You Really Know How to Be an Emperor!

Ye Qinglian stared intently at the solution Chu Ning had proposed in the memorial.

In the twenty-third year of the Kaiyuan era, six regions in Jiangnan, Great Gan, were struck by floods. Countless homes were swept away, the people were displaced, and grain prices soared several times over.

The local cultivators had failed to properly supervise the region and prevent the disaster. They were all sentenced to death, and more than a hundred and twenty cultivators were executed.

The weather was determined by Heaven. The cultivators stationed in each region were responsible for influencing these conditions and ensuring the people could weather droughts and floods without losing their harvests. If such a major disaster occurred, it was a grave offense, punishable by death without regard for the reason.

Yet nearly a million people in Jiangnan had been affected.

"Under Heaven, all are the king's subjects; wherever the land extends, all are the king's subjects." Ye Qinglian had seen this memorial yesterday, but she still hadn't thought of a suitable solution.

Local merchants had driven grain prices up dozens of times over in a short period. How could the people of Jiangnan, whose homes and livelihoods had been swept away, afford to buy food?

With no other choice, the local government had to distribute grain from its reserves to provide relief. But a million people consumed over a million jin of grain a day. In less than half a month, the price of grain in Jiangnan's government storehouses had skyrocketed countless times over.

Grain from other regions could be redirected, but not in great quantities. Jiangnan was a major grain-producing region, and diverting grain would leave other areas short of food and vulnerable to disaster as well.

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

They would need to produce hundreds of millions of jin of grain to quell the crisis and tide the people over until the next harvest. Even an immortal would find that difficult, and Ye Qinglian had already been preparing to step in herself.

Yet Chu Ning had written only a few lines in the memorial.

The government must not reveal how much grain it had in reserve, nor distribute it for disaster relief. It should allow grain prices to keep soaring.

Encourage local grain merchants to continue raising prices.

Let them carry out this scheme for half a month. Once grain merchants from other regions arrive to sell their grain, wait for the right moment, then block the waterways with iron chains and refuse passage.

That will stabilize grain prices. Then grain reserves from other prefectures can be redirected for relief.

Ye Qinglian frowned as she read the passage.

If the government didn't open its storehouses and distribute grain, what would happen if the local people all starved to death?

Letting grain prices rise further would drive them up across the entire dynasty and trigger even greater upheaval.

And what was the purpose of the plan that followed?

Ye Qinglian was about to speak, but suddenly stopped.

After a century as an emperor, she saw at once how ingenious the plan was.

The soaring grain prices in Jiangnan would inevitably draw in grain merchants from other regions. This exploited the merchants' greed for profit.

Local gentry would surely buy up all the grain they could, keeping prices high and waiting for the right moment to sell it all. This exploited the gentry's greed for profit.

By refusing to distribute grain from its storehouses, the government kept the local gentry in the dark about how much grain was in reserve. Meanwhile, high prices would continue to attract merchants from other regions seeking profits.

Once grain prices climbed high enough—dozens, or even hundreds, of times above normal—a frenzy to sell grain would sweep through Jiangnan.

But the local gentry would never have enough money to buy it all. How much wealth could they possibly have to purchase all the grain in the land?

The final move, chaining off the river, was the masterstroke.

When local grain couldn't be sold and the gentry couldn't buy any more, they would have to sell at a lower price to recoup their capital. Merchants from other regions would also start selling at lower prices. The local gentry would have no choice but to follow suit—and they wouldn't have enough wealth to buy up the grain anyway.

Once prices fell, the government could release its grain reserves, making grain that had once cost a fortune nearly worthless and forcing sellers to dump their stock.

This would stabilize grain prices and resolve the greatest problem.

It took Ye Qinglian a long while to come back to herself.

Manipulating so many factions from ten thousand li away, maneuvering with such insight into the human heart—this was a masterstroke!

"But why do you think other regions will have so much grain that the gentry of Jiangnan won't have enough money to buy it all? What if they have a terrifying amount of wealth?"

Chu Ning came back to his senses and set down two more memorials.

Ye Qinglian's brow twitched.

That fast? He wasn't joking?

"Great Gan is vast and fertile. Jiangnan isn't the only major grain-producing region. Merchants and landowners elsewhere must still have grain in reserve. Everyone knows that having surplus grain at home brings peace of mind. Landowners and merchants feel the same way."

Ye Qinglian considered this for a moment.

"I can have people from the Ye Family Holy Land and cultivators from across the empire grow more grain to provide disaster relief."

