Chapter 231: Zhao Han Wants to Join Hands with the Emperor

Raozhou City.

Fei Chun came here to inspect the situation and, incidentally, summoned the grain merchants of the three prefectures of Jiujiang, Nanchang, and Nankang for a talking-to.

These grain merchants now all take Li Fenglai as their leader. Although his business is not the largest, everyone knows Li Fenglai is Zhao Han's man.

Moreover, Nanchang Prefecture has already begun distributing land in stages. Li Fenglai, a son of a concubine, successfully established himself, drawing many other concubine-born sons, branch-family members, and professional managers to follow suit. They are all beneficiaries of the land division and family separation, so they can only choose to support Zhao Han, even helping Zhao Han suppress their own main families.

"Greetings, Master of Finance!" The grain merchants cupped their hands and bowed.

"Sit," Fei Chun said, his expression extremely grim — or rather, it had not been pleasant all year.

The grain merchants sat down in trepidation, inevitably feeling guilty, terrified that Zhao Han and Fei Chun would turn on them.

Fei Chun, worn out in body and mind from overwork all day, was in no mood to beat around the bush. He said bluntly, "What you are all doing in private, what schemes you are hatching — everyone knows perfectly well. There is no need for me to waste words."

The grain merchants trembled with fear.

Li Fenglai defended himself, saying, "Master of Finance, we have not been hoarding in Jiangxi. In fact, we even voluntarily raised the grain purchase price this year."

Fei Chun sneered. "The Regional Commander is lending grain at twenty percent annual interest. If you don't double the grain price, can you even buy grain from the peasants?"

www ＿ttκā n ＿c o

Twenty percent annual interest is extremely high. It means that if Zhao Han borrows 100 shi of grain from the common people, he must return over 240 shi after five years. But this is a year of great disaster, and grain prices are rising rapidly. Returning more than double after five years, in terms of silver, is actually not a loss.

The grain merchants in Jiangxi, buying grain at double the price and shipping it to the prefectures of Jiangnan, can still make a huge profit.

Because in the Jiangnan prefectures, the price of one shi of rice has already risen to two taels of silver, more than quadrupling since last year. By next year, during the spring gap before the harvest, the rice price will keep climbing!

Another grain merchant, surnamed Tu, said, "Master of Finance, but we still have to do business."

Fei Chun said, "I will directly relay the Regional Commander's opinion. You may make money, but do not go too far. The common people of the Jiangnan prefectures, though under the court's rule, Regional Commander Zhao cannot bear to see them starve to death. Shipping the grain over now is still enough for you to profit. If you wait to sell grain until next spring, how many common people will starve to death?"

The grain merchants looked at each other. This Zhao Han was meddling far too widely.

They feared Zhao Han's military power and operated with absolute honesty in Jiangxi. They were merely making some silver elsewhere — did Zhao Han even have to meddle in the affairs of the Jiangnan prefectures?

Everyone did it this way. The Jiangnan prefectures, including what would later be Anhui, had produced little grain since the mid-Ming and relied entirely on grain shipped from Jiangxi and Huguang. After this year's great disaster, the Huguang grain merchants were also hoarding, releasing goods little by little, all tacitly planning to sell grain only next spring.

Li Fenglai said, "Master of Finance, even if we sell grain honestly, the Jiangnan grain merchants will still jack up prices on the spot. The common people of Jiangnan still won't be able to afford grain."

"The grain price will at least be somewhat lower," Fei Chun sneered.

The grain merchants of Huguang and Jiangxi mainly wholesale grain to Jiangnan, at most doing a small amount of retail. The Jiangnan grain merchants are the main retail force. They buy grain from Huguang and Jiangxi merchants and likewise release goods little by little, waiting to make a killing next spring.

Zhao Han could block the grain transport routes and forcibly levy heavy taxes. But those heavy taxes would inevitably be passed on to the common people of Jiangnan, driving Jiangnan grain prices even higher.

Jiangnan, a land of wealth, possesses the most developed industry and commerce in the entire realm. Zhao Han intends to rely on it to develop industry in the future. If it were devastated until nine houses out of ten stood empty, what the hell would be left to work with? Therefore, Zhao Han cannot impose heavy taxes on grain leaving his territory.

Nor can Zhao Han occupy Jiangnan ahead of time, for that would bring about two consequences:

First, the Great Ming court's finances would completely collapse, leading to Beijing being breached ahead of schedule, and the Tartars would certainly also pour through the passes ahead of schedule.

Second, before the Great Ming's finances completely collapsed, the court would madly attack Zhao Han, even abandoning the roving bandits to attack Zhao Han!

Zhao Han needs time to develop. The Southern Metropolitan Area and Zhejiang must be preserved, yet he also cannot occupy them.

Damn it all — a rebel, fretting his heart out for the court, terrified that Chongzhen's side might not hold on.

