Three days later, it was the court session of the Yunyue Kingdom.
The Empress surveyed the assembled officials and asked, "My esteemed ministers, three days ago, a celestial phenomenon caused domestic animals to mutate, greatly increasing their danger. Have there been any disturbances across the land in these past three days?"
Xie An, the Minister of War, stepped forward and replied, "Reporting to Your Majesty! There were no disturbances on the first day. However, in the following two days, many livestock transformed into demonic beasts and caused chaos in households. They have all been eliminated by the diligent Jin Yi Wei guards who conducted the searches."
"In the city, only about a hundred people were injured or killed on the day before yesterday. No one has died since."
The Empress and the civil and military officials were somewhat surprised. This was not the responsibility of the Five City Patrols, so why were the Jin Yi Wei involved in such matters?
The Empress turned her gaze towards Chu Chen. Chu Chen glanced at Yan Fa, the Director of the Five City Patrols, then stepped forward, cupped his hands, and said, "Your Majesty, the personnel, cultivation, and physical prowess of the Patrols are limited. They are barely enough to guard the three walls and nine gates, let alone patrol the city."
"Therefore, Director Yan sought my assistance. I then dispatched the three thousand newly recruited Jin Yi Wei guards to help Director Yan patrol and man important streets throughout the city."
"As for why they searched every household, it was likely to take the initiative rather than react."
Chu Chen offered a brief explanation to prevent anyone from overthinking and assuming he, as the head of the Jin Yi Wei, wanted to interfere in everything.
The Empress and the civil and military officials were initially taken aback, not fully understanding why the Five City Patrols lacked sufficient manpower.
Then, they quickly realized what had happened.
The civil and military officials couldn't help but look towards the Empress, which caused her some irritation.
However, she maintained a composed expression and said, "So that is how it is. Chu Chen, your Jin Yi Wei have performed admirably."
Then, as if remembering something, she spoke, "Yan Fa."
"Your servant is here!"
Yan Fa quickly stepped forward, feeling a sense of unease, wondering if the Empress would blame him for his shortcomings.
"Although your department's work was not entirely satisfactory, it is not entirely your fault. Since your department lacks personnel, I order you to work with the Ministry of War to recruit individuals and fill the vacancies. Once the personnel are complete, I do not wish to hear of Director Yan being in such a predicament again. Do you understand?" the Empress said calmly.
Yan Fa wiped away cold sweat and loudly pledged, "Your servant Yan Fa thanks Your Majesty for your grace. Once the personnel are replenished, I will surely not disappoint Your Majesty!"
The Empress nodded, cast a disdainful glance at the Minister of Revenue, and said lightly, "All expenses for the shortages will be covered by my private treasury."
"Your servant accepts the decree!" Minister of Revenue Qian Jieren quickly responded.
Last year, elite soldiers from various armies were selected to form the Imperial Guard, and all their equipment was new. The cost of equipment and expenses per soldier was fifty taels of silver, for which the private treasury spent 1.5 million taels. The July salary of three taels per person cost 630,000 taels.
Repairing the Twin Moon City and the Imperial City after the war cost one million taels. For the sixty thousand casualties on their side, a compensation of twenty taels per person amounted to 1.2 million taels.
The private treasury's annual income last year was over seven million taels in savings, which was halved, leaving a balance of three million taels.
Qian Jieren knew this all too well. The five thousand new soldiers recruited by the court last year, along with their armor and weapons, and their daily expenses and salaries, were all maintained by confiscating the assets of the rebellious faction led by Chen Yuanliang. Otherwise, they would have gone bankrupt long ago.
Now, to fill the deficit of fifty thousand personnel for the Five City Patrols would require a considerable sum of money, at least hundreds of thousands. The Ministry of Revenue simply could not afford it.
Fortunately, the Empress was covering the expenses from her private treasury. The Empress is wise!
Qian Jieren thought gleefully.
