"Have you found any leads after searching for so long?"
Emperor Xiping, Zhao Shu, dressed in his habitual round-collared crimson robe, stood behind a broad rosewood desk, leisurely waving a fine brush with one hand behind his back, casually dabbling strokes on the paper. Yet the "Picture of the Crouching Tiger Under the Pine Tree" beneath his brush was vivid and lifelike. Although not displaying ferocious claws or teeth, the noble beast seemed poised to leap forth from the paper, its imposing aura surveying all directions!
Shen Fa, standing with bowed head in front of the desk, dressed impeccably in a python robe and black gauze hat, eyes fixed on his toes, replied respectfully in a low voice, "To report to Your Majesty, the mastermind behind this matter has an extremely complex background. The individuals I have identified so far include local magistrates, powerful families, and even shadows of the Ming Sect and Tartars, as well as some royal relatives... However, I haven’t yet determined who the principal is."
"Oh?"
The source of this c𝓸ntent is freewebnøvel.coɱ.
Emperor Xiping didn’t seem surprised and said lightly with a smile, "Even the royal family dares to get involved?"
Shen Fa’s expression turned solemn, his gaze moving from his nose to his heart.
Emperor Xiping straightened up, shook his sleeves, and said calmly with a smile, "What is there that we, as monarch and servant, cannot openly discuss? Speak freely, I absolve you of any wrongdoing!"
Shen Fa bowed his head, stuttering slightly as he replied, "Please calm your anger, Your Majesty. Those involved in this matter... are the King of Chu and the King of Jingxiang, though their involvement isn’t deep. Perhaps they were merely deceived by treacherous individuals, used as pawns..."
He couldn’t help but hesitate, the two implicated royal princes were both brothers of Emperor Xiping; the King of Chu was even his full brother.
Emperor Xiping, who had ascended the throne not by direct lineage but by circumstance, had always been generously lenient towards royal relatives since his accession. Even if he knew of some vassal kings’ misconduct in their localities or their disrespectful attitudes, as long as these matters did not escalate publicly, he usually turned a blind eye, even during the rebellion planned by Prince Ning which was as obvious as Sima Zhao’s intentions, he took no action without concrete evidence.
Contrary to Shen Fa’s expectation, Emperor Xiping didn’t let the topic drop with a mere hint as usual, instead, he asked lightly with a smile, "Interesting, go on, tell me more."
Shen Fa glanced quickly at him, confused about the Emperor’s real intention. But after several thoughts, he decided to tell the truth.
After all, in his position, mistakes could be forgiven, errors could be overlooked, but loyalty must not falter!
Moreover... even if the Emperor chose to punish and then pardon afterward, it might at least make those foolish Princes more cautious, preventing problematic explanations later.
After thinking it through, he began slowly and deliberately, "To report to Your Majesty, this matter goes back to... Prince Ning’s secret establishment of a private market controlling overseas trade."
"Our Wei’s three major trade commodities are: porcelain, silk, and tea. Although Prince Ning monopolized the overseas trade, he couldn’t handle such a vast business alone and thus partitioned the supply chain, involving many royal relatives, regional magnates, and noble families from Jiangzhe, Huguang, Jingxiang, and other regions."
"The King of Chu and the King of Jingxiang, those two lords, engaged in the most lucrative silk trade. Since their establishment as feudal lords, they aggressively gathered and converted rice fields to mulberry fields. At their peak, they produced nearly 500,000 bolts of silk per year,"
"Recently, when Prince Ning was ill and subsequently died, the control of overseas trade finally returned to the court. The two lords did not know what to do with their extensive mulberry fields. With Lord Wang’s tax reforms arriving, they probably became restless..."
As he spoke, he had to consider both the dignity of the royal family and the integrity of the court while making sure the Emperor understood the situation clearly. Selecting his words carefully, it was a few short sentences, but Shen Fa was sweating from the effort.
Truth be told, if it weren’t for Prince Ning’s sudden fall causing his supporters to scatter, even if Shen Fa were given a few more years as a secret investigator, it would have been exceedingly difficult to unravel the full extent of these complicated dealings.
Not that they couldn’t find out about Prince Ning’s private organization of overseas trade or that the southern provinces’ royal relatives, regional magnates, and noble families were enticed by the benefits of this trade.
Those who needed to know in the court were aware of it, and it was always clear to both the Emperor and Shen Fa.
But it was very hard to determine the extent of Prince Ning’s dealings and just how entangled the southern provinces’ royal relatives, regional magnates, and noble families were in these affairs.
In fact, when all this information later converged before Shen Fa, he felt a chilling relief, thinking, ’It’s fortunate that rough fellow cleanly executed Prince Ning, otherwise, even if we could suppress his uprising, Wei would have been gravely weakened...’
Shen Fa spoke haltingly.
Meanwhile, the hand of Emperor Xiping holding the brush was as steady as if it were cast in iron.
It was only after Shen Fa stopped talking that Emperor Xiping looked up, surprised, and said with a smile, "Why have you stopped? Go on!"
Shen Fa was taken aback, suddenly understanding the Emperor’s intentions, and felt a surge of anxiety.
But facing the Emperor’s piercingly cold eyes devoid of any trace of amusement, how could he dare to utter a word of objection?
He had no choice but to muster his courage and reply, "To respond to Your Majesty, those regional magnates and noble families involved in this affair share similar reasons with the King of Chu and the King of Jingxiang. They have substantial land assets which cannot withstand scrutiny and do not wish to pay the new taxes. So, they hoped to take this opportunity to unite and disrupt the new policies to revert to the old ways, which they are proficient in manipulating..."
"For Ming Sect, I haven’t yet obtained solid evidence, but I boldly speculate that Wei was about to achieve a breakthrough in pacifying Ming Sect. Recently, the Bright Right Emissary Yang Yinghao of Ming Sect and his son Yang Tiansheng, the Hall Master of Qingmu Hall, have been actively reaching out to various sectors of Ming Sect that are willing to submit to the court, getting them to negotiate with those die-hard sect members who resist to the end. It seems like someone’s desperation forced them into this reckless action."