Da Ming: The system granted me immortality; I clock in every day.

Pei Yuan stepped forward, feigning an eagerness and cunning to share his master's burdens.

"Your Majesty, please forgive my bluntness. Those old ministers in the cabinet have spent their entire lives calculating accounts in Taicang; their stinginess is ingrained in their very bones."

"If His Majesty insists on taking several million taels of silver from the imperial granary to fight in the desert, they will surely remonstrate to the death, and may even kill themselves by crashing into a pillar in the Qianqing Palace."

Zhu Jianji's face darkened.

"So, in your opinion, my grand ambitions must be abandoned?!"

"No."

Pei Yuan's eyes gleamed with a cunning light, like that of a fox.

"Why waste the treasury's silver on war? Your Majesty has a brilliant plan that will not only save the treasury a single penny, but will also allow Your Majesty to win a great victory that will bring both fame and fortune, silencing those civil officials completely!"

Zhu Jianji suddenly stood up, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"Winning the battle without spending Taicang's silver? Tell me quickly!"

Pei Yuan's lips curled into a cruel smile as he slowly uttered four words.

"Using war to sustain war!"

He walked up to the huge map of the territory, his finger pointing across the arid and barren Oirat Desert.

It landed precisely in the northeast of the Ming Dynasty, on that vast mountainous area marked "Jianzhou Jurchen".

"Your Majesty, if you aspire to achieve great things, why must you fixate on those impoverished Oirat barbarians in the desert who can't even afford to eat?"

Pei Yuan's voice was seductive, like a demon tempting mortals to fall.

"To fight the Oirats, our Ming Dynasty has to bring its own provisions and transport troops over a thousand miles. Even if we win, we'll only capture a few thousand sheep. We'll lose everything. Naturally, the civil officials are worried about the money."

Pei Yuan tapped his fingers heavily on the map of Liaodong.

"But Your Majesty, look here! The Jianzhou Jurchens! These savages who have lain dormant in the Changbai Mountains and the Heilongjiang River region for countless years..."

"On the surface, they were subservient to the Ming Dynasty, but secretly they amassed wealth beyond measure by illegally harvesting ginseng, hunting sable furs, and smuggling pearls!"

Zhu Jianji was stunned.

Jurchen tribe?

In his eyes, they were just a group of barbarians hunting in the mountains, not worth mentioning.

"Are they rich?"

Zhu Jianji was skeptical.

"Not only are they rich, they're rolling in money!"

Pei Yuan embellished the description.

"A century-old ginseng from Liaodong can fetch over a thousand taels of silver on the black market in the capital! A top-quality sable pelt would be worth five hundred taels for a wealthy merchant from Jiangnan!"

"Your Majesty, the tents of the Jianzhou Jurchen leaders are overflowing with rare and precious treasures that are even rarer in the Ming Dynasty!"

Pei Yuan turned around, looked directly at the ambitious emperor, and threw out the bait.

"Your Majesty, I advise you not to attack the Oirats. Issue an edict to send troops to Liaodong to subdue the Jianzhou Jurchens!"

"No need for a hundred thousand troops; just mobilize thirty thousand elite soldiers from the Beijing garrison, equipped with the best firearms, and storm their stronghold!"

"We're not going to fight a war, we're going to ransack homes! To rob people!"

Pei Yuan perfectly portrayed the treacherous minister who would stop at nothing to curry favor with the emperor.

"Rob all the gold, silver, ginseng, and sable furs from the Jianzhou Jurchen camp and bring them back to the capital to fill the imperial treasury! With this windfall, Your Majesty will not only establish your reputation for expanding the territory and intimidating the foreign tribes."

"If you ever want to expand the palace again, or if you want to fight the Oirats, you'll use money plundered from the Jurchens. Who will dare say that Your Majesty is engaging in reckless warfare and wasting resources on the people?"

"Those old bones in the cabinet, if they saw this load of gold and silver being brought back, they'd be laughing louder than anyone else!"

silence.

A long silence fell over the East Warm Pavilion.

Zhu Jianji's breathing became unusually heavy.

His eyes were fixed on the Jianzhou Jurchens on the map, his chest heaving violently.

To sustain war through war!

Go rob someone!

Such vulgar and morally bankrupt advice would be unthinkable if heard by those upright civil officials.

They would certainly condemn Pei Yuan as the greatest traitor in history, bringing chaos to the court.

How could the Great Ming Dynasty, a superior nation, commit such acts of robbery?

However, to Zhu Jianji, these words sounded like heavenly music!

Yeah, why do we have to go after the poor?

Why not go hunt fat sheep?

After plundering the fat sheep and filling their own coffers, with money, they can plunder whoever they want!

This is the domineering power an emperor should have!

Zhu Jianji looked at the Jinyiwei commander in front of him, who made no attempt to hide his greed and ruthlessness, and suddenly burst into laughter.

The laughter was filled with boundless joy and wildness.

"Hahaha! Excellent! What a brilliant strategy of using war to sustain war! What a shrewd man, Pei Yuan!"

Zhu Jianji strode down the imperial steps, patted Pei Yuan's shoulder forcefully, his eyes filled with the fervent joy of having met him too late.

"All those bookish old scholars in the court combined are no match for your cunning scheme, Pei Yuan, which has won my favor! Your tongue is more powerful than a hundred thousand soldiers!"

Pei Yuan knelt down on one knee and shouted loudly.

"Your Majesty, I am willing to serve as your vanguard! I will crush the Jianzhou Jurchens and present their treasures to you with both hands!"

As he lowered his head, Pei Yuan's smile gradually faded.

His eyes revealed a cold and profound insight that seemed to have seen through the ages.

Zhu Jianji, Zhu Jianji, do you think you're going to rob someone?

Little did they know, I was using this greedy and wicked scheme to advance the Ming Dynasty by a century, completely nipping that vicious wolf, which had not yet grown its sharp fangs, in the bud!

Do you think I am a treacherous minister who flatters the emperor?

No.

The course of history for the Ming Dynasty remains firmly in my hands.

This time, however, I won't use an abacus; I'll use a knife.

"Issue my secret decree!"

Zhu Jianji turned around and shouted at Wang Zhi, his whole body radiating uncontrollable excitement.

"Immediately mobilize the General of Liaodong and reorganize the troops! Appoint Pei Yuan as Imperial Commissioner to oversee military affairs and accompany the army out of the pass. Find a pretext to say that the Jianzhou Jurchens are disrespectful to the Emperor and are plotting a rebellion. I will personally lead the army..."

"No, I await the victory report in the capital! The army will march straight to Jianzhou's stronghold, and all the treasures and valuables captured must be sealed and transported back to the capital without fail!"

"This servant obeys the decree!"

Wang Zhi glanced at Pei Yuan kneeling on the ground and inwardly gasped.

This kid, with just a few sweet words, managed to instigate a war that would destroy a nation!

Such methods of bewitching the emperor's heart are truly unprecedented and unparalleled in the history of treacherous ministers!

The winter sun shone through the window, illuminating Pei Yuan's young and devilish face.

Immortality without end.

The tumultuous advance during the Chenghua era of the Ming Dynasty, fueled by this imposter treacherous official, has already set the stage for a bloody and absurd affair.

The land beyond the Great Wall, with its white mountains and black waters, is destined to face a catastrophic disaster.