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

Chapter 350 Crimson Mission! Ten Million Taels!
Nangong Sheyue was also taken aback when she heard the news that the Empress had arrived at Qinghefang. She looked at Su Mo suspiciously and asked, "Your Majesty has gone to Qinghefang?"

"Lord Su, don't try to deceive me!"

Su Mo was both amused and exasperated: "How could this humble servant dare to joke about such things?"

As she spoke, she handed the silk letter sent by Zhang Xuzu to Nangong Sheyue: "It is estimated that Zhang Xuzu's matter has become too big, and the Empress is afraid that something might happen, so she personally came to Qinghefang to take charge."

Nangong Sheyue looked at the cloth and saw that the Empress wanted to summon Su Mo to the Qinghefang Hundred Household Office.

She hesitated for a moment, then turned to look around before whispering, "I have learned that the situation of the earthquake in Tiannan Province is far more serious than the officials of Tiannan Province have reported!"

"Is His Majesty seeking out the young master because of this matter?"

Su Mo was taken aback: "Is that so?"

He already knew that the situation in Tiannandao was extremely serious, with over 100,000 people already dead. But Nangong Sheyue said it was even more serious than the officials had reported.

However, Nangong Sheyue is the Left Commander of the Fengming Division, and his information network is incredibly extensive, so this matter is probably true.

Nangong Sheyue nodded solemnly: "That should be correct."

She turned to look at Lin Moyin, her brows furrowing slightly as she asked, "Commander Lin, are you perhaps unaware of this matter?"

Lin Moyin shook her head: "I truly do not know."

He paused, then said with some confusion, "Qiu Huai, the military governor of Tiannan, surely doesn't think this matter can be kept from His Majesty?"

"How dare he lie about the disaster?"

“Normally, such a natural disaster has little to do with Qiu Huai, so there is no need to conceal the disaster.”

Nangong Sheyue shook his head and said, "I don't know why."

"The secret investigation was conducted by the local Imperial Guards; I only know a little bit of the inside story."

She paused slightly, then looked at Su Mo and said in a low voice, "No matter what, the disaster relief funds and grain budget allocated by the imperial court will definitely be far from sufficient."

"His Majesty's personal visit to Qinghefang is probably for this reason."

Nangong Sheyue hesitated again, then lowered her voice even further: "My lord, you must be careful!"

"If such a huge sum of disaster relief money were to fall entirely into your hands, those merchants would surely hate you to the core!"

At this point, Nangong Sheyue gritted her teeth: "They can't do anything to my lord now, but what if one day..."

Although she hadn't finished speaking, Su Mo and Lin Moyin both understood what she meant!
It was simply a concern that Su Mo's favor with the emperor might fade in the future.

Lin Moyin looked at Nangong Sheyue with surprise and doubt.

This is a highly treasonous statement, and it's not surprising that she would secretly say it to her husband in her boudoir.

But Nangong Sheyue actually told her lover directly?

Or should I say it to his face?
How could she and her husband have such a close relationship?

Su Mo pondered for a moment, then nodded to Nangong Sheyue with an extremely serious expression and said, "Thank you for the reminder, sir. I will think it over carefully."

Nangong Sheyue nodded silently.

Su Mo suddenly sighed: "In my opinion, the earthquake in Tiannan Dao is not that simple. Even if there is enough money for disaster relief, it will still be very troublesome!"

Lin Moyin couldn't help but ask, "Why would you think that, my lord?"

Everyone knew that Su Mo was working for the sake of the Earth Rift, and that's why he collected commercial taxes and fines, thus avoiding a full-scale counterattack from court officials, gentry, and nobles.

Now that she had already intervened in this matter, the Tiannan Road earthquake was inextricably linked to her husband, so Lin Moyin was naturally worried about Su Mo.

Su Mo smiled wryly, "The money is easy to solve, the problem is food!"

Lin Moyin frowned: "Isn't there a regular granary?"

Su Mo sneered: "Who knows how much rice and grain is still in the Ever-Normal Granary!"

"If I'm not mistaken, it won't be long before we receive a report that the granary is on fire."

In ancient history, the incredible story of a fire dragon burning down a granary has occurred before.

Whether the emperor believed it or not, the people below all "believed" it!

