Chapter 988 - 827: Countermeasures

The government office hall was quiet, with only the rustling sound of silk as the Eight Great Merchants shifted their positions. They bowed their heads in silent contemplation, occasionally glancing at one another, trying to gauge each other’s thoughts.

A grating sound echoed as the Qian Family Store Manager scraped the rim of his cup with the lid, making a slurping noise that stood out sharply in the hall.

Wang Dequan frowned: "Is this how your Landlord taught you manners? Don’t gloat here; Zheng Jiye from the Anti-Japanese Army, a household leader, has already been transferred to the Central Army Commander’s Mansion. Without a Chief in the Anti-Japanese Army, they won’t be able to stir up much trouble."

The Qian Family Store Manager placed down his teacup, smiling: "The Salt Gang now has over ten thousand members, with countless smuggling techniques. The salt they produce annually might even exceed that of the various salt fields. Even without the name of the Anti-Japanese Army, it’s only a matter of time before they sell private salt throughout the north and south of Yangtze River."

The Gu Family Store Manager suddenly said: "The Salt Gang was originally a hastily assembled group of a hundred Green Forest strongholds, held together by Huang Que. As long as this person is killed, a batch appeased, and a batch killed, the motley crew will naturally disperse."

The Qian Family Store Manager retorted: "You don’t even know where he is; how will you kill him? Haven’t you been searching for him these past few months? Have you found him?"

Each family fell silent.

After a moment, Wang Dequan asserted: "Even if they buy all the salt permits on the market, what of it? We are strictly guarding Hu-Guang, so even if the Salt Gang has salt permits, how much salt can they transport in?"

The Qian Family Store Manager reminded: "Don’t forget, they also have the Cao Guild. If the Cao Guild teams up with them to transport private salt to various docks, will you be able to guard against that?"

Wang Dequan hesitated: "This..."

The Qian Family Store Manager reminded again: "Even if you find Huang Que, do you expect the sluggish Central Army Commander’s Mansion to eliminate him? By the time their troops arrive, he’ll already be gone... The only entity in Southern Zhili suitable to catch Huang Que is the Jiefan Guard."

Wang Dequan was taken aback.

The Qian Family Store Manager chuckled: "Have you suddenly realized that the proudly solid Southern Zhili is already full of holes, and when you count on your fingers, why does the knife handle end up in their hands?"

Wang Dequan’s expression fluctuated, and he turned to Hu Junye: "Mr. Hu, the Zhang Family holds the Salt Gang and is in league with the Cao Guild, wouldn’t it be justified to convict them of treason?"

Hu Junye remained undecided, while the Qian Family Store Manager sneered: "Boss Wang, did you come here drunk? They just handed over sea trade tariffs to Your Majesty, and you’re suggesting they conspire against him? If they were to revolt, who would be the leader? Your Majesty?"

Wang Dequan sat back in his chair, clenched the armrests tightly, and stared at the opposite Qian Family Store Manager with a stern look.

The Qian Family Store Manager remained calm, picking up his teacup to take a sip.

...

...

At this moment, the Ji Family Store Manager stood up and bowed: "Mr. Hu, you need not worry too much, as the salt industry cannot be determined by a few salt permits. He may seem threatening now, but even if he holds more than half of the permits, he cannot dictate Hu-Guang’s salt prices or control the salt merchants... Besides, I have a plan, would you like to hear it?"

Hu Junye remained expressionless: "Speak."

The Ji Family Store Manager calmly said: "There are serial numbers on those salt permits. We can actively sell our permits to the Zhang Family. If he smuggles private salt, he must use the permit to clear customs and sell. By then, if we can find the permits we sold on the smugglers, we can prove the Zhang Family is harboring salt smugglers, which is a grave crime leading to confiscation of property and exile."

Wang Dequan applauded: "That’s right!"

The Qian Family Store Manager nonchalantly asked: "How can you be certain that he collects permits to smuggle private salt?"

Wang Dequan almost cursed: "Isn’t that what you just said?"

The Qian Family Store Manager chuckled: "I was only speculating earlier, but look at the Xu Family, everyone thought the Zhang Family would take the clan leader position through consultation. And what happened? They lost the entire sea trade route! That Anti-Japanese Army Chief is a man of unconventional methods, how can you be sure he’s smuggling private salt and that it’s not another illusion technique?"

The Ji Family Store Manager frowned: "If he’s not using permits to smuggle private salt, what for?"

The Qian Family Store Manager shrugged: "I have no idea; maybe he really is smuggling private salt... But would you all dare to bet?"

The hall fell silent once again, with everyone pondering over what else Zhang could do with the permits, but their minds couldn’t break the puzzle.

Wang Dequan hesitantly said: "Could it be to inflate prices and then sell the high-priced permits back to us?"

At this moment, Hu Junye calmly said: "This to-and-fro will only net a few hundred thousand taels; if it’s business, this move can indeed make a profit, but for competing for Grand Secretary, it’s too little. Besides, this guy isn’t a fool. This trick might work for a few thousand permits but won’t hold up for more."

Gu’s Master sighed: "The priority is to prevent the Zhang Family from taking all the Hu-Guang salt permits. Half of the silver we donate to the court every year comes from this area. If the Zhang Family takes control of the Hu-Guang salt industry, it would be like digging out our lifeline."

