“You’ve come at just the right time. Otherwise, I would have sent someone to notify you. Go back immediately and remove the family crests from all the shops of the Yun, Qin, Cheng, Niu, and Yuchi families. Close the ones that can be closed. During His Majesty’s inspection of Yuezhou, we won’t do business. It wouldn’t look good if His Majesty saw us.”
Yun Ye’s casual remark stunned all four stewards. After exchanging glances with each other, Old Jiang bowed and said: “My lord, removing the family crests isn’t difficult—this old servant can do it when I return. But closing the shops will be difficult. Our family has many shops. Thirty percent of the shops on Yuhua Street belong to our five families. We sell rare goods from north and south, as well as sandalwood from the west. Recently, we’ve added spices. If we close them all, that entire street will be empty.”
Yun Ye drew in a sharp breath. He had designed Yuezhou City himself, and he knew all too well what kind of location Yuhua Street was. This street divided the inner city and outer city into two different worlds. The inner city area was all residences of meritorious nobles and wealthy merchants. The Emperor’s traveling palace was also at the foot of Dulong Mountain. Going east through Yuhua Street would take you to where Yueyang Tower was located, while going west led to Chengyun Gate Wharf. The Yuezhou Administrator’s office was on Yuhua Street. Cross one street and you’d reach Changle Mountain military camp. Next to the military camp was the Yuezhou treasury. If calculated by location, it was absolutely the essence of Yuezhou City.
He had left Yuezhou in such a hurry back then that he hadn’t paid attention to these small matters. The stewards’ account books were always reviewed by Xinyue. For Xinyue, as long as there were substantial profits, that was enough. As for other matters, they were all things Yun Ye should consider. He had imagined that the five families’ shops would certainly be substantial in scale, but he absolutely hadn’t expected them to occupy almost half of Yuhua Street. Bear in mind that this street was a full three li long.
How could they close the shops now? Once they closed, if Li’er saw the desolate marketplace and didn’t become suspicious, that would be a miracle. Moreover, someone was already collecting intelligence for Li’er. He couldn’t possibly not know about the situation on Yuhua Street. Yun Ye’s only prayer now was that the five families’ shops weren’t the largest on Yuhua Street.
“Who is the largest merchant on the street? It’s not us few families, is it?” Yun Ye asked Old Jiang hurriedly, holding onto a thread of hope.
“No, our family’s business is certainly notable in Yuezhou, but the largest one is definitely not us. The strange thing is that no matter how much we old servants have inquired, we haven’t figured out who the owner of Hengshun House is. We’ve had two disputes with them, and we didn’t get any advantage—we even suffered a small loss. There’s also a Taihe House that this old servant discovered seems to have entanglements with Prince Wei’s mansion. These two are the largest. As for the rest—Zhangsun family’s Hefeng, Prince of Hejian’s Dongsheng, Minister Fang’s Qianshun, Minister Du’s Liansheng—they’re all about the same size as our Yunfeng House. The real merchants on this street are just us people.”
Only then did Yun Ye breathe a sigh of relief. As long as they weren’t the largest, that was good. Zhangsun’s claws stretched very long—using Hengshun House as a front to rake in money. Li Tai’s Taihe House—the name was created together with Yunfeng House. How did this fellow’s business grow so large?
“That’s it then. After you return, remove the emblems. During these days, lower the prices as much as possible and make this street’s business prosper. Since we can’t hide, let’s earn a reputation for giving benefits to the people. Don’t provoke Hengshun House in the future—we can’t afford to offend them. If during these days you can make the rest of those merchants look like black-hearted merchants, that would be best. Be sure to remember to pay taxes. If there are taxes that haven’t been paid yet, go back and pay them. Our family is a law-abiding good merchant—we can’t let others point fingers at our backs.”
“Rest assured, my lord. Our family has always been honest in business, never deceiving young or old. Not only are our goods genuine and our service courteous, but we’ve never driven away even the beggars at our door. We always feed them until they’re full and send them elsewhere.”
“Beggars? Where did beggars in Yuezhou City come from? When I, the Marquis, left, I had registered everyone in the household registry. Everyone should have at least a few mu of land to make ends meet. Moreover, Yuezhou has always lacked grain—growing grain is a good livelihood!”
Although Chang’an also had beggars, when Yun Ye had ambitiously set out to build a new city, he had specifically asked Han Cheng about these beggars who represented the dark side of society. He and Qian Sheng had sworn there were no blind spots left, and Cui Yan had also guaranteed there were no omissions. Where did these beggars come from? Yun Ye was getting angry.
“My lord, this really can’t be blamed on Vice Administrator Han and Military Advisor Qian. Those beggars are the water bandits you exterminated. After Yuezhou City was built, some of them were exiled far away to desolate lands for hard labor. The remaining ones who were missing arms or legs couldn’t be exiled far away. The local common people also hate these water bandits and wrote petitions of ten thousand names forbidding the Administrator from giving them household registration. Merchants also don’t dare employ these water bandits, and the workshops don’t want them either. They also can’t go far, so they can only survive by begging. Some starve to death every year. It’s only because Lord Niu is kindhearted and instructed Old Liu to provide some relief. Since Lord Niu did it, we few families all had to provide some relief too. It’s been three years now. They’ve gotten used to eating this way—every day when mealtime comes, they come begging. Very annoying.”
Since it was the choice of all the people of Yuezhou, Yun Ye had nothing to say. These water bandits had plagued Dongting Lake for so many years—suffering some hardship was only right, and no one would object. Yun Ye thought of those craftsmen and merchants who had moved from Chang’an and asked again: “How are the tenant farmers who moved from Chang’an doing now? Tell me about it. I always look at the account books, but can’t see the details. These people are our family’s foundation—we absolutely can’t let anything happen to them. The same goes for your families.”
