But Shen Yu certainly couldn’t let the court go fight bandits.
She even suspected the Emperor and Marquis Dingyuan had colluded, but she had no evidence.
“Your Majesty! Your humble subject believes… the matter of opening maritime trade should be carefully considered. The overseas lands are vast and abundant in resources, which could solve our court’s urgent problems.”
Shen Yu didn’t want to take sides, but now she had to.
Marquis Dingyuan had laid the issue out plainly.
It was either open maritime trade or fight bandits.
For Shen Yu, only the former could be considered.
“Ministers, Minister Shen comes from humble origins. Having been in a lowly position herself, she best understands what the common people at the bottom need.”
“Bandit suppression must be done, but now is not the time. The benefits of bandit suppression are far less than opening maritime trade. Moreover, the opportunity for opening maritime trade is right before us. Opening maritime trade benefits the country and the people, while bandit suppression exhausts the people and drains resources.”
“So… In my opinion, opening maritime trade is urgent and should be decided early. As for bandit suppression… let’s discuss it again next year.”
When the Empress said this, the civil officials in court naturally weren’t happy.
They all stepped forward, urging the Empress to reconsider.
“Oh? Reconsider? In that case, Lü Shangshu, you are the Minister of War. Why don’t you lead the troops to suppress the bandits?”
Among them, the Minister of War, who had jumped the highest, was naturally caught by the Empress as an example.
The Empress’s meaning was clear.
You like to bounce around?
Then I’ll make sure you can’t bounce anymore.
“N-no, wasn’t Marquis Wuding supposed to go?”
“I’m terribly sorry, Minister Lü. This marquis still hasn’t recovered from his intestinal abscess. I’m afraid I’m not up to the task.”
Marquis Wuding waved his hand repeatedly.
Throughout the entire court, aside from Marquis Wuding and Marquis Dingyuan, there wasn’t a single person who dared to take on the heavy responsibility of suppressing the Qingfeng Village bandits.
The reason was simple.
They were afraid… to the bone.
Back during the Dragon Wu Incident, when Shen Qingtian led over a hundred thousand troops all the way to the Capital, how many noble families and corrupt officials had he killed along the way?
Those noble families that even the Emperor couldn’t do anything about, those officials who tried to control the court and harm the people, nearly half of them had been killed by Shen Qingtian in one night.
Now Shen Qingtian was still alive and well in Qingfeng Village.
Leading troops to suppress the bandits… although with enough determination and enough people and money thrown at it, the final result would certainly be a court victory…
The process would inevitably be extremely bloody.
Anyway, whoever led the first wave would have a death rate of at least ninety-nine percent!
Minister Lü was doing just fine as the Heavenly Official of the Ministry of War.
He certainly didn’t want to wade into troubled waters.
If Marquis Wuding or Marquis Dingyuan were leading the troops to suppress the bandits, he would fully support them.
He’d even be willing to wear mourning clothes if these two core military nobles died in battle!
After all, this was a golden opportunity to weaken the military faction.
But if he had to go himself… then perhaps supporting His Majesty on opening maritime trade was better.
“W-what about Marquis Dingyuan?”
“Your Majesty! Your subject is willing to lead troops to the border to suppress the bandits. It was previously decided that Marquis Wuding would be the main commander, with his daughter Yun Wei as deputy commander and supervisor of the army. But now only I remain, and the positions of deputy commander and supervisor are both vacant…”
When Marquis Dingyuan said this, all the ministers in court fell silent, lowering their heads, afraid that Marquis Dingyuan might look their way.
Even several military officers couldn’t help but lower their heads.
Suppressing the Qingfeng Village bandits was truly not a task anyone dared to take on.
If Shen Qingtian were dead, it would be fine.
But the problem was that Shen Qingtian was still alive.
A man who had once rebelled, who had once rebelled and even managed to walk away unscathed—how strong was his deterrent power?
It went without saying.
