In Shu, Yan Shangxian put pressure on all the great noble families.

Using his authority as an imperial inspector dispatched from the central government, he forcefully demanded these wealthy families, who had no shortage of grain, to hand over their food supplies unconditionally to aid in disaster relief.

Under normal circumstances, when government warehouses ran low, these noble families would be asked to contribute money and resources. However, Yan Shang’s demands this time were excessive – he wanted them to surrender over eighty percent of their grain. Such a large contribution would impact the families’ daily operations.

The noble families sent representatives to negotiate, explaining their difficulties and insisting it wasn’t that they were unwilling to help the nation, but rather that the government’s demands were too high for them to meet.

However, Yan Shang remained resolute, completely refusing to let them argue.

For three consecutive days, different noble families sent people to meet with Yan Shang. Finally, they enlisted the help of a highly respected local elder and two local government officials to plead with Yan Shang not to be so harsh.

That night, in Yan Shang’s study, they talked until their throats were dry. They watched as the young imperial official merely drank tea and reviewed official documents, completely ignoring them. They grew secretly angry, wondering who had told them this official looked young and would be easy to persuade and reason with.

The elderly clan leader they had brought began coughing. The old man’s coughs were so violent they caught the attention of Yun Shu, the servant grinding ink at Yan Shang’s side.

Yun Shu came over to help the old man sit down, offering tea and water to ease his coughing. His master, Yan Shang, finally looked up from his mountain of documents, showing concern: “If the elderly sir isn’t feeling well, perhaps you should return home to rest. These minor matters aren’t worth worrying about.”

The old clan leader’s anger flared instantly, his walking stick tapping loudly against the floor: “Minor matters? Not worth worrying about?!”

Yan Shang replied softly: “What else would you call them?”

Seeing the other’s refined and scholarly appearance, the old clan leader couldn’t help but try to reason earnestly: “Young Master Yan, we understand. You came here for disaster relief. Otherwise, someone with your promising future in the capital would never come to our impoverished region. Having served as an official in Chang’an, you’re used to the immense wealth of the capital’s noble families, so naturally you don’t understand our difficulties.”

Yan Shang neither agreed nor disagreed.

Seeing that he hadn’t interrupted, they thought there was still hope and spoke more emotionally: “To be honest, we call ourselves noble families, but outside of Yizhou, which noble family would acknowledge us? They all say we’re just wealthy commoners without proper lineage. We send our children to study, to learn the classics, to become officials… all to truly join the ranks of noble families.

“So Young Master Yan, you may have just arrived and think we’re wealthy, but it’s not like that. We’ve lived honestly in Yizhou for hundreds of years, never oppressing the common people or exploiting the locals. Perhaps some ignorant commoners have said things about us to you, but those are all false, we and the common people…”

Yan Shang interrupted: “I came here for disaster relief, not to mediate conflicts between you and the commoners. Elder, perhaps you don’t need to tell me these things?”

The old clan leader paused, noting Yan Shang’s polite tone, and backtracked: “Yes, yes. Disaster relief is important, disaster relief is important. What I wanted to say was… Young Master Yan, you think of the common people, you’re a good official. But you must give us a way to survive too. If we fall, how will that help feed Yizhou? Yizhou may be prosperous… but it’s vast, and our remote county is nothing like the prefectural capital.

“If Young Master insists on forcefully requisitioning grain, you’re forcing us to our deaths! This old man won’t leave tonight, I’ll crash into death right at your doorstep to show my resolve!”

As he spoke, the old man stood up, trembling as if to ram into a pillar. The younger men in the room quickly moved to stop him, repeatedly saying “The Young Master surely doesn’t mean that.” Yan Shang was also startled by the old clan leader’s actions, standing up from behind his desk to check on him.

The old clan leader wept openly, holding Yan Shang’s hand while pleading continuously.

Yan Shang sighed and asked: “You truly cannot provide this amount of grain?”

Everyone replied: “We truly cannot! If we could afford it, we would grit our teeth and manage somehow. How could we come begging the Young Master for leniency three times?”

