Chapter 1995
The quality of Ningbo salt is obviously better than that of Jianghuai salt. It is easy to tell the difference between the two salts. Therefore, the bulk salt sold by this group of foreigners on the dock can be seen at a glance that it is not local product. After the nearby salt merchant sent someone to confirm, he sent a steward over to find out the truth.
The steward boarded the ship along the gangplank on the shore. As expected, there was a man on the deck leisurely sitting on a wicker chair and sipping tea. He immediately stepped forward and greeted him: "Open in Xiazhuang, and become the steward of the trading company." , what is your name? ”
Gong Shiqi smiled and responded: "My surname is Gong, all names are the same, neatly."
"It turns out to be Boss Gong. I've admired you for a long time!" The village opened his hands and said, "I wonder where the salt that Boss Gong sells here comes from?"
In fact, Zhuang Kai already roughly knew the origins of the two ships through other information channels, but he still wanted to see how the person involved would react to the questioning, whether to shirk the blame and lie about other origins, or to be vague and try to get through.
Gong Shiqi pointed to the wicker chair opposite him and said: "Guan Zhuang, please sit down and have a cup of tea first!"
"Then I'm sorry!" Zhuang Kai saw that the man surnamed Gong was not in a hurry and seemed not to realize his true intention of coming to the door, so he was not in a hurry to get angry and wanted to see the other party's attitude.
Gong Shiqi poured Zhuang Kai a cup of tea, and then said calmly: "The salt I sell is all official salt with a salt certificate. As for where it is produced, does it matter? If Manager Zhuang wants to buy it, Salt, you might as well quote the quantity, and the price can be negotiated later.”
Zhuang Kai was stunned when he heard this. If he followed the "Gang Salt System" implemented by this dynasty, there would indeed be nothing wrong with the other party's statement. As long as the salt is pulled out from the salt field with an official salt import certificate, it is considered legal salt. It does not have much to do with where it is produced. It is the quantity, price, and where it is sold. Logically speaking, these are the only things that need to be followed. Salt refers to the provisions on the certificate.
Of course, the salt yin acts as a link between the interests of the government and the salt merchants, and the room for manipulation is actually quite large. It is not uncommon for a large amount of private salt to be sold as official salt after taking the salt yin. It is also a common practice for salt merchants to sell in the prescribed sales areas and sell across regions on their own. Generally, except for salt class officials and salt merchants, no one cares much about where the salt on the market comes from and whether it can be sold legally locally.
Zhuang Kaidao: "Boss Gong, I would like to ask, how much salt are you carrying on these two boats? If you pack them together, how much would you offer?"
Of course Gong Shiqi didn't believe that the other party was so upright. As soon as they met, he wanted to buy all the salt he had brought. He smiled and said: "The two ships each contained 30,000 kilograms of salt, a total of 60,000 kilograms. If Manager Zhuang wants to If you buy it all at once, then it will be 30% off the market price of refined salt. I don’t make any money, just make friends.”
Zhuang Kai sneered and said: "Thirty percent off? Your Excellency thinks too highly of your status! For the sake of Your Excellency coming all the way, I paid two hundred taels of silver to collect these two ships of salt, one hundred taels per ship. Hurry up." Arrange manpower to unload the cargo, unload all the salt on the dock before dark, and then get out of Yangzhou overnight.”
After hearing this unceremonious rebuke, Gong Shiqi was not angry but smiled and said: "Does Manager Zhuang regard himself as the promotion person of the Salt Department? I bet Manager Zhuang has the final say in the salt business in this place. ?”
The other party's sudden fall was a little beyond Gong Shiqi's expectation. Although he thought that the other party's purpose was to cause trouble for him, when he saw Zhuang Kai sitting down to talk, he thought he could communicate with the other party first. I wanted to see if I could take the opportunity to trick the other party into saying something. I never thought that Zhuang Kai probably didn't take him seriously at all, and he actually started spewing arrogant words without saying a few words.
If the situation were different, Gong Shiqi thought that he could break this guy's neck with just one confrontation, but he also knew that the current situation was not the occasion for a fight. It would not be difficult for him to subdue Zhuang Kai, but in this case it would be very possible. It will put yourself in a passive situation and affect the development of subsequent plans. You can only endure it and not care about the verbal offense with this Zhuang Kai.
