Da Ming: The system granted me immortality; I clock in every day.

Zhao Si gasped in shock.

Prime Minister Gu's move was like cutting off the fuel supply from under the pot, killing without shedding blood!

Before Wang Zhen even set sail, Gu Yannian had already stripped away a large portion of his initial investment of 300,000 taels of silver at the source and the end consumer.

This is hardly a business transaction.

This is clearly a way to send silver to the imperial court and vassal states!

"Your Excellency is brilliant! I will take care of it immediately!"

Zhao Si withdrew with a deep sense of awe.

Time is like a fleeting moment.

In the blink of an eye, the depths of winter have faded, spring has arrived, and early summer is here again.

For the past few months, Zhu Qizhen has been living a life of longing and anticipation.

The more than 10,000 big eaters in the imperial estate barely managed to maintain their meat consumption by borrowing more than 100,000 taels of silver.

But the silver was flowing away like water, and it looked like it was about to run out again.

Zhu Qizhen spent his days and nights in the Qianqing Palace, praying to the gods and Buddhas that Wang Zhen's fleet would return soon.

"As soon as the fleet returns, I will see the light at the end of the tunnel!"

Zhu Qizhen looked at the blazing sun outside the palace and silently recited a prayer.

The fifth day of the fifth month in the ninth year of the Zhengtong reign was the Dragon Boat Festival.

This should have been a joyous day for eating zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) and dragon boat racing.

However, when Wang Zhen, covered in dust and with a gaunt face like a demon, stumbled and crawled into the East Warm Pavilion of Qianqing Palace...

The blazing sun in Zhu Qizhen's heart instantly plummeted into an icy abyss.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty, save me!"

As soon as Wang Zhen entered the door, he burst into tears, knelt on the ground and kowtowed frantically, not even bothering to pick up his hat that had fallen to the ground.

Zhu Qizhen was shocked, and the folding fan in his hand fell to the ground.

He suddenly rushed forward and grabbed Wang Zhen by the collar.

"What are you crying about! Where are the goods? Where are my spices? How much silver did you make? Speak up!"

The young emperor's eyes were wide open, and his voice was sharp and shrill due to extreme tension.

Wang Zhen's face was deathly pale, and he trembled violently as he stammered his report.

"Your Majesty, the goods have been purchased... pepper, sappanwood, and various precious spices, enough to fill ten large ocean-going ships, are already docked at Tongzhou Wharf..."

Upon hearing that the goods had returned, Zhu Qizhen breathed a long sigh of relief, flung Wang Zhen aside, and laughed heartily.

"Hahaha! Excellent! I knew this deal was a sure thing! Quickly, contact the major brokerage firms and shops in the capital and sell off all the spices to get cash!"

"Your Majesty... we can't sell them..."

Wang Zhen collapsed to the ground in despair, tears streaming down his face like a burst dam.

"We...we're bankrupt!"

"fart!"

Zhu Qizhen was furious and kicked Wang Zhen in the shoulder.

"Annamian spices have always been highly sought-after goods in the capital, more expensive than gold. How could they possibly not sell!"

Wang Zhen covered his shoulder and cried his heart out.

"Your Majesty, you may not know this, but when I led a merchant caravan to Jiangnan to buy silk, the price of silk inexplicably skyrocketed by 20% overnight! In order to get the silk out to sea in time, I had no choice but to grit my teeth and buy it at a high price."

"When we arrived in Annam, the Annamite military governor, Pham Van Kieu, was utterly exploitative! He claimed we didn't have the Ministry of Revenue's travel documents and were considered private merchants, so he forcibly levied a hefty 40% tax on us!"

"And the price of spices is 30% higher than in previous years!"

Zhu Qizhen gasped, his head buzzing.

Buy at high prices, then exploit with heavy taxes.

The profit margin has been squeezed to a very small extent.

"Well... there should at least be some profit, right? Even if it's just breaking even..."

