Time had actually been gradually transitioning out of the dog days of summer, but the weather still hadn't shed its scorching heat. In this study at Yushan Academy, Li Pin poured two cups of tea and handed one to Ning Yi.

"When it comes to matters of the nation and the world, one often encounters those who spout pompous rhetoric with boundless confidence, and it is difficult not to find them laughable. Yet, many ideas do emerge from such talk. If one were to only bury oneself in hard work without ever engaging in discussion, that too would inevitably lead to a narrow perspective. In Jinghan Year Three, I went to the capital for the examinations and passed as a jinshi, ranking eleventh on the imperial list. Unfortunately... at the time, my policy essay was too radical and offended Vice Minister of Personnel Fu Ying. Though I made the imperial list, I couldn't secure an actual position. After several months, I became disheartened and left the Eastern Capital, making my way back to Jiangning."

Li Pin spoke of this, then shook his head with a smile while holding his teacup.

"Others seek office—some who pass the jinshi examination stay in the Eastern Capital for years seeking various connections. I left after just a few months. Sometimes I'm reluctant to mention it, fearing people's mockery. But during that time in the Eastern Capital, seeing the web of interests between officials, my feelings were truly complex. The Eastern Capital's atmosphere differs somewhat from Jiangning's. Once there, you can feel it—in the place where the imperial city stands, that feeling seems to envelop everywhere. From near the Imperial Street you can see those towering palace walls daily. Even in places where you can't see the palace, when you look in that direction, the palace seems to stand before your eyes..."

"Those seeking office, seeking connections, discussing national affairs, 'continuing the learning of past sages, opening peace for ten thousand generations'¹... Teahouses, wine shops, various pleasure quarters all discuss these things. Everywhere you look, you see the shadow of officialdom. On one hand full of vigor, on the other, steeped in stagnation. In short, everyone was anxiously waiting, none grasping the essentials. But life must go on. I too tried various connections, considered various methods, perhaps seeking out that Fu Ying's political enemies for patronage. But in the end, it was of little use. Perhaps I simply didn't find the right path. I'd originally thought eleventh place should have some value, but people didn't refuse you—they just delayed, arranged positions for you but none with actual duties. Their arrangements were watertight, so after a few months, I understood this path was temporarily blocked."

"Why struggle in others' territory trying to squeeze through that tiny gap? It couldn't be squeezed through. My family circumstances were reasonably good—if I'd truly wanted to stay in the Eastern Capital waiting for an opportunity, it wasn't for lack of money. I just felt it unnecessary. Better to use this time to settle and reflect further. So I left the Eastern Capital, traveling through Xu, Tang, Shen, and An prefectures on my way back to Jiangning. At the time there were also floods, and I saw many things. After returning these past few years, I've been pondering how things came to this..."

He took a sip of tea: "In the past century, our Wu Dynasty has had several major and minor reform attempts. Most failed, but in terms of principles, they never departed from enriching the people, strengthening the military, and selecting talent. To take action using these three as entry points does make sense. Yet investigating the root causes—what fundamental reasons make our Wu Dynasty's military and people both weak, our talent selection methods flawed—lately whenever I discuss with others, I ponder these matters."

Ning Yi took a sip of tea and shrugged. "That reason... isn't it pretty simple?"

Li Pin had been waiting for his opinion. Hearing this, he paused slightly, then laughed: "Indeed simple... Liheng once said that all things have basic rules and root causes. If we can see clearly, perhaps our grasp of future developments can become clearer. I find this very reasonable... Actually, looking at our Wu Dynasty now, the causes are quite clear. Anyone who puts in some thought can see it plainly..."

He paused briefly, picked up chalk, and drew a triangle on the small blackboard beside them: "Our dynasty originally established itself through military might. At its founding, our military power was formidable. But subsequent rebellions made the Founding Emperor see the drawbacks, so he suppressed military power and elevated civil governance, ruling our dynasty through 'strengthening the trunk and weakening the branches.' This method eliminated the causes of internal strife, once made our people prosperous and extended our dynasty's mandate. But now it has created numerous problems, making our dynasty unable to resist foreign aggression. Under various pressures, to keep the strong trunk strong, it makes the weak branches even weaker. Wealth still flows to the top. Military power was already suppressed by the strong trunk-weak branches policy—now it's even more feeble. The weaker our military, the greater external pressure. The greater the pressure, the weaker our military becomes. Thus forms a cycle with no escape..."

