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

Chapter 393

However, the food was mostly low in fat and oil, and coupled with the heavy physical labor every day, Zhao Zhenji lost a lot of weight in just a few days.

"That's right. No matter what you do in the future, whether you want to become an official or do something else, you must understand the hardships of ordinary people. In this way, you will be able to make decisions without making decisions on a whim."

Zhou Chu appeared beside them at some point, and seeing their slightly disheveled appearance, he laughed.

“Often, a decree from above may seem insignificant, or it may be a decision made on a whim by an official. But you must understand one thing: any seemingly insignificant decree, after being amplified at each level, can become a catastrophe for ordinary people.”

Zhou Chu looked at everyone and said.

After Zhou Chu finished speaking, the crowd reacted differently. Some looked confused, clearly not understanding, while others seemed to understand but not quite.

"Don't you understand?"

Zhou Chu asked.

Zhou Chu was not surprised that Hu Zongxian and the others did not understand, because these young people had not yet entered officialdom, and even some officials who had just entered officialdom might not understand what he was saying.

"Please provide guidance, teacher."

Zhao Zhenji bowed and said.

Hu Zongxian and others also bowed in greeting.

"It's very simple. For example, the gentry in Jiangnan Province hid a lot of land, and countless farmers gave them their land first, and then rented their land to cultivate. Why is that?"

Zhou Chu paused here, glancing at everyone's reactions.

"This student knows a little about it. Farmers have to pay all sorts of exorbitant taxes and levies. If they pay them all, the remaining grain might not be enough to feed their families. In order to survive, they give their land to the gentry, because the gentry pay very little tax, or even almost no tax at all. In this way, when they rent land from the gentry to cultivate, the rent they pay is less than the taxes they used to pay, and that's how they can survive."

Gui Youguang hurriedly said.

Zhou Chu nodded upon hearing this.

"It seems you know something about this, but what would you think if I told you that those exorbitant taxes and levies were added layer by layer by these gentry and local officials?"

Zhou Chu countered with a question.

Upon hearing this, Hu Zongxian and others fell into deep thought.

They knew something about this, so they weren't particularly shocked.

"If an official doesn't understand the situation of ordinary people, and decides on a whim to change the situation by making the gentry pay taxes as well, what will they do if they pay more taxes?"

Zhou Chu continued to ask.

Upon hearing this, everyone felt as if they had been enlightened.

"The students understand that the gentry will keep raising rents for the tenants, making it even harder for them to survive. The officials above may want to solve the problem, but they don't understand the root of the problem or why it happened. Their decisions will only make things harder for the people."

Hu Zongxian suddenly realized.

The others had also figured it out by now, and looked at Zhou Chu with admiration.

Zhou Chu nodded in satisfaction upon hearing this.

"That's right. So before making any decision, you should do thorough research and be realistic, instead of making a decision on a whim."

Zhou Chu said.

"My lord, all those nobles have sent people to Shaoxing Prefecture. They are all at Dong Rui's residence now, and Dong Rui requests an audience."

Shen Lian approached Zhou Chu and said.

Now that Shen Lian's body has almost recovered, he is even more restless and wants to stay by Zhou Chu's side all the time. Zhou Chu tried to persuade him twice, but to no avail, so he gave up.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chu immediately smiled. He had previously instructed the emperor to send letters to the nobles throughout the Ming Dynasty, asking each noble to send a representative, all in order to discuss a plan to make money together.

This was also a plan to completely cut off the financial resources of those Shanxi merchants.

Mining coal!

Zhou Chu had always known that there was a huge coal mine in the Xuzhou and Jining areas, which, with the current mining capacity, could be mined for decades or even centuries.

Shanxi merchants mainly relied on coal mines. During the Little Ice Age in the Ming Dynasty, the price of coal naturally rose. In addition, the cost of transporting it from Shanxi made it impossible for the price to be cheap.

However, if mining were to take place directly in Xuzhou Prefecture, and in conjunction with most of the nobles of the Ming Dynasty, then the coal mines in Shanxi would essentially lose their market.

The same coal, mined in Xuzhou Prefecture, incurred significantly lower transportation costs, making it much cheaper.

Once Shanxi's coal loses its competitiveness, those Shanxi merchants will resort to unethical means.

When that time comes, it will be time to settle scores with them.

As for why these nobles were brought together, firstly, it was to strengthen the connection between the nobles and the royal family; secondly, with these nobles involved, they could draw a lot of firepower from Zhou Chu, and those Shanxi merchants who wanted to take over the coal mines in Xuzhou would have to consider whether they dared to attack so many nobles at the same time.

Zhou Chu didn't care much about money. The coal mine was profitable, but it was far less profitable than his current business.

Distributing the profits from the coal mine would be highly beneficial to both the emperor and himself.

I wonder if those businessmen in Shanxi are prepared to receive this surprise they've prepared for them.