Eat the whole family? I emptied the storehouse of the Marquis' Mansion and married the crippled

To the west of Luojiu City is the Western Rong, and to the north is the Northern Di. It is also the last prosperous city entering the northwest, which shows how important its geographical location is.

It was a very good choice for Ye Jintang to store food and fodder here.

In addition to food and fodder, Ye Jintang plans to raise the war horses like Luo Jiucheng, which will be very convenient when cavalry is needed.

"That's a good idea. It's not appropriate to keep all the cavalry in the capital. When we attack the Western Rong, we have to run to the border. By the time we get there, the cavalry will probably be exhausted."

"Then we'll move the cavalry there in the spring of next year."

"it is good."

Xiao Mo was preparing to attack Xirong next year, and Ye Jintang was busy preparing food and fodder for the soldiers. The two were so busy that they had to stop temporarily until the New Year to offer sacrifices to heaven and celebrate the New Year first.

Last year, Xiao Mo was the only one in Beijing during the Spring Festival, and his New Year's Eve was quite boring. But this year was different. With Ye Jintang and the two children accompanying him, it was so lively.

Before New Year's Eve, the palace would hold a ceremony to offer sacrifices to heaven and pray for blessings, and would also host a banquet for court officials. There were also a wide variety of activities.

When the Ministry of Internal Affairs came to tell Ye Jintang about the event arrangements, they specifically mentioned that all funds would come from the national treasury, and no longer from Xiao Mo's private treasury.

"Can the Minister of Revenue be so good?"

Ye Jintang was a little bit unconvinced. Lu Qixian was very tight-fisted. It was usually harder than climbing to the sky for officials to ask for some money from him. Why did he suddenly become so generous today?

"Your Majesty, the tax silver collected this year is quite sufficient, so it is not appropriate for Lord Lu to ask Your Majesty to pay more money."

The corners of Ye Jintang's lips curled up slightly, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

How could an old fox like Lu Qixian be so kind? He must be holding back some big trick.

Sure enough, not long after the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven, when Lu Qixian was discussing matters in the imperial study, he specifically sought out Ye Jintang to ask her for help in coming up with a way to increase tax revenue.

Ye Jintang solved his urgent problem by nationalizing a gambling house. He believed that Ye Jintang must have a better way to quickly fill the national treasury.

"I do have an idea, but I don't know if the other adults will agree."

"Please let me know, Madam."

Lu Qixian took a step forward and would become angry with anyone who dared to stop the increase in treasury revenue.

"My country of Qin is vast and rich in resources, with a large population. I have checked the records and found that we sell a lot of silk fabrics overseas every year. However, in recent years, there have been very few ships trading in coastal ports. If we can open up more trading ports and sell a large amount of silk fabrics to other countries overseas, our treasury will no longer be short of silver."

Open a trading port?

The court officials present were shocked. When Emperor Jing was in power, the surrounding island countries often harassed the ships. In a fit of rage, he directly closed the ports and prevented overseas trade with the Qin Kingdom. This had been in place for at least ten years. Now that the trading ports were suddenly to be opened, some ministers would naturally oppose it.

"Your Majesty, you may not know that the overseas island nations are all pirates. As long as they see our merchant ships passing by, they will come to rob us."

"Then when there are no merchant ships, don't they go ashore to harass the people?"

The official who spoke was speechless after Ye Jintang's question. Every time merchant ships came and went, the pirates still harassed the people around the port from time to time.

They are very disgusting. They will run away after robbing people, and the officers and soldiers cannot catch them even if they want to.

"If we want to fill the treasury, we must open up the trade ports. As for those pirates, we just need to defeat them once and for all so that they dare not harass the people along the coast in the future."

"What the Queen said is true. These pirates are just a bunch of disgusting flies. If we leave them alone, they might dare to covet our land in the future. It is better to defeat them once and for all and make them our vassal state."

As soon as Shi Bin opened his mouth, the court officials present were dumbfounded. Weren't they discussing the opening of trade ports just now? How did they start discussing attacking overseas island countries?

"General Shi, we have only a few merchant ships in Tianqin, and our navy only has one Yazhou navy, with only six warships in total. What can we use to attack overseas island countries?"

"Yes, the Yazhou navy only has 20,000 soldiers. What can we use to fight?"

The court officials were all talking one after another, and soon the situation became a mess, with some supporting the war and some opposing it.

Xiao Mo and Ye Jintang's heads were buzzing from the questioning. Before they could even open their mouths, Lu Qixian spoke first.

"Stop talking, you all know the state of the treasury. It is imperative to open the trade ports. If any of you are unwilling, then don't ask my Ministry of Revenue for money in the future."

The court officials present knew best what kind of person Lu Qixian was. He was very tight-fisted, and unless it was an extremely urgent matter, one would have to wait and see. Some people might not be able to get the money even after years of waiting.

If the trading port is not open, he can probably find another reason not to give the silver.

Those courtiers who had opposed it just now were in a dilemma.

"What Minister Lu said makes sense. Nationalizing the casinos can solve the immediate problem. We need to discuss a long-term plan. As for attacking overseas island countries, there is no rush. We can discuss it slowly."

Ye Jintang didn't want to listen to the court officials quarreling here, she just wanted to hear the result.

After everything is settled, she is helping them with ideas.

In her opinion, whether it is building warships or training navy, it is a trivial matter. As long as there is enough money, it can be easily solved.

What she lacks least now is money.

The issue of whether to open the trade port has not yet been discussed, and New Year's Eve is approaching, so the court officials have also taken a holiday.

As for the morning court, it will have to wait until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month after the New Year.

Ye Jintang has a rare few days of free time to spend with his two children.

"Mom, look, it's snowing heavily outside."

An An, who was playing in the house, looked up and saw heavy snow falling outside the window. She was so excited that she immediately ran to the door happily.

"Wow, what a heavy snow."

Pingping also started shouting.

The two children were very curious about the snow. If the palace maid hadn't stopped them, they would probably have rushed into the snow.

"It's quite heavy. The snow a few days ago was not as heavy as today."

Ye Jintang also stood up. She walked to the veranda and reached out to catch the snowflakes falling from the sky.

The falling snowflakes felt cool on my palms and quickly turned into water.

"The list of dishes for tonight's New Year's Eve dinner has been slightly modified as you requested. Please review it."

Nanny Zhang handed the list of dishes to Ye Jintang.

The list of dishes has been changed several times, and Ye Jintang always felt that something was missing, so today she simply asked the imperial chef to prepare a whole roasted lamb.

As for the sheep, they naturally came to find Ye Jintang's space.

She has tidied up her space very tidy recently. She didn't want to waste the open space, so she raised a few sheep that were fed special grass. She didn't know how it tasted, so she decided to try it today.

"That's it. Madam Zhang, remember to ask the Ministry of Internal Affairs to bring out the rose wine and wine so that the court officials can taste them."

"Yes."