The Prodigal Son

The next morning, Zhao Luan ordered his officials to announce that court would be closed for a day to celebrate the victory in the war against Yan.

She herself happily went to share her joy with the Empress Dowager.

"Okay, okay, okay..."

Upon learning of the great victory in the war against Yan, the Empress Dowager was so moved that tears welled up in her eyes.

At this moment, all her concessions were rewarded.

When I reach the afterlife, I can finally meet the late emperor and Emperor Xiaowu with dignity.

Overjoyed, the Empress Dowager didn't even have time for breakfast. She grabbed Zhao Luan's hand and excitedly said, "To the Imperial Ancestral Temple! Hurry to the Imperial Ancestral Temple!"

If we don't go to the Imperial Ancestral Temple now, when will we go?

"well!"

Zhao Luan nodded repeatedly, ordered someone to help the Empress Dowager up, and followed her to the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

Upon arriving at the Imperial Ancestral Temple and seeing the memorial tablets of their ancestors, the mother and daughter knelt down reverently, and the Empress Dowager personally read aloud the battle report sent back by Xue Chengdao.

The long-cherished wish of several generations of emperors of the Great Ning Dynasty was finally realized in the hands of Zhao Luan.

Today, the territory of Daming has almost doubled, which is enough to comfort the spirits of our ancestors in heaven.

After reading the battle report, the Empress Dowager wiped away the tears of emotion from her eyes and respectfully kowtowed: "May our ancestors bless our Great Ning with prosperity and strength, and may it never decline!"

Upon seeing this, Zhao Luan also kowtowed.

After a simple ceremony to pay respects to their ancestors, the mother and daughter left the Imperial Ancestral Temple with great excitement.

The Empress Dowager didn't rush to eat breakfast. Instead, she pulled Zhao Luan to sit down in the palace corridor, smiling at her. "Luan'er, Qin Yu's contribution is truly immense! You've probably already given him all the rewards he could!"

Zhao Luanqiong snorted lightly, "I won't reward him! What's the point of rewarding family members!"

"How can that be? Qin Yu has made such a great contribution; if you don't reward him, wouldn't that be..."

The Empress Dowager was only halfway through her sentence when she suddenly paused, then looked at Zhao Luan with delight, "You just said, family?"

My own family?

That's their business...done?

Meeting the Empress Dowager's gaze, Zhao Luan blushed and nodded gently.

Become!

It's done!

The Empress Dowager was overjoyed and grabbed Zhao Luan's hand, "Then when do you plan to finalize this matter?"

Zhao Luan looked at the Empress Dowager, both amused and exasperated. "This isn't something I can decide. We have to wait until things are more stable at the front, and until they return in triumph, before we can discuss these things!"

Does this still need to be decided?

It was decided a long time ago!

I'm just one step away from that bastard!

"Yes, yes! National affairs are of utmost importance right now!"

The Empress Dowager patted Zhao Luan's hand happily.

As long as Zhao Luan agrees, everything will be fine.

Right now, the priority should be maintaining stability in Yan; this is definitely not the time to discuss these things.

"Mother, please go and have your breakfast first!"

Zhao Luan rose and helped the Empress Dowager up, smiling as she said, "I have already instructed the officials to observe a recess today to celebrate our dynasty's victory over Yan. Please allow me to spend the day with Your Majesty!"

"It's definitely something to celebrate!"

The Empress Dowager nodded repeatedly, "How about we hold a grand banquet for all the officials tonight?"

"I will follow Mother's arrangements!"

Zhao Luan nodded slightly.

The mother and daughter chatted with smiles all the way to the Empress Dowager's palace.

After having breakfast with the Empress Dowager, Zhao Luan was preparing to take her for a walk when Ruan Zhi approached and respectfully presented a report, "Your Majesty, this is an urgent report sent back by Lord Qin!"

Upon hearing Ruan Zhi's words, the mother and daughter's eyelids twitched immediately.

Could it be that something happened at the front lines right after we received good news?

Zhao Luan nervously took the report and opened it, and the Empress Dowager also hurriedly leaned over to take a look.

