Chapter 574 Take action
In a private residence in the capital, Qin Zhao had already prepared a gift list for Zhang Yanling and planned to send it to Zhang Yanling in a few days.

Just a token of my appreciation!

But at this moment, Xu Gong’s voice came from the yard: “Boss, something has happened… Many mansions and shops in and outside our city have been sealed by the government!”

Qin Zhao opened the door and walked out after hearing that. At this time, Xu Gong was followed by several shop owners, who were anxiously waiting for her to give new instructions.

“what happened?”

Qin Zhao really couldn’t have expected that there were still people who dared to cause trouble for her. Didn’t they know about the good relationship between her, a Huizhou merchant, and the father-in-law’s mansion?

Xu stepped forward respectfully and handed the summary list of losses at various warehouses to Qin Zhao for review.

“Today, the government suddenly sealed up many of the shops owned by Huizhou merchants. From the waterside outside Deshengmen to the shops inside the city, several shops were sealed up by them. Even some of the people working at the counters were taken to Shuntian Prefecture and have not been released yet.”

Xu Gong introduced what he had learned.

“Shuntian Mansion?”

Qin Zhao was a little surprised and asked, “We didn’t provoke them, what’s the matter?”

Xu Gong said: “I have sent people to inquire. From the grapevine, I learned that this incident has no direct connection with Shuntian Prefecture. It seems that the Ministry of Works has ordered a thorough investigation of the grain tax in the past few years.”

Qin Zhao frowned: “If anyone wants to investigate, it should be the Ministry of Revenue. Why is it the Ministry of Works’ turn?”

Obviously, Qin Zhao hopes that the matter will be handled by the Ministry of Revenue. After all, her current major backer is the Zhang family, her in-laws, and Zhang Luan is currently the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. He is the one who has the final say in the Ministry of Revenue. I am afraid that even the Minister of Revenue Li Min may have to stand aside on major decisions.

Xu Gong looked anxious: “I don’t know what’s going on… Don’t I have someone in the court? Should I go and find out first?”

“Are only our Huizhou merchants being targeted? What about Shanxi and Shandong merchants?”

Qin Zhao continued to ask.

Xu Gong shook his head: “I don’t know what the situation is like over there, but from the looks of it, their shops are temporarily closed, probably because they’re afraid of being implicated.”

“Let’s go and have a look with me.”

Seeing that the man knew nothing about anything, Qin Zhao immediately called for help and went to his own warehouse which had been sealed off.

……

……

When they arrived at a large cargo yard outside Deshengmen, a large number of soldiers and officers were already sealing off the yard. The government also sent out yamen runners to maintain order, and all the people working inside were driven out.

When Xu Gong arrived, there was a group of young scholars protesting in the surrounding area. The group seemed to be giving a lecture there. A young scholar stood on a high platform made of cloth, looking indignant, and was telling the students and people who were watching the fun about the Huizhou merchants who were rich and unkind.

“What’s going on here?”

Qin Zhao asked in surprise: “How can we merchants be so rich and unkind? If it weren’t for us transporting goods between the north and the south, where would the emperor get cheap food and salt? And where would all the cheap cloth come from?”

Xu Gong smiled bitterly and said, “They are all scholars with official titles. The government officials dare not interfere… They seem to have some prejudice against us Hui merchants. When the soldiers came to seal up the place early in the morning, they followed us. I didn’t expect that they have not left until now.”

“What? They came with the government officials?”

Qin Zhao immediately realized that something was wrong.

Xu Gong nodded repeatedly: “Yes, I don’t know how they got the news, but after they came, they talked loudly around the warehouse, misleading passers-by, saying that we had done a lot of things to oppress our peers in the past, and that Huizhou merchants would do anything to gain profits. They even said that the price increase of fabrics in the market this autumn and winter was also forced up by us.”

