RWNEFE -Chapter 647 Let This Minister Serve Your Majesty One More Time!

Huang Yu naturally understood, but she did not dare to say it aloud.

“I, as a woman, sit upon the throne of the Son of Heaven. There are countless men who refuse to accept this.”

“More than half of the court is still controlled by men. By promoting women, I intend that one day more than half the court will be replaced by women. At that time, women will hold power, and no one will dare criticize me for being a woman.”

“Do you understand what I mean?”

Of course Huang Yu understood.

She herself was a woman; naturally, she thought the same as Shen Lanxi.

By saying this, Shen Lanxi was clearly telling her to strive upward, and she would support her.

In the future, the court would be a place where women held the decisive voice.

Just imagining that scene made Huang Yu’s heart beat faster.

“Go back and rest well. Afterward, when you take command of the City Defense Army, you will surely encounter considerable resistance.”

Huang Yu immediately nodded. The City Defense Army was full of men—if a woman went to command them, those men would certainly refuse to accept it.

But so what? If Shen Lanxi could firmly hold the imperial throne, why couldn’t she command the City Defense Army?

“Thank you for Your Majesty’s grace!”

Even if she harbored ambitions in her heart, Huang Yu’s outward demeanor remained respectful.

After she left, Liu Yanhui returned from behind a screen.

“Your Majesty, Huang Yu is not someone to be fully trusted.”

Shen Lanxi handed him the register.

“Have the contents entered into the national treasury. As for the cases of collusion between officials and bandits recorded here, have the Ministry of Personnel investigate them.”

Liu Yanhui believed he had already given sufficient warning. With the emperor’s wisdom, she would certainly make her own arrangements.

“Your Majesty, a letter has arrived from the Northwest.”

The letter had just been given to him by Cheng Zheng, who had clearly intended for him to deliver it.

The sender was not Shen Yuanjing, but Wei Dongzhu.

Shen Lanxi opened it calmly. After reading it, her expression did not change in the slightest, as if she were handling ordinary state business. She wrote a reply.

“Send it to the Northwest.”

She wrote the reply in front of Liu Yanhui, so he knew its contents. Yet after reading it, his feelings were complicated.

Did the emperor feel anything at all for Wei Dongzhu?

If there were even the slightest trace, it would be enough for him to see.

He did not know what he himself was hoping for.

…

In the inner palace, Sang Guo presented a sheet of paper filled with writing to Shen Lanxi, then knelt with his head lowered, as if ashamed.

After reading it, Shen Lanxi set the paper aside.

“Is this your own decision, or were you forced by your family?”

Sang Guo took up a brush and wrote a few lines in reply.

After reading them, Shen Lanxi made her decision.

“Qinglan Academy lacks a headmaster. Go there.”

Sang Guo remained kneeling, knocking his head repeatedly against the floor. Tears soaked the ground.

He was reluctant to leave the emperor, but his parents were already elderly. Years ago, when he had been persecuted by Zhou Qiwou, his parents had barely survived and had been separated from him for many years. Now they had finally reestablished contact.

He was their only child. He truly could not bear to abandon them.

Shen Lanxi turned to Cheng Zheng nearby.

“Do you wish to return as well?”

Cheng Zheng shook his head, then took out paper and wrote: “I wish to return home to visit my family, and at the same time escort Sang Guo back.”

Shen Lanxi nodded. “Approved.”

“Sang Guo has followed me for so long. I have nothing else to give him, only some money.”

Cheng Zheng wrote: “I will arrange it.”

He and Sang Guo had always managed the emperor’s private treasury. He knew well that the emperor was very generous toward her own people.

Sang Guo picked up the brush again and wrote: “Allow this servant to serve Your Majesty once more.”

Shen Lanxi sighed softly and beckoned him closer.

The next morning, she summoned Cheng Zheng and, in front of him, dropped a pill into a cup of tea.

“Take this and give it to Sang Guo to drink.”

Cheng Zheng stared at the teacup for a moment, then carried it away.

The infertility drug that had once been administered to the two of them already had an antidote prepared by Ban Sicao. The pill in the cup was precisely that antidote.

How would Cheng Zheng choose?

Shen Lanxi thought to herself that she was truly cruel. She had said many times that the human heart could not withstand tests, yet she kept testing it again and again.

…

“Shen Lanxi has allowed me into the City Defense Army. I don’t know whether I will command it or merely hold a post,” Huang Yu said. In her heart, she hoped Zhou Xinrou would help push her into the position of commander.

Zhou Xinrou immediately understood what she meant.

“You have wiped out countless bandits and accumulated great merit. Naturally, you are capable of commanding the City Defense Army,” Zhou Xinrou said. In fact, she even felt the position was beneath Huang Yu.

“This return to the capital is the perfect opportunity for you to consolidate military power. Judging from the arrangements, Shen Lanxi will definitely not send you out of the capital again.”

Huang Yu nodded. “Shen Lanxi has already sent the various generals back to their territories and transferred Zhao Zheng and Che Mingyuan to the Southwest. Aside from the Ghost Valley successor, she has no one else truly capable at her side.”

Zhou Xinrou recalled something.

“Several of the Shen family’s younger generation wanted to return to the capital to attend the funeral.” Fortunately, she had stopped them, using the excuse that Old Madam Shen had already been buried.

Those people of the Shen family could at most serve as officials—anything beyond that was out of the question.

Huang Yu said, “They must not be allowed to return. Fortunately, they listen to you. Our plan must be carried out quickly—we cannot allow the Shen family’s ambitions to grow.”

This time it had been Shen Congyi. Next time it might be Shen Congli or Shen Conglian. And if not them, there were still Shen Yuanjing, Shen Yuanxu, and others below them.

“Shen Lanxi is truly foolish, entrusting military power to the Shen family.”

“Wasn’t Shen Congyi’s case already a lesson?”

Hearing this, Zhou Xinrou thought of an idea.

“Let the Shen family fight her. We can sit back and watch the tigers fight, then reap the fisherman’s profit.”

In this way, they could achieve their goals without spending a single soldier.

Huang Yu frowned. “That would take too long. They still support Shen Lanxi. To divide them would take far too much time.”

It would be faster to act themselves.

After thinking for a moment, Zhou Xinrou said, “I will see that you are placed in the position of Commander of the City Defense Army. Just stay home and wait for news.”

But her own plan would also be carried out.

Shen Lanxi had made her unhappy for too long; now it was her turn to give Shen Lanxi some trouble.

Soon, letters began to be sent from the capital, each one attempting to sow discord between the Shen family’s sons and Shen Lanxi.

Not long afterward, the imperial decree appointing Huang Yu as Commander of the City Defense Army was delivered into her hands.

As for the former commander, he had been demoted to deputy commander for dereliction of duty.

After entering the palace to thank the emperor, Huang Yu rode out to take up her post outside the city.

…

After remaining silent for more than a month, the Shen family once again appeared in the public eye.

The reason was simple: Shen Lanxi planned to send the Shen family’s children to study in civilian academies.

This decision provoked protests from the Shen family’s women. Madam Liu took the lead in sending a letter to the palace, opposing the decision.

Previously, the children had studied at the Imperial Academy, where students were all members of the imperial clan or nobility, a symbol of the Shen family’s status.

Now they were to study among commoners—what did that mean?

Could it be that because of Shen Congyi’s crime, the entire family was being punished in resentment?

Shen Congyi had been the one who committed the crime. What did it have to do with them? At the time, they had even tried to stop him. Even if they had no merit, they had certainly made efforts—how could they be treated this way?