Without money, what is the point of being a traitor?

Chapter 627 Good News Comes True
Just as the entire capital was engrossed in heated discussions about the appreciation of the paper money, Jin Xianmin, the Shandong Provincial Surveillance Commissioner, urgently sent a memorial to the imperial court.

In his memorial, Jin Xianmin mentioned several matters in which Ding Hong, the commander of the Left Guard of Xuzhou, made a real-name report against Zhang Feng, the governor of the Yellow River.

Furthermore, Jin Xianmin's investigation revealed that the case involved officials at various levels along the canal, including prefectures, states, and circuits. Not only was the case serious, but it also implicated a wide range of people.

In his memorial, Jin Xianmin expressed his deep concern that Zhang Feng was greedy, cruel, and lawless, and that his exploitation of the people was already showing signs of unrest among the populace.

Given the involvement of many local officials, Kim Heon-min hoped that the court could act decisively before a greater risk was brewing.

The Bazhou army incident had just been quelled, and the imperial court was in a state of high alert.

Moreover, in the minds of many court officials, there was still a Luo sect entrenched in Shandong, and if unrest broke out, the consequences could be unimaginable.

Even Zhu Houzhao was worried when he heard about it, fearing that Chen Tou Tie might not be able to control the situation.

Therefore, because of the matter of the paper money, Zhu Houzhao, who was afraid of being questioned by his ministers, held a rare court meeting.

There was controversy surrounding Zhang Feng's appointment as the River Conservancy Commissioner last time.

When Jin Xianmin's memorial was submitted, those who were already unhappy about Zhang Feng's transfer to the position of River Conservancy Governor expressed their opinions.

—What did I say before?!
Representatives of this group include Chai Qi, a censor known for his meritorious service, and Wu Tang and Zhang Xuan, censors.

They had previously impeached Zhang Feng for his improper conduct, alleging that he had embezzled large sums of money and rice while serving as governor of Suzhou and Songjiang, nearly causing a civil unrest.

—Look, something bad has happened!
Another person who came out to beat a drowning dog was Yang Tan, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

When Zhang Feng first took office as the Director-General of the Waterways, Yang Tan said that Shandong was still recovering from its devastation, and Zhang Feng was fond of making achievements and stirring up trouble. If he were to control those two major projects, he would inevitably impose more corvée labor, causing constant unrest in the region.

Yang Tan's sudden outburst this time was not only to fiercely criticize Zhang Feng, but also for another reason.

Previously, under Pei's guidance, Wang Qiong exposed the shady dealings in the supply of provisions and directly criticized the relevant personnel in the Ministry of Revenue for wasting the people's hard-earned money.

The key point is that Wang Qiong actually went to the front line and sold the mountains of grain that had been wasted for a large sum of money.

This caused great trouble for Yang Tan, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue who was in charge of military supplies, and Sun Jiao, the Minister of Revenue who was directly responsible for leadership.

Yang Tan, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was reprimanded for incompetence, Sun Jiao, the Minister of Revenue, was blamed for negligence, and Wang Qiong, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was the most handsome.

Yang Tan and Sun Jiao had no choice but to resign.

When Yang Tinghe saw that the fire was about to spread to Sun Jiao, he immediately determined that the matter was entirely Yang Tan's responsibility and demanded that Yang Tan be severely punished.

So why is Yang Tan still able to jump around like this?

That's all because of Pei.

In order to support Wang Qiong, Pei secretly spoke on his behalf to the emperor. Wang Qiong also needed the emperor's support in order to get rid of the oppression of Sun Jiao and Yang Tan.

As a result, Zhu Houzhao exposed this act of seeking advancement in the imperial court.

This immediately made Wang Qiong a treacherous minister hated by the court officials.

In politics, of course, you should discuss people first, and then discuss matters.

Now that Wang Qiong has proven himself to be a bad seed, his previous claims are naturally worthless.

