Those who submit will prosper, those who resist shall perish.

Pei Jingzhe listened, his cold sweat instantly soaking through his inner garments. As drops of sweat rolled down his forehead and hit his eyelashes, he didn't even dare to blink.

He finally understood just how massive and ruthless the Emperor's scheme was! This wasn't doing business at all, nor was it competing with the people for profit. This was using the most underhanded methods, cloaked in legal attire, to slaughter the entire old ruling class of the Great Zhou Dynasty without shedding a single drop of blood! He was using the flesh of the noble families to feed the rising industrial machine of Great Zhou, ensuring that the commoners at the bottom could also get a bite to eat!

"But Your Majesty..." Sun Li wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, forcing himself to calm down. "Zhang Wuji and his gang of greedy noble families are easy to deal with, but in the imperial court, there is another group of people."

Sun Li's expression became extremely conflicted. "The officials from humble backgrounds, led by Zhuge Huaijin, are too poor to afford the stocks. Over the past few days, upon seeing carts of silver being transported from outside the city, Lord Zhuge has been cursing the noble officials in private, calling them parasites and traitors to the state. They are currently plotting to impose heavy taxes on the six great royal factories during the grand court assembly the day after tomorrow, making it the first major action since the establishment of the General Administration of Taxation!"

"Especially the Minister of Revenue, Qian Shoucai, and the Minister of War, Tie Zhan." Sun Li carefully observed Wang Hao's expression. "These two lords are the most active. They say the national treasury is currently broke, the military pay for the Nine Frontiers is already millions of taels in arrears, and the floods in Jiangnan require silver for disaster relief... They, they not only have their eyes on the profits of the royal enterprises, but have even started plotting against Your Majesty's inner treasury. They want to force you to transfer the thirty million taels of confiscated silver, obtained from raiding the homes of those twenty-four corrupt officials, entirely into the national treasury!"

"Zhuge Huaijin..."

Wang Hao murmured the name. There was no killing intent in his eyes; instead, a complex flash of admiration and helplessness crossed them.

"Zhuge Huaijin is practical, and Qian Shoucai and Tie Zhan are practical too." Wang Hao clasped his hands behind his back and paced slowly. "I do not blame them. The national treasury is empty, the armies at the Nine Frontiers need to eat, and Jiangnan needs disaster relief. As the Chief Grand Secretary and the ministers of the Six Ministries, if they didn't even have the courage to find silver, then they would truly be useless."

"However," Wang Hao's tone suddenly shifted, becoming incredibly unyielding, "I can give him a portion of those thirty million taels of confiscated silver! But as for wanting to collect commercial taxes from the royal enterprises? We'll have to see if he has the ability to do so!"

"Then the grand court assembly the day after tomorrow..." Sun Li said worriedly.

"You don't need to argue with Zhuge Huaijin." Wang Hao's eyes were full of cunning. "Do you believe that at the morning court the day after tomorrow, if Zhuge Huaijin dares to utter a single sentence about 'taxing the royal factories,' Zhang Wuji and his gang of old foxes, along with the military generals and nobles in the capital camps who bought shares, will pounce on him like mad dogs and tear him to pieces?"

Sun Li froze for a moment, then suddenly realized the truth and drew in a sharp breath of cold air.

That's right! Once the stocks were issued tomorrow, Zhang Wuji and those noble families would definitely buy them. The military nobles who had already taken shares early on would equate the profits of the royal factories with their own! At a time like this, for Zhuge Huaijin to impose heavy taxes would be tantamount to cutting the flesh right off Zhang Wuji and his group!

The Emperor didn't need to step onto the battlefield himself at all. He only needed to sell the stocks to Zhang Wuji, and Zhang Wuji's group of noble civil officials would automatically defend their own interests. This was regardless of political stance; it was pure instinct! Using strongmen to fight strongmen, heroes to fight heroes!

"Your Majesty is wise! Your servant could die ten thousand times and still fall short!" Sun Li, completely convinced, kowtowed heavily on the ground, his voice trembling.

"How goes the matter regarding the silver I entrusted to you?" Wang Hao ignored Sun Li's flattery, changing the subject and cutting straight to the core.

"Replying to Your Majesty, the two hundred and fifty million taels of newly minted royal silver coins have all been secretly stored in the treasury!" Sun Li hurriedly reported. "The head of the Royal Bank reported yesterday that they are preparing to transport the reserved seven million taels of fragmented silver and old silver ingots to the Silver Bureau, ready to melt them down and recast them into the new silver coins..."

