How could my childhood sweetheart be the current empress?

Her mind was filled with bitter thoughts and she completely forgot what had just happened.

This method is feasible in theory.

Chapter 200: Nothing to do today, listening to music in the brothel

Xiangguo Mansion, early morning.

After a night of fierce fighting, Yan Jixue finally lost consciousness.

This morning, Xu Chengling got up, but was surprised to find that his wife woke up earlier than him.

He washed and changed his clothes in the house, and then went to the yard.

It is worth mentioning that after Luo Xinlian’s last teaching, Xu Chengling found that he felt a lot lighter and his reaction speed also increased.

The most obvious change is that I have more energy than before, and my endurance in that aspect has also been significantly improved.

Even after his power was dissipated, the power that Luo Xinlian passed on to him had already flowed through the meridians throughout his body and finally gathered in his dantian, thus forming a cycle.

Simply put, even if he exhausted all his internal energy, it would slowly recover after a period of time.

However, this ability to change form seems to be a one-time thing, and after that, he will no longer be able to change his size at will.

Xu Chengling came to the yard and saw a beautiful figure sitting in the yard, holding an account book in her hand and scribbling on it with a brush.

But looking at her eyelids that were almost unable to open, she looked just like herself when she used to doze off in class.

During the time when he was younger, it was almost entirely his wife who took care of all the affairs in the Prime Minister's Mansion. The hard work she put in is self-evident.

Xu Chengling couldn't help but feel distressed. He came to his wife's side, gently hugged her arms, and said:

"My lady, if you are tired, go back and rest. Don't tire yourself out."

"Who do you think did it?"

Yan Jixue couldn't help but roll her eyes at him, and a hint of spirit appeared on her stubborn little face.

"I owe you this..."

Xu Chengling didn't finish his words, but seemed to realize that there was something wrong with his words and quickly shut up.

He lowered his head and saw a blush on his wife's pretty face. She quickly covered it with the account book.

Yan Jixue bit her lower lip lightly. This bad guy said he didn't remember, but he clearly remembered it.

When she thought about how she had chanted his name one by one, bathed him, and held him to sleep, she wished she could find a hole to crawl into.

After a long time, Yan Jixue slowly uttered a sentence.

"Don't mention this matter again."

"Haha, hahaha."

Xu Chengling had no choice but to smile as well. The two of them tacitly agreed not to mention the matter again, just treating it as a piece of dark history.

But he had to admit that he was very moved by his wife's initiative to protect her husband.

Thinking of this, Xu Chengling could not help but walk to his wife, gently put his arms around her slender waist, and pulled her into his arms and sat her down, just like when she first held little Chengling.

Yan Jixue's pretty face suddenly turned red. She wanted to resist but was powerless. She could only stare at him and said angrily:

"What are you doing? Others are watching."

Xu Chengling shrugged and said with a nonchalant smile.

"Just watch it, let them see how loving we are as a couple."

At his wife's exclamation, Xu Chengling picked her up and walked towards the room.

"Go back and have a good rest first. Leave the work of the Xiangguo Mansion to me today."

After gently placing his wife on the bed, Xu Chengling gave her some instructions and left the room.

When he arrived at the yard, he picked up the account book in his wife's hand and saw very detailed records on it. The daily income and expenditure of the Xiangguo Mansion were clearly recorded in the account book.

Xu Chengling looked at it for a while, then put the account book down and decided to wait until his wife woke up.

During this period, summer cicadas also came to the yard.

"Master, are you back?"

She couldn't help but ask in surprise.

"Change back? What does that mean? It's so strange. I feel like I have no memory of the past half month."

Xu Chengling murmured.

"No, it's nothing, don't think too much, sir."

Xia Chan smiled slightly, and then couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Since the master couldn't remember what happened half a month ago, he probably forgot that incident as well.

"By the way, where's the lady?"

Xia Chan looked around the yard but did not see his wife.

Normally at this time, the lady should be sitting in the master's position.

"She was a little tired, so she went back to rest."

Xu Chengling replied calmly.

Xia Chan seemed to be thinking about something, but he probably guessed what was going on.

Xu Chengling looked at the woman in green before him, as if he had thought of something, and he stood up and said to her:

"Xia Chan, why don't you come and fight with me for a few moves."

Xia Chan was a little surprised. She didn't expect that the master would want to fight her, so she couldn't help but say:

"Master, I am a girl and I don't have any martial arts skills. Please show me mercy."

Then, she gently grasped the broom in her hand and pulled out a wooden sword from the handle.

"Master, please be careful."

Xia Chan said softly, swung the wooden sword in his hand forward, and smashed it directly towards his shoulder.

If it were any other time, Xu Chengling would definitely not be able to react.

But this time, he could clearly see Xia Chan's arm swinging movements and the trajectory of the wooden sword falling.

He slightly turned sideways, just in time to avoid Xia Chan's attack.

Not only his reaction speed, but also his physical fitness has been significantly improved.

Xia Chan was slightly startled when she saw this. Although she only swung the sword casually, the speed of the sword was extremely fast and not something that ordinary people could dodge.

She swung her sword again, but this time Xu Chengling caught the blade with his bare hands.

"Miss Xia Chan, are you moving slower?"

"No, it's you, sir, who has become more reactive."

