Take control of Wei Zhongxian at the start and confiscate 100 million from him!

Chapter 148 Knowing it is impossible, yet still wanting to do it.
Inside the inner hall, the "Map of the World" that had overturned Sun Chuanting's entire worldview still lay on the table, like a silent and enormous monster, silently mocking the arrogance and ignorance of the past thousand years.

Sun Chuanting stood there, his posture as straight as a spear, but only he knew that his spine had just undergone a complete shattering and reconstruction.

That strange feeling, a mixture of boundless fear and indomitable fighting spirit, is like a person standing on the edge of a collapsing cliff, with a bottomless abyss behind them and a perilous path paved with thorns and flames leading to the future!
Knowing it's impossible, yet still wanting to do it!

This is the truest reflection of Sun Chuanting's state of mind at this moment.

He took a deep breath and bowed solemnly to the lonely emperor's retreating figure: "Your Majesty, I understand. Even if the road ahead is fraught with danger, I am willing to lead the way for Your Majesty, even unto death!"

This statement is different from any previous one. It is no longer a subject's loyalty to the king, but more like a martyr who has seen his destiny and is following another pioneer.

Zhu Youjian did not turn around, but simply gave a faint "hmm".

Sun Chuanting straightened up, the tragic look in his expression quickly fading away, replaced by extreme calmness and pragmatism.

"Your Majesty, I still have one concern." Sun Chuanting spoke extremely quickly, as if racing against time.

"The grain and fodder Your Majesty brought, along with the grain confiscated from the Prince of Qin's residence and the officials who sided with the rebels, if used entirely for relief, might be enough to sustain the million famine victims in Shaanxi for two to three months. But after three months, with no hope of autumn harvest and no spring planting, I fear we will still face the dead end of having no grain to distribute and no money to allocate. At that time, even if the people's hearts are still with us, they will rebel again due to hunger. What we are doing today is nothing more than..."

This is the most realistic and also the most fatal problem: no matter how grand the ideal, it must be built on the foundation of filling one's stomach.

Zhu Youjian slowly turned around. He looked into Sun Chuanting's bloodshot but unusually bright eyes, and before he could finish speaking, he raised his hand to stop him.

"Boya, there's no need to beat around the bush with me."

The emperor's voice was not loud, but it carried a power that pierced through people's hearts.

"Did I personally come to Xi'an and take this thunderous action just for a moment of pleasure, to watch these millions of people live for three months before being plunged into death together?"

Zhu Youjian walked up to him, speaking calmly as if stating a given fact.

"What you are worried about is nothing more than money and provisions. As for money, I have it."

Sun Chuanting was taken aback.

Zhu Youjian extended one finger, which appeared exceptionally steady in the sunlight, like a lever that could move heaven and earth.

"I have decided to allocate ten million taels of silver from the imperial treasury! All of it will be used in Shaanxi, and will be used exclusively for this purpose!"

"Ten...ten million taels?!"

Sun Chuanting felt as if there was something wrong with his ears. He felt as if he had been struck by lightning, and he stood there frozen, his mouth involuntarily open, but he couldn't make a sound.

Ten million taels of silver!
What is this concept?
Back when he was in the capital, he had witnessed the imperial court struggling to pay the military expenses in Liaodong and exhausting itself trying to secure weapons for the nine border regions. He knew all too well the state of the national treasury.

In previous years, the Minister of Revenue and the Grand Secretary would argue for two months in court over a mere 500,000 taels of disaster relief funds. Even the Emperor would hesitate to approve it, and in the end, he would often have to reduce the amount by a certain percentage.

And now, this young emperor is asking for ten million taels of silver!
……

Zhu Youjian's tone suddenly changed when he said "ten million," a chilling undertone emanating from his calm demeanor.

A fierce glint, utterly incongruous with his imperial status, flashed in his eyes, like that of a hungry wolf in the wilderness.

"Before I came to Shaanxi, I issued an edict ordering the Embroidered Uniform Guard, together with the elites of the Eastern and Western Depots, to use the proceeds from the confiscation of grain from grain merchants in Jiangnan to directly purchase grain for me in places with surplus grain, such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Hubei!"

The Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Eastern Depot, and the Western Depot!
When the names of these three institutions, representing the darkest and most terrifying violent institutions of the Ming Dynasty, were mentioned so casually by the emperor, Sun Chuanting felt a chill run down his spine.

The emperor confiscated the property of grain merchants in Jiangnan, then used their ill-gotten gains to purchase grain in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Hubei to stabilize the situation in Shaanxi... one step after another! The emperor had already foreseen this!
"They brought not only silver, but also my sword!" Zhu Youjian's voice suddenly turned cold, and the temperature in the inner hall seemed to drop several degrees. "I want all the owners of rice granaries in Huguang and Jiangnan to know that the Shanxi merchants and Jiangnan grain merchants of today are just the beginning of their ungrateful behavior! I know that rumors of my tyranny and bloodthirstiness are circulating among the people. Good! I want them to be afraid! Afraid to the bone!"

