The tolling of the morning bell shattered the last remnants of the night shrouding the imperial city. Outside the Golden Throne Hall, a thin layer of frost had formed on the white marble steps. The court boots of the hundred officials stepped upon it, emitting a faint and suppressed rustling sound.
Inside the hall, beside the massive golden pillars entwined with carved dragons, thirty large vermilion-lacquered chests were neatly stacked, reaching all the way to the foot of the imperial steps.
The smell of aged camphor wood mixed with a faint stench of ink seemed entirely out of place in the solemn and majestic hall.
Xu Youde knelt in front of the chests. The scarlet official robe of the lower third rank was a bit tight on him, making his fat waist particularly conspicuous. He kept his head lowered, his forehead pressed against the freezing golden floor tiles, and a large patch of the fabric on his back was already soaked with sweat.
"Your Majesty!" Xu Youde strained his uniquely raspy voice, the sound echoing through the cavernous hall. "I have not failed my mission! Given a deadline of two months, your humble servant only took ten days! Three million taels of ready silver, along with these thirty chests of ledger records, are all ready to be handed over to the treasury!"
Ten days. In a mere ten days, Xu Youde had actually managed to gather it all.
Above the imperial steps, the bright yellow figure shifted. Emperor Tiansheng leaned forward from behind the bead curtain. Those eyes, which were usually half-squinted and clouded with gloom, now lit up terrifyingly, like a starving wolf spotting meat.
"Bring it up."
The head eunuch held the first ledger in his hands and trotted over with his back bowed, delivering it to the imperial desk.
Emperor Tiansheng casually flipped it open. The accounts were recorded in extreme detail, so detailed it made one's hair stand on end.
"In the back garden of the Zhao Manor, one Taihu stone, valued at eight hundred taels of silver..." Emperor Tiansheng read this line aloud and suddenly burst into laughter. "You even emptied out the stones in their courtyard?"
Xu Youde kowtowed so hard it made a thumping sound. His voice trembled, yet carried an obvious ruthlessness: "Answering Your Majesty, your humble servant is an unrefined man who understands nothing of elegance. In my eyes, that stone can neither be eaten nor worn. It is better to exchange it for silver to buy a pound of meat for our brothers at the border! Even the koi fish in their pond, I had my men weigh them by the pound to sell!"
"Good! What a fine 'weigh by the pound'!"
Emperor Tiansheng's laughter shook the hall so much it seemed to tremble. He stood up, his gaze sweeping over the group of ashen-faced civil officials below, and pointed at Xu Youde. "You normally spout nothing but benevolence, righteousness, and morality, preaching about giving the people rest."
"But when the national treasury is empty, every single one of you becomes mute. Now look at my beloved subject Xu! This is my true pillar of the state, this is my coin purse!"
Shang Qitai's cheek twitched. He was just about to step out of the ranks to speak when he felt a cold breeze sweep past.
The Senior Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, Xu Jie, the old man who perennially stood at the head of the hundred officials like a clay statue or a wooden carving, moved.
Xu Jie straightened his impeccably neat crane-embroidered robe, held his jade tablet, and slowly stepped out of the formation.
Some who could not see through the situation thought that this stabilizing pillar of the civil official faction was about to launch an attack against this upstart who did not know the immensity of heaven and earth.
"Your Majesty." Xu Jie's voice was old and steady, betraying not a single ripple of emotion. "Vice Minister Xu first sacrificed his own family wealth to relieve the nation's distress, and then employed thunderous methods. In just ten short days, he has replenished the national treasury and resolved the urgent crisis of the Nine Borders. Such financial prowess truly puts this old minister to shame."
Shang Qitai stared at Xu Jie's back in disbelief.
Xu Jie did not pause. He even turned slightly and cupped his hands in a polite salute toward Xu Youde, who was sprawled on the ground. On that deeply wrinkled old face, a trace of extremely genial admiration actually appeared.
"This old minister believes that Lord Xu is not only a capable minister but also a lone minister utterly loyal to our Great Qian Dynasty. For such a tremendous merit, if he is rewarded only with gold and silver, I fear it will chill the hearts of loyal subjects across the realm."