Xia Chan smiled slightly, and her expression became a little more serious. She thrust the sword-holding hand forward, and after a few thrusts, the tip of the sword was already against Xu Chengling's neck.

In response, Xia Chan put the wooden sword back into the broom and said calmly:

"Master, although your skills have improved a lot, you still lack the mastery of body movements and moves. It is no problem to deal with those second-rate masters in the martial arts world, but if it is a first-rate master, it is more important to save your life first."

"I thought I could have a few moves with a top-notch master like you."

Xu Chengling shrugged helplessly. He thought he could fight with Xia Chan for a few moves, but he didn't expect that he would lose after just a few moves.

But if you think about it carefully, his loss was not unfair.

After all, Xia Chan is the empress's personal bodyguard and is among the best among the top masters. It is good enough to be able to exchange a few moves with her.

But this also indirectly shows how terrifying the white-haired witch's strength was when she was able to fight two people alone.

He only acquired 10% of the opponent's power, but was able to exchange two moves with Xia Chan.

If this power is 100%, how terrifying it would be.

But the fact is that he was simply too unskilled. He could only use the skills listed among the first-rate masters at the level of a second-rate master.

After fighting with Xia Chan, Xu Chengling probably realized his own level. He could fight against second-rate opponents, but would just run away if he met a first-rate opponent.

After all, the level at which he escaped was at least among the top masters.

But today was a bit boring, so Xu Chengling called Tongxin and said:

"Nothing to do today, just listen to music."

Chapter 201: Enfeoffment Order

In the blink of an eye, spring goes and summer comes.

There was a severe drought this year, and people everywhere were suffering. Peasant uprisings broke out in many places.

The separatist princes were also ready to make moves, with vague intentions of rebelling.

In order to consolidate the imperial power, the empress delegated the power to the princes, which also enabled the princes to have great power in their own territories.

These princes were able to privately mint coins and train soldiers in their own territories. Some of the more powerful princes even established their own countries within the country, threatening the central government's rule.

Although the central government had more power than the princes, the capital city where the central government was located was too far away from the princes' territories and could not manage the affairs of the princes' territories at all.

Most of these princes are the brothers or descendants of the late emperor. Although they obey the late emperor's orders, they are also accumulating power in secret. Now that the new emperor has been on the throne for less than three years, the imperial power is not yet stable.

Over time, these overly powerful princes became a source of concern for the empress.

At the same time, when the empress came to power, in order to eliminate the threat from the Western Regions and consolidate the border defense line, a large amount of manpower, material resources and financial resources were consumed over the years, and the national treasury gradually became unable to make ends meet.

This also led to the fact that although the empress had carried out vigorous reforms in the years since she came to power and the entire Dayan seemed to be thriving, it also buried many hidden dangers.

It’s no wonder that Xu Chengling said that the empress was too weak. She only cared about the present and ignored the consequences in the future.

But from the perspective of the times, it is no wonder that she was short-sighted. After all, what the empress took over from the previous emperor was a wild goose full of holes.

After the empress took office, she consolidated her position by delegating power, and then stepped up a series of reforms to fill the national treasury.

Then, her military expansion policy quickly emptied the national treasury.

In the eyes of the empress, the greatest threat to her rule was undoubtedly the vassal kings who ruled their own territories. Especially after she delegated power, the power of these vassal kings in their territories was even greater than hers.

The only thing the empress can rely on is the military power in her own hands, which is why she has to force the expansion of the army.

In the original novel, the empress accumulated military power by expanding the army, and then when the vassal kings rebelled in the future, she would vindicate them and resolve the threat posed by them.

But novels don’t require logic, but reality does.

Expanding the army requires consuming young labor. If the army is expanded by 100,000, the labor force will be reduced by 100,000, and then there will be 100,000 more mouths to feed.

Without labor, where would the money for the treasury come from? The only option is to increase taxes and let the people of Dayan share the extra military expenditure.

So where did the rebellion come from? It was because they were forced out by the empress.

For this reason, the Eight Wise Kings who supported the empress had to recall the soldiers stationed on the border back to the vicinity of the capital in order to deter the princes who were ready to make moves.

Although the Eighth Wise King only had 200,000 border troops, these soldiers had been fighting outside all year round, able to defeat ten enemies at a time, and were brave and good at fighting, which made the vassal kings dare not act rashly.

The consequence of the Eighth Wise Kings recalling the border troops was that the border defense line became weak, and repeated invasions from the Western Regions threatened the territorial integrity of Dayan.

"In summary, my dear, do you have any way to solve the problem of the threat posed by the vassal kings?"

In the imperial study, Yan Qiaoling was wearing a dragon robe, her beautiful eyes staring straight at the man in front of her.

Just today, she summoned the Prime Minister into the palace and talked to him about Dayan's current situation.

What the empress was most concerned about was the issue of separatist rule by the vassal kings.

"The separatism of feudal lords is indeed a difficult problem to solve."

After listening to this, Xu Chengling couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

The best way to resolve the separatist rule of the feudal lords is naturally to defeat these feudal lords, then take back the territories and control their power.

But the problem is that these vassal kings of Dayan are extremely powerful and have great autonomy in their territories. They can even disobey the orders of the Dayan Central Government.