The raid lasted all day.
From the first light of dawn to the last rays of sunset, the entire capital was shrouded in an eerie atmosphere. There were no earth-shattering battle cries, yet the atmosphere was more terrifying than any war.
Squads of soldiers, once part of the Imperial Guard but now serving their new masters, stormed into the once unassailable mansions like wolves. The vermilion gates were kicked open roughly, the once domineering servants were easily subdued, and the princes, ministers, and pillars of the court, who were usually high and mighty, were dragged from their warm quilts and the arms of beautiful women like chickens and ducks awaiting slaughter, and were scrambled onto prison carts in a sorry state.
The people of the capital hid behind doors and windows, watching this scene with awe and curiosity. They saw chests of heavy gold and silver being carried out, carts of gorgeous silk being transported away, and scrolls of land deeds symbolizing vast wealth being sealed away by expressionless soldiers.
Countless rivers of wealth flowed mightily from all directions of the capital, upstream, and finally merged into the depths of the Forbidden City.
This purge, personally ordered by the emperor and carried out with lightning speed, was so efficient, ruthless, and wide-ranging that everyone realized that the image of the sickly and lukewarm emperor had been completely reduced to ashes with last night's palace fire.
A new emperor, ruthless, decisive, and wielding absolute power, has already come to rule the world.
...
As evening fell and the last rays of the setting sun disappeared behind the western hills, the hustle and bustle of the capital city gradually subsided.
Inside the Kunning Palace, candlelight blazed brightly.
Lin Wanwan didn't rest. She was working with the newly appointed First Female Official, Qin Zheng, to sort and file the numerous reports that were pouring in. These were lists of supplies sent back from various raid sites.
"Your Majesty, this is the inventory of Minister Li's residence in the south of the city. According to preliminary estimates, the privately hoarded fine iron alone is enough to forge three thousand suits of armor..." Qin Zheng's voice carried a trace of lingering shock. Although she came from a merchant family and had seen wealth, she had never seen such a huge amount of assets so closely linked to treason.
Lin Wanwan nodded, her eyes calm. All of this was within her expectations. The Regent's faction had been entrenched in the court for many years, and its foundation and wealth were far beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
Just then, a eunuch's voice came from outside the hall to announce something.
"His Majesty has arrived!"
Xiao Che, dressed in a black casual suit, walked in. He still carried a faint trace of blood and lingering fatigue, clearly having been busy all day. But the look in his eyes as he looked at Lin Wanwan was one of gentle relief.
"Is everything taken care of?" Lin Wanwan got up to greet him and naturally straightened his slightly disheveled collar.
"Mm." Xiao Che held her hand and said in a low voice, "What needed to be seized, has been seized. What needed to be taken away, has also been taken away."
Qin Zheng, with great tact, bowed and took her leave, leaving the emperor and empress alone.
Only the two of them remained in the hall. Xiao Che did not sit down, but instead took Lin Wanwan's hand and said softly, "Come on, I'll take you to see another place."
Lin Wanwan's heart skipped a beat; she already knew where it was. She didn't ask any more questions, but simply smiled and nodded, letting him lead her into the deep twilight.
It was still that same deep passageway leading to the royal treasury, but this time, the two men's states of mind were worlds apart.
The last time I came, it was a midnight exploration, carrying the weight and despair of uncovering the empire's greatest wound. This time, however, it's a triumphant return in broad daylight, filled with anticipation and joy at witnessing a new beginning.
When the heavy black iron gate was slowly pushed open again, Lin Wanwan subconsciously held her breath.
There was no dust as I had imagined, nor the desolate emptiness I had in my memory.
A burst of intense and dazzling light, like a tidal wave bursting its banks, surged out from the crack in the door and instantly engulfed the two of them!
The scene before my eyes is enough to render any words pale and powerless.
The entire royal treasury, large enough to hold thousands of troops, was brightly lit at this moment, with hundreds of huge tallow torches stuck in the candlesticks on the walls, illuminating the place as if it were daytime.
Beneath this light lies a true sea of gold and silver!
The once empty ground, where echoes could be heard, was now saturated with mountains of wealth, leaving almost no room to step. To the left were countless enormous, open wooden chests filled with neatly stacked gold bars, their surfaces reflecting a dazzling luster in the firelight. To the right, small mountains of silver ingots lay scattered about, gleaming with a cool yet alluring light.
