The huge profits from the soap business can increase treasury revenue and ease financial pressure.

Another factor is politics.

There was nothing wrong with his previous policy of winning over and suppressing local gentry, but it was only theoretically sound.

Through the feedback from the Jinyiwei, he realized that his theory was too idealistic and there were many difficulties in its actual implementation.

Chongzhen's idea was to let the local gentry fight among themselves and transfer the contradiction between the court and the local gentry to among the gentry themselves.

but...

Local officials do not think so, and local gentry will not do so.

In the eyes of local officials, stability is the top priority!

Any behavior that makes the place messy will be prohibited!

The impact of infighting among the gentry is no less than that of civil unrest. Unless a gentry has done something extremely heinous and there is solid evidence, local officials will not use the big stick in their hands to kill him.

Because the gentry are well-known in the surrounding area, the people will spontaneously believe in and support them.

If we act without solid evidence, it will only provoke a civil uprising among the people!

and.

The gentry are all connected to each other, and they will resolve conflicts in their own way instead of letting the government intervene.

Because many officials will eat both sides when dealing with problems, first eating the plaintiff and then the defendant.

In the end, the interests of the plaintiff and the defendant were harmed, and the only ones who benefited were the local officials!

After reading the secret letters sent by Li Ruolian from the south, Chongzhen knew that he could not move against the gentry class in a short period of time.

But he didn't give up.

Since this approach doesn't work, let's change our thinking and start with the merchants.

The distributor system was designed to win over big merchants from the provinces. Once the soap business became stable, the merchants would realize that part of their profits came from the emperor.

In order to protect their own interests, they will subconsciously protect the emperor!

With the support of these big businessmen, Chongzhen's subsequent currency reform would be much easier.