Harem Master: Seduction System

Chapter 487: Draining the Dragon’s Coffers

The heavy snows of winter gradually melted away beneath the warm, driving rains of spring, swelling the rivers and canals of the Celestial Dragon Empire as a new year dawned across the continent.

Over the three months of spring that followed the quiet annexation of the Ling Ancient Clan, Alaric did not launch a single military battle, yet the invisible noose he had slipped around the neck of Emperor Huang Long’s regime tightened with suffocating force.

War, above all else, was a matter of grain, spirit stones, and medicinal pills.

And by the third month of spring, through the seamless coordination of Guildmaster Lin Ruoli’s Jade Serpent Guild, Chief Auctioneer Ya Su’s Gilded Lotus Auction House, Ling Ying’s newly integrated Ling Clan southern trade caravans, and the Wartime Logistics Directorate headed by Cui Yulan and Yan Ruyu, Alaric effectively controlled the economic bloodstream of more than half the empire.

Every week inside the warded strategy chamber of Cloud-Mist City, Lin Ruoli, Ya Su, and Yan Ruyu sat with Alaric to doctor the official imperial tax and supply ledgers before sending them west to the Imperial Capital.

On paper, the ledgers stamped with Yan Ruyu’s unassailable Palace Discipline Seal and Ning Wan’er’s Heart-Mirror Seal showed that millions of taels of silver, hundreds of thousands of spirit stones, and thousands of crates of combat pills were being dutifully consumed to fortify the northeastern passes, build General Bao’s twelve northern relay forts, and repair war damages.

In reality, nearly forty percent of the entire empire’s eastern and southern tax revenues and spirit-stone mine outputs were being quietly siphoned straight into Alaric’s spatial vaults and used to expand his own shadow legions!

Meanwhile, seven hundred miles to the north along the Frozen Heaven Passes, the border conflict that Emperor Huang Long had originally hoped to manipulate from the comfort of his throne was turning into an expensive, bleeding quagmire.

Not only were the winter legions of the Rimefrost Imperium applying steady, grinding pressure against the northern mountain passes under the Third Prince’s struggling command, but a second, wildly unpredictable headache had erupted behind the northern supply lines:

Hunted by imperial bounties and the Gu Clan’s warrants, the four fugitive Peak Martial Kings—Flame King Feng Xiao, Sea Devil Long Chen, Soul Eater Qin Wu, and the scarred warlord Corbin—had retreated into the treacherous, frozen mountain ranges just south of the Rimefrost border.

Bitter, wounded, and desperate for high-grade medicinal herbs and spirit stones to heal their internal injuries from Elder Gu Shan’s palm and prepare for a future return to break Alaric’s “mind-control spells” over their women, the four prodigies had begun ruthlessly ambushing and plundering Emperor Huang Long’s northern military supply convoys!

On a rainy morning in late spring, inside the towering Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Imperial Capital, the atmosphere was so heavy and freezing that the kneeling court ministers barely dared to breathe.

CRACK—SHATTER!

A priceless inkstone of carved imperial jade flew from the high golden steps of the Nine-Dragon Throne and exploded into a hundred sharp fragments against the marble floor beside the kneeling Minister of Revenue!

High atop the golden throne, Emperor Huang Long stood up slowly, his black-and-gold dragon robes billowing around his tall frame as his slitted golden eyes blazed with terrifying, suppressed wrath.

“Explain this to me again,” Emperor Huang Long’s voice rumbled like distant thunder across the silent throne hall. “In the past ninety days alone, four separate northern supply convoys carrying three hundred thousand spirit stones and two thousand bottles of Blood-Replenishing Pills to the Third Prince’s camp were robbed and burned in the northern gorges by Long Chen, Qin Wu, and Feng Xiao! And now the Ministry of Revenue tells me that the central palace treasury has less than one month of liquid spirit-stone reserves left to pay the northern garrisons?!”

