Starting from 1618 of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 50 Adjustment Strategy

The tenth day of the third month of the first year of the Tianqi reign.

That winter was unusually cold.

The snowfall in Beijing was even heavier than in Jinan. The red walls and yellow tiles of the Forbidden City were covered with a thick layer of snow, making them appear exceptionally solemn and dignified. Meanwhile, Jinan, a thousand miles away, was also blanketed in silver. The Grand Canal had long since frozen over; the waterway, once bustling with countless sails, now lay stiffly across the land of Shandong like a dead python.

The warm pavilion in the backyard of the Lu residence.

The underfloor heating inside was burning brightly, making it warm as springtime. Several pots of daffodils, blooming out of season, were in full bloom, emitting a delicate fragrance. But this cozy atmosphere could not melt away the chill on the faces of the people inside.

Lu Yan held a letter that had just been delivered urgently from the capital.

The envelope was unsigned, only stamped with a distinctive cinnabar seal—a private seal featuring two dragons playing with a pearl. Lu Yan was all too familiar with this seal; it belonged to Wang Tiqian, a eunuch from the Directorate of Palace Attendants.

"Master, what did they say in the capital?"

Holding the final ledger that had just been compiled at the end of the year, Hu Jingshui asked cautiously.

This old accountant has aged rapidly lately; this past year has been incredibly tumultuous. Emperor Wanli passed away, Emperor Taichang died a month after ascending the throne due to that infamous red pill, and now the sixteen-year-old carpenter Emperor Tianqi sits on the dragon throne. Three emperors in one year, one national mourning after another—the weather in the Ming Dynasty changes faster than a child's face.

"The world has changed drastically."

Lu Yan gently heated the letter over the charcoal brazier, watching the words written with a special solution gradually appear, a playful smile curving his lips.

"Eunuch Wang has been promoted. He will become the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs, and concurrently the Director of the Directorate of Palace Attendants."

"The Chief Secretary of the Directorate of Ceremonial?"

Hu Jingshui gasped, nearly dropping the ledger in her hand.

Although he was just an accountant, he knew the weight of those five words. In the power structure of the Ming Dynasty, this was essentially the reserve of the "Inner Minister," possessing the power to "approve" on behalf of the emperor. Without the approval of the Directorate of Ceremonial, the Grand Secretariat's draft proposals were just a piece of waste paper.

"This...this is great news! Haven't we just found a powerful patron?" Zhao Changying excitedly rubbed his hands together. He was a martial artist and thought simply, only that it would be good to have a powerful backer.

"It's a leg that reaches to the heavens, but also a deadly noose."

After reading the letter, Lu Yan casually tossed it into the charcoal brazier, watching it instantly turn to ashes, his eyes dark and unfathomable.

"The letter said that the eunuch Wei (Wei Zhongxian) in the palace is now deeply favored by the emperor and is expanding his influence and recruiting soldiers. Eunuch Wang hopes that our 'tribute' this year will be doubled compared to last year. Moreover, he specifically asked for sable fur and ginseng from Liaodong, saying that they were for Eunuch Wei's birthday celebration."

"Double?!" Hu Jingshui's voice trembled with pain. "Boss, this is outrageous! Although our profits last year were good, most of them were invested in expanding our fleet, stockpiling iron, and supporting those hundreds of refugees. Our cash flow was already tight, and this sudden withdrawal... our cash flow will break down!"

Old Hu paused, then lowered his voice and advised, "Besides, sir, the public opinion outside isn't good right now. Scholars are all calling Wei Zhongxian a 'eunuch traitor,' a second Liu Jin. If we get too closely associated with him, and if the Donglin Party and its upright officials gain power one day, we'll be seen as 'remnants of the eunuch faction,' and our property will be confiscated!"

Lu Yan didn't speak, but just quietly watched the flames dancing in the charcoal brazier.

He was thinking.

As a time traveler, he understood the course of history better than anyone else. The Donglin Party, that group of self-proclaimed upright officials, were all talk and no action, their hearts filled with business. They represented the interests of the gentry and large landowners of Jiangnan, their greatest skill was factionalism and suppression of dissent, and they despised military men and merchants the most.

"Old Hu, what kind of business do you think we're doing right now?" Lu Yan suddenly asked.

"This... a carriage and horse trading company? Arms company? Or a royal merchant that is affiliated with powerful figures?" Hu Jingshui asked hesitantly.

"No, we are doing 'venture capital'."

