I'm really not doing business

Chapter 1029 Zhu Yijun looked around and only saw the words "cannibalism".
The Songjiang authorities invited the emperor and presented a complete plan, intending to implement it by leveraging the emperor's authority.

This plan, in terms of class identity, is closer to the poor and laborers than to the powerful, wealthy, and influential.

This is both a necessary self-change for bureaucrats under strongman politics and a move by bureaucrats to ensure their detached status.

During the twenty years of the Wanli Reforms, Songjiang Prefecture transformed from a small fishing village into a world trade center. Amidst this earth-shattering change, the officials astutely discovered that two classes—powerful and influential figures and wealthy merchants—could be created.

Simply put, when the Ming Dynasty firmly holds a dominant position in commodities, relies on its first-mover advantage to firmly occupy the upstream of high-profit industries, and occupies a dominant position in maritime trade, it can continuously create countless powerful figures, wealthy merchants, and tycoons.

Once the bureaucrats discover that the two classes below the electorate can be replaced, and that these two classes can threaten the electorate class, then it will be time for the bureaucrats to put their abilities to use.

The Salary Adjustment Office, a solution devised by Li Le and Wang Qian, is a tool aimed at quickly resolving labor disputes, with a half-month performance evaluation period. It is designed to target the behemoth that is monopoly capital.

Li Le and Wang Qian have some disagreements regarding the mediation of labor disputes.

Li Le believed that it was more important to occupy a dominant position in the market, while Wang Qian believed that it was more important for the court to fulfill its function of mediating conflicts. Although the two had some differences, it did not mean that they were on different paths. The Seven Decrees on Education and Culture and the Ten Articles on People's Livelihood were jointly planned by the two.

Li Le and Wang Qian also did not overlook the important role played by the vast number of poor laborers in mediating labor disputes.

In the ninth year of the Wanli Emperor's reign, an edict abolishing the status of slaves was issued. This led to a large-scale slave revolt in Jiangnan, including Songjiang Prefecture. Some slaves settled for their slaves while sitting, while others settled for their slaves while wielding weapons. The most violent of these revolts involved killing slaves, such as those who cut off noses.

The slave revolt greatly promoted the abolition of the system of unsavory slavery.

In the tenth year of the Wanli Emperor's reign, a massacre occurred at the Hongyuan Dyehouse in Chongyi Ward, Shanghai County, where artisans occupied the factory and demanded money. If it weren't for the proper handling of the situation by Yao Guangqi, the magistrate of Shanghai County, who used a scar on his face to gain the trust of the artisans, the massacre would likely have been a bloodbath.

It was on that occasion that the labor-management conflict came to the attention of the imperial court.

In the thirteenth year of the Wanli Emperor's reign, the emperor made a southern tour to Songjiang Prefecture and personally dealt with a massacre of an entire family. While refusing to pay the craftsmen's wages, the emperor also harshly criticized and humiliated them, which eventually triggered a riot by the craftsmen. The emperor eventually intervened to quell the riot, and the labor contract policy gained widespread acceptance.

In the seventeenth year of the Wanli Emperor's reign, His Majesty made another southern tour. While nothing happened in Songjiang Prefecture, the land return policy in Zhejiang had ended. However, there were bandit groups returning to their hometowns that undermined the policy. Hou Yuzhao consolidated the land return policy by utilizing the power of the broadest number of producers and laborers, rather than local gentry and officials.

The success of the Zhejiang land return policy completely ushered in the era of land return and estate development in the Ming Dynasty.

In Li Yashi's view, the people of the Ming Dynasty were never docile and unwilling to die quietly. Instead, they would band together and fight to the death with the powerful who refused to share the spoils.

In mediating labor disputes, the Ming Dynasty relied on the resistance of the vast majority of workers and the authority of His Majesty the Emperor to continuously push forward the process.

"Wang Qian, on the third day of the fourth month, you will go to Luzon with Marquis Yin Zongxin of Sishui to assume the post of Governor of Luzon." Zhu Yijun announced the appointment of Wang Qian and explained in detail the Ming Dynasty's many arrangements for Luzon.

Wang Qian listened attentively to the sacred instruction, even though these matters had already been described in great detail in Wang Jiaping's letters.

Wang Qian pondered for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, I believe it is advisable to stop issuing Luzon Treasure Notes and exchange them for Gold Treasure Notes, and to exchange all existing Luzon Treasure Notes for gold notes."

