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The Empress Governs the Country VII (2)
T/N: Translated by Jen on Broken Jinsei! Please do not repost my translations! All translations outside of Broken Jinsei are stolen and reposted without permission!
After the New Year, it was respectively being busy again.
In these last few days, she’d nicely spent time with her son, not once touching any of the governmental affairs.
The government decrees were being smoothly carried out, even already obtaining a certain amount of success, and the state treasury also didn’t shrink by a large amount as it had been predicted, still maintaining an abundance.
However, on the first of the new year, during the inner palace banquet, Jing Wan heard her own mother ‘complain’ about how things were hard to send.
Because everything was all on the right track, Jing Wan just had the ‘postal service’ plan directly moved up on the schedule. There weren’t that much to say, just opening an extra department under the Ministry of Revenue.
For the court officials, the great majority’s reaction was just: ‘Oh, this? If it really becomes widespread throughout the entire country, then it’ll really be quite convenient. A good thing, en, can be done.’
As for everyone currently being very very busy already, for the most part unable to gather enough manpower——-well, among the lower ranked officials, it’s not like there weren’t any idle people, just like in the Hanlin Academy for example, there were even people in there enjoying their early retirement. Having gotten raised by the country for that many years for nothing, right now, it was precisely the time for them to payback.
Speaking of which, for the ones that have been cooped in the Hanlin Academy for too long, even though having the mentality of just mindlessly getting by day by day, when really having something to do, they were absolutely enthusiastic. Especially something that was specially issued down by the empress, it will certainly be paid attention to by many sides. If handled well, their future prospects certainly will be promising. If not for this special period of time, how could it have fallen onto them. That’s why, even if fifty years old, they still brought out the vigor of a twenty year old. The one in charge of the capital directly rolled up his sleeves, and the ones in charge of the outer regions left the capital without stopping to rest.
Although busy, after becoming familiar, it wasn’t likely for one to be flustered, everything getting handled methodically.
Jing Wan began pondering inside again. However, perhaps because the previous matters were brought up too close to one another, the court officials started to have lingering fears. As soon as they discovered Jing Wan having signs of wanting to ’cause trouble’ again, they swiftly just had Luo Pei Shan pushed out, “Sir Luo, quickly, go urge, this path needs to be taken step by step, the food needs to be eaten bite by bite, let her Highness don’t be this rushed, take it slowly, take it slowly, else if it continues like this, this old waist of mine will break!”
Luo Pei Shan looked for Jing Wan, not beating around the bush either, directly mentioning.
Jing Wan felt a bit awkward, “Grandfather, our Qi Yuan has over millions of people. These matters, that is also each handling their own affairs, so it shouldn’t be that serious, right?
“Your Highness’s eagerness, this subject can understand. Just, the things your Highness is doing, not only can the court officials see, the people of the world can all see too. They won’t because of his Majesty returning from war one day, just deny your Highness’s contributions. To say something disrespectful, they’ve already become accustomed to your Highness handling affairs. Even if his Majesty returns, when something comes up, perhaps it’s still looking for your Highness in the first moments.” Luo Pei Shan confided with great sincerity.
Jing Wan was speechless. Her thoughts, sure enough, were still know by some. Even though her husband a hundred percent supported her, but with him present, her interfering in governmental affairs, even issuing government decrees, seemingly all wasn’t that legitimate, so she worried about it taking effect. However, based on a certain someone’s temper, if it isn’t smooth, then it’ll probably be a high-pressure policy again.
On one side, it was the ‘tyrant’, and on the other side, it was the relatively gentle empress. Moreover, the empress even had an extraordinary influence over the tyrant. As long as one wasn’t a masochist, who to look for, it was practically clear and easy to see. This really wasn’t Jing Wan being conceited, but rather, an extremely likely to occur phenomenon. When time comes, the inner palace not being allowed to interfere in politics and whatnot, afraid it’ll all be tossed beyond the clouds.
It felt a bit like indirectly ‘hollowing out’ her own husband’s power.
However, saying it like this seemingly wasn’t right either. A certain someone still held great power in hand, just he didn’t want to work. As for them, they were all just his workers.
