On the wedding day, my wife was abnormal

The morning mist in the capital of Northern Yan had not yet dissipated when the bronze wolf-head door knocker of the Taiji Hall was banged loudly.

Sixteen golden-armored warriors pushed open the palace door that weighed a thousand pounds. The airflow caused by the rotation of the door hinge rolled up the wolf-skin curtains hanging in the palace. Those black curtains embroidered with wolf-head totems were like a pack of wolves crouching, casting cold shadows in the morning light.

The young emperor Tuoba Ke was wearing gold-embroidered shoes, the jade belt around his waist hung loosely between his hips, and the front of his dragon robe was still stained with wine from last night's banquet.

He rubbed his temples and stepped into the Golden Throne Hall. The luminous pearls on the thirty-six wolf-head relief pillars in the hall reflected the dark circles under his eyes - this was the third time he had to get up early to attend to government affairs since he ascended the throne.

"I have to listen to those old guys nagging again." He cursed softly, raised his head and took a sip of the hangover soup handed to him by his follower. The soup flowed from the corners of his mouth into his collar, leaving large water marks on the dragon robe embroidered with a silver wolf.

Tuoba Ke sat lazily on the wolf-head throne in the north of the Golden Palace, tapping the armrests with his fingers from time to time.

In the bronze incense cauldron in front of the throne, wisps of green smoke were rising from the agarwood, making the figures of the ministers in the hall hazy.

The Yellow Gate Minister on duty sang in a shrill voice: "If you have something to say, please report it. If not, please dismiss the court——"

"I have this note!"

Minister of War Li Chonghou stepped out of the ranks, and the gilded wolf-head pendant hanging from his waist hit his court robes, making a crisp sound.

He is over fifty years old, with gray hair on his temples, but his back is straight due to years of martial arts training.

"Your Majesty, the three-month-long campaign against bandits at Yanmen Pass has yielded a resounding victory. The leaders of the Eighteen Black Mountain Villages have all been captured, allowing the people of Northern Frontier to live and work in peace!"

Sparse voices of praise were heard in the hall.

Tuoba Ke yawned and waved his hand nonchalantly: "Well done, reward."

As he was about to stand up, his boots barely left the throne pedal when Li Chonghou's voice stopped him: "Your Majesty, although we have won the battle against the bandits, we still need 300,000 taels of silver for post-war appeasement. I implore Your Majesty to order the Ministry of Revenue to allocate funds."

"Okay." Tuoba Ke didn't even turn his head, thinking about the newly selected beauty in the harem.

He had just taken half a step when a sneer suddenly rang out from the hall.

Minister of Revenue Zhang Shouzheng lifted his crimson court robe and stepped forward tremblingly. The silver wolf emblem on his chest patch almost touched Li Chonghou's shoulder. "Lord Li, are you going to gild the stones of Yanmen Pass? Last year, you suppressed bandits in Yunzhou. When you reported victory, you claimed to have eliminated 5,000 horse bandits. But I personally checked and found only 300 local horse caravans."

Li Chonghou's pupils suddenly constricted, and he pressed his hand against the hilt of his sword, clanging as it yanked out a half-inch of its cold light. "Zhang Shouzheng! How dare you slander me in the court? Even General Zuo signed his signature on the victory report from the Black Mountain Campaign!"

Yan Ba ​​suddenly turned his head and looked at the generals on his left, his eyes like knives: "General Yuwen Bao, please say something!"

Left General Yuwen Bao took a half step forward, the wolf-fang pattern on his armor gleaming coldly in the candlelight. "If Zhang continues to make trouble, he'll be questioning the prestige of our Wolf Division!"

The veins on the back of his hand that was pressing on the sword bulged, and the wolf-fang tattoo on his sleeve almost pounced on Zhang Shouzheng.

"Military power?" Zhang Shouzheng suddenly shook out three wax-sealed secret letters from his sleeve and threw them on the steps, making a crisp sound.

"The governors of Daizhou, Shuozhou, and Yunzhou jointly submitted a secret petition, stating that whenever Lord Li's men captured a camp, they would allow their troops to loot for three days, euphemistically calling it a reward! This is the bloody fingerprint signed by the people of Shuozhou!"

He unfolded a piece of white silk, its scarlet fingerprints as glaring as plum blossoms. "These thirty-seven children had their eyes gouged out simply because they saw soldiers loading silk onto grain carts! You military officers, tell me why this happened!"

The civil officials in the hall all gasped, and the Chief Censor in the back row quietly took out the impeachment memorial.

Li Chonghou's ears suddenly turned red, and his fingers rubbed sparks on the hilt of his sword. "The scoundrels are spreading rumors! It's clearly the rebels inciting the people!"

