144 The Painting in the Royal Study (1/2)

It was only when the carriage was fast approaching the palace that the old marshal regained his breath from the string of orders that had left him puffing for air.

”Child, I’m asking you one last time - is this entire tale true?” Qiu Jianhan looked at Yun Yang sternly. ”We haven't entered the palace yet, there’s still a chance to turn around. Once we are in the palace if there’s any kind of mistake… your life would be forfeit!”

”This nephew might be a popinjay but this is an urgent matter that involves the destiny of a nation. How could I lie about this? This is unmistakably true,” Yun Yang spoke with conviction.

”Don’t mention anything about being a popinjay…” Qiu Jianhan looked like he was having a terrible headache.

This fellow would just pin the title of popinjay to his head for whatever happened as if it was his best hope of reliability.

It was truly enough!

Was it so easy to become a popinjay?

Do you think that this old one can’t see that you’re merely pretending to be a popinjay?

With a loud thud, the old marshal landed a kick on Yun Yang’s buttocks. ”Stop your b*llshit! Follow your father in!”

It was only natural that the old marshal was unobstructed in his meeting with the emperor due to his status.

After passing the message, both of them had their way to the royal study room without a hitch.

They could see His Majesty’s silhouette cloaked in royal yellow standing before the painting of the Empire of Yutang’s territory; a dossier was in his hand while his brows were locked in a frown. The atmosphere was thick with tension.

”Old Qiu, you’re here.” Seeing that Qiu Jianhan had entered, His Majesty wasted no time inf meaningless formalities, heaving a loud sigh before starting to complain, ”The floods are severe at the east of the river, millions of people have been robbed of their shelters. Old Qiu, looks like…”

As he reached that point in his tirade, he finally saw Yun Yang enter as well, tailing the old marshal, and could not hide his surprise, ”You’re here too.”

Yun Yang seemed to be paralyzed with shock upon hearing him as he put up a front of extreme surprise. ”Uh… Uncle… Yu? Uhh… Your Majesty… this…”

The old marshal landed a slap on the back of his head and chided him loudly, ”Are you still pretending? Speak properly! Human language, please!”

His Majesty laughed and waved his hand, saying, ”You're both not outsiders, be at ease. Come, sit down.”

Watching the both of them take their seats, the emperor stood up instead and frowned, ”This flood on the east of the river… it’s really sudden, too sudden! There’s no way to handle it.”

”The old dragon stream got flooded overnight, most likely due to the continuous storms we've been experiencing. The water level keeps rising and the embankment has finally collapsed. A total of thirty-six counties are affected, it’s really a natural disaster…”

The old marshal sighed too. ”To the empire, this natural disaster is adding insult to the injury. What did the Ministry of Revenue say? Have they come up with a correspondence?”

”What charter can they come out with? Other than saying that the treasury is empty and we can’t do much due to the lack of funds!”

The emperor massaged his brows and heaved a long sigh. ”There are only three million silver taels left in the treasury but these are supposed to be rewards for the east border army… The army’s pay is also included in that amount. It’s already insufficient for rewarding them, what more for other things…”

”The Ministry of Revenue suggests to first use those silver taels for disaster relief in order to quickly quell the flood and pacify the people; hold off rewarding the army and save the flood victims first… Even so, the sum is still far from being sufficient.”

The old marshal’s straight brows squeezed together in a frown as he said, ”Your Majesty, this must never be done! The army has put their lives at stake for the country and if there isn’t even the basic allowance and pension, not even their pay, isn’t this setting them up for disappointment? Who will then give their all and give their lives when they go into the battlefield next time? Please reconsider, Your Majesty.”

The emperor rubbed between his brows again and said, ”Of course I know about this but one cannot make bricks without straw. Not only does the Ministry of Revenue recommend it, I myself agree with it…”

Qiu Jianhan’s frown locked deeper, feeling that something was amiss while watching the emperor.

His Majesty had always been incisive and discerning. When he was met with matters like this, his solutions had always been quick and sharp; he always had a way to pacify both civil and military officials.

Yet why was his corresponding tactic so weak this time?

He seemed to be powerless and only had the capacity to sigh in futility.

”I know cutting their provisions like this will disappoint the army but desperate times call for desperate measures. It’s far more urgent to first solve the flood situation. Perhaps it’s not that difficult to think of an official name for this matter.” The emperor was still rubbing his brows, seemingly more troubled and frustrated. ”But I really don’t want to do so… it's too troublesome…”

The old marshal and the emperor carried on with their conversation.

Yun Yang had been inspecting the royal study ever since he entered the room.

As far as a royal study went, a place for the emperor to go through dossiers and call upon his aides and officials for a meeting, it was remarkably ordinary.

There were almost no decorations.

Yun Yang had only seen two paintings since he first came in.

One painting was on the left wall of the emperor’s chair. It was a scene of the wind, clouds, thunder, lightning, water, and flames surging while the earth lay upturned. It looked odd, strange phenomena happening simultaneously as if it were the end of the world.

Yun Yang knew, however, that this painting represented the Nine Supremes; it depicted a scene of the Nine Supremes descending to this world and gathering at Yutang.

The emperor had actually hung Nine Supremes’ painting here! Yun Yang was taken aback to see it there.

Another painting was right behind His Majesty’s chair. This painting held Yun Yang’s gaze for a long time, his eyes refusing to leave it.

The backdrop of the painting was obviously in this very royal study; a handsome youth who stood tall and proud had his arms behind his back with his chin slightly raised and his eyes gazing far away.