TN: All translations outside of Broken Jinsei are stolen and reposted without permission!
Thinking of it like this, she seemingly felt unbalanced inside. Sure enough, even if she was working hard, should still drag him down with her!
“Grandfather’s meaning, I understand.” There was no need to rush, can wait for him to come back.
However, in just three days after saying this, Jing Wan ‘slapped her own face’ again.
She issued a decree, wishing to fix the irrigation works, unblock the river channels, and build dams. For this project, she directly allocated twenty million taels of silver.
The court officials once again shook. There weren’t the slightest signs at all, let alone discuss with them.
Quite a few people all looked towards Luo Pei Shan. However, Luo Pei Shan this while was also frowning. Clearly, towards this matter, he was also unaware.
Can’t blame Jing Wan for directly issuing a decree on this matter. It was because yesterday, she’d once again received Li Hong Yuan’s private letter. This year and next year, there will all be a flood. Even though the severity level can’t compare with that time a few years ago, but the area involved will be even greater, so the damage will still be disastrous. After investigating the cause, for several areas, it was all because the dam had problems. Additionally, it was just the river channels being blocked.
Even though the flood disaster that time a few years ago, Li Hong Yuan had also gotten involved in, the dams getting reinforced, but it still wasn’t enough, because at the time, he couldn’t be too obvious about it. The places that he fixed was just a few of the vital areas, so there were still quite a few hidden dangers. To want to have the damage reduced to the lowest, these hidden dangers must be eliminated.
“This matter is of great concern. This empress doesn’t wish to see the slightest mistake, especially those areas that get renovated every year, yet every time there’s flooding, the dams will always have problems. This empress doesn’t care whether it’s the problem of someone embezzling within, or because there’s a problem with the construction of the dam itself, this time, it better all be resolved! Additionally, this empress will state three points. The commoners hired for the labor, aside from providing three meals a day, there also needs to be a wage. As for the specifics, it’ll be handled according to the actual circumstances of each area. Secondly, for the soldiers not fighting in the war, it doesn’t mean that they need to be idly raised. The ones nearby will go together with the commoners. Thirdly, the local officials must all visit the dams and rivers personally. In the future, if there’s a problem somewhere, the official responsible, this empress will have everyone within three relations of him taken to fill the rivers first thing!”
Hearing the obvious killing intent in Jing Wan’s words, the civil and military officials all tensed up, letting them clearly sense that although her Highness was good-tempered, also able to listen to the court officials’ opinion and advice——of course, this can only mean that she was sufficiently wise, not deciding alone——but, once she has made her decision, that vigor, compared to his Majesty, wasn’t lacking in the slightest. Moreover, using severe punishment on this kind of major matter, it just further showed that she harbored the people of the world in her heart. That is a blessing for the world.
Her Highness’s ability in handling matters perhaps was slightly inferior to his Majesty’s, but this heart, as well as her ability to listen to advice, yet also able to be decisive, compared to the emperor that was indefinitely moody and always acting as he pleases, she was further like a qualifying ruler.
As long as it was really considering for the well-being of the people, for the people that want to be a good official, giving their humble effort for the prosperity of Qi Yuan, they all won’t care about things such as ‘the inner palace not allowed to interfere in politics’ and whatnot. As the saying goes, ‘the headdress does not yield to the brow and beard’. If one really has the ability and resolution, while also not having any devious thoughts, then for some things, why be that pedantic?
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The postal services will finally be put onto the agenda! There truly are too many idle officials that are emphasized in the novel, so might as well put them to work. It’ll also give them a sense of accomplishment, which is beneficial for mental health.
It’s a good thing Li Hong Yuan remembered about the flood. If they work it well enough, they could possibly divert the flood waters to other areas that are possibly experiencing drought-like problems. It’s also a good thing Jing Wan is putting all the responsibility onto the officials overseeing their respective areas because then they’ll make sure things get done correctly.
Thanks for the chapter! 😀
Oops, I keep forgetting to say this each time, but thank you for your hardwork, Jen-sama!
Dang! I love seeing such a kickass empress! 🤩
👍🏽👍🏽
👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Thanks for the chapter, Jen!💖