Chapter 20: The Lord Chancellor Wins Over the People

Gu Huaiyu came to a halt before the vermillion gates. “Is Cui Mao in his office?”

The minor official guarding the entrance collapsed to his knees with a heavy thud. “The—the Minister is in! He is! This lowly one shall immediately…”

Gu Huaiyu had no need for a formal announcement. He stepped over the threshold, then suddenly turned back to Jin Hong. “The ledger.”

Jin Hong froze, momentarily failing to grasp the meaning of those two words.

Gu Huaiyu possessed a great deal of patience when it came to talent. “The pension ledger.”

In a flurry of movement, Jin Hong fumbled through his robes and pulled out the blood-stained ledger. His movements were so frantic that he accidentally knocked out half a piece of stale, hard bread—his final rations from this morning.

His face flushed crimson as he reached down to retrieve it, but he saw that Gu Huaiyu had already taken the ledger. The Lord Chancellor’s snowy, slender fingertips brushed over the dark red bloodstains.

Several of the officials from Gu’s faction looked as though their eyes might pop out of their sockets. Who didn’t know that the Lord Chancellor detested filth above all else?

In the past, before they were granted an audience, bathing and burning incense wasn’t enough; they had to use silver needles to ensure even the gaps beneath their fingernails were spotlessly clean.

Yet now, this fastidious Lord Chancellor held that filthy ledger gently in the very hands that dictated life and death.

“This subordinate greets the Lord Chancellor!”

Minister Cui scrambled up from behind his desk to salute.

When he saw what was in Gu Huaiyu’s hand, his aged face turned deathly pale. He immediately lowered his head, pressing his forehead firmly against the floor tiles.

Gu Huaiyu sat behind the desk with practiced ease. He opened the ledger, scanning through it page by page with meticulous care.

Jin Hong stared blankly at Gu Huaiyu’s hands as they turned the pages.

He had carried this ledger in his bosom for nearly three months. From Bingzhou to the capital, officials of all ranks had flipped through it.

However, the way this Lord Chancellor handled the ledger was different from every official he had met in the past three months.

Gu Huaiyu read it with absolute seriousness. His fingertips would pause briefly over every single name, as if offering these departed souls their final bit of dignity.

After a long silence, Gu Huaiyu laid the ledger open on the desk. “One hundred and thirty-seven people. At which stage is the pension being blocked?”

Minister Cui’s body trembled like a leaf. He was so terrified he didn’t even dare look up. “May the Lord Chancellor see clearly. It is not that this subordinate refuses to approve it, but the Ministry of Revenue truly has no—”

“I have approved this silver.”

Gu Huaiyu cut him off. He took a brush from the rack and tapped the tip lightly against the paper. “The imperial court expects men to sell their lives, yet refuses to allow their wives and children to maintain a meager living. Is this not a joke?”

Jin Hong’s grip tightened on his pants, his fingers leaving five distinct marks in the drying blood.

Minister Cui suddenly stopped shaking and looked up. “This subordinate shall have someone see to it immediately!”

“Wait.”

Gu Huaiyu raised a hand slightly. He turned to Jin Hong. “How much do you need?”

Jin Hong felt as if his soul was being split open by that single gaze. He blurted out, “According to the regulations, twenty taels per person…”

“Sixty taels.”

Gu Huaiyu intercepted his words. “Triple for the fallen, and a ten-tael bonus for the survivors.”

Pausing for a moment, his finger tapped the desk. “By the Hour of the Dog tonight, I want to see the silver wagons leaving the city gates.”

Jin Hong’s breathing suddenly became heavy and labored.

He looked up at Gu Huaiyu’s hand holding the brush. The ink marks left by the wolf-hair bristles on the paper were more dazzling than any silver he had ever seen in his life.

Minister Cui nearly bit his tongue, but facing the Lord Chancellor’s piercing eyes—which seemed to see through everything—he could only nod frantically. “This subordinate will personally supervise the matter!”

Gu Huaiyu had no intention of letting him off so easily; he had come specifically for this. “A few days ago, I ordered Shen Jun to handle the reduction of commercial taxes. You, Minister Cui, declined repeatedly. Did you truly require me to make a personal trip?”

Minister Cui had just started to rise, but he collapsed back to his knees with another thud. His expression was unsightly. “May the Lord Chancellor see clearly. If the commercial tax is reduced by ten percent, next year’s salaries for the capital officials will…”

Gu Huaiyu lowered his eyes to look at Minister Cui. “Since I can order you to reduce the taxes, I naturally have a way to compensate for it.”