Li Fenglai asked again, "Even if we sell the grain to Jiangnan, what if the Jiangnan grain merchants hoard it and refuse to release goods?"

"All of you just wait. The Regional Commander has already sent someone to have an audience with the Emperor, to join hands with the court to suppress grain prices in the Southern Metropolitan Area and Zhejiang!" Fei Chun said. "I am warning you to sell as soon as possible, or else next spring you may very well be forced to sell grain at fair prices. Not forced by Regional Commander Zhao, but forced by the court!"

The grain merchants were all stunned. A rebel had sent someone to have an audience with the Emperor, to work with the court to stabilize grain prices?

Strange things happen every year, but this year they are especially numerous. Never had they seen a rebel like this.

…

Wang Tiaoding, who had been engaged in theoretical research on the Great Unity, volunteered for this mission. After the floods subsided, he set out for Beijing.

Upon arriving in the capital, he went straight to the Chief Grand Secretary's official residence.

Because he gave no silver to bribe the gatekeeper, the gatekeeper would not even accept his visiting card.

"Shing!"

Wang Tiaoding drew his scholar's sword and pointed it at the gatekeeper's throat, saying, "I am under the command of the great Jiangxi bandit chief Heavenly King Zhao. If the Chief Grand Secretary refuses to see me, I shall spread word that the Chief Grand Secretary colludes with rebels. Chief Grand Secretary Zhang will surely face the calamity of having his property confiscated and his family exterminated. And you, the gatekeeper, don't think you can escape either!"

A rebel's man?

The gatekeeper was so terrified his mind went blank. He wanted to kneel, but feared the sword's edge would cut his throat. Trembling all over, he stammered, "G-good… good sir, spare my life!"

"Go report at once!" Wang Tiaoding sheathed his sword.

The gatekeeper instantly crumpled to the ground. He struggled twice but simply had no strength to stand.

"Go, now!" Wang Tiaoding barked.

Clutching the visiting card, the gatekeeper scrambled inside in a panic. The other gate guards had already fled far away.

Once he was inside, the main gate was immediately shut. Only then did the gatekeeper manage to stand with difficulty and go stumbling off to report. One relayed it to the next, and the visiting card finally reached the Chief Grand Secretary, Zhang Zhifa.

Hearing that the pacified great Jiangxi bandit chief had sent someone, Zhang Zhifa dared not see him, yet dared not refuse to see him. He came in a fluster to just inside the main gate and asked through the door, "Sir, what business brings you to the capital?"

Wang Tiaoding replied, "Zhao Yan, Grand Ming Front Army Vice Prefect, General of Illustrious Valor, and Regional Commander of Ji'an, has a personal handwritten letter which he dispatched me to deliver personally to His Majesty. Go to the palace and report at once — right now. If you delay matters, your head will not stay on your shoulders!"

Zhang Zhifa thought some major event had occurred. Knowing Chongzhen's temperament, if he were the cause of a delay, it was indeed highly likely his head would not stay on his shoulders.

"Prepare the sedan chair!"

The Chief Grand Secretary, terrified, immediately set out, rushing toward the Forbidden City before darkness fell.

Arriving before the Dong'an Gate, Zhang Zhifa said to the gate guards, "I must trouble you to report to His Majesty. The Grand Secretariat has an urgent matter to submit — a matter of the utmost urgency!"

Seeing the Chief Grand Secretary so agitated, the guards thought the Tartars had struck again. Terrified, they immediately ran to report, not even pausing to collect silver.

Wωω ⊕ttκan ⊕￠ ○

Passed up through layer after layer, Chongzhen summoned him at once. By the time Zhang Zhifa saw the Emperor, the sky had already gone completely dark.

"What major event has occurred now?" Chongzhen asked urgently.

Zhang Zhifa said, "Your Majesty, Zhao Yan, Regional Commander of Ji'an in Jiangxi, sent a messenger to your minister's residence. He says Regional Commander Zhao has a personal handwritten letter and requires him to deliver it to Your Majesty in person. Your minister dared not let him enter. This man is still waiting outside your minister's gate."

Chongzhen's brow furrowed deeply, but at the same time he felt curious. He immediately gave the order: "Bring this man into the palace!"

Wang Tiaoding was searched and relieved of his weapons, then led straight to the Qianqing Palace.

Upon seeing the Emperor, Wang Tiaoding immediately knelt and said, "Wang Tiaoding, County Magistrate of Luling, kowtows before Your Majesty!"

Chongzhen asked in puzzlement, "Are you a county magistrate of the Great Ming, or a county magistrate of Zhao Yan's?"

Wang Tiaoding replied, "Your servant is a magistrate of the Great Ming. I had barely taken office when the rebel bandits came to attack the city, and I had no troops under my command to use. Your servant has failed Your Majesty's grace, causing the Great Ming to lose cities and territory. These past few years, your servant did not truly join the bandits, but has been lecturing at the White Egret Islet Academy."

