When the surroundings were quiet enough, the gradually intensifying sounds of dispute outside became faintly audible.
Cheng Jingchuan had keen hearing, and Qiu Jing possessed inner martial arts.
In that dilemma, as she listened to the heart-piercing words spoken by the goatee-bearded man and the tattoo-faced elder, Qiu Jing’s gaze turned dark, and her lowered right hand clenched into a fist.
Cheng Jingchuan slightly closed his eyes and sighed inwardly; this truly was a case of a leaking roof coinciding with overnight rain. He had misjudged Mr. Qiu’s “love for his daughter,” and also overlooked these Jianghu people’s foolish notions.
——All that talk about Jianghu sons and daughters disregarding small proprieties was complete nonsense; deep down, it was clearly still the same old patriarchal ethics.
Those experts of the Fengxing Pavilion, nominally sent by Mr. Qiu to protect him, actually also fulfilled the duty of surveillance. Cheng Jingchuan began to regret that he had never learned martial arts, but a person’s energy was always limited; he did not have that much time, and he had no talent on the path of martial arts. No matter how he tried to study inner strength, he could not find any sense of qi. Adding to that, the hardships of his childhood had damaged his physical foundation, and even half of the hard skills required for battlefield combat had been wasted. If he really had to fight Qiu Jing, he probably could only rely on keen eyes, quick hands, and rolling around like a lazy donkey to survive the first three moves…
Cheng Jingchuan felt helpless.
He had voluntarily revealed the hidden mechanisms and traps in the room, intending to advance by retreating. He did not wish to fight Qiu Jing to mutual destruction.
If he wanted to survive, he first had to show his own stance. If his heart was not sincere, then what could they possibly discuss?
“Master Qiu, how many fools were in this world, and moreover, we were among them, what could we do?”
Cheng Jingchuan spoke slowly, “I knew that you had expended great effort for the Fengxing Pavilion to stand firm in the Jianghu, and even throughout the land. You wanted to do more than just create a Jianghu gang that sold information. Its significance to the great commercial firms of both the South and the North was even more important. Only by smoothly delivering goods to the places that needed them, avoiding heavy taxes and miscellaneous levies, bypassing the court’s checkpoints and green forest bandits, and allowing money and grain to truly flow could it become genuine wealth.”
Qiu Jing looked at him deeply, neither speaking nor moving.
Cheng Jingchuan continued, “Since ancient times, agriculture had been valued and commerce suppressed. They said merchants were lowly, and they did not hesitate to crack down and beat them. Why was that? If one object could sell for ten times the price in Taijing compared to Ningtai, how many people would still be willing to farm? If the commoners did not remain on the land and wandered about, they would be difficult to govern and control, and they could not be tamed through shepherding and instruction.”
What were the commoners? In the eyes of high officials and nobles, they were like pigs, dogs, cattle, and sheep. Referring to local officials with the words “to herd and guard” showed their meaning.
Local officials were exactly the managers of livestock, the people who raised cattle and horses. If they raised them well, they could hand over more goods to the court.
Who had ever seen livestock allowed to run around freely?
They had to fence off an area. Within that fenced area, movement was free, but if one wanted to leave, it immediately became harsh and strict.
Ordinary commoners would not think of leaving either, because once they left the land that nurtured them, they would mostly not know how to survive.
“Goods became expensive when taken from their hometowns, and people became cheap when they left theirs, that was exactly what merchants often said.” Cheng Jingchuan spoke calmly.
He dared to take this step because he naturally had prepared beforehand.
Grandmaster Meng counted as an unexpected intruder, and Cheng Jingchuan had not prepared for him. It was different when it came to Qiu Jing.
From the moment Cheng Jingchuan learned what kind of person Qiu Jing was, he had been preparing for this day.
Even without this deadly trap tossed at them by Qiu Si, Cheng Jingchuan clearly knew that if he wanted to leave Ningtai and raise troops in Jiangnan, his greatest obstacle was not King Jing nor King Wu, but Qiu Jing.
Cheng Jingchuan did not believe that in such a grand Fengxing Pavilion, no one would remain loyal to its master in the end.
Even if Qiu Jing truly became isolated and alone, she could still come over and cut him down with one sword, unless Cheng Jingchuan always brought a dozen martial arts experts with him wherever he went.
Yes, the Fengxing Pavilion had plenty of people, but those who betrayed Qiu Jing were ultimately either after fame and profit, or drawn in by Mr. Qiu’s kindness. In short, they had little to do with him, Cheng Jingchuan. If Cheng Jingchuan could not bring them sufficient benefits, could not let them see enough prospects, who would willingly serve as his guards?
How to break the deadlock? Naturally, by persuading the other party to give up.
Whether it was Cheng Jingchuan persuading Qiu Jing, or Qiu Jing persuading Cheng Jingchuan, even if they only reached a preliminary understanding, the problem could be easily resolved.
