"Governor, the books have been brought back," the personal guard reported with a nervous expression.

"Oh!" Wang Youhong instantly spirited up. "Bring them here, quickly."

"My Lord, the rebel asked for a very high price this time," the guard said.

"How much?" Wang Youhong didn't care much about that.

"He wants one thousand taels..." the guard muttered the result timidly.

Wang Youhong frowned. One thousand taels was not a small sum, though not a huge one for him either. What surprised Wang Youhong was where the other side got the nerve to ask for such a price. Were they not afraid he would refuse because the price was too high?

"The rebel said he just came back from training at some Party School. There are too many books, and if he doesn't ask for this price, he'd be letting himself down," the guard answered somewhat indignantly.

"How many are there, exactly?"

"The rebel said it's the old price, two taels per thousand words. Two *wen* per word. The whole batch comes to one thousand taels. My Lord, there were never this many before. I feel that fellow is cheating you."

"How many did you buy?" Wang Youhong didn't care about the money; he just wanted to see how many books were actually bought.

"The rebel said the books in his hand could only be sold for one hundred taels first."

"Bring them in," Wang Youhong urged.

After settling the books, Wang Youhong sat comfortably in his study. Since the start of the Constitutional Assembly, Wang Youhong no longer feared anyone accusing him of harboring rebel books. If one were to speak of rebels, Yuan Shikai was the biggest rebel in the Great Qing. Whether others believed it or not, Wang Youhong was completely certain that Yuan Shikai had reached an agreement with the People's Party. The complete collapse of the Manchu Qing in 1911 was already a certainty. Many gentry had begun to style themselves as "revolutionary party" members; Wang Youhong reading a few "rebel" books counted for nothing.

Stroking the spine of the thick hand-copied volume, Wang Youhong had high expectations for the content within. Years ago, Wang Youhong had started collecting intelligence on the Anhui rebel party to deal with them. Reading *Analysis of the Classes in Chinese Society*, *Labor and Social Development*, *Analysis of Rural Classes*, and *Urban Laborers and the Lumpenproletariat*—intelligence bought at high prices—with a completely critical attitude, what Wang Youhong saw was not revolutionary nonsense, but brilliant expositions that described China's current status with extremely clear regulations.

From that time on, Wang Youhong began to gradually transform from an opponent into a learner. To be an official, one had to understand the world. Wang Youhong came from a military background and his understanding of society was far less profound than those scholars. Moreover, scholars had too many schemes; even though Wang Youhong hired private advisors, the advisors did not always base their actions on Wang Youhong's fundamental interests.

Reading the People's Party's books, Wang Youhong truly recognized his position in this society for the first time. The various fogs of the past were gradually cleared before his eyes. Seeing the fundamental contradictions hidden beneath the surface of various interest entanglements, Wang Youhong understood exactly what to do to guarantee his own maximum benefit.

The only problem with these books was that there was too much revolutionary stuff involved, which greatly affected reading. Wang Youhong modified these articles himself, selecting the parts useful to him. This rewriting process was an arduous process of discrimination and learning. By the time Wang Youhong could sort out his own train of thought, the actions of those around him became clear and transparent to him.

Money was never a problem. Since leaping from a commander to his current position as "Constitutional Pioneer" and "Governor of Jiangsu," the money he had obtained numbered in the tens of thousands. Wang Youhong didn't care about these expenses at all.

Taking a deep breath, Wang Youhong opened the cover with great interest. The first chapter in the table of contents was *Chairman Chen's Speech at the Party School Graduation Meeting*. Wang Youhong's eyes narrowed slightly. The People's Party's party-building work was truly a baffling existence. If Wang Youhong had insight like Chen Ke's, he would absolutely never tell it to others. In this world, everyone prayed for others to be as stupid as possible. Just as it was said in *The Life of Cixi*: "The more blindly loyal the people around them are, the safer those in high positions are. For them, the people can be made to follow, but cannot be made to know. This is the only way for rulers."