Su Mo paused, then frowned: "Let's not talk about this anymore."

"Even if the problems of silver and food are solved, there are still more troublesome things to worry about!"

Nangong Sheyue and Lin Moyin asked in unison, "What is it?"

Su Mo's expression was serious as he slowly uttered a few words: "After a great disaster, there will inevitably be a great plague!"

Nangong Sheyue and Lin Moyin's pretty faces changed color at the same time!
……

Upon being summoned by the Empress, Su Mo naturally rushed to the capital at top speed.

Upon arriving in the capital, I found that there were few pedestrians on the streets, and even small vendors were rare.

Although the shops were open for business, there were very few customers.

This is especially true for shops in the entertainment industry.

Everyone knows the imperial court is desperately poor; who would dare flaunt their wealth at this time!
The Zhuque Avenue, which was originally several miles long, was usually bustling and lively.

Looking at it now, Su Mo felt a sense of emptiness.

It should be even more lively during the Lunar New Year.

Su Mo sighed inwardly.

The move by the Qinghefang Hundred Household Office certainly boosted the morale of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, but it will also inevitably attract more fear and suppression.

I rode my horse at breakneck speed all the way to Qinghefang Hundred Household Office, where I saw many black-armored female knights protecting the office from afar.

In addition, many merchants dressed up were watching from outside.

Some walked cautiously toward the garrison, clearly there to pay their fines.

Su Mo dismounted, handed the reins to the guard at the door, and then walked quickly toward the garrison.

Upon entering the main hall of the garrison, one sees Ma Wei and several other Imperial Guards, as well as some unfamiliar faces dressed as clerks, registering merchants and collecting cash or flying money.

Several large boxes were already filled with heavy silver and gold ingots.

Ma Wei and the others quickly stood up to greet Su Mo.

Su Mo waved his hand: "You all continue with your work!"

Where is Zhang, the centurion?

Ma Wei quickly said, "Lord Zhang is waiting for you in the back room!"

The place of a hundred households is only this big.

Su Mo was just asking casually.

Upon entering the inner hall, they indeed found Zhang Xuzu accompanying the Empress.

Cao Feng, the trial centurion, was nowhere to be found.

The Empress was examining the account books with a serious expression when she saw Su Mo enter. She immediately smiled and said, "Su Lang, you've come."

Zhang Xuzu was speechless for a moment, and quickly said tactfully, "Your Majesty, this humble subject will go and attend to my duties."

Leng Liuxi nodded and gave him a rare smile: "Go ahead."

"If you do your job well, I will not treat Minister Zhang unfairly."

Zhang Xuzu immediately became excited, greeted Su Mo, and then shrewdly withdrew.

After Zhang Xuzu left, the Empress immediately showed excitement and said to Su Mo triumphantly, "Does my love Su know how much commercial tax Qinghefang has already collected?"

Su Mo thought for a moment: "Five hundred thousand?"

The Empress smiled smugly: "Guess again!"

Su Mo was slightly startled, her eyes widening as she asked, "It can't be seven hundred thousand, can it?"

The Empress gave a soft snort: "My lord seems to lack confidence in his own plans."

"I'm here to inform you, my lord, that 880,000 taels of silver have already been collected in Qinghefang today!"

"In addition, the search of Zhang Shouning's and others' shops yielded seventy to eighty thousand taels of silver in valuables!"

As she spoke, the Empress became increasingly agitated: "Those cloth shops and salt shops had stockpiled a great deal of goods, probably hoping to make a fortune, but unexpectedly, they ended up benefiting the imperial court instead!"

A strange glint flashed in her eyes, and she suddenly added, "Seizing shops is actually more profitable than collecting commercial taxes..."

Su Mo was speechless for a moment, and quickly said, "This matter cannot be repeated again and again!"

"The court officials are silent now only because we are acting in accordance with the law. If we arbitrarily confiscate the property of merchants, the capital will surely be in chaos in the future."

Although the Empress was slightly disappointed, she nodded gently: "What you say makes sense, my lord."

He paused, his face suddenly darkening, and then changed the subject, saying, "Does Master Su know the true extent of the disaster in Tiannan?"

Su Mo nodded: "This humble servant has heard a little about it, and the master has also mentioned it to this humble servant."

