Chapter 1296 God’s ideals cannot defeat human desires!
Night, Yijing Palace

After dinner, An Miaoyi checked Jingren's academic performance for a while. Perhaps as he grew older, Jingren's playful personality had improved recently, and he was able to focus more on studying. An Miaoyi was very happy about this and encouraged Jingren's studies.

Now, it has been almost a month since Ye Mingsheng proclaimed himself emperor, and the Ye Mansion has become a royal palace. Although the expansion and upgrading has not yet been officially approved by Ye Mingsheng, An Miaoyi has made up her mind and has begun some preparatory work.

All these preparations were personally supervised by An Miaoyi, the mistress of the harem, so An Miaoyi has been working hard recently. After checking Jingren's homework, An Miaoyi was a little tired, so she sat in front of the dressing table and asked Qiqige to remove her makeup for her.

Qiqige first took off the gold and silver jewelry that An Miaoyi was wearing one by one, and then wiped the rouge and powder on An Miaoyi's face. Following these steps, An Miaoyi's bare face was revealed.

Looking at herself in the glass mirror without any makeup, An Miaoyi's expression became a little complicated, and her delicate hands couldn't help but gently stroke her face. Although her skin was still fair without makeup, An Miaoyi could clearly feel that her skin was no longer as tight and tender as when she was young.

Although An Miaoyi didn't say anything, seeing An Miaoyi like this, Qiqige understood what An Miaoyi was thinking and comforted her:

"Queen, you are now in the prime of your life. In my opinion, you are more beautiful than when you were young..."

An Miaoyi laughed at herself and said:

"Don't comfort me! Jingren is already so old, I'm afraid I'll become a yellow-faced woman in a few years!"

Upon hearing this, Qiqige also wanted to comfort An Miaoyi, but she had not read many books and really didn't know how to comfort An Miaoyi better.

An Miaoyi was still very strong. After she said a few words of self-pity, she stopped dwelling on the matter. She immediately asked Qiqige:
"What has your majesty been doing these days?"

Qiqige thought for a moment and said:
"Your Majesty has been in the study these days, reading the memorials handled by the cabinet during the southern tour. In addition, he is urging reforms in various places, asking the provincial governors, the provincial procuratorates, and the prefectural and county governments to cut staff and reduce costs!"

Listening to Qiqige's story, An Miaoyi was not particularly interested and asked directly:

"Has His Majesty approved our plan to expand and upgrade the Ye Mansion?"

Qiqige shook her head and said:

"I went to the Imperial Guards to ask, but they just said they had reported it to the Emperor, and they don't know anything else!"

An Miaoyi couldn't help but frown when she heard this. As the hostess of the Ye Mansion, she had always been dissatisfied with the scale and decoration of the Ye Mansion. At that time, she thought that the scale of the Ye Mansion was not in line with Ye Mingsheng's power, and that the Ye Mansion should be expanded in scale and have more exquisite decorations.

So An Miaoyi mentioned her idea to Ye Mingsheng at that time, but Ye Mingsheng always put her off by saying that he had no money for the war. Although An Miaoyi wanted to expand and upgrade the Ye Mansion, she also knew the priorities of things. Compared with the war, building a house was obviously less important, so An Miaoyi endured it...
Later, when the war was over and the Fengwu Army unified the country, An Miaoyi mentioned the matter to Ye Mingsheng again. This time, because the world was peaceful, Ye Mingsheng did not use the excuse of war. Instead, he told An Miaoyi that the world had just ended the war, the treasury was empty and the people were exhausted, so now was the time for the court and the people to recuperate and not to engage in large-scale construction.

An Miaoyi also felt that this interface made some sense, so she was persuaded by Ye Mingsheng and continued to wait until now.

An Miaoyi originally thought that now that Ye Mingsheng had become the emperor, he would no longer have those messy excuses, but now it seems that Ye Mingsheng is still unwilling to expand and upgrade the Ye Mansion!
An Miaoyi really couldn't understand what was going on in Ye Mingsheng's mind. This palace was not just hers, An Miaoyi's, alone. Don't you, Ye Mingsheng, live here?

If you make your home more spacious and more luxurious, wouldn’t you, Ye Mingsheng, feel more comfortable?
You, Ye Mingsheng, went through so much hardship and effort to conquer the world, wasn't it for glory and wealth?

