YWTGU -Chapter 13 Why Are You Targeting Li An for No Reason?!

The next day, just as dawn was breaking, the area before the Golden Throne Hall was already packed with ministers brimming with resentment.

Ding!

【A new day begins!】

【Current Great Qi National Fortune: 86,289】

【National Fortune Change This Cycle: -1,711】

【Estimated Settlement Reward: 171,100 taels of gold】

【Time Remaining: 23 days】

The civil and military officials stood in neat rows, each with a dark expression, their faces practically screaming the word anger.

Minister of Revenue Qian Tong looked especially ghastly. His face was pale, and the dark circles under his eyes were severe—clearly he hadn’t slept all night.

Who could have imagined? He was a dignified second-rank official, yet the previous night a group of street thugs had barged into his residence, claiming his latrine smelled too strong and demanding a fine of ten thousand taels!

Ten thousand taels!

For a latrine!

What kind of twisted logic was that?!

Prime Minister Wang Fu didn’t look much better either—after all, his dog had nearly been slaughtered and turned into dog-meat stew the night before.

“Gentlemen, today we must submit a joint impeachment!”

Wang Fu spoke in a low voice outside the hall, his eyes glinting coldly.

“That Li An—selling official posts, indulging hoodlums—his actions are intolerable under the law!”

“Right! Impeach him!”

“Impeach him to death! Selling offices is already a great national evil. The one who proposed such a policy, Li An, is nothing less than a traitor to the state!”

The officials echoed one another in heated agreement.

…

When the morning court session began inside the Golden Throne Hall, Emperor Zhao Ling’er sat upright upon the dragon throne, pearl curtains hanging low and concealing her exquisite features.

Seeing the righteous fury on the officials’ faces below, she couldn’t help but feel amused. She already knew very well what would happen in court today.

After all, the previous night’s chaos had turned the capital upside down, and reports had long since reached her.

That rascal Jin Daya had managed to offend nearly every noble and high-ranking figure in the capital overnight.

And the mastermind behind it all was none other than the top scholar Li An, standing at the very end of the officials’ ranks, looking like he hadn’t slept enough.

Zhao Ling’er’s gaze swept over him discreetly, her interest in him growing stronger by the moment.

This fellow who dared to scold me…

What kind of mischief has he stirred up this time?

“If there are memorials, present them. If not, court is dismissed…”

The sharp voice of the eunuch had barely fallen when Prime Minister Wang Fu stepped forward first.

“Your Majesty, I have a memorial!”

His voice rang out loud and clear—he had clearly come prepared.

“Proceed.”

Zhao Ling’er granted permission.

Wang Fu took a deep breath and declared righteously, “Your Majesty! I impeach Li An, Compiler of the Hanlin Academy and Director of the Revenue-Raising Office!”

“First, he incited Your Majesty to sell official posts, treating court positions as commodities!”

“Second, he allowed street thugs to purchase office and disrupt the capital’s public order!”

“Third, he must surely be profiting from this personally, lining his own pockets!”

“I request that Your Majesty severely punish him—behead him publicly to rectify the court’s discipline!”

No sooner had he finished than Minister of Revenue Qian Tong stepped forward as well.

“Your Majesty, I second this motion!”

His voice trembled with rage—clearly last night’s humiliation had pushed him beyond endurance.

“Your Majesty, that Jin Daya was originally the leader of the capital’s largest gang, the Golden Sand Gang! And now he has suddenly transformed into a court official. In the dead of night, he barged into my residence, claiming to conduct a sanitation inspection!”

“He even said my household latrine smelled too strong and fined me ten thousand taels!”

“What kind of nonsense is this?! It’s utterly ridiculous!”

Ding!

【The officials jointly impeach Li An!】

【Factional strife in court intensifies!】

【Great Qi National Fortune -80】

【Current National Fortune: 86,209】

The officials erupted into discussion, all of them indignant.

“Outrageous!”

“This disgraces the scholarly class!”

“I said from the beginning that selling offices is like drinking poison to quench thirst—it cannot work! Li An proposed this absurd, nation-destroying policy. His crime deserves death!”

…

Zhao Ling’er remained seated on the dragon throne, listening quietly, her expression unreadable.