"To reduce trouble, the Luzon Treasure Note can be redeemed not only for Wanli Tongbao coins but also for silver coins. In fact, it is no different from the Gold Treasure Note. Further differentiation would probably hinder trade between the two places."

Zhu Yijun frowned and said, "The Grand Minister you mentioned also told me that the court is preparing to stop issuing Luzon paper money."

"But in this way, the gold notes were actually over-issued. 1200 million strings of notes were to be issued in a year, but I could only store 150 million taels of gold. One tael of gold is equal to five taels of silver, so the gold notes were over-issued by nearly double."

"At the earliest twenty-five years, at the latest thirty years, the total issuance of the Gold Note will exceed the lower limit of 20% of the silver reserves, and the Gold Note will collapse just like Felipe's Gold Bond."

Zhu Yijun recalled that last year, when he wanted to stop issuing paper money, but the cabinet and the Ministry of Revenue rejected his proposal. In the end, he was persuaded.

The gold notes were like a ticking time bomb, causing Zhu Yijun great anxiety.

Wang Qian's expression was strange. He hesitated for a moment, then said in a low voice after careful consideration, "Since His Majesty is not in Songjiang Prefecture, the banknotes circulating overseas do not need to be redeemed."

"Huh?" Zhu Yijun was taken aback and looked at Wang Qian in surprise, his brows furrowed.

“Your Majesty, once it is circulated overseas, it does not need to be cashed out.” Wang Qian repeated his words. Since everyone was a scholar, His Majesty would understand what he meant as long as he thought about it.

The amount of Luzon Treasure Notes that could be redeemed was actually very small, because the notes had to circulate throughout Southeast Asia, and there wasn't even enough for everyone. Only a small portion needed to be redeemed in the heart of the Ming Dynasty. Most of the time, the notes were not redeemed for silver, but were instead converted into various goods.

Gold notes were only convertible currency within the heartland of the Ming Dynasty, but not overseas. They only had value because people believed they could be redeemed in the distant heartland of the Ming Dynasty.

To put it more bluntly, the paper money was an important tool for the Ming Dynasty to plunder overseas wealth.

Your Majesty's main concern regarding the issue of paper money is the Emperor's credibility. However, the ministers who are truly capable of handling matters, such as Li Le and Wang Qian in Songjiang Prefecture, see things much more clearly. Paper money circulating overseas does not need to be redeemed at all, so the issue of over-issuance is actually not a concern at all.

Zhu Yijun remained silent for a long time before saying, "My thinking is one-sided. You must not spread these words outside."

"Your Majesty, I obey." Wang Qian hurriedly replied. He was just talking to His Majesty. If he went outside and spread rumors, wouldn't he be waiting to be beheaded by His Majesty?

In Wang Qian's view, His Majesty's thoughts were certainly correct, but His Majesty's thoughts were not entirely comprehensive, because His Majesty was far away in the capital and not in Songjiang Prefecture, and did not know much about the specific operation of the Luzon Treasure Note. He could not think of this as a matter of course, so he went into a dead end.

The Wanli gold notes never had an over-issuance problem because they did not need to be redeemed overseas, as foreigners overseas were unable to get the Ming Dynasty to redeem them.

Do the barbarians have fast sailing ships? Do they have cannons weighing thirty-six catties? Do they have a well-trained navy of 160,000? If they don't have these, and they still want the Ming Dynasty to redeem its currency, they are courting death.

These words are very immoral, so the emperor forbade Wang Qian from speaking recklessly, as it would be detrimental to Wang Qian himself.

Wang Qian spoke with His Majesty the Emperor for a long time before bowing and taking his leave.

"These scholars are full of bad intentions!" Feng Bao exclaimed in amazement after Wang Qian left. When it came to speaking ill of civil officials, Feng Bao would never say a good word, but he did not believe that what he said was bad.

That Wang Qian is truly wicked; he has bewitched the emperor!
A person cannot stand without integrity. How can you mislead His Majesty into falling into a crisis of distrust?
The ministers did these things quietly, without letting His Majesty know.

"Lord Guoxing was also a scholar." Zhu Yijun flipped through a memorial in his hand, Yin Zongxin's "Summary of Luzon", which was full of benevolence and morality, but Zhu Yijun could only see the words "cannibalism" after looking at it over and over.

In the fourth year of the Wanli reign, Yin Zhengmao promoted the policy of allowing people to cultivate their own land. It seemed that both Han and non-Han peoples could become self-employed farmers, which seemed to benefit the non-Han peoples.