Li Pin let out a breath, looking at the blackboard: "If we could solve commercial problems and show some consideration for the weak branches, our dynasty would naturally have surplus to attend to military matters—this is what any policy of enriching the people must address... If we could strengthen our military so foreign enemies dare not invade, our dynasty could naturally catch its breath—this is what policies for strengthening the military must address. Selecting talent is also for enriching the people, strengthening the military, and extending the dynasty's mandate... Unfortunately, all empty words."

He threw down the chalk: "Speaking of single policies, everyone seems to have methods. Even multiple concurrent policies pose no problem. But our dynasty's strong trunk-weak branches situation is already established. It's like a great tree—as long as the strong trunk isn't full, any nutrients that appear are stripped from the weak branches and taken by that trunk. The real problem is how to guide this strong trunk to naturally channel nutrients to the weak branches. What does Liheng think?"

Ning Yi thought for a moment, then nodded with a smile: "Mm, very reasonable. And you're saying... make those who've become the strong trunk—the great landlords, great merchants like our Su family—and those imperial relatives, idle rich, make them willingly take out the money they've earned and return wealth to the people..."

Li Pin smiled without denying it: "It does have some scholarly idealism, but there's no other way. Of course, the world always moves forward, never backward. People all say our Wu Dynasty flourished under Emperors Heng and Hui, the country rich and people strong. But thinking of going backward is impossible. The question is how to guide it to the next step, making these people willingly take out money—if it doesn't form a cycle, if it's impractical, it's of little use. Everything must consider implementation and flow link by link. Therefore, we need a method to make these people take out money, invest in impoverished areas, then ensure both sides can make money, then continue, endlessly regenerating. Not reducing the strong trunk's wealth, yet alleviating the weak branches' situation... Perhaps we could consider having the court intervene first."

"Wang Anshi's reforms..." Ning Yi frowned slightly, murmuring softly. Li Pin turned from over there: "Hm?"

There was no Wang Anshi in the Wu Dynasty, but decades ago there was a prime minister named Tan Xi, courtesy name Ziyong, who had done similar things. His reforms tried to have the court intervene in various businesses to revitalize the economy. Ning Yi smiled: "Doesn't what Dexin says resemble what Prime Minister Tan thought back then?"

Li Pin nodded: "I have indeed repeatedly pondered Prime Minister Tan's reforms, gaining much insight. What Prime Minister Tan thought back then was perhaps like this. He just hadn't anticipated the resistance would be so great—government orders couldn't be implemented, subordinates publicly agreed but secretly opposed. So the first priority of governance is ultimately cleaning up official conduct..."

"That's not wrong." Ning Yi nodded. "But the method is wrong. You can't play with the economy like this."

"Hm? Economy?"

"Uh, that's the commercial system—the flow of goods, flow of currency, the entire system..." Ning Yi explained with a smile. "Any commercial system that lets privilege intervene isn't a normal commercial system. Privilege here can only be poison, especially privileges like the court and government."

"Liheng also believes we shouldn't compete with the people for profit?"

"Not for that reason." Ning Yi shook his head. "You wanted basic rules, right? Well, the basic rule of economics is greed. Merchants chase profit—that's their only real goal, everything else is negotiable. And greed's actually positive in many situations. Say I work in a shop and want to buy clothes—so I work hard, find ways to earn money, maybe impress my boss to earn more. That's good greed. He's actually got lots of options—steal, rob—but those land you in prison, so not worth it. So he follows the rules of the game. I do this much work, it's worth this much money, equals those clothes. Greed that keeps people playing by the rules is good greed..."

"But the court isn't playing by the rules—they're the referee, and you want them to join the game? Eventually, nobody else will be able to play. Like I said, merchants chase profit; that's their only goal. So you show someone a profit, you teach them greed, and then they look over their shoulder and realize they've got a death-exemption plaque and a sword. If I can just take the profits by force, why wouldn't I? If things could really be that ideal, how is that any different from just ordering the big landlords and merchants to hand over their money?"

He paused slightly: "Prime Minister Tan's reforms didn't fail because rule of law wasn't enough. People will always find loopholes. Greed is too powerful—once someone has this emotion, they see nothing but profit. This emotion can make people very positive, its driving force is great. But the only key is: it's best not to let those with privilege have this emotion. If privilege isn't sufficiently suppressed, in the end no one can play..."

