Disguised Emperor & His Warrior Bride

Xiao Heng, emperor of the Great Xiao, comes home from a victorious campaign to find that factions formed in the capital while he was gone, that the administration has been carved up among them, and that his old teacher was driven to his death in the middle of it. He says nothing publicly. He builds a case, moves quietly, and clears the corrupt officials out of the court. Reports from Jianghuai in the south keep saying the same thing about hunger and flooding, and he does not trust the men writing them, so he puts on plain clothes and goes to look himself. On the road he meets Su Wanqing, a swordswoman good enough to make his escort unnecessary. They travel the region together, arresting magistrates who have been selling relief, opening the grain stores that were being held back, and getting the river dikes repaired before the season turns. The work takes months and puts them in danger more than once, and somewhere in it they stop being strangers. When it is finished Xiao Heng takes her back to the capital with him.