Zhu Qizhen's voice trembled, still clinging to the last glimmer of hope.

Wang Zhen completely broke down and burst into tears.

"It's hopeless, Your Majesty! We went through so much trouble to transport the spices back to Tongzhou. We were hoping to sell them to brokers at a high price. But... but just five days ago, Prime Minister Gu issued an imperial edict, saying that in order to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival and show compassion to the people..."

"The Ministry of Revenue opened the imperial granary, dumping hundreds of thousands of catties of Annam spices and pepper, which had been stockpiled in the national treasury for three years, onto merchants throughout the land at... 30% of the original price!"

"What?!"

Zhu Qizhen was struck dumb, and his whole body froze on the spot.

Wang Zhen cried out, "Now, throughout the capital and even the markets of Jiangnan, pepper and spices are piled up like mountains, as cheap as dirt! Ordinary people dare to sprinkle a handful of pepper into their stir-fries!"

"The brokers said that even if we sold them those ten boatloads of spices at a 20% discount, they wouldn't take them! Because the goods coming out of Taicang are cheaper than cabbages!"

"boom!"

Zhu Qizhen felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, as if a thousand thunderbolts were exploding in his mind at the same time.

They buy silk at high prices and pay heavy taxes to buy spices.

After going through countless hardships to transport them back, they were met head-on by an unprecedented massive dumping by the Ministry of Revenue!

This is like him spending all his money to buy a mountain of gold, only to find that the next day everyone in the world was given gold bricks.

Gold instantly became less valuable than stone!

The initial capital of 300,000 taels of silver, plus tens of thousands of taels spent on bribes and transportation along the way, turned into a pile of rotten leaves sitting on the Tongzhou dock, unable to even recoup the transportation costs!

"Gu Yannian...you old poisoner! You'll die a horrible death!"

Zhu Qizhen let out a mournful scream like a lone wolf crying blood, and a mouthful of blood surged into his throat.

He was so angry that he spat out a mouthful of blood.

His legs buckled, and he fell straight backward.

"Your Majesty! Someone, summon the imperial physician!"

Wang Zhen was so frightened that he scrambled over to help Zhu Qizhen up.

Chaos erupted inside the warm pavilion.

And this was only the beginning of the nightmare.

Just as Zhu Qizhen slowly awoke under the acupuncture treatment of the imperial physician, before he could even mourn the loss of 300,000 taels of silver,

A frightened voice came from outside the hall reporting the news.

"Your Majesty! The head manager of Huitong Bank is kneeling outside the Meridian Gate, holding the IOU and land deed... saying... saying that the three-month deadline has passed."

"If the 300,000 taels of silver borrowed from the Imperial Household Department, plus three percent interest, is not repaid, he will go to Shuntian Prefecture to beat the drum and appeal for justice, and seize the imperial estates in the suburbs of Beijing to settle the debt!"

"puff!"

Zhu Qizhen had just woken up when he heard these words. He was so angry that he fainted again.

The debt collectors are at our door!

The mighty emperor of the Ming Dynasty secretly borrowed money from a money exchange at exorbitant interest rates behind the court's back, losing everything and now being besieged by his creditors at the gates of the Forbidden City.

Such a humiliation is an unprecedented spectacle throughout history.

The news spread like wildfire, reaching every corner of the court and the public in an instant.

The officials were so shocked that their jaws dropped to the ground.

No one expected that the emperor in the deep palace would do such an absurd and foolish thing behind the scenes.

The following day, the morning court session was held at Fengtian Gate.

The atmosphere was extremely oppressive.

Zhu Qizhen sat on the dragon throne with a deathly pale face, as if he had aged ten years overnight.

He lowered his head, not daring to look at the strange and shocked gazes of the officials below.

He knew that he was now completely disgraced.

The scheme to support a private army through imperial estates failed, and the imperial treasury was emptied.

Now even the royal family's land is being taken away by money lenders.

He suffered a complete defeat.