Marrying the Crown Prince

Emperor Chenze waved his hand, telling him not to interrupt and to listen to him slowly.

"You must learn from this lesson and always be prepared for potential dangers, taking precautions before they occur."

"Finally, you must remember, Yun Qin is not a small country like Qi Xi. Do not act rashly. Do not send troops across the border before you are fully prepared..."

At this point, Emperor Chenze suddenly stood up, stretched out his hands, which were thin as a rake, with a yellowish-black complexion and bulging veins, and gripped Li Ziyan's shoulders tightly.

"Do you know what I told you?"

His voice was hoarse, his eyes were wide open, and his face was contorted with pain.

Li Ziyan looked at Emperor Chenze with piercing eyes, his gaze firm and bright yet filled with pain and sorrow, as if it contained all the beauty and misery of the world.

“Your subject understands,” he replied.

Upon hearing this satisfactory answer, Emperor Chenze straightened up, glanced at the assembled court officials, and said, "Crown Prince Li Ziyan is intelligent and virtuous, gentle and respectful by nature. He is capable of safeguarding the foundation of the country and is suitable to inherit the throne."

After saying this, Emperor Chenze could no longer hold on and collapsed back onto the bed.

"Father!"

"emperor!"

Everyone stood up anxiously, wanting to go forward and see.

Emperor Chenze waved his hand while panting heavily.

He was so stubborn that no one dared to say anything more, for fear of saying something he didn't like and making him furious.

Therefore, they knelt back down.

Emperor Chenze felt weak all over, dizzy, and his vision blurred.

But he still looked at Li Ziyan with a soft and slow voice, relying on his intuition.

“Your Highness, no matter what, Jiafu is your sister, and the most noble princess of our Great Chen.”

"You must protect her..."

"Protect her, do you hear me...?"

As he finished speaking, blood spilled from his mouth and flowed down his neck, soaking his clothes.

"Father..."

Emperor Chenze smiled faintly, and with his last bit of strength, he raised his hand, imagining himself patting Li Ziyan's head as he did when they were children.

Just a little bit more, just a tiny bit more...

Emperor Chenze's body went limp involuntarily, and he collapsed onto the bed.

"Father!"

Li Ziyan quickly reached out and, at the last moment, grasped Emperor Chenze's cold hand.

"emperor!"

"Imperial Physician—"

"Imperial Physician—"

Emperor Chenze's face was pale, with a bluish tinge, his chest heaved violently, and the light in his eyes gradually faded.

Chief Zhang reached out and placed his hand on Emperor Chenze's wrist, then touched his neck, before kneeling heavily on the ground and bowing his head in kowtow.

Silence reigned all around...

The minister knelt down again and kowtowed.

Li Ziyan sobbed uncontrollably, tears streaming down her face.

Historical records state that Emperor Chenze ascended the throne at the age of eighteen and reigned for thirty-five years. He worked diligently and conscientiously to enrich the national treasury, thus creating conditions for the later Mingxi era of prosperity.

In the summer of the thirty-fifth year of Emperor Chenze's reign, the emperor, who had been ill for over a month, finally passed away in the palace.

As the funeral bells rang, all the clothes and bed curtains in the palace were changed and replaced with white.

All the princes, imperial relatives, and court officials in Kyoto changed into mourning clothes.

Logically, when an emperor dies, his body is kept in state for more than a month, and court officials are required to observe mourning for more than a month.

However, Yun Qin had already invaded and captured five cities in succession. They didn't even have time to grieve, let alone mourn.

Therefore, the time for keeping vigil was shortened, usually to one hour a day, with the rest of the time spent running around for the war.

Finally, in order to save expenses, and of course, to save time, Li Ziyan's coronation ceremony was not grand. It was just a formality: he offered sacrifices to his ancestors and received the kneeling homage of the officials, and that was it for him to succeed to the throne.

The first thing he did after ascending the throne was to settle accounts, but not with Consort Shu's faction; he wanted to settle accounts in a truly meaningful way.

In war, the most important thing is money.

Every day, piles of silver coins fell into the lake like skipping stones, without even a splash.

Li Ziyan looked at the accounts and sighed, "Luckily, the national treasury has plenty of silver, otherwise how could we afford to spend like this?"

In times of war, what doesn't cost money: provisions, military expenses, and military supplies?

We need to cut costs, but we can't cut costs here or there.

Otherwise, if the soldiers fighting hard on the border were to perish, he would become like an emperor who abdicated after only a few days on the throne.

So, the imperial concubine—or rather, to be precise, the dowager concubine—is now a powerful imperial concubine.

Li Ziyan issued a decree that all the masters in the palace, except for the Empress Dowager in Shou Kang Palace but including the Consorts in Kang Ning Palace, should have their food, clothing, and daily necessities reduced by half.

Faced with an emperor who cuts off people's expenses as soon as he ascends the throne, the concubines in Kangning Palace have cursed Li Ziyan countless times behind his back, calling him a miser.

However, this method of saving money could not make up for the money spent in the war.

Moreover, in winter, coal and stoves are all lit, so how can you save money so easily?

Li Ziyan threw the account book aside and slumped onto the blanket in despair.

Zhou Zhou laughed and stretched out her leg to touch his foot.

Li Ziyan looked over, and when he saw Zhou Zhou's big belly, he sat up again, bent down and greeted the baby in her belly.

"Good child, did you cause any trouble for your mother today?"

How could a child possibly answer that?

Therefore, the only person who could answer him was Zhou Zhou.

Zhou Zhou stroked her huge belly and said, "This child has always been quiet. From the time I got pregnant until now, it hasn't bothered me at all."

"I guess he has a quiet personality."

"Ah."

The couple chatted for a while longer, and then Li Ziyan cheered up again and picked up the account book.

Cost-cutting measures are not feasible at the moment because the weather is cold and coal needs to be burned for heating.

"In that case, we have no choice but to open source it."

There are generally two ways to open source: one is to increase taxes.

The people are already suffering terribly because of the war. If we increase taxes, wouldn't that be forcing them to take up arms and rebel?

Therefore, this approach is not feasible.

The second method is to sell official positions through donations.

Many wealthy people who had made money were willing to spend a large sum of money to buy an official position and show off their official power.

However, such people usually do not truly serve the country and its people. Instead, after tasting the power, they begin to abuse their authority and use the convenience of their positions to amass wealth and embezzle.

Therefore, Li Ziyan firmly shook his head, "No, even after more than ten years of hard study, court officials may not be able to fully grasp the principle of governing for the people. How much more so these people who rely on buying and selling official positions, who are illiterate, how can they be officials?"

“However, we need money for everything,” Zhou Zhou poured cold water on our enthusiasm. “The national treasury can’t support our continued extravagance.”

If she could, Li Ziyan wouldn't want to spend money like water, but she had no choice.

"How about... we ask the court officials to donate some silver?" Li Ziyan suggested tentatively.

This……

"Have you received your salary for the past six months?" Zhou Zhou asked after flipping through the account book for a while.

This……

It really hasn't been sent.