Wang Hao frowned and interrupted Sun Li. "Transporting it back and forth not only wastes manpower but also causes unnecessary loss through melting! Don't make it so troublesome in the future. The fragmented silver collected by the Royal Bank should be sent directly to the inner treasury and sealed. The ready-made new silver coins in the inner treasury should be exchanged for an equal amount and transported directly back to the bank! We need to improve the efficiency of circulation. The minting of silver coins in the inner treasury can take its time, but the money in the market must absolutely not stop flowing!"

"I obey the decree!"

"And the most important point." Wang Hao leaned forward, staring dead into Sun Li's eyes, instructing him word by word. "Notify all the chief managers of the Royal Bank to lock the exchange rate down for me! One gold coin exchanges for ten silver coins, or ten thousand copper cash! This rule is ironclad! Whoever dares to privately float the exchange rate on the black market, whether they are royal relatives or prominent noble families, the Brocade Guards will directly execute their entire family without mercy!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

The right to mint coins, the right to set prices. This was a deeper level of rule than stocks. As long as the exchange rate was unified, the flow of all wealth in Great Zhou would be completely reduced to a numbers game on Wang Hao's desk.

The night had reached its absolute deepest point.

Wang Hao slowly turned around and walked toward the sword stand behind the imperial desk, which enshrined the Son of Heaven's Sword.

"Clang—"

A crisp dragon's roar rang out. Wang Hao slowly drew the Son of Heaven's Sword from his waist, a weapon that symbolized the supreme imperial power of Great Zhou. The blade flickered with a chilling, cold light under the faint candlelight, pointing straight at the waning moon in the night sky outside the hall.

The cold, hard metallic luster reflected on Wang Hao's expressionless face, making him look like a sharp blade about to be drawn to cleave the heavens.

"Tomorrow, the stock exchange opens. Stocks will skyrocket. The royal family, your Directorate of Ceremonial, and the military nobles will first put half a tenth of the stocks into the market to recoup some capital." Wang Hao's voice was deep, echoing in layers throughout the empty hall. "And the day after tomorrow is the grand court assembly."

"The day after tomorrow, I want them all to open their eyes wide and see clearly! When military power is completely hijacked by interests, when the economic rules that Great Zhou has operated under for a thousand years are overturned and rewritten! The teachings of Confucius and Mencius they are so proud of, the ancestral laws they cling to—in the face of capital's greed and the steel torrent of industry, how vulnerable they are, how laughable!"

"Pei Jingzhe!"

Wang Hao shouted sternly, his voice like a massive bell.

"Your subject is here!"

Pei Jingzhe, who had been as silent as a shadow, smashed down heavily on one knee, his head buried deep.

"Transmit my secret edict!" Wang Hao gripped the Son of Heaven's Sword with both hands. "All twelve battalions of the Brocade Guards are to have their leave canceled! The four towns of the Imperial Guards, from this moment on, are to be fully armored, their weapons taken out of the armory, and their warhorses fed well with fodder!"

"At midnight tonight, take over the nine gates of the capital!"

Pei Jingzhe's heart pounded wildly; he knew that this was the start of a war without smoke.

"Tomorrow, after the stock trading is done, whoever dares to block my plans and obstruct my path to wealth..." Wang Hao held the Son of Heaven's Sword in a reverse grip, his gaze looking down upon the world. "Without me even needing to lift a finger, that group of military nobles and officials who have bet their entire fortunes and lives on the stocks will tear them apart alive right in the Hall of Supreme Harmony!"

"Those who submit to me will prosper, and those who oppose me will perish!"

Murderous intent permeated the hall, and even the candlelight flickered madly under this crushing pressure, on the verge of going out.

"Of course..." Wang Hao slowly sheathed his sword. His tone suddenly turned playful, as if he were anticipating a truly spectacular play. "When the exchange opens tomorrow, those who bought shares and watched their wealth double in a single day—their greedy expressions will surely be a fascinating sight."

He gazed out into the bottomless darkness of the night beyond the hall, murmuring to himself,

"I truly want to see, in the face of such overwhelming wealth and insatiable desire, just how many people Zhang Wuji, this so-called leader of the civil officials, can still manage to keep in line..."