Further away, chests of jewelry and jade artifacts were casually left open, with various gemstones, lustrous pearls, jade, and agate forming shimmering rivers of light. Along the walls, rows of huge wooden shelves were no longer empty, but filled with thick stacks of land deeds and shop deeds.
Lin Wanwan was so shocked by the scene before her that she couldn't speak; she even felt it was somewhat unreal. She remembered the last time she came here, Xiao Che had his back to her, his shoulders trembling slightly, and above him, the little emperor in tattered dragon robes sat alone on the only small pile of gold coins, against an endless backdrop of emptiness and darkness.
[So poor he only had the dragon robe left.jpg]
The stinging sensation from that image remains vivid in my memory to this day.
And now...
Xiao Che didn't speak, but simply took her hand and walked step by step into the depths of the inner treasury, stepping on the scattered gold and silver that couldn't be stored. Their feet made a "crunching" sound, not on stone slabs, but on real coins.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty."
The voice of the female official Qin Zheng came from not far away. She was leading several female officials and eunuchs, holding abacuses and account books, and nervously conducting the final inventory in a temporary open space. Their faces were flushed with excitement, clearly also greatly stimulated by this overwhelming wealth.
Upon seeing the Emperor and Empress arrive, Qin Zheng quickly put down her work, carrying an extremely heavy final ledger, and hurried over, her voice trembling slightly with excitement:
"Your Majesty, Your Highness! All confiscated property has been inventoried!"
She held the account book, which was almost half a foot thick, high above her head.
Xiao Che didn't take it, but simply asked, "How much in total?"
Qin Zheng took a deep breath, trying to calm her wildly beating heart, and in an almost chanting tone, recited that number that would be recorded in history:
"Your Majesty! According to preliminary calculations, a total of 13 million taels of gold and 97 million taels of silver have been confiscated! Deeds for 800,000 hectares of fertile land across the country have been seized, along with more than 3,000 prime shops in the capital and other major cities! In addition, there are countless other valuables such as jewelry, antiques, silks, and furs!"
She paused, swallowed, and then delivered her final conclusion, her voice carrying a dreamlike, unreal quality:
"Your Majesty, this gold and silver alone is enough to support all the expenses of my Great Liang for the next ten years!"
ten years!
This number struck Lin Wanwan's heart like a heavy hammer.
She knew there would be many, but she never expected there to be so many! These weren't courtiers; they were clearly a group of enormous parasites sucking the blood of the empire! They had almost drained the entire country dry before they had satisfied themselves.
"Good, very good." Xiao Che's voice remained steady, but Lin Wanwan could feel that he was gripping her hand tightly, his knuckles turning slightly white from the force.
He finally released her hand, slowly walked to a mountain of gold, and casually picked up a heavy gold brick. The firelight reflected on his face, casting flickering shadows that obscured his expression.
Lin Wanwan thought he would be overjoyed, or at least show a victorious smile. After all, the heaviest shackle hanging over his head—the "empty national treasury," the biggest predicament that made him constantly subject to others and unable to move an inch—had today been completely resolved in the most exhilarating way!
It only took one day to go from being penniless to being incredibly wealthy.
However, Xiao Che simply stared quietly at the gold brick in his hand for a long, long time. The light in his eyes was not ecstatic joy, but a more complex and profound emotion.
After a long while, he turned around, walked back to Lin Wanwan, and placed the gold brick back in her hands. He didn't look at the room filled with glittering gold anymore; he simply looked intently into her eyes, then took her hand holding the gold brick and, in an unprecedentedly gentle voice, slowly said:
"Wanwan, all of this is the hard-earned money of the people."
His voice was soft, yet it carried an immense power that pierced through all the gold and silver light.
"Now, it's time to return it to them."
Lin Wanwan's heart skipped a beat. She looked up and habitually glanced at the familiar area above his head.
There, all the complaints, malice, murderous intent... all the emojis disappeared. In their place was a completely new animated GIF, one she had never seen before.
A chibi-style little emperor dressed in a dragon robe is carefully scattering handfuls of glittering gold onto a cracked, barren patch of land. As the gold falls, tender green shoots slowly sprout from the infertile soil.
Below the image, a line of warm text slowly emerges—
【Building a Home.gif】
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