Was Chen Ke never afraid that after the people below learned his stuff, they would usurp Chen Ke's position?

Thoughts aside, Wang Youhong would absolutely not go remind Chen Ke of this. He sincerely hoped that before he completely learned the knowledge Chen Ke mastered, Chen Ke would continue to write things like this, narrating the true face of this world in minute detail.

After reading the first few pages, Wang Youhong couldn't help but slap the table in praise. The passage that resonated with Wang Youhong went like this:

" 'Doing something wrong' is a very general term, so we of the People's Party must have a clear distinction. Failure, error, crime. These are judgments targeting different results, and also judgments targeting the touching of different systems. A crime is a violation of the law and must be dealt with according to relevant laws. An error is a problem of the guiding direction of action and requires accountability through organizational systems. And failure is when, in the process of executing an organizational decision, due to the inability to grasp the laws of these specific practices, a certain link cannot be completed, which in turn leads to the original plan not being completed according to the plan itself. This requires re-clarifying the plan and summarizing the laws of the thing itself. It is not appropriate to stop work immediately or to pursue failure excessively."

This art of controlling subordinates was truly brilliant. Wang Youhong praised it greatly in his heart. The Manchu Qing never cared about the process, only pursuing the result. If the matter did not satisfy the one issuing orders, the one issuing orders could punish subordinates at will. The subordinates would then push responsibility onto each other, as long as the final punishment did not fall on their own heads.

The method proposed by Chen Ke—determining the scope and smoothing out the process—was unknown how much more brilliant than the traditional practices of the Manchu Qing. Wang Youhong picked up his brush and began to copy this passage. While writing, he calculated how to use this method to train the people below him. Just as he finished copying, he suddenly heard someone knocking on the door outside. "My Lord, representatives of the Assembly request an audience."

Wang Youhong frowned. He had long ago instructed that, except for a few special matters, no one was allowed to disturb him while he was reading. One of the conditions allowing disturbance was "the Assembly indeed has extremely important major problems that cannot be solved."

Subordinates had once not fully grasped this rule and had disturbed Wang Youhong for some not-so-big matters because they accepted money. Afterwards, they were beaten half to death by Wang Youhong using family law. Now that they dared to do this, it should not be a small matter. putting the books away carefully, Wang Youhong walked out of the study. "What exactly is happening?" he asked plainly.

The personal guard shrank his neck slightly and said, "My Lord, the assembly representatives say that this year's silk cannot be sold no matter what, and it has caused a huge issue. They have been crying and shouting at the gate, kneeling for nearly an hour. This lowly one saw they were really unwilling to leave, so I had to come disturb My Lord."

Wang Youhong waved his hand. "Lead the way."

The personal guard was Wang Youhong's confidant. Seeing Wang Youhong not angry, a look of relief immediately appeared on his face. However, he hurriedly lowered his head and trotted all the way to lead the front.

There were three assemblymen in the living room. The tear stains on their faces were not yet dry, their hair was messy, and the lapels of their silk robes were wrinkled. It looked like they had been crying and kneeling for a long time. The guard dared to disturb Wang Youhong; it seemed this really wasn't a joke. Seeing Wang Youhong come out, the few of them hurriedly wiped their faces randomly. Because they hadn't paid attention, their hands had picked up dust, and their faces, already not looking very clean due to tear stains, immediately became dirty. But the assemblymen couldn't care about this at the moment. After coming up to bow, before Wang Youhong could sit down, the leading short assemblyman, Zhang Yutong, shouted with a red face and thick neck, "Governor Wang, the raw silk for export to the United States this year cannot be sold no matter what. In the past, the spring cocoons would have been sold out long ago regardless of the price. Now it is already July, the summer cocoons have been down for a long time, but the foreign devil shops won't buy them no matter what. My Lord, you must make a decision for us."

