Chapter 2210
This move by the Shanshan-Shaanxi salt merchants was extremely ruthless, targeting the areas where the Huizhou salt merchants must save their lives. As soon as the official document from the Salt Industry Yamen came out, the related business under his name was interrupted, and the daily losses suffered would be an extremely considerable amount. Even though Huizhou salt merchants are financially sound, they cannot afford to be out of business for a long time.
The seven major surnames can fight to the death with Shanxi salt merchants, but they cannot go against the government. As soon as this seal is posted, all business immediately comes to a standstill, and the only response they can take is to try to get the salt merchants to fight to the death. The industry yamen will lift these sanctions and get the business back on track as soon as possible.
Except for Ma Zhengping, who is still in Zhoushan, the heads of the other six families of the seven major surnames have all arrived. If it is difficult for them to have a real sense of participation in a fight that does not require personal participation, then the current crisis they are encountering really makes them feel the pain.
"Has a situation like this happened before?" Yuan Tao was slightly surprised when he heard the news. He didn't know much about the past fighting history between the two groups of salt merchants, so he asked Dai Yingda a question.
Dai Yingda shook his head solemnly and said: "Although there have been many occasions in the past where official connections were used to suppress the other party, there has never been a situation like this. If the other party does this, it is tantamount to wanting to fight us to the death. ”
Yuan Tao nodded slightly and said: "I understand. It seems that they have no other means but to use the means to suppress the situation! But they probably paid a high price for getting the Yamen to come forward."< br>
Dai Yingda said: "It's nothing more than money to open the way! As long as we can squeeze us out of Yangzhou, the money spent can be earned back in multiples. But using official connections to suppress the other party will end up with money, and no one can do anything about it." The other party is just enriching the officials who receive money from both sides. Gradually, everyone realizes that this trick cannot help the other party, so they are less likely to use this method again. "
Yuan Tao said: "If that's the case, then just spend money to solve it. Why does Boss Dai need to be so nervous?"
Dai Yingda said: "Shopkeeper Yuan doesn't know that the Department of Salt Transportation Envoy in Huaidu is a big yamen. In addition to the salt transportation envoy in charge, there are also official positions such as transportation judge, promotion and promotion, plus those who work underneath. There are at least a hundred people who need to be taken care of!”
Yuan Tao misunderstood Dai Yingda's meaning, frowned and asked: "Is there a problem with your account turnover? That's okay. If you need money urgently, our country can also provide low-interest loans. You can borrow any amount! It's shipped from Zhoushan. It only takes a few days.”
Dai Yingda quickly explained: "This is not what I am referring to. I dare not say anything else, but the seven surnames will not be short of money!"
"If that's the case, what's the difficulty in handling this matter?" Yuan Tao felt that Dai Yingda summoned the heads of various families to discuss the matter, and even specially invited himself here. It must not only be to raise funds, but there must be something else of his own. Unawareness of the difficulties.
Dai Yingda announced the answer in a deep voice: "The Yamen of the Huaidu Salt Transport Envoy is located in Yangzhou City. If we want to resolve this matter as soon as possible, there is only one way, and that is to go to the city in person... ...Well, I might have to go several times!”
Yuan Tao suddenly realized why the Seven Great Surnames found this matter difficult to resolve. On normal days, they only need to bring enough money to visit these officials, large and small, in the Yamen and burn all the incense that should be burned, and the matter will be almost solved.
But in today's dangerous environment, salt merchants with the seven major surnames cannot even go out to Daijiazhuang to prevent being attacked by their opponents. So how can they cross the river quietly into the city and visit the government? If you don't go, you will be forced to run out of food and lose your source of income. If you go, not only will you have to spend a lot of money to settle the transfer of salt transportation between the two Huaihe Rivers, but you will also have to face possible attacks from Shanxi and Shaanxi salt merchants.
Dai Yingda also mentioned that it was not easy for Shanshan and Shaanxi salt merchants to create the current situation. It is not an exaggeration to say that they have spent a lot of money. And the other party knew that it was difficult to completely kill the seven surnames by this method, but still did it without hesitation. This was obviously not just to disgust the seven surnames for a few days, but also to use this method to force them to show up, and then use this opportunity to Use other means.
