I embezzled 100,000 taels at the beginning, and the empress begged me to be more greedy

into the night.

There was still candlelight in Jiang Zuo's room.

He tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep, so he sat down and savored the novel to enrich his knowledge.

As the night deepened, there was a knock on the door.

Jiang Zuo suddenly raised his head and asked, "Who?"

"it's me."

Qin Yu's voice came from outside the door.

Jiang Zuo frowned and said, "It's so late, what's the matter?"

"Open the door first."

Qin Yu said.

Jiang Zuo hesitated for a moment before slowly standing up and going to open the door.

The dim candlelight cast on Qin Yu's face, making her look more beautiful.

"What's the matter?" Jiang Zuo asked in a low voice.

Qin Yu thought for a moment and said, "What is your relationship with the Empress?"

"It's just what you think." Jiang Zuo said calmly.

"Ah?" Qin Yu was slightly surprised. "You two are..."

Jiang Zuo nodded and said, "Yes, she is the one I like."

"Then why didn't you say it clearly before?" Qin Yu felt a little unwilling.

Jiang Zuo said calmly: "Because I didn't know before."

Jiang Zuo also expressed helplessness about this. After all, Chen Qingyun's identity as the empress had been hidden from Jiang Zuo for a full year.

If Jiang Zuo had not come to the capital in person, perhaps he would never have known it in his life.

"How could this happen?" Qin Yu lowered his head and stared blankly at the floor.

"So, are you still going to persist now?" Jiang Zuo asked.

Qin Yu bit her lips tightly, feeling quite conflicted.

Her admiration for Jiang Zuo came from their previous interactions.

Whether it was the vague night with Jiang Zuo or Jiang Zuo's attentiveness in daily life, Qin Yu developed feelings for this man.

But now, Qin Yu hesitated again.

"Do you remember what happened that night?"

Qin Yu still kept his head down.

"That night?"

Jiang Zuo still had a frown on his face.

"Forget it, you are such a heartless and ungrateful man, I won't talk to you anymore."

Qin Yu suddenly said again, then turned and left, leaving Jiang Zuo stunned there.

This love affair between a man and a woman made Jiang Zuo quite distressed.

The next day.

As the day dawned, Jiang Zuo woke up from a vague dream.

I need to go to the palace to meet the emperor today, but not to attend court.

The emperor has called a cabinet meeting this time, there must be something important.

royal palace.

The meeting hall.

Jiang Zuo walked into the strange palace with a somewhat uneasy feeling.

Since Jiang Zuo became the chief minister of the cabinet, the empress reorganized the cabinet, and the previous old ministers of the court have been removed from the cabinet list.

Officials from both the left and right parties were almost all marginalized by the empress.

From the day Jiang Zuo entered the palace, the empress began to build up her own power.

At this time, facing the urgent reports from various places, Chen Qingyun seemed a little worried.

"Your Majesty, in the southeast region, some old aristocratic families of the Chen Kingdom have colluded with pirates and are planning to rebel. The momentum is quite huge, so we are sending troops to suppress them."

An official reported it.

The State of Yan had just conquered the south and its foundation was not yet solid. If these rebellions were not suppressed immediately, the consequences would be disastrous.

As the saying goes, it is easy to conquer a country but difficult to keep it. It is difficult for Yan State to completely control the vast new territory in the south. Even if some places are handed over to the old aristocratic families for governance, it will be difficult for the Yan State court to completely control other areas.

What's more, now in the southwest, there are still the restoration forces of the Chen royal family, which are threatening the Yan State at all times.

In such a situation, the empress naturally has to make a decision as soon as possible.

"How many troops are available in the south now?"

Chen Qingyun asked.

The official replied, "There are a total of 300,000 imperial troops stationed in the south, all stationed in various cities, with more than 20,000 troops available for deployment."

Nowadays, the defense pressure of Yan State is very high, and troops are needed everywhere. Among the 300,000 troops in the south, 100,000 are newly recruited, and many of them are former Chen army who surrendered to Yan State. The combat effectiveness of these troops is not strong, it can only be said that it is better than nothing.

"Another 30,000 troops will be drawn from the garrisons in various places to suppress the rebellion."

Chen Qingyun ordered.

"According to the order."

The situation in the southeast is more complicated.

Those old aristocratic families of the State of Chen, on the surface, were often very influential in the old territory of the State of Chen.

This time, these people are rebelling under the banner of restoring the State of Chen and may well mobilize a group of people.

What Chen Qingyun was most worried about was that this situation would cause a chain reaction, leading to war in the old territory of the Chen State, and the imperial court would find it difficult to cope with it.

A big part of the reason for the demise of the Chen State was internal rebellion. Chen Qingyun was well aware of this, so during her years as emperor, she had always been fighting against the rebellious forces in the country.

At this moment, Jiang Zuo had a solemn look on his face and was preoccupied with many things. He didn't listen carefully to what the other officials were saying, let alone join in the discussion.

While I was in a daze, I suddenly heard the empress call out, "Jiang Zuo, what do you think?"

Jiang Zuo came back to his senses, leaned forward and said, "Just do as your majesty says."

Jiang Zuo didn't want to pay much attention to the situation in the south. He was exhausted from conquering the State of Chen before, and now that he had become the chief minister of the cabinet, the workload at hand had increased instead of decreased.

When he can slack off, Jiang Zuo will never do anything extra.

Chen Qingyun glanced at Jiang Zuo, then asked, "What's the situation in the northwest?"

An official stepped forward and said, "According to the news sent back from Liangzhou, the Uighurs have once again gathered their forces and plundered the border. Now we know that nearly ten towns have been plundered by the Uighurs."

The large-scale attack by the Uighurs that Chen Qingyun was worried about did not happen.

This nomadic kingdom in the northwest still chose the strategy of harassment to confront the State of Yan.

It is precisely because of this that Chen Qingyun became increasingly uneasy.

Because before this, there was intelligence that the Uighurs were planning to plot against the remaining Mobei forces, and even collude with certain people in the Yan State, in order to seize Liangzhou.

Liangzhou is the northwestern gate of Yan State. If Liangzhou is in danger, Guanzhong will also be affected.

What Chen Qingyun is most worried about now is that most of the Northwest Army’s forces are now in the hands of King Liang, and King Liang is someone Chen Qingyun does not trust.

Therefore, Chen Qingyun could only place his hopes on Chen Xiu, hoping that the latter could stabilize the situation in the northwest.

Now that the State of Yan has just completed the unification of the north and the south, it is time for it to recuperate and cannot launch another major war for the time being.

In the council hall, cabinet members continued to give advice to the emperor to ease the tense domestic situation.

But Jiang Zuo, the chief minister of the cabinet, remained silent today. He just listened to other people talking and did not offer advice to the emperor as he did in the past.

"That's it for today. My dear ministers, please leave first."

Half an hour later, Chen Qingyun finally spoke.

Jiang Zuo was just about to bow and leave.

At this time, Chen Qingyun said in a low voice: "Jiang Zuo, you stay."