Dressed as the prince's substitute? I took the throne

Zhou Chuxuan smiled. He had foreseen the questions raised by Yan Song. He could even foresee that after he left the capital, conflicts between civil and military officials were likely to arise.

After all, the officials of the six ministries were all young talents promoted by him, but the status of the remaining old ministers was lower than these young people, which made those old ministers feel dissatisfied.

Moreover, Zhou Chuxuan vigorously cracked down on corruption, and the hands of those old ministers were more or less not clean. After such a blow from Zhou Chuxuan, they would definitely feel some dissatisfaction or even resentment in their hearts.

When he was around, those people were afraid of Zhou Chuxuan's methods and didn't dare to do anything, but once Zhou Chuxuan left for a while, their true nature would be immediately exposed.

"Yan Song, you have the Emperor's Sword in your hand. If I ask you to handle it, what will you do?"

Yan Song's eyes became incomparably firm. "Your Highness has entrusted me with a mission. I will defend it even if it means death! Anyone who violates the laws of the Wu Dynasty, acts recklessly, and interferes with my mission to defend the capital will be killed without mercy!"

Zhou Chuxuan nodded in satisfaction: "I will tell General Han, General Hu, and General Wan Hao that when necessary, these three will also obey your orders!"

Nangong Yanling, who was sitting aside, felt a slight movement in her heart. She seemed to have realized something. Your Highness seemed to want to take this opportunity to completely suppress the arrogance of the remaining old ministers.

"Your Highness, I, your humble servant, have remembered something else!"

Yan Song scratched his head and spoke with a little embarrassment, feeling a little nervous at the same time. When facing His Highness, he would ask one question after another, which could easily make His Highness angry.

Fortunately, Zhou Chuxuan didn't show any displeasure, but just smiled and said, "Go ahead!"

"Exactly, those concubines in the harem! Their recent actions seem to be a bit exaggerated!"

Yan Song's face showed a solemn expression: "Before, when Your Highness had just taken charge of government affairs, they didn't dare to act recklessly. But with Your Majesty gone, and you completely in control of government affairs, this group of people seems to have become truly fearless!"

"They colluded with officials in the imperial court and some large merchants among the people, causing prices in and around the capital to soar! And they lined their pockets!"

Zhou Chuxuan nodded. He didn't expect Yan Song to observe so carefully. These matters were not within his jurisdiction as the Minister of War.

"Your Highness, this is not within my scope of responsibility, but I, your humble servant, came from the bottom of society and do not want to see the people of our Wu Dynasty suffer such hardships!"

Yan Song lowered his head and said, "If Your Highness feels that I have exceeded my authority or said something I shouldn't have said, please punish me!"

Zhou Chuxuan was silent for a while: "Master Yan, you said it very well. The Wu Dynasty needs officials like you who dare to speak out in the court. Only in this way can the court be kept in order and the Wu Dynasty will not be in chaos!"

"That's why I value you so much! Do your best! I'll take care of the concubines in the harem!"

"Go down and do your own thing!"

"Yes, Your Highness!"

Watching Yan Song walk out of the courtyard, Zhou Chuxuan was silent for a while, and suddenly looked at Nangong Yanling. However, before he could speak, Nangong Yanling smiled and took out a scroll from his arms and handed it to Zhou Chuxuan.

"Your Highness, I have actually noticed this as well. Therefore, I have already investigated the news about the concubines in the harem a long time ago. I beg Your Highness to forgive me!"

After all, the concubines were also members of the royal family. Nangong Yanling investigated the royal family members privately without anyone's authorization, which was a serious crime in the Wu Dynasty.

However, Zhou Chuxuan didn't mean to blame her. Instead, he took the scroll, shook his head and smiled, "Miss Nangong took the initiative to share my worries, how could I blame you? You did a great job!"

Flipping through the scroll, Nangong Yanling explained, "Among these concubines, only Noble Lady Wang and Concubine Jing are the most arrogant! Back then, they all stood with the Empress!"

"Unfortunately, the Empress later passed away, and the two of them practically took control of the harem. Furthermore, they both had businesses all over the country!"

"The bank's business? The two of them?"

Zhou Chuxuan asked in shock, "According to the laws of the Wu Dynasty, money houses are not allowed to be run by anyone except the imperial court and those authorized by the court! How did they do it?"

Nangong Yanling shook her head, her expression solemn. "They have two backers: Wang Li, the Southern Territory's Grand General, and Li Yuan, the Eastern Territory's General! Both command significant forces, and they've repeatedly ignored the court's warnings, wantonly recruiting troops in the local area."

"This has caused these two concubines to become even more unscrupulous!"

"General Wang Li, the commander-in-chief of the Southern Region, and Li Yuan, the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Region! Do you have any news about these two people?" Zhou Chuxuan flipped through the scroll and found that almost all the concubines in the harem were headed by these two people.

If Concubine Wang and Concubine Jing could be dealt with, the turmoil in the harem would no longer exist, and there would be much less turmoil among the people, and the lives of the people would naturally get better.

Nangong Yanling nodded. "I've investigated them. Wang Li originally had 120,000 soldiers and horses, but with the expansion in recent years, he has a full 200,000 men! Moreover, nearly half of them are cavalry!"

"As for Wang Li, the Eastern General, he has 30,000 heavily armored cavalry and 100,000 infantry. The scattered soldiers and brave men among the people are not included in the calculations. If they really want those scattered soldiers and horses to return to the army, they only need to ask for their salaries!"

Zhou Chuxuan pinched his chin and asked, "Why didn't anyone tell me when the Liao army invaded that there were two such powerful armies among the people?"

"Also, the Eastern General seems to be in charge of the defense of the eastern coastal areas, right? When the Liao army attacked the Wu Dynasty, it was like entering an empty land, and there was no one to stop them?"

Nangong Yanling gave a bitter laugh: "Your Highness, in order to preserve their own strength, these people have basically gathered their forces together and don't care about the lives of the people within their jurisdiction!"

"Ok?"

A strange look flashed in Zhou Chuxuan's eyes: "It seems that the two of them have become a country within a country!"

Possessing military power means having absolute ruling power over the local area. With the help of military power, it is easy to control the local economy and people's livelihood, and eventually build a country within a country of your own.

Moreover, the army has the strength of 200,000 troops at most. Once a war breaks out, it will cause damage to the Wu Dynasty!