But by the 20th year of the Wanli reign, there were no barbarians among the self-sufficient farmers in Luzon. The barbarians, who sowed seeds and relied on the weather for their harvest, could not compete with the intensive farming practices of the Han people, let alone the plantations with their lower labor costs.

In the end, these barbarians reclaimed the wasteland and it became part of the plantation. So the barbarians were actually the main force in land reclamation, but the reclaimed land eventually flowed into the plantation.

In the sixth year of the Wanli reign, Yin Zhengmao issued another decree, allowing the people outside of Tongzhen to manage their own affairs. This policy seemed more benevolent and showed great respect for the Yi people.

However, by the time Yin Zhengmao passed away, the area of ​​Tongzhen had expanded many times over, and most of these expansions were not achieved through military conquest, but rather through the self-disintegration of these tribes, which then became completely dependent on Tongxiang Town.

This happened entirely because the moral bottom line of the Ming colonists in Luzon exceeded the upper limit of the local rulers.

Luzon has excellent natural endowments, with long hours of sunshine, abundant rainfall, and fertile land. If the barbarians ruled themselves, wouldn't that be a utopian fantasy?
In practice, the local clan chiefs would simply sell able-bodied men to merchants as slaves, and send women in batches to copper towns and Han towns to work as prostitutes in Southeast Asia, using all the proceeds for their own enjoyment.

The expansion of the Ming Dynasty allowed these local rulers to witness a prosperous world. In order to enter this world, they began to exploit their subordinates, and then destroyed each other in fierce conflicts, eventually becoming part of Tongzhen and Hanzhen Township.

This process is very similar to the conversion of chieftains to centrally appointed officials in Yunnan over the past two hundred years. Many chieftains disappeared and became part of the Muyuan Garden of the Duke of Qian. However, due to the opening of the sea by the Ming Dynasty, trade in Luzon was more developed, which greatly accelerated this process.

There are many more similar decrees, all reflecting Yin Zhengmao's benevolent rule.

Before Yin Zongxin truly became the master of the Sishui Marquis's mansion, he didn't need to consider these issues. But when Yin Zongxin was in charge, the more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. However, in his memorial to the throne, he naturally didn't question his father, but only said that he would cooperate with the new governor, Wang Hualuzon.

After Zhu Yijun arrived in Songjiang Prefecture, the biggest change was that the place for reviewing military troops changed from the Beidaying Camp to the Songjiang Navy.

The main camp of the Songjiang Navy was set up at the old wharf of Shanghai County, ten miles away from the Huangpu River Imperial Palace. When the Songjiang Navy chose this place to garrison and build the Maritime Academy, it was still a barren tidal flat.

More than 20 years have passed, and this place has become very prosperous.

The Huimin Pharmacy of the Songjiang Navy has become the most frequent place for nearby residents to seek medical treatment, as it is very cheap and the medical skills are superb.

Of course, there was another change: he had more time to rest. Not all memorials needed to be forwarded to Zhu Yijun. The court officials remaining in the capital could also handle some of the less troublesome administrative affairs. Zhu Yijun's workload was only about half of what it usually was.

Empress Wang, as His Majesty's bedmate, clearly sensed His Majesty's leisure time and immediately began the task assigned by Empress Dowager Li: to arrange for His Majesty to take in concubines.

The last time a new person entered the palace was in the seventeenth year of the Wanli Emperor's reign, when His Majesty took Gu Meisheng as his concubine during his southern tour. That was four years ago. Empress Dowager Li asked Empress Wang to arrange this matter, which was somewhat of a power relinquishment, as Empress Dowager Li had always been in charge of the arrangements in the past.

At thirty, one is established; from now on, all matters concerning the harem will fall under Wang Yaozhuo's jurisdiction.

Feng Bao, the envoy in charge of flowers and birds, immediately began to exert his influence, arranging for Zhang Jin, the imperial envoy in charge of Yingtian, and Zhang Cheng, the imperial envoy in charge of Songjiang, to begin selecting beauties six months before the emperor began his southern tour.

Seven days after His Majesty the Emperor stayed in Songjiang Prefecture, the beauty pageant began at the insistence of Empress Wang.

“The imperial heir is the foundation of the nation, and we must be careful. My husband, the beauties in the palace are all getting old and losing their beauty. It’s time to bring in some new sisters.” Wang Yaozhuo led a group of eunuchs and prepared three painting boxes containing six hundred beauties waiting to be selected.