Chongzhen, surprisingly, felt no anger — or perhaps he had simply grown numb. At least this county magistrate had not chosen to become an official under the rebels, but had only taught under rebel rule.

Moreover, Luling County was attached to the prefectural seat; if blame were truly to be assigned, it should fall on the Prefect of Ji'an.

Had Chongzhen known that two of the essays in the "Great Unity Collection" came from Wang Tiaoding's hand, he would likely have had him dragged out and executed by slow slicing on the spot.

A eunuch presented a letter, which had been found on Wang Tiaoding's person.

"Is this a personal letter from Zhao Yan?" Chongzhen asked.

Wang Tiaoding said, "It is."

Curious, Chongzhen opened the letter. His first reaction was that the handwriting was not bad — it seemed this rebel was indeed a man of some learning.

Rendered into plain speech, its content was roughly as follows: "Your servant Zhao Yan, a poor scholar of Jishui. Fleeced by corrupt officials and squeezed by the gentry and powerful families, I raised my arms like a mantis against a chariot merely to stay alive. Now, with nationwide disaster, the officials and people of Jiangxi have united as one, and the calamity here is not too severe. But the Southern Metropolitan Region and Zhejiang have suffered years of drought; fathers and sons, brothers, husbands and wives eat one another. Vast numbers of starving people have come to Jiangxi to beg. Grain merchants of Jiangxi, the Southern Metropolitan Region, and Zhejiang collude to hoard and corner the market, and your servant, in Jiangxi, lacks the power to restrain them. Only by joining hands with officials of the Southern Metropolitan Region and Zhejiang can the price of rice in Jiangnan be stabilized. I beseech Your Majesty to specially appoint a Governor-General of Grain Inspection, ordering the officials of the Southern Metropolitan Region and Zhejiang to take sole charge of organizing grain collection and disaster relief."

"Outrageous!"

Chongzhen flew into a towering rage and roared, "A mere Regional Commander of Ji'an, and he dares to meddle in the disaster relief of the Southern Metropolitan Region and Zhejiang! Shall we let him be Emperor instead!"

Wang Tiaoding cupped his hands and said, "May Your Majesty permit me to explain? Zhao Yan's original intent was truly nothing more than disaster relief."

Chongzhen sneered, "Speak!"

Wang Tiaoding said, "If Regional Commander Zhao wished to occupy Zhejiang, it would be as easy as taking something from a pouch. He need only dispatch troops from Guangxin Prefecture — what soldiers in Zhejiang could stop him? After taking Zhejiang, he could use his navy to attack the Southern Metropolitan Region. Caught in a pincer, everything south of the Yangtze would fall into his hands. Why would he go to this extra trouble, requesting that Your Majesty send a Governor-General to Jiangnan for disaster relief?"

Though harsh to hear, these words were not false, and this was precisely what the court feared most.

Chongzhen asked, "What exactly is Zhao Yan's intention?"

"Disaster relief. Saving the people," Wang Tiaoding replied.

Chongzhen grew more and more bewildered, and even dropped all pretense in how he referred to him: "He is a rebel in Jiangxi. What does the great disaster in the Southern Metropolitan Region and Zhejiang have to do with him?"

Wang Tiaoding touched his forehead to the ground and prostrated himself, saying, "Your servant... dares not speak."

"Speak!" Chongzhen barked.

"Zhao Yan is a hero of his age. He harbors the ambition to swallow the realm and the will to set the world aright," Wang Tiaoding said. "This year, Jiangxi also suffered a great disaster. Under Zhao Yan's rule, officials and people are of one heart; though there is calamity, it is not severe. But under the government's rule, flood and drought run rampant, the common people suffer unbearably, and starving people in Raozhou and Duchang have risen in revolt. Zhao Yan not only reduced taxes and provided relief within his own territory, but also went into government-held territory to relieve the people, to the point that his funds and grain were exhausted."

Chongzhen sneered, "This is merely currying favor and winning hearts!"

Wang Tiaoding continued, "Your Majesty, forgive your servant's bluntness, but Zhao Yan sees himself as the government. The starving people of the Southern Metropolitan Region and Zhejiang, though not under Zhao Yan's rule, are still regarded by him as his own subjects. He treats the common people exceedingly well..."

This time, Chongzhen did not feel anger, but found it absurd and ridiculous, and at the same time felt an endless sorrow.

What kind of emperor was he, after all?

He could not relieve the starving people under his own rule, but had to frantically press for taxes, leaving a rebel to worry about the people's livelihood.

Expressionless, Chongzhen said, "We have heard many people speak of Zhao Yan, each holding to their own view, making truth hard to discern. You, too, give your appraisal of this man."

(Thanks to the big boss Qi'e for another White Silver Alliance. Also, asking for monthly tickets.)

(End of chapter)