Hearing the Marquis ask this, all four stewards laughed together. Old Jiang pushed Old Liu, letting him speak. Old Liu bowed and said: “In reply to my lord, those from our families who came from Chang’an—which one isn’t a prosperous household after arriving in Yuezhou? The Yuezhou natives are rather foolish, only knowing how to farm the land and unwilling to come to the city to do business. But our family’s people are different. Many are shrewd fellows who have traveled north and south with merchant caravans. How could they not grasp such a good opportunity in Yuezhou? The Yuezhou natives in Bronze and Iron Alley all sold the residences that my lord compensated them with, went to villages outside the city and built tile-roofed houses, leaving the money-making opportunities to our family’s people.”
“If you go to Bronze and Iron Alley now, it’s no different from being in Chang’an’s Zhaoguo Ward. This old servant still habitually goes every morning to the mutton soup shop opened by fellow provincials in Bronze and Iron Alley to drink a bowl of soup—keeps me energetic all day. Mutton soup really builds strength. It’s just that the sheep here aren’t good—too gamey. Old Zhou always says the sheep here have ruined his family’s reputation. Fortunately, there are spices, otherwise he’d have no face to see his ancestors.”
“Naturally, with you all looking after our family’s people, they won’t lack for anything. But what about the others? I mean those people who have no connection to our family? They dragged their families all the way from Chang’an to Yuezhou—if they don’t have good lives, we’ll have wronged them.”
“Rest assured, my lord. Those who came from Chang’an are all families with skills. They came to Yuezhou to open workshops. Labor in Chang’an is too expensive, and the market hours are too short, so they moved here. The government doesn’t allow workshops to open in the city, so they’re all by the lake. The government specially designated a large piece of land and established an industrial zone just like in Chang’an. As long as they’re in the industrial zone, they can do as they please. That land belonged to the He family. I heard the He family is already negotiating with those workshops to merge workshops that do the same kind of work into one larger workshop. This way, the things produced are not only beautiful but also useful—it’s just that the black-hearted He family raised the prices by twenty percent.”
Yun Ye laughed. In the eyes of these stewards, apart from their own few families, anyone who made money was making black-hearted money. Since everything was fine, that was good. As for the offense of having excessively large businesses in Yuezhou City, Zhangsun and Li Tai would bear it. Li’er probably didn’t have the face to inquire either. If he wanted to get angry, he’d first have to divorce his wife and throw his son in prison.
“My lord, if you have no other instructions, this old servant will go to the inner residence to pay respects to the Old Madam and Madam, and ask if the inner residence needs anything else added. The Old Madam has traveled over ten thousand li and needs to rest and recuperate properly.”
Yun Ye nodded. Seeing the four people enter the inner cabin, he emerged from the forward cabin, looked at the scorching sun overhead, and sneezed beautifully twice, feeling thoroughly comfortable throughout his body.
Yuezhou’s positioning was as a commercial city, naturally different from Chang’an in every respect. As the national capital, Chang’an needed to be solemn and dignified with a strong cultural atmosphere. Moving all of Chang’an’s pots and pans to Yuezhou would make the entire city much quieter. Whoever served as Chang’an’s Prefect would seize this opportunity to reform the city’s functions.
Ma Zhou was very thorough. The land survey that seemed like a complete mismatch at the time now showed its power. Surveying the land was one aspect—excavating the hidden population was his main purpose. Just from Princess Danyang’s household alone, he uncovered two hundred and twenty-five unreported households. Old Xue lost tremendous face. He was summoned to the Chang’an Prefecture office by Ma Zhou and questioned in front of countless clerks until his face turned red, then he became angry from embarrassment. On the spot, he grabbed Ma Zhou by the collar and threw him up onto the roof beam. Unexpectedly, Ma Zhou, perched on the beam, wasn’t angry at all and continued questioning why the population on Princess Danyang’s fief would exceed the limit of population her title could possess.
Only then did he realize he had been used as the chicken to scare the monkeys. Thinking of the terrible consequences, Xue Wanche planned to make peace by admitting his error and letting it go. But he underestimated Ma Zhou’s poisonous tongue—the questions he asked made smoke come out of all seven of his orifices.
Xue Wanche was about to continue his violence when he was pinned to the ground by people from the Imperial Clan Court who rushed over and given a thorough beating with boards. The head of the Li family, Li’er, showed Old Xue no consideration at all. A dignified Duke being humiliated in broad daylight had probably exceeded this simple man’s final psychological limit. According to the historical progression, this fellow was about to rebel soon.
Xue Wanche was forcibly demoted one rank and also became a Marquis now. After Ma Zhou dealt with Xue Wanche, the remaining matters went very smoothly. The land and population of Chang’an were thoroughly investigated. Old Cheng only narrowly passed by secretly placing the excess tenant farmers on the spacious Yun family estate.
Zhangsun Wuji was forced to return two thousand mu of farmland and requested punishment, but was pardoned by the Emperor. In the court, many were questioned for the offense of having land and population exceeding their titles. Not a few were stripped of titles and removed from office. Before Li’er’s eastern expedition, almost everyone in court was in constant fear. To curry favor with the Emperor, they easily passed the proposal for the eastern expedition. Wei Zheng and Fang Xuanling tried desperately to dissuade him to no avail and could only let things be. Ma Zhou became the most ferocious vicious dog beside the Emperor.