"What nonsense are you talking about? Where is she old and faded? In my opinion, my wife is still more beautiful." Zhu Yijun did not think that Wang Yaozhuo had lost her beauty.

Wang Yaozhuo wore a bright red brocade phoenix patterned dress, which made her skin look even whiter than snow. At the age of thirty, she was not only not less beautiful, but her youthful radiance had been transformed into an intoxicating charm. Her moist and full lips were just like peonies in full bloom.

Her breasts rose and fell like clusters of peaks, full and undulating. Though her waist was tightly bound by a jade belt, it only accentuated the softness of her flowing figure. Every frown and smile made her even more alluring, and the gentle tinkling of her jade pendants was like the gurgling of a stream as snow melted in spring. "My husband just loves to make me happy," Wang Yaozhuo smiled and sat down next to Zhu Yijun.

Zhu Yijun held Wang Yaozhuo's hand and said with a smile, "Whether my husband is lying or not, my wife knows best."

Wang Yaozhuo's eyes were filled with undisguised joy. Before the southern tour, her husband still followed the rules and summoned other concubines to serve him in bed. After the tour, as long as she was not menstruating, it was only her. They were truly happy every day. When she was menstruating, it was basically her. Her husband rarely summoned other sisters to serve him in bed anymore, preferring to hold her while resting.

Wang Yaozhuo was somewhat worried. Of course she liked this kind of favor, but her husband was the emperor, and imperial offspring were a matter of state. It was also His Majesty's duty to have more children.

"They are all terrified of me. The later they enter the palace, the more afraid they become. They're like wooden figures, so boring." Zhu Yijun didn't really want to choose, but he didn't want to have a bunch of 'fake people' around him, as they looked too frightening.

Zhu Yijun said somewhat helplessly, "My wife, tell me, I don't eat people, why are you so afraid?"

Consort Ran Huiniang, whose household was in turmoil, was a woman who dared to express her ambition for the position of empress, relying on the emperor's favor. In recent years, she has become more and more obedient. Sometimes when Zhu Yijun was thinking about state affairs and had a stern face, she would be terrified and would do everything cautiously, often apologizing for her mistakes, for fear of provoking the emperor's wrath.

"It's quite scary," Wang Yaozhuo sighed, speaking from the bottom of her heart.

Empress Dowager Li rarely dared to speak to the Emperor about anything, but instead had Wang Yaozhuo relay the message: Empress Dowager Li's father, Li Wei, had three sons who had all been exiled because of the Baochao case.

Li Wei fell ill some time ago and asked someone to send a message to the palace, hoping that his eldest son could return to the capital to visit him. At Li Wei's age, he could pass away at any time, and if he unfortunately died of illness, there would be someone to see him off.

Empress Dowager Li hesitated for two whole days before finding Wang Yaozhuo to convey her message: Zhu Yijun had agreed, but once the title was taken away, it was taken away and would absolutely not be granted again.

Zhu Yijun lazily looked at more than a dozen portraits, and the more he looked, the more he felt they all looked the same. He waved his hand and said, "My wife, please choose."

Court painters all painted portraits in the same style; after seeing so many, it became quite confusing.

Wang Yaozhuo could tell at a glance that he was seeing things, so he clapped his hands and said, "Alright, then listen to me! Feng Daban, summon all six hundred beauties to the palace so that His Majesty can take a look at them one by one."

She wouldn't let His Majesty see the portraits anymore, since she couldn't understand them. It was better to just choose people directly, keeping whoever he liked.

Zhu Yijun set aside half a day to look at all six hundred beauties, and he did not disappoint Feng Bao, Zhang Cheng, and Zhang Jin's hard work. In the end, he chose the first and the last one, one being the most beautiful and the other having the best figure.

The first person to appear must impress the emperor, and the last person to make a grand entrance must show the emperor that everyone is working diligently.

The two people Zhu Yijun chose were indeed the two most outstanding among these six hundred people.

They were indeed very young and uninteresting. These two newly arrived concubines had learned a lot of rules and regulations, and they did things very meticulously, not daring to overstep their bounds in the slightest. This made the emperor, who did not value formalities much, feel even more bored.

"The war to pacify Bozhou started last September, and it's already May. It's been eight months, and there's still no result?" Zhu Yijun asked with a solemn expression as he flipped through the memorials. The war in Bozhou still had no outcome and seemed to be turning into a messy, protracted conflict.

