Teasing the First Dragon at the Start

She looked at Bai Su with a half-smile: "You damned sycophant, don't I know you well enough? You never come to my palace unless you have something to say, so your sudden visit today must mean something..."

"Am I that kind of person...?"

Bai Su spoke righteously, but felt somewhat embarrassed inside.

Facing Zheng Jie's gaze, he felt as if he were being thoroughly examined, with even his length and shape completely under her control.

The Empress looked at Bai Su with great interest and said, "Alright, stop joking. Tell me, what do you want to discuss with me?"

As night deepened, Zhengjie seemed to be preparing to rest, dressed in a plain black dress.

She wore no superfluous ornaments; her skin, smoother and more delicate than a young girl's, was the best adornment. A beauty like jade, she was a feast for the eyes, and she possessed an aura of majesty, dignified authority, and inviolability.

Bai Su couldn't help but take a second look before pulling out a cloth-wrapped object from her sleeve.

"Your Majesty, please look, this is what I have prepared for you..."

Zhengjie raised her delicate eyebrows slightly as she looked at Bai Su's formal tone.

After all, the relationship between the two was like that of Guan Zhong and Bao Shuya, as close as fish and water. When the two spent time together in private, Bai Su would often flatter and tease him to take advantage of him.

The sudden formality in his tone stirred a hint of annoyance within her.

However, she didn't show it directly. Given Bai Su's personality, such a serious tone meant that what she brought must be extraordinary.

I don't know if it was a weapon used for attacking cities and seizing strongholds, or a porcelain or tea item used for governing the country.

Zhengjie squeezed the cloth bag in her hand, a hint of doubt appearing in her phoenix eyes. Could this crumbly texture be gold dust?

After she opened the cloth, she found a clump of white sand inside and was taken aback: "What is this?"

Bai Su smiled and said, "Your Majesty, why don't you try it yourself..."

Zhengjie gave him a strange look with her phoenix eyes. If it were someone else, why would they suddenly bring over something of such unknown origin?

Let alone letting her taste it, it would be difficult to even get close to her. However, since Bai Su was the one offering the item, it doesn't matter.

Trusting Bai Su, Zheng Jie tasted it and exclaimed in surprise, "This...this is salt?"

She had just noticed that this thing looked a bit like salt, but she hadn't thought of it that way.

Even the fine salt that Qi paid tribute to the emperor was mostly bluish-green and the grains weren't this fine. But the salty taste in her mouth now clearly told her that this was indeed salt.

But how can salt be so white and so fine?

Seeing Zheng Jie's surprised look, Bai Su smiled and explained, "Your Majesty, this is indeed fine salt, but it doesn't come from Qi; it comes from Xianyang. I invented it..."

He took a deep breath and began to recount in detail how he refined coarse salt into fine salt.

When Zhengjie first heard this, she couldn't believe it. After all, the price difference between coarse salt and fine salt was like heaven and earth; they were completely different things.

If someone could turn coarse salt into fine salt, what difference would that be from finding an inexhaustible mountain of gold?

However, once she realized that this person was Bai Su, she wasn't too surprised.

After all, Bai Su had given her so many surprises on a daily basis.

Compared to the past when we could reach out and pluck stars from the sky, and soar through the clouds, this is really nothing.

A glint of shrewdness flashed in Zheng Jie's phoenix eyes as she asked, "What are the costs?"

Bai Su replied with a smile, "The cost is almost negligible."

After hearing Bai Su's words, even the usually calm and collected Zheng Jie's heart couldn't help but pound.

She glanced at the unremarkable salt in her hand. The originally insignificant thing seemed to have instantly transformed into a priceless national treasure, filling her with a surge of excitement.

If silk and tea are hard currencies that can fill the national treasury and benefit the people, then bronze, iron, and salt are the very foundation of the nation.

To ensure long-term peace and stability in the country, in addition to standardizing the written language, weights and measures, and the prefecture-county system, it is also necessary to bring all the people's livelihood and resources under the unified control of the imperial court.

She had wanted to do it at first, but she felt powerless to do so.

After all, the country had just been unified, and just stabilizing the counties and prefectures, standardizing the written language, carrying out infrastructure construction, building the Great Wall, and dealing with the Xiongnu and Baiyue were enough to exhaust her. She simply didn't have the energy to attend to these other matters.

Because she had taken all the weapons in the country and brought them to Xianyang, the imperial court held a monopoly on bronze and ironware, but it was somewhat lax in its management of salt.

Therefore, most of these salt lakes were controlled by the nobles of the six states, especially the Tian family of Qi.

In the beginning, to show that they had surrendered the city, Zhengjie gave them all the salt merchants' business. Later, although Zhengjie was envious of the Tian family's profits, she couldn't find an excuse for it.

After all, there are quite a few people from the six kingdoms in the court. If the Tian family were to easily take action against the meritorious officials who had been rewarded in the past just because they are wealthy, what would the many ministers in the court think?

Furthermore, given the Tian family's salt business, keeping them alive would be more beneficial than harmful to the Great Xia Dynasty, which is why Zhengjie has been hesitant to take action.

But now Bai Su has a way to extract finer salt from coarse salt, which is better than that of the Tian family. As a result, the value of the Tian family in Qi has rapidly decreased in Zheng Jie's mind.

After the harms outweighed the benefits, the Tian family of Qi naturally lost its reason for existence.

Zhengjie played with the object in her hand and said with a smile, "This little handful of salt of yours is enough to make those people tremble with fear."

Bai Su said, "Salt and iron have always been the lifeblood of the nation. His Majesty had no choice but to temporarily entrust the salt business to them."

