Daming: Grandpa Emperor, please get up and sit on my throne!

Wang Defa nodded. "Exactly! This so-called 'anthracite' burns just like ordinary charcoal, yet sells for only 10% of the price. The profits and benefits involved... Your Highness is incredibly intelligent, and I'm sure you understand this very well. I've heard...someone's already started to make plans."

"Go on," Zhu Di said in a calm tone, his thoughts unintelligible. However, he held a white chess piece in his hand, unconsciously rubbing it repeatedly, clearly pondering something.

Facing his superiors, Wang Defa naturally had no time to notice these details. He simply continued, "The Coal Transport Department was established by His Majesty himself. The coal transport departments of every province, prefecture, state, and county in the Ming Dynasty are also supervised by the Imperial Guard... If you want to reap these huge profits, you can't avoid the officials of the Coal Transport Department and the Jinyiwei who oversee them."

"So the first condition is that the officials of the Coal Transportation Department and the Jinyiwei in charge have this idea. Fortunately, the profit is large enough, so there will always be someone who is tempted."

"On the other hand, local sales still need to be concealed. Both parties need to cooperate with each other to gain this profit and finally share the profits."

"According to the information from this humble official..."

"Some people have already started trying to contact the Jinyiwei."

His implication was clear: some local officials, the Coal Transport Bureau and even the Imperial Guards had become interested and were preparing to take advantage of the huge profits from "anthracite"!

Zhu Di narrowed his eyes slightly, with a hint of strangeness in his gaze, and his hands were still inadvertently stroking the chess piece he had just moved.

Wang Defa swallowed hard, paused, and then continued, "I've come here to ask Your Highness if you're interested in... getting a piece of the action. If you're interested, I'll arrange for someone to visit the Coal Transport Department and test their prowess."

Done.

Wang Defa looked at Zhu Di steadily, as if waiting for an answer.

He was Zhu Di's man. Before he could make up his mind about such a thing, he had to ask Zhu Di for help, and he couldn't leave the big boss Zhu Di out.

When Zhu Di heard Wang Defa's words, his eyes flickered slightly and his heart beat a little faster.

A tenth of the price... this was indeed an extremely tempting figure. The horrific profits contained therein were such that even a well-paid prince like Zhu Di couldn't remain completely calm.

Or rather... before Wang Defa asked this question, Zhu Di was even struggling with this idea in his mind!

No wonder Zhu Di was tempted.

He wanted to do big things, but doing big things required huge wealth to support it. With such huge profits tempting him, it was hard for him not to be tempted.

Besides, he never forgot that his good nephew from Yingtian Prefecture had easily taken away one-fifth of his annual salary!

But the next moment.

Zhu Di's lower eyelids trembled slightly, and his eyes revealed a hint of determination and resoluteness. He directly rejected Wang Defa's request: "No need, don't act rashly, and don't provoke the people from the Coal Transport Bureau and the Jinyiwei for no reason!"

Done.

Zhu Di placed the chess piece he had been holding in his hand and stroking for a long time onto the chessboard.

If this matter had been handled by the likes of Qin Wang Zhu Chong and Jin Wang Zhu Gang, they might have just happily gone about making money. However, Zhu Di was the Yongle Emperor who successfully quelled the rebellion and ascended the throne. He would never be someone who only cared about immediate interests.

He did not forget the cruel methods used by his good nephew in Yingtian Prefecture to deal with his uncles.

They also did not forget that Zhu Yunhuan had already started trying to cast a fishing rod for these uncles since he ascended the throne, even before the coronation ceremony was held and he was only temporarily in charge of state affairs!

If you stick your hand in this, you might indeed be able to reap huge profits, but the risks are also enormous! —That good nephew of Yingtian Prefecture is just waiting to get hold of something!