Wang Youhong had heard something about this, but the government couldn't interfere in business matters. Wang Youhong really couldn't figure out why the assemblymen would come to his door.

While asking the assemblymen to sit, Wang Youhong asked, "Assemblyman Zhang, why won't the foreign firms buy our cocoons?"

Zhang Yutong's bottom hadn't even sat steady. Upon hearing Wang Youhong ask this, he bounced up like a spring. "My Lord, we asked the people from the foreign firms. They said they have already reached some agreement with the Anhui rebel party. Except for top-quality silk, they won't buy our cocoons this year. My Lord, we originally didn't dare to disturb you either. But if this goes on, how many people in our Jiangsu will lose their family fortunes this year? My Lord, you must save us."

Daring to beg at Wang Youhong's door, Zhang Yutong and the other few assemblymen had also made a huge resolve. Thinking of the glistening white cocoons, many of which had already started to mold and deteriorate, fearing they could no longer be sold, and even if sold, they absolutely wouldn't fetch a price. Thinking that they would lose money this year no matter what, Zhang Yutong began to cry again.

Wang Youhong didn't sort out the logic for a moment. The People's Party discussed an agreement with the United States; what did this have to do with Jiangsu's cocoon trade? And begging at his door for this kind of thing seemed useless too. Could Wang Youhong force the American foreign firms to forcibly purchase Jiangsu's cocoons?

However, selling cocoons was a major income pillar for Jiangsu. Zhang Yutong and the other two assemblymen's families were all specifically in the cocoon and raw silk business. If they were anxious to this extent, he feared the days of other silkworm-raising commoners were even harder. Since he wanted to gain control of Jiangsu in the coming year or so, he had to solve this matter no matter what. Thinking of this, Wang Youhong asked as pleasantly as possible, "Assemblyman Wang, speak slowly. Explain the ins and outs clearly to me. I haven't done sericulture, so I really am not clear about the matters inside."

Although Zhang Yutong wanted to speak, under his agitation, he choked up even more severely. The other two assemblymen were also burning with anxiety. When Zhang Yutong cried, they also cried along. Seeing the three of them like this, Wang Youhong turned his head and said to the guard, "Bring a basin of water and let these gentlemen wash their faces."

Wang Youhong was so magnanimous; not only did he not fuss about the assemblymen's breach of etiquette, but he even comforted them like this. Zhang Yutong and the other two felt they had come to the right place. Even though they knew that showing such weakness at this time would probably result in Wang Youhong grabbing a handle on them and blackmailing them fiercely, in their emotional agitation, they flopped down on their knees and cried even harder instead.

After much difficulty, the three were calmed down and had their faces washed. Only then did the three begin to speak. Originally, the cocoon trade in Nanjing was very good. Foreigners, especially the American foreign firms, purchased cocoons in large quantities, and families who planted mulberry trees all had considerable earnings. But starting from last year, the cocoon trade began to be not so easy to do. They had managed to sell the cocoons at a low price with great difficulty. This year in the spring, the United States only bought raw silk. After April, aside from top-quality long silk, they unexpectedly wouldn't even take ordinary raw silk.

These people went to great lengths to inquire before they found out that the United States had reached an agreement with the Anhui People's Party and purchased a lot of raw silk from Anhui, Hubei, and other places. They had also seen Anhui's raw silk; the quality was truly good. And the price was unexpectedly at least twenty-five percent cheaper than Jiangsu's.

Some big sericulture families in Jiangsu didn't know what it meant for Anhui to sell raw silk at such a low price. They sent people to Anhui to look, and the situation they saw truly made these people dumbfounded. The land in various parts of Anhui had turned into continuous large blocks of leveled land. And in all places unsuitable for farming but capable of growing mulberry trees, mulberry forests stretched unbroken, patch after patch.

