You Really Know How to Be an Emperor!

Ye Qinglian's gaze was fixed on the memorial, scrutinizing Chu Ning's proposed countermeasures.

In the twenty-third year of Kaiyuan, six regions in Great Gan's Jiangnan were struck by floods. Countless homes were washed away, leaving the populace displaced and grain prices skyrocketing severalfold.

Local cultivators, having failed in their supervisory duties and thus not preventing such a disaster, were all sentenced to death. Over a hundred and twenty cultivators were executed.

The timing of celestial events is predetermined. Local cultivators are stationed to influence these celestial timings, ensuring the people of their regions enjoy bountiful harvests regardless of drought or flood. Any occurrence of such a major disaster is a grave offense, punishable by death without question.

However, nearly a million people in the Jiangnan region were affected by the disaster.

"All under heaven are my king's subjects; all land within the borders belongs to my king." Ye Qinglian had seen this memorial yesterday, but she hadn't yet devised a suitable response.

Local merchants, by hoarding grain, had caused food prices to surge dozens of times over in a short period. How could the people of Jiangnan, whose family fortunes were also swept away by the floods, afford to purchase grain?

Helplessly, the local government could only release grain for disaster relief. But with a million people, the daily consumption of grain reached over a million catties. In less than half a month, the grain reserves in Jiangnan's prefectures had skyrocketed astronomically.

Allocating grain from other regions was also difficult, as Jiangnan was a major grain-producing area. Even other regions that relied on Jiangnan for grain would now face shortages.

Ye Qinglian's proposed solution was to summon cultivators from across the land to select a suitable location and accelerate grain cultivation.

It was estimated that hundreds of millions of catties of grain would be needed to quell this crisis and sustain the populace until the next harvest. Even an Immortal would find this difficult, and Ye Qinglian had already prepared to personally intervene.

However, Chu Ning had only written a few lines in his memorial.

The government would not reveal its grain reserves, nor would it release them for disaster relief, allowing grain prices to continue their surge.

It would lure local grain merchants to continue raising prices.

Using their own methods, this would continue for half a month. When grain merchants from other regions arrived to sell their grain, at the opportune moment, the waterways would be locked down, preventing passage.

Thus, grain prices could be stabilized, and then reserves from other prefectures could be mobilized for relief.

Ye Qinglian frowned as she read these words.

If the granaries weren't opened, what would happen if the local populace starved to death?

Allowing grain prices to continue to rise would incite inflation across the entire dynasty, triggering even greater volatility.

And what was the purpose of the subsequent countermeasures?

Just as Ye Qinglian was about to speak, she suddenly stopped.

As the emperor, she could see through the brilliance of this strategy in an instant.

The surge in Jiangnan's grain prices would inevitably attract merchants from other regions, exploiting their greed for profit.

Local gentry would undoubtedly accept this wholeheartedly, maintaining high grain prices, and then sell everything at the opportune moment, exploiting their greed for profit.

By not opening the granaries, local gentry would be unaware of the amount of grain stored locally, while high grain prices would persist, continuing to attract merchants from other regions to profit.

When the grain prices reached a certain level, tens or even hundreds of times higher than normal, a trend of selling grain in Jiangnan would emerge.

However, the local gentry would not have enough capital to purchase it. How much wealth could possibly be used to buy all the grain in the land?

The final act of locking down the rivers was the ultimate stroke.

When local grain could not be sold, and the local gentry could not purchase it, they would sell at a low price to recoup their capital. Other merchants from outside the region would also sell at even lower prices. At this point, the local gentry would certainly not be able to hold on, nor would they have the financial means to buy more grain.

When grain prices fell, the government would then release its grain, rendering the sky-high priced grain worthless and beginning to sell it off.

This method could alleviate grain prices and solve this most pressing problem.

After a long while, Ye Qinglian finally regained her senses.

To manipulate various forces with such ease from thousands of miles away, this strategy of understanding human hearts could be called a masterpiece!

"But why do you believe that the grain from other regions will be so abundant that the Jiangnan gentry will be unable to afford it? What if their wealth reaches a terrifying amount?"

Chu Ning, having regained his composure, put down two more memorials.

Ye Qinglian's brow twitched.

So soon? Was he not joking?

"The Great Gan Dynasty is vast and fertile, not just Jiangnan is a major grain-producing region. Merchants and landlords in other areas will inevitably have grain reserves. This is a consensus among the common people; they feel secure only when they have surplus grain at home, and landlords and merchants think the same way."

Ye Qinglian pondered for a moment upon hearing this.

"I can send people from the Ye Family Holy Land and cultivators from various parts of the court to cultivate more grain, which I intend to use for disaster relief."

"Don't use it for disaster relief; use it to suppress local grain prices. That would be better."