Lu Yan turned around, walked to the map of the Ming Dynasty on the wall, and spoke in the cold tone of a modern financier and geopolitician.

"In the current court, the Donglin Party is powerful and full of upright officials. They talk about benevolence and morality and advocate governing the country with pure officials. But have you noticed? These people despise merchants like us who 'compete with the people for profit' and those 'vulgar warriors' the most."

Lu Yan pointed at Zhao Changying: "Changying, if the Donglin Party comes to power, your guards will be labeled as 'private soldiers' the next day and will be wiped out. Our carriage and horse company will be exploited and embezzled by those civil officials under the guise of 'rectifying officialdom' and 'competing with the people for profit,' until we go bankrupt. In their eyes, we are fat sheep, leeks that must be harvested."

"But Wei Zhongxian and his group were different."

A glint of shrewdness flashed in Lu Yan's eyes. "They are greedy, they are cruel, and their reputation is infamous. But it is precisely because of their infamous reputation that they are isolated by the scholar-official class, that they need helpers, they need money, and they need people to do the dirty work for them. They are 'true villains,' and true villains are often more particular about 'trade rules' than hypocrites—you give money, they give power; you do favors, they protect you."

"Master, do you mean...we should completely side with the eunuch faction?" Although Hu Jingshui was somewhat prepared, she still felt a little uneasy when she heard the decision. After all, in this era, scholars took pride in being "gentlemen."

"It's not about seeking refuge, it's about 'leveraging' resources, it's about 'angel round investment'."

Lu Yan corrected him, "The current Tianqi Emperor, despite his young age, is a very opinionated person. He hates the Donglin Party members who are always buzzing in his ear, telling him how to be a person and how to be an emperor. He needs a knife, a knife that can help him cut through the shackles of the civil service group. Wei Zhongxian is that knife."

"This knife has just been sharpened; it's at its sharpest point, and it's also the one that most needs a 'scabbard' and a 'whetstone'."

Lu Yan walked to the table, picked up a pen, and wrote a large "Wei" character on a piece of white paper, the force penetrating the back of the paper.

"Entering the fray now is like providing charcoal in snowy weather. If we wait until Wei Zhongxian truly holds absolute power and is known as the 'Nine Thousand Years Old,' then it will be too late to add to his glory, and he won't even get a taste of the soup."

"But reputation..." Hu Jingshui was still struggling with the question.

"Reputation?" Lu Yan sneered, circling the character "Wei" heavily, his pen tip drawing a crack on the paper.

"Old Hu, chaos is coming. When refugees flood into the city, when the Jurchens hold their swords to our necks, do you think they'll spare my life just because I'm from the 'pure stream'? In this cannibalistic world, survival comes first. Only by surviving, having power, money, and soldiers, can we talk about reputation and all that bullshit morality."

Lu Yan took a deep breath, his tone becoming decisive and resolute:

"Old Hu, go to the storeroom and get that Hetian jade Buddha we just acquired, and make up another ten thousand taels of silver. Don't worry about the money; this is money to save your life, and also to pay your way out."

"Furthermore, Changying, you personally lead the team to select the best Liaodong ginseng and sable fur, and load two carts with them. I want the finest goods, the kind that would make even the palace eunuchs drool."

"I want to go to the capital in person."

"Going to the capital?" The two were both surprised. Although Lu Yan had the title of Juren (a successful candidate in the imperial examinations), he rarely left Jinan, which was his base of operations.

"Yes. Eunuch Wang has been promoted, how could I, as his junior, not go to congratulate him in person?"

Lu Yan straightened his clothes and looked north, as if piercing through the wind and snow to see the Forbidden City at the center of the power vortex.

"Not only will I go, but I will also present Eunuch Wei with a grand gift—not just silver, but also an analytical report on the 'hidden dangers' in Shandong, concerning the White Lotus Rebellion and the long-standing problems in the Grand Canal."

"I want him to know that I, Lu Yan, am not just a money-making machine, but also a capable minister who can keep an eye on things and share his burdens. I am a useful tool."

"Since we've decided to be the scabbard of this sword, we must be sturdy and irreplaceable. Since the Ming Dynasty is already rotten to the core, let's add fuel to the fire and see if we can refine some real gold from these ruins."

The snow outside the window fell heavier and heavier, as if to bury this murky world completely. But in Lu Yan's eyes, the blizzard was not an obstacle, but the prelude to a reshuffling of fortunes.

The winter of the first year of the Tianqi reign was exceptionally cold. But for Lu Yan, the real spring had just begun.