Chapter 889 Nurturing Life

“Ahhhhhhhh~~~~”

“Ohhhhhhhh~~~~”

Inside the Yonghe Temple in the early morning, Ji Chengjue, the emperor of the Great Yan Empire, was stretching his arms wide and chanting in a drawn-out tone.

This scene seemed a bit comical, but the emperor wasn't warming up his voice; he was practicing "tuna" (breathing exercises).

Unlike the tuna of true cultivators, who sit cross-legged, circulating qi within their bodies for a full cycle before exhaling a wisp of white mist from their nostrils, like the natural flow between morning mist and valleys,

for those who don't cultivate, or for ordinary people, so-called tuna often appears somewhat exaggerated; otherwise, it wouldn't have much effect.

After finishing the tuna,

the emperor then performed a set of "fist techniques."

This was taught to him by the fellow surnamed Zheng. Just like the fellow surnamed Zheng, who always had many golden quotes and displayed overflowing talent, the name he gave to this set of fist techniques was also very meaningful—Taiji.

The specific boxing routine, or rather, the essence of the boxing, was very simple, direct, and easy to understand, divided into three points: slow, elegant, and dreamy.

Slow refers to the slow movements.

Elegant refers to the graceful posture.

Dreamy means that while practicing, it's best to have a feeling that you are an unparalleled martial arts master in a dream.

The emperor once asked Wei Zhonghe what he thought of this set of fist techniques.

Eunuch Wei said that he was a Qi Refiner and didn't understand martial arts, so he dared not comment.

The emperor then asked Lu Bing.

Lu Bing, as his name suggests, was as cold as ice. Because he was stationed outside the palace, he was less smooth and more sincere than Eunuch Wei.

Therefore, Lu Bing's reply was: if he were fighting someone outside and his opponent used this set of fist techniques, he would probably laugh himself awake in his dreams.

Real Taiji is actually a relatively vigorous form of kung fu. "Fists fear the young and strong" is an unchanging truth. There are not many people in the world who can cultivate the inner strength of "using force against force."

What the Prince of Pingxi passed down was merely a superficial imitation.

But the emperor insisted on practicing it whenever he had time, especially before going to court in the morning.

A slight sweat on his body allowed him to maintain a healthy spirit for the whole morning.

There is a kind of placebo effect when treating illnesses, and the effect cannot be ignored. After finishing this set of fist techniques, the emperor felt that he could immerse himself in the illusion that his body was great, and his energy and spirit were clearly improved.

In short, he felt fantastic.

Today was a day off, so he didn't have to go to court.

After finishing the set, the emperor had the palace maids wipe his body in the bedroom and changed into a set of light dragon robes. Then, he lay down on the rocking chair in the Imperial Garden, with a cup of fragrant tea beside him.

Lying on it, rocking back and forth, he enjoyed the rare leisure that belonged to the emperor.

Usually at this time, Eunuch Wei would stand on the periphery. News from outside that wasn't urgent would be intercepted. Eunuch Wei, who had served a previous emperor, naturally knew the proper limits.

This allowed the master to rest while not really delaying anything important, thus avoiding the notoriety of being a powerful eunuch who isolated the emperor from the world.

There were also a prince and a princess in the palace;

but the emperor was usually busy with state affairs, and his visits every so often seemed more like official duties.

When there are many children,

parents often place high hopes on the eldest son. The middle ones feel much more neglected, and when they get older, they are more inclined to bestow more love to the youngest child.

The eldest son inherits ambition, and the youngest son inherits affection.

After taking a nap, he woke up and yawned. The emperor drank half a cup of warm tea and sat up.

At this moment, Eunuch Wei led Eunuch Zhang in.

Eunuch Zhang was a trusted attendant of the emperor when he was a prince. In the imperial palace, positions are often replaced by a new generation. But ever since the new emperor ascended the throne, Eunuch Wei's position had been as stable as Mount Tai, while Eunuch Zhang had been transferred to some extent.

In fact, Eunuch Zhang had been sent by the emperor to a newly established department under the Ministry of Revenue as a "supervisor."

When he was a prince, in order to make up for his father's military expenses, Ji Chengjue had already created something similar to the "jiaozi" (paper money) of later generations;

This wasn't exactly a historical first, because in the history of the Great Xia, there was an emperor who created "deerskin currency," which involved writing the value of something on deerskin and using that deerskin as the designated value.

