When she walked out of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the sun had already risen to the eaves of the glazed tiles.
Xu Qinghuan descended the steps, hanging at her waist the newly acquired gold-mounted Imperial Sword.
The sword was very long, and the five-clawed golden dragon coiled around its hilt pressed uncomfortably against her wrist.
The final look Emperor Tiansheng gave her was still spinning in her mind.
That look was not one of regarding a subject, but rather scrutinizing the utility of an object.
This object did not need to have its own thoughts; it only needed to be sharp enough to solve the troubles that the sword-wielder found inconvenient to handle himself.
This was the royal family; this was the emperor.
The emperor did not treat the common people as human beings, and imperial power did not treat the emperor as a human being.
She walked out of the West Hua Gate.
Li Sheng was waiting in the shadow of the city wall, leading two horses.
Seeing her come out, Li Sheng stepped forward. His gaze dropped and nailed onto the scabbard at her waist.
As someone who had lived on the edge of a blade, he naturally recognized what the dragon motif on that hilt meant.
Li Sheng's face twitched slightly. Swallowing the astonishment that had reached his lips, he offered the reins with both hands.
"Miss, please."
Xu Qinghuan took the reins and swung onto the horse.
"Let's go."
However, not long after, as they rounded a corner.
They saw a carriage made of golden thread nanmu wood parked horizontally in the middle of the road. Its broad body almost completely blocked the entire street.
Four men dressed in dark blue martial attire stood around the carriage, remaining completely motionless after taking their positions.
The yanling swords at their waists were unsheathed, but the webbing of their hands was pressed firmly against the hilts.
Xu Qinghuan pulled back the reins. The horse's hooves stepped on the bluestone slabs, and it snorted.
"This sword, Princess, must be quite heavy to hold, isn't it?" Xiao Jingyan's voice came through the thick curtains. "This is a deadly thing, but the frost and snow of the Northern Frontier are a few degrees colder than this blade.
"This errand is difficult."
Xu Qinghuan sat upright on horseback, not even leaning forward the slightest bit.
"Whether it is difficult or not is my business."
She looked down at the carriage from her high vantage point.
"I have obtained the chips I wanted. The three hundred thousand taels of silver that Your Highness desires will naturally be cleanly transferred from the Ministry of Revenue's central treasury to your private account.
No one will be able to trace the origin of this money."
There was no sound from inside the carriage.
"But when I do business, I insist on clearing the money and the goods."
Xu Qinghuan squeezed the horse's belly with her legs, and the mount paced forward two steps, its head almost touching the carriage shafts.
The four guards turned their wrists, and their swords were drawn half an inch.
A cold light flashed.
Behind her, Li Sheng popped open his sword guard with a click of his thumb.
Xu Qinghuan didn't even look at the guards' swords. "Once I leave, the capital will be an empty shell."
"The people of the Xu faction, along with those officials in the Ministry of War whose tables have been overturned, will definitely take their anger out on the Chengyi Earl's Mansion."
"My three hundred thousand taels are not meant to be exchanged for a few idle words from Your Highness in the royal court, but to buy the safety of my father and brother in the capital."
"Your Highness's hidden spies, death squads, and informants in the Wardens Office in the capital must all revolve tightly around the Chengyi Earl's Mansion for these sixty days."
"If my father or my eldest brother loses a single hair..."
The night breeze blew through the street, lifting a corner of the carriage curtain.
Half of Xiao Jingyan's face was hidden in the shadows, and the red-infused jade plaque in his hand stopped spinning.
"Are you threatening this prince, Princess?"
"It is a notification." Xu Qinghuan stared into his eyes without yielding an inch. "The pens of the world's scholars are watching.
"Those rotten accounts hidden underwater by the Ministry of Revenue are also in my hands.
As long as the Xu family suffers even the slightest mishap in the capital, I will have the students of the Imperial College smash their heads to death outside the Meridian Gate, and I will reveal every single word of those secret accounts to the Xu faction."
"When that time comes, we will all die together clutching this chessboard of the battle for the throne."
Fine sweat even seeped from the hands of the trusted guards gripping their swords.
The daughter of an earl with no foundation actually dared to publicly use a prince's future and life as a threat.
Xiao Jingyan looked at the woman on horseback.
This woman's ruthlessness far exceeded his expectations.
She actually wanted to use such methods to force him to hand over his guard forces.
After the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, a short, light chuckle came from inside the carriage.
"Make way."
The four guards instantly dispersed and retreated to the side of the street.
"Then this prince wishes the Princess that the blade in the Northern Frontier sees blood, and that you retreat completely unscathed."
...
Chengyi Earl's Mansion.
Xu Youde and his eldest son, Xu Wuyou, had already paced around the room dozens of times.
Xu Wuyou knew very well that the officialdom in the capital was not as simple as doing official business in Jiangning, but rather plunging headfirst into a quagmire that ate people without spitting out their bones.
The door was pushed open, and Xu Qinghuan stepped over the threshold.
Xu Qinghuan walked straight to the table and untied the Imperial Sword from her waist.
With a clang.
The pure gold scabbard smashed onto the yellow rosewood tabletop, causing the two cups of tea on the table to jump simultaneously, splashing tea water.
"Oh my! Is this bestowed by the Em... Emperor?" Xu Youde's throat was dry.
Xu Wuyou even stumbled, grabbing the armrest of the armchair to keep from falling.
"Little sister, let me touch this sword."
"This is a good sword!"
"The gold-mounted Imperial Sword."
Xu Qinghuan picked up the teapot herself and took a large gulp of cold tea directly from the spout. Only after swallowing it did she feel the heat in her throat dissipate a little.
"I have signed a military pledge. Sixty days to settle the rotten accounts in the Northern Frontier and behead the mastermind behind the corruption."
She slammed the teapot down on the table and looked at her ashen-faced father and brother.
"For these sixty days, I am not subject to the control of the Ministry of War, nor do I need the approval of the Three Judicial Offices.
For anyone below the upper third rank, holding this sword, I can execute them first and report it later."
The main hall was frighteningly quiet.
Xu Wuyou wiped away his cold sweat. "Little sister, this... this is an errand that will pierce the heavens.
Those border generals and army inspectors in the Northern Frontier are all desperadoes holding heavy military power.
If you take a sword to check their accounts and push them too far, they will directly mutiny!"
"Even if they mutiny, they need grain to fill their stomachs," Xu Qinghuan continued. "Cut off their supply routes, and those rogue soldiers will just be a bunch of starving ghosts holding scrap iron."
She turned her head to look at Xu Youde.
"Father, over at the Ministry of Revenue, the secret accounts for the three hundred thousand taels must be perfectly balanced and put into Xiao Jingyan's pocket.
This is the money to buy the lives of our entire family."
Xu Youde gasped. "Give it to Third Prince Xiao? Can he really do his best to protect our family?"
"He wouldn't dare not to." Xu Qinghuan pulled over a chair and sat down, rubbing her aching shoulder with her wrist. "Holding the Imperial Sword in the Northern Frontier is equivalent to driving nails into the iron plate of the Ministry of War for him.
"If I die in the Northern Frontier, these three hundred thousand taels of rotten accounts will be dug up and become his death warrant."
