What's wrong with me, a powerful minister, supporting a few female officials?

Chapter 256 Su Mo was utterly enraged!

In the Imperial Palace, after the morning court session, the Empress summoned key cabinet ministers to the Lizheng Hall to discuss the allegations of cheating in the Immortal Martial Arts Examination.

The cabinet ministers unanimously agreed that the matter must be thoroughly investigated, and quickly.

This matter must be thoroughly investigated before the imperial examinations next spring, otherwise the court will lose face!
The Empress secretly observed the expressions of the six cabinet ministers, but found nothing.

It's unclear whether this matter truly had nothing to do with them, or whether they concealed it so well that even the Empress couldn't see through it.

After dismissing the cabinet ministers, the Empress intended to return to the Ziwei Palace to reread the first volume of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, hoping to glean some insights into imperial power and strategy.

Suddenly, a report came from the Imperial Guard that Princess Baicheng was requesting an audience outside the palace.

Upon hearing this, Leng Liuxi's pretty face darkened slightly.

However, since they had already arrived outside the hall, it was impossible to see them this time.

Princess Xuanbaicheng paid homage to the emperor.

"I see your Majesty!"

After the Empress had Princess Baicheng rise, Princess Baicheng immediately said in a deep voice, "May I ask Your Majesty, when will the military pay for the new army that Your Majesty promised last time be delivered?"

Leng Liuxi sighed, speechless. "Didn't I say that Su Mo would be in charge of the new army's pay?"

"General Leng, please wait patiently for a while."

"Su Mo has already transported the wool sweaters back to the capital. Once the sweaters are sold, there will naturally be money to send to the general!"

Princess Baicheng frowned: "It's already the end of the year, and soldiers and generals all need military pay to get through this year."

“Since Your Majesty says that Su Xianzi will have money to send to me by selling wool sweaters, why not first allocate some money from the Imperial Treasury to relieve my urgent need? Once Su Xianzi sends over the military funds, I will definitely return the full amount.”

Leng Liuxi looked at Princess Baicheng with a wry smile: "It's not that I don't want to allocate military funds, it's just that I have no other choice!"

The Empress sighed: "I will not hide it from General Leng."

"My imperial treasury has only a little over 30,000 taels of silver left. As is customary at the end of the year, I need to host a banquet for my officials. I plan to ask the Minister of Revenue for some more money so that I can manage!"

Princess Baicheng said without any politeness, "Since that's the case, I'm afraid I can't help with the matter of the new army!"

"Military pay is the soul of the army and the spirit of the soldiers. Without sufficient military pay, how can we talk about training troops!"

"Your Majesty, please select another capable minister or general to command this new army. I am incapable of this position!"

The Empress immediately felt a headache coming on.

She valued this new army highly and secretly went to check on it several times. Princess Baicheng was indeed dedicated to training the troops, selecting mostly sons from good families, and in a short period of time, the army had developed the appearance of an elite force.

Once the new army is trained and equipped with new weapons, we can march north and strike the barbarians.

This is the first battle for the Empress to establish her authority; she must win and not lose.

After the great victory, the Empress's other plans could naturally be implemented smoothly, especially the Edict of Grace, which required a powerful army as its support.

Once the feudal lords are dealt with, we can then address the threat posed by powerful clans and completely seize control of the Great Wu Empire.

The Empress pondered for a long time. It seemed that Princess Baicheng was really in trouble this time. She was thinking about whether she should shamelessly ask Su Mo for some money to tide her over.

Suddenly, An Wu came to report.

"Your Majesty, this old servant has just received news that Lord Su has sent someone to deliver 20,000 taels of silver to Princess Baicheng."

Upon hearing this, both the Empress and Princess Baicheng turned their gazes toward An Wu.

"Has Su Mo already delivered silver to General Leng?"

Even the Empress couldn't help but wonder, "His sweater has already been sold?"

An Wu quickly replied, "No, that's not true."

"It must be that Lord Su knew of His Majesty and General Leng's predicament, so he used his own money to subsidize the expenses of the new army."

He paused, then laughed again, "It's said that Lord Su even brought out a three-hundred-pound silver melon from the cellar!"

The Empress couldn't help but smirk slightly!
That bastard finally deigned to give me the silver melon!
His gaze immediately fell on Princess Baicheng, and he smiled, "General Leng heard that too, didn't he?"

"Now that Su Mo has delivered the silver, General Leng, you should focus on training the troops for me from now on, and stop talking about changing the commander."

Princess Baicheng looked at the Empress with a mixture of belief and doubt, then at An Wu, and finally couldn't help but say, "Your Majesty, please don't deceive me!"

"Does the magistrate of Su County have so much silver?"

"Why would he use his own money to subsidize military expenses?"

The Empress's pretty face darkened slightly, and she snorted, "How could I deceive General Leng!"

Princess Baicheng said without the slightest fear, "I have been fooled three times already!"

Leng Liuxi was both amused and exasperated: "This time, I really didn't lie to the general!"

"Su Mo is extremely wealthy!"

"Furthermore, Su Mo gave General Leng his own money simply to ask General Leng for help."

Princess Baicheng frowned slightly, not understanding what the Empress meant.

The Empress waved her hand: "I cannot go into details about this matter. General Leng will understand the reasons later. In any case, I really did not deceive the general this time."

Having said that, even if Princess Baicheng didn't believe it, she had no choice but to get up and take her leave.

After Princess Baicheng left, the Empress's pretty face darkened slightly, and she sneered, "It seems my cousin isn't one to be outdone!"

"Do they really think I'm so easy to bully? Or do they simply not take me seriously at all?"

An Wu was terrified and dared not reply.

