of these factories moved to Liaoyang, some to Shandong, but most remained in Youyan, or moved to Zhuoxian and Shunde. The Imperial Attendant's Office wrote a report for Ye Mingsheng on this matter, explaining the details of these events.

Although he learned some details about the matter from the Attendant Department, it wasn't firsthand information for Ye Mingsheng. Therefore, Ye Mingsheng really wanted to hear what the factory's owner and manager thought about moving away from Yijing.

So, facing a factory owner like Huang Fugui, Ye Mingsheng asked:
"Master Huang, why did you move your Fugui Match Factory from Yijing to Zhuoxian...?"

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(End of this chapter)