Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

The officials in Nanjing spent the day in fear and anxiety.

The next morning, before dawn, all the officials gathered again in the Taiji Hall for an additional court session.

Sitting on the dragon throne, Jiang Mengxuan gazed quietly at the noisy hall, without immediately speaking up to stop it.

The scene finally quieted down only after Ye Mo stepped forward.

"Your Majesty, yesterday this old minister sent the Ministry of Rites to solicit opinions from the people outside the palace. They put forward several conditions. If Your Majesty agrees, they will disperse on their own."

Jiang Mengxuan gently closed her phoenix eyes: "Tell me, what conditions do you want me to agree to?"

Ye Mo replied, "Your Majesty, the people's first demand is for Zeng Qian to be reinstated as the Prefect of Jingzhao."

"Lord Zeng is a benevolent official who serves as the guardian of the people of the capital. Your Majesty's dismissal of him is truly disgraceful."

Jiang Mengxuan remained calm: "Anything else?"

Ye Mo: "The second condition is that Your Majesty should take Mu Changge as your son-in-law, saying that with Mu Changge's assistance, the nation will surely prosper."

"Ha ha……"

Jiang Mengxuan couldn't help but chuckle softly.

"Anything else? Tell me all of that."

Ye Mo: "The last point is to strip Shen Lang of his status as a potential son-in-law, remove him from all official positions, and demote him to a commoner."

If Your Majesty agrees to all three conditions above, then the day the notice is posted will be the day the turmoil subsides.

"Are they threatening me?"

A soft, resonant dragon's roar echoed throughout the Taiji Hall.

Jiang Mengxuan rested her head on one hand, leaning against the corner of the dragon throne, a faint smile on her face.

"Such an excessive demand, I will absolutely not compromise!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Jiang Yuanrang, the Vice Minister of Rites, immediately stepped forward with his hands clasped, saying, "Your Majesty, please reconsider. This is the will of the people, and the will of the people cannot be defied."

If Your Majesty does not compromise and does not agree to the people's demands, this matter will likely not end so easily.

"I'd like to see just how unwilling they are to give up!"

Jiang Mengxuan's eyes gradually sharpened, and her tone revealed a hint of impatience.

"Since my ascension to the throne, although I have not achieved any great feats, I believe I have been diligent and conscientious, and have never mistreated the people in the slightest."

Now that Zeng Qian's dereliction of duty has led to the disruption of public order in the capital over the past three months and affected the livelihoods of people in various counties, is it wrong to dismiss him from his post?

"Furthermore, my choice of whom to be my son-in-law is my personal decision, and has nothing to do with the common people."

I truly cannot understand why they would take the initiative to care about the royal family's marriage.

"This has never happened before in the previous dynasty, and I will certainly not compromise or back down with them."

"In the end, not only will I not dismiss or investigate Shen Lang, but I will also promote him and grant him a higher rank. No one can stop me from doing this!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yuanrang exclaimed, "Your Majesty, are you not afraid of losing the hearts of the people if you insist on going your own way?"

"The will of the people? What is the will of the people? Minister Jiang, explain to me whether guiding public opinion and influencing the behavior of the people counts as the will of the people!"

"In this situation, instead of investigating the truth, you expect me to compromise and back down based solely on the will of the people? Do you really think imperial power is a child's play?"

Jiang Yuanrang was speechless for a moment. This was the first time he had witnessed the young female emperor on the dragon throne displaying imperial majesty.

"You can't answer? Then I'll answer you!"

Jiang Mengxuan got up and walked down the jade steps, slowly heading into the hall.

"These so-called public opinions are all instigated by others. How many of you know what Shen Lang has been doing these past few months?"

While you were still arguing endlessly over trivial matters, he was guiding me on how to enrich the country and strengthen the people, and how to improve their lives.

And you, each of you holding the lowest rank of third grade, do not share my burdens or solve my problems, yet you shrink back simply because of a few words from a group of pedantic scholars outside the palace gates.

They forced me to compromise and submit. Even though you have many doubts about these three conditions, you know that this turmoil was orchestrated by someone else.

They never thought about how to quickly quell the storm; they just wanted to resolve the matter as soon as possible.

Then they continued to stand regally in the main hall, naturally adopting the posture of being a champion of the people and a paragon of virtue.

"These are my trusted lieutenants! Is this the prevailing atmosphere among officials of my Great Chu Dynasty? They truly disappoint me!"