Zhuang Kai probably didn't expect that the other party would have such a tough attitude. He glared and said, "Your Excellency, you are very courageous! I would like to advise you, don't be punished with a toast!"
Gong Shiqi smiled and said: "I have always had a good drinker, and I can swallow any kind of wine. Besides, in broad daylight, how could you still rob my two ships?"
Zhuang Kai said angrily: "Your Excellency, please don't be harsh. I'm afraid that not only these two ships of salt will be unable to leave, but you and your ship will have to stay in Yangzhou!"
"Then let's give it a try!" Gong Shiqi had never seen anything before, and he had already prepared for the risks of this trip. How could he be easily frightened by the verbal threats of this little steward? He shouted back rawly.
It was probably rare for Zhuang Kai to be contradicted in person like this. After hearing this, he was so angry that he couldn't reply for a long time. He stood up and walked a few steps, then turned back and said harshly: "You wait!"
Gong Shiqi held up the tea cup and didn't even look at him when he spoke: "Okay, then go and come back quickly!"
Zhuang Kai angrily got off the boat and returned to the shore, and quickly left here with his men. Gong Shiqi watched the group of people leaving from the side of the ship and smiled helplessly. He knew that this was just the beginning, and the real trouble should be yet to come. However, the purpose of this trip to Yangzhou is to cause trouble. Since the place is unfamiliar, I can only think of ways to stimulate the other party and make him jump out.
Although it is unlikely that the other party will fight in this environment, Gong Shiqi still very carefully ordered everyone to be on alert. There were more than ten people on each of the two ships armed with weapons and ambush in the cabin, waiting for the critical moment to arrive. Can escape from the cabin.
As early as last year, the Military Intelligence Bureau had equipped a small amount of seven-shot rifles that only front-line ace troops were eligible to install. However, this advanced weapon can only be used when performing certain special field missions. The Security Bureau has also installed this weapon, but because the military has the advantage of being close to the water, the Security Bureau field team received this rifle a full year later than the military. With this advanced weapon and some adaptive training, even a basic action team's firepower output intensity has increased several times, and its attack power is almost equivalent to at least one platoon of ordinary musketeers. In a place like Yangzhou, as long as the garrison is not deployed in large numbers, Gong Shiqi is sure that his own manpower is enough to withstand the opponent's offensive.
Of course, things like muskets cannot be used casually. As long as you use this thing once, you will basically reveal your identity. After all, this kind of continuous gun is only used by the Haihan family, and there is no one in the world. Unless absolutely necessary, Gong Shiqi cannot reveal his identity in public, so as not to affect the diplomatic relations between Ming Dynasty and Haihan.
Therefore, in addition to the musketeers just in case, others also prepared weapons mainly including eyebrow sticks. More than 20 sailors from the Navy have received formal military training. The eyebrow stick can be used as a musket with a bayonet. Ordinary people will definitely not be able to withstand the joint attack they have specially trained.
As for the government, Gong Shiqi believes that officials will not come forward to get involved so soon. He has been dealing with officials at all levels for more than a year in the past year, and has a relatively deep understanding of some of the habits of local officials in the Ming Dynasty. Although officials usually receive benefits and will definitely deal with troubles for their donors, if they encounter problems with unknown origins, Officials generally adopt a wait-and-see attitude to avoid dealing with the problem if they suddenly come forward, or if they use the wrong method, they will be trapped.
Especially for the salt industry dispute, since the Jianghuai salt merchants have always targeted Ningbo salt transport teams outside Yangzhou, Gong Qiqi believes that this may be partly because Yangzhou officials do not want to see anyone appearing in the territory under their jurisdiction. For troubles such as armed conflicts, salt merchants will consider the feelings of officials and will seek farther away, arranging attacks to be carried out in other state capitals.
Now that Gong Shiqi has arrived in Yangzhou, the local salt merchants have not yet figured out his details. At this time, probably no officials will take the initiative to stand up for the salt merchants. Moreover, the salt that Gong Qi Qi shipped to Yangzhou was legally judged salt in terms of procedures. He did not cause any trouble after arriving in Yangzhou. Even if the government came forward, it would be difficult for him to have an excuse to cause trouble for him.
Gong Shiqi knew that the news that "salt merchants from other places had shipped 60,000 kilograms of refined salt" would soon spread among the local salt merchants, but he thought that the people who would come to his door were not just people who were looking for trouble for him. There will also be people who come with other purposes.