Ye Qinglian frowned. "But if we don't provide disaster relief, how will the deaths of the local populace be accounted for? They are all my subjects."

Chu Ning smiled.

"Between the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and tens of thousands, which is more significant? You must know."

"People die in every dynasty, and more will die in years of great disaster. If you had a perfect solution to the problem of deaths, this memorial would not be on your desk for you to devise a solution."

Ye Qinglian fell silent for a moment, unable to retort.

This was because what Chu Ning said was the truth.

Even in an Immortal Dynasty, cultivators were only a small fraction of the population.

In the Great Gan Dynasty, with billions of subjects, there were only over ten thousand officially registered cultivators, and most of them were not at high realms. Faced with such a massive problem, their capabilities were extremely limited.

Chu Ning's method was the best Ye Qinglian had seen so far. If implemented alongside her own plan, the effect would be even better.

"Since that's the case, we'll proceed with this arrangement."

She took the lead in marking the document in red and set it aside, signifying her approval.

Indeed, it was the only viable method now.

Even for cultivators, utilizing those heavenly materials and earthly treasures, producing tens of millions of grains in half a month was already quite impressive.

And that still required a substantial investment of national resources…

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But compared to hundreds of millions of catties of grain, it was still far too little.

From Ye Qinglian's perspective, this method was feasible; it all depended on the subsequent procedures.

Meanwhile, Chu Ning's gaze fell upon the memorial documents before him.

At this moment, a hint of pride and ambition to conquer the world flickered in his eyes.

Refreshing, so refreshing!

Dealing with these memorials was so much more comfortable!

He had effectively become the culmination of all the emperors in Huaxia's history!

Petty memorials, what are they worth!

He even felt like usurping the throne, eliminating treacherous officials, unifying the world, and then embarking on the grand undertaking of expanding the empire's territory!

No, no, he was just dealing with memorials, he shouldn't think too much.

But every emperor yearned for great unification, the kind that unifies the entire continent!

He was being influenced by this gaze!

Forget it, he should finish processing these memorials quickly, otherwise, he'd start shouting the eight auspicious words, "By the Mandate of Heaven, may you be blessed with longevity and eternal prosperity."

Beside him, Ye Qinglian continued to pick up other memorials.

This one was about border military affairs.

This one concerned the court's policies regarding cultivators.

This one…

The key was that every piece of advice compiled was exceptionally insightful; Ye Qinglian couldn't even find fault with them!

That dog of a man!

You want to usurp the throne, and I caught you!

But since I've put you in this position, you'd better do a good job. The world is mine, and it's yours too!

He's my Imperial Sovereign anyway!

Although she was somewhat unconvinced, why should a mere mortal, not older than her, with lower cultivation, who had never been emperor, grasp people's hearts and understand military and political affairs better than she did?

Was this guy a born emperor?

Ye Qinglian snorted coldly.

She directly piled all the remaining memorials in front of Chu Ning, along with another fifty sent by the Grand Secretariat.

"If you can finish processing them before noon, I won't have any state affairs to attend to today."

Chu Ning was slightly taken aback.

His formidable divine sense instantly enveloped all the memorials!

An Immortal Emperor's cultivation was meant for this!

Let alone noon!

If I can't finish them in half an hour, I'd be letting this cultivation go to waste!

Then, Chu Ning flipped open a memorial and began writing, attacking the issues head-on!

It was so fast that Ye Qinglian was stunned.

No way…

Did you even read that memorial before writing?

Even if you plan to do something in the afternoon when I have no state affairs, there's no need to rush like this, aren't you just messing around?

But each memorial he handled had more detailed opinions and more ingenious solutions than hers!

In less than half an hour, Chu Ning put down his brush and stood up, immediately looking at the dumbfounded Ye Qinglian.

"Take another look. After you've finished, there shouldn't be anything else left."

"Why don't we take a stroll around the Imperial Palace? It feels like we haven't had a walk and chat together in a while."

A mere less than a hundred memorials…

I need to quickly adjust my mood, otherwise I'll really say something treasonous!

"I'm going out for some fresh air..."

Ye Qinglian, looking utterly bewildered, watched Chu Ning's retreating back and hurriedly opened the memorial.

Every single one was ready to be implemented immediately!

This guy... he seems even more incredible than she thought!

"Xiao Bing, send these to the Grand Secretariat and have them give their opinions."

The young maid quickly entered and couldn't help but exclaim.

"Your Majesty's speed in processing memorials today is truly astonishing..."

Ye Qinglian paused for a moment and nodded slightly.

"Send them off first..."

After Xiao Bing left, Chu Ning watched the pacing figure outside Mingde Hall and felt like he'd caused trouble.

This man... feels more suited to be Emperor than she is...

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