The destiny of all heavens begins in the Red Chamber

The original idea was to wait and see, and then, once the other members of the imperial family and the powerful nobles could no longer stand it, unite to give those ungrateful civil officials a profound lesson.

Especially Jia Huan, that kid, he's always full of clever ideas, we'll invite him over to discuss the plan.

To everyone's surprise, Jia Huan quickly came up with a solution and resolved the problem internally.

The four major families of Jinling joined forces and coordinated the use of all kinds of resources under their control, managing to gather most of the necessary supplies.

These methods and approaches are truly eye-opening!

"Your Highness, may we follow suit?"

The chief secretary of the Prince's residence chuckled, "What the four great families of Jinling can do, the princes of the imperial clan can do even better. The resources we control are far beyond what the four great families of Jinling can match!"

Just kidding, the imperial estates controlled by the royal family alone are incredibly large in area and produce a staggering amount.

As for other supplies, do you really think the Imperial Household Department is just sitting around doing nothing?

As long as the current emperor does not make a clear statement, it would not be difficult for the princes and nobles of the imperial clan to unite and mobilize the resources of the Imperial Household Department. They could even embarrass the current emperor in this way.

However, in this way, the only ones who will suffer are the ordinary people at the bottom of society.

Originally, they could have shared in the profits from their overseas expansion, but now the bigwigs are planning to integrate internal solutions, so naturally they won't be making large-scale purchases outside.

Moreover, the price increases of various supplies initiated by the civil service group will not be easily overlooked.

In the end, it is the ordinary people who suffer the most, having to bear the increased cost of living due to rising prices of goods.

That's why they say meat-eaters are despicable!

What was originally just a power struggle among the wealthy and powerful ended up harming the ordinary people!

Of course, neither Prince Zhongshun nor the chief secretary of the Prince's residence took this matter to heart.

In other words, Jia Huan couldn't bear to see such a situation occur, and he also wanted to teach certain guys a profound lesson according to the rules set by the imperial court.

Then, the civil service group, which had been secretly engaging in underhanded tactics or outright maneuvering, were astonished to witness how the powerful members of the imperial family and noble families dealt with their disgusting methods.

By directly integrating resources internally, most of the material needs can be met!

The reason we didn't do this before was mainly due to subconscious precautions.

No matter which royal family or powerful clan it is, they would never easily let outsiders know the resources and power they control, otherwise they would not even know how they were going to suffer.

But isn't there no other way right now?

If they don't unite, the extra money they need to pay each year will be at least in the tens of thousands.

No matter which royal family or noble clan it is, none can withstand such an astonishing drain!

It's not that just because the outer sea territories have developed and been built up well, we won't need the support from Daqian anymore.

How can it be?

Unless they are satisfied with the current size of their overseas territories, they will not be able to stop providing financial support to other countries if they want to expand their territories, and it is unknown how long this will continue.

If we have to pay a lot more costs every year, who can stand it in the long run?

The civil service group clearly had no good intentions; they obviously wouldn't resort to underhanded methods to make money.

Under such circumstances, if you honestly manage your own business, your annual output will be fixed.

Who knows which year they might give up and fall behind, and then there won't be much hope of catching up later.

They were unaware of the importance of initiating the industrial age, so naturally they wouldn't easily back down or fail to deliver at this point.

Chapter 387 A Slight Move Triggers a Thunderclap (Please Subscribe)

On a certain day during the third month of Jia Huan's mourning period, the court assembly was quite lively.

Three censors impeached local officials one after another for their poor governance, which resulted in persistently high prices for grain and other daily necessities even after the autumn harvest.

At the same time, they impeached local gentry and landlords for hoarding and speculating, deliberately disrupting the prices of various daily necessities, causing the cost of living for ordinary people to rise sharply, and causing them to complain endlessly as if in a chaotic world!

Everyone was bewildered, not knowing what was going on.

His expression was quite grim; he was very averse to such matters.

Soaring prices and widespread poverty—isn't this just smearing his reputation?

The three censors who stepped forward to impeach him paid no heed to any of this. They bowed in unison, pleading with the emperor to take the matter seriously and to dispatch the Embroidered Uniform Guard to investigate, determined to bring the audacious hoarders to justice.

Otherwise, if local prices could be manipulated at will, what kind of logic would that be?

