Chapter 144 Jia Rong: Master, please get me a few boats.

……

“Okay! Then I’ll explain it more clearly!”

“The superiors want to cause chaos in Lianghuai!”

“So, I’m sorry, you have to die too.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the head of the Wu family felt a chill on his back. When he lowered his head, he saw that the tip of the knife had already protruded from his chest.

“you……”

Before he could finish his words, he was already dead.

The head of the Qian family was shocked.

What adult wants to cause chaos in Lianghuai?
He has no idea at all!

“Good good!”

“You, carrying us on your back…”

Without much nonsense, the three of them took out their crossbows.

“Swish swish.”

The head of the Qian family was shot into a hedgehog at that time.

His eyes were wide open with anger, and he would not close his eyes until death.

Bai Lang put away his small crossbow and said calmly, “Are you all ready?”

Patriarch Liu chuckled and said, “Don’t worry, Brother Bai. We had prepared everything in the two days since Prime Minister Ye sent us the letter. We were just waiting for this opportunity.”

“it is good!”

Bai Lang nodded: “Let’s go out to sea first to avoid the limelight and wait for news from Ye Xiang.”

Patriarch Sun asked, “Will you take all the gold with you?”

Bai Lang shook his head slowly: “The Sea King may not be reliable. It’s enough to have enough gold. If you bring too much, people will be tempted by the money. It’s better to hide it in the secret vault.”

“After all, we have to come back and make a comeback. There are only barbarians overseas, and being an emperor is not that interesting.”

“Brother Bai is right.”

Then they looked at the three people lying on the ground and sighed: “We have been friends for decades, and now we have no choice.”

“When we brothers make a comeback in the future, we will definitely set up memorial tablets for Brother Qian, Brother Wu, and Brother Zhou.”

“…”

Soon, a huge fire broke out on the pleasure boat.

Rumor has it that a pleasure boat caught fire and the owners of the six major salt merchants were all burned to death.

Two days later, the price of salt in Lianghuai suddenly soared by two times. Seeing the profitability, the salt merchants of all sizes who held salt permits began to stockpile goods at high prices. The price of salt continued to rise under the instigation of some people with ulterior motives.

As the New Year approaches, people are all in a state of panic.

……

Zhao family.

Although it is not a top-notch merchant family, it is well-known in the Suzhou area.

On this day, a special guest came to the Zhao family.

“Brother Zhao, you are still as charming as ever after all these years.”

“Haha, Brother Xue is even better than before.”

The two of them exchanged a few polite words, then entered the main hall and sat down.

The servant brought tea.

Zhao Wende smiled slightly: “Brother Xue is a rare visitor. We haven’t seen each other for four or five years, right? How come you have time to come to Suzhou today?”

Xue Li took a sip of tea and smiled, “I traveled all over the country in the past few years and got sick. I stayed at home for a few years and am now feeling better. But the higher-ups put pressure on me again and I have to come out and fight for my life again.”

As a veteran in the business world, Zhao Wende naturally heard the key words.

Above.

The one that Xue Li calls the above…

Zhao Wende’s expression changed slightly, and then he asked with a nonchalant smile: “I wonder what made Brother Xue risk his life so much? Perhaps I can help a little.”

Xue Li did not keep the secret and said with a smile: “Brother Zhao, have you heard about the recent events of the six major salt merchants?”

“Of course I heard about it.” Zhao Wende said with lingering fear: “It’s terrible, the six major salt merchants disappeared just like that.”

Xue Li sighed, “Most likely he committed suicide out of fear of punishment.”

Zhao Wende asked hurriedly: “What do you mean?”

Xue Li said: “The six major salt merchants colluded with the former salt inspector Wen, and the emperor was furious. He has ordered the imperial envoy to go to Jiangnan to investigate the case!”

“The report from the court will be coming in a couple of days. The reason I knew a little bit about it in advance was because… ahem, I found out by chance.”

Zhao Wende wiped the sweat off his forehead and said awkwardly, “I understand. I wonder which imperial envoy is going south?”

Xue Li smiled and said, “I’m not too sure, it seems to be the current Lord Jia and Lord Lin, the Imperial Censor of Salt Inspection.”

As he spoke, he sighed, “If the Imperial Envoy comes to Jiangnan and sees that the salt administration in Lianghuai is unstable and salt merchants are hoarding salt at a high price, there is no guarantee that he will not execute a few salt merchants on the spot to appease the public anger. What do you think, Brother Zhao?”

Zhao Wende: “…”

After leaving Zhao’s house, Xue Li did not stop and visited several old friends in succession. Without exception, all of them had salt permits in their hands.

The effect is remarkable.

The rising trend of salt prices suddenly slowed down and then gradually fell back.

But Xue Li was not reassured.

He was well aware that such a small decline was only temporary.