"As long as there's any small loophole to exploit, then rule of law will never be enough. Privileged classes doing business can only be releasing wolves among sheep. Rather than considering letting more privilege intervene, better to strike down the privileges that have already entered—that might have some promoting effect... Simply put, it's one sentence: letting the referee join the game, how can the game be played? As for supervision, it will only make originally simple matters more complex. Destruction is inevitable."

Outside the window, a pair of siblings crouched in the corridor below the windowsill, eavesdropping. The boy tapped his sister's shoulder, whispering: "Sister, sister, is he saying we should strike down our family's business?"

"That barbarian..." Zhou Pei blinked, clearly annoyed, then glanced at her brother. "Though what he says does make some sense. You need to remember it well and think it through. Don't trust blindly, but don't dismiss ideas because of who says them either. That's how you'll accomplish great things someday."

"Oh." Zhou Junwu nodded, then untied the pouch at his waist, took out a sticky rice cake, and ate it in small bites. Zhou Pei glared at him with frustration beside him.

"Letting the referee join the game..." In the room, Li Pin fell silent for a long while, then laughed, his expression complex. "Liheng's words truly strike at the fundamental principle. Were I the referee who joined the game, then indeed..."

He was someone who thought things through. Though he might not abandon his ideas about economic guidance, with Ning Yi saying this, he could somewhat imagine the consequences: "I hadn't expected that after pondering for years, Liheng would see at a glance the most difficult point to resolve. Perhaps this is Liheng's different way of seeing things?"

"This is after all a very interesting matter. Our dynasty pays Liao several hundred thousand in annual tribute each year, yet earns several million through trade. In the end, we still profit. The importance of merchants, the benefits of commerce—now not just Brother Dexin understands, many people already understand. Our dynasty differs from previous dynasties—we don't suppress commerce. Prime Minister Tan's reforms, though problematic, showed the court's emphasis on commerce. But..." Ning Yi thought, then suddenly said, "Oh right, I was just thinking—what happened to that Fu Ying?"

Ning Yi had been discussing commerce when he suddenly switched to this. Li Pin paused, then burst out laughing: "Liheng truly is formidable—nothing escapes you. Vice Minister of Personnel Fu Ying was investigated for corruption this March and was sentenced to exile by the Court of Judicial Review last month. After this flood matter passes, I probably..." He was somewhat melancholy but ultimately happy. "I'll probably go to the Eastern Capital again, make arrangements above and below, see if I can fill an actual position. I've already waited five years—Liheng shouldn't say I'm too addicted to officialdom."

Ning Yi also laughed: "That being the case, congratulations to Brother Dexin."

"Far too early to celebrate... But how did Liheng perceive this?"

"Trade secret." Ning Yi had only noticed some clues from the other's expression and asked casually, now joking. Li Pin shook his head and laughed for a while over there, taking a sip of tea: "Back to the topic, back to the topic. Since Liheng understands the pros and cons, I wonder if you've thought of any compromise methods if the court only provides guidance?"

"That's... speaking in jest."

"Then let us speak in jest."

"Alright, since you're going to be an official anyway, discussing it is fine." Ning Yi nodded with a smile. "I personally think there is, and there isn't."

"What do you mean?"

"Actually it's simple. Have the court and Confucian scholars consciously raise merchant status—commercial culture would naturally flourish. If you want to guide actively without interfering or wrecking things, that's your only option..."

At this, Li Pin furrowed his brow: "The status of merchants... this matter... merchants do, after all, place profit above all else..."

"It's not about merchants valuing profit." Ning Yi sipped his tea. "The state values profit too. These years commerce has developed, merchant status has improved compared to past dynasties. If we actively loosened things up a bit, commerce would definitely grow. But that's exactly why it's impossible... They don't dare."

"Who?"

"The ones up top, the court, His Majesty, the Confucians... you and me, maybe everyone—nobody dares let go..."

In the corridor outside, Zhou Junwu crouching by the wall paused slightly: "Sister, he's talking nonsense again. I'm not afraid. Our family does business too, and Imperial Son-in-law Grandfather's family does even more..."

"Shut up." Zhou Pei hissed, stopping him, then muttered: "I'm not afraid either... He's trying to provoke us."

Then they heard Ning Yi's slightly mocking voice from inside.

"If we really let go—bang—the Wu Dynasty, this whole country... would all be gone."