After transmigrating, Jiangzhou's richest merchant, Meng Jiahe, ran the Meng family business into the ground with a failed investment. Later, the Meng family disappeared from Jiangzhou, and the Meng family rose to prominence across the nation.
In a society that valued farming and suppressed commerce:
Meng Jiahe said that it was wrong for laws and morals to constrain only some people. She said she would speak up for merchants and fight for a better environment for commerce to thrive. She also said that you deserve the joy of making money!
[Debate skit]
Meng Jiahe: "General Xu, you are prejudiced against merchants. When we use strategies and schemes in business, you call it devious and deceitful. What about the battlefield? Why are strategies and tactics on the battlefield considered ingenious plans and brilliant calculations? Is the battlefield really so much nobler than the marketplace?"
Xu Che: "War is fought to bring peace to the people and restore order to the land. It is for the people of the world, and it is a last resort."
Meng Jiahe: "Ha, what a fine excuse, claiming it's for the people. Do you know how many farmers in this world are so poor they don't even own a patch of land to stand on? A successful business can help so many poor people with little or no land survive. Were they born to be slaves to people like you? Don't they deserve to live with dignity and enjoy a better life? You say war is fought so the people can live in peace and prosperity. We do business for the same reason."
Xu Che: "In the fifth year of Chengxuan, Zhao Heng, a merchant from Yuzhou, took a military supply contract and passed off reeds as cotton batting. The soldiers in the north froze to death or suffered frostbite before they even reached the battlefield. Our army was defeated in the Battle of Fancheng, and not only did most of our soldiers die, the northern barbarians marched south, burning, killing, and looting. The people suffered terribly. Is that what you call helping the people live in peace and prosperity?"
Meng Jiahe: "Then do you remember the third year of Chengde, when General Cui Bing, afraid to die, fled in the middle of battle and let the enemy massacre an entire city?"
Xu Che: "That's why Cui Bing was executed and his head displayed."
Meng Jiahe: "And wasn't Zhao Heng's entire clan executed?"
Theme: Life has no dead ends. Even after failure, you can begin again.
