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

"Have you argued enough? Can we talk now?"

Half an hour later, the commotion in the Prime Minister's mansion hall, which had been as noisy as a market, finally quieted down.

Finally, with a deep sigh from Ye Mo, the matter was completely dropped.

Ye Mo dropped the scissors, turned around, looked at the ridiculous expressions of the assembled officials, and couldn't help but shake his head and sigh.

"What exactly do you want? Can you tell me everything one by one?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Cao Xianzhi immediately said, "Prime Minister Ye, General Tang and Prefect Mu have jointly written a memorial impeaching Shen Lang, accusing him of carrying out a large-scale massacre of prisoners of war in Luchuan within the territory of Nanzhao."

"Why are you suppressing our memorials and preventing us from impeaching him for such a heinous act?"

Ye Mo retorted, "Impeachment? How do you plan to impeach me?"

"Naturally, we should accuse Shen Lang of being cruel and tyrannical, remove him from his official post, imprison him, and hand him over to the relevant authorities for trial and sentencing!"

Cao Xianzhi spoke with great conviction, which garnered widespread approval.

Shen Lang led his troops to suppress the civilians, and his unyielding attitude towards the powerful families truly shocked the entire court.

Many of them hated Shen Lang to the core and wished he would die as soon as possible.

Because nobody knows if Shen Lang, that madman, will take another opportunity to suppress the aristocratic families.

Because of the downfall of Zeng Qian's faction, the Empress's prestige in the court has soared. Recently, she has been going to court in a state of constant fear, afraid of becoming the next Zeng Qian.

Of course, they dared not openly confront the Empress, but they had to suppress Jiang Mengxuan's henchmen and extinguish their arrogance first.

As a man of action, Shen Lang was bound to become a thorn in the side of these officials, who wanted to get rid of him as soon as possible.

Especially now, after the news that the Chu army not only won the defense war against Nanzhao, but also marched hundreds of miles into enemy territory and annihilated 80,000 of the main force of Luchuan in one fell swoop spread throughout the capital, it has caused even more panic among the people.

These powerful families are not fools. Shen Lang's appearance has already disrupted the existing order of the officialdom in the Great Chu, and action must be taken to curb him.

But after listening, Ye Mo smiled dismissively, picked up a wooden needle, and poked at the candlelight on the table: "The front lines have won a great victory, and the royal army has returned in triumph. It should be a time for the whole country to celebrate."

"You high-ranking officials are secretly plotting how to punish meritorious officials; aren't you afraid that our soldiers will be disheartened?"

In short, his words made Cao Xianzhi and other officials with the same purpose blush with embarrassment.

Cao Xianzhi still tried to argue: "Prime Minister Ye, it is absolutely true that Shen Lang massacred prisoners. Are we, the entire court, going to turn a blind eye to this?"

Ye Mo: "Then we'll wait until he returns to court to inquire about the reason. What if we wrongly accuse a meritorious official and humiliate him?"

This would be our greatest dereliction of duty, and we would be condemned as treacherous officials by the world. Have you thought this through?

Cao Xianzhi shut up completely.

But soon, another person spoke up: "Prime Minister Ye, you must have heard about the cotton fabric that's been all the rage in the market lately, right?"

Local government offices received numerous complaints from silk and cloth merchants, stating that the introduction of cotton cloth was squeezing out the silk and cloth businesses to the point of near collapse.

I have carefully compiled the statistics, and the sales volume of silk has dropped by nearly 40% compared to the previous few months. Nowadays, even the tribes beyond the Great Wall prefer cotton cloth.

"They are no longer willing to purchase our silk at high prices. I hope Minister Ye will quickly persuade His Majesty not to compete with the people for profit, and to give the silk merchants a way to survive."

Ye Mo narrowed his eyes: "Lin Yu, I wouldn't be surprised if anyone said that."

But I truly never expected that these words would come out of the mouth of someone like you, the Minister of Revenue, so openly and brazenly.

You're a worldly person, you shouldn't have such a narrow perspective.

Whose fault is it that the Silk Road business is bad? Isn't it their own? After all, nobody thought cotton could be made into cloth, right?

Lin Yu hurriedly said, "Prime Minister Ye, no one expected that cotton cloth would become so popular as soon as it was introduced, and even more unexpectedly..."

The output of this textile factory in one month is equivalent to the entire textile industry of the entire Chu Kingdom for almost a year.

"Such a rapid pace of weaving has truly caught me completely off guard."

"Whose fault is it that we weren't prepared?" Ye Mo retorted. "In the end, it's just that your own silk fabric isn't produced in the same quantity as others."

I have personally purchased several bolts of that cotton cloth, and its quality is far superior to some of your shoddy workmanship.

The silk fabrics from beyond the Great Wall would be much better; which would you choose?

Take my advice: when you're in business, you have to take risks.