“Your subject believes that for military campaigns, a complete organizational structure is fundamental. So I take the liberty of asking Your Majesty to lend me a few capable ministers to assist.”
When Marquis Dingyuan said this, those civil officials felt like cursing him right there in court.
Court regulations stated that the deputy and main commanders could both be military officers, but the supervisor of the army had to be someone other than a military officer.
This was a pit the civil officials had dug for themselves back then to prevent the military from becoming too powerful.
But now, that pit had backfired and really trapped them this time.
People other than military officers who could serve as supervisors of the army were limited to a few choices: eunuchs from the Sima Directorate, or thousand households from the Fenglin Guards… or perhaps these civil officials themselves.
“Granted. I approve.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty! Then… Lü Shangshu, I hear you have a deep understanding of the border bandit situation.”
“No, no, no, Your Majesty. Although the court has the advantage of time, place, and popular sentiment in suppressing the border bandits, the bandits are powerful. If not handled properly, it will inevitably lead to a situation that is too big to control.”
“Your subject believes this matter should be carefully considered…”
The Minister of War rambled on, essentially making excuses for himself.
Shen Yu couldn’t help but want to laugh.
This Lü Shangshu was truly interesting, making his cowardice sound so novel and refined.
At the same time, Shen Yu was curious.
Just how deep was the shadow her grandfather had cast over these people in court?
Enough to make the Heavenly Official of the Ministry of War so terrified?
“Then I wish to open maritime trade.”
“Your subject agrees!”
Open maritime trade.
We must open maritime trade.
“Sister! Sister, you’re finally back. I was so worried about you.”
Shen Yu dragged her exhausted body back to the small courtyard of Mu’en Hall.
As soon as she opened the door, she saw Yin Qiu’s pitiful little face.
Little Yinqiu, like a rubber ball, crashed with a thump into Shen Yu’s arms.
Her small hands clutched tightly at Shen Yu’s arm, as if afraid Shen Yu might run away.
“I’m fine. Didn’t I come back safely?”
Shen Yu patted Yin Qiu’s little head and comforted her gently.
“His Majesty summoned me to the palace to treat the princess. Nothing major. I cured the princess, and His Majesty said she would reward me with gold.”
“Wow! Sister, what did His Majesty reward you with? Was it another half a pig?”
Hearing Yin Qiu’s question, Shen Yu’s face showed some difficulty.
She instinctively looked toward the gifts the eunuchs had helped carry back.
A half pig tied with some inexplicable red silk was particularly eye-catching.
To be honest, Shen Yu didn’t understand.
Why did everyone who gave her gifts like to give her half a pig?
What was the significance of this?
Hospitality?
Local custom?
It couldn’t be a necessary betrothal gift for proposing marriage, could it?
Haha…
“Ahem. If we can’t finish the pork, we can sell it. Anyway, we have money now. Sister will give Yin Qiu this month’s salary and a bonus.”
The salary was something Shen Yu had promised Yin Qiu long ago.
Two taels of silver every month.
As for the bonus, that was a concept Shen Yu had specifically introduced to Yin Qiu, essentially a disguised way of giving the little girl pocket money.
After all, a little girl should be raised in comfort.
Otherwise, based on the state Shen Yu had found Yin Qiu in when they first met—pitiful, skin and bones—she probably could have been lured away with a piece of pastry.
At the same time, Shen Yu noticed that the little girl still carried some inferiority deep inside.
Although she studied medicine very seriously with Shen Yu and excelled at tasks like decocting, preparing, and grinding medicine, when it came to seeing patients, she would still unconsciously show some fear.
She would rather grind medicine alone in the back all day until the calluses on her hands broke and bled than sit in the front hall all day receiving patients.
That wouldn’t do.
Shen Yu knew the source of her deep-seated inferiority.
As the saying goes, a troubled heart needs a heart medicine.
To cure the little girl’s inferiority, raising her in comfort was indispensable.