Upon reading the report, Zhao Luan breathed a sigh of relief, and a smile returned to her face.

"Look, Qin Yu is still thousands of miles away, and he's already starting to share your burdens!"

The Empress Dowager glanced at Zhao Luan with a smile, "It seems you won't be able to rest today."

"It's alright, no rush."

Zhao Luan put away the report, saying, "I'll spend some time with Mother Empress this morning, and then I'll summon all the ministers this afternoon to discuss these matters."

……

In the afternoon, Zhao Luan convened a meeting of officials of the third rank and above in the imperial court.

Zhao Luan first briefly shared the news of the great victory in the war against Yan with them, and then brought up the issues that Qin Yu had mentioned in his report.

However, she only mentioned these issues, without saying that they were proposed by Qin Yu, nor did she mention Qin Yu's plans.

Gao Yi nodded and said, "Your Majesty is right. It is not enough to conquer Yan; we must govern Yan well. Otherwise, even if our dynasty has mountains of gold and silver, it will be dragged down by Yan. The first step in governing Yan is to select capable officials to govern the region and enable the people of Yan to quickly resume production."

"Resuming production is a matter for later!"

Lü Chunqiu shook his head slightly. "The problem right now is that there is a food shortage everywhere in Yan. If the food problem is not solved, half of the people in Yan will die after one winter!"

When the topic of food came up, Gao Yi immediately fell silent.

So, after all this back and forth, it's all my own business again?

He risked his life to ensure the supply of food and provisions to the front lines.

Now that Yan is facing such a huge food shortage, why ask him to procure more food?

He can allocate grain.

The biggest problem, however, is how to quickly transport these grains to Yan.

Moreover, we must minimize losses as much as possible!

Otherwise, if 80 jin of a hundred jin of grain are lost during transportation, what's the point of transporting it?

No amount of grain can fill this bottomless pit!

"yes!"

Zhao Luan nodded, his gaze falling on Gao Yi and Du Zhiwen. "In the short term, how much grain can the imperial court allocate to Yan for disaster relief?"

Gao Yi did not reply, but continued to ponder.

Seeing Gao Yi remain silent, Du Zhiwen could only speak helplessly: "Your Majesty, at present, ensuring the military supplies for the front lines is basically the limit. It's simply impossible to transfer too much grain to Yan in the short term. Even if we squeeze out another 30,000 to 50,000 shi, it won't solve the problem!"

"Can we transfer troops from Minhang District?"

At this moment, Cui Xu spoke up and asked a question.

"The available grain from the surrounding areas of Min has already been transferred there."

Du Zhiwen smiled wryly, "Mindi experienced war last year, and there's hardly any tax grain left this year. We already transferred 400,000 shi of grain from Mindi to Wulin some time ago..."

Four hundred thousand shi of grain was basically the limit for Min.

"Then we'll buy them from the State of Chu!"

Lü Chunqiu was quite straightforward: "If Chu won't sell, then let Yun Zhao cause some trouble in Yinzhou! Winter isn't suitable for fighting in Yan, but we can still wage war against Chu!"

"Why are you even fighting anymore!"

Gao Yi looked at Lü Chunqiu with displeasure, "The imperial court has gone to great lengths to ensure the supply of provisions for the army attacking Yan, and now we're fighting Chu again. Why don't you, Lord Lü, take charge of the distribution of provisions?"

"I'm not the Minister of Revenue."

Lü Chunqiu snorted and said nothing more.

He didn't want to get involved in this!

Just look at Gao Yi and Du Zhiwen and you'll know.

These two are practically always busy.

"What else can you say besides these things?"

Gao Yi gave Lü Chunqiu a disgruntled look and continued, "If our dynasty wants to govern the Yan region well and win over the hearts of the army and the people, we must provide disaster relief."

"But it will take at least another six months for the new grain to come out of Yan!"

"The food shortage has been enormous for such a long time!"

"Whether we try to purchase grain from the State of Chu or transport it from other places, we cannot fill this bottomless pit."

"The imperial court can only try its best to provide support, but we cannot rely entirely on it!"

"In the long run, letting some of the elderly and weak starve to death in Yan is not necessarily a bad thing..."