After hearing these words, all the officials in the court lowered their heads in shame.

Jiang Mengxuan flicked her black phoenix sleeves trimmed with gold thread and returned proudly to the dragon throne.

"Ye Xiang".

"The old minister is here."

"Issue my decree: instruct all those outside the palace to leave within a hundred paces of the palace gates before sunset. Anyone who dares to disobey will be guilty of treason."

One more thing: don't say you weren't warned. I hope they'll think this through carefully, and not wait until a crisis is imminent before they realize their mistake.

Ye Mo was startled by what he heard and couldn't help but look up at Jiang Mengxuan.

Jiang Mengxuan sat calmly on the dragon throne, her expression still revealing no emotion.

But what she just said seemed to be something Ye Mo was seeing for the first time.

Is this still the same Empress who was so submissive and seemingly weak and easily bullied a year ago?

That demeanor suggested unparalleled confidence, as if they didn't care at all about the trouble they were causing.

"Prime Minister Ye? Is there anything else?"

Ye Mo snapped out of his daze, bowed, and performed the courtier's salute: "This old minister will take care of it immediately."

Upon hearing this, a smile flickered across Jiang Mengxuan's lips.

At that moment, she finally understood what the aura of an emperor should be.

The reason they were so confident in saying this was because the Royal Chamber of Commerce had been secretly established, and the three hundred Dream Looms produced a total of 240,000 bolts of cotton cloth in just one month.

After deducting labor costs, raw material costs, and transportation costs, a bolt of cloth sold in places like Song or Wu would yield a net profit of five taels of silver.

In other words, within this month, her personal treasury will generate an additional 1.2 million taels of silver.

It was precisely because of the enormous benefits of the industrial revolution that she had the confidence to appropriately display the inviolable imperial demeanor in front of her officials.

It must be said that Jiang Mengxuan is not at all resistant to new ideas.

You own factories and equipment, but your family's wealth mainly comes from outdated, purely handmade workshops.

Once I invest heavily in industrial equipment, with its overwhelming efficiency and quality, what will your handicrafts have to compete with me?

Not to mention that the new army had already taken shape, and Jiang Mengxuan had personally experienced the power of the new firearms. The key point was that this army was absolutely loyal to her.

At a time like this, shouldn't one at least display some imperial majesty?

Of course, she knew that all of this was thanks to Shen Lang. Without him, she would probably be in a very difficult situation now.

The Empress was very clear about this.

……

"What? His Majesty won't agree to even one of them?"

"Is Your Majesty truly so stubborn and obstinate that you disregard even the will of the people?"

"What should we do? Does Her Majesty really intend to do things her own way?"

The Empress's edict, posted on a notice board outside the imperial city, immediately caused an uproar among the people.

Instead of yielding to public opinion, the Empress directly ordered everyone to leave the palace before sunset.

The line "Don't say you weren't warned" is especially chilling, filled with murderous intent.

One of the students, trembling with anger, immediately shouted, "It seems His Majesty has truly been blinded by the treacherous Shen! We should personally go to the palace to present our case to the Emperor!"

As he spoke, he tried to force his way through the palace gates.

"Be bold!"

He was met with swords drawn by Li Hanyun and a group of imperial guards surrounding him.

"No one may enter the palace gates without permission; otherwise, they will be killed without exception!"

Faced with the menacing Imperial Guards, the group of Confucian scholars immediately retreated and left the gates of Weiyang Palace in twos and threes.

But they would never let it go so easily, after all, they were doing this for the sake of the country and the people, to eliminate traitors and exonerate the pillars of the nation.

How could such actions be subjected to such unfair treatment?

The more they thought about it, the angrier they became, and the more wronged they felt.

"I fear that the influence of us scholars is not enough to affect the court. As the sage once said, we should take the world as our responsibility. How can we back down because of some setbacks?"

“That’s right. His Majesty is just being misled by treacherous people. The best course of action is for us to call on more like-minded people to persuade His Majesty to turn back from his misguided path.”

"Alright, there's no time to lose. Why don't you all go back home and gather more people to petition together? Once His Majesty sees that the overwhelming public opinion is unstoppable, he will surely grant all our requests."

In an instant, everyone went to their respective schools and residences to call on more people to participate in this "people's petition".

Little did they know that what awaited them was the consequence of "don't say you weren't warned".