With interest, she shifted her gaze once more to Li An.

This fellow… why does he look so listless, as if he’s about to fall asleep?

Standing at the back of the ranks, Li An’s eyelids were indeed fighting each other.

He hadn’t slept well the night before. First he’d been tossed around by that matter with Hongmei, then he’d been woken up again by Master Zhou and the others…

Sleepy.

So damn sleepy.

But sleepy as he was, his mind was still turning quickly.

Just then—

“Li An!”

Zhao Ling’er’s voice suddenly rang out, snapping him out of his wandering thoughts.

“Y-Your servant is here!”

Li An hurriedly straightened up, adopting a respectful and nervous posture as he bowed in response.

“The Prime Minister and the others impeach you for advocating the sale of offices and indulging hooligans. What do you have to say?”

Li An remained completely unflustered. He raised his head and swept a defiant gaze across the faces of the officials.

Faces filled with anger.

Eyes blazing with fury.

Well then. They all wanted to tear him apart alive.

Silently, he gave Jin Daya a thumbs-up in his heart before cupping his hands toward the dragon throne.

“Reporting to Your Majesty: what they accuse me of is correct. I did indeed sell the position in the Street Administration Office to Jin Daya.”

The officials immediately stirred in an uproar.

He actually admitted it so openly?

“But!”

Li An suddenly changed tone. “In my view, this action is not only without fault—it is meritorious!”

“What?!”

Prime Minister Wang Fu nearly jumped in anger, pointing at Li An. “Meritorious? You allow a thug to harass high court officials and call that merit?”

“May I ask Prime Minister,” Li An replied calmly, “when Jin Daya visited your residences, was he acting according to the law?”

“What ‘according to the law’? He was extorting money!” the Minister of Revenue shouted.

“Then may I ask, Minister,” Li An said with a faint smile, “what are the duties of the Street Administration Office?”

“Th-That…”

Qian Tong froze, at a loss for words.

Li An flicked his sleeve and said solemnly:

“The Street Administration Office is responsible for maintaining street cleanliness and inspecting urban sanitation. I have reviewed the Great Qi legal code. The Street Administration Office indeed has the authority to fine households that violate sanitation regulations.”

“Then please enlighten us, Minister.”

Li An fixed his gaze on Qian Tong, the Minister of Revenue, and questioned him sharply. “How much filth does your esteemed residence produce every day? Have you ever paid a single coin in cleaning fees?”

“I…”

Qian Tong was instantly at a loss for words.

“I have made a rough estimate,”

Li An said, pulling out a scroll he had prepared overnight. It was densely packed with figures, all carefully calculated.

“The mansions of high-ranking officials in the capital commonly span several to dozens of mu of land. The amount of excrement, wastewater, and household refuse they generate each day far exceeds that of ordinary citizens.”

“And yet the cost of cleaning all this filth is entirely borne by the court, amounting to over a hundred thousand taels of silver annually!”

“But may I ask—have any of you officials ever contributed a single copper coin for it?”

The entire hall fell silent.

Ding!

【Li An’s counterattack successful! The officials are rendered speechless!】

【A mere newcomer seizes control of the court’s discourse!】

【Great Qi National Fortune -60】

【Current National Fortune: 86,149】

Li An continued, “Commoners living in courtyards no bigger than a palm must still clean the rubbish in front of their own doors. Yet you gentlemen reside in sprawling estates, feast on delicacies from land and sea, and still require the court to pay for the disposal of your own waste? Is that reasonable?”

Upon hearing this, Wang Fu involuntarily took a step back, his expression turning extremely unpleasant.

How did Li An twist the topic to this?

“Li An! Do not rely on sophistry!” he shouted sternly. “Even if what you say is not without reason, Jin Daya’s actions were far too excessive!”

“The Prime Minister is correct,” Li An nodded. “Jin Daya’s methods were indeed improper. I will discipline him properly when I return.”

“But—”

He abruptly changed tone again. “This incident should also serve as a wake-up call to the court. The capital’s sanitation problems have existed for years, yet no one has addressed them. Though Jin Daya’s methods were crude, at least he forced the issue into the open.”

