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

In early spring, although the sky over the capital had cleared, the chilly winds of late spring were still biting.

Early morning, on the official road leading to Zhengyang Gate.

A rapid, thunderous sound of hooves, like a sudden downpour, shattered the chilly morning mist outside the capital.

A courier with two flags on his back was lying prone on his horse.

The horse beneath him was already foaming at the mouth, its hooves almost slipping on the bluestone slabs.

The courier held up the scroll of documents, which were tightly wrapped in oilcloth, and his hoarse voice echoed through the long street.

"Urgent message delivered over 800 li! Great victory in Liaodong! Jianzhou pacified!"

The people along the way and the soldiers of the Five City Garrison on patrol were all stunned when they heard this earth-shattering shout.

The Great Victory in Liaodong?

Was Jianzhou pacified?

Pei Yuan, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, led his troops out of the pass, and it had only been a little over a month.

With the mountains blocked by heavy snow, even reaching Shanhaiguan would be difficult for the army. How could they have achieved such a great victory?

At this moment, the morning court session is being held at Fengtian Gate within the Forbidden City.

The atmosphere in the imperial court was on the verge of exploding with tension.

Grand Secretary Li Xian was leading a group of civil officials in earnestly remonstrating with Emperor Chenghua, Zhu Jianji, who was sitting on the dragon throne.

"Your Majesty! Pei Yuan has been out of the pass for nearly a month. Liaodong is bitterly cold. If the 30,000 soldiers of the capital garrison freeze and starve in the snow, it will be a devastating blow to the vitality of our Great Ming Dynasty!"

Li Xian held the tablet in his hands, speaking earnestly.

"The Jianzhou Jurchen territory is strategically important, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Pei Yuan is a mere military man, greedy and reckless; this expedition will surely end in a disastrous defeat."

"We implore Your Majesty to issue an edict immediately to recall the army and dismiss Pei Yuan, in order to quell the resentment of the various tribes in Liaodong!"

The Minister of Revenue also stepped forward to echo this sentiment.

"Your Majesty, with 30,000 troops stationed outside, the daily consumption of provisions is staggering. Although the imperial granary is abundant, it cannot withstand such extravagance. Pei Yuan's boast of using war to sustain war is utter nonsense."

"How much profit can there be in those barbarian lands beyond the Great Wall? I'm afraid in the end, the Ministry of Revenue will have to fill this bottomless pit for him!"

Zhu Jianji sat upright on the dragon throne, his face ashen.

He was also a little unsure.

Pei Yuan spoke eloquently before leaving.

But if they really lost the battle in this heavy snow, where would he, as the emperor, put his face?

The spittle from those old guys in the cabinet could probably drown him.

Just as Zhu Jianji was feeling agitated and about to reprimand the officials,

Outside Fengtian Gate, a junior eunuch from the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs scrambled up the steps, holding aloft a report of victory stamped with wax seal.

"Report! Your Majesty! Urgent dispatch from Liaodong! Commander Pei has brought news of victory!"

Upon hearing this, the entire court fell silent.

Zhu Jianji's spirits lifted, and he sat up abruptly, his eyes blazing with ecstatic joy.

"Quickly! Bring it here! Wang Zhi, read it aloud to me in public!"

Wang Zhi strode down the imperial steps in three quick steps, took the report of victory from the eunuch, and after verifying that the sealing wax was correct, he respectfully unfolded it.

He cleared his throat, and a sharp voice rang out over Fengtian Gate.

"Your humble servant Pei Yuan was ordered to suppress the rebellion. Thanks to His Majesty's divine might and the bravery of the soldiers in the capital garrison, we launched a surprise attack on the Suzi River Valley on the night of the 23rd of the 11th month, braving the snow."

"In one night, the Jianzhou stronghold was razed to the ground, and the bandit leader Li Manzhu and more than 10,000 of his followers were killed. The Jianzhou tribe was thus wiped out!"

Upon reading this, a collective gasp filled the court.

Li Xian and the other veteran officials looked at each other in disbelief.

Flattened overnight?

More than 10,000 were beheaded?

How is that possible!

Those were notorious bandits who had been entrenched in the Changbai Mountains for decades!

Is Pei Yuan some kind of celestial soldier descended to earth?

Wang Zhi swallowed hard, and as he read the second half of the passage, his voice involuntarily trembled.

"I seized countless rare treasures from the enemy camp. These included 8,000 top-quality sable pelts, over 500 old ginseng roots from Liaodong, 20,000 high-quality pearls, as well as gold and silver, with a market value of several million taels."