"Now that the court is becoming more and more stable, it has enough energy to turn around. Instead of keeping a low profile, these people are living extravagantly and extremely arrogantly, relying on the huge profits brought by monopolistic business."

"There are even some people who disrupt people's livelihoods, drive up prices, and intend to join forces with traitors from the six kingdoms to fund illicit activities."

"Such an important thing, the power that can be called a divine artifact, is not suitable to be controlled by a private individual. It is most appropriate for it to be held in the hands of the imperial court."

Bai Su spoke eloquently, and Zheng Jie nodded slightly.

She certainly understood Bai Su's meaning. Salt was so profitable and a commodity essential to people's livelihoods. It was easy to cause trouble in the world if one was not careful. Moreover, she was in possession of such an important resource and was flirting with the remnants of the six kingdoms who intended to overthrow the Great Xia.

If they continue to stay, it will only cause trouble.

Zhengjie frowned slightly, her phoenix eyes looking at Bai Su: "What do you plan to do? The Tian family isn't stupid. Let alone whether you can find any dirt on them, even if you do, it probably won't help."

“These powerful families have always planned to split their bets. Even if you eventually catch some of them guilty, it will probably only be a matter for a few family members.”

"As long as they quickly separate from these scapegoats, they can still get away with it."

"It would be difficult to kill them all at once."

"Moreover, I cannot openly help you. When Qi surrendered to Xianyang, I made a promise to them, and it is not convenient for me to openly go back on my word."

Upon hearing this, Bai Su couldn't help but smile.

He said, "Leave this to me. Putting aside the fact that they have done a lot of things that have angered both heaven and man, it won't be difficult to gather evidence."

“Even if they haven’t done anything wrong, I can still smear them with a big label, and make them look like they’re made of shit.”

"We can play the bad cop and the good cop. His Majesty just needs to pretend that he knows nothing, indignantly rebuke me, speak up for the Tian family of Qi, and finally sigh helplessly after I present evidence one after another."

"In this way, the ministers from the six kingdoms in the court will not have any objections to His Majesty. Even if they are angry, they will be angry at me and will not associate it with His Majesty."

Zhengjie frowned slightly: "But wouldn't that be too unfair to you?"

Bai Su couldn't help but scoff, "When have I ever cared about what others think? As long as His Majesty has me in his heart, that's enough. At worst, he can demote me, remove me from my position as Grand Chancellor, and exile me to the remote Western Regions for a period of time as punishment."

"Firstly, it can appease the resentment of some people in the court who are on good terms with the Tian family of Qi. Secondly, I can also go on a trip at public expense to learn about the situation in the Western Regions."

"After all, as caravans from the Western Regions set off for the Mauryan Empire one after another, many things need to be prepared gradually."

Zhengjie stroked her smooth chin and gave Bai Su a strange look with her phoenix eyes: "Your concern for me is touching at first, but upon closer inspection, it seems that your intention to share my burdens is not real. Your true purpose is to go to the Yuezhi Kingdom in the Western Regions to see that foreign woman."

"I've heard that the Yuezhi Queen has quite a relationship with you..."

Facing the gaze of the political sister, Bai Su's smile became slightly stiff.

He coughed lightly: "Ahem, Your Majesty, how can you slander someone's innocence out of thin air?"

But the sound of that voice made him feel uneasy.

Chapter 293 My Lord Has Not Forgotten Me

Zheng Jie stared intently into Bai Su's eyes, noticing his sweat-drenched appearance.

Her lips curved slightly: "I was just asking casually, why are you so afraid?"

Bai Su's expression turned strange: "That...that..."

Zhengjie waved her hand gently, interrupting Bai Su's words: "Alright, there's no need for formalities. Don't I know you well enough as a treacherous minister?"

"Gold and silver will not sway your mind, fame and fortune will not affect your thoughts, but beauty is another matter."

"Faced with a beautiful woman of exceptional grace and charm, who comes to welcome you with open arms, how could you, with your treacherous nature, possibly remain unmoved?"

Bai Su scratched her cheek with her finger, looking somewhat embarrassed.

After all, everyone has their weaknesses, and testing someone with beauty is indeed a bit too much for them to handle.

The Empress sighed softly: "If you were truly without desires or wants, I wouldn't dare to use you. It's precisely because you have obvious weaknesses that I trusted you so much in the first place."

Her thoughts at that moment were very complicated.

If a minister is without any desires and is comparable to a saint, or if he is ambitious and wants to become a minister like Lü Buwei, who wields absolute power.

She didn't dare to easily trust or give them important responsibilities.

Only a lecherous man like Bai Su, who has absolutely no interest in the throne, can she trust completely and wholeheartedly.

But here's the problem: since Bai Su is a womanizer, he's bound to be flirting with other women outside, which makes her feel a little uneasy.

Bai Su coughed lightly and said solemnly, "Of all the waters in the world, I only take a single sip; of all the splendor in the world, I drink in all the joys and sorrows for only one person..."

"How could I possibly believe your words?"

Zhengjie rolled her eyes, her fair hand brushing aside the dark hair between her brows, but the corners of her lips couldn't help but curl up slightly.

Even though she knew Bai Su was talking nonsense, a hint of joy still welled up in her heart.

She coughed lightly, suppressing the smile on her face, and looked at Bai Su with her phoenix eyes: "The matter of the Tian family of Qi is entrusted to you. Be careful..."

Bai Su responded, "Your subject...accepts the order."

.......

.......

Xianyang, West City.

Inside the Zhang residence.

Zhang Han, as a rising star of the younger generation, has already been appointed as a lieutenant at a young age, responsible for the defense and security of the capital. He can be described as a promising young man.

At her age, there are very few people in the entire Xianyang who can sit in this position.