What's wrong with me, a powerful minister, supporting a few female officials?

Chapter 288 This is why I appointed Su Mo as my Imperial Tutor!
New military camp!

Su Mo stared in disbelief at Princess Baicheng.

"Wang Yi accused me of thirteen crimes? And then His Majesty arrested him on the spot, along with several other officials who were attending court?"

No wonder the Empress told me that Wang Hao had no time to spare during this period!

Leng Li nodded: "Yes!"

"The court officials were all shocked. Grand Secretary Xiao Yuan and Minister of Justice He Jiang stepped forward at the same time, ready to present their memorials. However, His Majesty said that he was feeling tired and would present his memorials after the court session. He then left the court session directly, which surprised Xiao Yuan and He Jiang greatly!"

Su Mo frowned: "That's it?"

Leng Li, who always wore armor, glanced at Su Mo expressionlessly.

She then glanced at the beautiful maidservant beside her, who looked somewhat worried.

He couldn't help but snort coldly: "The Wang family is deeply rooted both inside and outside the court. As one of the five surnames and seven prominent families, they have always been of one mind and one branch in such an important matter."

"It is already extremely remarkable that Your Majesty was able to capture Wang Yi, Min Zheng, and others in succession!"

She frowned and stared at Su Mo with half-closed eyes: "Do you really think His Majesty can take down Wang Hao directly?"

“No!” Su Mo explained, “The princess has misunderstood me.”

"What I mean is, since Your Majesty has evidence of Wang Yi's crimes, you shouldn't show it to Wang Yi directly."

Leng Li was slightly taken aback: "Not show it to Wang Yi? What should we do then?"

Su Mo chuckled: "If it were me, I would question all the ministers and grand secretaries I don't get along with and ask them what crime I have committed."

"After they express their opinions, let them review Wang Yi's crimes one by one, and ask them what crimes they want to punish Wang Yi for, especially which Wang Hao. Wouldn't that be even more satisfying?"

Leng Li looked at Su Mo, speechless for a moment.

Su Mo became smug and was about to continue speaking when a cold voice suddenly came from behind him: "If they petition the emperor to punish you and Wang Yi together, do you think I should take you down?"

Su Mo was startled and quickly turned to look behind her.

To everyone's surprise, the Empress, dressed in casual clothes, appeared in the military camp at some unknown time!

He exclaimed in astonishment, "Your Majesty, what brings you here?"

The Empress was not the only one who came.

Following behind the Empress was a tall, square-faced old man, who was none other than Zhong Yin, the Minister of War!

Princess Baicheng was also taken aback and immediately knelt down, saying, "Your subject greets Your Majesty!"

Su Mo and Liu Siyun also paid homage to His Majesty.

The Empress glared at Su Mo with annoyance: "Rise!"

Su Mo and Princess Baicheng first invited the Empress to sit in the main seat, and then bowed to Zhong Yin.

Liu Siyun, who was experiencing a big scene for the first time with Su Mo, turned pale and didn't know what to do with her hands and feet!
After the Empress took her seat, she glared at Su Mo again: "If I were to do as you say and thoroughly humiliate the ministers, aren't you afraid they would relentlessly pursue your thirteen crimes?"

Su Mo said awkwardly, "I have always been law-abiding and dutiful; how could I have committed thirteen crimes?"

"Isn't this a miscarriage of justice for me?"

The Empress gave a light snort, looking at Su Mo with a half-smile: "So you've truly obeyed the law?"

"Do you think someone like Wang Yi, the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, would speak without reason?"

"Putting everything else aside, as long as the officials seize on your two crimes of abusing public power for private gain and indulging in extravagance and debauchery, they can put you to death!"

Su Mo was speechless.

He would certainly not admit to being extravagant and dissolute; he would deny being extravagant or dissolute.

However, it seems that this is not the first or second time that public resources have been misused.

Don’t say anything else.

In the past, when sending messages to Changping County, they always used the Jinyiwei's fast track.

Furthermore, during the time in Changping County, the Imperial Guards were ordered to patrol the East and West Markets. After arriving in Shenjing (Beijing), the Left Guards were ordered to deliver takeout food, which was indeed an abuse of public power for private purposes.

Even though the Empress took the lion's share of the money, he was just a scapegoat, and the key point is that this can't be said!

The job of the Embroidered Uniform Guard is to take the blame!
In fact, Su Mo knew that the Empress was doing this for his own good.

If you really offend the minister to the death, the minister can't do anything to the Empress, so how could he not do anything to this lowly clerk of Tianchang County?
With a pained expression, he said to the Empress, "Your Majesty is right! I was short-sighted."