Therefore, no one pursued the matter of the baggage train.

Yang Tan thus passed the test safely.

Even though he passed the test, Yang Tan still deeply resented Sun Jiao and Yang Tinghe, who had thrown him out to take the blame.

A few days ago, when Zhang Feng submitted a memorial to the imperial court requesting that provisions be allocated to the constables in charge of arresting criminals, Yang Tan stood up and vehemently opposed it.

He believed that matters concerning Anjing should be handled by the respective prefectural and military authorities, and what business was it of a river governor like himself? Why was he making a separate request for funds and provisions for this? Wasn't he planning to embezzle?
As a result, Yang Tan's objection was ineffective, and Sun Jiao directly approved Zhang Feng's request.

This completely enraged Yang Tan. Recalling his old and new grudges with Sun Jiao, Yang Tan made a bold statement.

"If you are of the same age as Feng, your request will be granted."

Thus, Sun Jiao, who was being framed, had no choice but to transfer the matter to the Ministry of War on the grounds of avoiding suspicion.

Yang Tinghe was also furious after hearing Yang Tan's words. Who was this guy targeting?
It should be noted that Zhang Feng had another classmate, Yang Tinghe's father, Yang Chun.

Yang Tinghe is such a tough guy. No matter which department or which ministry it is transferred to, it has to pass my approval.

As a result, Zhang Feng's application for funds and provisions was not only approved, but the imperial court also issued a special decree, subtly naming Yang Tan for neglecting official duties due to personal grudges.

"Let Tan and Feng be of one mind and act with impartiality, without any suspicion or discord."

Well, now karma has come back to bite you.

In Jin Xianmin's memorial, one item specifically mentioned Zhang Feng's embezzlement of the money and grain of the arresting officers, which led to widespread resentment and extortion of merchants.

The more humiliated Yang Tan was when he was suppressed by Yang Tinghe and Sun Jiao, the more arrogant he is now.

Yang Tinghe was filled with shame and anger, and publicly declared that he would immediately investigate the matter to find out whether Zhang Feng was the one with the problem or whether his subordinates were making false accusations.

This matter fell directly on Li Shishi's shoulders.

When Zhang Feng served as the Director-General of the Waterways, he also held the title of Right Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate. The only person in Shandong who could investigate him was Wang Chang, the Shandong Governor who also held the title of Right Vice Censor-in-Chief.

But now that the imperial court has chosen a replacement for Wang Chang, how could they possibly allow Wang Chang to swagger back to Shandong?

So, was the person Li Shishi selected to oversee the investigation of Zhang Feng's case the next Shandong governor, Bian Xian?

No, it's Xiao Chong.

Because Bian Xian, the Right Vice Censor-in-Chief, is a protégé of Yang Yiqing, he is currently cracking down on Yang Tinghe because of the imperial examination fraud case.

Meanwhile, Xiao Chong, the other Right Vice Censor-in-Chief, is a fellow townsman of Yang Tinghe and is now desperately trying to sabotage Bian Xian.

Li Shishi and Yang Yiqing cooperated very well during the previous Beijing inspection, and the two had a very good relationship.

How good were they? So good that Li Shishi, the Grand Censor in charge of discipline, and Yang Yiqing, the Grand Chancellor in charge of personnel, together managed to identify five minor officials among the entire court.

Moreover, they chose the Wenhua Hall, a place where no one was in charge.

Given their status and position, it would be difficult for them to be shameless together without a certain level of understanding.

The final outcome of the negotiation was that, regarding the case of Zhang Feng's corruption, Xiao Chong would lead a team, selecting one supervising censor from each of the thirteen circuits, to accompany him on a trip to Shandong to investigate the case.

In order to distinguish right from wrong with Zhang Feng, Xiao Chong was promoted from Right Vice Censor-in-Chief to Right Censor-in-Chief.