He waved his hand sharply.

"They either gather their followers and rebel now, and see if my blade is sharper or their necks are harder! Or... they obediently open the granaries and sell me the grain at the price I give them! I will let them make a profit at the price I give them, but I will absolutely not allow them to profit from the national crisis!"

Sun Chuanting was deeply shaken upon hearing this.

Throughout his life, he studied the classics and practiced the ways of a king. He never imagined that a monarch could turn his mighty imperial power into the most naked coercion, treating the rice market as a battlefield of an enemy state, and using a knife to "talk" to merchants about the principles of buying and selling.
Where is the emperor before us now, the gentle and refined monarch who sat high on the dragon throne, wrapped in layers of elaborate rituals?

He was clearly a peerless tyrant standing at the entrance of the grain store, carrying a money bag in one hand and a blood-dripping steel knife in the other!
Zhu Youjian suppressed his terrifying murderous aura, as if his previous words were merely setting up a routine hunt. "Now that we've solved the rice problem, let's look at the people. Simply distributing porridge will only breed a bunch of lazybones, no different from bandits. I will establish 'Emperor's Garrisons,' and I will guarantee that those who register will not starve. But if they want to live well, they must rely on their own hands."

"Your Majesty's words are like the sun breaking through the clouds, hitting the nail on the head!"

Sun Chuanting's bloodshot eyes suddenly lit up, as if a long-unused sword had been honed to a chilling edge by this earth-shattering strategy.

His years of experience in local governance and the various problems he had witnessed were instantly put to good use and integrated at this moment.

Sun Chuanting stepped forward, bowed, and clasped his hands in a gesture of respect. His voice trembled slightly with excitement as he said, “Your Majesty is wise! This strategy is the key to restoring order from chaos! Having served in the provinces for many years, I am well aware of the ills of the displaced people, all stemming from their laziness! If Your Majesty grants your permission, I dare to humbly offer my services in crafting this strategy for Your Majesty!”

"Speak," Zhu Youjian said succinctly.

“To implement this policy, we must first establish a register!” Sun Chuanting’s speech suddenly quickened, each word seemingly forged from his own heart. “All refugees willing to settle here, regardless of age or weakness, shall be registered in the household register and issued identity tags engraved with their names and numbers. These tags shall be their proof of being ‘the people of the Son of Heaven.’”

"With this certificate, you can get a bowl of thin porridge at the government-run soup kitchen to keep yourself alive. This is the Emperor's grace, and no one will starve." His tone suddenly turned sharp. "But! If you want to eat something to fill your stomach, or get a warm coat in the dead of winter, you can't rely on the Emperor's grace alone; you have to earn it with your own strength!"

"And the key to this exchange lies in the method of calculating work!" Sun Chuanting emphasized, a glint of light flashing in his eyes. "It absolutely cannot be calculated by the day, that would only breed a bunch of lazybones who gather together to slack off! It must be calculated by quantity! How much grain should be earned for repairing one zhang of road? How many liters of rice should be earned for building one wall? All projects must be inspected by officials, and only those that pass the inspection are considered valid. Then, these prices should be clearly posted and made public so that everyone knows them."

He took a deep breath and concluded: "In this way, those who work harder will be rewarded, and those who work less will only get porridge. It will be clear who is diligent and who is lazy, and there will be no more complaints. If everyone strives, great things can be accomplished!"

Zhu Youjian listened quietly, his admiration growing stronger.

What he presented was merely an unpolished gem, but Sun Chuanting, with his seasoned and experienced sculpting skills honed over many years in officialdom, transformed it in a short time into a rigorous and impeccable tool for governing the world.

This is the true skill of governing a country and ensuring its stability!

“Bo Ya’s words are exactly what I wanted to say. I will follow your plan and implement it throughout Shaanxi!” He looked at Sun Chuanting and said, word by word, “I want them to understand the simplest truth: to survive, they rely on the Emperor’s grace. To live well, they rely on their own hands!”

After the emperor and his minister finished their dialogue, a storm raged in Sun Chuanting's heart.

He was shocked not only by His Majesty's ruthless methods, but also by his own fluent and insightful analysis of human nature.

