The world is like a prison, my body is holy

"General, news just arrived from home: the King of Qin has rebelled!"

Wang Wen leaned back tactically, glanced at Jin Jiu, and wondered if he had misheard: "What did you say? Say it again!"

Jin Jiu immediately repeated in his ear: "I just received news that the King of Qin has rebelled in Liaodong!"

Wang Wen: 'Holy crap, is this really going to be this hasty?'

He had long anticipated that the King of Qin would most likely rebel.

But he really didn't expect that the King of Qin would rebel so hastily. The body of Emperor Hongtu probably hasn't even been sent to the imperial mausoleum yet.
But then he thought again, and realized that these were the real rebels...

After all, the Crown Prince has both the right to rule and the central government of the capital. If the King of Qin does not take advantage of the change of the throne and the turmoil in the world to raise an army and fight back, he will have no hope after the dust settles.

How does that sentence go?

Even eating shit can't compare to something hot!
He mentally calculated the time and the speed at which the news spread, and realized that whether the Prince of Qin fled to Liaodong from elsewhere after the death of Emperor Hongtai, or whether he was already in Liaodong and only learned of the news of Emperor Hongtai's death when it reached Liaodong, he did not hesitate for a moment to start a rebellion.

What a loving father and filial son, and a harmonious and respectful brotherly relationship!

Wang Wen felt a little heavy-hearted, with a sense of helplessness that he had nowhere to turn.

'This is really noisy...'

He took a sip of tea, letting out a heavy sigh.

After a while, he turned his head and said softly, "Make some arrangements, I'll go home later."

Kim Gu nodded and said "Yes".

……

That night, Wang Wen returned to Qinghe Hall and had a long talk with Huang Xingde about the Crown Prince's ascension to the throne and the Prince of Qin's rebellion.

In the end, the father and son both agreed: It's none of their business!
Neither the crown prince's ascension to the throne nor the King of Qin's rebellion had a significant impact on the father and son.

As Wang Wen said, before the King of Qin became an external threat, the Crown Prince was unlikely to target him. Now that the King of Qin has become an external threat, the Crown Prince is even less likely to target him.

Not only will the Crown Prince not target him, but he will also offer him high-ranking positions and generous salaries to win him over, so as to prevent him from flirting with the King of Qin.

To be fair, Wang Laohu is now a local tyrant who controls both financial and road rights!
Even within the entire Great Zhou Dynasty, he could be considered a prominent figure!

As for summoning him to the north to lead troops to quell the rebellion, that would be even more impossible.

The Demon Suppression General's Mansion belongs to the Demon Suppression Division, and is not part of the same system as the orthodox local military generals. It is neither legitimate nor justifiable to conscript him to go north to confront the Prince of Qin.

Dealing with a troublemaker like Wang Wen without proper justification or justification is clearly just asking for trouble.

If he's not happy, how can others expect to be happy?

The crown prince is a smart man; he obviously wouldn't go looking for trouble.

If there's no problem with Wang Wen, then there's even less of a problem with Huang Xingde.

After Qinghetang broke away from the Grand Canal Gang, its business scope shrank dramatically. It went from making a fortune by transporting grain from the south to the north, trading large quantities of salt and iron, and selling silk and porcelain, to earning only meager wages for carrying and labor.

Although Qinghe Hall's situation has improved slightly since the Demon-Slaying General's Mansion intervened in the canal's water transport, the improvement is not significant.

As the saying goes, cats have their ways and mice have theirs. Without the prestigious reputation of the Grand Canal Gang, Huang Xingde's name was no longer effective among the big merchants and merchant groups, even though he was Wang Wen's godfather.

Wang Wen originally planned to wait until the General's Mansion underwent a smooth transition before he could support Huang Xingde and snatch some meat from the mouths of those wolves to return to Qinghetang.

Now that the new emperor's ascension to the throne and the prince's rebellion have come together, the court will surely use these pigs raised for the New Year as bait, squeezing out as much fat as possible to fund the military.

Qinghetang managed to extricate itself from this vortex and remain an observer...

When the dust settles and the canal business world is reshuffled, Qinghetang is shortlisted again, grabbing the most lucrative prize with the least effort... Perfect!
"However, we can ignore other businesses for now, but you must get involved in the business of transporting grain from the south to the north!"

After a lengthy discussion and summary, Wang Wen put forward his own views.

Huang Xingde immediately understood: "Are you worried that the world will descend into chaos and there will be a food shortage?"

"Hard to say……"

Wang Wen shook his head: "Nobody knows how far those two brothers will go, but at least we have food on hand and peace of mind!"

Huang Xingde pondered for a moment and asked, "What level do you want to go?"