He quickly changed the subject: "Why has Your Majesty suddenly come to the military camp?"

The Empress snorted lightly: "The new army has been established for two months and has cost me 40,000 taels of silver. How could I not come and see the results of its training?"

Su Mo really wanted to correct the Empress, saying that the new army was spending its own money.

But in the end, he wisely kept quiet.

As the Empress spoke, she turned to look at Leng Li: "How is the new army doing?"

Leng Li quickly straightened her posture and replied, "Your Majesty, the new army has begun to adapt to military life."

"In the first month, I focused on resting the soldiers' bodies and emphasizing military discipline. This month, I have just intensified the training and started training in battle formations based on new weapons, but there has only been some effect. The soldiers and officers are not yet proficient!"

Leng Liuxi nodded gently.

Zhong Yin's eyes lit up slightly.

His main purpose in accompanying the Empress to the new army camp was to observe the effectiveness of the new weapons in the military.

The blueprints for the Divine Arm Bow and the Eight-Ox Crossbow have reached the Ministry of War.

Due to limited funds, Zhong Yin, the Minister of War, has not yet fully decided whether to mass-produce the Eight-Ox Crossbow and the Divine Arm Bow.

After Princess Baicheng finished explaining the situation of the new army, she suddenly frowned: "Your Majesty... tomorrow the new army will take their year-end leave to go home and visit their families. I intend to give the soldiers an advance on next month's military pay..."

Before she could finish speaking, the Empress hurriedly interrupted her: "Where would I find any more silver!"

As she spoke, she pointed at Su Mo: "Didn't I tell you before, go to him about the money!"

Princess Baicheng's expression immediately turned strange.

Last month's military pay was paid with money from Su Mo's own family.

Now that the wool sweaters haven't been released yet, where would Su Mo get the money?

However, since the Empress had said so, Princess Baicheng could only turn her gaze to Su Mo.

Zhong Yin finally couldn't hold back any longer.

Last time at Lonely Peak Mountain, the Empress said that the expenses of the new army would be covered by the imperial treasury.

Now it seems the Empress means that Su Mo will provide the money?

He frowned, cupped his hands to the Empress, and said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, even if the new army is Your Majesty's personal army, it is still the army of the imperial court!"

"How can military expenditures be paid by private funds?"

He didn't care that his words would offend everyone present: "Is this His Majesty's army, or someone else's army?"

Seeing Zhong Yin reprimanding her with a serious expression, the Empress immediately felt a headache coming on.

The Minister of War was extremely meticulous, intolerant of any impropriety, and unwilling to act expediently. However, compared to Wang Hao, Cui Xian, and others, Zhong Yin could definitely be considered a loyal and upright official.

Su Mo had once told her about the way of the emperor, and one of his points resonated with the empress: unite all forces that can be united!

Clearly, Zhong Yin can be categorized as a force that can be united.

Faced with Zhong Yin's question, the Empress habitually threw the question to Su Mo, her gaze immediately turning to Su Mo.

The man in her own family is the most eloquent and persuasive.

Even though Ip Man-shan was more stubborn than Chung Yin, Su Lang could easily persuade him.

Convincing Zhong Yin would be a piece of cake.

The Empress had complete confidence in Su Mo.

Su Mo received a signal from the Empress and quickly coughed twice: "Minister, it's like this."

He pointed to the bewildered Liu Siyun, and then said, "This maid of mine has a deal with Princess Baicheng."

"The raw materials will be handled by Princess Baicheng, while my maid will be responsible for processing and selling them. The profits will be split 50/50."

"The raw materials obtained by Princess Baicheng were obtained through military channels, and therefore can be used to train the imperial army. I see nothing wrong with that!"

Upon hearing this, Zhong Yin's face darkened abruptly, and he blurted out an angry shout: "Absurd!"

He glared angrily at the young man he had initially taken a liking to, and coldly shouted, "The army is the instrument of national conquest, how can it engage in the affairs of merchants... um... wait..."

Zhong Yin's tone suddenly turned strange, and he stared intently at Su Mo with his brows furrowed: "The deal you're talking about, half the profit can support tens of thousands of soldiers?"

"What kind of business?"

As the Minister of War, Zhong Yin was by no means a mere figurehead.

He was well aware of the enormous cost of maintaining an army.

The majority of Da Wu's finances are spent on military pay.

The new army, in particular, consumed even more resources and needed to be equipped with various military equipment. A new army of tens of thousands of people would cost hundreds of thousands of taels of silver a year.
The deal Su Mo made with Princess Baicheng was half a profit that could be used to support the new army.