Once upon a time, he was also a member of the upright officials in the capital, discussing the "investigation of things and extension of knowledge" from the Great Learning and the "benevolent governance and kingly way" of Mencius with his colleagues in government offices and teahouses. But whenever the topic turned to practical matters, such as how to provide relief and how to bring peace to the people, he would always fall into vague talk such as "letting the people rest" and "opening granaries to distribute grain," without coming up with any feasible and detailed plans!
But these days, every day, the emperor's ruthless and uncompromising approach has swept away all the superficial principles in his mind, leaving only cold and effective means: household registration, jobs, work quotas, performance evaluations... These things, which he used to regard as "minor details of governance," have now been combined into a grand blueprint that can keep millions of people alive.

An unprecedented sense of enlightenment swept over him; this was the true learning for governing the world and benefiting all! This was the real skill to save the people from suffering! Compared to this, the articles in the court that embellished the peace and prosperity and talked about morality were simply poisonous empty talk that misled the country and its people!

This surge of pragmatic emotion quickly merged with Zhu Youjian's determination. The emperor and his minister, though tacitly aware, both understood that this grand yet ruthless plan required a brilliant beginning, a model that would win the hearts and minds of the people!
……

A few days later, outside Xi'an, on the most fertile land where the former Qin Prince's Palace once stood, crowds of people gathered!
Tens of thousands of ragged, emaciated refugees were brought here, their numb eyes filled with confusion, doubt, and a desperate longing suppressed by hunger. They had heard that the emperor was coming, but they didn't know what this legendary, ruthless emperor would bring them.

Zhu Youjian, dressed in ordinary blue casual clothes, ascended the temporarily erected platform under the protection of Sun Chuanting and Li Ruolian, who exuded a restrained murderous aura.

Under the watchful eyes of tens of thousands of people.
The emperor did not utter any empty words of comfort. He knew that for these numb, starving people, words were far less effective than a bowl of hot porridge.

But he knew even more that to ignite the dying embers in their hearts, a thunderous roar was needed.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian, in the loudest voice, issued a decree that pierced the heavens to the tens of thousands of desperate hearts below:

"This land beneath my feet, though imperial land, from this day forward, no longer belongs to me alone, to the Zhu family alone, nor to any kings, nobles, or generals!"

The solemn official language echoed throughout the land. The refugees were completely bewildered; they could only see the emperor speaking, but they couldn't understand the imperial pronouncements.

However, no sooner had the emperor finished speaking than local Shaanxi officials and soldiers, who had already dispersed into the crowd as ordered, and were stationed every fifty paces, immediately began to shout in their roughest Qin dialect to the surrounding villagers, trying to translate:

"His Majesty has said! This land, though it belongs to the royal family, is no longer for the Zhu family to use! Nor is it for those princes and nobles to enjoy!"

This caused the first commotion in the crowd.

Zhu Youjian's eyes were piercing, and then he loudly swore: "It will be used for you! I hereby swear that all who enter my 'Emperor's Village' will be granted land and houses to settle down. Within ten years, all the land produced will belong to you, and I will not take a single grain or a single hair! After ten years, we will discuss the regulations again! Today, I will work with you to lay the first cornerstone for our new home!"

The roars of the officials and soldiers rang out again, this time tinged with an excitement they themselves were unaware of:
"The Emperor said! This land is for us! As long as we enter 'Emperor's Village,' the Emperor will give us land and houses! For the next ten years, all the grain harvested from the land will be ours, and we won't have to hand over a single grain! We'll talk about what happens after ten years! Today! The Emperor is going to dig the land with us!"

If the first line was a thunderclap, then this line is a divine punishment powerful enough to split the earth!
Under the gaze of tens of thousands of eyes, which went from bewilderment to shock to ecstasy and finally to disbelief, the young emperor stepped down from the high platform, took a brand-new iron pickaxe from a guard, took a deep breath, and used all his strength to shovel the first shovelful of earth.

The crowd erupted in cheers!
They couldn't understand the emperor's words, but they could understand those spoken in their native dialects!
The Emperor... the Emperor himself dug the land for them! The Emperor gave them the precious land that the Qin Prince's family had accumulated over generations, and let them cultivate it for ten years for free, with all the harvest going to them!

This is not a dream!

"Long live!!" an old voice cried out in anguish, the only hope bursting forth after a lifetime of suffering.

"Long live! Long live!!"

Thousands of voices converged into a surging torrent, and the thunderous shouts were no longer out of fear or etiquette, but out of heartfelt gratitude and fervor that risked their lives!
Countless people knelt down like madmen, tears streaming down their faces, kowtowing to the young figure holding the pickaxe with the most devout respect they had ever shown in their lives!

This scene, like a painting with boundless power, spread rapidly throughout Shaanxi Province through official gazettes and the mouths of countless authorized storytellers, like wildfire.

The refugees, who had been hesitant about whether to join the bandits, wavered.