The Empress then asked, "How is Su Mo doing now?"

An Wu quickly replied, "Lord Su should already understand the reasons behind this, and he did not act rashly."

"In addition, the families of the Duke of Ningguo and the Marquis of Hanping have gone to the Su residence and should be starting to set up the Qinghefang Hundred Household Office."

The Empress nodded slowly: "Of all the civil and military officials in the court, only the Clerk truly works for me!" She paused, her gaze falling on An Wu: "Go and inform the Dali Temple not to harm the lives of the disciples of the Su Nu Palace."

An Wu quickly replied, "This old servant understands."

The Empress rubbed her forehead and said with a wry smile, "I hope we can collect the taxes from Qinghefang soon. I'm really going to go broke!"

An Wu laughed and said, "Lord Su appointed the two adopted sons of the Duke of Ningguo and the Marquis of Hanping as trial centurions of Qinghefang."

"With their help, the people behind Qinghefang probably won't dare to jump out easily."

"Lord Su has made a brilliant move!"

The Empress said irritably, "What a brilliant move! It's nothing more than his laziness; he doesn't want to do things personally and is hoping that Zhang Xuzu and Cao Feng will handle everything!"

Anwu...

Finally, he awkwardly said, "As Lord Su once said, 'Those who labor with their minds govern others; those who labor with their bodies are governed by others!'"

"Such a way of employing people truly earns my admiration."

The Empress gave a light snort, said nothing, and waved for An Wu to leave.

Then he pulled out the Romance of the Three Kingdoms from his sleeve!

……

On Su Mo's side, after looking at the shopping list given by Liu Siyun, as well as the items that needed to be purchased for his own house for the New Year, he roughly calculated it and also felt a bit of a headache.

On the other side of Gufeng Mountain, there are more than 20,000 people, including villagers, craftsmen, textile machine workers, cement workers, and so on, in more than 8,000 households!

Even if each household only spends five hundred coins, it would still cost four thousand taels of silver.

In addition, most of the people in the fiefdom still live in earthen houses.

You can build your own house and furniture, but you still have to buy many other daily necessities from elsewhere, which costs a lot of money.

The most crucial thing is food!

With over 20,000 people, the monthly food requirement would be 12,000 shi (a unit of dry measure), which, based on current grain prices, would amount to at least 15,000 taels (another unit of dry measure).

Su Mo finally understood why the Empress always complained about being poor.

I already find it incredibly difficult to support just over 20,000 people, let alone the Empress.

He plans to go to Wanghai County tomorrow or the day after to receive the ship reward, so he naturally needs to hurry up and purchase the grain.

Summon Jiang Laoshi and Jiang Lai.

"Jiang Laoshi, take this official invitation and deliver it to Baofeng Grain Store and Lifu Grain Store. Tell them that I have invited the store managers to discuss something tomorrow morning!"

"Jiang Lai, take this letter from me to the Tianchang County government office and deliver it to Magistrate Xue Shan!"

First offer courtesy, then resort to force; prepare for both possibilities.

If Baofeng Grain Store and Lifu Grain Store don't give me face, then I shouldn't blame myself for being impolite.

After Jiang Laoshi and Jiang Lai left, Su Mo returned to the inner courtyard.

Xue Yishu was writing furiously, while Yin Rou was quietly reading the manuscript of Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Upon seeing Su Mo arrive, the two quickly stood up and bowed to him.

"Greetings, my lord!"

"The disciple has met the teacher."

Su Mo nodded, then suddenly remembered something: "Why haven't I seen Meng Danying these past two days?"

Last time I accidentally crawled into her bed and even touched her. I hope she's not too scared to come over now.
This little girl is indispensable to my own newspaper project.

Moreover, without her, the writing speed of Romance of the Three Kingdoms was much slower.

Xue Yishu explained, "Now that the New Year is approaching, many relatives and friends from the Meng family will be visiting, so it's not appropriate for Danying to go out casually."

"However, she promised me that she would come again after the New Year to write the Romance of the Three Kingdoms with me."

Su Mo nodded, his gaze falling on Yin Rou, and said slowly, "It's almost lunchtime, Officer Yin, please stay for a simple meal."

Yin Rou's face lit up with joy: "Uh! This disciple thanks you, teacher!"

As she was speaking, the manuscript she was holding in her right hand suddenly fell to the ground. Startled, Yin Rou quickly bent down and reached out her left hand to pick it up. Then, her brows suddenly furrowed, her right shoulder moved very unnaturally, and a hint of pain appeared on her face.

Su Mo's expression darkened slightly, and he said in a deep voice, "Let me see your hand!"

Yin Rou showed signs of panic.

Feeling a little lost, he subconsciously reached out his left hand.

Su Mo snorted: "Not this one!"

Yin Rou hesitated, but dared not reach out to Su Mo.

Su Mo didn't bother with pleasantries. He grabbed her right hand, rolled up her sleeve, and his expression immediately turned cold: "What's going on here?"

Xue Yishu was also greatly surprised when she saw it.

Yin Rou's fair right arm was covered in bruises and whip marks!

My entire forearm was visibly swollen, and there were even faint beads of blood seeping out in many places!
Look at these bruises, the bone might even be cracked!

Seeing Yin Rou's panicked expression, he stammered and dared not speak.

Su Mo's face was so dark it looked like it was about to drip water!

No wonder he used his left hand to carry the food box and to hand himself ginger soup!

Yin Rou was very capable, managing the Lone Peak Mountain Artisan Battalion in a neat and orderly manner, making Su Mo's life much easier. Su Mo couldn't bear to scold her, let alone hit her!

Who has the audacity to beat their most capable subordinate like this?
Su Mo's anger surged!

(End of this chapter)