Although the Coordination Office packaged Ye Mingsheng as a saint who cared about the people and was compassionate to the world in external propaganda, as Ye Mingsheng's bedside person, An Miaoyi didn't believe it. So she really couldn't understand why Ye Mingsheng, who was so decisive in the past, was so hesitant and blocked the issue of expanding and upgrading the Ye Mansion...

Although she didn't understand Ye Mingsheng's idea, in order to leave Ye Mingsheng no excuse to stop her, An Miaoyi instructed the Minister of Works Chen Fu to lie about the project cost.

The project cost, which was supposed to be 500,000 taels of silver, was falsely reported as only a few hundred thousand taels of silver. Chen Fu was reluctant at first, saying that it was a crime of deceiving the emperor and he would never dare to do it. However, under the coercion of An Miaoyi, the Minister of Works of the Daqian Dynasty finally gave in!

An Miaoyi also knew that this matter might be concealed from Ye Mingsheng for a while, but it was impossible to hide it from Ye Mingsheng forever. However, An Miaoyi still had confidence in her heart. First of all, although Ye Mingsheng forbade her to interfere in government affairs, on these matters in the palace, Ye Mingsheng still gave her full power and would not easily interfere with her decisions.

Secondly, she received strong support from Ye Cui for the expansion and upgrading of the Ye Mansion. With Ye Cui's approval, it was difficult for Ye Mingsheng to say anything.

Finally, there is the issue of money. An Miaoyi also did not understand Ye Mingsheng's thoughts. She thought that there was no need for the Yijing court to live so tightly. As long as Ye Mingsheng resumed taxation now, the financial situation of the Yijing court would be fundamentally improved immediately.

Now the tax-free policy in many places has lasted for one or two years, which is already a great gift from Ye Mingsheng. So even if Ye Mingsheng ends the tax-free policy ahead of schedule, these common people should understand the difficulties of the court, and then hand over the taxes to the court without any mistakes...

Once these taxes are collected, let alone the 500,000 taels of silver needed for the expansion and upgrading of the Ye Mansion, what would it cost even if it was 1 million taels of silver?

Sometimes An Miaoyi really didn't understand what Ye Mingsheng was thinking. You are the emperor and you are rich, why do you always worry about tens of thousands of taels of silver?
These things should just be something you say casually, why are you making such a fuss?

The more An Miaoyi thought about it, the more she felt that she needed to have a good talk with Ye Mingsheng. Since you, Ye Mingsheng, are already the emperor, you should be more generous in doing things. There is no need to be so petty!
Thinking of this, An Miaoyi also asked Qiqige:

"Where has the emperor been resting these days?"

"Recently, the Emperor has basically been taking turns resting with the concubines in the harem. He rested a little more with Concubine Pei and Murong Qingwu, for five nights!"

Hearing what Qiqige said, An Miaoyi's beautiful eyes narrowed slightly. She was not surprised that Ye Mingsheng spent more time resting with Pei Zhixiu. After all, the entire palace and even the entire Daqian court knew that Ye Mingsheng loved Concubine Pei the most. So it was normal for Ye Mingsheng to rest for a few more days with Pei Zhixiu. There was nothing to be surprised about!

But it is really abnormal that Murong Qingwu can be treated the same as Pei Zhixiu! In the past, Ye Mingsheng stayed at Pei Zhixiu's place for three days, and it was already considered good if he could go to Murong Qingwu's place for one day...

Just as An Miaoyi was beginning to feel doubtful, Qi Qige seemed to have thought of something and reported to An Miaoyi in a low voice:

"Madame Xu said that the emperor seems to like Murong Qingwu, the little bastard, very much, and it is said that the emperor seems to want to make him king!"

Before Qiqige's words fell completely, An Miaoyi's eyes had already become very sharp. Just when An Miaoyi was about to say something, a palace maid walked over quickly, bowed and reported to An Miaoyi:

"Your Majesty, His Majesty is here!"

Qiqige and An Miaoyi, who were just talking about the key point, looked at each other when they heard the news. They were both very surprised, but they immediately stood up to greet Ye Mingsheng. A moment later, Ye Mingsheng walked into the room. An Miaoyi, Qiqige and other palace maids and nannies immediately saluted Ye Mingsheng.

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly and asked everyone to stand up, then smiled and asked An Miaoyi:
"Is Jingren asleep?"