"I think that no victory report is a victory report," Feng Bao said, placing a memorial in front of His Majesty. "Both Liang Sima and General Liu are not new to the battlefield. They are seeking not only military victory, but also political victory."

"It's not a big deal to defeat Yang Yinglong. The real victory is to crush the chieftains of the southwest so that they dare not rebel and obediently accept the reform of the chieftain system."

According to the Ministry of War's plan, the Battle of Pingbo should have been completed in six months at most, but eight months had already passed and there was still no result, so the emperor naturally had to inquire about it.

According to what Feng Bao learned from the Ministry of War, Liang Menglong and Liu Ting did this on purpose, and the Eighth Route Army swept through all the chieftains along the way.

"I'll wait a little longer. Liang Menglong and Liu Ting are not people who don't know what's important. If they are unable to do it, they will surely ask the court for help. I hope they are not trying to cover up their defeat." Zhu Yijun picked up the memorial and chose to believe.

Victory and defeat are common occurrences in war. Losing a battle is not terrible; what is terrible is trying to cover up a defeat but failing to do so and becoming a laughing stock.

Zhu Yijun opened the memorial, his eyes lighting up as he said, "Has Hou Yuzhao finally finished his profound interpretation? Summon him to see me."

Zhu Yijun issued an edict promoting Hou Yuzhao from Zhejiang to the position of Minister of Revenue. Hou Yuzhao then requested three months to finish the last few tasks, and the book "Deep Translation," which he had been writing for five years, was finally completed.

Hou Yuzhao traveled from Hangzhou to Songjiang to pay his respects, and had been waiting for the summons since early morning.

"Your subject pays respects to Your Majesty, may Your Majesty live ten thousand years!" Hou Yu Zhao entered the imperial study in the temporary palace and performed the grand ceremony of five bows and three kowtows.

"No need for formalities, please sit down." Zhu Yijun said with a smile, "Minister Hou is really hard to invite. Last time I went to Zhejiang, you refused to return to the capital. A few days ago, I issued an edict, but you still refused. Now I have finally invited you here."

Hou Yuzhao nearly embarrassed the emperor by making three requests and declining each time. However, for the emperor's enthronement ceremony, Hou Yuzhao had already made the emperor request him twice. Asking him a third time would be somewhat against etiquette, and the old scholars in the court would not let it go.

Hou Yu Zhao hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I am terrified. Please forgive me. It is not that I do not obey the imperial edict, but that I have not finished my work and I am truly unwilling to accept it. Only with Your Majesty's leniency can I have made even a small contribution."

Zhu Yijun waved his hand, picked up a book from the table and said, "If you finish writing 'Deep Turning Over,' you must show it to me first. I often read 'Turning Over,' the last one. Any official who returns to his land should read this book from time to time."

The pages of this book were curled up, but Zhu Yijun really flipped through it often, and each time he read it, he gained something new.

"Your Majesty, I request that the Governor's Office be moved from Hangzhou to Zhenhai to prepare for the threat of Japanese pirates," Hou Yuzhao said, holding his hands.

The Zhejiang Provincial Governor's Office was located in Hangzhou Prefecture. In the fourth year of the Wanli reign, Zhao Siji, the magistrate of Qiantang County, flattered Governor Wu Shanyan and built a very grand Governor's Office.

The Zhenhai City mentioned by Hou Yuzhao is the "Imperial Envoy and Governor-General's Gate," which was specially built by Hu Zongxian to quell the Japanese pirates and was mainly used for patrolling the sea.

The civil official was called Hu Zongxian, and the military official was called Hu Zongxian, or Hu Junmen.

"It would be better if the governor were still in Hangzhou Prefecture," Zhu Yijun answered the question definitively.

This was not the first time Hou Yuzhao had made this suggestion. In fact, this issue had been discussed repeatedly since the time of Zhu Wan, eventually leading to the formation of a dual-stationing system in Hangzhou Prefecture and Zhenhai City.

Hou Yuzhao said with some sorrow, "I have been the governor of Zhejiang since the fourteenth year of Wanli's reign, more than eight years ago. Even though the Japanese pirates ravaged Zhejiang and so many years have passed, I still witness their devastation from time to time. Therefore, I offer this advice."

Time is the best healer, but more than forty years have passed and those scars have not been erased; they still sting the people of Zhejiang.

For example, people in Taizhou don't eat zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) during the Dragon Boat Festival, but instead eat shibingtong (a type of flatbread). They also eat shibingtong on the days of Lixia (the beginning of summer), the Dragon Boat Festival, and the 13th day of the fifth lunar month to commemorate Qi Jiguang's achievements in fighting against Japanese pirates.