Unlike Jiangsu, the Anhui rebels set up silkworm rearing houses right next to the mulberry forests. According to the people inquiring for news, those rearing houses were so large in scale they were almost like villages. From mulberry trees to raising silkworms, all had special people looking after them. The people picking mulberry leaves were hired laborers. But they simply didn't need to transport and sell mulberry leaves back and forth. They only needed to pick the mulberry leaves, send them to the washing place to clean and dry, and then send them into the rearing houses.

After the silkworms spun cocoons, they were immediately sent to the filatures built by the rebel party at transportation hubs. It was said that machines were used there, and there were electric lights or something. Reeling silk non-stop, twenty-four hours a day. The raw silk produced was gathered and transported directly by water to Anqing and Wuhu.

This was already appalling enough. The People's Party actually also produced mulberry wine and silkworm excrement in large quantities, and even the silkworm pupae were deep-fried and turned into local food.

Wang Youhong listened quietly. This was indeed the People's Party's style. Jiangsu had heard of the brutality of the People's Party's land reform. The *Weizi* landlords once controlled large amounts of guns and military force, acting lawlessly in the localities. Within a radius of several dozen *li*, whoever had a good-looking new wife had to let the *Weizi* landlord sleep with her first before it was the turn of the groom to take her home to live. The People's Party made the Anhui *Weizi* landlords history. Now the grass on the graves of these local tyrants had grown tall.

After studying quite a few People's Party documents, Wang Youhong knew the People's Party's new planning for land. Suiting measures to local conditions; good land that could grow crops was distributed to the masses to grow crops. The People's Party organized the masses to engage in water conservancy on a large scale, and grain output also became higher and higher. Land for planting mulberry trees was really too easy to find. But in Jiangsu, people could die over the ownership rights of a single mulberry tree. Often in the end, the mulberry tree was chopped down rather than letting someone else get it cheap.

Wang Youhong remembered the People's Party had a survey report on the sericulture industry. He had only browsed it casually at the time and hadn't paid attention again. Thinking of this, Wang Youhong asked these few people to wait first. He returned to the study and rummaged for a good while, but unexpectedly couldn't find it.

Could someone have come to steal his things? Wang Youhong, irritated by the search work, suddenly thought of this possibility. But thinking that his family and guards wouldn't dare to do this, he suppressed his irritation and rummaged carefully again, finally finding that document. Flipping it open to read for a moment, Wang Youhong's eyes lit up. He nodded frequently; so this was how the sericulture industry worked.

When he came out again, Wang Youhong was glowing with health and vigor, while the moods of the three assemblymen outside had undergone great ups and downs and they sat there already listless.

"Three Assemblymen, what exactly do you want me to do by coming to find me?" Wang Youhong asked.

"My Lord, we want you to come forward and discuss with our Nanjing filature owners. As long as they are willing to buy our silk, we'll do it even if it's cheaper," Zhang Yutong said with tears in his eyes.

"Why won't the Nanjing filatures buy everyone's cocoons?" Wang Youhong asked curiously.

"At the beginning of the year, filatures in Nanjing, Zhenjiang, Suzhou, and other places offered very low prices, and we weren't willing to sell. Now the cocoons they bought at low prices can't even be used up. They are no longer willing to buy our cocoons." Zhang Yutong felt heartache whenever he mentioned this.

"I can go talk about this. But let me say this upfront, I can't guarantee if it can be done," Wang Youhong laughed.

"My Lord, as long as you are willing to help, we will be grateful. It's not just our few families suffering disaster; the whole of Jiangsu can't go on. Not to mention Jiangsu, we contacted Shanghai, and things are also very difficult over there." When Zhang Yutong spoke to here, tears began to roll out again.

"Assemblyman Zhang, I want to ask, does your family raise them yourselves, or sell mulberry leaves?" Wang Youhong asked.

"My family raises silkworms and also sells mulberry leaves." Zhang Yutong hadn't expected Wang Youhong's words to be quite knowledgeable.

