Shentu Yang had not even taken off his armor yet. Hearing these words, he approached the Emperor with a beaming smile. “Your servant has captured four provinces within a few short months, personally heading out to suppress the rebellion for Your Majesty. With such monumental achievements, shouldn’t Your Majesty reward me in some way?”

As Shentu Yang spoke, his eyes stared intently at the Emperor’s crimson lips, making his true underlying intentions glaringly obvious.

“In the Prime Minister’s opinion, how should I reward you?” Yin Shuhuai asked with a faint, knowing smile. “You have indeed rendered great service in crushing the rebellion. Yet, you have simultaneously drained the treasuries and granaries of those four provinces, and moreover, you have taken all their local officials under your own wing. The court officials are all saying that you are using vassal states to annex imperial commanderies, with the clear intention of committing treason.”

“I am truly being deeply wronged.” Shentu Yang looked completely innocent, even putting on a display of affected grievance. “Little do they know that every single move your servant made was done under Your Majesty’s direct instructions.”

Shentu Yang used the word “instructions” to point out that while he was suppressing the rebellion, Yin Shuhuai had secretly sent men to deliver maps of the Qing, Xu, Yan, and Ji provinces. Those maps were filled with details and marked with quite a few things. If those maps were ever seen by the major noble clans, it would be a catastrophic disaster!

Yin Shuhuai let out a soft snort. “Does the Duke of Yan feel so secure in my favor that he dares to threaten me?”

“Your servant would not dare.” Shentu Yang bowed respectfully with his hands clasped, then edged his way even closer to the Emperor. “Your servant’s loyalty to Your Majesty is as clear as the sun and moon, and witnessed by heaven and earth.”

“Then what if I appoint the Duke of Yan as the Grand Marshal and General-in-Chief?” Yin Shuhuai asked with a pleasant smile.

Shentu Yang was stunned for a moment. It took him a brief pause to process the words, and his heart immediately swelled with a burst of excitement. “Is Your Majesty truly going to appoint me as the Grand Marshal and General-in-Chief?”

In his excitement, Shentu Yang even dropped his formal self-reference.

Yin Shuhuai looked at him coldly he knew all along that this bastard’s humility and obedience in front of him were completely acts!

“To be a general abroad and a prime minister at home is surely the ultimate aspiration of every official. Let alone having both positions combined in one person. Could it be that the Duke of Yan does not like it?” Yin Shuhuai asked, fully aware of the answer.

“I like it, of course I like it.” Shentu Yang smiled so widely he could barely close his mouth. His handsome yet fierce face rarely showed a hint of foolish joy. “Your servant offers his profound thanks to Your Majesty.”

“Now, getting back to business,” Yin Shuhuai asked with a solemn expression. “I have already fulfilled the General’s aspirations. Does the General understand my expectations?”

Shentu Yang clasped his hands in a perfectly serious manner and said, “Your servant has already delivered all the rare treasures and curiosities from the four provinces into the Imperial Treasury.”

Yin Shuhuai stared intently at Shentu Yang, whose face was as thick as a city wall. He was almost driven to an angry laugh by the man’s sheer shamelessness. “…Your Grand Marshal and General-in-Chief title is gone!”

Shentu Yang knew he was in the wrong, but he still said guiltily, “The Emperor’s words are golden and absolute. How can you go back on them?”

Yin Shuhuai replied with a radiant smile, “I was merely joking with you just now!”

Shentu Yang could only look at the Emperor with a look of grievance, acting exactly like an innocent young man who had been toyed with by a wealthy rogue. Yet, he did not say a single word about the petty tricks he had played during the “division of the spoils.”

When the four provinces fell into rebellion, Yin Shuhuai had personally appointed Shentu Yang to lead the army to crush it. He had also secretly given Shentu Yang the maps marked with the strategic passes and treasuries of each province. On one hand, this was to help Shentu Yang put down the rebellion as quickly as possible; on the other hand, it was a subtle hint to Shentu Yang that the rebellion must be completely rooted out without mercy.

Yin Shuhuai did not want those powerful local clans and gentry, who controlled the lifeblood of the region, to remain there and continue doing whatever they pleased. He had long had enough of the local noble families being too powerful for the court to control. He hoped to achieve everything in a single, definitive campaign, using this rebellion to thoroughly reclaim direct imperial control over the four provinces.