But from Yuan Tao's point of view, he certainly doesn't want the heads of the seven surnamed families to be involved in danger. If anything happens to them, there will be great variables in Jindun's mission in Yangzhou. This situation is not what Yuan Tao is happy to see. of.
Yuan Tao asked: "Visiting the government to settle matters, must you personally handle these matters?"
Dai Yingda responded: "The people below who are running errands don't need us to come in person, but for officials like Salt Transport Envoy and Tiji, it would be too rude to send their subordinates to visit. Otherwise, it will be counterproductive, so we still have to do it ourselves." It’s safe to go there once.”
Yuan Tao also thought it made sense when he heard it. After all, those high-ranking officials in the yamen need not only money, but also face. A salt merchant from Huizhou wants to beg someone to spare him a favor, but he doesn't even show his face, and just sends a few of his men over to deliver the money and that's it? I'm afraid that even if the amount of money is enough, the Yamen will deliberately make things difficult and won't let this matter go away easily.
Yuan Tao pondered: "But the risk of leaving the village and entering the city is indeed a bit high... Can't we find other solutions? Or just delay it until the situation improves. Anyway, it's all about salt transportation. Si Yamen wants to What I want is money, not forcing you to lose your family. ”
The heads of the seven major surnames discussed among themselves, and finally Dai Yingda responded: "We can't delay. For us, this is not just a matter of losses after business stagnation. People in the Yamen don't know our current situation. , if we don't show up to the Yamen, some people will really think that we are at the end of our rope, and there will definitely be people who can't stand the temptation of the enemy and make trouble for us. Now the official documents from the Yamen only say that it is an investigation, but once the charges are revealed. If you take a seat, things will become serious!”
If the Seven Big Surnames have not made a formal response to the salt industry yamen's investigation, then the Shanshan-Shaanxi salt dealers will definitely add fuel to the fire and instill some dangerous ideas into the officials, convincing them that the Seven Big Surnames have reached a stage where they are unable to resist, and that they are a piece of oil and water. Fat meat.
When someone begins to believe that the seven surnames have become the targets of others, then the situation will really become very dangerous. Because no matter how much incense money they receive from the Seven Big Surnames, it will never be as high as the income from confiscating the properties of the Seven Big Names. And once it reaches the stage of conviction, it will be difficult for the seven major surnames to resolve the trouble through the government. At that time, there may be more than one local government agency that wants to get involved in the salt transportation department. They will probably all rush over to give it a try.
Even if there were golden shields stationed in Daijiazhuang, it would not be possible to protect the seven major surnames in such a situation. The salt merchants would either accept their fate and be killed and have their homes confiscated by the government, or they would have to give up most of their real estate and go overseas. In short, it would be impossible to keep their current industry. The reason behind this is not complicated. After Dai Yingda briefly explained it, Yuan Tao already understood the seriousness of the situation. The seven surnames must react to this as soon as possible in order to prevent the other party from continuing to make moves and drag themselves into the abyss.
"In this case, we have to go to the city to fight with them!" Yuan Tao said slowly: "But this matter is extremely risky. I suggest that the fewer people come forward to deal with this matter, the better, otherwise it will be difficult to protect them. .”
Dai Yingda said happily: "Shopkeeper Yuan is willing to send someone to escort him? That would be great!"
After Jindun's people came to Yangzhou, they tried every means to persuade Yuan Tao to take the initiative, but Yuan Tao's attitude was very resolute. He just stayed at Daijiazhuang and did not intend to take any proactive measures. Dai Yingda knew that someone had to go into the city to resolve this crisis, but he thought that Jindun was unwilling to leave Daijiazhuang, so Yuan Tao probably would not send someone to carry out the escort mission. However, he did not expect that Yuan Tao would take the initiative after understanding the whole story. brought it up.
If Jindun is willing to take action, the safety factor of this trip will definitely be increased a lot. After all, the Jindun gang are professionals, and the defensive measures they take must be more rigorous and reliable, and Dai Yingda knows that the government will be somewhat wary of their identities. This may be a life-saving detail at a critical moment.