"Oh..." Wang Youhong asked the other few families again. Sure enough, they all grew mulberry leaves themselves to sell.

"Have you opened filatures?" Wang Youhong continued to ask.

"We did open one, but there are so many cocoons, we simply can't reel them in time," Zhang Yutong answered.

Wang Youhong nodded slowly. The People's Party's sericulture survey report wrote clearly that China's sericulture industry was divided into two types. One was where small owner-peasants handled the entire process alone. From planting mulberries, picking mulberries to raising silkworms, and then to reeling silk. This was something only big clans could do. Because the production capacity of each link was very unbalanced, the situation every year was different. Either there were many mulberry leaves, or few mulberry leaves, or the silkworm babies got sick in large batches and simply didn't spin silk to make cocoons. Anyway, if any link had a problem, it would lead to a year's effort turning into bubbles.

So there was another situation, which was selling mulberry leaves and silkworm eggs, and then selling cocoons. Other farmers willing to raise silkworms would first borrow money to do it, and repay after the cocoons were sold. This sum of money was not low; if it failed, the debt could make a farmer unable to pay it off for half a year or a year. It could even lead to bankruptcy.

These three assemblymen were representative figures of selling for profit. They were unwilling to bear the risk themselves, so they transferred the risk to the farmers. But the current situation was that the People's Party affected sales in one stroke. Jiangsu's sericulture industry was mainly for export. Foreigners didn't buy cocoons and raw silk, and Nanjing's silk reeling capacity was also very limited. No wonder these assemblymen were so anxious.

"Assemblyman Zhang, can't your own workshops use this many cocoons?" Wang Youhong continued his investigation.

"Hiring people is too expensive now. The filatures have black hearts; taking advantage of the sharp drop in cocoon prices, they suppressed the price extremely low. We reel silk ourselves, but we can't sell it at all at the original price. Life can't go on. My Lord, we came to beg you today just to want you to save us." Zhang Yutong knelt to Wang Youhong again as he spoke. The other two assemblymen also followed and knelt down.

Wang Youhong felt great in his heart. On normal days, the assemblymen were high and mighty in the assembly, but now they finally knelt at his feet. But feeling great was one thing; Wang Youhong also understood that if the situation continued like this, something would happen in Jiangsu.

After settling the assemblymen, Wang Youhong sent people to invite the owners of the Nanjing filatures. The several factory owners didn't know what the Governor wanted with them, and were trembling with fear one by one. But when Wang Youhong asked gently about purchasing cocoons, the factory owners immediately became agitated. They all knelt to Wang Youhong.

"Governor, it's not that we aren't willing to purchase. It's really that their asking price is too high. Our steam engines need to burn coal. Northern Jiangsu has been occupied by the People's Party, and the price of coal is somersaulting upwards. And various foreign chemicals used for reeling silk are not cheap either. This price is already the highest. If it's any higher, we will lose money reeling silk ourselves. My Lord, you cannot force us to purchase just because you listened to these people's words. Moreover, quite a few of the current cocoons have some mildew. If you don't believe it, let them transport the cocoons here, and we will inspect them personally for you to see, My Lord. They are here to cheat you, My Lord. You absolutely must not trust these people." As the factory owners spoke, they were already streaming with tears and mucus. They looked even more pitiful than those mulberry-planting and silkworm-raising assemblymen.

Wang Youhong had originally thought that as long as he could mediate slightly, perhaps he could make both sides reach an agreement. He hadn't expected the matter to seem very difficult to handle. The timing now was very special. If Wang Youhong wanted to completely control Jiangsu, he couldn't offend either side for the time being. Now there was simply no way to get appropriations from the Imperial Court. All income relied on tax revenue. Supporting an army of over forty thousand people was already stretching his means. But if he didn't support this army, what would Wang Youhong rely on to be the master?

Thinking of this, the eyebrows of Jiangsu Governor Wang Youhong already furrowed.