Down on the marble floor, the white-haired Minister of Revenue pressed his forehead into the stone until his skin turned white.

“Your Majesty, have mercy!” the Minister of Revenue trembled. “Because the Wartime Logistics Directorate in Cloud-Mist Province—jointly signed by Imperial Consort De, Noble Consort Cui, Imperial Consort Xian, Imperial Consort Shu, and Virtuous Consort Ning—has had to divert all eastern and central-provincial tax revenues to fund Marquis Bao’s two hundred thousand Imperial Vanguard troops at Iron-Blood Pass and reinforce Azure Fall City, less than twenty percent of the spring harvest taxes have reached the capital!”

“And what of those five consorts themselves?!” Emperor Huang Long snarled, his golden fingernails digging deep into the dragon-carved armrest of his throne. “Consort De and Consort Ning were only supposed to remain in Cloud-Mist City and Azure Fall City for a single month to establish the Directorate! That was four months ago! And Marquis Bao’s wife, Guildmaster Lin Ruoli, still has not set foot inside the capital gates!”

Beside the throne, Chief Eunuch Gao bowed low and held up a freshly arrived bamboo memorial stamped with five glowing consort seals and the signatures of the Half-Step Martial Emperor palace protectors Eunuch Feng and Eunuch Liu.

“Your Majesty,” Chief Eunuch Gao said cautiously, “this joint memorial arrived at dawn from Eunuch Feng and Imperial Consort De in Cloud-Mist City. They report that because the traitors Long Chen and Qin Wu attacked the Pure Maiden Holy Temple in Cloud-Mist City before fleeing north, the five Imperial Consorts and Guildmaster Lin Ruoli have had to remain inside the fortified central command compound to personally oversee the security of the southern grain canals. However, they write that their local spirit-stone reserves are also nearly exhausted, and they humbly request that Your Majesty release emergency funds from the Inner Court’s Secret Black-Ledger Treasury to pay the summer troop stipends!”

Emperor Huang Long’s golden eyes narrowed into razor-thin slits of cold suspicion.

He was not a fool.

One delay could be blamed on war; two delays could be blamed on Long Chen’s rebellion; but five of his highest-ranking Martial King consorts—along with Lin Ruoli—staying away from his palace and his bed for month after month while demanding more money from his private coffers made his tyrannical instincts prickle with sharp displeasure!

‘If the Frost Empress of the Rimefrost Imperium were not personally camped fifty miles north of the Frozen Heaven Passes with her Martial Emperor aura locked onto my northern leyline,’ Emperor Huang Long thought darkly, his jaw clenching as he glanced north toward the palace’s central formation spire, ‘I would step through the teleportation gate myself today and drag all five of those women and Lin Ruoli back to my dragon bed by their hair!’

Yet as long as the Frost Empress waited at the northern border for the slightest dip in the Imperial Capital’s Nine-Dragon Heaven-Locking Formation, Huang Long could not leave the capital’s Spatial Law Domain for even a single hour.

And sending another prince like the Second Prince—who had been easily charmed by his aunt Ning Wan’er and Yan Ruyu into signing away three prefectures—was clearly useless.

“Very well,” Emperor Huang Long said, his voice dropping to a deadly, icy calm as he sat back down upon the Nine-Dragon Throne and looked toward the shadowy silk screen behind the eastern pillars of the hall. “Since my five consorts in Cloud-Mist Province claim they need emergency funds from my Secret Black-Ledger Treasury and medicinal pills for the vanguard… I shall send the keeper of my Black-Ledger keys and the mistress of my Imperial Pill Vaults to deliver them in person!”

Emperor Huang Long raised his right hand and snapped his fingers:

“Summon Consort Mei and Consort Lan!”

The silk screen behind the eastern dragon pillar glided open, and two breathtakingly beautiful, mature women stepped out onto the golden carpet before the throne, their distinct, powerful Martial King auras filling the hall with the scents of cold winter plum blossoms and intoxicating sky-orchids.

