Volume 1 Chapter 21 Secret Mission
Xiang Yun left Jiang Yue alone for a while before putting down the memorial and looking at him and asking, "How is your injury?"
Jiang Yue immediately replied: "Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. I just have a minor injury, nothing serious."
"I'm asking about the arrow wounds on your body." Xiang Yun stood up and walked in front of him to take a closer look, then said, "I saw those two arrows with my own eyes, they went through your body, the wound is not light, it won't heal in two or three days, I'll give you a few more days off, it won't be too late to go home and heal your wounds before coming back."
"Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty. However, I have a good physique and firm muscles. It is only a matter of time for me to recover from my injuries. It will not affect my daily activities." Jiang Yue answered honestly.
"Well, then I am relieved. Remember, do not leave any hidden diseases. You are still young and will be a pillar of the court in the future. You must not let anything happen to your body!"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yue immediately knelt down and said, "I will definitely live up to your Majesty's expectations."
"Well, get up." Xiang Yun returned to the dragon chair behind the desk and sat down, and asked, "What do you think about the Shaman army raiding our border this time?"
Jiang Yue thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, when I fought with Badilu, I found that although the Sand Barbarians were extremely powerful, their reactions were insufficient. Because of their large and sturdy bodies, their speed was much worse than that of our Great Sun Dynasty soldiers. If I use my ingenuity to deal with them, I can eliminate all the people in this delegation within twenty breaths."
"So I think that the soldiers of our Great Sun Dynasty should use this as a breakthrough point and train agile warriors to achieve the effect of a one-hit kill. This way, we will definitely be able to defeat the Shaman army."
"It's not that simple!" Xiang Yun shook his head and smiled bitterly, "Time is too tight, and this approach is too inefficient."
Jiang Yue's expression darkened when he heard this, and he stopped talking. He looked at Xiang Yun and asked, "Just now in the court, you said that you wanted to lead the army. Do you know that the military discipline of our Great Sun Dynasty is strict? Those without military merits cannot be generals?"
Jiang Yue replied disappointedly: "I know."
"Well, at your age, it's too early for you to be a marshal, but you can consider the position of vanguard," Xiang Yun said indifferently.
The speaker may not mean anything, but the listener may take it seriously. Jiang Yue, who originally looked disappointed, suddenly had his eyes brightened up and he knelt down and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace!"
"I didn't say anything." Xiang Yun's expression suddenly changed, and he took out an imperial edict that he had just prepared and handed it over, saying: "Put this matter aside for now, you quickly go to the Chiyu Camp to mobilize 10,000 soldiers, disperse them to all parts of the country, and recruit talents from all over the world;
Men and women, no matter if they are talented or not, but those who have unique ideas, should copy them down, write down their names, and send them to the capital as soon as possible.
All warriors with outstanding skills and clean backgrounds will be sent to the capital.
Remember, this matter is of great importance and must be carried out in secrecy. Do not let the news leak out!"
Jiang Yue quickly took the imperial edict and left the imperial study with a heavy heart. This time the task assigned to him by His Majesty was very difficult and he had to do it himself.
Jiang Yue did not delay. He prepared some money, took a fast horse and headed straight for the Chiyu Camp outside the capital.
"Little Guazi!" Xiang Yun called out, and Little Guazi hurried in from outside the imperial study with his head lowered, and replied, "Your Majesty, please give me your orders."
Xiang Yun glanced at him and then smiled and said, "It's nothing serious. Let me ask you, how much silver have you embezzled since you entered the palace?"
When Xiao Guazi heard this, he was so frightened that his legs and feet went limp. He immediately knelt on the ground and cried, "Your Majesty, please spare my life. This is my slave."
"Deceiving the emperor is punishable by death." Xiang Yun said coldly, and then smiled and said, "I know clearly who is loyal to me. It is not a big deal to be greedy for money. There is no one in the world who does not love money. Just tell me today, and I will forgive you."
Little Guazi was originally still afraid of Xiang Yun's anger in the court today, and now he was asked about it. His little heart couldn't bear the fear at all. He was shaking all over and couldn't speak clearly.
Xiang Yun frowned and said in a cold voice: "You know that I never joke. No matter how much money you tell me today, I will not hold you accountable. As long as you are loyal to me and don't lie, just tell me!"
This was like a final ultimatum. Little Guazi hurriedly wiped the sweat off his forehead, saying, "From childhood, I have been greedy for money, and I have never counted it. But with the monthly salary, there are still 16,000 taels of silver and a box of gold, silver and jewelry in the house. That's all I have left~"
"So much?" Xiang Yun was also surprised and asked, "I remember your salary was only 72 taels of silver and 72 dou of rice per year. You are greedy for a lot, right?"
Little Melon Seed quickly said, "This is still a small amount for me. Others have more, especially some managers. They have much more money than me. I have no one at home and have nowhere to spend my money. I only spend some on daily expenses and gambling with others, and save the rest to get this much."
Xiang Yun frowned, looking at the trembling little melon seed kneeling on the ground, and said helplessly: "Stand up and talk, I said I won't punish you."
"Thank you, Your Majesty! Thank you, Your Majesty!" Little Guazi stood up quickly as if he had been pardoned, but he kept wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.
Xiang Yun thought for a moment and asked, "Does everyone have as much silver as you do? Tell me in detail."