Giving the little girl some money to buy what she wanted was, for Shen Yu, a pleasurable experience of raising a daughter.
“B-but Sister Yun Xiang came over this morning. She said the imperial palace was in chaos last night. Marquis Wuding went to the palace before dawn. She heard His Majesty was going to execute a large number of Imperial Physicians.”
Yin Qiu was terrified.
After all, Shen Yu had just been appointed as a seventh-rank inner court physician, and her title also contained the word “physician.”
Since learning this news, Yin Qiu had been waiting at home, worried sick, for Shen Yu.
She waited and waited, but Shen Yu didn’t return.
The later Shen Yu came back, the more uneasy she became.
“The Imperial Physicians His Majesty wants to kill, what does that have to do with me, an inner court physician? His Majesty wants to kill those physicians because they are incompetent. Your sister is very skilled. What’s the matter? Don’t you trust your sister?”
Shen Yu’s words made Yin Qiu shake her head repeatedly.
“I trust Sister! Sister, are you hungry? I’ll go make you something to eat!”
“A little. I’ll trouble you then. Oh, right, did Sister Yun Xiang come by this morning for anything?”
Shen Yu took out a small gold sycee weighing about five taels from her pocket and stuffed it into Yin Qiu’s hand while chatting with her.
“She said she wanted to ask Sister to give her a massage to treat her back pain. But since Sister wasn’t here, Sister Yun Xiang left.”
“Um… why did Sister give me so much money?”
“It was a reward from His Majesty. You can keep it for me.”
Shen Yu knew very well that if she said this was a bonus for the little girl, she definitely wouldn’t accept it.
So she pretended to make her a little treasurer.
As the money in her hands grew and she saw more of the world, when she encountered nice things, the little girl would naturally buy them with her own money.
“With so much gold, you could marry several concubines.”
Looking at the gold in her hand, the little girl was momentarily at a loss.
“Sister is truly amazing. His Majesty rewarded you with so much money.”
Yin Qiu admired Shen Yu greatly.
She couldn’t help but fantasize.
If she continued to study medicine with her sister, couldn’t she also earn a lot of gold in the future?
When she had money, she could buy delicious food and pretty dresses for her sister.
Just like Sister did for me.
“You must take good care of it.”
“I-I know! I’ll keep it close to my body. I’ll even sleep with it in my arms.”
Yin Qiu nodded solemnly.
She valued the gold sycee before her more than her own life.
Thump, thump, thump.
Just then, the courtyard gate of Mu’en Hall was knocked on.
It wasn’t time for Mu’en Hall to open for consultations yet.
Anyone knocking at this hour probably wasn’t a patient.
“May I ask if Imperial Physician Shen Yu is at home?”
A strange voice sounded.
Before Shen Yu could open the door, the unlocked courtyard gate was pushed open.
The first thing that caught Shen Yu’s eyes were two laborers carrying a large chest on a carrying pole.
The two laborers were sturdy, but the chest they carried was so heavy that they were gasping for breath.
Following behind the laborers was a graceful man, dressed luxuriously and looking quite refined.
At first glance, he appeared to be a young master from a grand household.
But he also looked rather pretentious… holding a folding fan even in this cold weather.
“Imperial Physician Shen, I apologize for the intrusion. Please don’t take offense.”
“Who are you? A patient?”
Shen Yu looked the wealthy young master up and down.
She really didn’t like his presumptuous attitude.
“Yes and no.”
The young master pretentiously opened his folding fan.
While smiling, he gently fanned himself a few times.
He probably felt cold because he folded the fan back after a few flaps.
“I have come on my father’s orders to specially invite Imperial Physician Shen to attend to a patient at our residence.”
“Mu’en Hall is funded by the Private Imperial Treasury. Apart from His Majesty, I only see patients within the hall. Young master, please go back.”
Shen Yu showed no mercy whatsoever.
“Wait. Does Imperial Physician Shen know who my father and grandfather are?”