After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

"Click."

Pull the trigger, and the serpentine lever will press down.

The fuse ignites the medicine box.

The smell of gunpowder rose.

immediately.

"Bang!"

A loud bang.

The bullet was launched from the gun barrel, steadily cutting through the air and hitting the bullseye a hundred feet away!

"good!"

King Zhu Ensong of Qi immediately jumped up from his chair, clapped his hands, and laughed loudly.

"As expected of a Francois musket! Reward! A hefty reward!"

Dou Yuan waved his white fan and chuckled as he had the interpreter translate for the Portuguese who had fired the shot.

The blond-haired, blue-eyed Portuguese man put away his gun, made a gesture of placing his right hand on his heart, and bowed in broken Chinese, saying, "Thank you for the reward from the Emperor of Liang."

"Your Highness, Your Highness!" The interpreter was terrified and quickly bowed, apologizing profusely, "Your Highness, please forgive us! These barbarians are ignorant of etiquette..."

The King of Qi chuckled and said, "It's nothing. It was just an unintentional mistake."

Dou Yuan chuckled and said, "Congratulations, Your Highness! With the Frankish firearms at the Prince Xin's Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, Your Highness can expect great things."

King Qi shook his head and laughed, "My niece has a deep misunderstanding of me, haha." He chuckled, then stopped mid-sentence, looking at the dozen or so strangely-looking Portuguese standing on the other side, and asked Dou Yuan, "Mr. Dou, in your opinion, which is superior, the Portuguese musket or the Russian musket?"

Dou Yuan sighed and said, "I'm afraid they each have their own strengths and weaknesses. The firearms of the Rakshasa are powerful, but they are relatively heavy and sturdy, and they are widely used. The Northern Dynasty has suffered from the Rakshasa firearms for a long time. The firearms of the Portuguese are more sophisticated and accurate. They can hit targets at a distance of 100 zhang with such accuracy, which is something that our dynasty's firearms cannot possess. However, they are too expensive."

King Qi pondered for a moment, then nodded and ordered the interpreter to take the Portuguese to rest.

The matter of Baiyufang was a minor affair. Although they had easily earned 30,000 taels of silver, it was indeed a small matter. Dou Yuan had done it casually; their main focus was the Mid-Autumn Festival and the subsequent ascension of Prince Xin to the throne.

He spent the whole day discussing the future with Dou Yuan.

The Mid-Autumn Festival banquet hosted by Prince Xin is no small matter. By observing who sits in the eighteen seats in front of Prince Xin at the banquet, one can discern which people Prince Xin is close to and values.

By observing which people came in person and which only sent their nephews or nieces, one can discern their attitudes toward the King and the new laws.

Furthermore, the arrival of the heirs and princesses of the Princes Gui and Tang is another significant event. The princes' views on Prince Xin and the new laws can be gleaned from the Mid-Autumn Festival memorial presented to them. These matters require careful discussion.

In the afternoon, he went to see the Portuguese who had been invited and asked them to demonstrate their firearms. The Portuguese firearms were indeed quite good, exceeding their expectations, and would be very useful during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Zhu Ensong was very satisfied.

The sun sank behind the distant mountains, and a gentle breeze blew by.

As they walked and chatted, they gradually formed a plan in their minds for what to do next and which path to take.

At this moment, the steward sent by Dou Yuan to oversee the Baiyufang matter hurriedly bypassed the covered walkway and ran towards them.

"What's the rush!" Dou Yuan snapped, his face full of displeasure. "You might offend His Highness!"

"Yes, yes, yes!" The steward looked anxious, but his steps slowed down as he quickly apologized.

King Qi didn't seem to care. Seeing the steward, his interest in Baiyufang was rekindled, and he asked with a smile, "How is it? Steward Jiang, what's the price at Baiyufang now?"

Jiang Heng said, "Sixty-five coins."

"Oh," King Qi nodded and smiled, "Heh, already sixty-five, that's impressive."

Dou Yuan also showed a smug look on his face.

He wanted to build a similar workshop outside of Ning Baixuan's Baiyu Workshop. However, he also knew that while Baiyu Workshop seemed simple, it was actually quite complex. If he only copied its form without grasping its essence, he would inevitably run into difficulties later. Therefore, he had been analyzing the specific operation of Baiyu Workshop these days, and even took advantage of the situation to stockpile a batch of promissory notes at Baiyu Workshop at an average price of 180 coins per note, spending tens of thousands of taels of silver.

Based on this morning's price of 300 coins, the Qi Prince's Mansion has already earned a full 30,000 taels of silver!

