Yun Ye still had no energy to manage the affairs of his back garden—let them fool around. Even knowing that Xiao Wu was the terrifying Wu Meiniang, Yun Ye didn’t care. Since coming to Great Tang, he had already met countless extraordinary people. Even if Wu Mei was one of the more special ones among them, it was no big deal.
Wind follows the tiger, clouds follow the dragon. The rise of every ambitious hero would be accompanied by changes in current events. Only when winds and clouds arose on the earth could they take advantage and rise up, stirring up the realm. If things were calm and peaceful, even with the greatest abilities, they would be useless—at most stirring up their own family pond would be impressive. A woman relying on luck upon luck upon luck to ascend that supreme throne—now with Li Tang safe and sound, she could only find a family to marry into and create a legendary family. What was so great about that?
All of the Yun Family’s workshops were closed. The cement kiln was dismantled, the brick kiln was dismantled. The wine brewed by the wine workshop was no longer sold—all of it was hidden in the family’s cellars. Officials from the Ministry of Works watched as kilns after kilns were completely turned into ruins by the hands of Yun Family tenant farmers. Their hearts ached so much they were about to cry. They grabbed Yun Family stewards asking why these treasures were all being dismantled. The answer they got was that the Yun Family planned to plant some grain here.
Could land where kilns had been built grow crops? Those Ministry of Works officials immediately were dumbfounded. You should know that many cities were still waiting for cement to reinforce them, many buildings were still waiting for red bricks to be constructed. Now the Yun Family had dismantled all these kilns—who knew how many major matters would be affected?
After delivering the last batch of military rations to the military and completing the contract, they resolutely refused to accept new orders. Whenever it was mentioned, they said the tenant farmers who did the work all needed to return home to farm. The Yun Family planned to open up three thousand mu of wasteland this year. Manpower was insufficient, so these trivial odd skills were all abandoned. Tenant farmers—if they didn’t farm, how could they be called tenant farmers? That was not attending to proper duties.
He Shao also withdrew all his shares, giving them all to the Yun Family. The Yun Family also returned the original capital to He Shao. Even the Crown Prince and Empress’s capital shares were settled at once, converted to copper coins and hauled cart by cart to the imperial palace.
The Yun Family wasn’t playing anymore. Whoever wanted to play could play. The Yun Family wasn’t playing anymore. The family’s perfume workshop was just women tinkering with some cosmetics—no need to compete over these rouge and powder type things.
Not only the Yun Family—the Cheng Family and Niu Family were the same. They all closed their workshops. Madam Cheng specifically sold the ironsmith, carpenter, leatherworker and various small workshops behind Ci’en Temple to the common people who did the work. The money the Cheng Family and Niu Family earned these past years was enough to spend. From now on, they would focus solely on farming, never touching merchant matters again. Peace and security was better than anything.
Before the court’s proclamation was even issued, these three families had already completely withdrawn from the commercial circle. The entire families now only farmed. Even Old Cheng opened a plot of land in the garden, preparing to plant radishes and other vegetables to save on household expenses a bit.
“This old man hasn’t eaten meat for three days. How about it, Old Wei? Today please treat your brother to a good meal. The family really can’t make ends meet.” Every time after court, Old Cheng would shout at Wei Zheng.
“Old Cheng’s family at least planted some radishes. With radish leaves, they can get through a few meals. Poor this old man can only go to the riverside daily to fish, relying on catching a few fish to stave off hunger, mixing through days hungry one meal, full the next. Today Lord Wei is treating—brothers cannot be left out.”
“Heard that Yuchi didn’t catch any game yesterday. If he hadn’t captured a monkey halfway, the entire family might have starved. Over a hundred people gathered around one monkey eating miserably.” This person spoke while pulling out half a spring cake from his bosom, sniffed it, then put it back, saying he was saving it for his little granddaughter—he couldn’t bear to eat it himself.
Wei Zheng fiercely flicked his robe sleeves, gritting his teeth without speaking. The deepest hatred in this world was none other than cutting off someone’s livelihood. The Yun, Cheng, and Niu families had closed all their shops, no longer doing business. The meritorious nobles, having lost their scapegoats and unwilling to stick their necks out, could only close their own family shops. They all stared with gleaming eyes at the civil officials. As long as one civil official dared open a shop, countless meritorious nobles would go forward to buy on credit. The shameless ones would directly rob, speaking prettily—all colleagues, they couldn’t just watch themselves starve to death, right?
Even in Wei Zheng’s worst imaginings, he hadn’t expected the scene before him. The densely packed kilns on the east side of Yushan had all disappeared. The scene of rolling thick smoke from the past had vanished without a trace, leaving only a large flat area. Even the foundations had been tidied up cleanly and neatly. Furrows had been made, presenting an appearance ready for plowing.
His heart was bleeding. That was an enormous wealth! Dismantled just like that, without a trace of hesitation, without half a bit of reluctance—decisively ruthless to the extreme. Yet this bitter fruit could only be swallowed by him, Wei Zheng.
The Yun Family hadn’t threatened anyone. They just followed the court’s advocacy to return to agriculture and sericulture, no longer doing business—considered reformed. But who would fill the huge market demand? The imperial family’s few half-dead kilns couldn’t burn out much usable cement. Now every city garrison commander knew cement was useful. With useful stuff available, who would use stones and glutinous rice again to reinforce city walls?
