The assembled officials bowed their heads in silence, and no one dared provoke the emperor’s wrath at such a moment.
Yet many high-ranking officials from prominent Jiangnan families stood among the ranks, their faces deferential while their minds raced with schemes of their own.
Zhao Zhuo, Vice Minister of Works, kept his head lowered. His hands, hidden within his wide sleeves, rubbed restlessly against each other.
As he listened to the emperor’s laughter, he rapidly calculated how best to respond.
Setting up checkpoints along the route and cutting off water and food?
That was indeed a vicious move.
But the imperial court had ultimately underestimated the foundations of the great aristocratic clans.
The merchant ships heading overseas only needed to be built larger, with dozens of extra barrels of fresh water stored in their lower decks. Then they would not need to rely on those midway islands.
If they feared the sailors might mutiny, they could spend a fortune recruiting a group of desperate men who cared only for money and not for their lives.
Once the great ships were loaded with silver ore overseas, they could take advantage of the rising tide and the cover of night, then force a landing at some remote, undefended stretch of beach between Fujian and Zhejiang.
They would break the cargo into smaller portions and transport the silver inland in batches, depositing it with local money houses.
As long as the silver made it ashore, the three-tenths tax imposed by the Maritime Trade Office would be nothing but a pipe dream. The imperial court would not receive a single copper coin.
At that thought, Zhao Zhuo’s mood eased slightly.
Xu Qinghuan stepped forward and bowed.
“Your Majesty, please restrain your thunderous joy for the moment.”
Emperor Tiansheng’s laughter abruptly ceased. He knitted his brows and pressed her urgently.
“What else do you have to say? Could there be a flaw in this method of deploying forces across the sea islands?”
Xu Qinghuan took another step forward.
“No matter how strict the coastal defenses are, they cannot stop madmen willing to risk their lives for wealth.”
“They could stock enough fresh water to last several months and bypass the supply islands entirely.”
“They could even accept that half their sailors might starve to death, so long as they managed to drag an entire shipload of silver ore back to some desolate shore of Great Qian.”
“Once they transported the foreign silver ingots into the interior…”
“By breaking them into smaller amounts, they could blind the imperial court even if it watched the coast day and night, and not a single tael of tax silver would be collected.”
At these words, Zhao Zhuo’s heart skipped a beat.
He raised his head in horror, utterly unable to believe that the secret thoughts in his mind had been stripped bare by this woman before the entire court.
Emperor Tiansheng’s expression darkened once more as he demanded, “Then were your earlier words nothing but empty talk? Great Qian’s coastline stretches for thousands of miles, with countless deserted beaches. How can we possibly guard them all?”
Xu Qinghuan looked up directly at the Son of Heaven, the corners of her lips curling into a smile.
“If the sea cannot be defended, then we shall not defend the sea.”
“Your Majesty, I have another astonishing killing move to be deployed inland. I ask that you immediately promulgate the ‘Official Coinage Act’!”
“Official Coinage Act?”
Emperor Tiansheng repeated the four words, his eyes filled with curiosity.
“Precisely!” Xu Qinghuan raised her voice, making sure it carried to every corner of the great hall.
“Your Majesty should announce to the realm that private citizens are strictly forbidden from accepting any unrefined silver or raw ore from overseas.”
“Any raw silver brought back by the aristocratic clans must be delivered to the court’s official furnaces in every region, accompanied by a certificate of title.”
“After the court deducts its three-tenths share, the remaining seven-tenths shall be melted down into official silver.”
Xu Qinghuan began pacing slowly across the hall as she continued:
“The underside shall be stamped with the unique paper-money emblem of the Directorate of Works.”
“Any foreign raw silver without this mark will be nothing more than a pile of worthless stones in Great Qian—unable to buy even a grain of rice or trade for a single inch of cloth!”
“Anyone who forges certificates or privately mints official silver bearing the mark shall be treated as a traitor. Their entire clan shall be executed!”
The great hall fell deathly silent. Even the eunuchs’ breathing could be heard with perfect clarity.
As he listened to laws harsh enough to chill the blood, a hint of mockery flickered through Zhao Zhuo’s eyes.
He understood the truth perfectly:
Silver had always been used according to its weight and purity.
There were countless fragments of old silver from previous dynasties and heirloom silver utensils among the people. Who could tell which pieces had come from overseas?
Even taking the worst-case scenario into account, the clans could simply use silver overseas to purchase sulfur, timber, and spices, then bring those goods back to Great Qian for sale.
The law only prohibited “foreign raw silver.” It did not ban spices!
Xu Qinghuan’s plan might sound intimidating, but in reality it was riddled with holes.
It could not possibly stop the great families’ capital from flowing back into the country.
The old emperor had evidently realized this as well. He fixed his eyes on Xu Qinghuan.
“There is an abundance of silver fragments already circulating in Great Qian. Can this Official Coinage Act truly control the merchants of the realm?”
Facing the emperor’s question, Xu Qinghuan remained completely composed.
She naturally stepped half a pace forward, adopting an expression of fearful humility and lowering her voice.
“Your Majesty is wise indeed. You saw through the true nature of this monetary law at a glance.”
“On the surface, the Official Coinage Act is meant to intimidate the unscrupulous and raise the risks and costs of smuggling.”
“But if those powerful tycoons of the aristocratic clans wish to do so, they can use raw silver to purchase Nanyang spices and Goryeo ginseng overseas, then exchange those goods for cargo and bring them back to Great Qian.”
