IDWBE -Chapter 450 The Ambitions of a Great Capitalist

Looking down at the ever-growing pile of snow at his feet, Jiang the Butcher finally lost all patience. He turned to Zhu Ruorong and Deng Ke and said, “Why don’t we all just head back for now? Waiting here like this isn’t getting us anywhere.”

Besides, earlier at the city gate, his daughter had completely ignored him. He was already a bit annoyed, and now, after waiting for so long here, it was simply outrageous!

Zhu Ruorong rubbed his numb, frozen hands and sighed. “If she were going to come out, she would have done so already. Since she hasn’t, I guess she’ll be staying overnight at the Governor’s Mansion.”

“The Governor’s Mansion only houses male guests,” Deng Ke hesitated, then said, “Lord He is very particular about propriety between men and women. Knowing his character, he certainly wouldn’t leave your daughter inside the mansion. We should wait another half hour. Otherwise, if she comes out and can’t find us, that’ll be troublesome too. She’s a young lady, after all—unfamiliar with the area, better to have someone she knows guide her.”

After waiting this long, he couldn’t just leave without a result. At the very least, he had to see Jiang Zhen once, to let her know that he, Deng Ke, and the Deng family cared. Leaving without explanation would be unacceptable.

“That makes sense,” Jiang the Butcher hesitated, feeling a bit embarrassed. “Then let’s trouble you two brothers a little longer?”

Although Deng Ke had a small stove in hand, his limbs were still numb from the cold. Waving his hand generously, he said, “Brother, it’s nothing. Back in the day, there wasn’t a scrap of food for the night; if you wanted to survive, you’d wrap yourself in a tattered mat and eat whatever scraps you could find. Life was hard, but we survived. Now we have food, now we have drink—what’s there to complain about?”

“That’s true,” Jiang the Butcher reflected, “Back then, even though I was a butcher, I couldn’t eat meat every day. If there was unsold meat, I’d eat it through tears. I can’t dwell on those days—it was miserable enough to make a grown man cry.”

Deng Ke laughed. “Why don’t we just continue waiting on the carriage?”

Though he hadn’t been in the Northern Territories for a short time, he still couldn’t endure the cold. Normally, even standing briefly would numb his hands and feet, let alone standing this long. Like many from Sanhe, he believed there was no place better than Sanhe.

What’s good about Ankang City? In the dead of winter, even the emperor would be shivering. It was practically uninhabitable. Many people hoped that one day Prince He would recognize the merits of Sanhe and move the capital to Baiyun City! After all, there was no law saying the capital had to be in Ankang. Historically, many locations had served as capitals.

Even the city of Bao in Yuzhou—once despised—had been the capital for three dynasties! Baiyun City had once been poor, but now it had grown prosperous. Compared to Ankang City, it only lacked walls. In the future, it could easily serve as the capital of Daliang.

The people of Sanhe dared to dream and, more importantly, dared to act. Some modern-educated scholars from Sanhe, backed by the financial power of the Liang, Wang, and Hu families, submitted petitions to the court requesting the “relocation of the capital.” Naturally, this caused a stir, and Lord He Jixiang personally admonished them.

They were undeterred, growing braver with every setback, submitting petitions at every opportunity. Among the people of Sanhe in Ankang, there was no one who opposed it. As a result, the pro-relocation faction in Ankang City only grew stronger. According to Liang Qingshu and others, the bigger the momentum, the better.

Momentum alone doesn’t guarantee success, but without momentum, success is impossible.

As a member of Sanhe, Deng Ke naturally wanted the relocation to succeed. Although the Deng family didn’t have as much land as the Liang or Wang families, they were still a local power. If the capital moved, building roads and houses on their land could turn the Deng family into a true aristocratic family.

“Deng shopkeeper,” Zhu Ruorong teased, “why don’t you get on the carriage first? I’ll stay here with Jiang shopkeeper a little longer.”

Zhu Ruorong had also once known poverty, but Ankang City was the most prosperous place in the realm. Even though life had been difficult before, it wasn’t as desperate as Jiang the Butcher and Deng Ke’s past.

It was only after coming to Sanhe that he understood true destitution—having nothing, unsure of the next meal. Compared to Deng Ke and others, he still counted as wealthy.

Back in Baiyun City, facing the southern barbarians, he had always had a strong sense of superiority. Later, when Prince He implemented the supplier system, like many, he experienced a springtime of opportunity. He had become a true wealthy man and had already planned to settle in Sanhe. He built a large three-compound courtyard in Baiyun City, not the grandest, but among the city’s elite, it counted.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t enjoyed his success for long before Prince He returned with the army to Ankang City.

He had originally planned to return someday, but Prince He had taken the position of Regent. The old man Ma Jie had openly said: this Regent was not the emperor, but there was little difference between them.

Growing up in the imperial city, he understood perfectly. In the future, the world would belong to Prince He. He would never return to Baiyun City. He would have to move.

As his parents, wife, and children moved to Ankang City, he rented out his three-compound courtyard to landlords fleeing disasters from Chuanzhou, Yuezhou, Nanzhou, and Hongzhou. A mere pittance! Only if Baiyun City someday surpassed Ankang in prosperity could he hope to recoup his building expenses.

“You keep warm, brother. Can you help keep an eye out for me a bit longer?”

Jiang the Butcher, anxious about his daughter, couldn’t endure the cold any more than Deng Ke. He was one of the most determined advocates of moving the capital. Anyone opposing Prince He’s plan would be his enemy.

Zhu Ruorong looked at Jiang the Butcher, whose face was flushed from the cold, hesitated, then nodded. “Alright, you two get into the carriage to warm yourselves with the stove. If that’s not enough, have some wine—don’t let yourselves freeze.”

