Not a Single One Spared

Shen Anxin: [Great, they suspect it too. I don't need to find a way to tip them off after all. But... something still feels strange.

They harmed people over a conflict of interests, but this is going too far. They even hunted them down in the capital.

In Huai City, heaven is high and the emperor is far away, but in the capital... they dared to kill, even with someone as highly placed as a marquis's wife among their targets?

Is papermaking really so profitable that they'd dare cause trouble right under Emperor Hongyao's nose?]

Chacha: [Host, profit isn't the point. The point is that the power blocs behind the three major papermaking workshops want to monopolize as much of Great Qi's reading resources as possible. They won't allow cheap books to appear.]

A glint flashed in Emperor Hongyao's eyes. Just as he'd thought! Improvements to papermaking had never been as simple a matter as the price of paper.

If it were simply about the price of paper, the three major papermaking workshops would still have been competitors. Some of them might have chosen to work with Su Lingyu to make the new paper and claim a share of the new market for profit, rather than stamp out the improved method outright. Merchants always had their own ways of making money.

But the fact that they could join forces proved that what they cared about was the chain of consequences behind cheap paper.

Xiao Yanchen pondered this, his hand resting on the jade pendant at his waist, his mood sour.

If the price of paper came down, books would naturally become cheaper. And if books became cheaper, families in Great Qi that previously couldn't afford an education would be able to study.

People studied to enter officialdom, and there were only so many positions. More people meant more competition.

The great clans, which had once been able to rise easily and cultivate their own people when paper was expensive and education difficult to obtain, would lose their natural advantage in officialdom.

If everyone could study, they would no longer be esteemed.

Because of Emperor Hongyao's iron-fisted rule, and because Great Qi had only recently unified the north, the clans in Great Qi were almost all keeping a low profile and behaving themselves. So all they could do was quietly restrict the common people's paths upward and preserve their own positions.

Who would have thought that, while Great Qi was rebuilding from the ruins and flourishing, some people were already scheming to emulate Southern Xia's powerful aristocratic clans, disregarding the nation's development to protect their own interests?

They wanted to use their united interests to cultivate powerful clans on Great Qi's soil as well, so that those at the bottom could never rise and would support them forever.

Selfish and self-serving-they truly were courting death!

The civil and military officials at court had also worked this out, and their expressions darkened. After all, if they continued to grow over the long term, they too would become powerful clans. But now they had to firmly warn themselves and their descendants: they could protect their own families' interests, but they must never harm Great Qi's interests!!!!

They didn't want to become sinners condemned for all eternity!

Who knew exactly who was behind the papermaking workshops? They truly had some nerve.

As it happened, Shen Anxin asked the same question. [So the ones who really killed Su Lingyu and her husband were the power blocs behind the papermaking workshops? Who are they?]

Chacha: [The Pei Clan, the Xiang Clan...]

The onlookers: Mm, old-established clans... Huh?

They suddenly remembered that some of the young officials Emperor Hongyao had dismissed a while ago for being unable to hear Shen Anxin's thoughts had belonged to the Pei and Xiang Clans.

Emperor Hongyao thought of this as well.

Chacha: [They're branches of great clans from the old Great Xia. They believe in their bones that clan interests come before national interests.]

Shen Anxin: [Wait, branches? Could their main families be over in Southern Xia? Could they be disloyal to Great Qi? Maybe they're spies lying in wait?]

No one had expected Shen Anxin to make that connection.

But she was most likely wrong. Though they came from the same family line, Great Qi and Southern Xia had the same origins to begin with, so such connections were normal.

A hundred years had passed. Who still acknowledged whom?

So they wouldn't use that as grounds to suspect other families' loyalty.

It was believable enough to say that the two clans had used underhanded means to harm others for their own interests, but it was unlikely that they were serving as Southern Xia's spies in Great Qi. After all, Great Qi was stronger now.

Chacha: [Host, you're a genius! How perceptive! You even guessed that!]

Everyone: ...Huh?!!!

Shen Anxin hadn't expected it either. [Really?]