This question stumped Wang Wen. He pondered for a long time before answering, "At the very least, we must be able to guarantee that no one in Huainan will starve to death in the event of a food shortage!"

"You certainly know how to protect your own!"

Huang Xingde shook his head, both amused and exasperated: "Let alone a food shortage, even in a bumper year, right now, there are still plenty of people starving to death in Huainan!"

"Of course I know..."

Wang Wen sighed softly, "But how can you put it? You can only aim high and get average, aim average and get low, aim low and get nothing. Let's try our best to prevent people from going hungry. Whether we can achieve it or not, if that situation really happens, at least a few fewer people will starve to death, right? It's so good to be alive..."

Huang Xingde gave him a strange look, a mixture of relief and emotion, and after a long while, he smiled and nodded happily, saying, "You've finally grown up!"

Wang Wen was both amused and exasperated: "Dad, you've said this so many times already, haven't you? How many more times do I have to grow up?!"

Huang Xingde just laughed and shook his head: "We're old! Our ideas are outdated. You're still young, you don't need to follow our example. But the way you are now... if your father knew in the afterlife, he would definitely stand with his hands on his hips and laugh three times with pride."

Wang Wen: "And what about you? Don't you want to stand at the door, hands on hips, and laugh out loud three times?"

Huang Xingde chuckled: "When we're no longer around, I'll definitely go to the door, put my hands on my hips, and laugh out loud three times!"

Wang Wen: "Pah, pah, pah! The bad ones don't work, the good ones do!"

Huang Xingde smiled, picked up the teacup, and drank it all in one gulp. But then his expression changed, and his smile vanished instantly: "Your idea is good, but it's impossible!"

"Can't it be done?"

Wang Wen pulled out the hairpin from his hair and slammed it on the table: "Can this be done?"

Huang Xingde stared blankly at the twelve-foot-long silver spear that seemed to have appeared out of thin air on the table, shaking his head: "Impossible! Cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their parents!" Wang Wen pulled off the pouch from his waist and slammed it on the table: "You can't do this either?"

Huang Xingde looked at his money pouch, thought for a moment, and then shook his head: "It's impossible. You're not the only one in the world who has the will."

Wang Wen picked up the purse and slapped it onto the silver spear: "With this and this, you still can't do it?"

After thinking it over for a long time, Huang Xingde nodded and said, "It's worth a try, but the outcome is hard to say."

Wang Wen pondered for a moment, then pulled out a palm-sized seal of the Huainan Dao Demon-Slaying General from his waist and slapped it onto his money pouch: "If we add this, can we still make it work?"

Huang Xingde glanced at the three pyramid-shaped objects on the table and muttered to himself, "Power as collateral, money as a guarantor, force as a deterrent... it should be possible!"

Wang Wen shook his head: "It's power paving the way, money securing the scene, and force guaranteeing the outcome!"

"This……"

Huang Xingde hesitated, then looked up at him and said, "I'm afraid this will incur public wrath!"

Wang Wen: "If they aren't afraid of angering me, why should I be afraid of incurring public wrath?"

Huang Xingde shook his head and said earnestly, "Erhu, that's not how things are done. If you don't rely on your power to bully others, then power can be your support. If you rely on your power to bully others everywhere, then power will become your weakness."

"It's like a shield. If you don't hone your skills and rely solely on it to fight strong enemies, have you ever thought about what will happen to you if that shield breaks or shatters one day?"

Wang Wen understood, but he had a different opinion: "Father, if my mind were full of bullying others, I should issue an official document to all the major grain depots, ordering them to unconditionally hand over their stored grain!"

"But I'm paying for it now, aren't I? They sell, I buy, isn't this a fair market transaction? Just because I'm the Demon-Slaying General and I want to be a good person doesn't mean I have to pay a high price, does it?"

"How could I be bullying anyone?"

"Isn't this clearly them bullying me?"

Huang Xingde felt that what he said made some sense, but the facts were not entirely as he described: "As we just said, you are not the only concerned person in the world. If you can think of the possibility of a food shortage, which grain merchants can't? You want to buy at a low price, and they want to sell at a high price. Isn't this bullying others by taking advantage of their power?"

Wang Wendu was almost angered by his words: "Father, are you really senile? They want to hoard grain and sell it at high prices, is that a legitimate market behavior? Isn't it obvious that they want to profit from the national crisis and even devour people?"

"Throughout history, has there ever been a dynasty where the law protected unscrupulous merchants who profited from national crises? I am, after all, an official. If I prevent them from profiting from national crises and from cannibalizing people, am I wrong?"

"Besides, do you think I'm hoarding grain to make a profit from the price difference?"

