The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 135 The Situation Is So Dire

Lu Yinghui took the initiative to meet with Lin Ruhai, and Xue Xu from the Xue family suddenly fell ill.

Tu Chengyu lost all interest in going out today and sat quietly in his study from the morning onwards, not going anywhere.

After lunch, Lin Ruhai and Quan Wenwei had not yet set off to see Lu Yinghui, nor had Jia Lian sent anyone to inform them of the Xue family's whereabouts.

Tu Chengyu thought that noon would pass by like this, just as he was preparing to take a nap.

Old Yao, who had been secretly gathering information in the city for the past few days, suddenly ran back to ask for a meeting.

This time, he didn't come back alone; he brought with him someone Tu Chengyu had been thinking about.

"Yang Chun?" After seeing the person's appearance clearly, Tu Chengyu was surprised and a little incredulous.

Yang Chun, whom Tu Chengyu had sent to secretly investigate the grain fields and whom he had been unable to contact before, suddenly appeared in front of Tu Chengyu. How could Tu Chengyu not be overjoyed?

Yang Chun was also very excited to see Tu Chengyu. He bowed and said excitedly:
"Your Highness, I am so glad to meet you."

Seeing Yang Chun's excitement, Tu Chengyu quickly reassured him, "It's good that you've come. I've been sending people everywhere to look for you."

Unexpectedly, Tu Chengyu's attempt to calm him down only made him more agitated.

He even seemed about to cry: "Your Highness, I have failed your expectations and have not taken good care of the people I brought out."

Tu Chengyu was eager to know what had happened to Yang Chun, but seeing Yang Chun's tattered clothes, unshaven face, and unkempt appearance...

He could only suppress his doubts and continue to reassure her, saying, "It's alright, it's alright, I won't blame you."

Hearing Tu Chengyu's words, Yang Chun felt even more ashamed and immediately wanted to report to Tu Chengyu what had happened since he came to Jiangnan.

There was no rush, and Tu Chengyu couldn't let him report like that. He said...

"Don't rush. You don't look like you're ready to talk. How about this, go and wash up first, change into clean clothes, and I'll have someone prepare some food for you. After you've eaten and rested, come and talk to me again."

Hearing Tu Chengyu's words, Yang Chun calmed down and realized that he was indeed not suitable for conversation because he looked like a beggar and smelled terrible.

Yang Chun said, "Thank you for your understanding, Your Highness. I will go and wash up and change my clothes now."

Tu Chengyu sent someone to take Yang Chun away, but left Lao Yao behind for questioning.

How did you discover Yang Chun?

Old Yao replied, "Your Highness, I went for a stroll in the city as usual today. When I passed by the place where I left a code a few days ago, I found new contact information left on the code."

"Based on the information, I went there and found Lord Yang mingling with the beggars. Then I brought Lord Yang back."

Tu Chengyu then asked, "Did you only bring back Yang Chun?"

Old Yao said, "Only Lord Yang. As for whether there are any others, Lord Yang didn't say, and I dare not ask."

It seems that Yang Chun is still very cautious. Even though he knows that Lao Yao is a close confidant of Tu Chengyu, he doesn't speak carelessly.

Since that's the case, then Old Yao doesn't know much. After asking a few questions, Tu Chengyu told him to wait outside.

After Lao Yao left, Tu Chengyu continued to stay in the study.

He thought Yang Chun would need to rest for a while before coming over, but to his surprise, Yang Chun washed up, changed his clothes, ate a meal, and immediately came to see him.

They invited Yang Chun in and saw that even after tidying himself up, he was still thin and dark-skinned, completely lacking the demeanor he used to have when he taught in the Imperial Study.

Tu Chengyu knew that he must have suffered a lot during this period.

He said, "I see you look quite tired. Why don't you rest before we talk?"

Yang Chun said, "Upon seeing Your Highness, all my weariness has vanished, and I am now full of energy."

Since he had already said that, Tu Chengyu naturally didn't stop him.

He then asked, "What happened to you in Jiangnan? How did you end up like this?"

Yang Chun said, "Your Highness, this matter is a long story."

Tu Chengyu: "Tell me slowly."

Yang Chun: "When we arrived in Jiangnan, we initially used the guise of doing business, and things went relatively smoothly. We also investigated quite a few things."

