Volume 3: Dragon and Snake Movement Chapter 382: Letter of Submission, Sigh of Bitterness
Not only was Peanut worried, the shop assistant who had just returned to the store was also about to explode. Wasn't it just to buy silk at a cheap price, so why did he threaten like that? However, when he saw his own shopkeeper giving him a look that told him to go and guard the door, even though he felt aggrieved, he could only lower his head and go.
But as soon as he went out, he suddenly remembered that there was a guest in his backyard! What on earth was the head shopkeeper thinking? He had just signaled him to go out to greet the guests without making a fuss and just take the guests to the backyard. Now he left the VIP there... No matter how you look at it, Zhang Shou, a doctor of the Imperial College, is much more important than this shitty advisor of the Hejian prefect!
In the store, Shopkeeper Hua stared at the aggressive Bi Shiye, and suddenly laughed and said, "Bi Shiye, although your Fuzun is in charge of Hejian Prefecture, he is far from being able to cover the sky with one hand, not to mention that there are two... no, three big Buddhas in Changlu County Yamen. You are jumping up and down and making alliances, trying to throw dirty water on General Zhu and Dr. Zhang. I just want to ask you one question..."
"Is this really what your master meant?"
This sudden shout made Master Bi's heart tremble. When he realized that he should not show cowardice, he saw that the manager of the Hua family branch, whom he regarded as an insignificant one, was already sneering.
He was not willing to be outdone, and immediately said angrily: "Well, Shopkeeper Hua is really hot-tempered! Since your family opened a store in Cangzhou, you have been hoarding goods and causing many small private merchants to go bankrupt and their families to be separated! You are a profiteer like you, and you still want to climb up the social ladder? Dream on!"
"Even if I am a scoundrel trying to climb the social ladder, I am better than a scholar like you who failed the imperial examination but still licks the ass of a bastard young master!" Shopkeeper Hua retorted without giving in. Seeing Master Bi's face suddenly turn the color of liver, he couldn't help but laugh heartily, "Emperor Taizu used the word lick when he cursed people. Don't you scholars call it vulgar in private? It's a great idea to use it on you!"
Master Bi finally succeeded in being thoroughly enraged. He subconsciously picked up the teacup that the young man had brought to him at the beginning and threw it out, but Shopkeeper Hua turned his head and dodged it lightly, and only his shoulder was soaked by the spilled tea. However, as the teacup fell to the ground with a clang, he realized that something was wrong.
Just a few days ago, the son of the prefect was talking in a tavern and threw a teacup from the second floor in anger, and it was said that he even injured someone. Although he later learned that the injured person was sent to a clinic by a passerby and no one dared to ask for the medicine fee, he was still a little worried after hearing about it.
Now he is still in Hua's territory, but he smashed someone's things because he was provoked. What if the other party blackmails him and says that this teacup is a Song Dynasty official kiln porcelain...
Before Master Bi could figure out how to symbolically submit in a neither humble nor arrogant manner and then quickly leave, he saw Shopkeeper Hua gently flicking a piece of tea leaves off his shoulder and then laughing again.
Only this time, there was no sarcasm in the laughter, but it also lacked warmth and sounded sinister.
"Like master, like servant... No wonder people are like snakes and rats! Do you think that you have been cheating people everywhere in the name of your family's Lord Fu these days, and everyone will kneel down and fear you like a tiger? People respect Lord Fu, the parents of Hejian Prefecture appointed by the court, but even the young master Huang behind you is nothing without his father, let alone you!"
At this point, seeing that Bi's face turned pale, Manager Hua suddenly raised his voice and shouted, "Come here, arrest this swindler and send him to Changlu County Office for punishment! We will say that our Hua Silk Shop is crying and complaining that there is a villain in the name of Hejian prefect who is swindling in Cangzhou City and plotting something illegal. Please, the imperial envoys, seek justice!"
Little Peanut, who was eavesdropping at the back door, almost bit his tongue.
What's going on? Isn't it just buying silk and trying to bargain? How did it suddenly become a scam?
However, it didn't matter that he didn't understand. Almost the next moment, he heard a sudden shout of surprise and anger coming from the small door. He finally couldn't restrain his curiosity any more and pushed the gap of the door curtain a little wider. Only then did he finally see clearly that two burly men were twisting the arms of the middle-aged man in gorgeous clothes on the left and right. I guess they were Master Bi.
"Mr. Hua, are you crazy? Are you determined to go against my Lord Fuzun?"