Xu Jie bowed deeply to Emperor Tiansheng, his voice loud enough to pierce the dome of the golden hall:
"This old minister beseeches Your Majesty to confer upon Xu Youde the title of Earl Chengyi, with hereditary succession that cannot be revoked, to manifest his great deeds!"
The fall of these words was no different from a clap of thunder striking the Golden Throne Hall.
Conferring a noble title!
Xu Youde was merely a merchant who had bought his official rank. Although he had the merit of raising funds, the stench of blood on his hands had not yet been washed clean. Xu Jie actually wanted to elevate him into the ranks of the nobility?
This was roasting the Xu family on a fire.
Once titled, Xu Youde would thoroughly become the mortal enemy of both the civil officials and the nobility. An upstart earl who rose to power by confiscating properties and exterminating families would be like a piece of rotting meat slapped onto the face of the Great Qian Dynasty.
It was all well and good now when the Emperor found him handy to use, but once this blade dulled, or when public resentment boiled over beyond control, killing an earl to appease the masses would be far more effective than killing a vice minister.
"Grand Secretary Xu is absolutely right!" The Minister of Personnel, Xie Miheng, reacted extremely quickly, immediately stepping forward to second the motion. "Lord Xu's family is completely loyal, and his daughter has even been titled Commandery Princess Ci'an. Now that both father and daughter are pillars of the state, conferring a noble title is truly well-deserved!"
"I second the motion!"
"I second the motion!"
In an instant, the voices in the hall that had originally been preparing to impeach Xu Youde vanished without a trace, replaced only by a tidal wave of praises and eulogies.
Those imperial censors who normally prided themselves on being the pure and incorruptible faction were now red in the face, racking their brains to use the most magnificent rhetoric to flatter this man they viewed as a cruel official.
Sprawled on the ground, Xu Youde listened to the praises that were almost drowning him, only feeling a continuous chill on the back of his neck. Cold sweat trickled down his temples, dripping onto the golden floor tiles and spreading into small, dark spots.
How were these congratulations? They were clearly bloodless soft blades, stabbing holes right into his body.
But he dared not show cowardice, much less refuse.
Xu Youde scrambled up from the ground, his fat face squeezed into an expression of overwhelmed ecstasy, even forcing a look of arrogant complacency like a petty man who had just struck it rich.
He clumsily adjusted his official robes and bowed repeatedly to his surroundings, hollering with a lack of refinement:
"Oh my, you lords are too polite! This... how could I possibly accept this! Old Xu here is just a debt collector, how could I be an earl! Hehe, but since you lords are showing me such favor, then Old Xu will brazenly accept it!"
Emperor Tiansheng sat upon his high dragon throne, coldly watching this farce unfold.
His mind was as clear as a mirror; he knew that Xu Jie was deliberately provoking him and pushing the Xu family onto the path of death.
But so what?
The money was already in hand, and the blade had already been sharpened. Putting a gorgeous scabbard on this blade to make it look a bit more presentable, what did it matter?
"Petition granted."
Emperor Tiansheng's voice drifted down from above, carrying an unquestionable majesty.
"Effective immediately, Left Vice Minister of Revenue Xu Youde is appointed as Earl Chengyi, bestowed with a purple-gold waist token, and shall be treated as one rank higher than whatever official he meets. My beloved subject Xu, you must not disappoint the expectations of Us and Our ministers."
Xu Youde fell to his knees once more, kowtowing so loudly it shook the heavens. He looked both comical and pathetic.
The morning assembly dispersed in a peaceful and festive atmosphere.
The hundred officials retreated from the Golden Throne Hall like a receding tide. Sunlight spilled across the glazed tiles of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, refracting dazzling golden rays, as if the prosperous age of the Great Qian Dynasty was at its zenith.
Meanwhile, at a corner of the imperial desk, the head eunuch took advantage of the moment he was organizing the memorials to silently press a secret memorial, its cover stained with black blood, to the very bottom of the pile.
It was an eight-hundred-li urgent dispatch from the Northern Frontier.