Once this major case that shocked the court and the public was settled, an imperial censor immediately sought confirmation from the emperor regarding the memorial submitted by the Director of the Treasury.

Zhu Houzhao originally intended to give him a perfunctory response.

However, the censor was not polite at all and directly brought up the relevant rumors among the people, even asking the emperor whether he had privately purchased paper money in an attempt to profit from it.

Zhu Houzhao was caught off guard by the questioning and had no choice but to make a sophistry, saying that it was because of the memorial submitted by the Junior Supervisor of the Treasury that he realized that there was a shortage of paper money, so he took out the silver stored in the Inner Treasury to purchase a sum of paper money to make up for it.

Seeing that the matter could no longer be concealed, Zhu Houzhao simply approved the memorial.

It was stated that starting from the first month of the eighth year of the Zhengde reign, the major customs stations along the Grand Canal would resume collecting paper money.

As for the specific official conversion price, Zhu Houzhao did not provide a standard, but only claimed that he would give a figure later based on feedback from merchants.

Seeing that the long-awaited good news had finally come to fruition, Zhang Rui, who was standing to the side, was so excited that he almost cried tears of joy.

As a result, the price of the paper money will rise again. But Zhang Rui is not greedy; he plans to sell all the paper money after the court session, taking advantage of the good market conditions.

Because of the participation of a large number of wealthy gentry and common people in the capital, the liquidity of the paper money is now excellent.

Money shops mainly make money from the transaction fees of exchanging currency back and forth. If they only give out money and don't take in any, it's just a one-off deal. Besides, they don't have that much paper money to sell.

In a social climate where people were reluctant to sell and were expecting prices to rise, the buying and selling prices of money shops were already quite close.

This provided Zhang Rui with many conveniences, and he no longer had to wait for the promises to be fulfilled gradually.

On the other side, Lu Yin's emotions were not as volatile.

Pei Yuan had already sold all his goods at a slightly lower price, offering nearly double the return of the purchase price of "five strings of cash for one coin".

Lu Yin had already made a fortune and had taken back his own silver from those money shops.

The subsequent changes in the price of the precious paper money were no longer relevant to him.

After enduring the agonizing court session for so long, Zhang Rui immediately wanted to slip away.

But unexpectedly, he wasn't the only smart person; in fact, there was one right next to him.

That's a photograph!
Although Zhu Houzhao was still clueless and didn't realize what the realization of the good news meant, he instinctively felt that his trump card had been launched and it was time to check the market changes.

So Zhu Houzhao, in high spirits, took Lu Yin and Zhang Rui, changed into civilian clothes, and left the palace.

Zhang Rui didn't find a chance to slip away, but then he thought that since he was going to check the market price anyway, it would be good to do it all at once.

Thus, the group, escorted by plainclothes imperial guards, happily arrived at the market.

Zhu Houzhao, with a great sense of ceremony, personally went to a money exchange to inquire.

Upon hearing the shopkeeper's offer, Zhu Houzhao's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "Young Master Duo?"

The shopkeeper said with a smile, "Three strings of cash can be exchanged for one coin."

Zhu Houzhao was incredulous. "Didn't yesterday's high point reach two coins for one string of cash?"

Zhang Rui's face turned red with anxiety, and he snapped in a shrill voice, "You're talking nonsense!"

The shopkeeper didn't explain further, only saying, "This is the current market price."

Undeterred, Zhu Houzhao asked, "What is the selling price of your paper money here?"

The shopkeeper hesitated for a moment before saying, "One string of cash can be exchanged for one coin."

At the peak of yesterday's market activity, the selling price and the buying price were very close. Now, although the selling price hasn't dropped much, the buying price is rapidly diverging.

Does this mean that the market is generally pessimistic about the future prospects of Baochao?

After leaving that money exchange, Zhu Houzhao asked Zhang Rui directly, "Where are the other money exchanges nearby?"

"This..." Zhang Rui was so flustered that he couldn't think straight.

