I'm really not doing business

Chapter 667: Monument of Strange Stories

Zhu Yiliu's multiple pointing method was really useful, and coupled with the powerful investigation of the imperial guards, the biggest conspiracy of spies in the Ming Dynasty who colluded with the Japanese pirates and plotted to seize power in the Ming Dynasty was finally uncovered.

Water fertilizer was invented by Wei Youshan, a craftsman from the Xishan Coal Bureau. He accidentally discovered that when water purifies coal smoke, it can make aquatic plants lush. Then, based on the observed phenomenon, he gradually used coal gangue to make it and improved the craftsmanship. In terms of principle, it is not complicated, but its production process has been continuously improved, and the output has been greatly improved.

The water fertilizer production process and the Ming steam engine were ranked as the biggest secrets of the Ming Dynasty, a secret higher than how many bowls of rice the emperor ate.

And the case that Zhu Yiliu cracked was just such a case.

The leader was named Chen Sheng, with a courtesy name of Botai. He was a native of southern Fujian. He failed to study and gave up being a scholar to go into business. Since the opening of the sea in the second year of the Longqing reign, he has been active in the Yuegang Maritime Customs. He was not a desperado, but a powerful and wealthy family in southern Fujian, and their family had been sea merchants for generations. After the opening of the sea in the Longqing reign, the Ming Dynasty still prohibited ships from going to Japan, but once this ship was out to sea, there was no way to control where it went.

Starting from the third year of Wanli, Chen Sheng came into contact with the Warring States daimyo of Japan, Mori Terumoto. As an important figure in Japan's "competition for the world", Mori Terumoto and sea merchants like Chen Sheng hit it off and had close contacts. Chen Sheng began to carry a large amount of contraband to Japan, and Mori Terumoto, who controlled the Iwami Silver Mine, rewarded Chen Sheng with countless silver.

In the fifth year of Wanli, Chen Sheng came to Beijing, founded Lianyun Bookstore and Miscellaneous Newspaper, and began his activities in the capital.

Zhu Yiliu found problems with Chen Sheng and Lianyun Bookstore, and he was always involved. When the capital was hit by smog due to coal smoke, Lianyun Newspaper would wave its flag and shout, clamoring for the Xishan Coal Bureau to stop work; when the Ming Dynasty built a highway, Lianyun Newspaper would stir up trouble, saying that the country would be destroyed in the near future if the construction was too ambitious; when the Ming Dynasty monopolized coke, steel, coal and iron, Lianyun Newspaper would bark and complain, saying that the world was impoverished due to excessive accumulation;

The most important thing is that Lianyun Bookstore likes to criticize the emperor.

Stealing the Ming Dynasty's method of making water fertilizer was so evil that even the seldom-seen Prince De Zhu Zaiyu was alarmed. You can imagine how evil this was.

"I can't understand. Isn't he from southern Fujian? The Japanese pirates attacked the southeast. I heard about the tragedy in the southeast when I was in Prince Zheng's Mansion. Everyone wanted to eat their flesh and blood. Why did this Chen Sheng help Japan and steal the water and fertilizer production of our Ming Dynasty?" Zhu Zaiyu was very puzzled. If it was somewhere else, Zhu Zaiyu would not ask.

But this Chen Sheng is from southern Fujian.

You must know that the Japanese invasion plagued the southeast, especially Zhejiang and Fujian, and their crimes were too numerous to list. Xu Wei, Sun Keyi, Chen Tiande, Ma Wenying of the Ninth Battalion in Zhejiang, and others, people from the southeast and those who served as officials from the southeast, were all filled with grief and indignation and vowed to avenge their blood feud.

But this Chen Sheng actually defected to the Japanese.

"For the sake of silver, Mao Li Terumoto offered three million taels of silver. As long as Chen Sheng can get it, he can get three million taels of silver." Shao Sikou Lu Guangzu answered this question about the alienation of money on people.

Three million taels of silver is really a lot. Before the third year of Wanli, the emperor's gold and silver were only one million taels of silver. The mausoleum of Emperor Longqing was worth a total of 50 taels of silver, which is equivalent to the mausoleums of six previous emperors.

"So that's it." Zhu Zaiyu looked at the criminal in the audience.

There were only thirteen criminals in such a serious case, so we have to mention Zhu Yiliu, the devil who brought a nine-jin cannon to raid Lianyun Bookstore.