Qin Zhao’s expression calmed down, and his voice was unusually cold: “This round of cloth price increase is all due to our large-scale shipments, which has stabilized the market cloth prices. Later, it was reported that the palace was weaving cloth and would give up the purchase of cloth in the spring of next year and switch to internal purchase. The cloth price has further dropped…

“Many years ago, the price of cloth was not so low before the Spring Festival. Don’t they know this?”

Xu Gong said aggrievedly: “Boss, they are just a group of scholars who don’t care about the world. How many of them care about the price of firewood, rice, oil and salt? If you tell them the market price, can they understand?”

“Those dressed in silk and satin are not silkworm farmers. These weak fellows never care about the people’s livelihood. What qualifications do they have to judge the businessmen here? If we were not collecting cotton cloth, printing and dyeing, and transporting it, where would they get the cloth and ready-made clothes to wear?”

Although Qin Zhao’s tone was still calm at this moment, he clenched his teeth, obviously very angry at the shamelessness of the scholar.

As they were talking, someone came over to report, “Boss, more than a dozen representatives of Huizhou merchants in Beijing have jointly sent out an invitation, inviting you to come over for a chat. Li Wuwei, the head of the Li family, came to our contact office in Beijing in person and said that he would not go back until he could see you.”

Qin Zhao said, “I will not see anyone until the matter is thoroughly investigated…I will immediately send someone to Shuntian Prefecture with money to smooth things over, and also to the Ministry of Works. I want to get to the bottom of what the court means.”

“Yes.”

Xu Gong took the order and immediately took his men away.

……

……

That afternoon.

Qin Zhao waited in the teahouse for the latest news brought by Xu Gong.

“The boss said that the government checked the amount of grain transported to the imperial court in the past few years and found that it did not match. In addition, local governments all did business with us Hui merchants, and the business of innovating government granaries was basically monopolized by us Hui merchants. So they thought it was very likely that we took advantage of our relationship with the government and under-reported the amount of grain in the granaries, causing a deficit in the government treasury.

“I heard that this incident may be related to the poor transportation of grain in the northwest in the past few years and the successive problems with salt permits. It is said that after the new emperor ascended the throne, he found that the treasury was tight and there was no money even to repair the imperial mausoleum, so he asked the government to conduct an internal investigation. Some people also said that it might be related to some case in Tongzhou Warehouse. The specific situation needs to be inquired by someone. “Or, why don’t you ask the second son of the Zhang family? He has connections and should be able to get accurate information. “

Qin Zhao narrowed his eyes and muttered to himself, “The official salt business is the foundation of our business. The reason why merchants from Huizhou came all the way to the capital is nothing more than the two major businesses of grain and official salt. Some places are unable to transport grain, and it is only with our assistance that the grain is finally transported to the capital… How can it be a crime?”

Xu Gong said: “This is what they call finding a pretext to accuse someone of a crime!”

Qin Zhao sighed, “But… although what we did was in accordance with the rules and regulations, it was not clearly stipulated in any classics.

“The imperial court has always ignored what we did, mainly to make things easier for the various places. Now that the new emperor has ascended the throne, they are using this matter to make trouble. It is clear that they are deliberately targeting us… So, the Shanxi merchants are fine at all?”

“I haven’t heard anything about them yet.”

Xu Gong introduced the situation he had learned, “There are also some Shanxi merchants who do business with us, and they are now also asking about our situation. It is said that they are also very nervous internally, and many people have gathered together to discuss countermeasures. Several big merchants have suggested to stay out of the limelight for the time being and withdraw their business from the capital.”

Qin Zhao asked: “Then… do you know who the ultimate beneficiary of this matter is?”

“Of course it’s the local merchants in the capital.”

Xu Gong said confidently, “There are many ministers, ministers, and even dukes and earls in Beijing. They have merchants working for them. They even undertake many construction projects for government offices and subcontract them to us. We are only responsible for transporting the wood and stone materials to the destination and earning hard-earned money. The bulk of the money is taken away by them.”

“That’s the value of the channel. Without a strong government background, we can only watch helplessly. I think the people who benefit the most are not them, but…”

Having said that, Qin Zhao suddenly fell silent.

