After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times

Having said that, she immediately divided half of the memorials for the emperor to review after reading.

Little Emperor: ...

The Little Emperor had his own place in the hall. Under Zhao Hanzhang’s gaze, he struggled to step forward and respectfully took the memorials with both hands.

As Zhao Hanzhang let go, his arm sank. The twenty or so memorials were forcing him to bend his back.

Zhao Hanzhang smiled and said, "Go ahead, if there’s anything you don’t understand, you can ask the Grand Tutor."

The Little Emperor’s lips trembled. Holding the memorials, he returned to his seat. Standing nearby, Eunuch Dong was both happy and worried. Zhao Hanzhang unexpectedly showed favor to the Little Emperor. Previously, he was only allowed to read the memorials, but now she’s directly letting the Little Emperor approve them. Does this mean he’s assuming power?

Unfortunately, the Little Emperor found it hard to share his joy. The first memorial he opened was about river repairs.

Zu Ti submitted a memorial stating that Northern Land experienced a severe drought this year. Some old farmers indicated that the rainfall might be unusual next year. He also consulted some experts in astronomy, who all said there might be a major flood in the summer and autumn of next year.

The Jizhou section along the Yellow River has always been prone to flooding, so he requested the court to allocate funds for river repairs and dike reinforcement to prevent floods.

Of course, asking the court for money can’t be brief. His memorial was thick, but the handwriting changed. It included detailed methods for river management, various calculations, estimations for required materials, approximate labor numbers, and project timelines, etc.

In the end, these data were compiled into a figure that made even the Little Emperor dizzy.

The Little Emperor stared blankly. Of this memorial, he could only understand the first tenth, while the remaining nine-tenths he could barely get through.

He recognized most of the words. For those he didn’t know, he could ask Eunuch Dong and find out. But when these words were strung together, he couldn’t comprehend them.

Oh, he understood the last sentence. Zu Ti and Zhao Hanzhang were asking for silver coins for river management.

It was a figure that made the Little Emperor tremble as he read it.

He knew the treasury was short of money because half a month ago, his meals changed from white rice to wheat-mixed rice.

Zhao Hanzhang did not subscribe to the idea that the emperor should not suffer. She preferred to share hardships, so she ate wheat rice, and the Little Emperor had to eat rice mixed with wheat grains.

Even so, she had Eunuch Dong whisper to the Little Emperor, "Among all the people in the world, nearly ninety percent don’t even have wheat rice to eat. Even the Great General can only eat wheat rice. Your Majesty is fortunate to have half white rice and half wheat rice."

Now, looking at this figure, the first thing the Little Emperor thought about was how to refuse Zu Ti without offending him?

The Little Emperor hesitated with the pen in his hand. Finally, he didn’t write a word but quickly turned to look at Zhao Hanzhang, who was seriously reviewing her own memorials without raising her head.

The Little Emperor hesitated for a long time. As time slowly passed and lunch approached, he grew anxious. After lunch, he could only rest for two quarters of an hour before studying "Mencius" with the Grand Tutor. Today’s lesson was the first Chapter of "Gaozi II." The Grand Tutor expected him to recite it. But since he had homework last night, he merely went over it roughly. Without further review, he would never be able to recite it completely...

The more the Little Emperor thought, the more nervous he became, sweating on his forehead and trembling slightly as he held the pen.

Eunuch Dong was also a bit anxious. Seeing that he could spend an entire hour on one memorial, when would he finish reviewing the twenty or more?

Having considered it for a moment, Eunuch Dong brought a teapot, cautiously poured him a cup of tea, and reminded him, "Your Majesty, if this memorial is too difficult, why not look at the next one?"

The Little Emperor finally remembered that he could tackle the easier ones first. He quickly put down the pen, closed Zu Ti’s memorial, and picked up the next one.

This one was from Youzhou. The County Magistrate of Wuzhong County in Beiping County complained against Youzhou Governor Shi Le, accusing him of colluding with Duanbu Xianbei to smuggle, raise private troops, and conspire to rebel...

The Little Emperor’s hand shook, and the memorial fell onto the table with a slap.

Zhao Hanzhang gently lifted her eyelid to look at him.

The Little Emperor immediately rolled up the memorial, rushed forward, and anxiously cried, "Great General, Shi Le, Shi Le wants to rebel!"

Zhao Hanzhang glanced at the memorial and smiled, "What does Your Majesty think should be done about this matter?"

The Little Emperor said, "Naturally, troops should be dispatched immediately to suppress Shi Le and escort him back to be judged."

Zhao Hanzhang laughed heartily at his words, then looked at him seriously, "Since Your Majesty thinks so, you should approve it that way."

But where could he mobilize troops to get to Youzhou faster?

The Little Emperor opened his mouth, feeling something was off, yet he couldn’t recall what.

Beside him, Eunuch Dong had already collapsed to his knees, trembling in terror.

Though busy, they couldn’t skip lunch. Zhao Hanzhang checked the time and mercifully said to the Little Emperor, "Your Majesty, go have your meal first. But the memorials you have must be approved and distributed to the ministers by dawn tomorrow, or it will hinder the administration." 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

The Little Emperor left stiffly.

Once he exited the main hall, he immediately lifted his robe and ran to the backyard. There, Grand Tutor Xun Fan was already waiting. He would accompany the Little Emperor for meals, test him on yesterday’s homework, and then begin today’s lessons after a short rest.

Oh, today, the Little Emperor had not just cultural lessons but martial arts classes too.

As an emperor, how could he not know how to ride a horse, shoot arrows, practice swordsmanship, or drive a chariot?

If he ever led troops personally, he would even find it hard to flee, so these courses were spread throughout the ten-day cycle, and today was a swordsmanship lesson, taught by Zhao Ming.

It’s said that after heading to Luoyang, Zhao Ming’s son, Zhao Shen, would replace him as the Little Emperor’s new martial arts teacher. Both father and son’s swordsmanship was reputedly excellent.

Of course, the Little Emperor dared not complain to Zhao Ming. He only dared to complain to his uncle, Xun Fan. He was too upset to eat. Upon seeing Xun Fan, he grabbed his sleeve and cried, "With twenty-some memorials, I’ve only gone through two in the morning and can’t make decisions. How then can I complete them by tomorrow?"

Xun Fan’s face turned grim, quickly asking, "How did Your Majesty respond to the two memorials?"

The Little Emperor shook his head with red-rimmed eyes, "I haven’t approved them yet. I don’t understand Zu Ti’s memorial; he’s asking for too much money. I don’t know how to refuse him."

"Shi Le wants to rebel. I informed the Great General, hoping she’d deploy troops to quash it, but she told me to approve it myself," The Little Emperor spoke with grievance, "But Uncle, I don’t have the authority to mobilize troops. From where can I muster forces to fight Shi Le?"

Xun Fan looked at him with a complex expression, grateful that it was Zhao Hanzhang governing and not the Little Emperor; otherwise, the Northern Land would plunge into a new round of civil strife.