The emperor, who was good at business, certainly knew that it was impossible to do this in a way that depleted resources, otherwise he would lose the trust of the people and shake the foundation of the country.

But this didn't prevent him from carrying out some financial reforms within controllable limits.

This reform was somewhat ahead of its time. Although it had been operating for some time, it was mostly limited to commercial channels. But now, this department was still under the Ministry of Revenue, and with Eunuch Zhang's identity, it didn't seem like a formal government agency but more like an enterprise exclusively under the emperor's private treasury.

This was why Eunuch Zhang had to be led in by Eunuch Wei; after all, Eunuch Zhang was currently on an outside assignment.

Eunuch Zhang brought the account books and asked His Majesty to review them.

The emperor flipped through the account books. He wasn't a god, and he couldn't understand everything in them at once. But he was an expert, and even if those below knew that the emperor would likely just flip through them casually, they still felt great pressure, which greatly reduced the courage to tamper with the accounts.

In this regard, the current emperor was no different from that Prince. The difference was that the Prince didn't know how to read accounts.

But anyone under the Prince's command who was caught being dishonest would be skinned and hung on the city gate tower, and their children and relatives would be labeled as outcast households, their status even lower than that of savages.

It was publicly claimed that the Prince had sharp eyes and discerned corruption, and this punishment was carried out by the Prince's order.

"Master, this is the latest memorial from the Secret Intelligence Division, from the east."

Eunuch Wei presented a memorial at this time.

The Secret Intelligence Division had already withdrawn from the Jindo region. The Prince of Pingxi's mansion in Jindo wouldn't kill all the spies, but they would identify them, raise them, and control them.

And if they still wanted to lurk with all their heart, they would be marked as opposition and eliminated.

In addition, due to the delicate relationship between the Prince's Mansion and the imperial court, the Secret Intelligence Division had long withdrawn from the Jindo area, leaving only a branch on the surface continuing to swagger around in Fengxin City, more like a sign that Jindo still belonged to the Great Yan;

The Prince's Mansion even hung a sign for their branch, called "Office."

Obviously, Eunuch Wei had already coordinated with Eunuch Zhang in advance, because the memorial that Eunuch Wei presented was written by the Secret Intelligence Division in Yingdu, and it mainly focused on the Prince of Pingxi's bank.

The emperor wasn't averse to his subordinates communicating in advance like this. Compared to the late emperor's delegation of military power but personal involvement in everything else, the current emperor actually understood the principle of delegating power more.

After he ascended the throne, he expanded the Grand Secretariat, elevating it from a secretarial office originally led by Zhao Jiulang to the top position in the inner court where important ministers were ranked according to seniority and handled procedures;

To some extent, this allowed him to extricate himself as much as possible, so that he only needed to oversee the overall situation.

In this regard, he was more or less influenced by that fellow surnamed Zheng.

There was no reason why he should be exhausted every day while that fellow surnamed Zheng, as long as he wasn't out on expeditions, could live like a wealthy idler.

Well, that's not fair!

In fact, the emperor himself knew that if his expanded Grand Secretariat encountered relatively weak descendants in the future, it was likely to form a situation where the ministers were strong and the emperor was weak;

But the advantages outweighed the disadvantages. To take a step back, trampling on the Grand Secretariat was much simpler than trampling on the aristocratic clans.

The emperor had only casually flipped through the previous accounts, but he carefully read this memorial from the Secret Intelligence Division in Jindo.

Although he had maintained close correspondence with that fellow surnamed Zheng all these years, whether when he was a prince or after he became emperor,

he had known for a long time that many times the person replying to his letters wasn't that fellow surnamed Zheng;

The reason why he endured it and didn't get angry about the "I offered my heart to the bright moon, but the bright moon shines in the gutter" feeling was because the value of the person replying in the letter seemed to be more important and more detailed than that fellow surnamed Zheng's own reply, so he accepted this "excessive perfunctoriness" of Zheng.

"He dares to do anything."

The emperor commented.

The Prince of Pingxi's bank had actually been established a long time ago, and it was also active in commercial trade.

But recently, that is, while the fellow surnamed Zheng was leading troops out, the operation of the Prince's Mansion hadn't stopped. In fact, under the tense atmosphere of war preparations and the gathering of military resources, the bank began to issue bonds stamped with the Prince's Mansion's seal;

But the problem was that in that great war, Jindo didn't send troops or grain. What were they being tense about?

