You have truly caused me great suffering!

Inside the Funing Palace, Chen Shao embraced a beautiful woman draped in silk and satin, her skin smooth and delicate, and said with a smile, "Are your family members truly willing to come to Jinling?"

“They said it themselves, so it can’t be false.” Zhe Ningxiang said with a chuckle, “Besides, Jinling is much better than Fugu.”

"You know again?"

“Don’t underestimate us. We often go to the royal estate for fun, and we’ve been to Xuanwu Lake, Qinhuai River, and Qixia Mountain.”

Chen Shao grinned and wrapped his arms tightly around her soft waist. Although Zhe Shi was simple-minded and shallow, he really liked her.

It's especially soft and warm to hold in your arms; it's so comfortable.

Zhe Shi felt a little hot from his embrace, so she held Chen Shao's hand and lowered it a little.

"I think it's rounder when I look in the mirror. Do you feel it feels better to squeeze?"

Chen Shao knew that she was confused and was being used as a tool by both him and the Zhe family.

And they don't even realize it.

He didn't know how the Zhe family viewed him, but as for the woman he loved, Chen Shao still wanted to give her some compensation first.

Even though she herself didn't know why she would receive compensation.

Thinking of this, Chen Shao realized that although he was the emperor, theoretically entitled to the law and possessing the wealth of the whole world, he was still a ruler.

But when asked to produce anything truly valuable, he didn't.
"It's alright if we don't have it, we'll try our best to get it," Chen Shao asked confidently. "My dear concubine, is there anything you'd like?"

Upon hearing this, Lady Zhe tilted her head slightly and said, "The bronze mirrors in the palace are not clear enough. I want a good mirror."

This statement immediately reminded Chen Shao that it seemed the Song Dynasty could only produce very small pieces of glass, and of very poor quality.

Actually, this thing, like gunpowder, can be made into good or bad; it's just a matter of changing the proportions of the materials.

If the engineering department keeps trying, they will eventually succeed.

Then, brush on a layer of tin and mercury to create a plane mirror.

Three hundred years later in Venice, this thing became a real treasure trove, and they monopolized the glass mirror manufacturing technology, with the formula listed as a state secret.

Mirrors became a luxury item for European royalty; a Venetian mirror was worth 300 ducats, and noblewomen vied to buy them.

This stuff is incredibly profitable, and the materials are common. The porcelain made by the five famous kilns of the Song Dynasty was much more difficult to produce.

Regardless of the dynasty, noblewomen's money is the easiest to earn because they generally don't have to work, spend money without feeling bad, and are prone to comparison, so their consumption desires never stop.

Chen Shao chuckled and pinched her cheek, then looked down and said, "Alright, I'll make you a one-of-a-kind mirror."

Besides making money, the glass-making process can also improve the smelting technology.

As for the Zhe family wanting to settle down in Jinling and find a better way out, that's also an option.

Their decision to voluntarily give up Fugu was a wise one, saving them countless expenses and sparing them the trouble of dealing with this two-hundred-year-old enclave.

Just as the Song Dynasty treated King Qian of Wuyue well, Chen Shao also needed to show his attitude.
-
Wang Yin stood in a small building, looking into the distance. Several scholars sat on the ground, playing the flute and zither, discussing the past and present.

The Jiangnan region is warmer than Bianliang, despite the imperial gazettes repeatedly reminding people that this year will be extremely cold again.

However, there are still quite a few people in Nanjing who come out to travel.

Unlike Bianliang, which freezes over and shuts down in winter, this port remains bustling day and night.

Several wealthy travelers on horseback strolled leisurely along a wide road on the outskirts of the city, with packhorses behind them laden with various goods.

One person controls three or five horses, strolling leisurely as if in a courtyard.

Wang Yin immediately recognized them as soldiers of the Dingnan Army, likely small landowners from the Jiangnan region. They had come together to Jinling City to purchase goods in preparation for the New Year.

Even though they were far apart, Wang Yin could still tell that they were genuinely happy and joyful.

He sneered inwardly. Some people were happy, but others were not.

He was a rebel leader from Jiangnan who was driven to desperation by corrupt officials. He followed Fang La in eating vegetables and worshipping demons, and finally rose up in rebellion.

Returning to Jiangnan, he felt no attachment to his homeland, only a hidden hatred for those wealthy and powerful families.

The Jiangnan region is a land of fish and rice.

Fifty thousand Dingnan soldiers settled here, and they all brought their families with them.

From then on, they were considered settled.

Generally, founding monarchs would continuously increase their troop strength when they were about to defeat their strongest enemy.

Let's win the war first and then take control of the country.

However, Chen Shaofei not only did not mobilize troops on a large scale, but also withdrew more than 50,000 soldiers before he abdicated and ascended the throne.