Little Melon Seed said hurriedly: "That's not the case. Most of the palace maids and eunuchs have families outside the palace. They don't need much money in the palace, so most of them find ways to send money out of the palace to their families. There are only a few like me who have no one at home.
Oh, I recently heard that the family of Peng Qing, the chief steward of the Imperial Kitchen, purchased a house covering an area of 100 acres in the capital. It was a property owned by a wealthy man and it must have cost a lot of money.
His family also had a lot of good farmland, and during the autumn harvest, he had to hire hundreds of workers to work together, otherwise he would not be able to harvest all the rice.
With the help of Chief Peng, the Peng family has become very prosperous. They used to live a life of poverty, but now they live a life that is better than that of ordinary wealthy families.
In this palace, there are many stewards as wealthy as Chief Steward Peng."
Xiang Yun nodded thoughtfully, and suddenly shouted, "Someone come!"
Instantly, two imperial guards rushed into the imperial study with knives in hand, and issued an order in a cold voice to Xiang Yun: "Peng Qing, the chief steward of the Imperial Kitchen, is corrupt and perverts the law. Go and arrest him. No need to report back. Execute him on the spot!"
Xiang Yun didn't need to collect evidence at all. In this palace, he would not make a mistake in killing anyone. It was just a matter of greed.
It feels so good to hold military power. There is no need to reason with others.
He might be able to scare those ministers, and he didn't dare to act rashly against those in high positions, but it was different for the palace maids and eunuchs. Killing them would be fine, and the impact wouldn't be significant.
Moreover, these people are extremely servile and extremely greedy. They live around the emperor and the empress in their daily lives. They are extremely bold and cannot be frightened by words.
In order to discipline them, Xiang Yun had no choice but to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys. He killed a steward without any reason. Only such a strong deterrent force could make these servants feel fear in their hearts!
"Yes!" The two royal guards agreed and left quickly. Little Guazi, who was standing nearby, was so frightened that he couldn't stand up and fell to the ground, gasping for breath.
Xiang Yun smiled inwardly, picked up a memorial and flipped through it casually, saying, "You have no one at home, so why do you need so much money? Keep those assets as my reward to you. Follow me in the future. If you want something, tell me and I will give it to you. If someone bullies you, tell me and I will help you. Do you understand?"
"I understand. I bow to Your Majesty and thank you. Long live Your Majesty!" Little Guazi continued to kneel and worship.
This little heart can't bear it. Little Guazi is very smart and he can understand the meaning of Xiang Yun's words.
If he dares to be greedy for money again in the future, I'm afraid the next knife will chop off his own head.
When night fell and the moon was high in the sky, after a whole day of hard work, Xiang Yun finally finished reviewing the last memorial. He sighed, rubbed his eyes tightly, and felt a little headache.
Most of these memorials were submitted to condemn Qin Yu and Wang Teng, and then to express loyalty to him.
Xiang Yun felt quite helpless. These ministers were really good at flattery, but none of them were doing their jobs properly. It was really infuriating.
There was only one thing that aroused Xiang Yun's interest, and that was the matter of raiding Liu Bu's house. Because of the major changes in the court in recent days, this matter had been delayed there and no one dared to touch it.
This is a big piece of cake, and many people have expressed their desire to take charge of this matter.
But Xiang Yun thought about it and decided to supervise it personally tomorrow. Xiang Yun did not want to share any of this piece of cake and wanted to put it all into his own treasury!
At this moment, someone from the Jingshifang came in with a wooden tray. Xiang Yun knew what was going on after a glance, and waved his hand and asked, "Is Concubine Qin still in the Yangxin Palace?"
The eunuch in the Imperial Household Department hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, Concubine Qin is still here and has not returned to the cold palace."
"Then I won't turn over the cards. I'll stay at the Yangxin Palace tonight!"
In the Yangxin Palace, Xiang Yun just came in and saw Qin Su, who had changed into a scarlet embroidered dress, coming forward to salute: "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you!"
Xiang Yun didn't say anything, just nodded and walked inside. The eunuchs and palace maids who followed him stopped outside the Hall of Mental Cultivation and did not go in.
Qin Su closed the door herself, then turned around and followed. When she came to Xiang Yun, she suddenly knelt down and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for sparing my father's life."
After Qin Su finished speaking, she bowed down. Xiang Yun accepted the greeting calmly and then said softly, "Although you have saved your life, you will die of old age in the Heavenly Prison. Your life will not be easy and happy."
Xiang Yun changed the subject and said, "Do you know that your father was in the court today, and in order to maintain his position, he would rather give you to the chief of the Sand Man tribe as a concubine?
But it really makes me feel chilled!"
Qin Su froze when she heard this. She was silent for a long time before she said with red eyes: "But he is still my father."
Xiang Yun also sighed and said helplessly: "Forget it, just be happy, I won't say anything more."
"Hmm~" Qin Su agreed, then stood up and walked behind Xiang Yun, put her hands on Xiang Yun's head and began to rub it gently.
"I heard that Your Majesty has been busy all day. I will give Your Majesty a massage to make you feel more comfortable."
"Hmm~" Xiang Yun agreed while enjoying it, then he closed his eyes and said nothing more, obviously he was enjoying it very much.
Ten minutes later, Xiang Yun suddenly held Qin Su's hands, pulled her to sit down, and said softly: "It's okay, you are tired after a long time, come and talk to me."
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