Qin Yuhang tied her long hair into a bun, saying: “The medicine from yesterday won’t harm your body. Though you were tired, you’ll recover in a day or two. I won’t let my lady work hard these days.”
“What medicine was that?” she asked.
“Called Qianmei, exclusively for royal women, supposedly able to absorb men’s yang essence, and if used long-term, can preserve youth and beauty. I don’t believe it. I’ve never seen anyone not aging after using it. Big Brother said Princess Baohua used Qianmei for decades, yet she still aged and entered her twilight years.”
秦Yuhang furrowed his brow. He had never thought about this aspect and even if he understood, he was unwilling to dwell on it.
“My dear, I believe the army should value quality over quantity. Those auxiliary troops are essentially local militiamen. Maintaining too many is completely unnecessary.”
Auxiliary troops were organized by local officials after years of natural disasters, gathering idle people, providing them with money and grain to arrange their livelihood, and using them for corvée labor, but they never participated in actual warfare.
Over one million corvée laborers were too many, and the imperial court would find it difficult to support them.
“But if we reduce so many troops, won’t the common people gather and cause trouble when they return home?” Ye Hui muttered to herself, “It seems we need to find them a way to make a living, which isn’t difficult. We can send them to farm, herd, and establish some factories.”
“I need to think carefully and write a long letter to Brother Huangfu once I’ve figured it out.” She tapped her forehead and told the messenger, “You can go rest. I’ll reply to you in a few days.”
The messenger was Huangfu Ze’s trusted confidant. Although not his first time delivering a message, he was stunned by the princess consort’s words and hastily bowed respectfully before withdrawing.