This is because war is really expensive, especially war against the Jurchens.

When attacking Xizhou and Qingtang, the enemy's fighting strength is weak, and the forces are overwhelming. Moreover, we can immediately obtain countless cattle, sheep and horses.

They could also open up trade routes, and at the very least, plunder some of the royal court's accumulated wealth.

Therefore, Chen Shao never limited his troop strength when waging war against the Northwest and Jiaozhi.

But in the north, he has always been very conservative.

The Tartars are not an opponent that can be intimidated by sheer numbers. Their fighting strength is comparable to that of the Dingnan Army, and their generals and commanders are all highly capable, giving them the opportunity to strike suddenly.

Therefore, waging war against the Jin dynasty is the most difficult and costly strategy.

Chen Shao withdrew his troops and rewarded them on the spot, which saved him a large sum of military expenses at the time.

These people now occupy the prosperous lands of Jiangnan, building small manors and hiring tenants to pick mulberry leaves and weave hemp.

With trusted confidants filling the Jiangnan region, Chen Shao felt particularly secure in his position in Jinling.

However, this inevitably touched upon the interests of the former scholar-officials and nobles, especially since the imperial court was still conducting land surveys and investigating hidden land.

The Song Dynasty court hasn't conducted investigations for many years. With so many years of accumulated cases, this investigation will surely uncover countless hidden farmlands.

Some accounts are so muddled that they can't even be calculated or cleared up.

Once the area exceeds 5,000 mu, the imperial court will forcibly repurchase it at the market price.

market price?

Can the market price of farmland in Dajing be used in the fertile lands of Jiangnan?

But the imperial court doesn't care about any of that. If a household owns more than 5,000 mu of land, they are forced to sell it.

Otherwise, with progressive taxation, you'd end up paying more than half of your income in taxes.

Anyone who owns more than 5,000 mu of fertile land can be easily guessed.

Naturally, these were the scholar-officials and nobles who had shared the empire with the Song Dynasty emperor for generations.

Because a large portion of the Song Dynasty's local bureaucratic system was preserved, these people, just as they had during the Song Dynasty, existed both among the common people and in the court. Even with the founding of the Great Jing Dynasty and its abundant martial prowess, rumors still swirled, framing the emperor and newly risen officials. Frankly, it was these centipedes stirring up trouble and spreading malicious rumors.

In their eyes, whether you are a wise ruler or not is not determined by how much land you expand or whether you improve people's livelihoods, but by how you collect taxes.

Are their benefits significant?

Just as Wang Yin's thoughts were racing, footsteps sounded outside, and someone called out loudly:

"Your humble servant Yang He greets Commander Wang."

At the doorway of the room, a middle-aged man in a blue robe bowed to Wang Yin.

“Magistrate Yang, you’re too kind,” Wang Yin returned the courtesy halfway from his seat.

If we hadn't verified each other's seals, I wouldn't have believed that this man with prominent cheekbones, cold eyes, thick eyebrows, and a deep nasolabial fold etched into his face—a man with an inherently menacing appearance—was actually Commander Wang, who was ordered by His Majesty to thoroughly investigate the cause of his brother's death. Truly, appearances can be deceiving.

Such a person is by His Majesty's side every day, and His Majesty isn't afraid of him, so why should I be afraid of him?
It's no wonder Yang He judged people by their appearance; Wang Yin followed Fang La in his early years and was known for his fearlessness in battle.

Moreover, he had been preaching for many years, accumulating provisions and money for Fang La. He had done all sorts of work, from salt smuggling to other illegal activities; he was a pure outlaw.

When they attacked Hangzhou, he carried a horse shield and went to dig a hole under the city wall, where rolling stones and logs rained down on him.

It was only after following Chen Shao that he began to shed the habits he had developed from his years of wandering the martial arts world.

"We have investigated the matter of your brother's murder to a great extent. We hope that you can take the initiative to submit a memorial to the court and ask them to help you investigate it thoroughly and uphold justice."

Yang He was actually considering backing down, after all, the case was getting bigger and bigger.

In fact, it wasn't just him; even within Guangyuantang, some people were having second thoughts.

Because some of His Majesty's trusted men were also involved.

But Wang Yin was determined. No matter how big or small the storm was, he would continue to investigate as long as His Majesty did not give the order.

Yang He nodded and said, "So be it. For my brother's sake, I will risk my life to accompany Commander Wang to file a petition with the Emperor."

Wang Yin comforted him, telling him that no matter how high-ranking the official was involved, His Majesty would definitely give him justice.

These weren't just polite words; Wang Yin genuinely thought so too.