Although An Miaoyi was dissatisfied with Ye Mingsheng's intention to make Ye Jingyan the king, she did not show it in front of everyone at this moment. She met Ye Mingsheng's gaze and said softly:

"I just asked Jingren to go to rest. If the emperor wants to see Jingren, I will wake him up right now!"

"That's fine! Since he's already rested, let him sleep. Don't disturb him!"

After that, Ye Mingsheng chatted with An Miaoyi for a while, and then went to bed. Originally, Ye Mingsheng had no intention of "fighting" with An Miaoyi when he came to An Miaoyi this time. After all, during this period of time, in the successive battles with Bai Yuanyuan, Jinyu, Pei Zhixiu, Murong Qingwu, Shen Yutong and others, his ammunition was basically exhausted...

But at this moment, seeing that An Miaoyi, although without makeup, still had outstanding temperament and her every move showed the majesty of a queen, Ye Mingsheng immediately felt something and his eyes became hot when he looked at An Miaoyi. Naturally, An Miaoyi would not refuse Ye Mingsheng.

Half an hour later, Ye Mingsheng lay on the bed somewhat exhausted, while An Miaoyi rested her head on Ye Mingsheng's arm and whispered:

"Your Majesty, is there anything you want to say to me?"

"Forehead"

Seeing that An Miaoyi had seen through his thoughts, Ye Mingsheng seemed a little surprised. At this time, An Miaoyi looked up at Ye Mingsheng and explained:
"This is my intuition!"

Although he was still a little surprised that An Miaoyi's intuition was so accurate, Ye Mingsheng hesitated for a moment and still told An Miaoyi some of his thoughts.

After listening carefully to Ye Mingsheng's story, An Miaoyi's gaze towards Ye Mingsheng seemed to change. After hesitating for a moment, she said softly:
"Your Majesty, I have something to say but I don't know whether I should say it or not!"

"Miaoyi, you and I are husband and wife, so feel free to say whatever you want to say!"

After getting Ye Mingsheng's permission, An Miaoyi looked at Ye Mingsheng and said solemnly:

"The Emperor's ideals are no match for human desires!"

Ye Mingsheng was stunned when he heard this, and at this moment An Miaoyi continued:

“Your Majesty, you don’t like eunuchs and think they are backward, ignorant, and inhumane. However, eunuchs have been able to exist for so long, so they naturally have value and significance. What’s more, there are successors to the throne, and they may not share the same opinion as Your Majesty…”

Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but sigh softly when he heard this. He knew what An Miaoyi said, but he still couldn't get over the hurdle in his heart.

At this time, An Miaoyi noticed Ye Mingsheng's thoughts, and after hesitating for a moment, she spoke:
"Your Majesty, you have said that we should eat one bite at a time and take one step at a time. I think it is a big step to completely abolish the eunuchs. So instead of abolishing all the eunuchs, I think we should reduce their number first!"

"In the past, the imperial palace of the Great Zhou had thousands of eunuchs. I think we in the Great Qian only need a thousand. What do you think, Your Majesty?"

Ye Mingsheng also thought carefully after hearing this, and An Miaoyi did not disturb Ye Mingsheng's thinking. She leaned quietly in Ye Mingsheng's arms, enjoying the rare tenderness between the couple. Although An Miaoyi went against Ye Mingsheng in some ideas and had different thoughts from Ye Mingsheng, as a traditional woman, she still longed for Ye Mingsheng's love!
After pondering for about a cup of tea, Ye Mingsheng suddenly said:

"Miaoyi, I've seen the Ministry of Works' plan to expand and upgrade the imperial palace. The budget of a few hundred thousand taels of silver is not enough. I think we'll need five hundred thousand taels of silver to complete the plan!"

As soon as Ye Mingsheng said this, An Miaoyi's expression changed slightly, and at this moment Ye Mingsheng said to himself:

"I know that you, Miaoyi, coerced Chen Fu, otherwise he would not have reported to me. I don't intend to hold you responsible for coercing the Minister of Industry, but I hope you can come up with some money for this matter!"

Hearing that Ye Mingsheng wanted to pay the money himself, An Miaoyi's expression became a little surprised and hesitant for a moment before saying:
"There are still tens of thousands of taels of silver in the Ye Mansion's account!"

Seeing that An Miaoyi seemed to want to fool him, Ye Mingsheng said directly:

"The money in the Ye Mansion's account must be used, but I..."

(End of this chapter)