Yan Shang spoke quietly: “However, I heard this disaster didn’t affect you. With all your good fields, how could it not have affected…”

They exclaimed excitedly: “Who said such things?! Of course, we were affected! The disaster was so sudden, that our grain reserves were quickly depleted! If not for saving face, we would have gone to collect relief grain from the government too!”

Yan Shang remained unimpressed: “If you truly lacked grain, you would have gone to the government already. The fact that I can still extract some grain from you shows you’re not lacking… I’m very curious, why aren’t you lacking?”

As everyone was about to explain all at once, the elderly clan leader waved for them to be quiet. He looked deeply at Yan Shang, who gave him a gentle smile. By now, the old clan leader seemed thoughtful, perhaps realizing what this official truly wanted.

The old clan leader chose his words carefully: “The reason we’ve managed to hold on until now is because we bought grain from local merchants. Although we paid three times the market price, we still managed to buy some…”

Yan Shang’s voice grew cold: “If you all had no grain, how could the merchants have any? Even if merchants stockpiled some goods, the disaster has lasted several months now, stockpiles should have been depleted. How could they still have grain? Where did it come from?”

The old clan leader cautiously replied: “They stockpiled early, merchants travel far and wide, they’re more foresighted than us…”

Yan Shang smiled and said: “The disaster struck everywhere at once, yet the merchants somehow reacted faster than everyone else. If they truly had such ability, why be merchants? I could recommend them directly to the Ministry of Revenue.”

The old clan leader sighed.

By this point in the conversation, he roughly understood this imperial official’s meaning.

The old clan leader said helplessly: “Then what does Young Master want us to do? If we cooperate, can the grain requirement be reduced?”

Yan Shang: “I only need you to identify which merchants still dare to inflate grain prices now. I naturally need to visit them, to ask how their business acumen gained such foresight.” –

Using the noble families’ hands to root out the merchants profiting here.

The merchants knew their actions couldn’t be conspicuous, so they operated very secretly. If Yan Shang hadn’t pushed those noble families to their limit, they would never have exposed these merchants. When Yan Shang received the list, he saw that among these merchants, the largest was Yizhou’s wealthiest merchant.

Even the wealthiest merchant was profiting from this national disaster!

What more needed to be said? Naturally, he had to take the evidence and question them directly.

This wealthy merchant’s surname was Chen, people called him Master Chen, and he had built quite a good reputation. When Yan Shang visited his mansion at night, not only was he not nervous, he was well prepared.

Master Chen invited Yan Shang to sit and had his steward bring account books for Yan Shang to examine: “Young Master, look, I’ve conducted honest business from start to finish. I bought the grain, I didn’t steal it. The sales were mutually agreeable, even if the price was higher, given Yizhou’s current situation, isn’t that natural? If it were cheaper, my mansion would have been emptied by those commoners long ago.

“I was willing to sell, others were willing to buy. What’s wrong with that?”

Yan Shang glanced at the account books presented and said: “You started stockpiling grain a month before the disaster began? What kind of grain were you stockpiling then?”

Master Chen’s expression didn’t change: “Just a merchant’s instincts. Young Master, you’ve never been in trade, naturally you wouldn’t understand.”

Yan Shang neither agreed nor disagreed. He probably did understand something about trade routes.

Partly because he was now in the Ministry of Revenue and saw some merchant tactics; another reason was his third brother, who had never been content to just study books since childhood.

His third brother had always liked tinkering with these things, making small profits. One could say that since their father wasn’t skilled at business, the Yan family’s decent appearance in Lingnan was all thanks to Third Young Master Yan’s efforts. If it weren’t for the fact that commerce was considered a lesser path and would affect the scholarly pursuits of the family, his third brother would have abandoned his studies for business long ago.