Seeing that Zhong Yin was staring intently at him, Su Mo did not hide anything: "What I did with Princess Baicheng was a wool trade."

"Wool?" Zhong Yin looked suspicious.

How can worthless wool generate a profit of millions of taels of silver?

Su Mo explained, "It's exactly the wool trade!"

“My maidservant has a secret method to weave wool into extremely warm sweaters. According to my maidservant’s judgment, the benefits should be enormous.”

Upon hearing this, Zhong Yin gasped in shock, but still snorted loudly, "Your business is your business, don't bring up this maid. Do you think I'm senile?"

"Even if the profits are huge, we must not allow the army to do private business with you, kid!"

"Hand this law over to the imperial court..."

Su Mo interrupted him without any politeness: "Your Excellency is mistaken!"

The Empress and Princess Baicheng were taken aback, not expecting Su Mo to dare to say that Zhong Yin was wrong!

Zhong Yin used to always criticize others, but after Ye Wenshan stepped down, he became the undisputed number one critic in the court!

Zhong Yin was also taken aback, his face darkening as he glared at Su Mo: "You brat, tell me, where did this Minister go wrong!"

"If you can't give a reason, this Minister will not let you off!"

Su Mo laughed and said, "As the saying goes, cannons... when the military flag is raised, gold is worth a fortune!"

"This shows that the costs of training troops and fighting are enormous."

"However, I completely agree with what the Minister said: the army should not be involved in commercial transactions!"

"If this continues, it will foster a mentality of pursuing money and profit within the army, which will greatly affect the purity and combat effectiveness of the army!"

Zhong Yin was even more astonished, never expecting Su Mo to say such insightful things.

This is not something an ordinary young punk would say.

Princess Baicheng's eyes lit up as she stared intently at Su Mo, the thought of bringing Su Mo under her wing arose in her mind.

Su Mo changed the subject: "But in extraordinary times, extraordinary things can be done."

"Now that Da Wu is facing financial difficulties, the military pay is insufficient, which has greatly affected the morale and fighting spirit of the army."

"If the military can profit from cooperating with merchants and enhance its combat effectiveness, why can't it be done?"

Zhong Yin frowned and fell into deep thought.

Su Mo continued, "Once the imperial army has eliminated the surrounding threats and the imperial court's prestige has greatly increased, it will naturally be an opportunity to nationalize the military's right to engage in commerce, such as the sale of these wool sweaters, which can be handed over to the Ministry of Revenue..."

"Hand it over to the Imperial Treasury!" The Empress suddenly corrected Su Mo!

Zhong Yin looked at the Empress with a mixture of amusement and exasperation.

Su Mo quickly replied with a smile, "Yes! Handing it over to His Majesty's imperial treasury is also acceptable!"

Zhong Yin snorted: "If that's the case, why not just let the imperial shops or the Ministry of Revenue do this business with the army?"

Su Mo looked at Zhong Yin with a wry smile: "Your Excellency, please forgive my rudeness."

"The imperial shops are still doing business, so why don't they contribute much money to His Majesty's treasury?"

Zhong Yin was speechless.

Su Mo's expression turned serious: "The army can't do business, but the imperial shops and the Ministry of Revenue can?"

"Professional matters should be left to professionals. This is the correct way to manage people, just as an army cannot be commanded by a merchant!"

Zhong Yin...

"And another thing!" Su Mo's voice deepened, "This secret technique belongs to... my maid."

"If the imperial court forcibly takes it, who would dare to reveal the secret techniques?"

"Over time, various secret techniques were lost, social productivity declined, and the economy deteriorated. How could the Great Wu become a prosperous and strong nation?"

"Similarly, the Cui family's Xuan paper and the Wang family's Wang paper are extremely profitable. Does the imperial court really expect the Cui and Wang families to hand over their papermaking secrets?"

As soon as these words came out.

Not only was Zhong Yin speechless, but even the Empress looked at Su Mo with a solemn expression, her eyebrows furrowed in thought.

After a moment of silence, Zhong Yin finally snorted sullenly and stopped talking.

The empress immediately became smug.

My own man is amazing!
She couldn't help but laugh and said, "I never expected that Minister Su would have such insights; it truly surprised me."

As she spoke, the Empress turned to Zhong Yin and said, "Minister Zhong is indeed insightful. You saw early on that Minister Su possessed great talent and prevented the Wang family from framing her!"

"This is also why I insisted on appointing Minister Su as my Imperial Tutor!"

The Empress's voice suddenly turned deep: "I firmly believe that with Minister Su's support, my Great Wu will surely prosper, become powerful, and awe all nations, bringing tribute to all countries!"

(End of this chapter)