The military dumped grain and provisions supply back onto the Ministry of War. Without the Yun Family’s composite military rations, they suddenly reverted to the original tradition. Originally, even with the greatest audacity, the Yun Family wouldn’t dare refuse the military. Helplessly, the entire court of civil officials had their eyes on this Yun Family business, feeling there must be unspeakable transactions within. They successively submitted countless impeachment memorials demanding the Yun Family withdraw. A nation’s vital interests couldn’t be held in one family’s hands, even if this family only had one male. Li Er approved this memorial, only requiring the Yun Family to accept inspection. Thinking about the Yun Family’s style of doing things, it was impossible for them to mess up. It was just to shut those civil officials’ mouths. As a result, the Yun Family, using the excuse of substandard sanitary conditions, proactively confessed their crimes to the Ministry of War. Ministry of War Minister Du Ruhui, beaming with joy, fined them two thousand strings of cash and the matter was concluded.
What the Yun Family did next exceeded everyone’s expectations. They dismantled the workshops overnight. By the time officials discovered it, the original workshops had become threshing grounds piled high with wheat straw. The Yun Family had no ability to look after the great army’s food and drink. This time being able to escape unscathed was entirely the result of the court’s big shots being lenient. Yun Ye specifically went with gifts to thank the continuously wryly smiling Du Ruhui.
The Yun Family wasn’t doing business anymore—these were the words Yun Ye said when facing Li Er’s inquiry. These days, deeply instructed by various important ministers, he understood the principle that there’s no merchant who isn’t dishonest. He nearly led astray Great Tang’s common people. He was extremely uneasy about this. Fortunately, the time was still short. The common people weren’t deeply poisoned by the Yun Family—there was still room for redemption. Therefore, the Yun Family decided to donate ten thousand strings of cash to establish several more schools in Chang’an to atone for their sins, to accumulate some blessings for the Yun Family’s descendants.
“Guanyin Maid, Yun Ye’s methods this time don’t match his character. He withdrew cleanly and decisively, didn’t defend himself once, didn’t seek help from you or me. Originally, I thought he would at least put up some resistance, perhaps even counterattack. I really wanted to see what the final result of this matter would be. Regardless of good or bad, it would bring me enlightenment and lessons. Who knew he’d play a move of pulling the rug from under—I don’t know if this is his strategy of retreating to advance, or if he’s disheartened and wants to completely take the opportunity to withdraw? I know he entered the palace and spoke with you all afternoon. What did you discuss?”
Whenever it was Yun Ye’s matters, Li Er would always seek Zhangsun’s opinion. After all, Zhangsun was more familiar with Yun Ye, and Yun Ye seemed to have a kind of filial affection for Zhangsun. Li Er saw this very clearly. This was also the reason he always gave Yun Ye major warnings but minor punishments. Regarding this feeling, Li Er was very gratified. At least it showed Yun Ye absolutely wouldn’t harm the imperial family. From his devotion to helping the Crown Prince grow, his dedication to disciplining his other four children, positioning himself as an elder brother—now it appeared the results were remarkable.
Several times, Li Er had even had the idea of adopting Yun Ye as his godson. Thinking that the Yun Family only had this one seedling, he gave up. Otherwise, once adopted as a godson, Yun Ye would have to be called Li Ye.
Zhangsun gently placed the little Sizi from her bosom into the cradle, pushing it while speaking softly: “Yun Ye asked this concubine to prepare some money and wealth—a very large amount. He said there’s a plan to operate but refused to tell this concubine. Threatening him didn’t work either. He only said he wanted to properly teach those fools a lesson. I don’t know who these fools he mentioned are. The Crown Prince also received a letter to raise money. This concubine feels that this time, the civil officials in court have thoroughly angered him. This concubine doesn’t manage court affairs, and you don’t need to tell me. This concubine will just prepare some money and wealth, properly fill up the imperial palace storehouses so they won’t be as empty as before where mice could starve to death.”
“He dismantled all the workshops—why is this?” Li Er thought there were no loopholes in court for Yun Ye to exploit, so he didn’t care about these rough details. Having the Empress supervise Yun Ye was sufficient.
“I heard the Crown Prince say that the dismantling of these workshops was already in the plans. Yun Ye wanted to gradually reform them. Who knew waves would rise again in court, so he simply dismantled them all at once to avoid future trouble. This concubine knew about this matter early on. This was already discussed between the inner palace, the Yun Family, and He Family. Written documents exist. At that time, this concubine had just given birth. The inner palace was managed by the Crown Prince. This was their decision.”
Li Er couldn’t understand why perfectly good workshops needed to be dismantled for some reform, but since Yun Ye did it this way, he had his reasons. Until now, what Li Er admired most was Yun Ye’s ability to turn stone into gold.
“Lanling and Gaoyang have always wanted to visit Yun Family Manor and Yushan. It happens that tomorrow Tai’er and Ke’er have leave to return to the palace. Let them take their sisters to the academy for a trip. To tell the truth, living there is indeed comfortable. I’m preparing to build a traveling palace there. Although the small buildings there are exquisite, they’re a bit too modest. Have them arrange according to the small building’s furnishings. That thing there called a washroom must be included.”
“Your Majesty isn’t worried about those meritorious nobles and civil officials in court making a ruckus?”
“Let them make a ruckus! If they don’t, how can I be Emperor? If they worked together harmoniously, that would be real trouble. Now each finding the other displeasing to the eye—this is what a court should look like. I’ll mediate from the center, just not letting one side grow too powerful.”
Li Er stretched lazily. This crackdown on the meritorious nobles was long planned. The commotion on the grasslands and in Lingnan was also too loud. One by one getting fat and bloated, almost becoming pigs—if they weren’t dragged out to bleed them, how could that do?