Shentu Yang had indeed fulfilled the Emperor’s expectations. As soon as he arrived in the four provinces, he slaughtered most of the local tycoons under the charges of colluding with the rebels and harboring bandits. He then uprooted the remaining half and packed them off to Luoyang making it convenient for the Emperor to show them imperial clemency. Through this combination of hard and soft blows, the local tycoons were completely broken and subdued. Free from the constraints of the noble clans, Shentu Yang also swiftly suppressed the rebellions across the various commanderies.

The reason these bands of displaced people dared to rise up and cause havoc was partly due to the instigation and backing of local tycoons behind the scenes. Another reason was that the various regions had suffered severe natural disasters. The livelihoods, grain, fields, and homes of the common people had been swallowed up by floods overnight. Left with no food, no water, and having lost their loved ones to the disaster, they had no choice but to rebel just to survive. They burned government offices, slaughtered officials, and then swarmed into the cities to pillage everywhere. Because the local tycoons and noble families had private armies for protection, well-equipped with sharp weapons and strong forces, the rebels did not dare to clash with them. Instead, they turned their blades against other ordinary citizens.

When Shentu Yang’s main army arrived at the various commanderies, what they witnessed was a scene akin to a living hell. The countryside was littered with exposed bones, and for thousands of miles, not even a rooster could be heard. Signs of flood and fire damage were everywhere, and the corpses of the common people were piled haphazardly in the streets and alleys. Rebels, crazed with bloodlust and holding sharp weapons, broke through doors, swinging their blades to slaughter the common people and pillage their belongings amidst terrified pleas for mercy.

They had originally been the victims, yet now they were swinging their blades at those even weaker than themselves.

Shentu Yang immediately led his army to slaughter all the rebels currently committing these atrocities, and drove the remaining rebels straight into the grand estates of the local tycoons. Following that, he directly took action against the powerful families under the pretext that they were harboring bandits.

The local tycoons and noble families certainly raised private armies in secret, but how could their private forces possibly hold their own against the Yan iron cavalry, who had fought the Xiongnu nomads without a single defeat? Those noble families and tycoons, who had secretly instigated and even single-handedly orchestrated this refugee uprising, probably never imagined that they would die in such a ridiculous and careless manner.

They had once viewed the common people as mere ants, yet in the end, they were executed under the imperial charge of colluding with those very ants.

After wiping out the rebellions in the four provinces, Shentu Yang began to work on disaster relief and stabilizing the populace in the various commanderies. He first installed his trusted associates into key positions such as provincial governors, inspectors, and commandery governors across the region, and led his army to seize and audit the official treasuries and the private estates of the local tycoons. In accordance with the imperial decree, he opened the granaries on the spot to distribute food and relieve the disaster victims, while also distributing a portion of the fertile lands seized from the noble families to the surviving citizens.

Regrettably, after going through such a massive upheaval, barely one in ten of the local commoners had survived. Even though Shentu Yang granted the people tenfold compensation according to the Emperor’s standards, those who had died could never be brought back to life. Shentu Yang simply consolidated the remaining fields into military farming settlements, leaving them to be cultivated by the occupying Yan army.

In addition to this, Shentu Yang took one-third of the silver, coins, and textiles from the treasuries of the four provinces to reward the soldiers who had contributed to suppressing the rebellion on the spot, and submitted a memorial to the imperial court to request official commendations for his men.

Next came the moments for a division of spoils that was public but far from honorable!

If anyone thought Shentu Yang would send all the remaining grain, forage, and wealth back to Luoyang, they were being far too naive! Shentu Yang only sent all the rare treasures and curiosities from the private storehouses of the noble families into the Imperial Treasury, while completely withholding and keeping all the seized grain and forage for himself.

In other words, Shentu Yang had completed a grand tour through the four provinces under the guise of suppressing a rebellion for the imperial court, plundering countless fortunes in money and grain. In the end, he only sent the most useless luxury goods into the Emperor’s private treasury, while keeping all the actually useful land, grain, and forage for himself.

Yin Shuhuai even suspected that the reason Shentu Yang loudly and publicly paraded the rare treasures seized from the noble families into the Imperial Treasury was specifically to drive a wedge between him, the Emperor, and the major noble clans.

His greed was already so glaringly obvious, yet this guy actually had the nerve to act aggrieved in front of him!