As Yan Shang now examined these account books, he could recall his third brother’s constant chatter about how to make money. Yan Shang said: “In one month, you couldn’t stockpile this much grain. Even if you opened trade routes to transport grain from other prefectures and counties, a month wouldn’t be enough time. Moreover, your purchase prices were far below market value. I might believe your business acumen worthy of being Yizhou’s wealthiest merchant if you did all this in a month. But the amount is too large, you couldn’t have done this alone.”

Yan Shang lowered his eyes, calculating in his mind.

Master Chen objected: “Young Master can’t say something’s impossible just because you couldn’t do it yourself.”

Yan Shang: “So you’re saying you spent exactly this much money and got exactly this much grain. All the numbers match perfectly?”

Master Chen proudly declared: “Yes! The account books all match, not a single coin difference! Young Master, even if you investigate, I’m clean!”

Yan Shang raised his eyelids: “The only way you could have done this is if someone secretly notified you a month before the disaster… Besides the Shu prefecture, all county transportation was blocked. Even if you found buyers, you couldn’t have transported the grain intact. Didn’t you need to reward local powers along the way? Didn’t you encounter a single bandit? Did your transport workers not eat a single grain, starving for thirty days to deliver the grain perfectly intact?”

Master Chen was stunned, wanting to argue, but sweat appeared on his forehead as he realized his mistake – he had made the accounts too perfect!

Yan Shang threw down the account books, standing up in suppressed anger: “The only possibility is that you bought grain from government officials before the disaster! You used the government warehouses! The warehouse grain was sold early, the amounts didn’t match early on, that’s why there’s water and impurities mixed in now… just covering it up, making it convenient for everyone!

“You- you have such audacity! You knew about the disaster a month in advance… yet- yet you didn’t report to the court, instead making private deals? Where do you place the law, do you still recognize the central government? One month before the disaster! Instead of preparing to prevent the disaster, you schemed how to profit from the national crisis. Are the tens of thousands of households in Yizhou just a game to you? Do they deserve to die?”

Under such serious accusations, Master Chen immediately broke into a cold sweat, his fat body trembling.

He fell to his knees with a thud, crying miserably: “Young Master, Young Master! I didn’t know about any of that, it has nothing to do with me… I’m just a businessman, others wanted to sell, so I bought. People wanted to buy, so I sold! I just made a profit from the difference!

“I- I’ve also donated money! Some of the grain the government is using for disaster relief now, I donated it! I led other merchants in donating together.”

Yan Shang closed his eyes, telling himself to hold back.

Telling himself these were just merchants, he hadn’t yet found the bigger fish…

He said: “Hand over all your remaining grain!”

Master Chen looked up hesitantly, not expecting Yan Shang to be so lenient: “Young Master… you want to buy grain from us?”

Yan Shang looked at him.

Master Chen suddenly realized the other party didn’t want to buy the grain but to requisition it for free. His whole body broke into a cold sweat, how could he dare to do something so significant?

He stammered: “Young Master, you’re cutting off our lifeline! If we hand it over, countless people will go bankrupt and their families will be ruined… Young Master, you can’t send us to our deaths! We’re just doing business, Young Master, you can’t force us to die! Why can’t you try to see things from our perspective?”

Thinking this way, he started wailing while speaking: “Usually people look down on us, saying we only care about money. Now that we’ve finally earned some money, Young Master wants to empty us… We worked hard to earn this money! We’re not the ones exploiting the common people! We haven’t done anything evil! It’s just business! Business isn’t a crime! We haven’t harmed others’ interests, we’re just pursuing our interests, is even that not allowed? Young Master, why won’t you think about us?”

Yan Shang looked down at the fat man crying with snot and tears smeared across his face while hugging his leg. He rarely felt such disgust, and spoke coldly: “You have harmed the people’s interests! Yes, from beginning to end, you did business only with the noble families. But when you inflated grain prices, wouldn’t other prices follow? And your initial grain was bought from the government… is the current shortage of relief grain unrelated to your business back then? Even if you sell grain to the common people now… how many can afford it?

“You’ve thrown the entire market into chaos, and now you tell me you were just doing business, just profiting from price differences, that you’re innocent? Yes, from your perspective, you are innocent. However, I cannot take your perspective!”

