The Revolt of the Three Feudatories: All-in at the start in Beijing

Pan Feng's mother-in-law was snobbish and greedy, but she was not a bad person at heart. Fearing that Xie Bo'an would offend the emperor, she hurriedly stepped forward and shook him repeatedly.

"God of Literature, you've achieved the highest rank in the imperial examination!"

"Wake up!"

Xie Bo'an felt unwell from being shaken around, and finally couldn't hold it in any longer, so he vomited, making a mess of noodles all over the shop, some even mixed with alcohol.

"Snapped!"

"You've really given me face!" Pan Feng's mother-in-law lost her temper when she saw her treasured shop being dirtied, and she slapped Xie Bo'an across the face.

"Wake up, you bastard!"

The slap was quite magical; the drunken Xie Bo'an immediately sobered up and then looked at Pan Feng's mother-in-law in surprise, as if to say, "Why did you hit me?"

Faced with Xie Bo'an's gaze, Pan Feng's mother-in-law stammered, but finally steeled herself and raised her head, like a fighting rooster.

"You've become the top scholar in the imperial examinations, and the officials have come to fetch you. Yet you still vomit in my shop. If you delay your audience with the emperor, that's a capital offense. Tell me, shouldn't I give you a good thrashing?"

When Xie Bo'an heard that he had become the top scholar in the imperial examination, he was overjoyed. However, when he saw the garbage on the ground, he immediately looked embarrassed.

"Thank you, ma'am!"

Just as Xie Bo'an finished apologizing, Pan Feng walked in with a smiling expression.

"Mother, Xie Bo'an, the top scholar in the imperial examination, is staying at our shop. It's a stroke of good luck for us. Everyone will know about your shop soon, and we'll probably expand it. Let's keep quiet for now!"

Pan Feng's mother-in-law's face lit up with joy upon hearing this. Just as she was about to exchange a few words with Xie Bo'an, she seemed to remember something, and mysteriously walked to Pan Feng's side, deliberately lowering her voice.

"That Wang family from Taiyuan, the one who wanted to take Cui'er as a concubine for their son, drove a newly appointed scholar to his death today at the Ministry of Rites' screen wall!"

"Oh dear, lots of people around saw it!"

"You have to seize this opportunity!"

Pan Feng's eyes gleamed upon hearing this. To dare to make his wife a concubine was a slap in the face to Pan Feng. This time, he had finally caught someone red-handed. So he looked at Xie Bo'an impatiently.

"Your Excellency, the Emperor has summoned you and even dispatched a Ferghana horse from the Imperial Stables for your transportation. This shows how highly they regard you!"

Upon hearing this, Xie Bo'an shook his head, trying to keep his mind clear, and then cupped his hands in a gesture of respect to Pan Feng.

"Thank you for personally conveying this message, Commander!"

After Xie Bo'an finished speaking, he reached into his pocket and then looked embarrassed, as he had borrowed money for the drinks today.

Upon seeing this, Pan Feng quickly waved her hand.

"Scholar, you should set off now!"

"Don't keep His Majesty waiting!"

Upon hearing this, Xie Bo'an stopped dawdling and, after leaving the shop, found the Akhal-Teke horse. With a push of his foot in the stirrup, he easily mounted the horse.

Having once been from a wealthy family, Xie Bo'an was no stranger to riding horses. Upon seeing this, the soldiers of the Imperial City Guard immediately beat drums and gongs to disperse the crowd of people filling the alley, and then headed towards the Forbidden City.

Pan Feng led his men away, heading towards the wealthy district of the inner city, his demeanor as imposing as if he were about to go to war.

……

The noodle shop was very close to Zhengyang Gate, so Xie Bo'an and his party quickly arrived at the Hall of Supreme Harmony. However, the female official leading the way did not stop, but continued to walk in until they reached the palace outside the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Dozens of craftsmen were laying bricks, while Liu Mu lay on a rocking chair nearby, swaying back and forth in the sun, like a supervisor.