It was nothing more than finding an excuse and a trend to promote the bonds.

Going through the bank, the bonds were transferred into the various industries under the Prince's Mansion, and then these industries continued to distribute them. It was also possible to use bonds to purchase goods in the Prince's Mansion's industries.

Part of the soldiers' military pay and part of the officials' salaries had been issued in the form of bonds.

Although it hadn't been widely opened to the public yet, since they had reached this step, it was only a matter of time before these bonds spread among the people. After all, soldiers and officials were currently the main consumers of well-off families.

In Jindo, these bonds were habitually called... Baochao (treasure notes) by the local soldiers and civilians.

At the end of the memorial, there was also a piece of information: the Secret Intelligence Division monitored that the Prince of Pingxi's Mansion seemed to be constructing a silver mine discovered in the Tianduan Mountains.

The great affairs of the state are sacrifice and war.

But war and sacrifice ultimately cannot be separated from finance.

The fellow surnamed Zheng was clearly leading troops outside,

but his hometown was actually continuing to promote this highly influential financial reform...

Could it be that the fellow surnamed Zheng had left a plan before the expedition?

But could he really be at ease?

Eunuch Zhang, seeing that the emperor had fallen into deep thought, licked his lips and said:

"Master, this bond matter, this servant thinks..."

"You want to do it too?"

"This servant...this servant thinks..."

"That fellow surnamed Zheng is lawless and only cares about his life. Should I learn from him? This is draining the pond to catch the fish, draining the pond to catch the fish!"

The emperor said angrily,

"Baochao, Baochao, once this thing comes out, its value will be discounted. It's okay while that fellow surnamed Zheng is alive, but when he's gone, when his son inherits the throne, this thing will immediately become waste paper!"

Unfortunately,

Blindman and Si Niang were not here, otherwise, after hearing the emperor's comments, they would probably give him a thumbs up;

After all, he was an emperor born from managing accounts and doing business, good at financial management, and he immediately saw through the essence of Baochao and the future ending of Baochao.

He was the emperor and couldn't seek temporary pleasure. Now, he was still hesitating about the department under Eunuch Zhang's command, unwilling to put it on the surface, and naturally even less likely to seek immediate benefits and learn from the Prince of Pingxi's Mansion in Jindo to issue Baochao.

This thing was fine when he was in power and could soberly control it, but what about his son? What about his grandson?

Could future generations withstand the temptation of printing money?

At that time, it would be a complete collapse of the entire financial situation...

"Unless, he uses some method to back it up."

The emperor fell into deep thought again.

Eunuch Zhang, who had just been reprimanded, closed his mouth and said nothing,

and Eunuch Wei, who didn't understand finance, naturally couldn't express any opinions.

"Forget it, I'll write a letter to ask him...ask that person."

Seeing that the emperor had stopped thinking and was about to get up and leave, Eunuch Zhang had to bite the bullet and speak again:

"Master, there is one more thing that was not included in the Secret Intelligence Division's memorial, but rather a rumor among the people."

"The Secret Intelligence Division's memorial doesn't include rumors among the people?"

Reporting matters based on rumors was the power of the censor, but the emperor's real ears and eyes were the Secret Intelligence Division's such fanzi (secret police) yamen.

"Master, it's really too important and must be reported by this servant in person."

"Speak."

"Master, there are rumors that the Prince of Pingxi's Mansion is planning to mint a batch of new coins."

"Coins?"

"Mainly gold and silver coins."

"What's so strange about that?"

It was normal to smelt silver to make silver ingots now. When the Yan Kingdom was full of aristocratic families, many of them were enthusiastic about this, and there were even rhymes among the common people, saying whose silver was of good quality and whose silver was black-hearted and bad.

"Master, look."

Eunuch Zhang took out a silver coin from his sleeve. On the silver coin was engraved a double-headed eagle.

"Master, this silver coin is said to have come from Jindo, but the amount is very small now, and this servant has sent people to verify it again.

This servant is also bold to report this unconfirmed matter to the master."

The relationship between the emperor and the Prince of Pingxi was very sensitive;

Anyone who tried to sow discord had to be prepared to get burned. Eunuch Zhang knew that there were tigers in the mountains and was also loyal.