Master Chen wept loudly: “Young Master Yan! Do you only see the public good, with no regard for private matters? Must you drive each of our small households to death for the sake of everyone? Are we not common people too? Do you have any feelings at all? Should merchants just die?”

Yan Shang pulled his sleeve from the other’s grasp. His heart quieted for a moment, but he quickly steeled himself against Master Chen’s influence.

In the merchants’ eyes, they had done no wrong. They would even help with disaster relief, give grain and money… Perhaps Master Chen’s behavior would even earn praise from the common people as an act of kindness. While someone like Yan Shang, who forced Chen to surrender his wealth for public use, would be cursed as a “dog official.”

The common people were ignorant.

However, as he said, Yan Shang couldn’t take the merchant’s perspective.

Amidst the other’s wailing, Yan Shang finally said: “I can give you a way out.”

Kneeling on the ground, Master Chen immediately looked up, his face covered in tears.

Yan Shang said: “I want you to identify which officials in Yizhou knew about the disaster a month before it began. After the disaster started, were you still doing business with officials? Which officials were in contact with you…”

Master Chen sat stunned and silent, then suddenly scrambled up, trying to ram into a nearby pillar.

Yan Shang was quick to react, already alert when the other rushed forward. Master Chen didn’t succeed in killing himself, instead being caught by Yan Shang’s palm. Yan Shang let out a muffled groan of pain but gripped the other’s shoulder, his eyes like ice and cold steel.

Yan Shang spoke quietly: “I know you’re afraid, you dare not speak. However, either I sweep away all the merchants in Yizhou, or you listen to me and watch the officials fall one by one…”

Master Chen said in terror: “Many people will die!”

Yan Shang: “Rest assured, I won’t take things to the extreme. I can’t possibly move against all of Yizhou, I just need to target some of the most typical officials…”

Through threats and inducements, Yan Shang finally convinced the wealthiest merchant in Yizhou to cooperate with him.

With Master Chen’s help, when Yan Shang saw which officials knew about this matter, he almost became dizzy, his vision darkening.

Because almost- almost every official in Yizhou, high and low, knew!

They all knew! None reported to the central government!

Yan Shang gritted his teeth, and after two days of deep thought, had to admit he couldn’t possibly move against all of Yizhou. With such a large gap in officials, he couldn’t remove them all, nor could he fill all the positions. The only current solution was to start with some officials whose mistakes weren’t as serious, let them fight among themselves, demote the most egregious offenders, and promote some lower-ranking officials who still had a conscience…

One deep night in early August, Yan Shang went to visit a Sima official-

When changes were occurring in Yizhou, the latest talk in Chang’an was how the Emperor had completely divided the capital’s army into the Southern and Northern Commands. The Southern Command remained under its previous generals, though the Crown Prince had arranged some people within it; while the Northern Command was taken back by the Emperor, who placed a eunuch above all the generals.

Eunuchs had no roots or foundation, they could only rely on the Emperor. The Emperor using eunuchs to interfere with the military changed the previously clear-cut army into something no longer solely under Prince Qin’s control. Moreover, since this eunuch was personally elevated by the Emperor, Prince Qin’s side didn’t dare resist.

The common-born officials temporarily couldn’t suppress the noble families, so the Emperor cleverly introduced the power of the inner court eunuchs. However, at this time the eunuch faction was equivalent to the Emperor’s power, they were the Emperor’s eyes in court. Although these scholars were dissatisfied with working alongside eunuchs, besides submitting memorials of protest, they had few options.

Among the eunuchs, the most prominent now was Liu Wenji. As Inspector of Military Ceremony, he controlled the Northern Command. With military power in hand, who dared not show him respect?

“The winds have changed in Chang’an…” This was a common sign among court officials lately.

However, the Emperor was merely testing the waters. For someone like the Emperor, letting Liu Wenji control military power was already the limit; he couldn’t possibly let eunuchs interfere in all matters. So besides lamenting, the officials mostly discussed “What kind of person is this Liu Wenji, that he could control the Northern Command? Prince Qin must be anxious now.”