Xie Bo'an was unfamiliar with Han Dynasty etiquette, so he greeted the emperor directly according to Ming Dynasty etiquette.

"Student Xie Bo'an greets His Majesty the Emperor!"

Liu Mu nodded upon hearing this and pointed to the bench beside him.

"sit!"

"Behind this wall is the Hall of Mental Cultivation, where I reside. From now on, this will be the Cabinet Office. What do you think?"

Indeed, the buildings constructed by these craftsmen were the Grand Council established by Emperor Yongzheng in later generations. Their location here was also convenient for the emperor to listen to government affairs at any time, as it was close to the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Liu Mu does not need the Grand Council.

However, he also needs the cabinet to handle government affairs for him.

As for the civil officials seizing power, it was basically impossible for him, because generals like Subutai and Liu Weiqing recognized people, not military tallies.

"Your Majesty, this place is wonderful!"

Xie Bo'an remained taciturn, but Liu Mu didn't seem to care much; even geniuses have flaws.

Tell me about it!

"Regarding your approach to dealing with the foreign tribes on the frontier, your exam paper only analyzed the pros and cons, but you only wrote the beginning of the solution and didn't write anything else. Are you having some reservations?"

Seeing Xie Bo'an staring at him, Liu Mu immediately understood that Xie Bo'an was worried about his Mongolian heritage, but saying it out loud would only upset him.

"It's alright, I am a Han Chinese now!"

"Whatever you say, I can tolerate it!"

Xie Bo'an breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.

"Looking through the history books on how foreign tribes were treated, I see that during the Warring States period, the Great Wall was built to defend against the Xiongnu. This became a tradition for thousands of years, leading to the construction of the Great Wall even during the most prosperous dynasties, resulting in countless bones of the people being piled up at the border."

"Even if Emperor Wu of Han took the initiative to attack, Emperor Taizong of Tang split the Turks, and Emperor Yongle of Ming made five expeditions to the northern desert, these were all temporary solutions to the problem. Within ten years, new foreign tribes would emerge. Therefore, the only way to completely eliminate the problem was to implement a policy of exterminating the tribes of the surrounding tribes."

Liu Mu listened with a pounding heart. These Xie Bo'an and Qi Yanzhao, no wonder they had studied together in the mountains for more than ten years, were now talking about the extinction of their clan.

However, none of these points are relevant. Eliminating the alien race still requires fighting, which means death, compensation, and countless amounts of money and food.

Xie Bo'an also saw through Liu Mu's thoughts.

"Your Majesty, after studying historical records, I discovered that the former Great Mongol Empire, which was Genghis Khan's conscripted army, was very suitable for our Han Dynasty to use one enemy to defeat another."

"These conscripts don't need provisions or pay. We just need to conscript the able-bodied men from the existing tribes and fight our way through. But our Great Han cannot follow the example of the Mongols. We must send civil officials to govern while we fight, and bring the land back to the Han!"

"Only in this way can we sustain our war through war, and then use the wealth of other nations to support the people of our great Han!"

This is just like a servant joining the army, coming full circle and ending up back where he started. It seems that no matter the era, robbery is always the fastest way to make money.

After all, as the old saying goes, if the enemy hoards food, we hoard guns; then the enemy becomes our granary!

Thinking of this, Liu Mu stopped pretending and took out a military map from his pocket, which was marked with landmarks in various places, as well as the North Sea Nerchinsk Fortress.

"Look, this is a military map of our Great Han in the North Sea. We should have already occupied the eastern part of the North Sea. There are still many tribes left behind by the Mongols there!"

Xie Bo'an took the blueprints and examined them carefully. The more he looked, the more relaxed his brows became, and finally, the corners of his mouth started to turn up.

"Your Majesty, I originally thought that the war in the north had led to poor finances, and that Your Majesty, out of compassion for the people, had refrained from sending troops south. Now I realize that Your Majesty's decision not to march south was due to your control of such a vast territory!"

"In this way, we can sustain the war through prolonged warfare, using the resources of furs and herbs from the North Sea to revitalize the area north of the Yellow River before advancing south!"