"Don't use it for relief. It would be better to use it to drive down local grain prices."

Ye Qinglian frowned. "But if we don't provide relief, what of the deaths among the people? They are all my subjects."

Chu Ning smiled.

"You know perfectly well which is worse: hundreds of thousands of people dying, or tens of thousands."

"People die in every dynasty. In years of great disaster, even more will die. If you had another way to prevent deaths altogether, this memorial wouldn't be on your desk for you to figure out how to resolve the crisis."

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

Because Chu Ning had spoken the truth.

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

Great Gan had tens of billions of subjects, but only a little over ten thousand cultivators on the official rolls, most of them at low cultivation levels. Faced with a crisis like this, there was only so much they could do.

Chu Ning's solution was the best one Ye Qinglian had seen. Combined with her own plan, it would work even better.

"Then we'll proceed as he suggests."

She wrote her approval in red ink and set the memorial aside.

For now, this was indeed the only viable solution.

Even cultivators, using all their precious resources, could produce at most tens of millions of jin of grain in half a month—and that would be an impressive result.

It would also require pouring a great deal of the empire's strength into the effort...

But that was still far short of hundreds of millions of jin.

By her judgment, Chu Ning's plan was viable. Now it was a matter of how things unfolded.

Chu Ning turned his attention to the memorials before him.

A look of boundless ambition appeared in his eyes.

This was exhilarating! Absolutely exhilarating!

Working through these memorials was so satisfying!

He had become the culmination of every emperor in Huaxia's history!

These piddling memorials were nothing!

He almost wanted to usurp the throne, seize the empire, put the treacherous ministers to death, unite the realm, and then set about expanding its borders!

No, no. He was only handling some memorials. He couldn't let his thoughts run away with him.

But every emperor yearned for unification—for uniting an entire continent!

He'd been influenced by that way of thinking!

Never mind. He'd better hurry up and finish these memorials, or he'd end up shouting those eight words: "By Heaven's Mandate, may the Emperor live long and prosper!"

Beside him, Ye Qinglian picked up another memorial.

This one concerned military affairs on the border.

This one concerned the cultivation community.

This one...

What mattered was that every suggestion Chu Ning had written was remarkably astute. Ye Qinglian couldn't find fault with any of them!

That bastard!

He really did want to usurp the throne and seize the empire. She'd caught him red-handed!

But she had put him in this position now, so he'd better do his job properly. The realm belonged to her—and to him.

After all, he was her Emperor Consort!

Still, she couldn't help feeling a little resentful. How could an ordinary man, younger than her and less powerful, who had never even been an emperor, understand people, military affairs, and governance even better than she did?

Was this man born to be an emperor?

Ye Qinglian gave a cold snort.

She shoved the remaining memorials in front of Chu Ning, along with fifty more that had just arrived from the cabinet.

"If you can finish them before noon, I won't have any more state affairs weighing on me today."

Chu Ning was taken aback.

His powerful divine sense instantly swept over all the memorials!

This was what Immortal Emperor cultivation was for!

Forget noon!

If I can't finish these in half an hour, I don't deserve this cultivation!

Chu Ning flipped open the memorials and started writing. He tackled each one without hesitation!

Ye Qinglian was soon left dumbfounded.

Wait...

Did he even read the memorial before writing?

Even if he was planning to do something this afternoon, while I was free of state affairs, he didn't have to rush like this. Wasn't this just fooling around?

But every memorial he reviewed received a more detailed response than hers, and his solutions were more ingenious!

In less than half an hour, Chu Ning put down his brush and stood up. He immediately turned to Ye Qinglian, who was staring in shock.

"Take another look. Once you're done, there shouldn't be anything else to do."

"Why don't we take a walk around the palace? It's been a while since we went for a walk and talked, just the two of us."

Not even a hundred memorials...

He had to get his head straight, or he really would blurt out something treasonous!

"I'm going outside to get some air..."

Ye Qinglian stared after Chu Ning in astonishment, then hurriedly opened the memorials.

Every one of them was ready to be put into action!

This man was even more incredible than she'd thought!

"Xiao Bing, take these to the cabinet and have them review the proposals."

The young woman entered moments later, unable to hide her amazement.

"Your Majesty handled the memorials so quickly today..."

Ye Qinglian paused, then gave a small nod.

"Take them over first..."

After Xiao Bing left, Chu Ning looked at the figure pacing outside Mingde Hall and felt he'd gotten himself into trouble.

This man seemed even more suited to being an emperor than she was...