This money exchange was guaranteed by the imperial court and offered high interest rates.

And I heard that the county magistrate's mansion, which bought an entire street with such extravagance, has made another move.

He immediately spent three thousand taels of gold, equivalent to thirty thousand taels of silver.

This made the wealthy people of Kyoto restless.

The results were astonishing.

The newly appointed Minister of Revenue, Jiang Mingli, was shocked as he looked at the one million taels of silver raised in less than a month in the Imperial Study.

Every year when the imperial treasury is empty, the court borrows money from its officials, but very little is ever borrowed.

With such a small interest rate and a one-year official contract for repayment of principal and interest, officials and merchants were surprisingly willing to pay out of their own pockets without hesitation.

The total tax revenue of the entire Great Zhou Dynasty in a year was only five or six million taels of silver!

One million taels can do a lot of things!

Emperor Shunqing was also delighted and praised the memorial submitted by the Prefect of Jingzhao as excellent. He directly removed the word "acting" from Ye Anyuan's original title of "Acting Councilor of the Court Recruitment Office" and promoted him directly from the third-rank Prefect of Jingzhao to the second-rank Councilor of the Court Recruitment Office, concurrently serving as the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

Jiang Mingli immediately felt a chill run down his spine. He was only a second-rank official in the Ministry of Revenue, and Ye An was just one step away from him! He had never expected that when he first came to the capital, the promotion of officials in the capital was just a matter of the emperor's word if they made a great contribution.

Ye An was overjoyed. "I dare not take credit for this. The overall operation plan of the Imperial Recruitment Bureau was provided by Lady Su. In the future, the daily management of the Imperial Recruitment Bureau will inevitably have to rely on Lady Su."

Emperor Shunqing laughed heartily, "You mean, it's not enough that I've already bestowed honors upon you, I also want to bestow honors upon this Lady Su?"

Ye An immediately knelt down, "Your Majesty, I am ashamed. This matter also owes a debt to Lu Ning, the Registrar of the Capital Prefecture!"

Emperor Shunqing almost laughed in anger, "So you think I haven't rewarded you enough?! And now there's another one, Lu Ning?!"

Ye An's smile remained unchanged. "Since I am about to step down as Prefect of Jingzhao, I cannot simply abandon my post immediately! I must choose someone capable and reliable to hand over the reins. Lu Ning originally came from the Five Cities Military Command. Although he is an illegitimate son of the Duke of Lu, his father once served as an Imperial Guard, so his loyalty is beyond question. Moreover, he has honed his skills in the position of Registrar of Households for quite some time, making him both literate and martial. He is perfectly capable of serving as Prefect of Jingzhao!"

Emperor Shunqing pointed at Ye An, gritted his teeth, and said helplessly, "Oh, from what you're saying, what reward should be given to Lady Su?"

Ye An put away his joking demeanor, solemnly kowtowed, and said, "Your Majesty, I dare to say that this woman comes from a merchant family, but she is exceptionally insightful. I humbly request that she be granted the title of Fifth-Rank Lady. I have a premonition that Lady Su will make many great contributions to our Great Zhou Dynasty in the future."

Emperor Shunqing's initially angry expression softened somewhat. "It's rare to see an old man like you praising a woman. If you weren't so old and about to retire, I would have suspected that you've taken a fancy to her?"

Ye An's white beard twitched wildly. "Your Majesty, please don't talk nonsense! If my shrewish wife finds out, she'll cause a huge uproar!"

"Hahaha—" Emperor Shunqing laughed heartily, but halfway through his laughter he coughed violently, only stopping after a long while. He then summoned the eunuch in charge of writing, "Did you hear clearly the rewards given to this old hag, Lady Su, and that Lu Ning?"

"This servant understands, but I wonder, does this Lady Su, who is granted the title of Fifth-Rank Yiren, have any official rank?"

Seeing that Ye An was about to stand up and express her opinion again, Emperor Shunqing immediately preemptively said, "Yongchang! Yongchang Yiren! Use this title! Also, appoint her as a guest minister of the Imperial Revenue Department, without rank or salary, and have her go to the Ministry of Revenue every month to observe the accounts of the Imperial Revenue Department."

Seeing Ye An's sullen expression, Emperor Shunqing's beard twitched. Hehehe, it was clearly I who gave the reward, but you stole the credit. Wouldn't that mean I would lose all my credit?

I must at least let her know that this title was bestowed by me personally, so that if she has any ideas to solve the country's predicament in the future, I can generously present them to her!

Allowing a woman like her to enter the Ministry of Revenue is already an immense favor. Having her oversee the whereabouts of the million taels of silver raised is tantamount to adding a shackle to the officials in the Ministry of Revenue, preventing them from acting recklessly.

After all, it's a huge sum of money! He really wanted to know how to use it, where it would go, whether it would actually reach the hands of ordinary people or military households, and what kind of business it could be used to generate some profit, but unfortunately he didn't have the energy or ability to manage it.

If what Ye An said earlier is true, then the business methods that Madam Su mentioned are indeed extremely profitable!

Ye An just now said that he had a premonition that she would make great contributions to the Great Zhou Dynasty in the future, and that was what he was referring to.

The eunuch in charge agreed and quickly went to draft the imperial edict.

A moment later, the three imperial edicts were drafted, sealed, and presented.

Emperor Shunqing pointed to the east and said, "Go, take it directly to the cabinet for the seal. If any of those three old geezers has any objection, just say that I said it. Let any of their wives or daughters come up with an idea to raise one million taels of silver within a month, no, three months, and I will also bestow upon her the title of Yiren Princess!"

Jiang Mingli swallowed the words of opposition, questioning, and advice he originally wanted to say, and was shocked.

The emperor just throws away his official titles and ranks for free.

It's one thing to promote officials, but is it really that easy to bestow the title of Lady of the Imperial Household Department upon a merchant's wife?

The eunuch rode swiftly to the cabinet to affix the seal, and reported back that as expected, some cabinet members had raised questions. The servant used the emperor's edict to silence them, and then no one dared to speak.

So the imperial decree was announced directly in the imperial study.

The decree was issued for Ye An's account. The other two parties involved were not present, so Emperor Shunqing randomly assigned two people to deliver the decree.

Ye An naturally went to Lu Ning to deliver the imperial decree, and also to hand over his duties as the Prefect of the Capital.

Jiang Mingli, in a daze, was led by a eunuch carrying a bright yellow imperial edict to Lady Su's house to deliver the decree.

After the two left, Emperor Shunqing shouted towards the screen, "Imperial sister, are you satisfied now? Alas, this poor old man of mine still has to be coerced by his sister. Ouch, ouch, my head is throbbing again..."

A heavily pregnant woman emerged from behind the screen; it was none other than the eldest princess.

She said coquettishly, "Your Majesty, this Lady Su and her two children are truly remarkable! Believe me, she will give you many surprises! Look at the method she came up with for fundraising; hasn't it solved the long-standing problem of the empty national treasury?"

Emperor Shunqing slumped down a bit in his chair and said lazily, "I've already bestowed the titles and rewards, so you have no choice but to believe me!"

The eldest princess smiled and said, "Your Majesty, just wait and see! She will surely understand your expectations of her by bestowing upon her the title of Yongchang."

Emperor Shunqing blew on his beard. "Last time it was Yuan Bai, and this time it's you. What kind of bewitching potion have you two, aunt and niece, taken by those three? Why are you so eager to bestow titles and rewards upon them? Do you think my treasury isn't empty enough, so you keep giving them thousands of taels of gold?"