He just borrowed money to increase his position!

Lu Yin spoke up from the side, "There's one right on the street. I went to check it out before, and it's quite large."

Zhu Houzhao immediately led Zhang Rui and Lu Yin to that shop again.

Zhang Rui wanted to leave quickly to discuss things with his younger brother Zhang Xiong, but Zhu Houzhao was too nervous about the news of the sharp drop in the value of the paper money and kept holding his hand.

My palms were still sweaty.

Zhang Rui had no choice but to follow Zhu Houzhao to that shop.

Upon arriving at the store, I found many people busy exchanging their currency.

Relying on his youth and strength, Zhu Houzhao pushed through the crowd and loudly asked the shopkeeper, "What is the current market price of the paper money?"

Seeing that Zhu Houzhao was well-dressed and had the air of a VIP customer, the shopkeeper asked in a friendly manner, "Sir, are you buying or selling?"

Zhu Houzhao asked, "What is the price for buying, and what is the price for selling?"

The shopkeeper said, "To buy, one string of cash can be exchanged for one coin. To sell, three strings of cash can be exchanged for one coin."

Zhu Houzhao and Zhang Rui both felt a chill in their hearts.

Zhu Houzhao voiced their shared concern: "Don't you know that the imperial court has issued an edict to levy paper money as tax on the Grand Canal starting next January?"

At this point, Zhu Houzhao seemed to have a sense of self-consistency.

Yes, perhaps these people are unaware of this good news, which is why prices have plummeted.

Even Zhang Rui started to look forward to it.

However, to his surprise, the shopkeeper's words chilled Zhu Houzhao to the bone.

"Oh, don't even mention it, the news came before the court session even ended."

"At first, there was a slight increase. But later everyone found that even with such good news, the market didn't seem to react much. In addition, some people suddenly started selling in large quantities, and our backers weren't sure either, so they gradually reduced the proportion."

The shopkeeper pointed to the people Zhu Houzhao had pushed aside earlier, "Look at these people, they're all here to sell paper money. Sir, would you like to sell or buy?"

Zhu Houzhao was in a bit of a daze at the moment, and he didn't care about this anymore. He was about to squeeze out of the crowd and leave.

Then another waiter-like figure squeezed in and whispered something in the shopkeeper's ear.

Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper's expression changed, and he hurriedly called out to Zhu Houzhao, who was about to leave, "Honored guest, please wait! We have good news, good news!"

Upon hearing the words "good news," Zhang Rui, whose face had been ashen, disregarded his presumption and practically squeezed next to Zhu Houzhao, asking in unison, "What good news is it?"

The shopkeeper smiled and said, "You two have really come to the right place."

After the shopkeeper finished speaking, under the expectant gazes of Zhu Houzhao and Zhang Rui, he gestured with his hands, "The latest price is two strings of cash for one coin."

Zhu Houzhao and Zhang Rui were both somewhat excited.

Is this the beginning of a price rebound? Are the people finally realizing the value of the paper money?

Lu Yin, who was standing to the side, was calmer. He asked from behind, "Shopkeeper, are you referring to the purchase price or the selling price?"

Zhu Houzhao and Zhang Rui's gazes sharpened, and the two gripped each other's hands, feeling a sudden chill.

The shopkeeper smiled and said, "Of course, that's the selling price."

Zhu Houzhao and Zhang Rui immediately fixed their gazes on the shopkeeper with a fierce look.

Zhu Houzhao: I want him dead!

Zhang Rui: He's not going to live!
Although Lu Yin knew that asking any further would make things awkward, he felt he had to ask the questions that needed to be asked.

So Lu Yin had no choice but to bite the bullet and ask, "What is the current purchase price of paper money?"

The shopkeeper's smile froze slightly, as if he realized he had misunderstood, but he quickly recovered and said in a friendly manner, "Six strings of cash for one coin."

(End of this chapter)