I became a big shot in the quick transmigration world.

Chapter 736 Long Live the Emperor! (6)
In his previous life, Wan Zhixin failed to see the complex situation beneath the surface during the third year of Yonglong's reign and let Tiedou City drift aimlessly.

At that time, Wan Zhixin naturally rejected Ping Qinian's proposal in order to prevent Ping Qinian from cracking down on merchants and increasing the growing power of the Eastern Depot.

Now that he had reached an agreement with Yu Muhuai, Ping Qinian stopped worrying about the source of the information and instead hunched over and asked in a deep voice.

"Has His Majesty already made a plan?"

Yu Muhuai stood with his hands behind his back, looking completely at ease, and turned his head to look at Ping Qinian.

"Admiral Ping, I trust you, the people of the Eastern Depot, with this matter at my disposal."

Yu Muhuai's words sound perfectly normal on the surface.

The Eastern Depot has always been subordinate to the Emperor and, in principle, should only obey the Emperor's orders, serving as the country's secret service agency.

In reality, it is now practically Ping Qinian's private property.

The Eastern Depot possesses secrets about various court officials.

Some of these secret conversations, even between ministers and their wives and concubines, could be obtained and recorded by the Eastern Depot.

Yu Muhuai: So the Eastern Depot was full of people who liked to eavesdrop on bedside tables.
Centered on the imperial city, the further outward and closer to the border, the less the Eastern Depot knew about officials and wealthy merchants.

By the time they reached the northwestern border, the Eastern Depot knew even less about the iron merchants.

But the fact that there is no pork in the shop does not mean that the butcher is not skilled at slaughtering pigs.

Ping Qinian, the head of the Eastern Depot, was essentially a spy chief. He had a group of elites under his command who were sharp-witted, ruthless, and cold-blooded.

Sending such a group of people to Iron City in the Northwest and then finding evidence of trade between the iron merchants and the Jian Kingdom should not be too difficult.

However, if they were to completely relinquish control and let the Eastern Depot's people go there, it would mean...

All the assets, money, animal hides, tea, livestock, poultry, and countless other things belonging to the iron merchants of Tiedou City were distributed by the Eastern Depot.

Those iron merchants who had been secretly trading with Jian Kingdom for several years—no, they were incredibly wealthy.

In his previous life, Wan Zhixin received some related news several years later when the Northwest fell to the Japanese.

Only then did he realize that the Northwest Iron Merchants had long since colluded with the enemy and betrayed the country, becoming the logistics base for the Jian Kingdom.

Upon seeing the amount of wealth recorded above, Wan Zhixin felt dizzy, her vision blurred, and she nearly fainted.

Not to mention the actual number over there.

Needless to say, it will definitely exceed Yu Muhuai's current expectations.

Yu Muhuai couldn't help but curse under his breath.

You fucking bastard, spit out everything you ate from me!
She looked down at the imperial robe she was wearing.

Wan Zhixin's reign as emperor is absolutely miserable!
In his previous life, until Wan Zhixin died, during his thirteen years as emperor, he only had three imperial robes in total.

Later, the imperial robes were covered in patches, and since there was no money to hire a tailor to mend them, the equally frugal empress mended them all by hand.

Yu Muhuai has been wearing the same clothes for three years now.

The imperial robe had faded somewhat from washing, and even the loose threads at the seams were starting to come loose.

In order to be able to wear the imperial robes to make a good impression when attending court, Wan Zhixin would change back into her everyday clothes as soon as possible after court.

However, he only ever wore a few different outfits.

In his previous life, Wan Zhixin repeatedly used his own savings to subsidize military pay. In the end, he ran out of money and wanted to borrow money from the ministers.

Several corrupt officials, however, feigned poverty and began patching their robes, just like the emperor. But the fabric used for the patches was several times more expensive than the original fabric.

One of them even pretended to sell a house, and finally managed to scrape together a little money to give to Wan Zhixin, but this amount was less than the person's monthly food expenses.

Yu Muhuai remembered very clearly that the stingy old man who pretended to sell houses was named Xue Fenglai, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites.

He also had another identity that prevented Wan Zhixin from harming him at that time. Xue Fenglai was the Emperor's father-in-law and the Empress's biological father.

Yu Muhuai narrowed his eyes and sneered inwardly.

I want to see how it got so immobile.

"emperor?"

Seeing that Yu Muhuai seemed lost in thought, and that the atmosphere around him suddenly became somewhat cold, Ping Qinian felt puzzled.

He felt that the emperor was acting strangely today.

Yu Muhuai turned to look at Ping Qinian.

"Admiral Ping, I am sending your Eastern Depot to secretly investigate the iron merchants' treasonous activities."

At the same time, I will send Duan Kui, commander of the Mo'an Iron Cavalry, to assist the Eastern Depot. If the evidence is conclusive, all iron merchants will be imprisoned and punished immediately.

The wealth held by the iron merchants was entirely used for military pay and disaster relief.

Do it immediately, without fail!

Upon hearing Duan Kui's name, Ping Qinian thought to himself, "So that's how it is!"

Throughout the history of every country, there have always been a few armies that inspired fear in all who heard of them.

Wherever they went, the enemy troops were terrified and fled in all directions.

The Mo'an Iron Cavalry is such a unit.

The Mo'an Iron Cavalry was small, numbering less than 30,000.

However, they were all brave and skilled in battle, especially in mounted combat, so they were known as the Iron Cavalry.

However, in the last few years of his previous life in the Cong Kingdom, no matter how skilled the Mo'an Iron Cavalry was in combat, they were still unable to withstand the enemy's million-strong army.

Duan Kui was originally a civil official, but due to Ping Qinian's exclusion, he was sent to the Northwest and became a military general.

For some, transitioning from a literary to a military background is impossible, but Duan Kui made the transition very easily.

It seems he was born to be a military general, and that he had chosen the wrong profession for the previous twenty years.

The conflict between Jian and Cong has a long history. During the reigns of Wan Zhixin's previous emperors, the country had suffered repeated disturbances.

Duan Kui built a defensive line in the northwest, added city walls, and cultivated more than 6,000 hectares of land, thus resettling millions of refugees.

It was precisely because of Duan Kui's presence that the situation in the Northwest was still under control.

Unfortunately, in his previous life, Duan Kui was shot in the eye by an enemy arrow during a battle.

A few days later, he died from an infection and inflammation.

Wan Zhixin wept bitterly, unable to speak.

The loss of a fierce general like Duan Kui greatly increased the chances of defeat for the Cong Kingdom.

Ping Qinian heard Duan Kui's name from Yu Muhuai, and although he was displeased, he could only keep quiet about it.

After all, Duan Kui was sent to the Northwest because he had offended him.

Little did they know, he was just an indomitable little grass growing in the cracks of a rock. After leaving the capital, Duan Kui actually thrived in the Northwest and was having a great time.

Because the crackdown on iron merchants was carried out in secret, Yu Muhuai and Ping Qinian did not tell anyone except the parties involved.

Yu Muhuai wrote a letter in his own hand, addressed to Duan Kui and signed by Emperor Yonglong, and handed it to Ping Qinian, who then had his men deliver it to Duan Kui.

The following night, a group of people quietly left the imperial city under the cover of darkness.

Thank you to [Danxiaoniuccc] and [What are you?] for the generous donations!
Wish you sweet dreams and good night (づ￣3￣)づ╭～
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(End of this chapter)