Reborn to marry the emperor, I just want to confuse the emperor and seize the throne

"Your Bai family also needs to donate grain." Jiang Fenghua asked doubtfully, "Does the Bai family even have grain to donate?"

“There should be more!” Bai Yuhan quickly explained, “My father wanted to ask about the establishment of the Imperial Merchants Bureau. Is it true that Her Majesty really intends to establish the Imperial Merchants Bureau in Yuzhou?”

Jiang Fenghua said, "I am very grateful to you for secretly opening the granaries to distribute grain to the disaster victims, but things should be handled separately. You should also understand that no one in your Bai family is suitable for official positions. If I were to give an official position to a member of the Bai family, it would harm them."

The Bai family is too opportunistic. If she were to actually give power to the Bai family, she would be shooting herself in the foot. How would she ever repay the favor she owes Bai Yuhan?

"I can inform the Emperor to bestow upon you the title of County Princess, and your status and position will be completely different," Jiang Fenghua offered.

The title of "County Princess" for a merchant's daughter was unprecedented in the Great Zhou Dynasty. There would certainly be further rewards, which could be considered as the court's way of giving back to Bai Yuhan.

Bai Yuhan said, "It's not for the official positions in the Imperial Merchants Bureau. It doesn't matter if the Bai family can't be officials, but I don't want the Wan family to be officials either. The Bai and Wan families already have a deep-seated grudge. Once the Wan family gains power, the Bai family won't be able to survive in Yuzhou."

Jiang Fenghua said, "The personal grudges between your two families should not be mixed with my affairs of state. You should be a reasonable girl."

Bai Yuhan said angrily, "I just can't stand Wan Qianshan."

"When will this cycle of revenge end? The grudges between elders are none of your business, juniors. Why take out your hatred for the Bai family on him? Although Wan Qianshan is a bit arrogant, he is also a reasonable person. If he really takes charge of the Imperial Merchants Bureau in the future, he will not make things difficult for the Bai family."

"Why does Your Highness value him so much?" Bai Yuhan added, "Your Highness and I have known each other for many years, but you've only known him for a few days!"

Jiang Fenghua saw that she was still jealous of Wan Qianshan, "My uncle and Wan Qianshan have been friends since childhood. He said that Wan Qianshan is indeed a capable person. I will also tell you the truth. The establishment of the Imperial Merchants Bureau was a decision I made on a whim. It is not mature yet. However, the Imperial Merchants Bureau will definitely become an important department supported by the court in the future. I will definitely not just hand over the Imperial Merchants Bureau to the Wan family. I am thinking that if women in the world are capable, they can also join the company. You might as well prepare yourself. I will need you soon."

"Me? Can I become an official?" Bai Yuhan said, "But there is no precedent in the Great Zhou Dynasty for a woman to hold an official position!"

"Precedents can be set, and there are historical examples of women ruling, such as the empress of Chaoxi Kingdom who was a woman... Regardless of gender, anyone with talent can be promoted and given important positions."

Jiang Fenghua had long planned to pave new paths for women everywhere, such as Lu Xuefei, who was quite talented in law and more capable than most men, but her identity as a woman had confined her.

Meanwhile, merchants of all sizes learned that the Wan family was now donating money and grain in order to obtain the official title of Director of the Imperial Merchants Bureau, and everyone was getting restless and rushed to the prefectural government office to inquire about the situation.

Even those who were initially hesitant now shouted that they wanted to donate supplies in order to enter the Imperial Merchants Bureau.

Zhang Qian informed Jiang Fenghua of this matter, and Jiang Fenghua said in a deep voice: "Receive them all. Remember to register all the materials donated by the merchants who contributed funds, and quickly draft a list of donors to post on the bulletin board. Arrange them according to the amount of investment, with the one who contributed the most listed first."

She added, "Draft another announcement regarding the destination of the donated materials. The main content should be that the materials are raised to support the war effort in the Northwest. No barriers will be set for merchants, big or small. Rewards will be given based on merit in the future."

This meant that she wouldn't take everyone's things for nothing. Upon hearing this, Zhang Qian immediately followed the instructions.

The news spread quickly, and the city of Yuzhou was deserted as merchants flocked to the city, all hoping to secure a place in the Imperial Merchants Bureau in the future. In fact, many merchants had expressed interest in the establishment of the Imperial Merchants Bureau when Prefect Zhang hosted the banquet, and they had all expressed their intentions to some extent.

Now that Wan Jia has donated tens of thousands of kilograms of grain, they came to inquire about the situation. When they saw their names and donated supplies on the notice, their enthusiasm soared even higher.

Merchants of all sizes from Yuzhou rushed to donate money, but the Bai family remained silent.

"Can merchants become officials?" Bai Lao Er asked doubtfully. "We are of low social status. I'm afraid Prefect Zhang is going to cheat us out of our grain again."

He added, "Back then, Bai Yuhan also stole the warehouse key and moved a lot of grain to give to the disaster victims. That counts as donating grain. Why didn't they put our Bai family's name on the notice?"

He had already sent people to check, but there was no name of any member of the Bai family, not even Bai Yuhan's name. He was very angry.

Another member of the Bai family said, "They're donating money and grain, so we should donate too. We can't let the Wan family beat us to it."

“The Bai family runs a cloth shop, so they can donate cotton-padded clothes. Our family makes rouge and face powder. Are you suggesting that the Bai family donate a batch of rouge to the Northwest?” He added, “Anyway, we definitely can’t touch the grain. If they really come here, we can only survive if we have grain. Without grain, our official positions in the Imperial Merchants Bureau will be useless.”

Someone sighed, "But the Wan family has already donated the most supplies. If the court defeats the enemy, the Wan family will be in charge of the Imperial Merchants Bureau. In the future, the Bai family will still be controlled by the Wan family in the business world. Why don't we, the Bai family, also take a gamble?"

Upon hearing about the grain donation, everyone had an idea: "Don't we have another way?"

"By arranging a marriage alliance with the Wan family and marrying Yuhan to them, the Wan family, who want our Bai family's formula, will definitely marry Yuhan. In this way, even if the Wan family gains control of the Imperial Merchants Bureau, it will be equivalent to our Bai family gaining control as well, and the Bai family will still not have to donate grain or money."

They all thought it was a good idea and said, "Didn't our elder brother talk to the Wan family head about this? They agreed to the marriage alliance, so let's do it this way."

The eldest son nodded, "I'm afraid the old lady won't agree to the marriage alliance with the Wan family."

When Bai Yuhan returned to the manor, she heard the people in the main hall either criticizing her or discussing how to marry her off to the Wan family to gain the greatest benefit. Her heart sank.

She did not reveal what Empress Jiang had told her in public: if the Bai family really produced a county princess of a certain rank, then they would have status.

Unfortunately, the Bai family only cares about their own interests and doesn't care about her happiness at all. The Wan family and the Bai family are enemies, so how can she have a good life after marrying into the Wan family?

The Empress was right. If someone from the Bai family were given an official position, given their selfish and self-serving nature, who knows what kind of trouble they would cause in the future.

She doesn't want to marry into the Wan family.

Now, all she can do is go to the old lady and ask her to stand up for her.

She made another decision: to find a way to donate all of the Bai family's money and grain. She wanted to become the head of the Imperial Merchants Bureau, since the Empress had said that women could also serve as officials in the court.

The Bai family never expected that Bai Yuhan would steal the Bai family's keys again to donate grain.