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Su Yu sat in front of the chair, sketching. He drew many without much trouble, and only nodded in satisfaction after finishing the last one.
“Finished drawing?” Wang Jinhe asked.
“Jinhe, come and take a look at this crossbow I drew,” Su Yu said, showing the drawing to Wang Jinhe.
After looking at it, Wang Jinhe was somewhat surprised. “Impressive.”
Su Yu was indeed Su Yu. Just by looking at her imitation of the crossbow, she came up with the idea for the crossbow arrow. That was quite impressive.
“I’m going to the palace.”
Wang Jinhe reached out and pulled him back. “You should check the time. Go tomorrow.”
Su Yu glanced outside and realized it was already late. He didn’t know where the four children had gone.
Carefully putting away the drawings, Su Yu then discussed the matter of convenient foods with Wang Jinhe.
At that moment, Yin Fan walked in with a serious expression. “Brother Yu, there’s news from Qi Empire.”
“Oh? What news?”
“After the New Year, Qi Empire has been frequently training its troops, and this year, they have increased their taxes by twenty percent. I suspect Qi Empire is preparing to take action,” Yin Fan said.
“Within the next year or two, Qi Empire won’t make a move. If they do, it will likely be in conjunction with Ling Empire, and Xuan Empire will be hard-pressed to deal with attacks from both sides,” Su Yu said, narrowing his eyes.
He hadn’t expected Qi Empire to act so quickly.
“In that case, we must prevent Qi Empire from forming an alliance with Ling Empire. Brother Yu, do you want to sow discord between the two Empire?” Yin Fan suggested.
“No need. Yin Fan, come here. I have something for you to do,” Su Yu beckoned to Yin Fan.
As Yin Fan approached, Su Yu spoke to him for a few moments. Yin Fan’s eyes lit up. “Brother Yu, you are truly amazing.”
“Go and take care of it.”
“Alright.”
Not long after Yin Fan left, Nan Qiao and Luo Yan arrived. “Brother Yu, is Qi Empire preparing to deploy troops?” Nan Qiao asked.
Su Yu shook his head. “Not for the time being. Qi Empire has been plagued by natural disasters in recent years. They don’t have enough provisions to engage in a conflict with Xuan Empire.”
“Yin Fan just reported that Qi Empire is intensifying its military training and has increased its taxes by twenty percent this year,” Nan Qiao said, looking concerned. “Qi Empire’s taxes were already at forty percent, and now with an additional twenty percent increase, how will the people survive?”
Will the remaining forty percent of the grain be enough for the people to eat?
When he came to Xuan Empire, he had learned about the country. Since the current Emperor ascended the throne, the tax rate in Xuan Empire had always been at twenty percent. No matter how difficult the situation was, the treasury had never considered increasing the tax burden on the people. This was the behavior expected of a ruler.
He did not want to see Xuan Empire being swallowed up by Qi Empire and Ling Empire.
“At this stage, we don’t have the means to help solve this,” Su Yu said.
Nan Qiao remained silent, pursing his lips. He wasn’t a good person, but he also didn’t want to see the people suffer.
Luo Yan looked at Su Yu and spoke up, “Brother Yu, should I prepare some gunpowder? We can use it for siege warfare when the time comes.”
“Prepare some, but don’t prepare too much,” Su Yu warned Luo Yan.
Luo Yan nodded expressionlessly. “I understand.”
Brother Yu is good at everything, but he’s just too talkative.
He tapped Luo Yan and said, “No fooling around.”
“Okay,” Luo Yan rubbed the spot where he was tapped and mumbled.
But he felt warm inside. He was willing to listen to Su Yu not because Su Yu was so skilled in martial arts that he couldn’t beat him, but because Su Yu always treated him with respect in his words.
Su Yu didn’t want him to make too much gunpowder because he was concerned that he might get hurt or that the gunpowder might attract unwanted attention.
Nan Qiao, leaning on his chin, watched as Luo Yan was teased, laughing uncontrollably. “Luo Yan, you got hit by Brother Yu.”
“After this, you can go find Wan Gu and work together to develop some effective treatments for external injuries,” Su Yu instructed.
“No problem.” Not only was he skilled in using poisons, but he also had a high level of expertise in medical treatments.
“Brother Yu, you can also ask Bai Qi. He comes from a family of medicine practitioners, so he should have many formulas for treating external injuries.”
“Okay, where is Bai Qi?” Su Yu was surprised that Bai Qi hadn’t come along.
“He’s playing with Xiao Bao and the others, and then he got caught up by the Emperor’s son.” Thinking of Bai Qi’s forlorn expression, Nan Qiao found it amusing.
A two-year-old toddler was very interested in medical skills and kept pestering Bai Qi to teach him about medicinal herbs.
Although Bai Qi seemed somewhat dispirited, he could tell that Bai Qi was actually happy.
“Poor guy.” Hong Yi was raised by them, so Su Yu naturally knew what kind of person he was.
Wang Jinhe listened to their conversation and then spoke up, “Do you need high-yield grain seeds in Nanjiang?”
“Definitely, but there won’t be too many this year, so save some for me next year,” Nan Qiao replied. He had also wanted to buy some grain seeds from Wang Jinhe, but considering that Xuan Empire needed them more, he didn’t ask.
“From my family’s land, we can spare over 20,000 catties. I’ll give them all to you as a gift to strengthen the friendship between Xuan Empire and Nanjiang,” Su Yu said. The relationship between Su Yu and Nan Qiao meant that Xuan Empire and Nanjiang were friends, not enemies. Since they were friends, he naturally couldn’t let the people of his friend’s country go hungry.
“In that case, I’ll thank my sister-in-law on behalf of the people of Nanjiang,” Nan Qiao said happily.
“Why be so polite with me?” She quite liked Nan Qiao as a younger brother and found him very obedient, cute, and sensible.
“Su Yu, when you go to see the Emperor tomorrow, make sure to bring up this matter with Elder Brother. I believe he will definitely agree,” Wang Jinhe suggested.
“Okay.”
After considering it for a while, Nan Qiao decided that after Su Yu spoke to Xuan Feiran, he would also write a letter back to the current King of Nanjiang, asking him to send someone over. He believed that the diplomatic relations between the two Empire should not rely solely on the enthusiasm of Xuan Empire.
The next day, Su Yu went to court again. Seeing Su Yu attending court on his own, Xuan Feiran knew that he must have something to discuss.
After court, he summoned the Minister of War, the Minister of Works, and several generals. Once the other ministers had left, the summoned individuals looked at Su Yu and asked, “Is there something the Prince needs to discuss with us?”
“Indeed, this is not the place to talk. Let’s go to Elder Brother’s study to discuss,” Su Yu said.
“Okay.”
Xuan Feiran was not surprised at all when Su Yu brought the group over. He instructed Lai Fu to bring them in.
“Xiao Yu, do you have something to discuss today?” Xuan Feiran asked.
“I received this intelligence report just yesterday. Please take a look first,” Su Yu handed over the report to Xuan Feiran before elaborating.
After reading it, Xuan Feiran’s expression changed, and he passed the document to the others. “Take a look, everyone.”
After reviewing the report, the Minister of War spoke up, “We have at least a year to prepare. Your Majesty, we have already refined a considerable amount of fine iron.”
“The weapons designed by the Prince have also been successfully produced, and several generals have tested them with excellent results,” he added.