Although there was no martial law in Chang'an City on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the City Defense Department and Jingzhao Mansion were both on guard and on guard to see any situation. A large number of people were dispatched to prepare in the lively places where several lantern festivals were held in the city.

Liu Yu was also worried that the rioters who missed the internet would take the opportunity to launch another terrorist attack, but from the beginning to the end, except for two rioters who came out with knives and were stopped in time, nothing else happened. No reports of casualties appeared.

By the time of the update, the crowds of the Lantern Festival had basically dispersed. After all, this was ancient and it was a cold winter. Even if the people came out to join in the fun, they would never leave home for too long at night. The lively Lantern Festival lasted for almost an hour, starting from the time of the night when the lights were on, and ending at the time of the update.

Liu Yu was waiting for news in the lobby of Jingzhao Mansion and was ready to command the internal war to quell the riots at any time. However, because no situation occurred, when the update came, Liu Yu asked Sui Yi and Li Mi to continue to be responsible, and he returned to the palace earlier. After all, today is the Spring Festival and his family is still waiting for him to go back.

During the years when the Emperor was alive, every year, the palace would always prepare some lively celebrations on festive festivals like the Spring Festival. The palace would be lively on this day, and the festive atmosphere could be felt in the palace. But after Su Yan ascended the throne, the harem began to wither. Now, there were not even concubines in the palace, so no one prepared such an evening party to compete for favor. In the entire palace, except for a few red lanterns hanging out, let people know that this was the Spring Festival, there were no other preparations, and there were deserted everywhere, with only the patrol guards passing by occasionally.

When we arrived at the inner court, the feeling of being deserted was slightly better. The female officials were not prepared. But at the instruction of Xu Xuanzhu, the female guards, led by Lu Chuer, a rash ghost who loves to show off, took the lead. The red lanterns were hung everywhere, and there was a few steps. The female guards simply regarded the inner court as their back garden. When Liu Yu entered the inner court, he heard laughter. When Liu Yu saw the female guards' casual appearance, he couldn't help but be scared. If there was any assassin incident in the palace, these women alone would obviously not be able to maintain the safety of the entire inner court.

"Honey, is you back?"

Liu Yu entered the door and Xu Xuanzhu came over. The family was still talking, but when they saw Liu Yu come in, they stopped talking. Meiren Lin’s attitude was the most abnormal. She was talking and laughing with Qier, but when she saw Liu Yu, she immediately lowered her head and didn’t even get up to call him.

Liu Yu took off his coat and said, "A little chaotic happened in the city, and it's solved now."

Xu Xuanzhu took Liu Yu's clothes and said, "I heard from Deputy Supervisor Xu. She went to the city today and heard that there were people from Jingzhao Mansion and Liufangsi doing things everywhere in the city. I guess something might have happened. Han Xiang had searched for his husband in the afternoon and just returned at dusk."

Liu Yu took the memorial handed over by Xu Xuanzhu, which was specially sent by Han Sheng. If it was not urgent, these things would not be sent to the inner court. There were two memorials in total. Liu Yu opened it and looked at it. One was about the preparations for the throne ceremony in five days, including the list of expenses. Liu Yu did not want to work hard. He put the memorials and opened the following one, which was the post-disaster reconstruction of the snow disaster in Guanzhong.

In the past, it was a good snow that indicates a good harvest, but this winter, there was too much snow in Guanzhong. It was no longer auspicious snow, but disaster snow. The disaster relief in various parts of Guanzhong was not smooth. First, the continuous snow was blocked many roads and materials could not be transferred in. Moreover, the winter was too cold. If you want to organize post-disaster reconstruction, you will usually wait for the warmer spring. In the middle of winter, you will be able to freeze someone to death after being outside for a long time. The most important point is that the court's finances are now in a short position and cannot afford to provide money to rescue the disaster.

The war that had lasted for two consecutive years had already made the court poor and poor.

It is hard for a good cook to cook without rice, and Liu Yu has no choice but to face this embarrassment. It is winter now, and the Dashun Dynasty, which is mainly agriculture, will not create food in this cold winter, and there will be no supplies to rescue disasters. Just mobilizing from Huainan and Jiangnan, the far water cannot quench near thirst. More importantly, those places have been hollowed out by the court in the past two years.

"The taxes in Jiangnan have not been levied well this year. My husband may be able to buy them in this regard." Xu Xuanzhu suddenly reminded Liu Yu when he saw that he was holding the memorial book and did not speak.

Liu Yu looked at Xu Xuanzhu curiously, surprised at what Xu Xuanzhu knew about the government.

"How did the madam know?"

Xu Xuanzhu smiled faintly and said, "Actually, they are chatting with the Sui sister on weekdays, which she often mentioned. Last year, the war in Huai land had just ended, and the court imposed tax exemptions or tax reductions on many places in Jiangnan. However, with the implementation of Nanyang Gang in Huai land and Jiangnan, in fact, in addition to a few places in Jiangnan, most areas achieved bumper harvests last year. Local officials collected food for two years in advance in the name of serving as military supplies, and less than half were transported to the north. Why didn't the husband start with these corrupt officials to ask for food?"

Xu Xuanzhu obviously did some homework, and Sui Yu was very clear about what he said. Liu Yu sighed slightly. In fact, this is actually a political thinking error that women who have no experience in participating in politics and are clean inside.

In Xu Xuanzhu's view, black is black, white is white, and corrupt officials are corrupt officials that must be suppressed and they cannot be allowed to usurp the interests of the court and the people. Once they are greedy, the court must distinguish right from wrong and seek back with a high-pressure attitude.

These things are not wrong in principle, but in practice, they are difficult.

The world's crows are just black, only big black and small black. In this era, if there were no corrupt officials who embezzled them, they would not have done their best to do things for the court, nor would they have thought of ways to perfunctorily treat the court. Just like the corruption problem of local officials in Jiangnan mentioned by Xu Xuanzhu. If these local officials had not collected taxes for local governments for two years against the imperial decree, the soldiers in the north might have starved to death. Although they might have embezzled, when they investigated now, the matter would be investigated more and more. In the end, the food might not be recovered, and the local area would be in chaos, and the taxes for the next year would not be collected.

It is a contradictory thing to not only crack down on corrupt officials but also to rely on these corrupt officials. Even Liu Yu cannot solve this contradiction for the time being. Promoting democracy? Liu Yu thought it was a fantasy and unreliable.

Liu Yu put down the memorial and said, "If you save money, the court will survive this winter first. We should try our best to do local affairs. I believe that Han Xiang also thinks so."

Liu Yu was helpless in his words. Seeing that Liu Yu did not accept her opinion, Xu Xuanzhu might have felt that his hand was stretched too long and lowered his head with shame. However, Liu Yu stepped forward and hugged her shoulder and comforted him: "Madam, thank you for sharing your worries for your husband. But the affairs of the court are a bit complicated, and you will also explain it to you gradually as a husband."

Hearing this, Xu Xuanzhu's sad face was relieved. The family began to prepare for the Shangyuan Festival, which was two hours late. (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!