Moreover, there was another activity in Zhejiang at that time called "Stone Dragging". Every Mid-Autumn Festival, dozens or even thousands of people from each village and township would drag round millstone-sized stones around the village in a race, imitating the scene of resisting Japanese pirates.

The governor's office was located at the military gate of Zhenhai City, which was for the purpose of preparing for the Japanese pirates and preventing them from wreaking havoc again.

The reason why the imperial court kept the governor's office in Hangzhou was very simple: during the Jiajing era, when fighting against Japanese pirates, there was no large-scale navy. Now, the Ming Dynasty's navy was sufficient to protect the peace of the sea frontier.

The governor's office was more concerned with local government affairs, and it was obviously more convenient to be in Hangzhou than in Zhenhai.

Hou Yuzhao took out his completed work, "Deep Translation," and presented it to the emperor.

Zhu Yijun flipped through the book, which was a full 200,000 words long. This book required careful study and could not be swallowed whole. He asked with some curiosity, "In your opinion, what is the most important thing in this deep plowing that guarantees the results of returning the land to its original state?"

"Don't deceive yourselves." Hou Yuzhao immediately replied, "During my eight years as governor of Zhejiang, I discovered that the biggest problem is that officials habitually create a delusion that there is no way for the people to benefit."

"Officials always deceive themselves in this way to make their inaction, dereliction of duty, illegality, and corruption seem reasonable."

"In my opinion, there is absolutely no such thing as having no way for the people to succeed."

They always start by saying that the world is dark, that people are surrounded and blocked, that the people are not enlightened, that people should protect themselves, that everything is difficult, and that nothing can be accomplished. But these are all just reasons and excuses. There has never been a situation where the people had no way out. Even before the Wanli Reforms, there was no situation where the people had no way out.

This is particularly evident in the process of protecting the results of the land restoration policy.

Hou Yuzhao only considered political stances. Officials who failed to resolutely crack down on returning bandits and who condoned land annexation were all punished with the same crime by Hou Yuzhao. Within two or three years, the atmosphere among local officials in Zhejiang changed dramatically.

Hou Yuzhao's definition of annexation was very broad, not only including the buying and selling of land, but also various long-term leases, the forced acquisition of clan land, adopted sons and daughters, long-term tenant contracts, etc. All actions aimed at concentrating land into private hands were defined by Hou Yuzhao as annexation.

Zhu Yijun read through the first chapter of "Shenfan". The content of this first chapter was all about how to govern officials, which was consistent with Zhang Juzheng's reform methodology: govern officials first, then do things.

It's really no good to neglect the management of officials.

The coal in Hangzhou's coal market mainly came from the Gaokeng coal mine in Jiangxi, and the price in Hangzhou was only six wen per jin. The official price of coal in the coal market was eight wen per jin. In the sixteenth year of the Wanli reign, the official price remained unchanged, but ordinary people could not buy coal at all from the coal market.

The entire city of Hangzhou needs 400 million jin of coal every year, and the Gaokeng Coal Mine can fully meet the demand. More than 600 million jin of coal arrives in Hangzhou every year because it needs to be transferred from Hangzhou to Suzhou, Shaoxing, Ningbo and other places.

However, the people of Hangzhou could not buy coal at the official price; they could only buy coal at a higher price, ranging from sixteen to twenty coins per jin (500 grams).

After careful investigation, Hou Yuzhao discovered that this was nothing short of official profiteering!
The coal market deliberately withheld coal from the market. The supervising officials, clerks of Qiantang County, and judges of Hangzhou Prefecture only released coal to their relatives, friends, or cronies, causing abnormal coal prices.

Hou Yuzhao didn't tolerate it either; he arrested them all and sent them to the capital, making them all targets for the Censorate's anti-corruption efforts.

The local officials dared to do it because they were certain that Governor Hou Yuzhao would not be able to detect the coal price fluctuations. Hou Yuzhao was a governor, a scholar-official, and a nobleman; he would not buy coal himself.

But Hou Yuzhao discovered it. The reason he discovered it was simple: he could observe the Yao Guangqi Index, especially the changes in the prices of affordable goods. Any abnormal fluctuations would be detected by Hou Yuzhao.

There is never a way out for the people; solutions are always found by people, and paths are also made by people walking them.

(End of this chapter)