The day when Zhu Yiliu went to search the houses happened to be the day when the criminal gang headed by Chen Sheng gathered. They took advantage of the emperor's absence to do some small tricks, create some momentum and public opinion, and then fish in troubled waters. Everything was planned, but before it was executed, Zhu Yiliu came to the door. He ordered the Ti cavalry to surround the Lianyun Bookstore and pull out the cannons.

There were thirteen criminals. The reason why the number was so small was that the Ti cavalry went a little too heavy-handed during the bombardment. More than one hundred and thirty people died that day. The reason why it was unclear how many people there were was that some were hit head-on by shrapnel shells and their bodies could not be pieced together.

On the day of the public trial, another 123 people died of illness.

So only these thirteen people were left to stand trial.

As Chief Justice Zhao Zhenyuan continued to preach, piece of evidence was carried to the Grand Court for display. The people could see clearly that the evidence was truly ironclad. For example, the secret letter from Chen Sheng to Mori Terumoto was testified by Oda Nobunaga's sister Oda Ichi herself. She also took out Mori Terumoto's letter and compared the handwriting, confirming that it was authentic and that the letter was written by Mori Terumoto himself.

The criminal Chen Sheng and thirteen others kept kowtowing.

In addition to secretly colluding with Japanese pirates to steal the fruits of the Chonggu Progress Award, these criminals also committed many other crimes, such as colluding with merchants, raising dung tyrants, water tyrants, sand tyrants, rice tyrants, etc. to drive up prices. Qin Tianba, captured by Zhu Yiliu, was one of Chen Sheng's running dogs; they secretly set up human trafficking rings to abduct and sell people; they disobeyed the court's orders, abolished the slave status and then ordered people to sign indentures, etc. Zhao Zhenyuan told the emperor everything he had found out.

"Chen Sheng, do you have anything else to say?" Lu Guangzu kept all the case files on file, looked at Chen Sheng, and asked sternly.

Chen was tied up in a rope. His posture was called "Spreading the Wings of a Great Peng". He had to lift his hands upward with all his strength behind his back, otherwise the rope around his neck would tighten. He had to lean forward and lift his head upward with all his strength, otherwise he would be strangled to death before the trial was over. His whole posture was indescribably funny.

This is Zhu Yiliu's art, rope art.

Zhu Yiliu once again told the world that beauties from all over the world were never his shield. He really liked to play some interesting little games with beauties from all over the world. After all, if he messed with the people of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor would really beat him, but if he messed with beauties from all over the world, no one would care about him.

Chen Sheng could not struggle. He shouted loudly, "It's easy to find a pretext to accuse someone of a crime! I just said a few bad things about the emperor, and you humiliated me like this? Do you really think I'm a spineless person? Humph! Eighteen years later, I'm a hero again!"

Chen Sheng, who had been kowtowing just now, suddenly became tough and shouted loudly. With such evidence, Chen Sheng knew that he would die without a doubt, so he simply created a heroic scene of unyielding before death to make people remember him and, by the way, pour a basin of dirty water on the emperor that could never be washed away!

"Oh? Really? Are you sure you want to change your confession?" Lu Guangzu said calmly, "Your confession attitude is extremely bad. You go back on your words and change your confession in court. You are playing tricks on the court and making fun of me. The dissection hospital has rarely received new specimens recently."

Chen Sheng's original unyielding and even righteous appearance came to an abrupt end, because as a Ming Dynasty man, he knew very well that death was not scary, but entering the dismemberment hospital was scary. The horror of this unit of measurement in a room would only be fully reflected when it fell on a specific person.

Lu Guangzu's words were very calm. Being Sikou during the Wanli period was so easy. It would be impossible for such a thing as using death to slander the court with such irrefutable evidence to happen during the Wanli period, because one would definitely be unable to live or die, and it would be better to just hit one's head against a wall than to be made into a specimen in the dissection hospital.

"I won't change my confession! I plead guilty. I am guilty. I colluded with Mori Terumoto to steal water and fertilizer manufacturing. I am guilty! Don't send me to the prison! Shao Sikou, please spare me, please spare me!" Chen Sheng was dumbfounded. He forgot about going to the prison and kept kowtowing in a weird and twisted posture.

The people in the audience originally thought that there was something else going on, but when they saw Chen Sheng begging for mercy like this, they immediately burst into laughter. This was throwing dirty water before dying, and the main thing was that it looked really funny, as weird as a rooster pecking at rice.