As expected, those who play politics have truly dark hearts!

Yin Shuhuai laughed out of sheer anger. “How is the Prime Minister aggrieved? I see the Prime Minister is doing exceedingly well for himself. The appointment and dismissal of officials in every province are decided by the Prime Minister alone, and how the court rewards the three armies is also entirely dictated by the Prime Minister. Indiscriminately handing out money and land over the head of the imperial court… Since the Prime Minister is acting with such immense generosity, what need is there for the imperial court to exist?”

As expected, you can never truly know a person until you test them. And this single test had revealed his true colors!

Shentu Yang also knew that what he did was underhanded, so he explained in a humble and low voice, “Don’t be angry, Your Majesty, listen to my explanation…”

The reason Shentu Yang did this was also out of sheer necessity. Last year, under the banner of rescuing the Emperor, he had led a force of one hundred thousand troops into the Central Plains. Later, he was ordered to suppress the eighteen rebel lords and managed to absorb another two hundred thousand troops along the way. The sheer amount of food and resources required to sustain this army of three hundred thousand men was no small sum. Last year, it was only because Yin Shuhuai used a combination of threats and incentives that the imperial court was forced to take on the logistics for this army. This also relied on the fact that the harvest within the passes of Henan had been highly abundant last year, leaving the imperial granaries quite full.

This year, as soon as the flood struck, even though Yin Shuhuai had already sent people in advance to clear the river channels, the harvest of winter wheat was still affected by the natural disaster yielding less than seventy percent of last year’s crop. Now, in order to guard against his army of three hundred thousand men, the imperial court was still keeping an army of two hundred thousand northern troops assembled inside the city of Luoyang, refusing to disband them.

Given Yin Shuhuai’s temperament and his favoritism toward the Huo family, the court’s grain would definitely be given to the northern army first. Shentu Yang had to plan ahead and make considerations for his own army which, of course, now stood at only one hundred and eighty thousand men. The remaining one hundred and twenty thousand troops had already been left behind by Shentu Yang in the four provinces to handle defense duties.

“And that is your excuse for putting me in the line of fire?” Yin Shuhuai glanced coldly at the innocently pleading Shentu Yang, his train of thought exceptionally clear.

Shentu Yang’s face flushed slightly with embarrassment, leaving him with no choice but to say, “Your Majesty treats me with such trust, I had to show my sincerity somehow.”

Shentu Yang was truly out of options. He did not dare let go of the grain and forage seized from the four provinces, and he could not exactly move the lands and grand estates of the region away. Aside from disaster relief, a portion of the funds and grain in the official treasuries had to be left for the local officials to use in the coming year. What remained was nothing but the private storehouses of the noble families.

Shentu Yang’s original intention was to use these stolen goods as a gift to please the Emperor. He never expected that Yin Shuhuai would fly into a royal rage.

“It was a lack of foresight on my part,” Shentu Yang said apologetically. “I ask Your Majesty to punish me.”

Before he could even finish his sentence, Shentu Yang hastily added, “However, I only appointed key positions such as the provincial governors and commandery governors in Ji Province and Yan Province because the situation demanded immediate action. As for the governor positions in Xu Province and Qing Province, I must ask Your Majesty to make the final decision.”

Yin Shuhuai exposed Shentu Yang’s petty tricks with a perfectly calm expression. “The only reason you didn’t appoint the provincial governors for Xu and Qing provinces is because the ranks of the people under your command are too low, and promoting them too abruptly would fail to command public respect. But instead, you installed the local governors for the six commanderies of Xu Province and the six commanderies of Qing Province, and stationed sixty thousand troops across both provinces. By doing this, no matter who the imperial court sends to be the provincial governors of those two provinces, you will be able to completely turn them into mere figureheads.”

Shentu Yang let out a long, slow sigh. “Your Majesty is truly misjudging me.”

“Even if I am misjudging you, give me half of the grain you seized across the regions!” Yin Shuhuai struck a hard bargain, but did not forget to offer a sweet incentive. “If you do that, the title of Grand Marshal and General-in-Chief granted by the imperial court will still be yours.”

While Shentu Yang was racking his brains over the logistics and grain for his one hundred and eighty thousand troops, Yin Shuhuai was doing the exact same thing for his own forces.