Chacha: [They've never considered themselves part of Great Qi. They're only doing business in Great Qi, using up raw materials within its borders and secretly smuggling half the paper they produce to their main families in Southern Xia, making paper in Great Qi even more expensive than it already was.

Also, by controlling paper prices, they've restricted the development of Great Qi's literary traditions. Simply put, they're holding Great Qi back, keeping it from developing too quickly and refusing to let it pull ahead of Southern Xia.]

The civil and military officials clenched their fists. Great Qi had only just been unified, and already someone couldn't wait to undermine its foundations!

Shen Anxin: [Seriously, are they sick? Is Southern Xia really that good?]

Chacha: [For powerful clans seeking to grow stronger, a just and fair nation isn't what they need. Only a country like Southern Xia, where the barriers between social ranks are difficult to cross, provides fertile soil for them.]

The civil and military officials: They really do intend to slowly corrode Great Qi and turn it into a second Southern Xia!!!

Shen Anxin: [All right, the Pei Clan and the Xiang Clan. I imagine the Court of Judicial Review should be able to uncover the powers behind the papermaking workshops when it investigates. If it can't, I'll find a way to tip them off.

As for whether those powers confess everything, that doesn't matter anymore. Judging by how Emperor Hongyao usually handles things, I'm afraid those two clans are finished this time. That counts as cutting out a cancer early.]

Emperor Hongyao: Finished? No! They'll vanish from the map of Great Qi entirely.

Shen Anxin: [Chacha, aren't we missing one? There are three major papermaking workshops, so there should be three powers behind them.]

Everyone immediately pricked up their ears, eager to see who else would be unlucky enough to run onto Emperor Hongyao's blade.

Chacha: [The third is a member of Great Qi's imperial clan.]

The civil and military officials: ...We didn't hear a thing!!!

Xiao Yanchen frowned slightly and turned to look up at Emperor Hongyao.

Emperor Hongyao's face was dark with the promise of a coming storm. Outsiders wouldn't have made him this angry, but if someone in the imperial clan had known and failed to report it, even aiding a tyrant in his evil deeds and showing no regard for the ancestral realm, then they truly deserved to be cut into a thousand pieces!

Shen Anxin: [An imperial relative?]

Chacha: [Emperor Hongyao's sixth younger brother, Prince Huai.]

At those words, silence fell over the hall. Even Yan Xuetong, who was bent on investigating the cause of her parents' deaths, couldn't help feeling disheartened.

If it had been a distant member of the imperial clan, there might still have been a chance for revenge. But the emperor's own brother...

By now, Emperor Hongyao's expression was already terrifying.

Shen Anxin: [His own brother? Shouldn't he be thinking of Great Qi's interests?]

Chacha: [Host, not everyone has a sense of responsibility. He isn't the emperor of Great Qi, but the money he makes goes into his own pocket.

He's very greedy. When the three major papermaking workshops first caught wind of the improved method, he secretly sent someone to contact Su Lingyu, hoping to buy it.

He wanted to keep the price of paper unchanged, which would increase his profits dozens of times over, but she refused.

Prince Huai was furious. Later, when the other two clans discussed eliminating Su Lingyu's family and destroying the improved method, he supported them.

That's why the future assassination in the capital went smoothly and failed to draw the court's attention: he was there to cover for them.]

Shen Anxin clicked her tongue twice. [You can guard against thieves day and night, but a thief in your own home is the hardest to guard against! Still, he should be found out too, right? I believe in Emperor Hongyao. He definitely won't spare anyone who harms Great Qi.]

Emperor Hongyao's lips curved coldly. His little lucky star understood him after all.

Some of the ministers below actually doubted him.

"Convey my decree! The Brocade Guard will lead the operation, carrying the golden token of authority, as if I were there in person! They are to give the Court of Judicial Review their full cooperation in investigating the three major papermaking workshops! No matter who is behind them, what connections they have, or what their status is, arrest every last one and bring them to justice! Escort them back to the capital—not a single one is to be spared!"