Rather than following the uncertain future of bandits, living in constant fear of tomorrow, why not join the "Emperor's Village" established by the government nearby? There, the emperor would be there to back you up, you could get land, food, and a home!

In an instant, the bandits' appeal was largely eroded by this earth-shattering shovel strike.

The plan is progressing with unprecedented speed, and Sun Chuanting is acting swiftly and decisively, making the most of the power and money granted to him by the emperor.

Throughout Shaanxi, from prefectures to counties, wherever corrupt officials' land was confiscated, signs reading "Emperor's Village" were erected, and every place became a bustling, massive construction site.

……

The situation seems to be very promising.

A few days later, Sun Chuanting met with Zhu Youjian alone again late at night. His face showed less of the previous joy and more of a deep worry.

"Your Majesty, I have compiled the reports from various prefectures and counties on the number of settlement residents and the confiscated land, and I have discovered a critical problem." Sun Chuanting's voice was tinged with exhaustion.

"Over a million people in Shaanxi have volunteered to settle here, but the land we seized from the rebels using swift and decisive measures, even including the unwanted wasteland, is only enough to settle less than 500,000 people. Half of them still have no land to distribute!"

He paused, his tone growing increasingly heavy: "Right now, we are only stabilizing people's hearts by Your Majesty's divine power and the grain from the granaries. But if this continues, the promise of land distribution will not be fulfilled, and people's hearts will surely be in turmoil! I have thoroughly examined the maps and land registers of the entire Shaanxi province and found that there is only one place with truly fertile, easily irrigated, and large-scale contiguous farmland."

Zhu Youjian raised an eyebrow: "In whose hands?"

Sun Chuanting's voice was extremely low, as if he were saying a name that no one dared to talk about: "Military settlements".

He elaborated on his concerns about how border commanders might have turned fertile military farmland into private property and how they might have feigned compliance while secretly disobeying orders.

He had expected to see His Majesty show distress or fury.

However, the emperor showed no surprise on his face, but instead revealed a smile of complete control. "Boya, I know what you're saying."

Sun Chuanting was suddenly taken aback.

Zhu Youjian strolled to the map of Shaanxi and slowly traced the locations of border towns such as Yansui, Guyuan, and Yulin with his finger.

"My personal visit to Xi'an is for two reasons: first, to provide disaster relief; second, to reduce the power of the regional military governors," he said calmly, yet his words sent a jolt through Sun Chuanting. "And the third is to reorganize the border troops and reclaim the military farms! Do you think Li Ruolian's Embroidered Uniform Guard has only been arresting people in the city these past few days?"

He turned around, his gaze sharp as a knife. "Several months ago, I secretly ordered the Embroidered Uniform Guards to infiltrate various towns by disguising themselves as merchants, refugees, and deserters. I have a clear record of who owns the most land, whose servants are the most ruthless, and who has the deepest connections with local gentry."

The emperor paused, his tone tinged with a chilling murderous intent. "And those three thousand White-Spear Army soldiers and ten thousand new soldiers from the capital garrison are now being deployed to various strategic locations under the guise of 'rotation exercises,' stationed right next to those border army camps! Nominally for joint defense, they are in reality a sword hanging over their heads, meant only to intimidate!"

"I even personally intervened and mobilized several seemingly insignificant military commanders and guerrillas. My men have already been driven into their military headquarters like nails, just waiting for my order!"

Sun Chuanting felt a chill run from his feet straight to his brain. The Embroidered Uniform Guards were investigating inside, the elite new army was intimidating outside, and his trusted generals were planted within!

He thought he had kept up with the emperor, but now he realized that what he saw was only what His Majesty wanted him to see.

The emperor was playing a game of chess that involved covert infiltration, military intimidation, and internal disintegration—a far more complex and dangerous scheme than he had ever imagined!
“Boya,” Zhu Youjian’s tone softened, “your memorial today is not meant to put me in a difficult position, but rather to provide the perfect opportunity to close the net. The time has come.”

He looked towards the doorway, where Li Ruolian stood motionless, like a stone sculpture.

"By imperial decree, summon the generals of Yansui, Guyuan, Yulin, and Ningxia, along with all their deputy generals, brigade generals, and guerrillas, to the Xi'an headquarters within three days!"

"I want to see them."

A hint of predator's satisfaction finally appeared on the emperor's face.

Sun Chuanting bowed and accepted the order. As he withdrew, he heard the emperor give instructions to Li Ruolian. His voice was so soft it was almost a whisper, yet every word was as cold as ice.

"When the time comes... go and have a good talk with them. Remember, what I want is the land, not their lives, but if they insist on risking their lives to protect the land," he paused, each word sharp as ice, "then grant their wish!"
　Twenty minutes late,
　　A perk for those who stay up late.

　　I, too, am completely stuffed tonight.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)