After Yang He left, Wang Yin's subordinate, Liu Yi, scoffed disdainfully, "This Yang He is truly heartless and cold-blooded! He lost both his parents at a young age and was raised by his elder brother. Now that his brother has died unjustly, he is too afraid to appeal!"

Unlike his subordinates, Wang Yin didn't express disdain. Instead, he sighed and said, "If he were still young, or in his early thirties, he might still act recklessly. But now he has a large family to support, so it's inevitable that he'll have to consider the consequences."

Putting everything else aside, if he were to pass away, to whom would his elder brother's children and his own wife and children be entrusted?

Both brothers rose to official positions through merit, and were from a minor branch of the family, lacking close relatives.

Once the male head of the household dies, they become highly sought-after by others who want to profit from the family's lack of offspring.
In this era, knowledgeable people are generally those who have traveled extensively and have seen a lot.

Wang Yin was like that. His early experience of following Fang La and selling salt everywhere, dealing with all sorts of people, honed his abilities.

The later Qing dynasty implemented a strict system of displaced people, confining them to their small plots of land.

"No household shall be allowed to move without authorization. Anyone who violates this rule shall be punished with one hundred strokes of the cane and sent back to their place of origin."

Those who take in refugees are even more guilty. If you see someone pitiful on the road and give them a steamed bun out of kindness, you might have your home ransacked for it.

The number of refugees was directly linked to political achievements. Officials in various places would kill refugees on sight without asking why, all for the sake of their own political achievements.

In years of famine, even if you starve to death, you'll die in your birthplace. If more than ten people beg together, it's considered a rebellion.

This is called "pacifying the people," but in reality it is "ensuring the people"; it appears to be "benevolent governance," but inside it is an iron cage.

Their goal was to completely turn the Han people into serfs, depriving them of the ability to resist.

Therefore, the most ignorant and servile people in the Central Plains during the Qing Dynasty were the people of that era.

This represents a significant regression in civilization.

Chen Shaohe and his group did the opposite; after surveying the land and stabilizing the household registration, they encouraged commerce.

If you have the ability, the imperial court even encourages you to go to sea.

For those who have no future in their local area, if they have ambition, they can go out and try their luck. The world is vast, and there is a way to make a name for oneself.

Although Chen Shao was the biggest beneficiary of the dynastic change and the largest landowner in the Central Plains, he did not want to block the channels for upward mobility from the lower classes, and even wanted to expand these channels as much as possible.

Wang Yin felt that he had collected enough evidence.

Such a major case doesn't require much solid evidence; even the slightest clue is enough for the emperor to decide.

But he still tried his best to collect evidence and testimonies.

The biggest mastermind behind the Hidden Field case is not a single person, but a force.

But the most difficult one to deal with was definitely Wei Li, a founding hero of the Dingnan Army, who made great contributions and was basically the head of the civil officials at the beginning of the dynasty.

Wei Li was originally from the Qingliu faction of the Song Dynasty's scholar-officials, but he was forced to flee to the Northwest due to his internal power struggle with Cai Jing.

He has countless, inextricable connections with these people.

Moreover, he himself had been immersed in officialdom for decades. Unlike Li Tangchen, who was upright and honest and came from a prefectural school, he was too good at the flexibility and social skills of officialdom.

But when it comes to a major event like land surveying, once you take action, your influence will spread like roots and be utilized by countless scholars and officials.

A network of relationships will quietly form, intricate and intertwined, with each person having elements of the other.

After everyone left, Wang Yin opened a hidden compartment in the wall behind him and took out a thick stack of documents.

When Yang He files his complaint, he will hand over all these documents to His Majesty at once.

How to handle it is His Majesty's business; I am only here to investigate as ordered.

The deceased Yang Yu was the Left Registrar of the Ministry of Revenue, responsible for the initial copying and binding of documents related to household registration, farmland, taxes, and local tribute.

After he noticed something amiss early on, he reported it to Tang Ke, an official in the Ministry of Revenue, and then received visits from several superiors in succession.

Moreover, they secretly provided a lot of benefits.

Yang Yu couldn't sleep for several nights. After thinking it over carefully, he still felt that this matter was too big and wanted to report it according to the procedure.

Then he died, supposedly from a sudden illness.

Who among them had hosted him unusual banquets, what gifts he had received at home, and from which government office they were sent?

Wang Yin's reports and documents were all clearly categorized and recorded.

It looks scary, and it really is shocking.

In the imperial court of the Great Jing Dynasty, these deeply entrenched forces used their protégés and former officials to weave a complex web of officialdom.

In officialdom, the worst thing is when everyone is involved with each other. Even Wang Yin himself felt a headache coming on when he thought about it.

It remains to be seen how His Majesty will handle this. (End of Chapter)