The Tyrant's Beloved Empress

48

Li An Ming was deeply baffled by his words. He was speechless for a long time but when he finally straightened his thoughts, he couldn't help but agree. At the moment, besides the Emperor, there was still the Crown Prince; not to mention the Third Prince and the Emperor's beloved Shu Guifei. No matter who was thrown out of the game, it would still not be Xiao Zhige's turn to take the throne.

The Da Ye Empire had been in decline for many years now and even if the First Emperor was reborned, he could not bring it back to its former glory with a court full of disharmonious and corrupt officials.

Li An Ming heaved a long sigh. He bowed low and said, "In the future... If Wangye ever needs my service, Li An Ming is at your disposal."

Xiao Zhige nodded politely, "Minister Li, please take care."

After Li An Ming left, Xiao Zhige stood by the window engrossed in thoughts.

When An Chang Qing arrived, he met with Li An Ming who saluted him respectfully before leaving. An Chang Qing was surprised but his attention was immediately shifted to Xiao Zhige standing by the window with his back facing the door. Sturdy and silent, a resemblance of the lonely emperor from his previous life.

An Chang Qing worriedly called out, "Wangye."

Xiao Zhige turned back towards the source of the voice and upon seeing An Chang Qing, the gloom from before dissipated. His eyes softened as he took big strides forward as he questioned, "Why did you come here at this hour? How was your breakfast? I've changed the cook. His skills were said to be quite good."

"I've eaten. There's nothing to do back at the manor so I went out for a walk." An Chang Qing replied, "Wangye was discussing matters with Minister Li just now?"

Xiao Zhige did not hide anything from An Chang Qing. He briefly explained his plans while walking him to the city's high walls.

An Chang Qing frowned after hearing his words, "So you knew from the beginning that His Majesty will not send any support? And that he will have Minister Li come to Yanzhou to investigate?"

Xiao Zhige responded with an 'en' and continued, "I sent the censor officer's head back simply to scare the Crown Prince. As for the Taifu Temple's secretary, with the treasury empty, His Majesty is sure to demand an investigation. Currently, there are only a handful of people that he can trust and seeing that Li An Ming was also the Imperial Censor, it was inevitable that His Majesty deployed him for this task."

An Chang Qing followed his line of thought and deduced, "Minister Li dared not expose the two Princes so he will coordinate with your plan and report back to His Majesty accordingly. Even if His Majesty could overlook the involvement of the two Princes, he would still hold the Taifu Temple accountable. At that time, to mitigate this matter, Shu Guifei and the Third Prince will have to cough up the gold to pay for the grains. But for all this to play out, it's going to take weeks. In the meantime, what will happen to the food shortage in Yanzhou?"

Xiao Zhige looked at An Chang Qing with appreciation, "It seems Nuo Nuo's reading up on warfare wasn't for naught. I've sent people to borrow grains from Chang Zai Chang of Liangzhou and Zhou Ji of Chenzhou."

"Did they agree?"

"This is one instance of the slip between the lips and the cup," Xiao Zhige sighed, "The Third Prince and Taifu Temple are more daring than I imagined. They not only embezzled from YanZhou's granary but also from those of Liangzhou and Chenzhou as well. When Chang Zai Chang and Zhou Ji received my message, they were prepared to lend us a hand but found that their grains were also mixed with sand. Their reports should have reached Yejing by now."

Xiao Zhige looked at An Chang Qing and smiled, "It's thanks to Nuo Nuo that the food crisis in Yanzhou did not turn for the worse."

"But... what if I wasn't around?" An Chang Qing clenched his fists as he recalled the past.