Facing Master Bi who was struggling and screaming, the chubby Hua smiled and walked up to him calmly. Suddenly, he patted Master Bi's face and said, "It is important for people to know themselves. Since your young master has invited a group of scholars to travel around, then he should just enjoy the scenery. Why did he go and provoke Miss Zhu and get beaten up? And now he wants to stir up trouble in Cangzhou?"
"Plus, you, a lackey who didn't follow him to Maliu Mountain and didn't see him lose face, are running around foolishly. You two, the master and the servant, have really screwed your master to death!"
After understanding what Manager Hua meant, Master Bi was immediately frightened to death. But before he could say anything else, a cloth ball was stuffed into his mouth. Then, the two burly men carried him out easily like an eagle carrying a chick.
It was not until this guy was taken away that Manager Hua took out a handkerchief from his arms and wiped his shoulders. When he saw the young man he had just sent out to keep watch rushed in and looked at him worriedly, he smiled.
"Don't be afraid. I knew long ago that this greedy guy might come to blackmail our store, so I sent a letter to ask General Zhu for instructions. This useless guy, who thinks he is great just because he has read books, wants to blackmail the Hua family? It's a pipe dream!"
As he spoke, he glanced at the back door and saw that the door curtain was still swaying slightly, as if the person who had just been peeping had thrown it down and ran away. He didn't care about it, wiped his hands and said, "Okay, let's go meet the real guest now!"
Although he said he was going to meet an important guest, Shopkeeper Hua was not in a hurry. Instead, he went to the compartment next to the shop in the front, changed his clothes that had just been soaked by tea, put on a new set of clothes, and then leisurely took the waiter through the shop to the backyard.
As for the wasted time, he originally wanted the peeper to tell Zhang Shou the whole story.
With a major event like the Cangzhou riot under his jurisdiction, and a subordinate as greedy as Xu Cheng, the Hejian prefect would have been implicated. At the very least, he would have been reprimanded by the court, demoted, or even dismissed. Of course, this was all feasible . The Hejian prefect could have colluded with some bigwigs in the court who were dissatisfied with the handling of Cangzhou, and then tried to turn the tables.
The problem is that this requires behind-the-scenes operations, rather than having a son who is so stupid that he can't be any stupider and a flattering and overconfident advisor leading the charge in the name of charging into battle, but actually making enemies on all sides.
If he were to guess, when the group left Hejian Prefecture, the series of incidents of rioters occupying the palace had not yet occurred in Cangzhou, and when they arrived, the incident was suppressed by Zhu Tingfang. So Mr. Huang and his group could continue to travel around and talk about the mountains and rivers, and then when they ran into the iron wall of the eldest lady, they challenged Zhu's uncle without knowing their own limitations.
If his guess was correct, the Hejian prefect was really unlucky! But he deserved it, raising a child without educating him is the fault of the father!
Whatever he thought, when Shopkeeper Hua entered the small hall in the backyard, he forgot about Mr. Huang and immediately raised his hands to salute. But before he could apologize for his "negligence", the young man with clear features suddenly raised his sleeves and asked a question that caught him off guard.
"The Hua family is the richest in Suzhou, but not the richest in Nanzhili. It is said that it is because they have never been involved in maritime trade?"
How could this Imperial College doctor know this when he had never been to Jiangnan? It must be Young Master Jiang who is quick-witted! The Third Young Lady at home is a very smart and graceful person, how could she have such an idiot elder brother!
Shopkeeper Hua quickly thought of a countermeasure in his mind, straightened up and smiled bitterly: "Dr. Zhang's words really hit the soft spot of the Hua family. Suzhou is located in the southeast, adjacent to Songjiang Prefecture. When Taizu grandfather began to send fleets to sea, someone suggested choosing Liujia Port to the east of Suzhou Prefecture. It is very convenient to transport various materials from the canal to Loujiang, but..."
At this point, he paused and finally sighed: "But this suggestion was eventually rejected. Grandpa Taizu said that Liujiagang is good. It was once used as the starting point for sea transportation of grain during the Yuan Dynasty, but...but the terrain there is not good, and it is very likely that there will be siltation in the future. Therefore, the official ship went to the sea for the first time from Ningbo Prefecture. Now, Shanghai County has also come from behind, but Liujiagang has been abandoned for many years. Grandpa Taizu is really a god. Liujiagang has indeed gradually accumulated silt, and now it is not as good as it was in the early years of our dynasty."
Hearing the evaluation of this godly grandfather, Zhang Shou couldn't help but laugh or cry.
Liujiagang was indeed extremely prosperous in the early Ming Dynasty. It was the starting point of Zheng He's voyage to the West. I didn't expect that the Ming Dynasty would be abandoned because of Emperor Taizu's words! However, the siltation of Liujiagang was a real thing in history...