Regardless of their reasons, they immediately agreed to send someone out to investigate.

However, some officials did not look so pleased.

Unfortunately, the censor's grounds for impeachment were too compelling. Such a thing was unacceptable not only to the imperial court but also to local officials. If trouble ensued, who would be held responsible?

Having achieved their goal, the three men ceased their relentless pursuit and hastily retreated, no longer uttering a sound.

When the court assembly ended, Prince Zhongshun, who rarely attended the assembly directly, suddenly shuddered as he realized what had happened.

Damn, that's a brilliant tactic!

He clapped his hands lightly, and a smile involuntarily appeared on his face.

If he wasn't mistaken, those three censors who submitted the impeachment memorials were from the Ning and Rong prefectures, right?

In other words, the Ning and Rong mansions have made their move!

That's quite surprising, isn't it? Such a steady, accurate, and ruthless move right from the start!

He has now realized that the Ning and Rong families are planning to use the power of the imperial court to deal with the local gentry and landlords who manipulate prices.

What's most ruthless is that they directly requested the Emperor to send men from the Embroidered Uniform Guard, giving the Cabinet no chance to do anything. That's impressive.

If he were a high-ranking cabinet member, he wouldn't risk going against the Embroidered Uniform Guard for the sake of local gentry and landlords.

Why didn't he think of this method before?

The civil service group engages in unspoken rules, so they can use the power of the imperial court to teach them a lesson.

After all, unspoken rules are unspoken rules; they can't be brought to the forefront.

Once exposed, even if there is intentional bias in the current administration, it's impossible for them to remain inactive.

Besides, any emperor with a modicum of self-respect would not remain indifferent.

Upon returning to the Prince's residence, Prince Zhongshun excitedly recounted the matter to his chief secretary, who immediately clapped his hands and affirmed, "It seems that the Ning and Rong residences have no doubts about the current emperor!"

After careful consideration, he smiled wryly and said, "That's right. If the current emperor wants to suppress us, he has plenty of methods and means. There's no need for him to play such underhanded tricks that are extremely dangerous!"

Prince Zhongshun nodded in agreement and chuckled, "Then shall we do something?"

Seeing the chief clerk's confusion, he waved his hand and said unhappily, "What happened before disgusted me to no end!"

"This time, we certainly can't miss the chance to give some guys a good thrashing!"

"Also, get the other members of the royal family to take action. If we're going to make a move, we'll do it ruthlessly!"

"If we don't slaughter a lot of people, some guys will think we're easy to bully!"

As a result, there was a sudden increase in memorials impeaching local gentry and landlords for their illegal activities.

The current emperor's feelings upon seeing these memorials were naturally quite complex.

Of course he knew what had happened!

The audacity of the civil service and the cabinet is quite astonishing.

However, suppressing and weakening the power of the royal family and the nobility has always been his wish.

Seeing that the civil service group was doing things smoothly, he naturally did not step in to stop them, his desire to see them make a fool of themselves was quite obvious.

However, the impeachment wave initiated by the Ning and Rong mansions and hastily followed by numerous other imperial clan forces still forced him to personally intervene.

As Jia Huan and Xue Pan said, there are some things that cannot be easily crossed.

With the Ning and Rong mansions involved, and the instigation of numerous powerful members of the imperial clan, the Jinyiwei officers dispatched to investigate were practically conducting targeted purges, wiping out all those who dared to manipulate local prices.

Not just themselves, but also their families!

The imperial court severely punishes such acts that dare to disrupt local order.

In the past, the ringleader would probably have spent the rest of his life in jail.

His family members will also be implicated and spend varying lengths of time in prison.

The conditions in the prison cells are extremely harsh, and it's considered quite good if one or two out of ten manage to get out alive.

But this time, the Ning and Rong mansions were the first to make a move.

It was Lord Zheng Er who stepped forward, a rare occurrence for him to speak at the small court assembly.

To be honest, the Second Master Zheng was quite nervous at the time.

However, he couldn't be too perfunctory about the matter Jia Huan had entrusted to him.

"Your Majesty, Heaven cherishes life..."

After a string of empty words and platitudes, he finally revealed his true intentions: "I implore Your Majesty to exile all of these prisoners to the open sea..."

No one cared what he said after that.

At this moment, the bigwigs who were participating in the small court meeting began to argue with inexplicable expressions.