Da Ming: Father, step aside, I'll be the prime minister!

Chapter 254 Zhang Xue is the Way of the Sage!
Even the slowest person would have realized what was going on by now.

Wang Heng immediately realized that his letter to Southern Zhili had not only failed to reassure his father, Wang Xijue, but had also stirred up a hornet's nest.

The two biological fathers of Wang Xijue and Wang Shizhen directly dispatched "imperial envoys" to arrest them!
He immediately felt a chill, realizing that if he were to sit and wait for death, he would likely have no good days ahead.

So Wang Heng quickly shook his head and said firmly.

"Uncle, rest assured, I have seen through everything and will never go to the futures trading market again."

"Ok?"

Wang Shimao was somewhat surprised, but then felt it was only natural.

Wang Heng was a well-behaved, sensible, and intelligent child. It's only natural that he would be so blinded by greed and want to try his hand at the futures market.

He smiled and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Chenyu, I am very pleased that you think this way. You take me to the thirty-ninth shop, and we will bring that rebellious son back. From now on, you two can return to Jiangnan to study hard and prepare for next year's imperial examination."

But before he could finish speaking, Wang Heng interrupted him.

“Uncle, that’s not how it is.” Wang Heng said earnestly and righteously. “Of course, I wouldn’t go to that futures market and I’ve cancelled all my orders, but I’ve realized something.”

Wang Shimao had a bad feeling, his brows furrowed again, and he asked, "What?"

"To be precise, my nephew had an epiphany."

Wang Heng appeared very solemn and dignified.

“I understand now. The so-called ‘investigation of things to acquire knowledge’ and ‘unity of knowledge and action’ should not be empty talk in the study.”

Just like my nephew said in the futures market, everyone said the futures market was bad, that it was a case of the government competing with the people for profit, and that it was Zhang Shiyuan's scheme to amass wealth.

But what my nephew saw with his own eyes was not like that at all!

Wang Heng's gaze became increasingly resolute.

“My nephew did see the evil of human nature in the futures market, but it was the evil of the gentry, the wealthy merchants, and the sons of nobles.”

Zhang Shiyuan may have intended to unleash their evil, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Wang Shimao's brows furrowed tightly. The contrast between the other person's behavior and his previous actions was so drastic that he hadn't even had time to react. "Wang Chenyu! What exactly are you trying to say!"

"What my nephew wants to say is very simple."

Wang Heng's eyes became increasingly clear.

"Then Zhang Shiyuan was right! He used the futures market to limit the power of the elite, thereby helping ordinary people and stabilizing prices. This is the true way of a sage!"

Wang Shimao was furious. He never imagined that such words would come from the mouth of Wang Heng, a Confucian scholar who was well-versed in the classics.

This is a talent worthy of a top scholar!

He retorted, his face contorted with rage.

"I think you've been bewitched by Zhang Shiyuan! The futures market is a business, but how can a business be good?"

Zhang Shiyuan misled the emperor and wreaked havoc in the capital through his business acumen; his crimes are too numerous to count!

Wang Heng frowned deeply and looked at the other person with equal disappointment.

"Uncle Shi has never looked into the futures market, never truly understood Xishan and Zhang Shiyuan, nor was he aware of the gratitude the people of the capital felt towards him. Yet he has made arbitrary inferences based on this. How can this be considered 'unity of knowledge and action'?"
How can we live up to the teachings of Master Yangming?

"I think you've gone mad from studying too much!" Wang Shimao stamped his foot. He finally began to understand why his two fathers were so angry. Who could tolerate a child like that?
"I think you are all hypocrites!" Wang Heng said with a sharp look in his eyes. "Uncle and Father talk about serving the country and the people, but in reality, they are only thinking about their own wealth and glory. Is this the way of the sages?"

Yangming established his principles and words for the world, and what he sought was for you to establish a life for the people and bring peace to all generations. But what are you doing?
In my opinion, neither my father nor my uncle are nearly as good as Zhang Shiyuan!

"Wang Chenyu, how dare you speak ill of your own father!"

Wang Shimao was furious. He could tolerate being scolded, but the ancients valued the proper relationship between father and son. To publicly slander one's father was truly a heresy.

He could no longer contain himself and was about to attack. "Come here, I'm taking you back to Southern Zhili to discipline you properly!"

But the butler, Wang Jiu, quickly stepped in front of the two, cupping his hands in a gesture of respect to Wang Shimao and saying, "No! No!"

After much persuasion, Wang Jiu stopped him and spoke to his young master with great concern.

"Young master, please say less. A father doesn't speak ill of his son, especially not in this situation..."

Wang Heng, however, seemed completely unconcerned, as if he had suddenly made up his mind, and waved his sleeve as he spoke.

"Different road non-phase plan!"

“From now on, I will no longer study ‘the philosophy of mind’ or ‘the Cheng-Zhu school of Neo-Confucianism’. There is only one subject that is worth learning.”

His eyes burned with passion.

"That is Zhang Shengren's 'Zhang Xue' (Zhang's Learning), 'New Learning', and 'Science'!"

After saying these words, he turned and left without looking back, running quickly toward the setting sun not far away.

"I'll beat this unfilial descendant to death! Brother Yuan Yu, come and see! Look what Zhang Shiyuan has done to your prodigy!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Shimao beat his chest and stamped his feet in anger, his body trembling with rage.

It's someone else's child, after all. If it were his own child, wouldn't he be furious?

Wang Shimao shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Wang Jiu, don't stop me! Quickly bring that unfilial son back!"

"And that brat Wang Jiongbo, the two of them are birds of a feather. Send out the servants and have them all brought back!"

Nanjing.

Yingtian Prefecture Government Office.

Hai Rui trembled as he looked at the reports that kept coming to him.

"The price of rice has increased by nearly 30%!"

"The price of cotton has risen to one hundred coins per pound!"

"A single bolt of silk has risen to ten taels of silver!"

He looked furious.

"This group of gentry from Jiangnan has gone mad. Prices are so volatile that they affect everything. If the price of rice and cloth rises by 10%, countless people will be unable to make a living."

With prices soaring to this level, are the gentry of Jiangnan openly defying the imperial court?

"Ruxian, calm down, calm down." Yin Zhengmao sat in the main hall, and compared with Hai Rui, he seemed much more composed.

He sighed and said.

"This move by the Jiangnan Textile Bureau will inevitably provoke a strong backlash from the Jiangnan gentry. It is an attack on their very foundation, and it is not as simple as it seems."

Hai Rui slammed his fist on the table, looking furious.

"The methods of lending and renting looms are both policies that benefit the country and the people. Yet these people, for their own selfish reasons, are willing to disregard the livelihoods of the people in Jiangnan. Haven't they earned enough money already?"

He turned his head to look at Yin Zhengmao above him and said rather rudely.

"Governor Yin can rest easy in the governor's office, but I, Hai, can't sleep at night."

I don't see the need for any roundabout dealings with the Jiangnan gentry. The imperial court has its own laws; simply dispatch the constables to arrest all those hoarding and speculating rats!

(End of this chapter)