The peasant girl has a private space, and her husband is handsome.

Morning the next day.

Lord Lin, who was in charge of receiving the Empress of Western Xia, joined several other officials in impeaching Su Qianqian.

Even Prime Minister Feng, who was recuperating at home with a broken leg, came.

"Your Majesty, Miss Su disregards imperial authority and resolutely refuses to allow Gu's Teahouse to open its doors to welcome distinguished guests from Western Xia. I knelt outside Gu's Teahouse for two days, but I could not persuade her."

Prime Minister Feng, his face contorted with rage, said, "Your Majesty, Miss Su dared to make officials kneel before her; she clearly disregards imperial authority. If everyone were to follow Miss Su's example, what would become of the prestige of our Great Qi?"

An Guogong wanted to be the first to step forward, but someone beat him to it.

He is Minister Kong of the Ministry of Personnel.

"Your Majesty, quite the opposite. Miss Su's refusal to reopen is precisely out of respect for imperial authority, because when Lord Lin's men sealed off the shop, they said that Gu's Teahouse could not reopen for a month."

Lord Xue also stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I was also at Gu's Tea House at the time. I can testify that Lord Lin's kneeling was not at Miss Su's request, but rather he did it on his own initiative. He disregarded the dignity of the court and knelt before ordinary people. He clearly wanted to deliberately put Miss Su in an unjust position."

Immediately afterwards, many more people stood up to speak for Miss Su.

Lord Xue was delighted; using gifts to win people's hearts was indeed the right thing to do.

Next time Miss Su performs another great service, we must strive to secure her an official position.

With Miss Su's intelligence, it's such a pity she doesn't become an official.

Prime Minister Feng was quite surprised.

What exactly happened during the days he was absent due to his leg injury?

Why have so many people who used to stand by him all sided with Miss Su?

Moreover, Minister Kong of the Ministry of Personnel has always maintained neutrality in the court and rarely speaks up for others, but this time he has broken with tradition and stood up to speak up for that brat!

Prime Minister Feng pounded his injured leg twice, hoping it would heal quickly. He feared that if he continued to recuperate, his position as prime minister would be in jeopardy.

Emperor Qi Jing said, "Minister Lin, upon closer examination, you were in the wrong first. You were the one who shut down Miss Su's teahouse. So, I'll fine you a year's salary."

To solve the problem of insufficient snake repellent powder in the harem, Emperor Qi Jing specially sent someone to ask Miss Su for dozens of packets of snake repellent powder yesterday. Each of his concubines received a packet of snake repellent powder, and the commotion finally subsided.

So I felt quite grateful to that girl.

I really don't know how that little girl made the antidote powder; it's quite astonishing.

But having received a favor from Miss Su, we naturally cannot punish her; otherwise, wouldn't that be repaying kindness with enmity?

"Minister Lin has been incompetent in his duties. As for the matter of receiving the Empress of Western Xia, I have decided that Minister Xue of the Ministry of Rites and Duke Anguo shall jointly make preparations."

Lord Lin was deprived of his power and was very upset.

He looked expectantly at Prime Minister Feng, hoping that Prime Minister Feng could turn the tide for him.

Prime Minister Feng came to attend the morning court session for another matter: the black stone mine in the Jinan area.

That was the largest black stone mine in the entire Great Qi.

Such fertile mineral deposits were actually controlled by a minor aristocratic family like the Zhang family of Qinghe County. How could a powerful court official like him be convinced of this?

These high-ranking officials of the imperial court held far higher positions than the Zhang family of Qinghe County, and theoretically, they should have been entitled to a share of the spoils.

Most importantly, everyone knows that the Zhang family of Qinghe County has Miss Su behind them.

With the Black Stone Mine in the hands of the Zhang family, it was essentially in the hands of Miss Su.

This is what Prime Minister Feng finds most unacceptable.

"Your Majesty, the black stone mine discovered in Quancheng is the largest mineral deposit in our entire Great Qi. The mere magistrate of Quancheng County is probably not capable of managing it. I heard that Magistrate Zhang is serving as magistrate for the first time and probably doesn't have much experience. Perhaps Your Majesty could send someone else to manage the black stone mine in Quancheng."

