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Chapter 1092: The Money-Grubber

Zhu Cunji roamed the platform, and the more he observed, the angrier he became.

"This wretched station is unbearable. It utterly fails to convey the prestige of our Prince of Qin's mansion. Who built this? Who was in charge? Bring that fellow to me."

A loyal guard stepped forward from behind him, whispering, "Prince Rui's mansion was responsible."

"Ah?" Zhu Cunji suddenly recalled that he wasn't the sole financier of the Xi'an railway; he was merely the largest shareholder. The second largest shareholder was Prince Rui Zhu Changhao, whose fief was in Hanzhong.

When the West Han Railway was being constructed, both parties had agreed that the Prince of Qin's mansion would be responsible for Xi'an South Station, and Prince Rui's for Hanzhong North Station.

Now, looking up, the Hanzhong North Station, managed by Prince Rui's mansion, was utterly deplorable.

Just how much money did they try to save?

Zhu Cunji muttered, his mouth twisted in disgust, "Damn that Prince Rui, the scoundrel!"

Zhu Yujian remarked, a wry smile playing on his lips, "Hey, he's a generation above you, your maternal uncle. Watch your language."

Leading them was a man dressed impeccably; it was none other than Prince Rui Zhu Changhao.

Zhu Changhao, forty-five years old, although a generation senior to Zhu Cunji, their ages were quite similar; both were dissipated middle-aged men in their forties.

Most dissipated men his age indulged in wine and women, spending their days reveling in brothels.

But Zhu Changhao harbored no such vices. He cared not for wine nor women; to him, alluring beauties were as mere skeletons.

He loved but one thing in his life – money!

So when the Prince of Qin's mansion sent someone to invite him to invest in the railway and explained how much profit could be made, Zhu Changhao promptly and eagerly bought shares. He even dispatched his eunuch, Supervisor Zhang, to oversee the project's progress and manage road construction.

Unexpectedly, Supervisor Zhang had been embezzling the workers' wages. When the Heir Apparent of the Prince of Qin wrote to inform him of this, Zhu Changhao was instantly enraged.

A eunuch deceiving his superiors and oppressing his subordinates, withholding wages — wasn't that simply stealing *his* money? For a man who loved money more than his life, this was utterly intolerable.

After severely beating Supervisor Zhang with fifty planks, Zhu Changhao began personally supervising the work. Especially for Hanzhong North Station, as it was built within Hanzhong and didn't require him to leave the city, Zhu Changhao could personally oversee it, accounting for every single copper coin.

Not a single copper coin was to be spent carelessly!

And so, the train station was built to look like this dilapidated mess.

Surrounded by eunuchs and guards, he swept into the station. He gazed up at the shabby, makeshift ticket booth, a thatched shed, and evinced not a hint of discomfort, but rather a touch of pride. Approaching the shed, he questioned the ticket seller, "How many tickets have been sold today?"

The ticket seller immediately replied, "Your Highness, eighty taels of silver in tickets have been sold today."

Zhu Changhao was delighted. "Eighty taels, excellent! The Prince of Qin's mansion takes sixty percent, that's forty-eight taels. I get forty percent, which is thirty-two taels. A splendid day's income, ha ha ha ha. By the way, how many tickets has the Xi'an station sold so far?"

The ticket seller said, "The situation in Xi'an is not yet known. The train just arrived; I'll have to wait for someone from onboard to come over, then I can ask them."

Zhu Changhao declared, "Since I'm already here, there's no need for you to ask. I shall inquire myself."

Zhu Changhao excitedly bustled towards the first locomotive, shouting at the two drivers, "Hey, how were ticket sales in Xi'an today?"

A driver poked his head out, "Xi'an sold two hundred and fifty taels worth of tickets."

"What?" Zhu Changhao was overjoyed. "Two hundred and fifty taels? So much more than Hanzhong? Hold on, I must calculate... forty percent of two hundred and fifty taels is one hundred taels of silver. Ha ha ha ha, I've done nothing today and already collected one hundred and thirty-two taels of silver."

Nothing pleased a money-grubber more than making money.

Zhu Changhao felt his life had reached its pinnacle.

Suddenly, he sensed something was amiss. He looked up at the driver and asked, "What's going on in Xi'an today? This amount is far too high, quite abnormal."

The driver gestured behind them, "All the carriages today were completely filled, transporting a vast amount of cargo, and tickets were purchased for all of it."

Zhu Changhao's eyes widened. "A vast amount of cargo?"

His gaze swept over the carriages behind the locomotive, and he saw the Gao Family Village Militia's logistics team unloading basket after basket of goods from the train.

This immediately piqued Zhu Changhao's interest.

He scurried over, eager to observe the commotion.

Zhu Cunji and Zhu Yujian exchanged a glance, their minds racing as they wondered whether to greet Prince Rui. But after much deliberation, they ultimately decided against it; it was best not to reveal their identities.

However, Zhuge Wangchan, from the logistics team, noticed this interaction and immediately, and quite deliberately, drifted towards Prince Rui.

Adhering to his principle of questioning anyone available, when he saw someone approaching, he naturally inquired, "Hey, what's with all these goods? I've observed basket after basket, all filled with grain, cloth, and similar items."

Zhuge Wangchan smiled faintly. "Reporting to Your Royal Highness, Sichuan is plagued by rebels. The Regional Commander of Sichuan, Hou Liangzhu, has been killed, and the bandits have already seized thirty-eight cities. The situation is dire. Therefore, the gentry, wealthy families, and some court officials from Xi'an have personally dipped into their pockets to donate these supplies, intending to send them to Sichuan to aid the refugees."

Prince Rui was startled upon hearing this. "Seized thirty-eight cities? That powerful?"

"Indeed," Zhuge Wangchan affirmed. "Sichuan is in complete disarray."

While the situation in Sichuan had initially startled Prince Rui, he quickly dismissed it. After all, Sichuan was far from Hanzhong, and he felt no immediate urgency. His eyes, however, lingered on the supplies. Basket after basket, an endless stream of grain was being unloaded as if it were worthless.

Prince Rui's eyes darted around. "These supplies, were they all donated by gentry, wealthy households, and officials?"

"Yes, Your Highness!" Zhuge Wangchan replied.

"Which officials, specifically?" Prince Rui pressed.

At this question, Zhuge Wangchan immediately grew wary. Beside them, Zhu Cunji and Zhu Yujian also subtly furrowed their brows.

It was clear this fellow had nefarious intentions.

By asking for officials' names, he was clearly testing the waters, trying to gauge the power of those behind this cargo and determine if he could extract some profit for himself.

Zhuge Wangchan's face bore a peculiar smile. "No grand officials, merely minor ones, such as Wang Zheng, the Surveillance Commissioner for Shandong, Liang Shixian, the magistrate of Chengcheng County, and Feng Juan, the magistrate of Heyang County, and so forth..."

A strange smile touched Prince Rui's lips. "Ah, so it's *those* people."

He retreated into his cluster of eunuchs and guards, where they huddled in a circle, apparently discussing something.

A moment later, a eunuch approached and addressed Zhuge Wangchan. "You have traveled a long way and may not be aware of Hanzhong Prefecture's regulations. All goods, whether from north or south, that are transshipped through Hanzhong must pay a five-percent transit tax to Prince Rui's mansion. However, seeing the large quantity of your goods, His Highness has graciously granted a further reduction: you need only pay a tax of one percent."