Although time in the ruins seemed to pass very slowly, in reality, another five days had passed.
The tension and oppression in Longjing City had reached a point where even ordinary citizens could feel it.
On this day, the "Li" meeting was convened again, but many attendees were missing—only three of the combined five Emperors and five of the ten Heavenly Stems attended, along with seven of the twelve Earthly Branches. All six ministers of the ministries were present.
(For the esteemed readers, to clarify, the Three Emperors and Five Emperors are now missing Fuxi, the Heavenly Stems are missing Ding Yang, and the Earthly Branches are missing Golden Rooster.)
Nuwa looked gloomily at the twelve Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches present—Jia Huang, Xin Lei, Yi Mu, Gui Shui, Ren Yin, Silver Rat, Purple Ox, Peach Rabbit, Indigo Snake, Crimson Ape, Yellow Dog, Tea Pig.
Except for Yi Mu, Gui Shui, and Peach Rabbit who were her people, the others were either from Fuxi's faction or Suiren's.
Ever since most of her subordinates were assigned to external tasks a few days ago, Nuwa had been wary of Suiren's actions.
There was no other way; the opponent's moves were all overt strategies. Each reassignment had a legitimate excuse, and as a decision-maker and administrator of the government, she had no reason to object.
Of course, she had also retaliated—withholding vast amounts of funding from the opponent, restricting many of their project progress, and sealing out some officials from their faction.
But with the convening of this "Li" meeting, Nuwa had a vague premonition of the opponent's intentions.
"Lord of Earth, Lord of Man," the Minister of Works stepped forward, bowed, and said, "News has arrived from the Suzhou Water Conservancy Department that the flood season in the middle reaches of the Yellow River this year ended later than before, resulting in significantly more ice in winter compared to last year. This greatly increases the chance of flooding when the ice melts in the spring."
"Therefore, the Ministry of Works hopes that Lord Nuwa can allocate two hundred million yuan to the Ministry of Works and have Lord Gui Shui assist in the construction."
"As expected…" Nuwa did not directly reply to the Minister of Works' request but turned her gaze towards Suiren.
Suiren felt Nuwa's gaze, tapped his pipe, and then said, "I have no objections to this. Nuwa, you decide."
Of course, there were no objections! Because this Minister of Works was his man! Wasn't his speaking essentially your speaking?!
"Two hundred million yuan, isn't that too much?" Nuwa looked at the Minister of Works and said, "The Yellow River governance funds for last year and the year before seemed to only add up to over one hundred and fifty million yuan, right?"
"The Yellow River's water accumulation this year is more than any previous year, hence the higher cost," the Minister of Works replied.
Nuwa frowned—she was so sensitive to this figure because the current cash reserves in the Long Kingdom National Bank were exactly two hundred million yuan (excluding gold, national debt, bonds, stocks, and loans, only the reserve liquid cash on the books).
Long Kingdom's four major banks were: Long Kingdom National Bank, Long Kingdom People's Bank, Long Kingdom Investment Bank, and Long Kingdom Industrial Bank. Among these, Nuwa, with her main influence within the government, only retained power over the Long Kingdom National Bank.
Clearly, if Nuwa agreed to the Minister of Works' request, she would likely be placed under house arrest by the opponent before Gui Shui could even leave Jizhou.
But she clearly wouldn't agree to this amount. What would the opponent do next?
Nuwa still believed that Suiren would not resort to force to resolve the issue, as the basic principle of the party and government was to minimize direct internal friction within the country. If both sides were to engage in armed conflict, it would be tantamount to splitting the country.
Therefore, Nuwa gave a look to the Minister of Personnel, who, understanding her intent, spoke up, "Lord Gongsun, the salaries and border subsidies for this month are about to be disbursed. The National Bank cannot produce two hundred million yuan at the moment. How about asking Lord Qian's People's Bank and Investment Bank?"
"Lord Tao, the Long Kingdom's new batch of infrastructure plans has just been approved, and the Ministry of Revenue does not have that much money," the Minister of Revenue said with a forced smile.
Then, the six ministries began to bicker below, with the Ministry of Works demanding money, and Nuwa and the Ministry of Revenue crying poverty and asking the Ministry of Works to lower the price.
"Enough," Suiren raised his hand slightly, stopping the argument, then turned to look at Nuwa and said, "Nuwa, can't the National Bank produce that much money?"
"As you can see, we also need funds for operations and cannot provide such a large sum at once. One hundred and fifty million is the limit for the National Bank," Nuwa shook her head.
"Oh? Then where did the money…?" Suiren shifted from his relaxed posture, his eagle-like eyes flashing with sharpness as he looked at Nuwa and asked, "Where did it go?"
Nuwa frowned, and before she could say anything, Suiren clapped his hands. Geng Jin stepped forward and said, "Lord of Man, I have three impeachments against Nuwa!"
"Do you know what you are talking about?!" Nuwa slammed the armrest of her chair and rebuked.
"First offense! Greed for wealth, misappropriating the national treasury for personal use, truly a rat in the nation!"
"Second offense! Promoting cronyism, excluding dissidents by any means necessary, truly a disruptor of court order!"
"Third offense! Poisoning Fuxi, causing the death of the Heavenly Emperor, truly a crime deserving of damnation!"
"You scoundrel!"
Upon hearing the last charge, Nuwa could no longer hold back. She slammed her cane on the ground, and a wave of energy shot towards Geng Jin, sending him flying back several miles.
The document, with a few drops of blood splashed on it, did not scatter on the ground but was gently summoned into Suiren's hand.
Suiren glanced at the document a few times, then said with a smile, "Nuwa, I didn't realize you had committed so many crimes?"
"Finally impatient? Planning to confront me head-on?" Nuwa said coldly, "Do you have any evidence for any of the crimes you mentioned?"
"No… but…" Suiren's face showed a ferocious smile, "The dead cannot defend themselves." (Expression guidance: Yujiro Hanma)
If Nuwa didn't understand what Suiren was planning now, she would have lived all these years in vain.
"Gui Shui! Yi Mu! Silver Rat! Protect me!" Nuwa quickly created distance from Suiren and had her subordinates protect her.
Xin Lei frowned, about to call Jia Huang to stop Suiren together, when he suddenly noticed that the Earthly Branch members Azure Dragon and Black Horse were leading the imperial guards of the palace, holding palace lanterns and surrounding the entrance.
In Xin Lei's incredulous gaze, Jia Huang calmly said, "Xin Lei, everyone looks out for themselves. Heaven and Earth will destroy those who don't."
"Are you worthy of Lord Fuxi?!" Xin Lei frowned.
"I can advance to the ninth rank by taking advantage of this opportunity," Jia Huang said calmly. "This may be my only chance."
After speaking, Jia Huang did not look back at Xin Lei's expression, only saying, "Nuwa has brought ruin to the nation and chaos to the people. Imperial Guards, Ming Deng, capture the enemy."
After Jia Huang gave the order, all the imperial guards shone their palace lanterns, and several beams of light converged into a light screen, enveloping the entire Taiheng Hall.
Nuwa's faction was surrounded by Suiren's subordinates, and the last of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors present—Emperor Ku—chuckled, "Nuwa has such grave offenses, Lord Suiren is truly formidable. How about I lend you a hand?"