This is Zhu Yiliu's "animal transformation technique", using ropes to turn it into this appearance, and Chen Sheng's behavior was too funny, which created such a show effect.

Lu Guangzu pulled out a stick from the stick tube, threw it out, and said calmly: "Even if you don't change your confession, you will be sent to the execution ground. You didn't expect that."

"Ah?" Chen Sheng, who was pecking at rice, stood there in a daze.

"Hahaha!" The crowd burst into laughter again. Lu Guangzu looked very serious, but during the trial, he could still torture the criminals to this extent.

"Send them to the execution ground." Lu Guangzu stopped talking nonsense with Chen Sheng and chose to make a judgment. The Ministry of Justice had already discussed the 47 criminals, and as long as there were no new circumstances, such as new evidence, new meritorious performance of the criminals, etc., the judgment would be made according to the decision of the ministry.

Some will be sent to the dismemberment hospital, some will be sent to Caishikou to be beheaded in public, and some will be exiled to Womagang to dig coal. Everyone has a bright future.

Since the verdict has already been determined by the ministry, what is the point of a public trial?

In fact, it is very simple. The onlookers exercised their power of supervision. Right and wrong are in the hearts of the people. Originally, the law did not exist for the people at all, and they were indifferent to the law because it was not needed at all. But now public trials allow the people to participate in it, even if it is only a little bit, it is a huge progress in the law.

This can be seen from the reactions of the people. Recourse to the law to protect oneself seems to be an option.

Zhu Zaiyu stood up and said to Zhu Yiliu with a smile: "Since the verdict has been made and the people have no objection and are not agitated, I will return to the Imperial Academy of Studies. My dear nephew, many people have told the Five Classics Doctors through their connections that you are making trouble. I also took a look at it in my spare time. You have done a good job. Your brother has worked really hard. I don't understand politics, but I understand people's hearts. You are not causing trouble for your brother."

"Work hard, don't let our Zhu family down, be more energetic."

Zhu Zaiyu did not claim to be the only one with power, but affirmed what Zhu Yiliu did as the emperor's uncle and gave him support. He was the regent in the emperor's edict, but he was not in charge of mundane affairs. Someone asked him to come out and suppress Zhu Yiliu's arrogance. Zhu Zaiyu was busy with the infinite principles of all things, and since he saw it today, he simply expressed his position directly.

"Thank you, uncle." Zhu Yiliu did not expect that his uncle, who was indifferent to government affairs, would support his behavior so much in public.

"Your Majesty once said it well, you don't care about politics, but politics will care about you. Politics is an activity in which people make collective decisions, which affects everyone. Although I don't care about these, I know that what you are doing is right, Liu'er, do it boldly. If you really poke a hole in the sky, it will be me who indulges you. If something goes wrong, let Your Majesty blame me." Zhu Zaiyu did not just give his support with empty words, but gave a guarantee and took the blame.

If the whole world blames someone, they will find trouble with Zhu Zaiyu. If a child is ignorant and gets into trouble, shouldn't it be his uncle who should be held responsible?
Zhu Zaiyu's death disappointed the lowly Confucian scholars who had hoped that Prince De would come out of the Gewu Academy to punish Zhu Yiliu. Zhu Zaiyu had already made his position clear at the public trial.

Good job! Keep it up! Be more energetic!
Man is the sum of all social relations. Man cannot live independently from society. As long as he is alive, there are relationships. Someone used his connections to ask the Doctor of the Five Classics to invite Zhu Zaiyu out of retirement. Zhu Zaiyu was a little annoyed as a 48-horsepower steam engine needed to be tested. As a Doctor of the Study of Things, Zhu Zaiyu was very busy. After he made this statement, no one bothered him to do research anymore.

The 48-horsepower steam engine was successfully tested. This good news, along with the results of the public trial, was delivered to the emperor on his southern tour.

"No, what does the emperor's uncle study all day?" Zhu Yijun looked at the memorial in his hand and said to Zhang Juzheng who was sitting on the other side with a strange look on his face: "The emperor's uncle actually said that one person is equal to 1.28 horses?"

The definition of one horsepower is very clear. A horse works continuously for four hours and lifts a total of 1.28 kilograms of water by ten feet. Zhu Zaiyu found fifty strong laborers and, after experiments, found that one person is equal to horses.