“The literati used writing to disturb the laws, and the chivalrous used martial strength to break prohibitions. Jianghu people traveled in all directions without travel permits, did not engage in production, and did not obey the government’s orders; they were the first and earliest to understand these truths. Master Qiu single-handedly supported the Fengxing Pavilion and expanded business to the various commercial firms everywhere, was this not because you had seen through the crux of it all?”
Qiu Jing spoke frankly, “The large commercial firms had their own information channels and methods. What I truly wanted to support were those small commercial brands.”
With accurate information, knowing at which family’s wharf to pay homage and burn incense, even the traveling merchants who sold goods through hard work could barely survive, and would not be squeezed out and crushed.
“If there were more small commercial brands, then the large commercial firms could not domineer over one region, control grain prices, and exploit the commoners.”
Through this painstakingly laid-out network, Qiu Jing could know where droughts occurred, where floods happened, and which local officials were insatiably greedy.
Everyone could do business. If one city did not allow entry, then they would go to another city. If officials wanted to continue making money, they had to understand “moderation.” It was exactly through such means that Qiu Jing secretly influenced countless towns and cities from north to south of the Yangtze River. Every commercial brand and every caravan could have Jianghu people mixed in, who could transmit information to the Fengxing Pavilion and also take care of the Fengxing Pavilion’s business.
The drawback was that the network was spread too widely, and people’s hearts differed. Brothers who were loyal today might change their minds tomorrow.
Right now, tomorrow had not yet arrived, but the upper ranks of the Fengxing Pavilion had already stirred up a tremendous upheaval.
Qiu Jing decisively decided to abandon these elders—these people who had once exerted themselves for the Fengxing Pavilion but now wanted to destroy its foundation. As long as the sub-branches at the lower levels continued to exist, as long as warfare did not sweep across the land, the Fengxing Pavilion, for which she had poured out countless efforts, would still endure.
Therefore, she absolutely did not agree with raising troops in Ningtai, and she came to see Cheng Jingchuan with murderous intent for this reason.
Yet the course of events gradually deviated from her expectations.
There were faintly inaudible sounds on the rooftop. Cheng Jingchuan could originally have noticed them, but all his attention was focused on Qiu Jing, so he did not think deeply nor ponder further.
Outside, there was a ring of guards plus a ring of Fengxing Pavilion experts, yet could someone still climb onto the roof silently?
——They could.
Meng Qi spread his sleeves, skillfully lowered his body, and slipped under the eaves.
Qiu Jing returned in a great hurry, yet not without traces. The atmosphere in Fengxing Pavilion within the city changed as a result. At this critical juncture, Meng Qi naturally would not miss out.
King Ning’s court was not large. Finding this group of people was not difficult, only somewhat time-consuming.
When he arrived, he happened to hear the latter half of Cheng Jingchuan’s words.
Meng Qi’s movement paused, and his gaze turned grave.
“Using commercial brands to stimulate people’s minds and rescue commoners from the land?” Qiu Jing frowned deeply, clearly never having considered the issue from this angle.
Instinct told Qiu Jing that these words were not wrong. In fact, some places in Jiangnan already showed such signs. Especially in Qiantang County under King Wu’s rule, not every household farmed.
Surplus grain from one region was sold elsewhere via the canal, and other goods were brought in. There were whole towns of people who only knew how to fire porcelain, and entire villages where people only knew how to make sauce, surviving by means of ever-traveling merchant caravans. If the people under heaven could freely choose whether to remain at home or leave, and could survive whether by farming the fields or by other crafts… perhaps the land truly would not be so important.
“Demarcate the public fields, all belonging to the court, and hire commoners to farm them, making them the court’s tenant farmers, with the grain directly entering the national treasury. Let those high officials and nobles set their sights on the commercial firms. When doing business could yield a hundred times the income of land, would they still cling to the land and refuse to let go?”
Cheng Jingchuan spoke and let out a gentle sigh, “Of course, this would take a very long time. For thousands of years, whether poor commoners or prominent nobles, all had relied firmly on the land… aside from the land, they believed in nothing else.”
“They even spent all the gold and silver earned from trade on buying land to leave for future generations.” Qiu Jing slightly lowered her brows, her gaze mocking.
Raising armies was easy, killing people was easy, seizing the world was easy—
But changing people’s hearts, how difficult it was!
“The Chu Dynasty achieved everything else, but could not change the ignorant hearts of the world’s people, or even of the monarch himself.” Qiu Jing mercilessly said, “Cheng Jingchuan, you are nothing but an unknown nobody. Even if your talent could rival Duke Wei, and your martial prowess could compare to the Marquis Jingyuan reborn, do you dare claim you could accomplish these things?”
When it came to discussing ambitions and ideals, who would speak ambiguously? Did having good governance methods mean you could ignore the lives of the commoners and raise troops to conquer the world?