“This first layer of screening is ultimately nothing more than a sieve full of holes. It cannot stop the truly powerful clans.”
At these words, the Jiangnan officials, Zhao Zhuo among them, nearly failed to suppress the smiles tugging at their lips.
She had actually exposed the weakness of her own plan? This girl had finally run out of ideas.
Emperor Tiansheng’s expression grew so dark it seemed water might drip from it.
“If it cannot stop them, then why have you said so much in court today? Was it merely to amuse me?”
“I would never dare!”
Xu Qinghuan hurriedly replied.
“Your Majesty, this subject still has another plan!”
The emperor was utterly speechless.
How many plans did this Xu Qinghuan have, one following another? Granted, she was as clever as a demon, but she could not keep dangling the answer before him like this!
Xu Qinghuan acted as though she had not noticed the emperor’s shifting expression and continued:
“Blocking is inferior to channeling, and banning is inferior to controlling. The true killing blow is the ‘Large-Scale Asset Registration System’!”
“The imperial court shall issue an ironclad decree.”
“From this day forth, throughout Great Qian, whenever large-scale assets worth more than one hundred thousand taels—such as estates, residences, or grain—are transferred, the entire transaction must be conducted with official silver bearing a unique identification number issued by the Directorate of Works!”
“When the local prefectures and counties process the transfer and replacement of land deeds or property contracts, they must verify that the numbers on the official silver match one by one.”
“Everything must be registered!”
“Should the records fail to match reality, or should anyone use privately minted silver without an identification number for such transactions, the property shall be confiscated outright and transferred into the imperial treasury!”
Emperor Tiansheng’s formerly smooth brow instantly knotted into a deathly frown.
“Your Majesty, even if the silver smuggled back piles up as high as a mountain…”
“As long as it cannot be used to purchase fields or acquire land, it cannot buy the most important assets in the realm. If wealth cannot be converted into lasting assets, it is nothing more than a pile of scrap metal!”
“The goods and spices they transport back at great cost will ultimately be exchanged for unmarked private silver, which can only rot in their cellars!”
“If the great clans wish to preserve their family fortunes, they will have no choice but to honestly send their silver into the government mints and willingly allow the court to take thirty percent!”
Upon hearing this, the flesh on Emperor Tiansheng’s face twisted viciously.
A killing blow! This was the true killing blow!
The ministers below were instantly horrified by Xu Qinghuan’s vicious strategy.
Who would have thought this woman had calculated things to such an extent?
This is bad! Now they really had no way out!
At this rate, secretly sailing overseas would be far less comfortable than simply cooperating with the imperial court!
Even Xu Jie was shocked by Xu Qinghuan’s scheming.
But when he looked around and saw the expressions on the ministers’ faces, he immediately felt that these officials were still too foolish.
Was Xu Qinghuan really only after money?
This woman’s ambitions were far greater than that!
Just then, Xu Qinghuan deliberately put on an anxious and fearful expression and said,
“Your Majesty, I still have one final killing move hidden up my sleeve!”
“This method is far too ruthless and goes against the natural order. If it is exposed, it will surely trigger a tremendous upheaval.”
“I humbly request permission to present it to Your Majesty in a private audience!”
The civil and military officials in the Hall of Heavenly Veneration instantly pricked up their ears, stretching their necks as far as they could.
Zhao Zhuo, who had been secretly mocking Xu Qinghuan moments earlier, now felt a chill shoot through him.
What kind of lunatic scheme was Xu Qinghuan still hiding?
Emperor Tiansheng did not hesitate in the slightest. He rose directly from the dragon throne and strode down the steps.
“Granted!”
Eunuch Li, the chief eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, had served the Son of Heaven for decades and was exceedingly shrewd.
Seeing the emperor descend from the dais, he immediately flicked his snow-white horsetail whisk.
More than a dozen extremely tall palace eunuchs from before the throne hurried forward from both sides of the hall doors and from below the imperial steps.
Without making the slightest unnecessary sound, they swiftly formed a tight circle around Emperor Tiansheng and Xu Qinghuan.
With their backs to the emperor and Xu Qinghuan and their faces toward the officials, the eunuchs stood shoulder to shoulder, forming an impenetrable wall of men.
They completely cut off the surrounding officials’ sight and hearing.
The atmosphere inside the great hall instantly became oppressive to the extreme.
Xu Jie closed his eyes once more, concealing the shock in his heart.
Could it be… Is it really as I suspect?
Inside the human wall, the light dimmed.
Xu Qinghuan rose onto her toes and leaned close to Emperor Tiansheng’s ear, speaking at lightning speed.
At first, when Emperor Tiansheng heard the first two sentences, his brow immediately furrowed.
But three breaths later, a violent scuffling suddenly erupted from the center of the human wall.
“Move aside!”
Emperor Tiansheng shoved away the two eunuchs standing directly in front of him.
The eunuchs hurriedly scattered.
The ministers were horrified and were just about to call out to protect the emperor when they saw Emperor Tiansheng stride through the opening in the human wall.
His crown swayed slightly, and he paid no attention whatsoever to the astonished, horrified gazes of the assembled officials.
He actually reached out and slapped Xu Qinghuan on the left shoulder, making her body stagger.
Holy crap! You old emperor!
“Xu Qinghuan!”
Emperor Tiansheng’s voice rang out like a thunderclap.
“You truly are Great Qian’s Minister of Joy! A Minister of Joy indeed!”
The old emperor, his face radiant with delight, asked,
“My dear subject! Tell me—how on earth should I reward you?”