Just as Shentu Yang worried that the imperial court would kill the hound once the hares were caught and therefore dared not reduce his troops, how could Yin Shuhuai dare to reduce the northern army? Not only did he have to worry about Shentu Yang, a traitorous official who held massive military power and might one day get wild ideas and suddenly lead troops to force a coup; he also had to guard against the remnants of the noble clans hiding within the city of Luoyang. Heaven only knew if they were still lurking in some dark corner, just waiting for Yin Shuhuai to let his guard down so they could assassinate the Emperor to avenge their losses.

Oh, right. Thanks to Shentu Yang, there were now also the noble families and tycoons of the four provinces to worry about. After all, powerful families do not die easily. Shentu Yang had dumped all the treasures from the seized noble storehouses straight into the Imperial Treasury, so how could the noble families of those four provinces possibly take this lying down?

Thinking up to this point, Yin Shuhuai glared fiercely at Shentu Yang, who brought nothing but trouble, and could not help but sigh in his heart: this powerful official was far worse than his previous Prime Minister!

“What are you thinking about?” Noticing Yin Shuhuai’s disdainful look, Shentu Yang’s heart skipped a beat, and he could not help but speak up. “Your Majesty cannot put all the blame on me, can you?” If the young Emperor had not been thinking every day about wearing down his military forces, he would not have calculated so much just to protect himself.

Yin Shuhuai asked, “How did I calculate against you?”

“Your Majesty still won’t admit it?” Shentu Yang simply spoke out. “Commanding the military and suppressing bandits is supposed to be the responsibility of the Grand Commandant. Your Majesty did not let Huo Quan lead the troops to suppress the rebellion, but instead made me lead the Yan army to march on four provinces at once. Was that not an attempt to wear down my military strength?”

Although the heartland of the Central Plains had not experienced war for a long time, the noble families and tycoons of the four provinces were by no means easy targets. If they did not possess considerable strength, how would they have dared to immediately spark a rebellion and slap the imperial court in the face right after the court enforced a strict land survey and census?

Shentu Yang had led two hundred thousand troops to suppress the four provinces, and had also secretly ordered the Yan forces from You and Bing provinces to launch a surprise attack on Ji Province. Only by doing this did he manage to capture two provinces with lightning speed, displaying the absolute might of the imperial court.

Yet even so, the main army still encountered fierce resistance from the noble families and tycoons during the process of putting down the rebellion. If Shentu Yang had not, at a critical moment, packed off the tycoons of Yan and Ji provinces to Luoyang to show that the court had no intention of completely wiping them out root and branch, the noble families would likely have fought to the bitter end.

“You calculated against me like this, yet I didn’t even get angry with you. I even won the war, and I brought back every single piece of captured rare treasure that could be brought back…” The more Shentu Yang spoke, the more he felt that he was truly the one who had suffered a great grievance.

Yin Shuhuai said coldly and ruthlessly, “Casualties are inevitable in war. You led two hundred thousand troops from the main army and one hundred thousand troops from You and Bing provinces to wipe out the rebellion in four provinces, losing fewer than five thousand men, yet you gained four of the richest and most fertile provinces in the Central Plains. Are you still not satisfied?”

Yin Shuhuai had certainly acted out of selfish motives, wanting to avoid wearing down the living strength of the Huo family and the northern army. However, that was because Yin Shuhuai knew full well that Huo Quan was simply not a capable military commander. If Huo Quan had been sent to suppress the rebellion, it would have been considered a massive victory if even half of that two hundred thousand-strong northern army managed to return. It was only out of absolute desperation that he had no choice but to rely on Shentu Yang to lead the campaign.

Yet now that Shentu Yang had suppressed the rebellion and seized actual control over four entire provinces, he was unwilling to hand over even a single coin or grain of rice that rightfully belonged to the imperial court, and instead cried poverty and acted aggrieved. What was this if not getting a great bargain and still acting like the victim?

Sensing that Yin Shuhuai’s mood had shifted, Shentu Yang immediately said, “Ultimately, this is all because the heartland of Guanzhong is crowded with powerful noble families, and the court officials all have their own hidden agendas, preventing you and me, master and servant, from sleeping easily. Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven, yet you dare not even sleep soundly next to your own bed, so how can you bear to blame me?”

Yin Shuhuai remained silent.

Seeing this, Shentu Yang immediately added, “If Your Majesty were in You Province, your servant would definitely hand over every single grain and coin captured in battle!”