However, after hearing Manager Hua's overly frank words, he knew that the other party was frank because he was afraid that he was asking too much, so he pretended not to know and asked with interest: "Even if official ships can't go out to sea from here, what about civilian ships? Although Taizu established the five major naval camps in the world, don't Quanzhou Prefecture in Fujian, Huizhou Prefecture in Guangdong, and Shanghai County in Songjiang Prefecture, which you just mentioned, all go out to sea?"
"Since Suzhou silk products have always been the best in the area, the Weaving Bureau is worried that we will ship the first-class products overseas and send the second-class products to the court, so they have been obstructing the opening of Liujiagang Port. After all, if the annual clothing material funds are insufficient, we can directly report to the court. There have been 20 weaving directors in the Weaving Bureau so far, and 12 of them have lost their heads due to corruption, so the weaving bureau and merchants have always been enemies."
Xiao Huasheng was listening nearby and couldn't help but mutter to himself, "No wonder you dared to confront that master so hard!"
As soon as Manager Hua heard this, he knew that the person who had just peeped at him from behind the door must be this servant-like boy. However, seeing that Zhang Shou did not stop him, he knew that Zhang Shou at least did not dislike the behavior of Suzhou local merchants in resisting corrupt officials.
So he talked in detail about the Hemai system established by Taizu, and the various stories about how the court had repeatedly wanted to cut the money for clothing materials, but people often used Taizu's ancestral teachings to fight back - and that, many weavers who were beheaded were either truly greedy or wanted to save money for the emperor, and not a few Suzhou merchants who resisted lost their families, but it also led to a result.
That is, all merchants will treat their servants well, because when fighting against the government, these servants are needed to fight in the front. It is also because of this that the so-called rioters in Cangzhou are not a big deal in Suzhou!
Except for not holding the eldest prince hostage, the merchants and servants in Suzhou did more outrageous things - they set the weaving house on fire and chased the prince of Emperor Yingzong who went to Jiangnan to plunder the land. And because Ruizong later received the support of the Ruiqi Battalion, he immediately established the throne, and the matter was eventually left unresolved.
As for the prince... well, it was his luck that he died in an unclear manner on his way back to the capital. Because among his other brothers who competed for the throne, only the Hewang branch survived and endured the humiliation...
Zhang Shou didn't have a deep understanding of the history of the dynasty to begin with. Most of what he knew before came from the literati's notes collected by Ge Yong. As for Suzhou alone, he couldn't describe it in such detail as Manager Hua did, so he listened with great interest.
However, Ah Liu didn't care much about the things that interested him. The boy simply stood there with his eyes closed, and he was practicing the unique skill of sleeping while standing.
As for Peanut, if he hadn't thought about the fact that he was Zhang Shou's follower, he would have been almost shocked several times. Especially when he heard that a group of weavers in Suzhou who were fighting against weaving, only the leader was imprisoned. Although he was sentenced to death at first, he was released after being imprisoned for a long time. He wanted to ask if this operation could be used in Cangzhou.
Zhang Shou asked a question casually, which led to Manager Hua's endless talk. When the manager finally finished, he laughed and said, "According to what you said, although Suzhou produces silk and Suzhou embroidery, it has to rely on others for maritime trade. If it wants to go to sea, it will probably go to Jiaxing via the canal, and then go to Shanghai County via the river to go to sea? This shipping will cost a lot more money every year, right?"
"That's right." Shopkeeper Hua said without hesitation, and then helplessly spread his hands and said, "So Suzhou merchants headed by the Hua family pay more attention to the canal. Every year, more than half of the various silks and Suzhou embroidery are sent to Tianjin and Beijing, because the cost of domestic sales is much lower than that of foreign sales. Although maritime trade is good, those merchants in Songjiang have united, and even if we have money and people, we can't get the customs certificate."
"The situation in Ningbo and Songjiang is similar. No one wants merchants from Suzhou to get involved in the fat piece of maritime trade. Fuzhou in Fujian and Guangzhou in Guangdong are too expensive to travel by land except by sea. As for Tianjin by the canal..."
Shopkeeper Hua smiled helplessly, "The merchant ships robbed and killed by the Tianjin Linhai Camp included not only ships from northern merchants, but also a ship from a merchant in Suzhou. Besides, the camp riot last year really scared everyone! Besides, Tianjin was infiltrated by many merchants from the southeast in the early years, and it has long been a muddy water that cannot be easily stepped into."
Hearing this, Zhang Shou had completely understood. He asked with a smile, "What if Cangzhou also wants to build a port?"
