Chapter 575: Snowflakes Drifting |
At the very moment Jiangzhou Jishan was happily working on the chemical factory.
Xi’an Prefecture.
Someone was causing trouble in the government-run fertilizer store.
After Wu Shen and Shi Kefa last visited Chengcheng County and discussed fertilizer matters with Liang Shixian, the very first middle school graduates from Gaojia Village had specifically done a cost analysis for them. Ultimately, a very reasonable price was settled.
Shi Kefa sourced the goods from Chengcheng County and transported a large quantity of fertilizer to Xi’an Prefecture, placing it for sale in the government fertilizer store.
Since last year, when Chengcheng County had delivered a batch of free fertilizer to the farmers of Xi’an Prefecture for trial, its effectiveness had been outstanding. Therefore, the moment this fertilizer store opened this year, it immediately drew everyone’s attention. Many common citizens whose farmland was not affected by the drought and lived near the Weihe River rushed to buy fertilizer.
However, this was also when the troublemaker appeared.
Those who owned fields weren’t just common citizens, but also wealthy nobles. Moreover, in Xi’an Prefecture, there was one particularly prominent and ostentatious wealthy noble, a member of the royal family – the Qin Prince.
By this time, Qin Prince Zhu Yi Huan had died, and a new Qin Prince had not yet been formally enfeoffed (as previously mentioned, the court was arguing over the enfeoffment, leaving the position unsettled). Zhu Cunjing, the Prince-Heir of Qin, was the de facto master of Qin King Mansion.
Qin King Mansion naturally wanted fertilizer too. Not only did they want it, they wanted it in large quantities.
And not only did they want it in large quantities, they wanted it exclusively!
At this moment, a Steward from Qin King Mansion was causing trouble in the fertilizer store with a large group of servants. The servants, armed with clubs, smashed the shop’s tables and chairs to pieces and packed up all the fertilizer displayed for sale to plunder it.
The store manager was also beaten, his head bleeding.
The Steward pointed a club at the manager’s face and said, “Offered face but wouldn’t take it! Told you to sell it cheap to the Prince’s Mansion, and you stubbornly insisted there could be no discount? Isn’t this asking for a beating? Now I won’t give you a single copper coin! We’re taking it all! What can you do about it?”
The manager clutched the wound on his head; blood spilled out, staining half his face red. “Don’t act recklessly… This stock… Lord Wu Shen and Lord Shi Kefa gave specific instructions… There are strict orders, the sale price must not be changed…”
THWACK!
The Steward brought the club down on the manager again. “What rank is Wu Shen? What rank is Shi Kefa? Do you even bloody know who I am?”
The manager: “…”
“Stop!” A furious roar sounded at the door of the fertilizer store. Shi Kefa strode in, seized the club from the Steward’s hand, and spoke sharply: “You’ve rebelled! Is there no royal law?! This is the government’s fertilizer store! How dare you assault people here?! Is there no royal law?! Is there no law?!”
The Steward scoffed. “Oh, it’s Lord Shi. Tsk, tsk, tsk. I would advise Lord Shi not to interfere unnecessarily.”
“Unnecessarily?!” Shi Kefa trembled all over, angry. “I am the magistrate in Xi’an, governing legal prosecution and assisting in administrative duties! The wicked deeds you are committing here are precisely within my purview to manage!”
The Steward sneered. “Can you manage Qin King Mansion too?”
Shi Kefa: “What about Qin King Mansion? Even Qin King Mansion must act reasonably!”
The Steward: “And I’m absolutely unreasonable today! Everyone, load it up!”
The servants from Qin King Mansion immediately made to move the fertilizer.
Shi Kefa was furious. “All of you, halt! Who dares move it?!”
The servants’ movements froze.
The Steward, however, shouted even louder, “Move it! Load it all! I want to see what Lord Shi can do about it!”
Shi Kefa roared in anger,”Guards! Arrest all these fellows!”
At his shout, the constables and yamen runners who had accompanied him should have stepped forward to apprehend the offenders. But after Shi Kefa’s cry, he realized that not a single constable came forward. Instead, they were retreating, slipping into the crowd of onlookers, vanishing without a trace.
The constables and bailiffs didn’t rotate every three years; they were locals, and being locals, none dared oppose Qin King Mansion.
Shi Kefa: “…”
The little Steward roared with laughter: “Move it!”
The servants chimed in with laughter too, hoisting the goods. In no time, the fertilizer store was emptied—everything seized by Qin King Mansion.
Armed with nothing but his bare hands, Shi Kefa, a mere scholar, was helpless against these thuggish servants. He could only watch them swagger away.
“I shall impeach Qin King Mansion! I swear I’ll impeach them—mark my words!”
The Steward sneered, “Go ahead, file your report.”
The street fell silent, save for the manager and clerk of the fertilizer store moaning in pain on the ground. Onlookers stood seething yet silent, none daring to speak out.
Peasants who had queued for fertilizer scattered like frightened birds.
Tears welled in Shi Kefa’s eyes: “How could this happen? How?”
Fertilizer purchased with treasury funds was gone. From his knowledge of the court, Shi Kefa knew it was irrecoverable.
State funds—wasted just like that!
Even if the emperor learned of this, he’d do nothing against Qin King. The emperor always felt indebted to him, itching to lavish him with more favors. Why trouble him over mere fertilizer?
The fertilizer never reached the peasants. Instead, it all went to Qin King Mansion. Come harvest season, crops without fertilizer would yield poorly as ever. Taxes would bring little revenue. Yet Qin King Mansion, doubling its harvest with all that fertilizer, would pay not a single coin in tax.
The treasury had only outflows, no inflow.
They could’ve bought low, sold slightly higher, earned revenue to purchase more fertilizer. More peasants would use it, raising yields and taxes, enabling more affordable fertilizer for more fields… a virtuous cycle. But Qin King Mansion shattered it all.
Shi Kefa wept openly: “Why? Why this? No!”
Snowflakes suddenly drifted down! It was deep winter; Xi’an’s rain had turned to snow.
Snowflakes drifted amidst the howling north wind, veiling heaven and earth in desolation…
Shi Kefa suddenly recalled what Saint Lady Gao Yiye had told him at Gaojia Village: “Advanced productive forces require advanced political institutions. If those institutions rot, they shackle progress.”
Why did those words echo in his mind now?
Such thoughts weren’t his to question!
He was a loyal minister of Great Ming! Better devise an excuse for his sovereign’s actions.
But no excuses came.
Thud. He collapsed to the ground.
How long he sat there? Snow buried him into a snowman. Wu Shen approached from afar, lifted him, and brushed the frost from his robes. “Come,” he sighed, “we’ll swallow our pride… one more trip to Chengcheng County.”