Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 718 felt strange, but I couldn't quite put my finger on why.

The news that His Majesty the Emperor had suddenly fallen seriously ill struck the city of Jinling like a thunderbolt.

Those who were originally worried about how to deal with Xia Daosheng's next move suddenly perked up and slapped their thighs: "Heavens are helping us!"

At this moment, no one was really concerned about how serious the emperor's illness was; in any case, it was very serious. It was said that he had been sent to Jiangnan Circuit to find the divine physician Sun overnight. What they needed to do now was to immediately find one of their own to oversee the country.

This was not a matter that could be easily decided by the Three Provinces and Six Ministries; rather, it required following ancestral rules for selection. Therefore, it was only natural that the eldest son of the legitimate wife was appointed to the post in this critical moment.

However, Emperor Jingtai's eldest son is only fourteen years old this year. He is a person who usually plays with crickets and grasshoppers. Because he is the son of Empress Qianyuan, and Empress Qianyuan made Emperor Jingtai very unhappy because of her affair with Li Mi, he has never been groomed as the main successor.

On such a strange winter morning, the eldest prince, who was sleeping in, was suddenly pulled out of bed by his uncles and elders from the Imperial Clan Court.

Then he was told, "You should go to the morning court session." The dazed and confused eldest prince was then dragged to the golden hall, where he faced the assembled officials, his eyes still wet with sleep.

Nothing much happened today, except to confirm the eldest prince's role as regent. As for why it wasn't the Prince of Teng, it's because the Prince of Teng is quite old, and he has been refusing to attend court these days, citing poor health.

Everyone thought this made sense. If Emperor Jingtai couldn't withstand this storm, then Prince Teng would have to enter the palace three times to become regent, serving as regent for three emperors from the end of Emperor Hongbao's reign until now. That would be quite dangerous, and he himself needed to avoid suspicion, so staying out of the public eye was perfectly legitimate.

The eldest prince, who had been appointed to this critical position, was completely bewildered. Looking at the chaotic scene below, he couldn't even speak properly.

However, this is not a big deal, after all, he is just a figurehead. It's just that Emperor Jingtai is not here now, so some people are going to take advantage of this opportunity to cause trouble.

Their top priority now is to get rid of those three prime ministers, with Ma Zhou being the first target, since Ma Zhou was in charge of people's livelihood. So, all their firepower was initially directed at Ma Zhou.

The counterattack began in the imperial court, and they didn't stop among the common people either. A few days ago, a large number of commercial banks began to stop lending and redeeming loans, and in the past few days, many commercial banks with official backgrounds have also begun to stop various financial operations.

Although this has temporarily affected various businessmen, those who are well-versed in the situation have clearly sensed the underlying implications.

Another cash crunch is here!
The afterglow of the harvest festival hadn't even faded when a cash shortage struck! This was both a natural disaster and a man-made one; shouldn't we strike while the iron was hot and finish them off?

As a result, many family-owned businesses in the capital took advantage of the fact that other businesses were unable to lend money and collect payments, and that everyone needed to collect payments as the year-end approached. They began to raise interest rates wildly.

Originally suppressed by the official faction and the Jiangnan faction, the usury that had once plagued the masses made a comeback within three days. Nine out of 13 returns were no longer enough to compete with them. Now they have even gone so far as to engage in five out of 13 returns.

Would anyone actually borrow money at such a high price? Yes, there are. Because people engaged in large-scale business don't keep much liquid capital on hand. Suppose someone's family has a capacity of ten million taels, but at this point, asking them to come up with five hundred thousand taels at once would be a pipe dream. All that money is tied up in real estate, inventory, and inter-company accounts, leaving them with no spare cash to exchange for other assets.

Now, after their meddling, the entire financial market in Jinling is in complete chaos. Merchants are experiencing runs on banks one after another. The fluctuations in the financial market directly affect prices. Panic buying has quickly emptied the market of relatively stable-value items. Coincidentally, Emperor Jingtai, the empire's leader, has suddenly fallen ill and is unable to come out to control the market.

In just a few days, the once peaceful and prosperous city of Jinling has become a place of immense anxiety and panic. Rice and flour are still available in the market, but their prices have increased significantly, with the average price rising to more than ten times the usual price.

Next came the reselling activities of various families. They used their factional power to monopolize daily necessities such as salt, grain, and coal, and fabricated shortages to raise prices, causing the cost of living for ordinary people to increase tenfold or even twentyfold in a short period of time.