Hu Junye casually asked: "How do you plan to do it?"

Gu’s Master thought for a moment: "If they buy permits, then we also buy permits, first driving the price up. Push the permit price to six taels, if that doesn’t work, up to eight, nine, ten taels, so they can’t keep up."

The Qian Family Store Manager laughed: "Can your current silver compete with theirs?"

Wang Dequan sneered: "It is certain that he took away 1.2 million taels of silver from Dinghai Port. I’ve sent people to every temple to inquire, and there won’t be any mistake."

The Store Manager Qian retorted: "What about the Xu Family? How much current silver is on the Xu Family’s public account?"

Wang Dequan squinted slightly; he’s unsure of how much silver is on the Xu Family’s account, but he knows it’s no less than what the Eight Great Merchants have.

Hu Junye said leisurely: "Xu Chongyi mentioned that when they handed over the accounts, the Xu Family’s public account had 1.8 million taels of current silver, while the rest was either lent on usury or pressed on assets. All of you, three million taels of current silver should be achievable, right?"

The Eight Great Merchants exchanged glances, their minds quickly calculating the business.

Hu Junye sneered: "Are you still reluctant to give up silver at this point? Are you thinking of just handing Huguang over to the Zhang Family for now and gradually recover it later? But the Zhang Family doesn’t want silver; they want your lives. If they don’t stain their red robe with your blood, how can they become the Grand Secretary?"

Wang Dequan pondered for a moment and said: "Mr. Hu, actually, there’s no need to put up so much. If we really put up three million taels, and they put up three million taels, wouldn’t the price for one salt token be raised to twenty taels? It’s not worth it."

Gu’s Master also spoke: "That’s right. Isn’t the Zhang Family currently checking their accounts? We should let Xu Chongyi lead the elders of the Jinling Xu Family to cause some trouble, make the Zhang Family check their accounts more slowly. If the accounts are not finished in a day, then the current silver cannot be moved that day."

Wang Dequan’s eyes lit up: "That’s a good move!"

Hu Junye remained silent for a while, then waved to Hu Family’s servants: "Go find Xu Chongyi, let him lead people to oversee the Xu Family’s accounts; not one tael of silver can leave the Xu Family Mansion."

Wang Dequan exhaled a long breath: "If they only have 1.2 million taels in hand, it becomes easier to handle."

Qian’s Family said sarcastically: "The Qing Family also has a lot of silver; at least put up 2 million taels."

Wang Dequan glared at him: "You just keep sipping your tea. Do you really think our seven families together can’t put up 2 million taels of silver?"

The Store Manager Qian was about to retort, but Hu Junye interrupted: "Alright, talking over each other won’t bring us to a result. In worldly affairs, planning is collective, but decisions are individual. Let me make this decision."

All Eight Great Merchants turned to Hu Junye, waiting for him to issue orders.

Hu Junye pondered for a while: "The Zhang Family currently holds 180,000 tokens; there are still 250,000 tokens in the market. The urgent task is for each family to retrieve the salt tokens from the market... 20,000 tokens each. Within seven days, I want to see 160,000 tokens displayed in the government office’s main hall."

The Eight Great Merchants were silent for a moment, then collectively acknowledged: "Yes."

Hu Junye said meaningfully: "Moreover, each family should bring their own salt tokens to the government office, lest someone sneaks off to pledge allegiance to the Zhang Family at this critical moment."

...

...

Jianing 33rd Year, April 17.

Suitable for forming alliances, making marriage proposals, and wedding ceremonies.

Avoid fasting rituals and market openings.

In the early morning, before the rooster crowed, Chen Ji got up, dressed, and pushed open the door to leave. He bent down in the side room to pick up the shoulder pole and leisurely went to the East Archway to fetch water.

He had heard people say there are many ways to restart life: cutting hair, moving, New Year’s celebrations, resigning, breaking up, illness, emigrating... Bathing is the simplest method.

After restarting life, many things are turned over, and the mood is entirely different.

However, for him, carrying water seems to be the most suitable method. As long as he picked up the shoulder pole, the restless thoughts slowly calmed down. He could slowly walk to the well, slowly draw water from the well; everything could be slower.

Chen Ji carried the water back and was bending down to put down the shoulder pole, when he saw Yuan Xing and the others stretching lazily as they walked out of the main house: "Godfather, you’ve been disappearing early in the morning and returning at midnight, have you been playing somewhere without us?"

Chen Ji poured the water into the vat by himself: "Would you like me to report my whereabouts to you one by one?"

Yuan Xing shrank his neck: "That’s not necessary... We know you are handling important business and just worried you might be getting tired alone, so we wanted to see if we could help with anything."

Chen Ji glanced at him: "Like jumping into the Qinhuai River?"

Jiang Chai and others laughed: "Last time, it was because we drank too much, we’ll never jump again. If someone jumps, it will be Yuan Xing alone; we won’t jump."

Chen Ji put down the empty wooden buckets: "Alright, tidy up and go out with me; judging by the time, it’s about time to handle the important matters these few days."

Yuan Xing and the others became excited: "Really? Is this time going to be as big as last time when we collected tariffs?"

Chen Ji thought about it: "More or less."