"The entire argument is very rigorous. Humans have greater endurance than horses, and human power is inferior to animal power." After reading Zhu Zaiyu's memorial, Zhang Juzheng sincerely congratulated him on the successful test run of the 48-horsepower steam engine. He also affirmed Zhu Zaiyu's demonstration of how capable humans are.

With a pulley and a big bucket, a person needs to pull the bucket for four hours, excluding eating, drinking, defecating and urinating, which is 1.28 times the work of a horse.

"Your Majesty, are you going to Jinan Prefecture?" Zhang Juzheng asked the emperor about his next stop. His Majesty followed the imperial road to Qingcheng County. Now the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty had two choices. From Qingcheng, he went east along the imperial road, passing Qingzhou Prefecture to the Mizhou Maritime Customs Office in Jiaozhou Bay. The second route was to enter Jinan Prefecture, go to Taishan, Yanzhou and then to Xuzhou. Both routes were prepared, and it all depended on the Emperor's will.

"Go to Mizhou Maritime Customs." Zhu Yijun did not hesitate and directly told Zhang Juzheng his choice.

"Your Majesty, Wang Yi'e, the governor of Shandong, was promoted by you. At that time, no one recognized him because he was a disciple of Xu Jie. It was your Majesty who went against all odds and promoted him to be the governor of Shandong. Now that he is not sent to Jinan Prefecture, isn't it a bit too much of a blow to him?" Wang Chonggu said what Zhang Juzheng wanted to say.

Wang Yi'e is a member of the emperor's party, and a die-hard one at that. After working as the magistrate of Shuntian Prefecture for ten years, he finally got a chance for promotion. Now he goes to Shandong but not Jinan. This shows his lack of trust. Whatever Wang Yi'e wants to do in Shandong in the future, he will be a little restricted.

"Your Majesty, the Governor of Shandong, Wang Yi'e, has arrived." A eunuch hurried in and bowed his head to report.

"It's said that Cao Cao and Wang Yi'e have arrived, but I didn't summon them to see me." Zhu Yijun smiled and said, "Summon them."

The emperor of the Ming Dynasty would never enter Jinan Prefecture whether he was going north or south. During the Jingnan Campaign, Tie Xuan almost crushed Zhu Di to death with a sluice gate. This is still a taboo. When Emperor Wuzong toured the south, he did not pass through Jinan Prefecture.

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty would not go to Jinan Prefecture, but the Governor of Shandong could come to Qingcheng to welcome him.

According to the emperor's decree before his departure, officials at all levels were not allowed to leave their jurisdiction to welcome him. Wang Yi'e ran to Qingcheng County at the foot of Mount Qingcheng to welcome him, which was a bit of abandoning his post.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you. Long live Your Majesty. Long live Your Majesty." Wang Yi'e shook his sleeves and performed the ceremony of five bows and three kowtows.

"Wang Yi'e, do you know your crime? I have issued a clear order that you are not allowed to leave without permission." Zhu Yijun said in pretended anger.

Wang Yi'e bowed his head again and said, "I know no crime. Your Majesty's going on the imperial road, and I am a Beijing official and should be accompanying you. Since I am not an official from outside the capital, there is no such thing as leaving my post without permission."

"Sweet words and flattering appearance! You are good at finding excuses for yourself and your words are barely acceptable. Please don't be polite and sit down to talk." Zhu Yijun extended his hand, motioning Wang Yi'e to sit down.

This is not a reason. The full title of Wang Yi'e's official position is indeed Deputy Censor-in-Chief and Governor of Shandong. He is indeed a Beijing official. Governor is just an assignment and is not a local official. Just like Wu Shanyan, the Governor of Zhejiang, he colluded with local powerful figures and wealthy people, and the result is that he cannot escape the death penalty.

"Your Majesty, I have an interesting story." Wang Yi'e sat down and did not talk about business first, but started chatting.

"Oh?" Zhu Yijun asked curiously, "What kind of interesting thing is it?"

"Mr. He from Qingcheng County had a son who was rather lazy since he was young. Relying on his family's financial resources, he had no patience to do anything. He was neither good at literature nor martial arts. Wasn't there a college examination some time ago to test the ability to become a scholar? Suddenly, this son, who was a hopeless case, became a genius." Wang Yi'e began to tell this interesting story.