However, until noon, three more groups of people came after Zhuang Kai, all of them were subordinates of the salt merchants, but without exception they all asked Gong Qiqi to stop the current sales and leave Yangzhou City as soon as possible, and their attitudes were almost the same as those of Zhuang Kai. , all with a condescending commanding tone.
Gong Shiqi suspected that these groups of people did not exchange news before coming. Even though he was not willing to do this at all, these people still tried to use the lowest level of means to threaten him. Of course, he was not polite and retorted them all one by one. He didn't have much to say to these people running errands. He could only wait for the real master behind them to show up before making any plans.
Ji Yuanqing returned to the dock before lunch. The things he was responsible for went smoothly. His colleagues had rented a carriage and horse dealership in a town east of the Grand Canal, and there were enough carriages and horses for them. Called when evacuating Yangzhou. However, this also has a prerequisite, that is, they must first successfully evacuate to the east bank of the Grand Canal.
"The place is about ten miles away from Yangzhou City. The town is on the riverside. Once you get off the boat and go ashore, you can see the signboard of the carriage house." Ji Yuanqing explained the direction of the town to Gong Shiqi with a drawing: "As for The evacuation route to the planned location on the seaside is already being implemented.”
The land withdrawal route has only begun to be implemented now. This is not because the work efficiency of the Military Intelligence Bureau is too low. It is really a helpless move. The Military Intelligence Bureau did not originally arrange for people to lurk in Yangzhou City. In the past few days, it transferred several personnel from Yingtian Mansion to Yangzhou specifically to prepare the front line for this operation. And the work of arranging the carriages and horses was only completed one day before they arrived in Yangzhou, so the route of action between the carriages and horses to the scheduled meeting point on the coast could only be confirmed at this time.
Moreover, this place is almost three hundred miles away from the seaside. Considering the time it will take to confirm the route on the spot on the round trip, it is very likely that we will have to give up sending people to conduct on-site inspections and can only formulate an retreat route based on the information provided by the carriage and horse agency.
Gong Shiqi couldn't help but frown after hearing the situation introduced by Ji Yuanqing. He also knew that the Military Intelligence Agency had tried its best to arrange the matter, but if this was done, the risk of this retreat route on land would actually be no more risky than taking the waterway. Much smaller. Even if they had enough horses, horses and guides, it would probably take them two days to evacuate to the seaside, which was not even as fast as taking a boat down the river. The most terrible thing was that they had to try to cross the Grand Canal before turning to land. But since they could still cross the river by boat, why not choose to retreat directly by boat? The chance of escaping seemed to be even greater.
However, Gong Shiqi did not question the arrangements of the Military Intelligence Bureau. After all, this was a backup retreat route. No one could tell whether it would actually be used. It could only be regarded as a precautionary measure.
Then Gong Shiqi also described the situation in the morning to Ji Yuanqing. They had four quarrels and experienced various threats, but so far there was no sign that the other party would take radical measures.
"The salt has been sold for several hundred kilograms in scattered pieces." Gong Shiqi said with some helplessness: "At this rate, it should be no problem to sell a thousand kilograms of salt today."
Most of the people who come to buy salt are civilians, buying a little loose salt by the pound or two. The price of salt sold by Gong Shiqi is slightly lower than the price of salt on the market, and the quality is even better. Therefore, without any public obstruction from the salt merchants, many people still came after hearing the news. Of course, will some of the salt sold have been placed on the salt dealer's desk and become a sample for others to study? Gong Shiqi thinks the answer is yes. Four groups of people had already arrived in the morning, which showed how much the local salt merchants valued him as an outsider.
In fact, this is the case. In a manor less than two miles away from the dock, several leading salt merchants have gathered together to study the exotic salt they just bought.
"This is Ningbo salt for sure!" A man with gray hair on his temples gently let the fine salt particles fall from his fingers: "This salt is finer and whiter than the salt we sell, and has fewer impurities. And the price is even lower, there will be no other salt store besides Ningbo’s!”
"The news came back from Ningbo a few days ago. Someone transported two large ships of salt from the local area to Yangzhou. They must be the group of people who showed up today." Another thin man responded: "Didn't the Lu family also specially send If we send people to guard the two boats at Lei Kung Tsui downstream, can we confirm their origins?”
(End of chapter)