A new City Lord had arrived in Xiangyang City, and the wealthy merchants there understood the situation as clearly as if they were looking into a polished mirror.
They were all watching, waiting to see how this new City Lord would deal with the mess Xiangyang City had become.
Quite a few of them knew full well that the previous City Lord had gutted the City Lord's Mansion. All that remained now was a half-empty shell.
A million taels might sound like a lot, but when it actually came time to spend it, that would barely cover repairs around the city walls.
Yet instead of seeing the new City Lord fly into a towering rage, they heard a rumor: he had begun visiting the residences of the city's wealthy households.
It was truly surprising. This seemingly amiable new City Lord behaved in ways so strange that no one could fathom him.
Whenever he visited a residence, if its owner refused to show him due respect, every business belonging to that household would be charged twenty percent more in taxes than those belonging to other households.
That extra twenty percent was not to be underestimated. The wealthy merchants who could settle and establish themselves in Xiangyang City were no ordinary rich men. They often owned hundreds, even thousands, of shops.
Even if each shop paid only a hundred or so additional taels in taxes, the total across all those shops would still be enormous.
If they refused to pay, that was fine too. When the time came, the roads in front of everyone else's shops would be repaired, while those outside the shops that had not paid would remain a shambles.
For these wealthy merchants, such an outcome would mean misery beyond words.
But when Yang Qing visited their residences, he