Mr. He was a well-known wealthy family in Qingcheng County. They had a young son named He Zhenyan, who was notoriously lazy in the surrounding area. He was not stupid, but just lazy. The private tutor could not teach him, and the famous people in the surrounding area could not teach him either. In addition, with the indulgence of his parents, He Zhenyan had been hanging around all the time. Now he was sixteen years old, the age for marriage.

Girls of equal status are not willing to marry into this family and suffer. If they look for a husband from a lower family, they may be able to find some families that are greedy for wealth, but the He family is not willing to accept that.

In the academy examination in the 13th year of Wanli, He Zhenyan, who was unsuccessful in everything, suddenly became a genius.

"What kind of genius method is this? Mathematics is like having telepathy. Just by looking at it, you can know the answer, and it is certain to be correct. You can compose a poem in seven steps and a lyric in ten steps. It is really amazing. When you participate in various poetry gatherings, you will be the center of attention. Everyone praises you, saying that you are the god of literature and a prodigal son who has returned to the world. They also criticize the imperial examination system."

"The college entrance examination is almost here, and it's over. However, He Zhenyan did very badly in the exam, only getting 48 points in mathematics." Wang Yi'e said with a smile.

"Oh? The full score is 100, and you got 48 points, which is really a bit low." Zhu Yijun nodded.

Wang Yi'e smiled and said, "After thinking about it, I figured it out. The He family must have spent a lot of money to bribe others in order to make their child look like a genius. If he fails to pass the exam, wouldn't it be unfair for the Ming Dynasty to pass the imperial examination? This is how things developed. He Zhenyan's parents sued him to the county government. The county government did not allow the He family father and son to make trouble, so they sued him to the government."

"This matter has caused a lot of uproar. There are even rumors that I accepted bribes and refused to handle the case."

Zhu Yijun asked: "Then how did you deal with it?"

Wang Yi'e held his hand up, leaned forward and said, "I set up a three-meter-wide open space outside the government hall, put He Zhenyan at a table, and gave him a test on the spot. The result was that he scored 23 points out of a full 100."

"I have erected a monument there, on which is written: A lazy, foolish and stubborn boy from Qingcheng, who suddenly became wise and resourceful, and whose name as a genius spread far and wide. He scored 48th in the imperial examination, and his parents were anxious and complained that it was unfair. He scored 23rd in the Jinan prefectural examination, and this was a great success!"

"He Zhenyan was too embarrassed to continue studying at the county school, so he dropped out directly."

This is the origin of Wang Yi'e's Monument of Curious Stories in the World. His forte was erecting monuments. With Li Geleng, he would really carve people on stones for people to laugh at, just like the Happy Stele Forest outside Chaoyang Gate, which became a must-visit place for students entering Beijing.

What is more interesting is that to this day, no one has broken Xu Jie’s corruption record.

"Your Majesty, you must be vigilant against the powerful and wealthy who are trying to covet the imperial examination system." Wang Yi'e talked about why he wanted to tell this interesting story. Shandong has been a place where culture and education flourished since the Jixia Academy in the pre-Qin period. Now someone in Shandong has changed the rules of the imperial examination system, or the rules of class transition. Wang Yi'e handled the matter and reported it to Your Majesty.

"Governor Wang handled the matter effectively. This is a matter concerning the rise and fall of the country, and we cannot afford to be careless. This matter has been published in the official newspaper and spread far and wide." Zhu Yijun felt that Wang Yi'e handled the matter very well and did the right thing.

In fact, Mr. He could have donated a Zengsheng, which would have also brought him an honor, equivalent to a scholar. Of course, Juren and Jinshi could not donate. The reason why Mr. He went to so much trouble was because a Zengsheng would be laughed at, especially in Shandong, where purchased Zengsheng were generally not recognized and even looked down upon.

"Your Majesty, I have something else to report. Recently, I discovered that some people in Shandong have been smuggling rice to Japan to make huge profits. Japan has a large population and a small land area, and the contradiction between population and land is acute. The grain output has been declining for years due to the wars among these famous landowners. This year, rice is expensive in Japan, and some people have set their sights on grain and want to send grain to Japan to make huge profits." Wang Yi'e talked about another thing. Japanese ships came to Ming Dynasty to buy grain, and some illegal merchants in Ming Dynasty smuggled grain to Japan.

If we add that Chen Sheng and Mori Terumoto intended to steal the Ming Dynasty's water and fertilizer method, it actually illustrates a problem: Japan really does not have enough rice.