"Traitor?" Zhang Shouzheng suddenly pulled a blue-covered account book from his sleeve. The gold thread on the wolf-head emblem on the cover had been polished to a shine. "This is the Ministry of Revenue receipt I've been comparing for three years. Lord Li, whenever you suppress bandits, military expenses always exceed the budget by 30%. Last year in Yunzhou, you requisitioned 5,000 war horses under the pretext of suppressing bandits, and 2,000 of them went to the Youzhou horse farm. And the owner of that horse farm is none other than your son's father-in-law."

These words sounded like thunder.

Some of the generals in the squadron gasped, and the right general Zhao Tiezhu's hand unconsciously reached for the wine bag at his waist.

Li Chonghou's Adam's apple rolled violently, and a look of sorrow suddenly took on his face. "Your Majesty, understand! I too wish to streamline the military and government, but the bandits in the northern border are colluding with the Qian army's spies. If we don't reward our soldiers generously, who would be willing to fight for the court?"

He suddenly pointed at Zhang Shouzheng and said, "Besides, Zhang is in charge of the Ministry of Revenue and has repeatedly withheld military pay. Last year, the Wolf Division's winter clothing was two months late, and 300 brothers froze to death. How should this be settled?"

Zhang Shouzheng's face instantly turned pale, and a roll of yellow silk suddenly tumbled out from his sleeve. "Nonsense! This is the 'Military Pay Regulations' approved by the late Emperor himself! It stipulates a monthly pay of three taels for cavalry and two taels for infantry. Yet Lord Li secretly withheld half a tael, claiming it was saved for repairing weapons."

He suddenly sneered, "But as far as I know, the three-story house in your West Market of Yanjing was built with this silver for repairing machinery, right?"

The temperature in the hall dropped sharply.

The wolfskin curtain was blown up by the draft, revealing the gloomy sky outside the hall.

Li Chonghou stared at the yellow silk in Zhang Shouzheng's hand, and suddenly realized that the other party had already laid out the game - from secret letters to account books, from blood letters to regulations, it was clear that he wanted to use this funding dispute to completely bring him down.

"Your Majesty!" He suddenly slumped to his knees, his forehead hitting the bricks with a dull thud. "I've fought for half my life, my body is covered with more scars than scales on my armor, and now I'm being framed by a civil official!"

He raised his head, his eyes reddening. "As for corruption, last year, Lord Zhang oversaw the renovation of the Imperial Ancestral Temple and reportedly spent ten thousand taels of gold. But I saw with my own eyes that the so-called gold foil was nothing more than copper sheets painted over! Your Majesty, please be discerning!"

Zhang Shouzheng's hands were shaking so much that he could barely hold the account book. "You... you're slandering me! The Imperial Ancestral Temple renovations are recorded by the Supervisory Office..."

"Supervisory Office?" Li Chonghou took the opportunity to stand up and wiped his eyes. "Isn't Lord Wang, the Chief Clerk of the Supervisory Office, Lord Zhang's nephew?"

He suddenly turned to the generals and said, "Brothers, we fight for our lives on the front lines, but in the rear, there are people who are trading our blood for gold. How can we swallow this?"

"cannot!"

"cannot!"

Suddenly, angry shouts rang out one after another among the generals.

Right General Zhao Tiezhu unsheathed his sword with a clang. The clash of the blade rings shook the night-light pearls in the hall. "Old wretch! Believe it or not, I'll open your chest right now and see if it's full of account books!"

"Enough!" Tuoba Ke roared, slapping the armrest of the throne. The wolf-head candlestick was shaken to the ground and the candle oil spilled on the steps.

"What are they arguing about in the Golden Palace? Where is the Prime Minister? Let the Prime Minister investigate!" He stared at the secret letters and account books scattered on the steps, and felt his temples throbbing - these old guys had been arguing for so long, all for their own pockets.

Left Prime Minister Yuwen Xuzhong walked out slowly. The wolf head emblem on his court robe was embroidered with exquisite craftsmanship, which reflected the brilliance in his eyes.

He bowed to the emperor, and as he turned, his sleeves lifted the incense smoke from the cauldron, separating the two factions of ministers who were arguing. "Your Majesty is wise and wise. I will handle this impartially."

After saying this, he suddenly looked at the two of them, his eyes gleaming with a sharp light. "Please calm down, my lords. I'll ask you to submit Lord Li's military expenditure list to the three courts for review. Lord Zhang's secret letter evidence will be submitted to the Censorate for review. Please rest assured that I will give you justice!"

That shrewd look seemed to say: Why are you panicking? Let's make money together.

The two looked at each other, saw the deep meaning in each other's eyes, and then nodded tacitly.

At this moment, the sound of hurried horse hooves suddenly came from outside the hall.

A blood-soaked messenger burst open the palace door, blood still dripping from the wolf-head breastplate on his armor. He slammed his knees on the blue bricks and cried out, "Your Majesty! Something terrible is happening! The Qian army is invading the south, and Dingxiang City... Dingxiang City Magistrate Hao Aimin has opened the city and surrendered!"