The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

However, because icing sugar tastes much better than brown sugar, and it is expensive, it became popular among the wealthy and powerful.

It can be described as a luxury item among ingredients.

For this reason, Zhou Chu never dared to make white sugar easily.

The interests involved are simply too great.

Zhou Chu knew very well that once the news that he could produce high-purity white sugar leaked out, countless people would scheme against him.

Unfortunately, given his current position, he has no power to resist.

Zhou Chu seemed to have gained some status in the capital, but he knew very well that it was nothing but castles in the air.

Once the news about the sugar and glass leaks out, not only Sun Jiaojiao, but even if another noblewoman's father is the Vice Minister of Revenue, she won't be able to protect herself.

These people dared to kill the emperor for their own benefit; what wouldn't they dare to do?

Zhou Chu was well aware that a terrifying interest group had formed in Jiangnan, a group that could even control the direction of the entire Ming Dynasty.

Policies in the imperial court cannot be implemented if the officials disagree with them.

Capitalism is nothing more than this.

In his previous life, Zhou Chu had read a paper that contained specific information about smuggling activities by interest groups in Jiangnan.

For example, the production price of the most basic raw silk was about four cents of silver per pound, which was about forty copper coins.

The price sold to the people was 160 coins per catty.

When smuggled to Japan, the price rose to 250 wen per catty.

The profits from this are astonishing.

However, what is most astonishing is that the price of raw silk sold in Japan was at least 1,000 mon per catty, and at its highest, it could reach an outrageous 5,000 mon per catty.

For example, the most basic daily necessities, such as celadon bowls, normally cost 100 kan each. If 10,000 celadon bowls were sold to Japan, one million kan could be earned, and this one million kan would be pure profit.

In Japan, a celadon bowl can cost as much as 500 to 600 kan each.

Zhou Chu couldn't help but think of Wang Zhi, who established a puppet regime of the Song Dynasty in Japan.

Later, Wang Zhi and Hu Zongxian reached an agreement and prepared to go ashore and be granted amnesty.

After being forced to go ashore, he encountered a hot-headed local official who killed Wang Zhi on the spot.

According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, if Japanese pirates were captured, they could be executed on the spot without reporting it.

The local official naturally knew Wang Zhi's identity, but he probably also understood that if he reported it, Wang Zhi would most likely survive.

If I were to kill him on the spot, it would be a great achievement.

No one could find anything wrong with it.

After Wang Zhi's death, his treasures, known as the Wang Zhi Treasure, were sought after by countless people who would dig three feet into the ground to find them.

Only the bigwigs along the southeastern coast knew exactly how much money Wang Zhizhi had made through smuggling.

The money they made from smuggling didn't even come in total as much as Wang Zhi made.

Wang earned several times more than them.

"Wang Zhi is a talented person. I wonder if there will be a chance to get to know him."

As Zhou Chu filtered the sugar water, he drifted into thought.

Zhou Chu knew that Wang Zhi would probably die more than forty years later.

However, it is impossible to verify how old Wang Zhi was when he died.

Some say he died in his forties, others say he died around sixty.

If it's the latter, then Wang Zhi would probably be about the same age as himself at this time.

In Zhou Chu's subsequent series of plans, he did indeed need someone like Wang Zhi.

The new emperor lifting the maritime ban is something that the vested interests in Jiangnan will absolutely not allow.

Therefore, the best way to lift the sea ban is to fight.

As long as you have your own crew, pretend to be pirates, and find out where their ships go, you can rob them one by one when they go out to smuggle.

If this continues, even without the emperor saying anything, the civil officials will be the first to get restless and will definitely advocate for the suppression of the Japanese pirates.

They could maintain their power by supporting pirates, and Zhou Chu could also find people to impersonate pirates.