Businessmen make huge profits.

It can also be said that they are only interested in profit. What is even more frightening is that there are people inside who are fanning the flames.

When they find that even the imperial envoy cannot do anything to them, the rebound in salt prices will be fatal.

……

“Salt prices have fallen…”

“The Xue family…”

Prime Minister Ye’s residence, study.

Looking at the carrier pigeon letter in his hand, Ye Xiang frowned slightly, then relaxed.

The general trend is irresistible, and the Xue family alone cannot influence the overall situation.

But we can’t let them have it easy.

“Somebody come!”

“master.”

The butler immediately stepped forward and stood with his hands hanging down.

“Let Shuntian Prefecture find some excuses to close down all the Xue family’s shops in Beijing!”

“Yes.”

The butler took the order and left.

Prime Minister Ye took a sip of tea, secretly calculated for a while, called his personal guards, and instructed: “Send a letter to Lianghuai immediately by carrier pigeon, ordering them to continue to encourage the price of salt to rise.”

“Tell them that the imperial envoy is nothing to worry about. The law does not punish everyone. If Jia Jing dares to act recklessly, I will support them.”

“Here!”

The personal guards also took the order and left.

Ye Xiang sat on the chair and smiled slightly.

You can’t get any money.

It also led to chaos in Lianghuai.

If there is chaos in Lianghuai, the country will be unstable.

Don’t you want me to come out of retirement for this?
Prime Minister Ye seemed to have seen the retired emperor humbly inviting him to enter the court.

At that time, he only needs to move out the remaining three major salt merchants to completely stabilize the situation in Lianghuai, and by the way, support a few more confidants.

The world seems to be under control.

……

Let’s talk about the Jia family.

The crowd waited for three days and prepared to set off.

Jia Jing, Lin Ruhai was helpless.

The emperor wanted his subjects to do things, but was afraid that his subjects would have too much power, so he sent a eunuch to grab the credit. Although he was dissatisfied, he couldn’t say much.

Not only could they not say much, they had to go to the palace to express their gratitude and thank the emperor for his understanding of their subjects. The emperor took the opportunity to encourage the two ministers for their hard work and for working hard for the country during the New Year holidays. They were truly role models for subjects. Jia Jinglin Ruhai even said that this was the duty of a subject…

After some courtesy between the emperor and his subjects, they left the palace near noon.

In order to buy time for his men to search the house, Dai Quan forced the two men to have lunch in Beijing.

sunset.

Finally, we boarded the ship and set off.

Taking into account that several major salt merchants had tens of millions of silver taels that needed to be escorted back to Beijing, the Beijing camp guards accompanying this trip numbered three thousand people. Ten large ships were carrying soldiers, and there were even two light warships for escort. The bows of the ships were equipped with a variety of firearms such as thousand-jin cannons and bowl-mouth guns. They were currently the most advanced warships in Daxia.

If there were hundreds of such warships, we could dominate the world, but we could easily invade the East China Sea and the South China Sea.

Will there still be a shortage of money by then?

Jia Rong looked at the cannon and began to daydream.

Finally, when it was night, Jia Rong found Jia Jing and asked with a smile, “Grandpa, I see those two warships outside look very powerful. I wonder how many we have now in Daxia?”

Jia Jing thought for a moment and said with a smile, “I remember that the Ministry of War had about a hundred ships in its account. In fact, these are nothing. You haven’t seen those large Fuzhou ships. Each ship has three sizes of these. The bow and stern are full of red cannons, thousand-jin francs, and rockets.”

“It’s a pity that due to the ban on sea transportation in recent years, the Fuzhou ships are no longer in use. The maintenance costs are too high and the court cannot afford them. They are probably in a state of disrepair now.”

Jia Rong: “…”

“Grandpa, where are all those boats?”

“In the Lianghuai coastal defense…why are you asking this?” Jia Jing asked puzzledly.

Jia Rong smiled and said, “For disaster relief in Shandong, the Xue family brought in a batch of grain from South Vietnam. Master, do you know about this?”

Jia Jing nodded.

Of course he acquiesced to this.

Jia Rong continued, “Master, do you know that many wealthy merchants in Jiangnan secretly go overseas to trade? If a batch of silk is sold to Southeast Asia, the profit will be ten times… Xue Ke said so.”

Jia Jing waved his hands and said disdainfully: “What’s so good about money? It’s worthless in front of power. The salt merchants in Jiangnan are an example. What’s the use of being worth tens of millions? It’s just making wedding clothes for others.”

“You just need to study hard, and you will pass the imperial examination and become an official in the future, and you will naturally enjoy endless wealth and glory.”

Jia Rong nodded.

“I know.”

“I’ll let Xue Ke do it.”

“Grandpa, please get me a few.”

Jia Jing: “…”

……

(End of this chapter)