"Your Majesty?" the Queen asked.

"Just do as I say." The emperor did not explain.

The Queen didn't know that it was Yu Yuanzheng who opened the iron box, so this was kept secret.

Of course, if the front line won a victory with a bomb, the news would be sent back to Beijing soon. Everyone would guess that the iron box had been opened, but who opened it could not be known.

Although everyone knew that she must be from Prince Rong's Mansion, many people in Prince Rong's Mansion generally would not think of marrying her as a daughter-in-law. This was a kind of protection for Yu Yuanzheng.

"Yes." The Queen immediately responded when she saw the Emperor stop smiling.

At the next morning court session, all the civil and military officials were smiling happily.

The emperor ordered the Ministry of Revenue to organize the displaced people to gradually return home.

Resume production and trade as soon as possible.

But it is easier said than done.

"Your Majesty, the national treasury has been depleted too quickly over the past year. In addition to military supplies, the resettlement of refugees has also cost a lot. Now the situation is very tight." The Minister of Revenue came out and reported with a sad face.

“No matter how difficult the situation is, we cannot let the soldiers on the front line suffer. Our Great Wei has abundant grain production and no shortage of food.” The emperor was quite sure of this.

"Your Majesty, the soldiers have to go to the battlefield and have to eat a full meal every time. The food consumption is twice as much as usual. The food prepared for the army is consumed very quickly, so we have to buy it from merchants. The merchants took advantage of the war to raise the price of food. This expenditure is a real expense."

"What? How much higher?" The emperor became angry when he heard this.

The merchants actually dared to do that.

"It's 10% higher than usual."

"One percent is not much." The emperor thought it was doubled.

"But hundreds of thousands of troops in a month is a considerable amount of money.

Military pay during wartime is twice that of peacetime, and there is also consolation money for deceased soldiers.

Add hundreds of thousands of refugees to the resettlement. Your Majesty, the national treasury can no longer sustain it."

The Minister of Revenue felt that it had never been so difficult to be the head of a family.

I really want to break one tael of silver into two taels of flower.

"My dear ministers, do you have any good ideas?"

"Your Majesty, please issue an order to all states to punish bad merchants." The prime minister stepped forward first.

"Well, you draft the edict first and give it to me for review." This situation must of course be controlled as soon as possible, otherwise it will escalate.

"Your Majesty, you can appropriately increase the war-related taxes on the people, which can be used to offset some of the corvée labor in the future."

"Your Majesty, there are many merchants in Wei. The wealth in their hands accounts for the vast majority of the people's property. We can borrow from them first. The Ministry of Revenue will write a loan certificate, and then pay it back when the treasury is full."

"Your Majesty, you can temporarily increase the business tax on shops, and it can be deducted later."

"Your Majesty, you can encourage the public to donate to support the soldiers at the border."

......

Each court official racked his brains to come up with a solution and then expressed his own views.

The emperor sat calmly on the dragon throne and listened.

Some are acceptable, some are just to make up the numbers.

But after listening for a long time, no one mentioned donating.

When the emperor thought about this, his face became a little gloomy.

He was a good minister, and the Ministry of Revenue paid him a certain amount of salary every year.

Each of them runs a business privately, doesn't he know?

After the court session, the emperor went to the queen's palace.

"Empress, we have won a victory on the front line. I want to hold a large palace banquet to celebrate. Please write a palace invitation and send it to each household. All officials above the fifth rank, all relatives and nobles, please come to the palace. And let the female relatives dress up beautifully and festively."

When the emperor said this, he didn't smile much.

The queen knew that the emperor was a little unhappy.

“Your Majesty, I wonder what your purpose is…” As soon as the Queen heard it, she knew that there must be a reason why the Emperor held such a grand banquet.

"The soldiers on the front line are bleeding and sacrificing their lives, but our ministers are only thinking about how to increase military supplies from merchants and ordinary people. None of them wants to take money out of their own pockets. The Queen should set a good example." The emperor became more and more angry as he spoke.

"Yes, I understand." The queen understood.

On that day, several female officials were asked to check all the families in the capital who met the requirements.

Then I started writing palace letters.

When the princess received the invitation from the palace, Yu Yuanzheng was also beside her.

"What does the Queen mean by this? The court is discussing how to increase military supplies for the front lines, yet they are spending money to hold a palace banquet?" The princess was a little confused.

"Maybe the emperor is too happy." Yu Yuanzheng said casually.

She was doing the accounting. Now the entire palace's household was managed by her, and she was very quick at doing it, so Housekeeper Li often came to her for help.

Yu Yuanzheng guessed that Butler Li did it on purpose.

This is a sign of respect for her.

When Cao Nanhua was in charge, Butler Li handled most of the things himself.

She doesn't want to be respected like this.

But Housekeeper Li always had reasons for her to refuse.

Even for the shops in the palace, Butler Li would come to her to ask for favors, which made her even more speechless.

Shouldn't I ask my father about this?

Even if he is not in Beijing, he can still write a letter.

"Zheng'er, the Queen wants us to dress up more elegantly." The princess made another request.

"Then Concubine Xi, please take with you the best jewelry that your father gave you." Yu Yuanzheng threw away one account book and replaced it with another.

Three days later, the palace banquet will begin.

The princess and Yu Yuanzheng considered that the queen had invited many guests today, so they decided not to bring the children into the palace.

Both of them dressed themselves dignified and noble as the Queen requested, so as not to lose the Queen's face.

In fact, Yu Yuanzheng already had some vague guesses in her mind.

In her impression, the emperor was a wise ruler. How could he hold such a grand palace banquet just for a victory?

When I arrived at the palace gate, I saw quite a few people waiting to enter the palace.

Some girls who normally had no chance to enter the palace dressed themselves up gorgeously, with the jewelry on their heads almost enough to cover their heads.

The weather is good today, so the palace banquet is still held in the Taiming Palace. However, there are too many people and the palace cannot accommodate them, so tables and chairs are placed on the corridor outside the palace.

When most people had arrived, the emperor and the empress came together.

As usual, the emperor made an opening speech, mostly talking about how happy he was about the victory won at the front.

Seeing that the emperor was happy, everyone was happy too.

The Queen stood up and announced the start of the banquet.

But when bowls of noodles were served in front of everyone, everyone was a little dumbfounded.

When has anyone ever been served noodles at a palace banquet?

Yu Yuanzheng felt a little amused when looking at the noodles in front of her that were as watery as plain noodles.

The emperor and empress at the front also eat the same thing.

Some girls entered the palace with endless fantasies, hoping to have an incomparable palace dinner, but what they ended up with was a bowl of noodles without any other ingredients, and they didn't know how to eat it.

Because the emperor and empress were present, they didn't dare speak loudly to express their disappointment.

The emperor and the empress picked up the noodles and started eating as if nothing had happened.

All the ministers and their families had to pick up chopsticks to eat.

The food is definitely edible, but it is far from being delicious.

Everyone finished their bowls of clear soup noodles in silence.

The emperor put down the bowl and the palace servants immediately collected the food.

"Everyone, are the noodles delicious?" the emperor asked everyone with a smile.

Everyone was silent, not saying a word, as they all knew that the emperor had something else to say.

"Your Majesty, it's delicious." Yu Yuanzheng was very bold. Seeing that no one said anything, she stood up and replied to the emperor.