On the left walked Consort Mei—Mei Aoxue, the Plum Blossom Consort.

She stood at the Late-Stage Martial King realm and served as the secret commander of the Emperor’s female Shadow-Plum Assassins as well as the sole keeper of the Inner Court’s Secret Black-Ledger Treasury. Like all of the Emperor’s top wives, her long-lived martial cultivation preserved her in the full, seductive bloom of mature beauty.

She wore a form-fitting, high-slit martial court gown of deep crimson-plum silk threaded with dark silver wire. Her skin was as pale and smooth as fresh snow, contrasting sharply with her jet-black hair, which was pinned up with three lethal plum-blossom throwing daggers. Despite her cold, narrow, lethal eyes and the severe poise of an assassin mistress, her figure beneath the tight dark-plum silk was overwhelmingly voluptuous—her massive, heavy breasts straining against the crossed silver straps of her bodice, her waist taut and narrow, and her wide, lush hips and long, pale legs flashing through the high side-slits of her gown with every silent step.

Beside her walked Consort Lan—Lan Caihe, the Orchid Consort.

Where Mei Aoxue radiated the cold, sharp edge of a hidden blade, Lan Caihe was a vision of ripe, pampered, sensual luxury. Sitting at the Mid-Stage Martial King realm, she was a master royal alchemist who oversaw the Imperial Medicinal Vaults and carried a trace of ancient Sky-Orchid Wood-Spirit bloodline.

She wore flowing, layered robes of lavender and deep violet orchid-silk with a wide, low-cut neckline that openly displayed the deep, creamy valley between her enormous, soft breasts, which jiggled gently with every breath she took. Her face was round, fair, and captivatingly sultry, with full, glossy berry-red lips, sleepy bedroom eyes, and remarkably wide, fertile hips and a plump, peach-shaped rear that swayed with the unhurried confidence of an experienced palace favorite who knew how to use both her pills and her ripe body to get her way.

“Your Majesty,” Mei Aoxue and Lan Caihe bowed gracefully in unison before the throne, the deep cleavage of both women offering a mouthwatering view from the elevated steps.

“Aoxue, Caihe,” Emperor Huang Long said, leaning forward on his throne as he tossed a black-iron dragon token down into Mei Aoxue’s fair hand. “Take four Half-Step Martial Emperor protectors from the Inner Shadow Guard and twelve of your Shadow-Plum sword-attendants. Travel immediately to the central treasury junction at Jade-River City on the southern border of Cloud-Mist Province.”

Mei Aoxue’s cold eyes gleamed as her fingers closed around the black-iron token. “What are Your Majesty’s exact orders once we reach Jade-River City?”

“Do not go to their main garrison in Azure Fall City or their sanctuary in Cloud-Mist City,” Emperor Huang Long instructed coldly. “Use this token to summon Yan Ruyu, Cui Yulan, Zhao Mengxue, Su Xinyue, Ning Wan’er, and Marquis Bao’s wife, Guildmaster Lin Ruoli, down to the Royal Black-Ledger Vault beneath Jade-River Pavilion! Have Caihe audit their medicinal and spirit-stone books line by line inside the vault. Once they step inside to receive the Black-Ledger funds, lock the vault gates behind them, strip Yan Ruyu of the Logistics Directorate seal, seize Guildmaster Lin Ruoli by force, and bring all six women straight back to my Inner Palace in locked royal carriages!”

A sharp, cruel smile touched Mei Aoxue’s red lips as she bowed low, while beside her, Lan Caihe let out a soft, musical laugh and licked her plump lower lip.

“Rest assured, Your Majesty,” Mei Aoxue replied coldly. “Yan Ruyu has always acted as if her Discipline Registry stood above my Shadow-Plum Pavilion. Once she and that merchant woman Lin Ruoli step inside the subterranean vault at Jade-River Pavilion, not one of them will escape my net.”