"Why is Japan short of food? Is it because the food grown in the land can't feed its eight million people? No, it's because of frequent wars and the lack of a wise leader. Moreover, with the prosperity of maritime trade, more and more people have begun to lose sight of the important and pursue trivial matters. Outside the city are bandits and defeated soldiers, while inside the city are people living a life of debauchery and drunkenness." Wang Yi'e did not think that Japan's land could not feed its people.

The population of Japan was declining rapidly. It was completely possible to support eight million people. Wars destroyed production, and with the rise and fall of maritime trade, more and more people left the land. Even without the influx of silver, the prosperous trade still changed the production structure of Japan. Silver was flowing out of Japan, but banknotes were flowing in.

This change made Japan even more dangerous.

"A desperate dog will do something desperate?" Zhu Yijun frowned. If there is no food, they will just rob. This is the inertial logic of the Japanese pirates. They have not learned to behave like humans, but their animal nature is deeply rooted.

"It could be Korea." Wang Yi'e was the governor of Shandong, close to both Korea and Japan. He sat up straight and said, "If the Japanese are desperate, we can't just ignore them because the King of Korea refuses to come to Beijing. Once the Japanese pirates get a springboard to the mainland, their ambitions will turn to Ming Dynasty."

The Ming Dynasty and Korea were not as close as one family. There were some conflicts, but the problems were not too big. The interests of countries came first. However, giving Korea to Japan because of these conflicts would be a very unwise and irrational approach.

"They want to invade Korea, unless Oda Nobunaga is dead." Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and said, "First, strictly prohibit sea merchants from selling grain to Japan. This is a matter of urgency. The Ming Dynasty does not have enough grain."

Mori Terumoto invaded Korea alone because he was not strong enough, and Oda Nobunaga could not bypass Mori Terumoto to attack Korea and solve the food crisis. Due to geographical reasons, Oda Nobunaga could not do so.

The conflict between Oda Nobunaga and Mori Terumoto was irreconcilable. The two sides had been fighting for so many years. Oda Nobunaga wanted Iwami Silver Mine, but Mori Terumoto refused to give it to him. Unless Oda Nobunaga died or Mori Terumoto was completely defeated, there was no basis for reconciliation. If they reconciled, neither side would be able to explain to their subordinates.

The Ming Dynasty is very familiar with the situation in Japan, and currently does not have the ability to form a joint force to invade.

The Ming Dynasty seemed to have done nothing but open the sea, but Japan still became more turbulent because of the Ming Dynasty's disturbance.

"Your Majesty, the Ming Dynasty has encountered difficulties in opening up the sea." Wang Yi'e sat up straight and started talking about business. He ran from Jinan Prefecture to Qingcheng County to meet the emperor, naturally not to maintain relations, but when he was doing things in the local area, he found that the Ming Dynasty had entered a bottleneck period after twelve years of opening up the sea.

"Tell me in detail." Zhu Yijun said seriously.

"Your Majesty, the first difficulty is the saturation of overseas markets. The production of Ming Dynasty goods is still increasing rapidly, but overseas demand has not grown at the same time." Wang Yi'e talked about the current situation of saturation of overseas goods. In fact, it is not saturated yet, but if Ming Dynasty's production continues to grow at this rate, some unacceptable situations will really arise.

The reason why Wang Yi'e came to this conclusion was that various workshops were still being set up in full swing in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, but the growth rate of silver inflows into the five major hinterland customs offices was much lower than the growth number of workshops.

The opening of the seas by the Ming Dynasty was driven by trade, but now this path dominated by trade has reached a dead end.

"Your Majesty, there is no apparent problem in the short term, but in the long term, it will definitely cause some chaos. The Mizhou Maritime Customs already has goods piled up and rotting in the warehouse, but they are unwilling to sell them at low prices." Wang Yi'e discovered a phenomenon: the goods in more than one warehouse had been torn apart by insects, but they still refused to sell at low prices.

On the one hand, prices are slowly rising with the influx of silver, domestic commodities are in serious shortage and prices are soaring; on the other hand, goods are piling up in warehouses. This phenomenon seems very contradictory and somewhat incredible.

But it does exist.

Zhu Yijun could actually understand the emergence of this phenomenon, which was basically: he would rather pour milk into the Mississippi River than lower the price.

(End of this chapter)