Why should good people have guns pointed at them?

Huang Xingde wasn't angry. After going over the matter in his mind several times, he laughed and said, "You little bastard, I talk to you about money, you talk to me about power, I talk to you about power, you talk to me about the law. You get to say all the right and wrong things, don't you?"

Wang Wen said solemnly, "In other words, isn't it their good fortune that I, a military general with troops and power, am willing to talk to them about law and money? Why are they dissatisfied? Why do they hold a grudge against me?"

"If anyone really doesn't want to sell to me, that's fine too. I admit I, Wang Laohu, have a bad reputation, so I won't force anyone!"

"But let me make this clear first: my Demon-Slaying General's Mansion will definitely send people to keep an eye on them. In times of famine, if anyone dares to raise their grain price by even a copper coin, I, Wang Laohu, will take their surname!"

Huang Xingde thought for a moment and readily agreed, "That works too!"

Wang Wendu was shocked: "This works?"

Huang Xingde: "As long as you don't force people to do what you want, you won't incur public wrath."

Wang Wen: "Is that possible?"

Huang Xingde: "How can reasons that can't be discussed openly provoke public anger? Erhu, you don't have to think so highly of people, nor do you have to think so badly of them. People's hearts have their own scales!"

Wang Wen chuckled and didn't argue with him: "Then I'll leave this matter to you to take the lead. I'll send a sum of money over first, and then send a group of Demon-Suppressing Guards to your command."

Huang Xingde asked in surprise, "So urgent? The New Year is just around the corner, and all industries are closing their accounts. What business can be done now?"

Wang Wen: "It's perfect timing to take advantage of the holiday break when everyone has free time. Let's get everything settled beforehand so we can get things done as soon as the new year starts. Especially the grain depots in Yangzhou, please try to get in touch with those who are willing to listen to you. For those who really aren't willing to listen, you might as well give them a heads-up: after the new year, grain from Yangzhou is allowed to come in but not leave... I'm telling you!"

Huang Xingde: "With your commotion, you're likely to scare away a lot of grain merchants."

Wang Wen said with disgust, "If you're going to get lost, then get lost now. Don't cause me trouble under my nose. If I'm in a bad mood one day, I'll kill them all!"

Huang Xingde chuckled and said, "Your skill in maintaining your composure is still lacking. You keep saying how wonderful it is to be alive, but you show no mercy when it comes to killing... I heard that Er Gou killed a few more people this afternoon?"

Wang Wen laughed and said, "What, is someone trying to stir up trouble in your ear?"

Huang Xingde shook his head: "It's not about fanning the flames, Erhu. We won't interfere in the internal affairs of your general's mansion, but... one should be lenient when possible!"

Wang Wen lowered his head and sipped his tea: "I wanted to forgive them, but they wouldn't forgive themselves!"

Huang Xingde also drank tea, but finally said, "Erhu, you have indeed become quite bloodthirsty lately. When you have some free time, you might as well put aside your official duties at the General's Mansion, practice your martial arts, read some books, drink some tea, and take good care of your temperament."

“When we were young, we were hard-hearted. When we led our team out to do something, and came back to hear our wounded brothers groaning and crying in pain, the anger in our hearts would rise up like oil being poured on a fire. We wanted to slap them to death. We thought that for real men, losing a head is just a big scar, what’s a couple of cuts?”

He gently stirred the teacup, his eyes filled with reminiscence and emotion as he slowly said, "Only when you get old do you think about those people and those things from the past, and only then do you start to reflect on what you did wrong. If you had been more careful back then, less hasty, and less hot-tempered, wouldn't so many people have survived? If those people were still alive, what would they be like now?"

"Just like your dad, if he were still alive, he'd be grinning from ear to ear every day, coming to drink with us..."

"How wonderful must those days have been?"

"Later we realized that it's easy to draw the knife, but difficult to put it back!"

"It's easy to draw a knife, but hard to put it down!"

Wang Wen listened quietly to his story, seemingly understanding something, but still taunted him with a "tsk tsk tsk" sound, saying, "You're almost a Buddha!"

He clasped his hands together in a funny gesture, winked, and said, "Benefactor, the sea of ​​suffering is boundless, but there is always a shore to turn back to. Lay down your butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot!"

Huang Xingde angrily slapped his head to the side: "You can't expect anything good to come out of a dog's mouth, so I'm not going to waste my breath on you!"

Wang Wen, with his neck stiff, argued vehemently: "But you just said you wouldn't let your old ideas influence me? Didn't you turn around and start giving me a lecture on ideology?"

Huang Xinde: "Get out! Get out! Just seeing you makes me angry!" (End of Chapter)