The Empress then asked, "The city is protected by the military, yet over a hundred people were injured or killed. For the rural areas without the protection of cities and armies, have the casualties been tallied? Should troops be dispatched to suppress the rampaging demonic beasts?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, I have already ordered ten thousand troops, with five hundred men per county, to assist the counties in eliminating the rampaging demonic beasts and to teach the county soldiers beast taming techniques."
General Wei Zi, the Protector of the State, stepped forward and replied first.
The Minister of Revenue, who followed, glared at him unhappily and said, "Your Majesty, news from distant regions has not yet arrived. In the Twin Moon Prefecture, where Twin Moon City is located, across all six commanderies and thirty-six counties, the rural areas combined have suffered over a dozen deaths and more than a hundred injuries."
The Empress fell silent. Such casualties were somewhat excessive. Four to five thousand casualties were equivalent to a quarter of the population of a county town.
"Your Majesty, I believe our army has several thousand cavalry. A hundred men per county could be temporarily stationed, and each county could organize dozens of mounted archers to patrol. Once any issues are discovered, the cavalry can swiftly eliminate them."
"This way, we can greatly reduce casualties before the county magistrates can promote beast taming techniques." General Wei Zi offered his suggestion.
"Agreed!"
The Empress nodded and agreed to Wei Zi's plan. Qian Jieren wanted to object, but the Empress's private treasury was far wealthier than the Ministry of Revenue. Since the Ministry of Revenue had no money and relied on the private treasury for subsidies, why object?
She then asked, "Has there been any chaos in the army?"
"Some warhorses have transformed into demonic beasts, but they were suppressed with ease, so there was no significant chaos. However, a considerable number of draft horses and mules have transformed into demonic beasts, and their elimination took some time."
Wei Zi continued with some distress, "This is not the main issue. The loss of so many draft animals makes it difficult to transport grain supplies for the army!"
The Empress and the officials were stunned. So many draft animals had turned into demonic beasts? Not enough draft animals to transport grain? This was truly problematic!
The army would never lack food. Yunyue City had nine granaries in the inner city and six in the outer city. There were four granaries around the military camps, totaling nineteen granaries to supply the hundred thousand regular troops, thirty thousand Imperial Guards, eighty thousand Five City Patrols, ten thousand Imperial City Guards, and the private soldiers of various princesses and lords.
With so much grain, how could there be a shortage? But currently, they had grain but no draft animals to transport it. This was an awkward and problematic situation.
Xie An suddenly said, "Your Majesty, perhaps we could conscript laborers to transport the grain?"
Before the Empress could reply, Qian Jieren immediately jumped up and exclaimed, "What nonsense are you spouting? The army has always relied on its own draft animals for transportation when not on campaign. Now that the draft animals are greatly depleted, you want His Majesty to have laborers transport the grain? How many laborers would need to be recruited? For how long would this continue? It is currently the spring plowing season. If over ten thousand laborers are used for grain transport, how much of the autumn harvest will be delayed?"
Damn it, wouldn't the tax revenue from the autumn harvest decrease again? The tax revenue was already less than two million taels, and now they wanted to cut the annual tax grain of two hundred thousand shi as well?
It's not as if they could ask His Majesty to increase the supply of grain from the imperial farms to the army. They were already relying on the imperial farms for grain; if they increased it further, would there still be enough? This was absurd!
Xie An gave a sheepish smile. Although he knew it was inappropriate, he had no other solution.
Just as everyone was at a loss, Chu Chen suddenly stepped forward, cupped his hands, and said, "Your Majesty, I believe we can use laborers to transport grain for the army."
"???"
What? Did we hear correctly? How could the usually wise and intelligent Prime Minister Chu be so foolish?
Only the Empress, recalling Chu Chen's past capabilities, quickly asked, "Prime Minister Chu, why do you say this? Please explain quickly!"
"Your Majesty, this matter is simple. The laborers will not be conscripted for labor, but rather hired. Naturally, all problems will be resolved."