“A single tree could not form a forest. You do not have like-minded, heroic comrades. Do you not know what kind of people my father commands?” Qiu Jing enunciated every word clearly and decisively, “Relying on such a group of people, even if you unified the world, how would you satisfy their greed? Human greed had no end. At first, they only wanted to survive, then they wanted promotion and wealth. Once they held ivory tablets and wore purple-gold crowns, they had to plan for their descendants. The benefits would wither after three generations. Without private land, how would they feed more and more sons and grandsons? Who could guarantee that their descendants would contain no unworthy scoundrels?”
Land was the easiest and least troublesome thing, because it required no constant striving from the heirs, required them not to have both talent and virtue, and was most suitable for unfilial wastrels and lazy good-for-nothings.
Qiu Jing pressed on with each word, “You do not care about the mixture of good and bad among these people, only whether they are useful. Do you intend to imitate Emperor Chu Yuan and slaughter the so-called meritorious officials? Because they are so greedy and drag down your grand plan, you kill them without remorse. If there truly were virtuous ministers and wise officials, would they instead make it harder for you to strike?”
Cheng Jingchuan’s expression shifted slightly. He avoided answering directly, “I only trust that under this vast heaven, I am not the only one who can see the crux regarding the land. Today, the Pavilion Master can choke the throats of corrupt officials and let them know there is a limit to their extortion, allowing wealth to flow on and on. Tomorrow, she could also teach them to understand that merely occupying land would make life poorer and poorer. On one side lay expansive trade routes and rolling wealth, on the other side the court imposed heavy taxes. Whoever dared to occupy a hundred acres of fertile land to pass to their descendants would find themselves bankrupt paying grain taxes.”
“This is tyrannical rule! Those landlords would raise armies and leave you with no grave for your corpse!” Qiu Jing shouted angrily.
Meng Qi folded his arms, pondering expressionlessly.
Cheng Jingchuan’s ideas were not entirely worthless.
The shackles of land were correct, and breaking this vicious cycle was also correct.
However, while his insight was not bad, his methods were absurd.
He still lacked experience, and did not know that in order to preserve their original lifestyle, the high officials, nobles, and local tyrants who had been nourished by the land for millennia could truly stop at nothing, killing gods and destroying buddhas if they stood in their way. What did loyalty count for? What did the emperor count for? What did the army and cavalry count for? They would use every trick, feigning compliance while sabotaging secretly, causing trouble everywhere, all to continue being maggots.
How could one underestimate maggots! How many good policies in the Chu Dynasty had failed without leaving a trace, and how many commoners who could have lived better lives were forced to continue their ancestors’ ways?
Meng Qi felt a bit regretful. Cheng Jingchuan lacked too many things. The one who promoted and appreciated him was Qiu Si, such a madman, causing him to become ever more extreme under that influence. If he were merely a brazen junior like Yuan Ting, it would have been fine, but unfortunately he was unlucky—
While the State Master’s thoughts drifted far, the dispute inside the room continued.
“What Pavilion Master Qiu says is correct. I lack people and strategies, and I am eager for worthy talents. I may not be able to unify the world, let alone implement my ambitions. Pavilion Master Qiu’s unwillingness to raise troops in Jiangnan is not wrong either, only…”
Facing the martial expert’s pressure, Cheng Jingchuan’s brows did not move. He spoke in a deep voice, “The three regions of Jiangnan may seem prosperous, but in truth are inferior even to Qi Dynasty in the north. The tax collectors themselves can hardly survive; how can the commoners? I have no talents of governance around me, and can do nothing to turn the tide. Chaos has arisen. Even if we do not raise troops, there will be rebellions. Pavilion Master, consider it carefully.”
“You!”
Qiu Jing felt as if these words were a threat, yet she had to submit to the facts.
Cheng Jingchuan had not lied.
No matter how capable Fengxing Pavilion was in providing for small commercial brands and some commoners, it could not keep up with the foolishness of King Jing, King Ning, and King Wu, nor the destruction caused by the corrupt officials and nobles of the Jiangnan bureaucracy.
What had Qiu Si done? He merely gave a push, linking unrelated people and unrelated matters together.
The crisis erupted prematurely.
A sudden ominous premonition rose in Meng Qi’s heart.
Qiu Jing had already yielded. She took a step back and said coldly, “You are correct; killing people is useless. The same goes for you. You may use weapons to clear obstacles, may use strategy to fulfill ambitions, but the greed in people’s hearts can never be smoothed away. It is like a plank floating on the water’s surface: when you press down one end with force, the other end will spring up.”
Cheng Jingchuan did not feel relieved at temporarily preserving his life. He said softly, “Pavilion Master, doing nothing also meant not surviving. Where should we go from here?”
As soon as he finished speaking, urgent news came from the guards outside.
“This is bad! The Tianshou King in the southwest has launched a massive offensive, splitting his forces into three routes. Yizhou has completely fallen!”
Hi is this novel still being translated? Thank you for your efforts!