The embezzled funds invariably come from military pay, disaster relief, and construction budgets. Let’s start with military pay. The Great Yan Dynasty, like other dynasties, has a long tradition of falsifying troop numbers and misreporting personnel.
Senior officials skimming soldiers’ wages is commonplace, and there’s no shortage of those who siphon off supplies—plenty of opportunities to line their pockets. For now, let’s set aside the corruption within the Great Yan military itself.
Instead, let’s focus on how the court officials embezzle military funds.
At this point, Minister of War Huo Ying, Wei Shouyi, and the other military officers silently wiped the cold sweat from their brows. They had narrowly dodged disaster—for now.
Though they knew their misdeeds would eventually come to light, they clung to the hope that they could delay the reckoning, even if just for a day longer.
Meanwhile, the officials from the Ministry of Revenue felt their hearts tighten. This round of scrutiny was aimed squarely at them.
"Isn’t this the same thing?"
"Not entirely. Military corruption involves siphoning off the funds they actually receive—the silver allocated by the court.
But, my dear, do you really think the amount the court allocates is the amount they get?
If the emperor approves 500,000 taels of silver, they’re lucky to receive 300,000—or even less. Where does the rest go?
It ‘disappears’ at every step along the way. By the time the money reaches its destination, only a fraction remains. Take it or leave it. Do you think those rough-edged soldiers dare offend the ‘God of Wealth’?
Or, let me put it this way—do you think Huo Ying would dare cross Dong Qianli, the Minister of Revenue?"
Huo Ying: "Divine Artifact, though you speak the truth, must you humiliate me so? I am a man of nine chi—must I lose all dignity?"
Wei Shouyi and the other officers: "Sir, if this helps His Majesty understand our plight, what does your pride matter?"
Huo Ying: "Easy for you to say—it’s not your face being dragged through the mud!"
Dong Qianli: "I knew it. I just knew it. This round is meant for me."
Yue Fuguang glanced at the two men. She had once seen Huo Ying’s saber—it was nearly as tall as Dong Qianli himself. Yet even a man like Huo Ying had to tread carefully around Dong Qianli.
The title ‘God of Wealth’ wasn’t just for show. Even the other ministers had to greet him with smiles, however forced.
"So Dong Qianli embezzled the money? As the Great Yan’s treasurer, he’s the prime suspect, no?"
Dong Qianli: "Young Immortal, don’t slander me unjustly! Administrative losses are hardly theft!"
Well… sometimes those ‘losses’ were excessive. But he alone couldn’t change the culture of graft and extortion.
"He’s not innocent, but he wasn’t the one who took the lion’s share. At most, he skimmed a little off the top—small sums, a few thousand taels here and there, barely enough for a set of glass teacups.
Half the court is like him. Hardly worth mentioning."
Dong Qianli was nearly moved to tears. "Divine Artifact, you’re… surprisingly kind!"
"These funds are like a slab of fatty meat. Everyone who handles it ends up with greasy fingers—a little something for all, as they say.
But while some, like Dong Qianli, merely dabble in the grease, others carve off whole chunks and stuff them into their own pockets."
Emperor Mingxi: "Not only the Young Immortal, but even the Divine Artifact needs to study more! ‘A little something for all’? Is that how the phrase is used?
That’s my money. My money!"
"Disaster relief and construction budgets follow much the same pattern. Let’s set aside past relief efforts for now and focus on this year’s snow disaster—a windfall for a new crop of corrupt officials.
They’re experts at this. It’s not their first, second, or even sixth time. Every year brings a new disaster, and every year they grow richer—so rich they could rival Emperor Mingxi himself. No great feat, really."
Emperor Mingxi, now both a repeated target and an inadvertent unit of measurement: "Enough already!"
"Though seasoned in their craft, this year’s snow disaster affected far more people than they anticipated. Their greed nearly backfired.
Countless commoners froze or starved to death, sparking unrest. And with that, the first toll of the Great Yan Dynasty’s death knell rang out."
Emperor Mingxi and his courtiers were shaken to their cores. So the seeds of their dynasty’s downfall had been sown so early?
They had assumed it would take years—perhaps when the emperor grew older and more senile. Never had they imagined it had already begun this year.
Were it not for caution, the emperor would have ordered the arrest and execution of those fat rats on the spot.
"‘Nearly backfired’ implies it didn’t. Did the emperor investigate? How large was the unrest to shake the nation’s foundations?"
"Emperor Mingxi performed as expected. After the unrest, he purged the corrupt officials—or so he thought. The real culprits sacrificed a few scapegoats, feeding him a prearranged list of names to execute.
And execute them he did, just as they planned."
Emperor Mingxi bristled. "‘Performed as expected’? Don’t think I missed the sarcasm!"
"As for the death knell—the unrest affected hundreds of thousands, with countless casualties. But the true crisis lay in two men who emerged from the chaos.
These two escaped, raising their own forces in Liangzhou and Yizhou.
At first, they fought the Great Yan court for survival. Later, after the dynasty’s collapse, they became the last two armies defending its remnants against foreign invaders.
These men… even in death, they refused to renounce their identity as Great Yan subjects—the final loyalists of a dynasty that had failed them.
Not ‘Northern Li,’ not ‘Western Qiang,’ nor subjects of Liang or Wei.
Ah, Liang and Wei were short-lived regimes that later emerged near Liangzhou and Yizhou… mere warlord states."
Emperor Mingxi listened, his heart heavy with complexity. Who would have thought the last ‘Great Yan people’ would be such men?
Yue Fuguang’s emotions were even more tangled. Her past life’s knowledge gave her a deeper respect for these men than most.
In a way, theirs was a different kind of martyrdom.
"What became of them?"
Emperor Mingxi shot Huo Ying a meaningful glance. He would find these men before the unrest began—talents like these should serve the court, not rebel against it.
He would ‘nationalize’ them before they made irreversible mistakes.
"Xiao Ping currently works as a clerk in Pingyang County, under Changping Prefecture in Liangzhou. As a minor official, his involvement in the unrest—and rise as a leader—was purely circumstantial.
His magistrate, Cao Qingming, had earned his position through the imperial exams but lacked connections. Stuck in Liangzhou’s most remote county for over a decade, he knew his limitations.
Though unremarkable in ability, Cao Qingming wisely refrained from meddling in matters beyond his expertise. He delegated power freely to capable subordinates, so long as Pingyang County thrived.
Thus, despite his youth, Xiao Ping’s competence earned Cao Qingming’s trust.
When the snow disaster struck, only a fraction of the court’s relief funds reached Pingyang. The starving masses, remembering the magistrate’s past fairness, initially trusted him.
But those who stood to profit from chaos grew impatient. They infiltrated the refugees, spreading rumors that Cao Qingming and his clerks had hoarded the relief grain.
At first, few believed it. But as supplies dwindled, desperation turned to rage. Provocateurs led the charge against the county office, and amid the chaos, assassins struck down the magistrate and his clerks."
