~ MEETING WITH SALT MERCHANTS ~
Wu Minzhi winked at the salt merchant near the door. The salt merchant immediately rose to his feet and caught up with Qi Ming, “Lord Qi, please stay here. If you have anything to say, we salt merchants have always been at peace with each other. This time is also a crucial moment for the court to check the salt tax. We must not make any contradictions inside!”
Qi Ming turned around and glanced at the salt merchants in the hall: “I had wanted to sell a good one and save your lives, but I didn’t expect that you guys would play with me when the disaster was imminent. Anyway, it was not me who panicked in the end, so take care of yourselves.”
“Don’t worry, Lord Qi. If you have something to say, come in and sit down quickly.” A few salt merchants stood up again, and they invited Qi Ming back to the room.
Qi Ming picked up the teacup and took a sip before placing it heavily on the table. “Now, do you understand what I’m talking about, Chief Wu?”
Wu Minzhi looked at Qi Ming, finally gritting his teeth and nodding his head, “Lord Qi is probably talking about the matter of us secretly bid up salt prices, which causing the price of salt to rise recently, right?”
“Wu Minzhi, I’m not talking about you secretly bid the price of the salt. But I am talking about that you acted bold and reckless. Even plotting with the government to replace salt with sand to fill the deficit in salt tax!”
Wu Minzhi’s heart skipped a beat, “Lord Qi, don’t speak nonsense. It’s a great crime to rob a family and destroy it!”
“Since you won’t repent even if you die, there’s no need for me to say it either,” with that, Qi Ming turned to look at the other salt merchants, “Just follow this good leader and die with him!”
“Don’t worry, Lord Qi,” some salt merchant said to Wu Minzhi directly, “Chief Wu, if Lord Qi could inform us in advance, it must be because he’s with us. He wants to save our lives. We can’t be muddle-headed anymore.”
Qi Ming turned his head and looked at Wu Minzhi with a smile, his eyes full of mockery.
Wu Minzhi sighed before bowing to Qi Ming and said, “Please forgive me, Lord Qi. It’s really a matter of great concern, and I was so flustered that I couldn’t think of anything to say. I don’t know where did Lord Qi get this news?”
“Someone wrote a secret letter about you guys secretly exchanging sand for salt and delivered it to Lord Li. He also claimed that he could provide sufficient evidence.” Qi Ming shook his head, “This time, Lord Li ordered to verify the salt tax in Jiangnan. He thought it was a good idea to sell it. He also asked you to remember the kindness of the Li family and the First Prince, who would have thought that you would have the guts to cause such a disaster?”
“Lord Qi, to be honest, if there’s a way, we wouldn’t want to do this. It’s just that deficit in the salt tax is too big. So, we had no choice but to do this. We hope to use this purchase of salt to equalize the deficit. Who would have thought that something big had happened? So I asked Lord Qi for advice. What should we do that would allow Lord Li to be so generous?”
Qi Ming sighed: “Lord Li is not the only one who thinks about this matter now. Others also seem to be staring at it, especially those who wrote letters to Lord Li revealing that you exchanged sand for salt. There is no clue about the identity of those who wrote to Lord Li. In case Lord Li is involved in it and hard to get out. There is only one way out for you all right now, and that is to use silver taels to pay the salt tax on the deficit as soon as possible.”
Wu Minzhi frowned, “But Lord Qi should also know that the news about the sinking of the salt ship has spread, and now everyone knows about it. At this time, we use the silver tael to make up for the deficit. Doesn’t that mean we have something to hide?”
“I have already told you the way. As for whether you want to leave or not, that will depend on your own intentions. I’ve brought the words here, so I believe that you all also have something to discuss. I will not keep you all here any longer. If you have discussed it, you can come directly to Chun Feng Garden to find me.”
Some of the salt merchants were anxious and wanted to say something, but when they saw Wu Minzhi’s gaze, they immediately stopped talking and followed him out of the room.
Walking out of Chun Feng Garden, Wu Minzhi motioned to a guard to observe in the dark, and then took the salt merchants back to his residence.
The atmosphere in the hall was entirely tense. After a long while, everyone began to speak.
“Chief Wu, what should we do now?”
“Could that Lord Qi be trusted?”
“That’s right. The path Lord Qi pointed out to us clearly doesn’t work right now, but what he said was an obvious path. Exactly how should we proceed?”
Wu Min Zhi raised his hand to indicate for everyone to be quiet, “I have carefully checked the seal on the post. The Governor Liangjiang’s seal above is real, and I have already sent people to investigate Qi Ming’s identities. I can vaguely find out that he has something to do with the First Prince’s residence. In other words, Lord Li likely visited Yangzhou City in advance.”
“If that is the case, we must listen to him. After all, the one who has come to verify the salt tax is the Governor of Liangjiang, Lord Li.”
“Yeah, if I knew earlier, I wouldn’t have cared about the silver. If I had taken it out earlier and used it to make up for the losses, then there would be no future trouble.” These salt merchants had at least tens of millions of silver taels. It wasn’t a problem for them to take out several million for each of them. However, they were too distressed before. What’s more, when they checked the salt tax a few years ago, they were all safe and sound.
There was a certain amount of thoughtlessness in their mind, and they didn’t think that a moment’s neglect would lead to a great mistake.
“We can’t fill the gap even if we want to. We have already announced the sinking of the boat. If we fill the gap now, wouldn’t we be slapping our own face?”
“Chief Wu, what do you think we should do?”
The color in Wu Minzhi’s eyes deepened, “You’ll understand after you think about Qi Ming’s words.”
“Qi Ming’s words?” Everyone looked at each other, and some of them couldn’t help but repeat Qi Ming’s words, “ ... There was only one clear path, and that was to use silver taels to pay the salt tax as soon as possible ... There was only one clear path … clear path …”
Some people can’t help but suddenly came to a realization, “There is only one path, but there can be many secret passages! Right now, we are unable to make up for our lack of money on the surface, which means that this path blocked off already. Then, we can only secretly think of a way to deal with this problem. Chief Wu, is my guess correct?”
“That’s right.” Wu Minzhi nodded in agreement. “Qi Ming’s identity is likely real. What we should discuss now is how to satisfy him, so that Lord Li can show us his benevolence.”
The salt merchants couldn’t help but fall silent as they pondered in their hearts. In fact, they have some idea in their heart. It is also the usual practice of checking salt taxes. Every time an imperial envoy sent down, they definitely want to give the silver taels for filial piety, but how much is appropriate?
“Chief Wu, what do you think we should do?”
“That’s right. Chief Wu, please tell us. You are now the salt merchant’s leader, and you have always had more ideas than us. We are all at your disposal now.”
“Please make an idea, Chief Wu.”
Wu Minzhi motioned to everyone to calm down: “Actually, all of you should understand that Lord Li belongs to the First Prince’s faction. Over the past two years, the First Prince has repeatedly sent people to recruit us. But now, the situation in the Capital is not cleared. If we rashly submit to him, we would be only to be other people’s money bag. Therefore, we have yet to express our attitude, but the situation is different now. The path is not clear, but there are still one or two secret passages, so we need to make up our minds together.”
I’m trying to remember all the prince really. Ugh. But who was Yaoyao married to previously again? 😖😖😖
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