"The number of people affected by the disaster in Tiannan Province exceeds ten million..."

The Empress waved her hand to interrupt him: "The truth is more serious than what you know." Then, the Empress recounted the situation reported by the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Although Su Mo had already heard about it from Nangong Sheyue, he pretended to be shocked as he listened.

After the Empress finished speaking, Su Mo hesitated for a moment, then said to her, "My lord, I am worried that the amount of relief grain will be more than one million or one hundred thousand shi!"

The Empress frowned slightly: "What do you mean by that, Su Lang?"

Su Mo said in a deep voice, "This humble servant is worried that the grain stored in the granaries in various places may not even reach 70% of what Vice Minister Wang said!"

A cold glint flashed in the Empress's eyes: "Su Lang, continue!"

The Ever-Normal Granary was a grain reserve for emergency disaster relief in various regions, and it was the most important policy for Da Wu to stabilize the country.

According to the Great Law, anyone who disturbs the regular granaries shall be executed without mercy!
Previously, Wang Hao said that the Ever-Normal Granary was 70% full of grain, which angered the Empress. She decided that after the disaster relief in Tiannan Road ended, she would send imperial envoys to various places to inspect the condition of the Ever-Normal Granary.

Unexpectedly, Su Mo said that even 70% of the grain stored in Changping might not be available!
Su Mo shook his head: "This subordinate cannot make a definitive conclusion, but we must always consider the worst-case scenario!"

"Food is still the key to disaster relief!"

"If there is a food shortage, there will be great chaos!"

The Empress frowned, pondered for a moment, and then asked in a deep voice, "If it is truly as you say, my lord?"

"What should we do then?"

In the Empress's eyes, Su Mo was usually frivolous and never serious.

But he never jokes when it matters.

Moreover, following Su Mo's instructions, he manipulated the officials multiple times and suppressed the morale of the powerful clans, gaining considerable pride on several occasions.

The Empress blindly trusted Su Mo.

Su Mo sighed, "This humble servant really doesn't have many solutions."

"It's simply a matter of getting grain merchants from various places to transport grain to the disaster area."

The Empress frowned and said, "In this way, those merchants will be able to guess that the Ever-Normal Granary is short of grain, and they will definitely raise prices on the spot."

"At that time, not only will the price of rice rise in Tiannan Road, but the surrounding counties and prefectures will likely follow suit."

"With only two million taels of silver allocated by the imperial court for disaster relief, how much grain can that buy?"

Su Mo smiled wryly and said, "There's nothing we can do about it. We have to make sure the disaster victims don't starve before we can talk about anything else."

He hesitated for a moment, then took out paper and pen and roughly sketched on them: "This subordinate has already checked the land and water conditions of Tiannan Road."

"Tiannan Road has abundant waterways. The imperial court can purchase grain from Beihan Road, travel up the Luo River, and then go through the Bailang River to enter Tiannan Road."

"However, the grain output of Beihan Road is also not high; the key lies with Guanyang Road!"

"Your Excellency can order people to procure food in Guanyang Road and head south by sea, eventually entering Tiannan Road from the mouth of the Fuyao River."

The Empress was stunned when she heard Su Mo's words.

Frowning as she looked at the pattern and direction Su Mo had drawn, she remained silent for a long time before shaking her head: "In my opinion, Su Lang's method is like trying to put out a fire with water from afar."

She patiently explained, "Su Lang may not be familiar with the situation in the local prefectures and counties."

"Let's not even talk about where the money to buy grain came from."

“It would take at least two months to procure grain from Beihan Road or Guanyang Road, starting with raising silver to buy rice and then transporting it to Tiannan Road!”

"Furthermore, the imperial court has banned maritime trade. If grain is transported by sea on a large scale, I fear that the court officials will strongly oppose it."

The Empress paused, then continued, "The sea voyage is fraught with storms and sea monsters, posing a great risk. The court has no ships to sail the seas, so how can we transport the grain to the southern route?"

Su Mo shook his head: "My lord, in my humble opinion, the timing of transporting the grain to Tiannan Road is not the key issue!"

"The key is to let merchants see that the imperial court is taking action!"

The Empress's eyes suddenly lit up: "Does Su Lang mean to let those merchants know that the imperial court will transport grain to Tiannan Road, so that they will not dare to arbitrarily raise grain prices?"