Xu Gong was a little confused for a moment.

Why don’t you explain it clearly?
Is this a defense against me?
Qin Zhao said, “Well, take some gifts, preferably all elegant things, and my invitation, and go to see Chen Zheng, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works. Don’t ask for help. It would be great if you can see him, but if you can’t see him, just put down the invitation. When he sees it, he will understand what happened and give us an answer.”

Xu Gong asked curiously, “Shouldn’t we go see Zhang Guozhang right away? Why do we have to…visit Minister Chen of the Ministry of Works first?”

Qin Zhao sighed, “Minister Chen was once the Left Minister of the Ministry of Public Administration. Although he was recommended by Li Zisheng to the Ministry of Works as a minister, he has always had a good reputation. In addition, he is humble and easy to talk to. He never exploits us merchants. So I think he is most likely just an insider but not the mastermind. So it would be a good idea to get his opinion first.”

“Then… I’ll go right away.”

Xu Gong hurried downstairs again.

“and many more.”

Qin Zhao suddenly stopped Xu Gong and asked, “Let me ask you one more question. How is our glass workshop outside the city and the business involving Zhang’s house going?”

Xu Gong said: “We have sent people to check those properties, and they are absolutely fine. Think about it, those are the properties of the father-in-law of the emperor. No matter how rude the officials are, they won’t be stupid enough to offend them directly, right?”

“That’s good.”

Qin Zhao said, “But in this case, I think it is very likely that the real target is not us. So we can’t panic. Someone will come forward to settle everything for us.”

“It’s a bit difficult to deal with it.”

Xu Gong said, “Since the government did it on purpose and it caused such a big fuss, it would be difficult to solve it with individual strength alone. Besides, it is a common practice for the government to target big merchants like us when they are short of money. Liang Fang was like this before, and now… isn’t it the same?”

Qin Zhao shook his head and said, “Let’s not talk about this for now. Go to Chen’s house and deliver the visiting card. Remember to make sure that the receptionist at Chen’s house takes care of everything. Make sure that my visiting card is delivered to Minister Chen.”

“Yes Yes.”

Xu Gong didn’t dare to stay at all and turned away.

……

……

While merchants in Huizhou were in chaos, Zhang Yanling continued his scientific research in his workshop which served as a laboratory.

Today, the steam engine has reached the stage of small-scale testing.

Manual looms have always been just a node in the process of industrialization. The ultimate goal is to complete the transformation of steam looms. Even if it cannot reach the level of modern machinery, it must reach the level of the “state-owned textile factory” in the early days of liberation.

Steam filled the air, machines were clacking, and a dozen female workers were in charge of a workshop. A workshop could produce tens of thousands of rolls of cloth a year, which should be enough to supply half of the capital city…

Of course this is just a hypothesis.

Just when Zhang Yanling was busy with his work, Chai Meng came trotting in from outside and whispered a few words in his ear.

Zhang Yanling casually threw the wooden pole on the ground and said with a smile: “Some people finally can’t stand it anymore and are ready to take action against what we are doing.”

Chai Meng was a little confused and explained, “Second Master, the government is only targeting Huizhou merchants now, and they haven’t taken action against us… I went to check it out, and when it comes to our workshop, not to mention the government coming to investigate, there’s not even a local security guard or someone to follow us.”

Zhang Yanling stood up and walked to the basin next to him to wash his hands. As soon as his hands touched the water, they made a hissing sound. He quickly withdrew his hands and frowned, saying, “This water is too hot!”

A waiter next to him said, “Didn’t you just boil it, young master?”

“Hey, don’t you know to add some cold water? Look at my tender claws.”

After Zhang Yanling finished speaking, he first looked at his red hands, then turned to look at Chai Meng and ordered, “Go and invite Manager Qin over. It’s good to not show up when something happens and try not to cause me trouble, but it delays my making money… You really have no sense of vision!”

(End of this chapter)