Prince Qin was indeed anxious.

But Prince Qin had just been released from confinement, and despite his burning anxiety, he was extremely careful, not fulfilling people’s wishes by provoking Liu Wenji and openly challenging his imperial father.

Seeing that Prince Qin didn’t suppress Liu Wenji, the court officials were somewhat disappointed.

Scholars naturally looked down on inner court eunuchs.

Yet there were always exceptions in the world.

Like Master Zhao, the Libationer Zhao.

Seeing Liu Wenji now controlling military power, his authority clearly about to be raised by the Emperor’s hand, Master Zhao had thoughts. Because Master Zhao was single-mindedly focused on climbing higher, yet after so many years, he was still serving as Libationer, an idle official position without real duties.

Now the rise of eunuch power presented an opportunity for Master Zhao.

Because all scholars in the realm looked down on eunuchs, no one would attach themselves to eunuchs! But if Master Zhao became the first to attach himself… if Liu Wenji’s power truly became immense in the future, the Zhao family’s fortune would come!

The main concerns were, first, whether Liu Wenji could truly achieve immense power, and whether the Emperor might remove this eunuch before he grew too powerful after using him to balance Prince Qin; second, if the Zhao family, as distinguished nobles, were the first to attach themselves to eunuchs, they would be ostracized and looked down upon by all noble families. The Zhao family would likely become a target of attack among the nobles in the future.

Master Zhao worried for three days but still made his decision – so what if the noble families looked down on them? The most important thing for the Zhao family now was to first join the ranks of first-class noble families! Once the Zhao family had prestige, wouldn’t those noble families have to curry favor anyway?

But how should he pledge loyalty to Liu Wenji now?

On Liu Wenji’s side, he naturally knew those scholars looked down on him, but he didn’t know that Master Zhao was currently scratching his head and craning his neck looking for an opportunity to attach himself. Liu Wenji now needed to firmly grasp the Northern Command, helping the Emperor completely take back control of its troops.

The Emperor wanted to cut away the forces behind Prince Qin, so Liu Wenji naturally had to serve well as the Emperor’s blade. This opportunity wasn’t easy to come by, how could he retreat because of a poor reputation?

However, Liu Wenji hadn’t expected that in his first meeting with all the military officers as representative of the Northern Command, he would see someone in the crowd whom he didn’t want to see.

The other person also stared at him blankly, clearly not expecting him to have reached his current position.

This person was the current General of the Right Guard, Luo Xiu. The same Luo Xiu who had come to Chang’an as an envoy ostensibly from the Wu Barbarians but actually from the Southern Barbarians.

This Luo Xiu had privately dealt with Liu Wenji to obtain Great Wei’s intelligence. He had intended to send it to the Southern Barbarian King, but Meng Zai had kept Luo Xiu in Chang’an. Fortunately, Luo Xiu later met a Wu Barbarian named Han Shuxing and asked him to pass the intelligence to the Southern Barbarians.

Luo Xiu himself remained in Chang’an, mutually antagonistic with the capital’s official circles. No officials took him seriously; his position as General of the Right Guard was just Great Wei’s excuse to force him to stay in Chang’an… Luo Xiu hadn’t expected to see Liu Wenji again.

Seeing that the former minor eunuch now controlled military power… Luo Xiu felt stirrings in his heart, wondering if they could continue working together to overthrow Great Wei.

But as Liu Wenji looked at this Luo Xiu, what he thought was: that this person cannot be allowed to live.

While this person lived, his secret communication with the Southern Barbarians could be discovered. Only with Luo Xiu dead could he be safe.

Among the crowd of officers, Luo Xiu gave a friendly smile to the beardless, pale-faced eunuch. Liu Wenji stared at him for a long while, then also showed a slight smile, making a friendly gesture – get the person over here, then kill him.

