The new prefect was no pushover. The Huang family had been in business for years, and their hands weren't exactly clean. Earlier, villagers from the lower counties had complained to the deputy prefect, but the deputy prefect could do nothing about it. Huang Zheng had spent a long time covering his tracks back then, so even if they were investigated, he wasn't too worried.
In Hezhou, the Huang family had already become the undisputed power in Hezhou. Normally, he wouldn't fear any prefect. But word had it that this new prefect had serious backing—he'd arrived with both the Imperial Guard and the Qin family troops. The common people with no connections just took them for ordinary soldiers, but Huang Zheng had his ways of finding out the truth.
Earlier, before his men had even sent word back, the prefect had been recruiting soldiers and found the yamen short on grain. He'd approached the Huang family to buy a batch. Huang Zheng had happened to be away at the time, so Huang Bingzhong had made the call—selling to the government at nine copper coins per catty.
The Huang family bought grain from the common people at four copper coins per catty, sold it within Hezhou city at eight copper coins, and if shipped further out, at thirteen copper coins. Logically, since the government was buying in bulk, the price should have been lower. But in all of Hezhou, only the Huang and Wang families had significant grain reserves. The Wang family only ran two grain shops in Hezhou city, with most of their stock stored in Anping County and sold in the surrounding small towns.
The government needed a large quantity, urgently. Over three thousand soldiers would eat hundreds of catties of grain in just one or two meals. For that much grain, only the Huang family could supply it. The government certainly wouldn't "go far for what's near"—their first choice would be the Huang family. And if the Huang family refused to sell, that would be a real problem.
With that in mind, Huang Bingzhong had immediately hiked the price, claiming he was already giving them a deal—otherwise, outside, it would be over ten copper coins per catty!
The soldier in charge of purchasing was furious!
But what could he do? Merchants could set whatever price they wanted. No one was forcing anyone to buy, and it wasn't illegal. If the price was too high, they could simply choose not to buy.
When the soldier returned and reported back, Fang Zichen weighed his options and then sent soldiers to buy from the Wang family instead.
When Huang Zheng returned and learned what had happened, he immediately gave Huang Bingzhong another hard slap across the face.
There's no such thing as an honest merchant—that much was true. Since the Huang family was the only option, raising the price could have made them a fortune. But whose price were they raising?
The man behind the government was backed by two of the greatest powers in Da Xia. The Huang family would never dare to provoke him. After Fang Zichen arrived, Huang Zheng had learned that the man was an incorruptible official—and he'd been on edge ever since, terrified that the deputy prefect would report him, or that this incident would offend the prefect and bring his scrutiny down on them.
Earlier, Fang Zichen had been busy visiting villages and hadn't turned his attention to Hezhou City. He hadn't made any moves, so Huang Zheng had breathed a sigh of relief. Then a couple of days ago, Fang Zichen returned, and word had it that this man was just as greedy as the rest. Huang Zheng had been planning to go and smooth things over about the earlier incident—to say his son was foolish and offer the government a free batch of grain as a gesture of goodwill toward Hezhou. But before he could even go, his son had gone and done something even dumber. Now, with "old grievances and new ones" stacked together, he'd probably drawn Fang Zichen's full attention right onto them.
What kind of man was this prefect?
Earlier, the man in Daoxiang Village—all he'd done was try to cheat him with an abacus—and the prefect had held a grudge, refused to repair the road, and forced the man's shop to close. And now they'd offended the prefect's precious darling? This was the end of them!
Huang Bingzhong protested, "Father, it wasn't my fault—Cui'er and I had no idea he was—"
Smack! A sharp crack cut him off before he could finish. Huang Zheng had slapped him again.
"You still have the nerve to say that? What did I tell you before? I said, don't cause trouble, don't cause trouble! Even if he wasn't some young master, why did you have to fight over it? Couldn't you have bought something else? Are you short on silver? Your eyes are only on your wife—you don't see anything else. Keep being this foolish, and I'll put your younger brother in charge." This eldest son truly had no head for business. Ignoring Huang Bingzhong's shocked expression, Huang Zheng continued coldly:
"I, Huang Zheng, don't have just one son. And my hundred-year legacy will never go to some incompetent fool."
He didn't sound like he was joking. Huang Bingzhong's face went pale as he dropped to his knees in terror. "Father, this son knows he was wrong."
Meanwhile, Huang Bingzhong's wife had been called over by Madam Huang and made to kneel for half the afternoon. When she returned, there was still a clear red handprint on her face.
How had it come to this?
If only she'd known...
Her mother-in-law had said that over the years, she'd gotten too used to being flattered and had forgotten her own humble origins—daring to look down on others, and now she'd brought disaster upon her son.
She felt wronged and had planned to complain to Huang Bingzhong when he came back. But when he returned with a grim face and looked at her with a strange glint in his eyes, Huang Cuiling didn't dare say a word.
---
The next day, the eleven county magistrates from the lower jurisdictions went to Fang Zichen's residence again. They'd stayed at an inn the night before, with the deputy prefect keeping them company. On the way, the magistrate of Beilu County asked the deputy prefect: "Lord Zhong, what do you suppose Lord Fang wants us to do raising cattle up in Beilu County?"
He'd racked his brain all night and still couldn't figure it out.
The other magistrates were equally curious.
Cattle weren't easy to raise!
Pigs could be sold after half a year or so, but cattle took at least a year. And cows had a hard time calving—unlike pigs, which could have over a dozen piglets in a litter and farrow again in just over four months. A cow usually had only one calf, and the gestation took nearly three hundred days.
For all these reasons, beef was naturally much more expensive than pork. But Hezhou was poor. Villagers only bought meat two or three times a year, and even town and city folk only bought it every two or three days—and they wanted fatty pork to put some oil in their bellies. Beef was pricey and lean—how were they supposed to sell it?
Ship it out? But live cattle were hard to transport, and dead ones even worse—they'd probably rot on the road.
Were they supposed to cure it like pork?
But nobody did that with beef—only pork and rabbit meat.
"I don't know either," said the deputy prefect. "But just trust the lord."
The Belilu magistrate said, "I do trust him—I'm just curious. But our lord really is a good one. Ever since he arrived, he's been doing nothing but working for the people."
Several magistrates nodded in agreement. Only Zhang Jiahui and Deputy Prefect Zhong looked like they wanted to say something but held back.
In truth, the lord wasn't quite that good.
Those factories—everyone thought the lord was building them for the government. Even Deputy Prefect Zhong had thought so at first, and had been glad that Hezhou had gotten a good official. But then Fang Zichen had sent someone back to process the paperwork, and the deputy prefect was dumbfounded.
How could all those factories be registered under the prefect's fulang name?
Aren't they government-owned?
If they were government-owned, the profits would go into the public coffers. But if they were registered under the prefect's fulang's name, they'd belong to the Fang family—profits and losses alike would be theirs.
The deputy prefect was floored. If they were built on government land, they'd have to pay for it, right?
Pay?
Fang Zichen had berated him on the spot. What silver? Whose land was it? The Emperor's. And what was his relationship with the Emperor? That was his brother. If If he paid silver for two taels' worth of his brother's land, he'd be treating him like an outsider—an insult to his face. He didn't want to hear that kind of talk again. Even if the Emperor was far away, if word ever got out, His Majesty might be displeased.
With that, the deputy prefect dared not say another word.
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