"If we can suppress one person today using our power, what about tomorrow? Aren't we afraid of a second or third? Are we going to suppress them all too?"

Lin Yu stopped speaking. His purpose in bringing up this topic was to get Ye Mo to use his position as the head of a powerful family to force the Empress to close the factory and stop producing cotton cloth, thereby protecting the interests of his silk business.

At this moment, an elderly scholar spoke up: "Prime Minister Ye, let me presume to say a few words, taking advantage of my seniority."

Upon seeing who had spoken, Ye Mo nodded slightly: "Scholar Sun, please speak freely, there's no need for formalities."

There aren't many people who can make Ye Mo so polite, but this old man in front of him is one of them.

Because the person in front of him is Sun Yingcheng, the former imperial tutor of the Immortal Emperor of the previous dynasty, who is already eighty-two years old this year.

After the late emperor's death, Sun Yingcheng settled in the Imperial Academy, rose to the rank of Grand Secretary of the second rank, founded many private schools, encouraged commoners to read and write, and study the "Book of Rites". He also enjoyed a high status among the people.

Therefore, Ye Mo still showed sufficient respect to such a highly respected senior.

Sun Yingcheng: "Prime Minister Ye, I know you cherish your reputation and are unwilling to have any conflict with the imperial power unless absolutely necessary."

But the situation is different now. His Majesty has begun to appoint commoners as confidants, which is essentially a way of suppressing the influence of our aristocratic families.

If you continue to retreat and refrain from advancing at this point, our aristocratic clan's plan to share power with the imperial authority in the Great Chu will completely fail.

Consider the Kingdom of Wuzhao. Three hundred years ago, Emperor Yong vigorously promoted commoners and suppressed aristocratic families, creating a situation that nearly caused the vast empire to collapse.

Fortunately, his son, Emperor Long, ascended the throne and implemented the imperial examination system, declaring that all scholars in the land could share the rule of the country with the dynasty. This finally quelled the storm that had lasted for twenty-seven years.

If you truly care about the future of the Great Chu, you should firmly stand on the side of the aristocratic families and urge the Empress not to rebel against the Heavenly Gang.

These are my heartfelt words, old man. If you, Prime Minister Ye, can heed them, then take advantage of the army's return to the capital...

We must give the Empress a warning, lest she naively believe that the aristocratic families will submit to her imperial power.

Of course, things shouldn't go too far; it should only be directed at Shen Lang. After all, I've heard that those rapid weaving devices were also invented by Shen Lang.

The new army was also created by Shen Lang; suppressing his arrogance is enough to serve as a reminder to the Empress.

Sun Yingcheng's words immediately won the approval of everyone present.

Ye Mo, however, remained silent, expressionlessly sliding the lid of his teacup.

"Prime Minister Ye, give us your opinion. Everyone is waiting for your definite answer."

Sun Yingcheng urged again.

After a long while, Ye Mo finally put down his teacup, squinted his eyes, and said, "Alright, regarding the impeachment of Shen Lang and the persuasion to close the factory..."

"I will not participate; you can decide for yourselves. It's getting late, and you have court tomorrow morning, so I won't keep you any longer. Juan, see them out."

After saying that, he got up and left, completely ignoring the incessant noise behind him.

Half an hour later, after the officials left the Prime Minister's residence in a huff, Ye Mo washed up in the back room and returned to his room, yawning.

As soon as the door opened, his pupils contracted.

He saw his second daughter-in-law, Qi Youruo, dressed in a light silk robe, making his bed.

"Father-in-law..."

"Who let you in? What have I told you before? Get out!"

Ye Mo was extremely embarrassed by the situation and immediately lost his temper.

But Qi Youruo tiptoed over to him: "Father-in-law, the weather is getting colder, and I noticed that your bedding is thin, so I specially prepared another set..."

Ye Mo immediately interrupted her: "Hu An is doing all of this, what are you worrying about? Get out, do you hear me!"

Qi Youruo ignored her and took a few steps closer: "Father-in-law, let your daughter-in-law help you undress. Please rest early."

As she spoke, she reached out to remove Ye Mo's outer garment.

Startled, Ye Mo quickly took two steps back and angrily retorted, "Outrageous! Do you know what you're doing?"

"Of course my daughter-in-law knows!"

Qi Youruo suddenly looked at Ye Mo with red eyes.

That night, my father-in-law got drunk and mistook his daughter-in-law for his deceased wife, leading to an unethical act.

That very night, the daughter-in-law learned that her father-in-law was actually a man of feeling, not as cold and unapproachable as he appeared.

Instead, he suppressed his longing for his deceased wife and never remarried.

Father-in-law, you took my virginity, and you are my only man. Your son has never touched me.

Tell me, what should I do? What do you want me to do? Father-in-law, please show some tenderness to your daughter-in-law, just treat me as your deceased wife, okay?

After saying that, Qi Youruo hugged Ye Mo tightly.