Will Xiao Yue come too?
Upon hearing the Empress's words, Qin Chuan's expression hardened, and he thought to himself that this woman was not someone to be trifled with.
She might still be holding a grudge about what happened last time.
"Let's talk while we wait," the Empress slowly began, "You previously spoke of befriending distant states while attacking nearby ones. Now, could we perhaps seek an alliance with the Northern Xiongnu to jointly attack the Southern Xiongnu?"
Qin Chuan slowly shook his head and said, "The distance between Da Gan and the Northern Xiongnu is separated by the Southern Xiongnu. If you want to get to the Northern Xiongnu, you have to pass through the territory of the Southern Xiongnu, or go through the Liaodong Sea and cross the mountains from Goryeo."
“We don’t have any large ships. The large ships we captured from the Japanese pirates are still being refitted. Going through Korea would take a long time, and by the time we get there, it will probably be too late.”
When Qin Chuan mentioned the capture of the Japanese pirate ship, the Empress's phoenix eyes lit up, and a subtle look of admiration flashed across her eyes, but she quickly concealed it...
Qin Chuan continued, "We are currently unable to communicate with the Northern Xiongnu, and we don't know if they have discovered the Southern Xiongnu's actions, nor do we know their attitude towards it. If the Northern Xiongnu take this opportunity to attack the Southern Xiongnu, it would be a great thing for us."
The Empress nodded. "So what should we do now? Should we send troops directly to Loulan, or transfer troops to Jizhou to join forces with Loulan in attacking the Southern Xiongnu? Or should we proceed on two fronts simultaneously?"
Qin Chuan thought for a moment and asked, "Your Majesty, how much money is left in the national treasury?"
The Empress paused, her brow furrowing slightly. "Why are you asking this?"
He thought to himself, "You're not going to make me pay you back again, are you? We agreed that I'd pay you back when I've earned eight million!"
Seeing her like this, Qin Chuan found it amusing, thinking to himself, "Your Majesty, your miserly behavior is truly adorable..."
However, with business at hand, he didn't bother with jokes and continued, "War requires money. Before the troops move, the supplies must be in place. Once the war starts, we don't know when it will end. Without sufficient supplies and enough horses, how can we fight this war against the Southern Xiongnu?"
"That's why I asked Your Majesty how much silver is left in the national treasury?"
Hearing Qin Chuan say this, the Empress put her hand to her forehead, her brows furrowing: "My national treasury only has a little over four million taels of silver. The disaster relief efforts in Shandong and Henan are not yet fully resolved, and we still need money. You mentioned building large ships to fight the Japanese pirates at sea, which also requires money. Oh, and... we are also short of horses for our campaign. We only have a little over 60,000 warhorses in the northern border, far short of the 200,000 you mentioned. All of these require money. Four million taels of silver is not enough..."
After saying that, she grabbed Qin Chuan's hand, her face full of sorrow: "Qin Chuan, what do you think I should do..."
With such a beautiful person right before him, inhaling her delicate fragrance and admiring her stunningly beautiful face, Qin Chuan's body reacted naturally.
"Your Majesty, would you consider marrying me..."
The only solution Qin Chuan could think of was to marry the Empress and then spend the two million he had left in the system, which would give him two hundred million taels of silver and solve all his problems.
"With you what?"
The Empress stared intently at Qin Chuan with her phoenix eyes, a hint of expectation in them.
Just as Qin Chuan was about to utter those two words, a palace maid suddenly announced, "Your Majesty, Princess Xiao Yue has arrived."
The Empress looked pleased and said, "Quickly, let her in."
Taking advantage of the moment before Xiao Yue entered, Qin Chuan quickly said, "Marry me."
"What?"
The Empress's expression remained unchanged; it was as if she had heard his words, yet also as if she hadn't.
At that moment, Xiao Yue walked in.
Xiao Yue was still wearing a brocade white robe and a winged hat, dressed as a female official.
The dress was very large, completely concealing her unusually large breasts.
When Xiao Yue entered, her gaze was fixed on the ground. But when she raised her eyes slightly, she was shocked to see her elder sister and Qin Chuan sitting face to face on the embroidered stool!
"Qin Chuan?"
Xiao Yue stared at Qin Chuan with surprise, looking completely bewildered.
"Your Majesty, what is he doing here?"
The Empress quietly stood up, coughed lightly as if to cover something up, and said, "I summoned him here to discuss matters. Usually... don't you discuss matters with me like this too?"
Xiao Yue rolled her eyes in anger. "My dear elder sister! I am a woman, and he is a man. You are the emperor of the Great Han Dynasty. How can the two of you discuss matters like this?"
Those in the know would think it was a discussion about state affairs, but those who didn't would probably think it was a heart-to-heart talk between a husband and wife...
"Qin Chuan, get out!"
Xiao Yue planned to give the order on behalf of her elder sister to expel Qin Chuan, so as to prevent the palace maids and eunuchs from seeing it and spreading rumors.
Qin Chuan was initially quite happy to see Xiao Yue, but when he saw that this woman was trying to send him away, he was immediately annoyed. However, remembering that she was a princess and the empress's sister, he had no choice but to suppress his anger and stand up.
Unexpectedly, the Empress then spoke up, "State affairs are urgent, yet I insist on discussing matters with the Imperial Advisor like this. Xiao Yue, aren't you being a bit too nosy?"
"Your subject dares not!"
Xiao Yue quickly and respectfully clasped her hands in greeting.
"Sit down, Qin Chuan."
After instructing Qin Chuan to sit down, the Empress had her attendants and maids bring over an embroidered stool and place it very close to Qin Chuan, so that Xiao Yue and Qin Chuan could sit side by side.
Xiao Yue's eyes widened in disbelief. "No, Your Majesty, are you really going to do this to me?"
Who wants to sit so close to this jerk...?
Qin Chuan didn't want to get too close to her either; this woman was not someone to mess with. So he moved the embroidered stool slightly away and asked, "Where were we?"
"Speaking of..." The Empress paused for a moment, raised her head to think, and then said, "Speaking of the national treasury being short of money, how should we fight this war?"
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yue's expression turned serious.
She had known for a long time that the Southern Xiongnu Chanyu Tuqi was personally leading 100,000 cavalry to destroy Loulan, but after discussing it with her elder sister several times, she still couldn't come up with a good solution.
The main problem is that if we want to fight the Southern Xiongnu, we lack money and horses.
But we can't just stand by and watch Loulan be destroyed...
This matter hasn't been discussed with the court officials yet, and those good-for-nothings certainly won't come up with any good solutions.
Thinking of this, Xiao Yue glanced at Qin Chuan: "Aren't you usually full of clever ideas? You always manage to take advantage of others. Now tell me, what are you going to do?"
Qin Chuan thought to himself, "I only accidentally patted your chest twice last time, why are you still holding a grudge?"
"Just say it!" Xiao Yue urged.
Qin Chuan felt his head buzzing. He thought to himself, "I'm not a god. What other way can I do besides using the system?"
At this moment, he hurriedly asked the system in his mind, "Big brother system, if I reveal my identity as a transmigrator and show the Empress my ability to create things out of thin air, will she believe me and choose to marry me?"
[This system is unsure, but since you revealed your identity as a transmigrator, they won't believe you. Also, if you use this ability to scare someone to death or insane, this system will not be held responsible.]
"Well……"
Qin Chuan thought about it and realized that this method wouldn't work.
We had to come up with another idea.
At this moment, Xiao Yue couldn't hold back any longer and began to lightly elbow him, "Qin Chuan, do you have any good ideas?"
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