After all, there was no need for him to speculate politically. Just to compete for favor and bring down Eunuch Wei?

The emperor took the silver coin and weighed it in his hand.

"Imitating the coin system of the West of the Wasteland?"

"Yes, but it's more refined than theirs." Eunuch Zhang reported, "And the double-headed eagle is the banner style of the Prince of Pingxi's Mansion."

"Heh."

The emperor smiled instead of getting angry,

"So, the fellow surnamed Zheng didn't go on an expedition after all. Could it be that the Prince of Pingxi who went to war against Qian on behalf of my Great Yan and broke through the capital was a fake?"

How did he manage to be out there leading troops in battle while also manipulating so many tricks in his home territory?

The emperor would never have dreamed that

so many tricks

were purely because a pregnant woman was so bored during her pregnancy that she started this kind of reform, purely to relieve boredom.

As for whether the man would be angry with her for these things when he came back;

Heh,

Not to mention that the Prince didn't care about this kind of thing at all, knowing only the surface but not the reason, just say that as long as she touched her stomach,

glared at him,

even if she set fire to the Prince's Mansion, the Prince would not only not be angry, but also hand her firewood.

"Master..."

"I will write a letter to ask him personally."

The emperor waved his hand dismissively, pinching the silver coin in his hand,

"I'm going to see the Empress."

"Prepare the carriage!"

The emperor came to the Empress's place. The Empress wasn't busy in the vegetable garden at this time, but was doing needlework.

Although the princes and princesses didn't lack clothes, as a mother, with this condition and this leisure, she always had to make something for her children to wear, just to show her love.

Moreover, since her eldest son wasn't by her side, these things were more like a way to express her thoughts.

"Empress, is the water ready?"

"Your Majesty, it's only morning?"

"I want to soak."

"This concubine will order people to prepare it."

A new bathhouse had recently been built in the Empress's palace. Ji Chuanye wrote in a letter that he and Brother Tiantian often soaked together, and that fellow surnamed Zheng soaked almost every day.

Before long,

the emperor was soaking naked in the bath,

and the Empress came in to serve him in a thin shirt.

"Since hearing about the Prince of Pingxi's great victory, the burden on Your Majesty seems to have been lifted," the Empress said with a smile.

The emperor nodded,

while continuing to play with the silver coin and sighing:

"Now that Qian and Chu are stable, the next step is to start anew with the people.

These people need to recuperate, the country needs to recuperate,

and I,

need it too."

"Your Majesty will surely live ten thousand years."

"Don't say the words these ministers shout between us. Since ancient times, have we ever really seen someone who lived ten thousand years?"

"This concubine spoke wrongly, please punish me, Your Majesty."

The Empress didn't enter the bath but hugged the emperor.

The emperor reached out and gently lifted the Empress's chin,

and the young couple understood each other and entered the stage of cultivating emotions;

"I have to take good care of this body and not tire myself out. I don't ask to live longer than that fellow surnamed Zheng. That fellow surnamed Zheng is at least a martial arts master and has always paid attention to nurturing life. I'm afraid I can't compare.

But I have to outlast that fellow surnamed Zheng for a while, at least when I'm gone, that fellow surnamed Zheng will be old."

"Why is that, Your Majesty?" The Empress's breathing began to quicken.

"I want that fellow surnamed Zheng to be exhausted even if he enters the capital, hahaha."

"Your Majesty, how can you say such things? You're still the ruler of a country, shame on you, shame on you, I'm not going to talk to you!"

"Hey, hey, hey."

Although the two were an imperial couple, they enjoyed this kind of "tough" folk couple behavior in private, and didn't care about those etiquettes at all.

The emperor hugged the Empress from behind in the bath,

and said:

"Wife, seeing that the two consorts of that fellow surnamed Zheng are about to give birth, we have to hurry up, lest we are surpassed by that fellow surnamed Zheng. Come, give me another one."

"Your Majesty, do we have to compete in this too?"

"Why not?"

"But it's not fair."

"Not fair?"

"The Prince of Pingxi has three consorts, but Your Majesty only has two."

The implication was that the Empress was advising the emperor to hold a beauty pageant.

The emperor didn't know if he didn't hear this meaning or deliberately didn't pick up on it,

but instead shouted loudly:

"That's how it can show my ability!"