"This is all the wealth accumulated by Jianzhou over the past decades. I have packed it all up and am traveling day and night to send it to the capital to replenish the imperial treasury for Your Majesty."

"Your Majesty's wisdom and insight far surpass those of the cabinet ministers. Your humble servant humbly beseeches Your Majesty to open the treasury wide and await good news!"

When Wang Zhi finished reading the last word, the entire area in front of Fengtian Gate fell into a deathly silence.

Even the sound of the wind seemed to have stopped.

All that remained in everyone's minds were those few words that were enough to drive anyone mad:

Millions of taels! Rare treasures!

Zhu Jianji was stunned for a full ten breaths, and then an uncontrollable burst of wild laughter erupted from the dragon throne.

"Hahaha! Good! Well done, Pei Yuan!"

Zhu Jianji suddenly stood up, pointed at the pale-faced civil and military officials below the steps, and shouted with great gusto.

"What were you all saying just now? That Pei Yuan would suffer a crushing defeat? That the lands beyond the Great Wall were barbarian territory with no profit to be made? Listen to this!"

"Several million taels of silver seized! Eight thousand sable pelts! I ask you, how many sable pelts of this quality can the Ministry of Revenue collect in a year's revenue!"

The Minister of Revenue opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.

Having managed accounts his entire life, he knew all too well the staggering prices those five hundred century-old ginseng roots and twenty thousand pearls could fetch on the black markets of Beijing and Jiangnan.

Li Xianqiang steadied himself and continued to argue.

"Your Majesty! This is the spoils of looting! Pei Yuan slaughtered over ten thousand people in Jianzhou in a single night—his methods were utterly brutal! How is such behavior any different from that of a bandit?"

"The Ming Dynasty is a land of propriety; how can it accept such ill-gotten gains stained with blood!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jianji's smile instantly turned to frost.

"Ill-gotten gains? Grand Secretary Li, those Jurchens smuggled ironware from our Great Ming Dynasty and plundered the people on the border to accumulate such wealth, and that's considered proper etiquette?"

"I quelled the rebellion and confiscated the stolen goods for the national treasury. How is that considered robbery?"

Zhu Jianji strode down the imperial steps and stared intently at Li Xian.

"Let me tell you. In this world, any money that can enrich the Ming Dynasty and allow me to expand its territory is the cleanest money! Pei Yuan has eliminated a major border threat for me and earned a mountain of gold for the Ming Dynasty."

"He is a meritorious official of the Ming Dynasty! Anyone who dares to utter a single word of criticism against him is going against me!"

Just as the emperor and his ministers were locked in a stalemate, the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture rushed into the palace, panting, to report.

"Your Majesty! The advance escort team sent back by Commander Pei has arrived outside Zhengyang Gate! There are more than three hundred large carts, all heavily guarded."

"The commanding general requests permission on where this shipment of goods should be delivered for settlement."

Zhu Jianji's eyes lit up, and he waved his hand.

"Forget about sending it to the warehouse! Have them drive the carriage straight into the Forbidden City! Park it in the square outside the Meridian Gate! I want to inspect it myself!"

Half an hour later.

On the blue brick square outside the Meridian Gate, more than 300 heavy four-wheeled carriages lined up one after another, filling the spacious square to the brim.

The Liaodong draft horses snorted, and the cart tracks left deep white marks on the bluestone slabs.

Zhu Jianji didn't even ride in the imperial carriage, but strode to the front of the entourage. Behind him followed a large entourage of civil and military officials.

"Open!"

Zhu Jianji gave the order.

The accompanying Imperial Guardsmen stepped forward, used their short knives to pry open the snow-proof tarpaulin covering the cart, and then pried open the heavy mahogany box lid.

In an instant, a rich medicinal fragrance mixed with the distinctive scent of fur wafted over.

The early spring sun shone into the open boxes.

The boxes of neatly bundled sable pelts were a deep, glossy color, like flowing black water, shimmering with a noble, purplish hue in the sunlight.

In the box on the other side, hundreds of ancient ginseng roots, their roots still intact like those of infants, were neatly stacked on a red silk lining.

What truly captivates the eye are the dozen or so leather boxes filled with pearls, each pearl the size of a longan.

It emitted a warm, white light that nearly blinded the officials present.

Besides these rare treasures.

The more than two hundred large trucks behind were actually filled with melted gold ingots and silver winter melons.