The trouble was that the other was an official, and a hostage left by the Wu Barbarians, so killing him would be somewhat troublesome. He needed to think of a reliable method-

In the Eastern Palace, the Crown Prince received news from the Yizhou disaster relief effort.

The news wasn’t sent by Yan Shang, but rather through the Ministry of Revenue from Yizhou officials requesting help – Yan Shang was going too far.

The Crown Prince gritted his teeth: “I only sent him for disaster relief! Couldn’t he just focus on the relief work? Now he wants to shake up the entire Yizhou officialdom?”

The Vice Minister of Revenue who came to relay the message worried: “Sending Young Master Yan for disaster relief this time, we may have sent the wrong person. Young Master Yan is careful and bold, but perhaps too careful… I fear that if we let him continue investigating like this, he’ll uncover an earth-shattering case, and none of us will be able to escape involvement.”

The Crown Prince was silent for a long while.

The Crown Prince spoke slowly: “I’m not afraid of changes in Yizhou’s officialdom… I’m afraid this change will affect the Ministry of Revenue. How can we allow Young Master Yan to run wild in such an important place as the Ministry of Revenue?”

The Vice Minister: “Fortunately it will soon be September, and once the dry season passes, Young Master Yan will have no reason to stay in Yizhou…”

The Crown Prince spoke quietly: “The way he’s moving against Yizhou, I fear he won’t be able to leave Yizhou alive.”

Both fell silent.

But the Crown Prince spoke softly again: “No, I can’t rely on external forces, can’t rely on the possibility that Yan Suchen will back down… I’ve never dared underestimate Yan Suchen’s abilities. If Yizhou doesn’t swallow Young Master Yan, and he turns to deal with the Ministry of Revenue, that will be trouble… The urgent matter now is to end the disaster relief, send new officials, and recall Yan Suchen!”

That day, heavy rain fell in Chang’an.

Even with rain, the summer heat wasn’t much relieved.

Princess Mu Wanyao was lounging in her princess residence, having eaten two slices of ice-cold green melon, when she received word that the Crown Prince and Vice Minister of Revenue had come to visit.

Princess Mu Wanyao was stunned because usually she went to the Eastern Palace to visit the Crown Prince; this was the first time the Crown Prince had come to visit her.

The Crown Prince came in the rain, his shoulders wet when he entered. The Vice Minister of Revenue paid respects to the Princess while the Crown Prince, without taking time to adjust his appearance, handed Mu Wanyao the memorial from Yizhou.

The Crown Prince stared at Mu Wanyao: “We must recall Yan Shang! The Yizhou officials are now furious, if Young Master Yan stays in Yizhou any longer, his life may be in danger.”

Seeing this memorial, Mu Wanyao also turned pale, seeing the officials’ dissatisfaction with Yan Shang. She too worried for Yan Shang’s safety… It was just disaster relief, how had he made it such a huge affair? She had heard many parts of Yizhou were untamed; wouldn’t Yan Shang be in danger there?

Mu Wanyao’s heart was tormented, and she couldn’t help asking the Crown Prince: “What does Elder Brother mean?”

The Crown Prince: “I want Yan Shang to return. But I fear the Secretariat won’t issue this order because Yan Shang’s teacher is in the Secretariat and will block this move. Chancellor Liu thinks of the whole realm, and with many students, won’t care about Suchen’s safety. But we care… I fear if I ask Yan Shang to return, he won’t come.

“So I have no choice but to borrow little sister’s influence.

“Say that you’re gravely ill, your life in danger, and have Yan Shang return to Chang’an, to stop dealing with Yizhou’s affairs!

“We’re doing this for Yan Shang’s good! Little sister, you now know what the official circles are like, no one is truly clean… Yan Shang can’t investigate further!”

The wind and rain raged.

In Shu Prefecture of Yizhou, multiple officials gathered together, led by the Governor of Yizhou, to discuss-

“Yan Shang cannot remain. If he stays longer, our Yizhou will see a complete purge.

“Hire wandering warriors and bandits, finish him.”