Hu Xiaotian thought to himself that his father's eagerness to send him to Western Sichuan apparently had not been solely because of the Tang Family. As a third-rank Minister of Revenue, his father would hardly have taken a mere sixth-rank Director of the Imperial Stables seriously. That meant the Old Emperor had already set his sights on the Xu Family of Jinling before disaster struck the Hu Family. It was precisely under this pressure that his father had decided to send him out of the Kang Capital ahead of time, as a precaution against the unexpected. So the Old Emperor had never trusted his father completely either. What genuine affection could there be between sovereign and subject? They merely used each other. Hu Xiaotian asked, "Did the Xu Family agree?"
Hu Buwei sighed. "Do you remember when our family's Iron Deed of Redemption went missing?"
Hu Xiaotian nodded. How could he forget? That incident had been what finally convinced his father to send him out of the Capital City.
Hu Buwei said, "His Majesty approached me about borrowing grain from the Xu Family. But what he wanted to borrow wasn't just grain. It was an Overseas Trade Route-and the Xu Family's entire fortune."
Hu Xiaotian's eyes lit up.
Hu Buwei said, "After the Imperial Court reclaimed the Xu Family's rights to operate the salt trade, your maternal grandmother turned her attention overseas. She expanded her merchant shipping trade into the Southern Ocean Nations. Far from shrinking, her business grew several times over. You could say your maternal grandmother commands the greatest financial resources in all of Great Kang."
Hu Xiaotian clicked his tongue in wonder. He had always known his maternal grandmother was formidable, but had never imagined she was quite so formidable.
Hu Buwei said, "Your maternal grandmother understands