Su Mo nodded: "That's exactly what I was thinking."

"Merchants who transport grain to Tiannan Road will surely make money. If they know that the imperial court will be transporting rice and grain in two months, they will seize the opportunity to make a fortune during this window of opportunity and dare not hoard it for speculation."

"Although this method will inevitably cost a lot more money, it can solve the urgent needs of the disaster victims!"

The Empress looked at Su Mo excitedly: "Su Lang, your plan is brilliant!"

"Su Lang truly deserves to be my Imperial Tutor!"

Su Mo, however, was not as excited as the Empress. He gave a wry smile and said, "My lord, don't be too happy yet!"

"This method will probably cost more than two million taels of silver!"

He didn't dare mention to the Empress right now that a great plague would inevitably follow the disaster.

Upon hearing Su Mo's words, the Empress frowned slightly and asked, "Then, Su Lang, how much silver do you think is needed?"

Su Mo silently raised one finger.

The Empress instinctively replied, "A million taels of silver? Right now..."

As she spoke, seeing that Su Mo remained silent, the Empress was immediately dumbfounded and exclaimed, "Ten million taels?"

Su Mo nodded slowly: "Ten million taels of silver is probably still too little."

"According to my estimation, ten million taels of silver is just the minimum needed to restore the livelihood of the people in Tiannan Circuit!"

"Just purchasing rice and grain to relieve the disaster victims would yield more than three million taels of silver!"

"Furthermore, post-disaster reconstruction is a bottomless pit of expenses!"

The Empress paused, then asked, "Post-disaster reconstruction?"

Su Mo nodded: "Yes!"

"Let the people rebuild their homes, restore farmland, and resume production..."

Before he could finish speaking, the Empress interrupted him, looking at Su Mo with astonishment: "What does this have to do with the imperial court?"

Su Mo stared in disbelief: "Does the imperial court only provide disaster victims with a single bite to eat?"

The Empress frowned: "Isn't that how it is?"

"When the people suffer from disasters, the imperial court opens granaries to distribute grain and porridge to relieve the people; this has always been the case."

"The imperial court can't possibly rebuild houses for all the disaster victims."

“Those fields belong to the common people and gentry. How can the court spend money to help them repair their fields? If other landowners find out that the court is using taxes on these places, they will surely criticize the court.”

Su Mo...

He never imagined that disaster relief in ancient times was done in this way!

Su Mo hesitated for a moment, but finally couldn't help but say, "In this way, even if the people can survive on rice porridge, their future will be extremely difficult, and... many people will even die!"

The Empress remained silent for a moment, then sighed and slowly said, "I have no other choice."

She paused, then said, "If what Su Lang said is true, we still need to rebuild houses for the disaster victims, which would require tens of millions of taels of silver. Where would the imperial court get so much money!"

Su Mo also fell silent.

He recalled what Nangong Sheyue had told him earlier.

Let's just leave it at that.

After all, I've already done enough for the disaster victims.

"Your Majesty, I would like to go and see how Zhang Baihu and his men are collecting commercial taxes and fines."

The Empress seemed downcast as well, and nodded gently: "Su Lang, go."

Su Mo walked to the door with a dark expression, but then suddenly stopped.

After a long period of internal struggle, he finally stomped his foot.

Oh shit!

Damn your saintly heart!

He suddenly turned around and said that he had a way to raise the ten million taels of silver.

But as soon as he turned around, he saw an exclamation mark suddenly pop up above the Empress's head!
The biggest NPC in the Great Wu Kingdom has issued another quest!
And it even has the same scarlet exclamation mark as the million-dollar disaster relief fund!
When the Empress saw Su Mo suddenly stop and turn around, then stare at her in astonishment, her eyebrows furrowed imperceptibly.
She had seen Su Mo with this expression many times before.

It always seems like they're looking up at my head!

What exactly happened?

However, Su Mo's attention was focused on the scarlet exclamation mark above the Empress's head, and he completely missed the Empress's surprised and suspicious expression.

The last red mission gave him a sudden surge in strength and an extra life!

Here we go again?

He subconsciously clicked on the exclamation mark!

A system notification popped up: [Follow-up tasks for the million-dollar disaster relief fund are being released!]

(End of this chapter)