Dashun's sea trade was very well developed.
So much so that the Dashun Emperor was very fond of paying salaries with spices.
Before taking office, being without imperial provisions didn't feel like much, but now Liang Qu found this practice truly lacking in moral principle.
It was as if you were working, and suddenly your boss told you that starting today there would be no more wages, you should just take some stock from the warehouse home.
The person doing this was none other than the Emperor, and you had to agree even if you didn't want to, a classic case of coercion.
For example, pepper may be valued at one hundred catties for twenty silver taels; if your monthly salary was twenty taels, you got ten silver taels plus fifty catties of pepper.
If it ended there, it would be fine, at most it was a bit more work to exchange it for money.
