Chapter 428 Touching the Soul
Xiao Xia nodded and asked, “I remember that when the late emperor visited Jiangdu, the Guanlong nobles intervened in Jiangdu and marched into Jiangnan. But you also said that the Guanlong nobles had already controlled salt. Isn’t this a bit contradictory?”

“Not contradictory at all!”

Xiao Gui shook his head and said, “In the past, the Guanlong nobles controlled from behind. After the late emperor visited Jiangdu, they moved to the open. The Guanlong nobles not only want to be big salt merchants, but also want to compete with second-tier salt merchants. Not only do they do salt business, they also want to do rice business, cloth business, silk business, and oil business.

In the five years since His Highness left, Jiangdu and Jiangnan have changed a lot. Jiangdu is no longer the world of the Xiao, Liu, and Chen families. The Xiao and Liu families have docks and can also do freight dock business, while the Chen family has completely declined and the warriors have disbanded. “

“Who is the big businessman in Jiangdu now?”

“The Wan family is backed by the Dugu family, the Cao family is backed by the Yuan family, and the Yu family is backed by the Houmochen family. These three families are also big salt merchants, as well as rice merchants, big cloth merchants, and big silk merchants. They are not only first-tier merchants, but also stealing the business of second-tier merchants. There used to be more than a hundred second-tier small and medium-sized salt merchants, but now there are only about thirty left. They either changed their business or went bankrupt. In any case, it’s very miserable.”

Speaking of this, Xiao Gui sighed deeply, feeling quite bitter in his heart. The Xiao family had produced two prime ministers, but they were still no match for the Guanlong nobles.

After seeing Xiao Gui off, Xiao Xia walked back and said to Liu Wenjing with a smile, “You must have heard it, sir! What do you think?”

Liu Wenjing smiled and said, “Your Highness is going to move the salt?”

Xiao Xia smiled faintly and said, “Salt is just a lever. I am actually taking back the benefits that belonged to the General Manager’s Office.”

“But if Your Highness wants to touch the interests of salt, he will not only have to face the Guanlong nobles, but also the tyrants in various counties. As far as I know, the tyrants in various counties in Jiangnan are actually supported by the court to suppress the Jiangnan families, but these local tyrants are in collusion with local officials. If Your Highness wants to touch them, will it affect the court’s plans? I think the court is more afraid of the Jiangnan families and I am afraid it will not support Your Highness!”

Xiao Xia shook his head. “I don’t intend to eradicate the local tyrants. I just want to separate the salt from them. These local tyrants can do other businesses, such as rice, cloth, oil, silk and so on.”

“Your Highness thinks that their interests have not been affected much, but they may not think so. Especially since the interests of salt are so huge, I can guarantee that no one is willing to let go.”

Xiao Xia also knew that what Liu Wenjing said made sense. It was more difficult to touch interests than to touch the soul, but some things had to be done.

Xiao Xia was silent for a long time, then he said decisively: “Then let’s compete. If they sell salt, I will sell salt too. If I squeeze them out, I will implement a salt monopoly.”

Liu Wenjing nodded, “Business competition is one solution. We’ll consider this later. Your Highness, take a look at this first!”

Liu Wenjing handed the test paper and the list to Xiao Xia, “A total of 254 scholars have passed. Your Highness, please take a look and approve them if there are no problems!”

Xiao Xia took a look and approved it. Liu Wenjing smiled and said, “Your Highness, don’t be too anxious. Make plans before you act!”

Xiao Xia nodded silently, and Liu Wenjing turned and went out. He still needed to find Du Ruhui to stamp the document. The seal of Prince Jin and the seal of the Jiangnan General Administration Office were held by Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui respectively. The two were responsible for stamping the orders of Prince Jin and the documents of the General Administration Office respectively.

Xiao Xia paced back and forth in the official room with his hands behind his back. Historically, in the seventh year of Daye, Yang Guang personally led an expedition to Goguryeo. The country was short of troops, and uprisings broke out simultaneously in Wagangzhai in Henan Province, Gaojipo in Hebei Province, and Changbai Mountain in Shandong Province.

Transportation and information were very inconvenient in the Sui Dynasty, and uprisings broke out simultaneously in places thousands of miles apart. If there was no communication and planning in advance, how could it be such a coincidence that the uprisings broke out at the same time when the emperor was not at home and the country had little military strength?