"But the good times didn't last long. For some reason, many places suddenly started to be wary of people with northern accents, and those who came from the capital were arrested on the spot."

"Many of the people who came to Jiangnan with me have been arrested. I only escaped because I don't speak with a Beijing accent."

When Tu Chengyu sent people to Jiangnan, he also took into account the issue of accents.

However, he didn't have enough people from Jiangnan to use, so he had to send out some people with northern accents.

He thought that coming to Jiangnan to investigate the grain fields would not be too dangerous; at most, he would be discovered and the investigation would have to stop.

Furthermore, in order to protect these people who were secretly investigating, Tu Chengyu allowed them to reveal their identities in dangerous situations, thus ensuring their own safety.

With these measures in place, they should not be in much danger.

However, to Tu Chengyu's surprise, these officials and gentry in Jiangnan were incredibly audacious.

They even dared to directly arrest people.

Tu Chengyu asked, "Do you know how many people were arrested this time?"

Yang Chun replied, "The people we sent out were quite scattered, and I still can't be sure how many have been arrested. I only know that after the incident, we haven't been able to contact about half of them."

Even if only half of them were arrested, it's still a considerable number.

Thinking of this, Tu Chengyu suddenly remembered something: when he first arrived in Yangzhou and sent people to find Yang Chun and the others.

I overheard that a fire had broken out at an inn in Zhenjiang, across the river, and that three people with Beijing accents had supposedly died in the fire.

Tu Chengyu and Quan Wenwei guessed at the time that these people might be their subordinates who had been sent out.

There was simply no evidence or way to verify it before.

Now that Yang Chun has arrived, it's a good time to ask him.

Tu Chengyu asked, "Have you sent anyone to Zhenjiang?"

Upon hearing Tu Chengyu's question, Yang Chun's face, which had been relatively calm just moments before, instantly contorted with anger, fury, and regret.

But seeing his current state, Tu Chengyu already knew the outcome without him saying a word.

Sure enough, once he calmed down, he gave the answer that Tu Chengyu had already guessed:

"I have sent five men to Zhenjiang."

The answer was as expected, but there was a discrepancy in the number of people.

Tu Chengyu heard that three people had been burned to death, but Yang Chun is now saying that there were five.

Could it be that the people burned to death weren't the ones we sent, or that two of them escaped?

Tu Chengyu asked in confusion, "I heard that three people from the capital were burned to death in Zhenjiang. Were they our people?"

Yang Chun replied in a hoarse voice, "Your Highness, they are the men we sent." Tu Chengyu then asked, "But didn't you just say you sent five men?"

Yang Chun continued, "Two people were lucky enough to escape from the fire."

Hearing that two people had escaped, Tu Chengyu finally felt a little comforted.

He said, "What about the two people who escaped? Have you been able to contact them?"

Yang Chun said, "I have made contact with them and brought them to my side. Unfortunately, of the two who escaped, only one survived. The other died a few days ago due to his severe injuries."

Even among those who escaped, one was dead and one was injured, which shows how dangerous the situation was at the time.

Tu Chengyu asked, "Where is the survivor now?"

Yang Chun said, "He came to Yangzhou with me and is now recuperating outside the city with a few other people."

Judging from Yang Chun's disheveled appearance just now, they must have had a tough time lately.

So the so-called recuperation outside the city is most likely just toughing it out.

Since that's the case, it would be better to bring them all to the Lin residence, since the investigation into the grain fields can no longer be carried out anyway.

Tu Chengyu shared his thoughts with Yang Chun, wanting to hear his opinion.

When Yang Chun heard that Tu Chengyu wanted to bring in all the people from outside Yangzhou, he naturally agreed.

Since they had reached a consensus, Tu Chengyu didn't waste any more time.

He immediately told Lao Yao to come in, take the token given to him by Yang Chun, and go outside the city to bring those people back.

After Lao Yao left the study again, Tu Chengyu continued to ask:

"Besides Zhenjiang, have you heard of any other places where people have been harmed by our people?"

Yang Chun glanced at it and said, "I haven't heard any such rumors, but it's possible that someone harmed our people but it was suppressed and didn't get out."

Tu Chengyu thought about it and realized it made sense. In most places, even if someone wanted to kill someone Tu Chengyu sent, they would do it secretly, unlike in Zhenjiang where it was done so brazenly.

Meanwhile, in some less daring places, even if people are arrested but not killed, they are certainly observing the situation.