Minister Cui let out a long sigh of relief and kowtowed. “This subordinate was muddled! I shall go and handle it at once!”

The corners of Gu Huaiyu’s lips curled slightly. How could he not know what this old fox was planning?

Cui simply wanted a clear piece of evidence against him. If anything went wrong in the future, he could simply push the blame onto the Lord Chancellor’s head.

It was the same with the pension Jin Hong had requested. Gu Huaiyu sneered inwardly; in this entire court, he couldn’t find more than a handful of people who dared to take responsibility.

Truly, there was no one left to use.

As soon as Minister Cui retreated, Jin Hong couldn’t help but look at Gu Huaiyu. His lips moved several times before he forced the words back down. His rough, large hands unconsciously rubbed his hem, wrinkling his already tattered military uniform even further.

Gu Huaiyu took a teacup from the side and poured himself a drink. “You wish to ask why I am helping you?”

Jin Hong’s Adam’s apple bobbed violently. He wanted to say that the soldiers at the border rumored the Lord Chancellor was a man who loved wealth as much as life itself, a man who sold offices and titles, a man without a shred of integrity. They said it was the Lord Chancellor who proposed the peace treaty back then, forcing Great Chen to bow its head to Eastern Liao.

But the words were stuck in his throat. He couldn’t utter a single syllable.

“I am not helping you.”

Gu Huaiyu took a small sip of tea. His gaze, directed at the soldier, was bright and sharp. “I want the people of the world to see that so long as a man guards the rivers and mountains of my Great Chen, his wife and children shall have no worries for their future.”

His voice was soft, but every word came from the bottom of his heart. “Great Chen can lack newly built palaces; it can do without a few imperial archways. But for this silver—money paid for lives—not a single copper can be missing.”

Jin Hong’s ears were buzzing.

Gu Huaiyu stood up and handed the ledger of the fallen back to him. “On the first of next month, I intend to erect a Monument of Merit on Vermillion Bird Street. Not a single name of any soldier who has bled for Great Chen shall be missing.”

Jin Hong’s hands shook violently as he took the ledger. For some reason, his eyes began to sting.

Gu Huaiyu saw the flush rising to the base of the soldier’s neck and felt a sense of amusement. He walked to the door and clapped his hands once. An Iron Eagle Guard approached with his head bowed. Gu Huaiyu whispered a few instructions.

A moment later, the guard led a horse over. It was the horse that pulled Gu Huaiyu’s carriage—a prized steed, meticulously selected.

Jin Hong knew his horses. This was a true warhorse. In Bingzhou, only those high and mighty Inspector Generals could afford such a mount.

Gu Huaiyu tossed the reins to him. “This horse is yours.”

Jin Hong caught the reins instinctively. When his palm brushed the horse’s neck, the beast actually nuzzled his hand affectionately. He jerked his hand back as if he had been burned. “This lowly one… does not dare…”

Gu Huaiyu said indifferently, “I do not trust the people of the Ministry of Revenue. You shall escort this batch of pension silver back to Bingzhou yourself.”

If a mere gate official dared to openly solicit bribes, then after the pension silver passed through several layers of local corruption in Bingzhou, only ten percent would likely remain.

This was a reason Jin Hong could not refuse. He bowed his head abruptly, his messy hair hiding the bloody gash on his forehead. His chest rose and fell rapidly.

“This subordinate…”

His voice was so hoarse it was barely melodic. He suddenly slammed one knee into the ground, staring unblinkingly at the official boots in front of him. “I will take the horse! But I am General Pei’s man. If the Lord Chancellor wishes to win me over…”

Gu Huaiyu suddenly chuckled softly, his fingertips carelessly stroking the horse’s mane. “What I do is merely what a Lord Chancellor should do.”

With that, he didn’t even bother to confirm if Jin Hong was truly won over. He turned and walked toward the gate.

A crowd of Ministry of Revenue officials remained prostrate on the ground. Only after Gu Huaiyu’s figure disappeared beyond the vermillion gates did they dare to tremblingly lift their heads.

Walking toward his sedan chair, an Iron Eagle Guard asked in a low voice, “Is the Lord Chancellor returning to the manor, or…?”

“The Chancellery.”

Gu Huaiyu bent down and sat in the sedan. Pei Jingyi was still kneeling back there. Return to the manor? He hadn’t finished his fun yet.