If the three uprising sites were connected by a line, it would form an isosceles triangle with Wagangzhai as the vertex, and Wagangzhai directly threatened Luoyang.

Then the Guanlong nobles instigated Yang Xuangan to rebel, and Li Mi was in charge of planning it. Who was Li Mi? He was the eldest great-grandson of Li Bi, one of the Eight Pillars of Guanlong. After Yang Xuangan’s defeat, Li Mi represented the Guanlong nobles to reap the Wagang Army. He became the leader as soon as he arrived at Wagang Village, which shows that Wagang Village was actually supported by the Guanlong nobles. Otherwise, how could they defeat Zhang Xutuo’s army? Then the Guanlong nobles planned Li Yuan’s uprising in Taiyuan and the coup in Jiangdu. Yu Wenzhi became the scapegoat for the regicide. The coup was planned by Yuan Min. Who was Yuan Min? He was the eldest son of Yuan Shou.

The process of the fall of the Sui Dynasty was one link after another. It is now three years into Daye. I must establish a powerful force within a few years. Time is of the essence!

The results were announced at the county school where the exam was held. No one had expected that 254 people would be admitted and less than 50 would be eliminated. Everyone was happy for a moment.

There were more than twenty horse-drawn carriages parked next to the county school. Everyone got on the carriages and drove towards the general manager’s mansion.

There is a special small city gate leading to the General Manager’s Mansion, which the people of Jiangdu call the Jinwang Gate. It is located not far from the North City Gate. A reception building has also been built next to the Jinwang Gate, where people who apply to go to the General Manager’s Mansion can rest and wait.

There are usually soldiers standing guard at the city gate, and you cannot pass through the city gate without an entry card. After passing through the city gate, a straight and wide stone road leads directly to the General Manager’s Mansion, which is about two miles long, with high walls built on both sides.

The carriage entered the Jinwang Gate and sped towards the General Manager’s Mansion. Inside the carriage, everyone was feeling both excited and nervous. Their fate had also changed, but no one knew what fate awaited them.
“I heard a piece of news that our salary is seven strings of cash per month!” a famous scholar whispered to everyone.

More than a dozen scholars in the carriage started talking about it. This news was exciting.

“Is the news true? Didn’t it say five strings of cash?”

“Five strings of cash is just the basic salary. There are also several subsidies and full attendance bonuses, which add up to seven strings of cash. In addition, there are benefits during festivals and holidays. There are also evaluations at the end of the year. If you perform well in the evaluations, there will be extra rewards!”

Lu Miao’s ears stood up straight. His father died early and all the family property was taken away by his wife and two brothers. His mother was a concubine and only had two shabby houses. She raised him with great difficulty, so he attached great importance to salary.

When Lu Miao heard that he would have seven strings of cash every month, he was secretly delighted. This income was not low in his hometown and was enough to support his mother.

The carriage stopped at the Square of the Governor’s Mansion, and people got off one after another. An official asked them to line up.

Soon, 254 scholars lined up in a procession, and several officials walked out from the gate, led by Gao Jiong.

“Welcome all the young talents. I am Gao Jiong, and I am also the chief examiner for this recruitment. You are all my students!”

Gao Jiong’s concise self-introduction immediately excited the scholars. He was the first prime minister of the Sui Dynasty, and he was actually his disciple.

Gao Jiong waved his hand to quiet everyone down, and he continued: “This is the first recruitment after the establishment of the Jiangnan Dao General Administration Office. Although we originally planned to only need 60 people, everyone is very outstanding and we are reluctant to give up any one of them, so we decided to admit 254 people. Some scholars may not have anything to do for the time being, but soon, many of our institutions will be established one after another, such as the Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Bureau, the Military Equipment Bureau, the Taxation Bureau, the Property Management Bureau, etc. For example, we also plan to establish orphanages in various places to support orphans and the elderly. These all need people to manage, so everyone will have their own positions in the end. I hope that you will be down-to-earth and work diligently. More importantly, be loyal to His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin. That’s all I have to say!”

The crowd immediately burst into warm applause. At this time, Liu Wenjing came up and waved his hand, “Now I will announce everyone’s salary and job division!”

Everyone fell silent in an instant.

(End of this chapter)