Quick Wear Beauty

Chapter 771: The Saint is Cruel and Merciless (Extra 1)

Chapter 771: The Saint is Cruel and Merciless (Side Story 1)

In the following three months, Mingli led her army to fight in all directions. She did not recognize the cession treaty signed between Shen Hechang and the Yun Kingdom, drove the Yun people out of the territory of the Ming Kingdom, wiped out the rebellious forces, and ascended the throne on an auspicious day, restoring the rule of the Ming Kingdom. She named the reign Wuyang, posthumously conferred titles on her father, mother, royal grandfather, and those loyal ministers who followed the Ming family, and also conferred titles on a group of new officials.

After ascending the throne, she implemented both moral and legal governance, though bloodshed was inevitable in the early stages. Her tactics were uncompromising, using courtesy before force. If anyone refused to show respect, she would resort to force. Many in the Jianghu were captivated by her exceptional martial arts, and a large number of them joined her army or took the military examinations.

She vigorously reformed the government. Within three years, one-third of the court officials were women. She did not consider their background when selecting officials. As long as their family background was clean, they could participate in the imperial examination. She only considered their character and ability. Both men and women could participate in the imperial examination, and special talents could even take the special talent selection channel.

The country's inherent classes were broken, more than half of the officials in the court were commoners, and the power of the aristocratic families was severely weakened by her. These once powerful people could only survive by obeying her rule and complying with the court's orders.

She didn't believe in the saying "Aristocratic families are permanent, but dynasties are transient". Aristocratic families are accustomed to betting on multiple sides. When the Shen and Duan families came to power, there would always be a group of aristocratic families who could sit back and reap the benefits and exploit the people.

Under her, these noble families were severely suppressed and could no longer be arrogant. If they wanted to rebel, they had to be prepared to punish all nine generations of their clan. If they wanted to stop the implementation of her policies, her soldiers were not raised in vain. She also secretly formed the Sixteen Guards, who were responsible for supervising all aspects of the country.

With the land reform and tax reform, the land held by the wealthy families was gradually taken back, the land became state-owned, and the common people could have the right to use the land.

She also issued various decrees and conducted a census. Aristocratic families favored slavery, and many slaves were unregistered. She gradually abolished slavery, turning these people into commoners, who had household registration and their own land, freeing them from heavy taxes.

As long as ordinary people are given land, opportunities to survive, and a good life, they will not think of rebelling, nor will they be happy for the aristocratic families to take back their land.

She also vigorously developed industry and commerce, appropriately introduced modern technology, improved productivity, changed production relations, and gradually revitalized the country's economy.

During these three years, she had encountered assassination attempts, and there were even men who wanted to seduce her, but she was a martial arts expert and had unparalleled beauty. Even the medical skills of the people in the Imperial Hospital were not as good as hers. She was not afraid of being drugged, and there were many secret guards around her, so it was wishful thinking to want to kill her.

The Emperor of Yun State fell gravely ill and passed the throne to Yun Qi. Yun Qi ascended the throne, but his health had long been impaired. No fewer than a hundred doctors entered the palace, but none could save the Emperor. The imperial family offered Yun Qi an adopted son, but he refused. With someone to replace him, he, the Emperor, would soon perish. Ming Li secretly sent a letter of divorce, stating that she could save Yun Qi's life, but she wanted the Yun State.

Yunqi didn't believe she could save his life, nor did he want to hand over his kingdom to her, so he rejected her.

Giving up the possible chance of survival, Yun Qi acted as if he didn't care in his letter, but in fact he immediately ordered the death of the pregnant concubine in the palace.

He was infertile and had never favored concubines. Every time he did so, he would light incense to deceive his concubines. However, one of his concubines became pregnant. He found out that it was one of his cousins ​​who had secretly colluded with his concubine and coveted his throne.

He had originally planned to use this concubine to silence the ministers in the court and stop him from being adopted one day at a time. But now he thought, if he died suddenly, wouldn't it be a good opportunity for this pair of dogs and bitches? So he cleaned up the palace and the court again, and many families in the imperial city were eliminated.

If he couldn't live, then these people couldn't live either. Slowly, tortured by illness, his temper became more violent, and he confiscated the property of several of his uncles and demoted them to commoners.

In the fifth year of Mingli's reign, Yun Qi, the new emperor of Yun State, died of poisoning without leaving any offspring. The royal family prepared to choose a new emperor from the royal family, but the candidate for the new emperor could not be decided for a long time. The general of Yun State took the opportunity to rebel, and Yun State fell into civil strife.

Mingli took this opportunity to personally lead the troops and recapture the five cities that had been ceded by Shen Zhao.

In the seventh year of Wuyang, she led her army to invade the Yun Kingdom and took over all of Yun Kingdom's territory.

After entering the Yun Kingdom Palace, she found many treasures in the dark room of the emperor's bedroom. Among them was a painting. She opened it casually, but she didn't expect that it was a picture of a person playing the piano. The woman in the painting was only a silhouette, but based on the background of the painting, the woman's clothes and the piano, she was sure that it was herself.

She didn't expect that Yunqi would actually remember her as the most beautiful courtesan at that time. She couldn't help but wonder, if she revealed in the letter that she had seen him in Lianyi Pavilion and listened to the music of the piano with him, would he believe that she could save his life?

But the past cannot be retrieved, so she put the painting away and walked out of the bedroom. The world had just been settled, and she still had a lot of things to do next.