I, Am a Living Yama; Empress Advises Me to Stay Calm

Great Zhou.
Qianyuan Hall.
Shangguan Wan’er led Yang Yi inside.
“Your humble servant salutes Your Majesty…”
Yang Yi folded his hands in greeting.
It had been a while since he had last seen the Empress, and she still exuded the same dignified and cold beauty.
This caused Yang Yi’s thoughts to wander.
What would this ice-cold goddess be like, gentle and tender on the bed?
Wu Zhao looked at him with her eyes, her slender, beautiful hand picking up a stack of newspapers.
These newspapers resembled the style of the Great Zhou Bao, but they had a distinctly fake feel to them.
The words Great Ming Bao were prominently displayed on the front.
After the Great Zhou Bao became popular among various nations, other countries naturally began to imitate it.
Even the most foolish emperors understood the importance of public opinion after seeing how the Great Zhou Bao manipulated it to defame Qianlong.
Newspapers sprang up like mushrooms after the rain in various countries.
However, their sales were far inferior to Great Zhou Bao’s.
Wu Zhao placed the pile of newspapers in front of Yang Yi, her eyes flickering slightly.
“Take a look for yourself…”
Yang Yi raised an eyebrow and looked at the so-called Great Ming Bao.
It actually detailed the strategies he had offered to Zhu Yuanzhang.
It even confidently declared these strategies as plans for the eternal prosperity of the Ming Dynasty.
The articles also highlighted how he had pleasant conversations with Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao.
He twitched the corner of his mouth.
This
was probably written to cause misunderstandings.
Could it be that Old Zhu deliberately had this spread around?
Old Zhu was trying to sow discord between him and the Empress.
Yang Yi closed the newspaper and set it aside.
“Does Your Majesty think I would betray the Zhou Dynasty?”
Wu Zhao’s phoenix-like eyebrows raised slightly, a nameless fire rising in her heart. Her cold and noble face showed a hint of anger.
“Are you questioning my trust in you?”
The hall echoed with the Empress’s voice, filled with a magnetic feminine quality and a hint of displeasure.
Shangguan Wan’er quickly lowered her head and retreated into a corner.
Yang Yi was taken aback. He had spoken casually, not expecting such a strong reaction from the Empress.
Wu Zhao also realized that she might have overreacted. However, she couldn’t understand why, after hearing Yang Yi question her trust in him, a nameless fire surged within her, making her unable to tolerate any doubt from Yang Yi.
The hall fell silent.
Yang Yi blinked and looked at Wu Zhao.
Wu Zhao turned her head away, seemingly not wanting to look at Yang Yi.
However, what amused Yang Yi was that despite the Empress’s girlish demeanor, she still had a cold face.
The contrast between her icy expression and her somewhat cute actions was striking.
Yang Yi couldn’t help but smile.
“Is Your Majesty angry?”
“No,” Wu Zhao replied coldly without turning her head.
Yang Yi couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
Shangguan Wan’er was stunned and looked at Yang Yi in astonishment.
Did Prime Minister Yang just laugh?
Hearing Yang Yi’s laughter, Wu Zhao turned around in anger, her clear black and white phoenix eyes glaring at Yang Yi.
What was that scoundrel laughing at?
Yang Yi cleared his throat.
“Your Majesty, I am not questioning your faith in me. I just want to know what you think about this matter.”
Wu Zhao remained expressionless.
“What do I think?”
“Well, all of Great Zhou is spreading rumors that Prime Minister Yang wants to defect to the Ming Dynasty. Otherwise, why would you rush to offer strategies to Zhu Yuanzhang?”
“There are also many dissenting voices in the court…”
“But I don’t believe them!”
Yang Yi raised an eyebrow.
“Oh?”
“Why does Your Majesty disbelieve them?”
“Could it be that you think I am a loyal minister with integrity?”
Wu Zhao looked at him and snorted coldly.