“I humbly propose that the court seize this opportunity to establish a new tax…”

He paused, sweeping his gaze across the hall with unmistakable satisfaction.

“It shall be called… the Special Sanitation Operations Levy.”

“What?”

The officials looked at one another in confusion. None of them had ever heard of such a tax.

Weren’t they all supposed to jointly impeach Li An?

How did this turn into—

Being led by the nose into discussing a brand-new tax?

“Simply put, whoever produces more pollution pays more,”

Li An explained. “The larger the residence and the more inhabitants it houses, the higher the sanitation fee. The funds collected will be used to hire more cleaners and improve the capital’s hygiene.”

“This—”

Qian Tong immediately panicked. “Isn’t this just a disguised way of forcibly extracting money from us civil and military officials?”

“Minister, that is not quite accurate,”

Li An smiled. “This is taking from the people and using it for the people. You gentlemen enjoy the finest living environments—shouldn’t you pay a small price for it?”

“Besides, seventy percent of the funds collected by Jin Daya will be handed over to the national treasury. That is real fiscal revenue.”

The hall once again fell silent.

The officials’ expressions grew even more complicated.

This Li An… was too damn insidious!

On the surface, he was defending Jin Daya—but in reality, he was digging another pit for them to fall into!

Ding!

【Li An proposes the “Special Sanitation Operations Levy”!】

【Officials’ interests harmed! Court factional strife intensifies!】

【Great Qi National Fortune -100】

【Current National Fortune: 86,049】

Zhao Ling’er watched the scene below and nearly couldn’t stop herself from applauding.

Li An truly hadn’t disappointed her.

In just a few sentences, he had backed the entire court into a corner.

“Your Majesty!”

Wang Fu called out unwillingly. “Li An may be silver-tongued, but the grave mistake in his scheme of selling official posts is an undeniable fact!”

Zhao Ling’er pondered for a moment before speaking slowly. “What Minister Wang says is not without reason. The court has its dignity.”

The officials immediately brightened.

His Majesty was finally about to speak!

“However…”

Her tone shifted, growing meaningful.

“I recall that the establishment of the Revenue Commission was to raise military funds. Li An’s method of ‘selling offices’ was also approved by me. When one employs a person, one should not doubt him; if one doubts him, one should not employ him. Since I entrusted him with this task, before the ten-day deadline arrives, this matter should not serve as grounds to impeach him.”

“Moreover, military funds are urgently needed. If we do not use this method, do any of you beloved ministers have a better idea?”

The hall fell silent once more.

No one dared to answer.

Everyone knew that asking them to contribute their own money toward military funds was absolutely impossible.

“Very well then.”

Zhao Ling’er lightly tapped the armrest of the dragon throne with a smile. “Though Li An’s method of selling offices has its flaws, his intention was for the sake of the court. I shall not pursue the matter.”

“As for this… sanitation levy…”

Her gaze swept across the assembled officials, a flicker of satisfaction rising in her heart.

“I find Li An’s reasoning sound. The Ministry of Revenue shall draft detailed regulations and implement it without delay!”

Ding!

【The Emperor firmly supports Li An! The “Special Sanitation Operations Levy” is officially established!】

【Officials’ interests harmed; court unity deteriorates!】

【Great Qi National Fortune -120】

【Current National Fortune: 85,929】

The officials: “…”

It was over.

Completely over.

Not only had their impeachment failed—they now had to pay an additional sum of money!

Li An, that bastard!

How did he manage it?

Faced with impeachment by the entire court, confronted with the Emperor’s doubts…

And yet he turned the gun around and made the ministers so furious they nearly coughed up blood!

They all looked toward Prime Minister Wang Fu, their eyes practically accusing him:

Why the hell did you impeach Li An for no reason?!

…

Standing at the back of the ranks, Li An secretly glanced at the system panel.

【Today’s National Fortune Change: -360】

【Cumulative Change: -2,071】

【Current National Fortune: 85,929】

【Estimated Settlement Reward: 207,100 taels of gold】

Over two million taels of gold!

And in today’s morning court session, he hadn’t done anything but move his lips…

Yet the national fortune had dropped by more than three hundred points!

These fools were far too cooperative!