Hearing this, Jiang the Butcher quickly withdrew his hands from his sleeves and cupped them toward Zhu Ruorong, insisting, “Thank you, thank you.” He then hurried into the carriage in the nearby alley, with Deng Ke following eagerly.

Zhu Ruorong watched them go, frustrated, and turned to a young attendant by the Governor’s Mansion gate. “Xiao Jinzi.”

“Hey!”

Xiao Jinzi, small and young, his feet buried in snow, ran over with effort. “Shopkeeper, I’ve been keeping watch—still here!”

“Has no one come out from the mansion?”

Breathing out warm air, Zhu Ruorong asked.

Shaking his head vigorously like a rattle, Xiao Jinzi said, “Shopkeeper, don’t worry. I haven’t blinked. Jiang the Head Constable hasn’t come out yet—still inside.”

Zhu Ruorong was skeptical. “Are you sure your eyes aren’t playing tricks? I’ve seen two carriages come out in this time. Could she have gotten into one of those?”

“No way, shopkeeper. One carriage is Lord Sun Chongde of the Garden Horse Temple, the other is the newly appointed official Duan Liang. Though I can’t approach them, I know everyone under them. I even checked with Wang Xiaoshuan behind Lord Sun’s carriage. No one else—Jiang the Constable is still inside.”

Even Sun Chongde and Duan Liang were beyond his reach, and Wang Xiaoshuan, once his fellow apprentice, was someone he had to look up to. A ninth-rank official, while he was just a lowly apprentice always running errands and scolded by the shopkeeper.

Duan Liang had shared a bunk with him in the orphanage. Xiao Jinzi, born in Sanhe, had been sickly, blind in one eye, abandoned by his father after his mother died. At seven or eight, in the poor Sanhe, survival was a struggle. He had eventually collapsed from hunger and was sent to the orphanage by Prince He’s guard, Chen Xinluo.

Madam Sang took care of him. Though his one eye remained shrunken, at least no maggots crawled out.

He wasn’t dumb but lacked talent for martial arts and learning. He was the type Mingyue often called “can’t do anything, but eats like a champion.”

At the proper age, Prince He sought to provide for disabled youths like him. He refused schooling, refused to be a monk like crippled Jihai, and refused to be a Taoist like blind Wang Dong.

When everyone was losing patience, he suddenly shouted: “I want to be a capitalist!”

The orphanage was stunned! Xiao Jinzi wanted to become a vampire? To make people work 996? Why he wanted to become the detested “capitalist” in Prince He’s stories, only he knew.

He had once asked Prince He who he admired most. Prince He answered: capitalists!

In this world, there was nothing money couldn’t solve. If something couldn’t be done, it was simply because there wasn’t enough money.

He would be a capitalist! Even ninth-rank masters would eventually bow before his wealth.

If they disobeyed, so be it. Prince He had said: as long as capitalism exists, even great masters must obey the system. Rules create order.

To be a capitalist, he needed money. He couldn’t rely on martial arts to steal, so he must become a merchant.

After leaving the orphanage, he apprenticed under Jiang the Butcher. Since Jiang and Zhu Ruorong partnered, Zhu Ruorong became his second master. One was enough—two were harder, but he didn’t mind.

He believed Prince He: failure is the mother of success, greatness comes from perseverance. Liang Jin would one day be a capitalist whose mere presence commanded respect.

Military kings, war gods, Northern Qiaofeng, Southern Murong—they would all be powerless. All would submit to his financial empire. If Prince He didn’t object, he would even print Prince He’s image on all coins.

“Good, no mistakes then,” Zhu Ruorong laughed when Liang Jin mentioned Wang Xiaoshuan. “That little bastard has luck. A ninth-rank official and doing reasonably well. You, same age, apprenticed just two years more, and now look at the difference. You better catch up, or you might never marry a wife!”

“Yes, Shopkeeper. I’ll rely on your guidance,” Liang Jin replied, hiding his resentment behind a smile.

“Guidance? Of course,” Zhu Ruorong took the small stove, smiling. “Once this snow passes, I’ll send you to Liangma Platform for some real experience.”

“Shopkeeper wants a branch in the northern frontier?”

Xiao Jinzi’s eyes lit up. A branch meant the first step toward a great enterprise!

“A branch?”

Zhu Ruorong grumbled, “What are you thinking? The north is just a garrison—few people. Those stationed are already our clients. Why open a branch?”

“Shopkeeper,” Xiao Jinzi smiled, “we’ve delivered goods to the north before—vast fertile land. Garden Horse Temple plans not just a horse ranch but cattle and sheep for large-scale farming. Think about it: all that livestock, can’t consume it themselves. Who do they sell to? If we open a branch, we can buy locally.”

“Large-scale farming?”

Zhu Ruorong, curious, said, “Where did you hear this? Garden Horse Temple can barely supply horses, let alone raise cattle or sheep. Sounds ridiculous.”

Xiao Jinzi hesitated but said, “The notice is posted at the Ankang Prefecture office: recruiting settlers for the north. Garden Horse Temple provides livestock, the Ministry of Revenue provides seeds and tools. Contracts are signed in advance; farmers cooperate in breeding.”

“So that’s it,” Zhu Ruorong said casually. “I’d heard, but the north is harsh. Few would go voluntarily.”

Xiao Jinzi replied, “Shopkeeper, this is decreed by Prince He: called ‘Northern Development.’ Notices are posted across the realm. This year, Jizhou and Qizhou suffered drought and floods—sweet potato and corn seedlings didn’t even grow. Without court aid, few would survive. Now with government support, how can they refuse?”

“Even so, I’ve been to the north—impossible,” Zhu Ruorong waved his hand impatiently. “The world is vast. Refugees won’t go to such harsh places. End of story.”

He turned his gaze back to the gates of the Governor’s Mansion as snow continued to fall.