“I just think, you are so sinister and ruthless, how could you be kind enough to help Zhu Yuanzhang with advice?”
“Nine times out of ten, this strategy has problems!”
Yang Yi: “…”
My goodness. Is that how the Empress sees him? He spread his hands, and his mouth dropped slightly.
“I thought it was because I have a special place in Your Majesty’s heart…”
Shangguan Wan’er’s eyes widened as she instinctively looked at the Empress.
Her heart was so shocked that it felt like it was about to explode.
Is Prime Minister Yang flirting with the Empress?
Wu Zhao glared at him angrily.
“That scoundrel!”
She tried to calm herself, her tone steady.
“What special place?”
“I am the ruler, you are the minister.”
“The relationship between ruler and minister, nothing more.” Yang Yi’s lips curled, his eyes fixed on the Empress with a rather presumptuous look, as if he wanted to pierce her eyes.
“Really, nothing more?”
Wu Zhao somewhat unnaturally avoided his gaze, instinctively brushing her hair.
“You still haven’t explained what this strategy is?”
“I’ve thought about it over and over again, and I don’t see any problem with it.” Yang Yi rubbed his temples.
“Since Your Majesty doesn’t see any problems, why can’t I propose this strategy for the sake of peace in the north and let the Ming Dynasty resist the Yuan people?”
Wu Zhao instinctively fell into deep thought.
After a while. She shook her head, her gaze fixed. “I can’t see any flaws in your strategy, but I know you don’t have good intentions.”
Shangguan Wan’er’s mouth twitched as she held back a laugh.
Yang Yi: “…”
Alright, alright, alright.
So the Empress is relying on intuition alone, huh?
He sat down next to her with some helplessness.
“This reputation of being a treacherous minister, I’m afraid I’ll never be able to wash it off in this lifetime…”
Wu Zhao looked at Yang Yi with some amusement.
“I think it’s quite unique.”
Yang Yi’s mouth twitched, then he changed the subject.
“Do you know what kind of person Zhu Yuanzhang is?”
Wu Zhao was taken aback, her phoenix-like eyebrows instinctively furrowed.
She fell into deep thought. After a while. Wu Zhao said slowly, “This founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who rose from a beggar to become an emperor, is truly legendary. I’ve heard that the systems he established in Ming are very strict, and he’s ruthless towards corrupt officials… He’s probably a domineering ruler…”
Yang Yi nodded slightly. “Your Majesty’s assessment is not wrong…”
“Zhu Yuanzhang grew up in poverty and lost his parents at an early age. He later became a beggar and a monk, achieving nothing significant in his youth. It wasn’t until he was older that he began to rise.”
“Experiencing so much poverty in one’s youth often makes one feel inferior.”
“But Zhu Yuanzhang overcame difficulties to become the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty.”
“Such a person must have a confidence that ordinary people cannot have.”
“His character was forged by his continuous successes.”
“Zhu Yuanzhang is both insecure and confident, making him a complex individual…”
“Because of these experiences, Zhu Yuanzhang never trusts outsiders.”
“In his eyes, only his own family would never betray him, and the Ming Dynasty could only be maintained by his own relatives…”
“Therefore, he is very resolute in his attitude toward enfeoffment.”
“And his strong self-confidence makes him believe that even if the enfeoffment system causes some problems, he has the ability to solve them…”
“So if I advised Zhu Yuanzhang to enfeoff his sons as princes to form a defensive line to protect the Ming Dynasty, he would definitely agree and even praise it highly…”
“The fatal weakness of the enfeoffment system is that the power of the princes threatens the court. But I took advantage of Zhu Yuanzhang’s inherent confidence and explained the advantages of the three defensive lines to him, and he wouldn’t refuse.”
“And in fact, these three defensive lines are indeed useful.”
“After all, Zhu Yuanzhang is a formidable ruler. If the strategy didn’t have any advantages, he wouldn’t fall for it.”