Vice Minister Luo quickly stepped forward to speak, "What Prime Minister Feng said is absolutely right. Magistrate Zhang is probably completely clueless and doesn't understand anything. In the end, such a large black stone mine will be wasted."

Minister Qin of the Ministry of War stepped forward to retort, "Prime Minister Feng, you personally proposed the rule that black coal mining should be left to local officials. What? Now that it involves interests, you're contradicting yourself?"

Prime Minister Feng's face darkened. The reason he proposed such a rule was because his people had taken over Qinghe County from Miss Su, which would allow them to take over the Black Stone Mine in Qinghe County.

But now an even larger black stone mine has appeared. How could anyone not be tempted?

Emperor Qi Jing knew very well that the largest black stone mine in Quancheng was controlled by Miss Su.

At that time, his cousin Gong Yu mentioned to the palace that the silver mine between Sicheng and Lingxian, as well as the black stone mine in Qinghe County, were all taken away from Miss Su by the imperial court, and Miss Su should be given some compensation. Therefore, he requested that the magistrate of Quancheng County employ Miss Su's people.

His cousin had never asked him for anything before; this was the only time, so he agreed.

Moreover, it was he, the emperor, who arranged the marriage between my cousin and Miss Su.

Otherwise, my cousin and Miss Su would never have gotten together.

My cousin has finally fallen for a girl, and he can't bear to ruin the relationship between my cousin and Miss Su.

In fact, it doesn't matter who gets the Black Stone Mine; it's all the same to Emperor Qi Jing.

Because regardless of who was mining, the tax revenue collected by the imperial court was fixed.

However, Miss Su promised to pay an additional 10% of the tax revenue to the imperial court to replenish the national treasury.

As the emperor, he would never refuse such a good thing.

"I am the emperor, and my word is law. I agreed that all black stone mines in various places would be open to the local magistrates for mining, and I must keep my word. I cannot go back on my word. My beloved ministers, if there is nothing else, let us adjourn the court."

The ministers came out of the Xuanwu Hall and discussed as they walked.

"Strange, the Empress of Western Xia was supposed to arrive in the capital in three days, but it's been five or six days and she still hasn't arrived?"

"We're afraid of her, and maybe she's afraid of us too, so she's too scared to go to the capital."

"The Crown Prince has already gone to greet him; he should arrive soon."

\

The Western Xia Empress still resides in Jincheng.

She sent the Imperial Advisor with a group to nearby Quancheng to investigate the largest black stone mine in the Great Qi Dynasty.

The Western Xia did not have black coal, and they had to buy it entirely from the Qi, so the price was entirely determined by the Qi and was not cheap at all.

Although the Western Xia had no shortage of timber, black coal burned much more intensely than charcoal.

For blacksmithing and kiln firing, this kind of charcoal fire with greater and stronger heat is exactly what is needed.

Therefore, when she passed by the area near the largest black coal mine in Daqi, she naturally sent people to investigate.

When General Gongsun returned, he shook his head repeatedly.

"Your Majesty, the Black Stone Mine is heavily guarded, and there are many guards there. They have powerful iron crossbows, the kind that the Great Qi used to fire three arrows at once when fighting against the Northern Barbarians."

Empress Ji Wu found it strange. "According to the information we had gathered earlier, the magistrate of Quancheng County is surnamed Zhang. He comes from a small place and this is his first time serving as magistrate. It's impossible for him to have such power."

General Gongsun reminded her, "Your Majesty, although Magistrate Zhang is an ordinary man, behind him stands the renowned Miss Su of the Great Qi."

Ji Wu's expression remained calm.

She felt that if she were to personally investigate the Black Stone Mine, there would definitely be no problem.

As for the Miss Su, whom the Imperial Advisor and General Gongsun were quite wary of, she was not afraid.

Ji Wu looked at her face, crisscrossed with scars, in the mirror.

She's twenty-six years old and has weathered countless storms; how could she be afraid of a fifteen-year-old girl!

Not only is she not afraid of Miss Su, but she also looks forward to meeting Miss Su soon, hoping to ask Miss Su to help heal her face as soon as possible.