It wasn't that no one in the court noticed this problem, but anyone who raised questions with the eldest prince was impeached and suppressed. The eldest prince, as Emperor Jingtai said, was a complete pig; he only believed his teacher, who happened to be from a powerful family.

"You're selling a bowl of porridge for fifty coins? Can't you afford to live?"

A merchant from out of town at a breakfast stall cursed, "Fifty coins are enough to buy two catties of pork!"

"Sir, I'm really sorry, but the price of rice, flour, and cooking oil has increased more than tenfold in the past few days. If I didn't raise the price, my shop would be losing money."

"What bad luck."

The merchant threw down fifty coins and left dejectedly, while Xia Lin, who was sitting next to him, raised his hand and said, "Shopkeeper, bring me two more eggs."

"Sir, I'm sorry... Eggs have been too expensive these past few days, and our shop simply can't keep up."

"It's okay, have two fried dough sticks."

"Sir... we only have porridge left. In a few days, we may not even have porridge left."

Xia Lin nodded: "Alright, two bowls of porridge, fifty coins a bowl, right?"

"Thank you, sir..."

As Xia Lin ate his porridge, he watched the once bustling market gradually become deserted. He turned to Ma Zhou with a smile and said, "They're a little too hasty in trying to get you."

"Hmm." Ma Zhou nodded slightly: "Aren't they afraid?"

"What's there to be afraid of? When profits reach 300%, they'd dare sell the rope to hang themselves. Now their profits are almost 1000%, what do they have to be afraid of?"

Xia Lin put down her bowl and asked the shop owner, "Hey, shopkeeper, if prices keep going up like this, won't you go hungry during the New Year?"

"This..." The old man leaned forward and whispered, "A few days before the price increase, there were rumors circulating that we should hoard grain, saying that Lord Xia had observed the celestial phenomena at night and found out. So we hoarded some, which was enough for food and drink, but the business was ruined."

Xia Lin laughed: "You guys actually trust that Lord Xia, don't you?"

"How can I not believe it? He has saved people from dire straits more than once. But this price increase is suspicious. My son says that someone is setting a trap to harm Lord Xia."

"Oh? Your son has this kind of insight?"

"Haha, sir, you may not know, but my son has received a proper education." When he talked about his son, his previous timid demeanor vanished, replaced by pride: "Three years ago, my son was selected by the academy in Fuliang, and he's home for winter break now."

"Fuliang Academy, that's really impressive."

“That’s right, everyone says that if you can study at Fuliang Academy, you wouldn’t trade it for a Jinshi degree.” “Grandpa… don’t brag to people.” A young boy who was helping his father look up: “It’s not that exaggerated.”

The breakfast stall, which was chilly in the wind, was suddenly filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

"Hey kid, come here for a second." Xia Lin pointed at the boy washing dishes. "You said this was a setup, why do you say that?"

If it were a middle-aged person, they certainly wouldn't dare to talk nonsense, but he's a teenager, and teenagers have their own way of acting. If someone asks him, he'll say that he's not afraid of this or that. Besides, if he's punished for his words, the headmaster of the academy will step in to resolve the matter for him.

"His Majesty was away from the capital due to illness, and immediately afterwards, some people began to buy up grain and goods on a large scale. This was to take the opportunity to suppress the harvest festival previously presided over by Minister Xia, to portray the harvest festival as a disaster that harmed the country and its people, and then to attack Minister Xia, pinning the soaring grain prices on him. They could also use this opportunity to eliminate dissidents, such as Prime Minister Ma, who is in charge of the people's livelihood. If the people are suffering, Prime Minister Ma will naturally be held responsible. Once Minister Xia and Prime Minister Ma are gone, and His Majesty is not in the capital, then the sky that has been opened up with great difficulty will fall into their hands again."

The boy talked on and on, and Ma Xiang and Xia Lin burst into laughter after listening. Ma Xiang pointed at him and said, "You little rascal, you've got some guts and a pretty good eye. You're a promising young man."

"Our teacher said that the spirit of a scholar is to dare to be the first in the world; we say what they dare not say, and we do what they dare not do."

"So what are your plans?"

"I can't tell you two about that," he said with a mysterious smile, bowing slightly before turning to leave and continuing to wash the dishes.

"Look at the good students you've taught, they're all just like you."

As Ma Zhou left, he held an umbrella over Xia Lin and teased him, saying, "You didn't produce any great Confucian scholars who could govern the country, but you did teach countless Xia Daoshengs, born with rebellious bones."

“That’s right.” Xia Lin’s eyes were full of pride at this moment: “The world belongs to us, and to them, but ultimately it belongs to them. You don’t want to see only those pretentious intellectuals in the future, do you?”