If they find that Zhenjiang did this without being punished, these places might also resort to murder.

Thinking about this, Tu Chengyu felt even more that the officials and gentry in Zhenjiang were too arrogant, and that he had to do something to save people.

At the same time, he kept them firmly in mind, and if given the chance, Tu Chengyu would not mind dealing with them.

After recounting these unpleasant matters, Tu Chengyu finally remembered the important matter at hand.

He asked, "When you arrived in Jiangnan, did you find any problems with the grain fields?"

Yang Chun replied, "Although we have not been investigating for long, we have found some things."

Tu Chengyu said, "Tell me about it."

Yang Chun said, "The problem with the farmland in Jiangnan mainly lies in two aspects."

"One issue is the encroachment on land. Officials, gentry, and landlords collude to continuously seize the land of the people. I only conducted a casual investigation and found that nearly half of the people in Jiangnan have lost their land."

Jiangnan is a crucial area for the imperial court's land tax collection, yet nearly half of its people have lost their land, indicating a very serious problem.

Hearing this, Tu Chengyu interjected with a question.

"Since so many people have lost their land, how are they surviving?"

Yang Chun replied, "I have also investigated this issue. The people who lost their land mainly have two destinations: one is to rent land and continue farming."

"The second place to go was to work outside."

Going out to work? Are there already migrant workers at this time? Tu Chengyu asked curiously, "What kind of work do these people who go out to work do?"

Yang Chun replied, "Most of them went to work as weavers, and a small number went to do manual labor in the canal transport."

Neither of these jobs is a good one.

Tu Chengyu didn't ask any questions this time, and waved his hand to signal Yang Chun to continue.

Yang Chun continued the previous topic, saying, "The second problem with the low yield of grain fields in Jiangnan is that the grain fields should be converted into mulberry fields."

"Many gentry and landlords, after seizing the people's farmland, stopped growing grain and instead turned the farmland into mulberry fields for raising silkworms on a large scale."

"Then they colluded with merchants to open weaving workshops and make money by producing raw silk or silk fabrics."

After listening, Tu Chengyu felt that these gentry and landlords had a really clever plan.

On the one hand, he seized the people's land, leaving them with no way out.

On the other hand, they opened silk workshops to give these desperate people a glimmer of hope, locking them in the workshops to continue working themselves to the bone.

This is practically squeezing every last drop of blood from the people.

If they are allowed to continue like this, not only will the amount of farmland in Jiangnan gradually decrease, affecting the imperial court's food supply plan.

Given their blatant exploitation of the people, when the people can no longer bear it and have no hope of survival, turmoil throughout Jiangnan will not be far off.

Given such a dire situation, it's no wonder that while the Emperor sent people to investigate, he also dispatched this prince to oversee the situation.

Thinking about all this, Tu Chengyu asked again, "Have you found out how many farmlands have been converted into mulberry fields?"

Yang Chun replied, "I am not aware of other places, but in the area around Jinling that I investigated, 30 to 40 percent of the farmland has been converted into mulberry fields."

"And it's increasing rapidly. During the time I've been investigating, I've personally witnessed many farmlands being planted with mulberry trees."

As a major city in Jiangnan, Jinling was under relatively strict supervision by the imperial court.

If even Nanjing is in this situation, then other places will only be in a worse state.

Tu Chengyu then asked, "Do you know how many silk weaving workshops like this are there in Jiangnan?"

Yang Chun replied, "There are already many. Each prefecture has permanent ones. And during the cocooning season, many more are built temporarily."

Tu Chengyu asked, "Where do all these workshops sell their raw silk and silk fabrics?"

Based on Tu Chengyu's observations over the past few months since leaving the capital, the people of this land are not yet wealthy enough to need so much silk.

Since the general public did not have a great demand for silk, where did the silk produced in Jiangnan go?

Tu Chengyu already had a relatively clear answer to this question, and now he was just waiting for Yang Chun to provide it.

Yang Chun's answer was no different from Tu Chengyu's guess.

"Your Highness, most of the silk from Jiangnan is transported overseas and sold to foreign merchants."

Tu Chengyu guessed correctly, but this would implicate the Maritime Trade Office, and there might also be issues related to smuggling.

As the problem became more and more complicated, Tu Chengyu felt that he was losing control of the situation.

(End of this chapter)