Dou Yuan chuckled and said, "Your Highness, rest assured, since the price has reached sixty-five coins, our current profit is... our profit is..." His voice gradually slowed down, then turned into a soft exclamation, and his eyebrows rose.

At almost the same time, King Qi's brow furrowed.

"What did you say?" The two men's eyes widened, and they suddenly turned to Jiang Heng.

Jiang Heng looked bitter.

"Your Highness, Mr. Dou," Steward Jiang cried, his eyes bloodshot, as he knelt down with a thud, "The imperial court! The imperial court! The imperial court is going to shut down Baiyufang!"

……

……

The imperial court is going to shut down Baiyufang...

This important news spread throughout Datong Street around noon.

When this rumor circulated around Baiyufang, everyone scoffed at it, saying that cotton was a vital national commodity, half of Jiangnan's tax revenue came from cotton, and this year Jiangnan had suffered another disaster. The cotton trade in Baiyufang was beneficial to the country and its people! Buying up the cotton from the merchants in advance to prevent them from being exploited by the cloth merchants—wasn't that showing concern for the world?!

Someone flipped through the newspaper, pulled out the August 5th edition, and patted it, saying, "Emperor Taizu said that cotton is the foundation of the people's livelihood. The court has failed in its duty by not rewarding Baiyufang handsomely! How could it possibly be banned?"

Someone sneered and waved his arm, saying that if Baiyufang were shut down, Bao Rui, the Little Judge Bao, would probably die with his eyes wide open in disbelief. "Die with his eyes wide open in disbelief!" many people roared and echoed.

But by late afternoon, as the Nancheng Daily printed an additional 5,000 copies, they began to be distributed throughout the city.

The midday rumor finally materialized and crashed down on Nanjing.

Everyone looked at each other in astonishment.

The imperial court is really going to abolish Baiyufang!

The culprit who wanted to shut down Baiyufang was Grand Tutor Gu Xichuan, who was far away in Yunhu.

Gu Xichuan submitted a memorial to the imperial court.

A detailed list of the ten major harms of Baiyufang.

Upon receiving the memorial, His Majesty was furious and forwarded it to the Crown Prince, entrusting him with the full authority to handle the matter.

The Nancheng Daily also included a commemorative document from Grand Tutor Gu criticizing Bai Yufang for his flogging.

"It is called white but is actually black; it is called jade but is actually gravel."

The memorial stated that Baiyufang's primary harm was its monopoly on cotton trading in Jiangnan, which caused cotton prices to soar. While it appeared that there was no hoarding or speculation, it was actually more despicable than hoarding and speculation, and one could even say that it was hoarding and speculating two months in advance.

The second harm is that while transactions are convenient, merchants are driven by profit. In Baiyufang, prices fluctuate wildly, and people can either amass wealth or lose everything overnight. This is not only unprofitable for the people, but also extremely harmful.

The third harm is that after Baiyufang monopolizes the cotton trade, it can then use cotton supply as leverage to coerce cloth merchants. If this is ignored, when cotton prices soar, those who do not meet Baiyufang's demands or are short of funds will have no cotton to use, and the poor will have no cloth to make clothes... The fourth harm... The fifth harm is that many other places in the city may follow suit and establish Black Jade Fang, Yellow Jade Fang, Blue Jade Fang... The sixth harm is that the owners of Baiyufang sign a large number of purchase contracts in their personal names. If something goes wrong, Jiangnan will be thrown into chaos... The seventh harm... The eighth harm is that it may spread to grain, meat, and other commodities. Grain and meat futures contracts will spring up like mushrooms after rain. If this happens, it will bring disaster to the country and the people... The ninth harm... The tenth harm is that wealth can corrupt people's hearts and minds, which is not conducive to the spread of the sage's words throughout the world...

The Ten Harms are listed below.

Everyone who held the promissory note was red-eyed and furious, slamming their fists on the table and cursing Gu Xichuan!

"What a scoundrel!" "What's it to him!" "The Governor of Yunhu is meddling in the affairs of our capital now!" "Pah! Damn it!... Old scoundrel Gu!"

But after the outburst, he grabbed his clothes and rushed to Baiyufang to find some clueless people and sell all his mid-term tickets!

The crowd surged and hurled insults, determined to sell. By sunset, the counter staff were exhausted, but the crowd hadn't left, making it even harder for Baiyufang to close. As for the price of the promissory notes, it had fallen to sixty-five coins.

Just then, officials from the imperial court arrived and posted a notice announcing the suspension of business at Baiyufang.

It is also said that Xu Longdao, the Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince, and Chen Yuezhi, the Junior Chamberlain, will arrive together tonight to discuss the future of Baiyufang with the owner of the Baiyufang.