"So what exactly are they trying to do?"

"Them," Xia Lin said silently as she walked forward with her hands behind her back, "Let's go to the new Hongwen Hall first."

The two arrived at the new Hongwen Hall. Although it was not officially open yet, there were many people working inside. Not to mention the layers of soldiers guarding the outside, there were nearly seven hundred scribes working inside. They sorted and placed countless books, pictures, and manuscripts in different rooms, and the workload looked like it would take at least several months.

"What are you going to do?"

"Oh, do those higher-ranking families all have libraries?"

"correct."

"Make some space for their books. It's a shame to burn them."

Who was Ma Zhou? He was a man of prime ministerial talent. Upon hearing Xia Lin's words, he was immediately enlightened, his eyes widening in disbelief as he exclaimed, "You..."

“That’s right. The streets of the capital are littered with the bones of nobles and officials.” Xia Lin spread his hands: “Otherwise, what was the purpose of having the Yan tribe provide me with over 20,000 book-protecting treasures the other day?”

At this point, Xia Lin turned to look at Ma Zhou, his voice low and gloomy: "I gave them a chance, but they didn't cherish it. So don't blame me for what happens next."

Ma Zhou didn't speak, but instead started walking around the new Hongwen Hall with his hands behind his back: "What are you planning to do here after this?"

"The monopoly of aristocratic families is essentially a monopoly of knowledge. The first step to breaking their monopoly is to spread these knowledge widely."

"But how many people can understand it?"

“Yes, that’s why I didn’t launch it at the beginning, but waited a full sixteen years. I spent sixteen years completing the initial literacy campaign and sixteen years laying a solid foundation. This is the day I’ve been waiting for.” Xia Lin laughed, “I’m thirty-two this year. This matter has taken much longer than I expected. I initially thought it could be completed by twenty-six, but they’ve had six more years of freedom.”

"May you achieve great success."

"Ma Xiang, are you interested in becoming the president of the first national university?" Xia Lin looked at Ma Zhou with a smile: "Three years from now, the first batch of students who have returned from the countryside will all be your soldiers."

"Alright, I'm also finding it a bit too much to be prime minister."

"You won't last much longer; you'll definitely be impeached before the end of the year."

"Hahahaha..." Ma Zhou pointed outside: "Look at the state of Nanjing now, it would be strange if it weren't impeached."

The situation worsened day by day, and soon the first snow of the winter became the last straw. This year's snow was exceptionally heavy, and many caravans from distant places were stuck halfway and unable to enter Jinling City. This caused Jinling City, which had been able to replenish its supplies, to be completely cut off. Because the people had received advance warning, they had stockpiled goods and were barely able to survive the harsh winter.

But the situation was different for merchants. The large trading houses were empty, and the small trading houses or peddlers simply closed down and went home to hibernate. In just a few months, Jinling City went from being extremely prosperous to being like a ghost town.

Massive numbers of ordinary people lost their jobs, and the price of basic necessities skyrocketed fiftyfold. Although survival was still possible, everyone was filled with fear and uncertainty about the future.

Today, Nanjing is like a powder keg, ready to explode at any moment.

At this moment, some elders in the court stood up and accused Ma Zhou of incompetence, and impeached him on this ground.

That pig-headed regent prince believed whatever he was told and immediately approved the impeachment. Ma Zhou was thus removed from his post and replaced by an unknown guy.

With Ma Zhou gone, their next target is Lao Zhang. But Lao Zhang is not Ma Zhou; he is in charge of cultural and internal affairs, and he is also in charge of investigating the Gao Shilian case. They dare not act rashly, so now they need to put more pressure on Nanjing to force other officials in the court to submit and jointly impeach Lao Zhang.

The direct result of this situation is that Jinling City is becoming more and more like a ghost town. Workshops, restaurants, teahouses, and even brothels have all come to a complete standstill. Capitalism needs five years to achieve its economic depression targets, but these bastards can turn a vibrant city into this state in just two months.

The heavy snow has been falling non-stop this year, making a crunching sound underfoot. Recently, we've been hearing about houses collapsing under the weight of the snow in various places. Fortunately, the new army has been fighting on the front lines of disaster relief, otherwise, this prosperous era might really have turned into a famine.

"Fellow students, we gather here today not for anything else, but because we are all from Fuliang. Our school motto says to establish a heart for heaven and earth, to establish a destiny for the people, to continue the lost learning of the sages, and to create peace for all generations. But what we see today is not like that. Do you know how much a cart of coal costs these days? 50 taels of silver!"

(End of this chapter)