Yuan Tao said: "This matter is beyond the scope of Jindun's mission. I will not give you an answer until I ask Zhoushan for instructions."
Dai Yingda hurriedly said: "Of course, I would like to ask Shopkeeper Yuan to put in a few nice words so that General Shi can agree to Brother Jindun's participation. If this can be facilitated, Shopkeeper Yuan and the brothers participating in the operation will prepare an extra generous gift." To thank you.”
At this time, Dai Yingda no longer cares about money. He has even thought that as long as Yuan Tao is willing to help handle this matter, he will accept it even if he offers a high price. Compared with the wealth owned by the seven surnames, the money spent now is really just a small amount of money.
Yuan Tao said: "Putting this aside for now, let me ask, how many people do you plan to go?"
Dai Yingda said sternly: "Since Shopkeeper Yuan said that the fewer people there are, the better, then I will go alone. I have been to the Yamen of the Salt Transport Envoy many times, and I know how to deal with those officials. .”
Dai Yingfan, who was standing next to him, immediately objected: "This is inappropriate. My brother is the leader of the seven surnames. If something happens to you in Yangzhou City, wouldn't it cause chaos for the seven surnames and our Dai family? I think it's better to hand over this errand." Give it to me, isn’t it just a gift of money? I should be able to represent the seven surnames, right?”
Dai Yingda shook his head and said: "You have rarely dealt with these officials and don't know their various ways. It's better to stay in Daijiazhuang! If anything happens to me, I will quickly recruit Mr. Ma to come back and take charge of the overall situation. As for the Daijiazhuang , then Cheng Liang took over as the head of the family.”
Dai Yingda made arrangements for the funeral in a few words, and was obviously prepared for the worst. Seeing that he took the initiative to take on this dangerous task at such a critical moment, Yuan Tao couldn't help but secretly admire his courage and responsibility. It seemed that it was no accident that this person became a leader among these salt merchants.
Dai Yingda took the initiative to ask for help, and several other family heads secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Dai Yingda did not directly designate a target, or decide by drawing lots, otherwise if they were to take over this task, it would probably take a long time to consider whether to take this risk.
At present, the heads of various families also spared no effort to praise Dai Yingda, and they patted their chests and said that in the future, the seven major surnames would still look up to the Dai family.
Yuan Tao watched with cold eyes and felt that Dai Yingda was indeed good at taking advantage of opportunities. In a crisis situation like this, he stabilized the morale of the army with just a few words and further enhanced his prestige among the seven surnames. After this matter is settled, if the opponent's conspiracy can be successfully resolved and the property of the Seven Great Surnames can be preserved, no one will dare to disagree with him in the future.
Of course, to achieve such a status, you must first bear the corresponding risks. Even if Yuan Tao temporarily agreed to the matter, he was not completely sure whether he could successfully escort Dai Yingda. He now has no way to predict what kind of killing plan the other side will lay out, waiting for Dai Yingda to step into it on his own. If the fighting really starts in Yangzhou City, the situation will be much more complicated than defending Daijiazhuang.
After understanding the general situation, Yuan Tao returned to his station and sent a telegram back to Zhoushan to ask Shi Diwen for instructions on the matter. From a personal point of view, Yuan Tao does not want to take this risk, but as Dai Yingda analyzed, if no response is made as soon as possible, the foundation of the Huizhou salt merchants in Yangzhou may be shaken. All the support measures Haihan has taken have fallen into vain. If he wants to set foot in the prosperous market of Yangzhou in the future, he may face more difficulties than now.
So from Haihan's point of view, trying to keep the seven surnames is the current goal. Whether it is Shanshan salt merchants or government agencies, Jindun must try its best to resolve these troubles. Yuan Tao explained the stakes in the message and expressed his willingness to personally lead the team to carry out this high-risk special mission.
Two hours later, he received a call back from Zhoushan. In his reply, Shi Diwen expressed support for his decision and asked him to try his best to ensure the safety of Dai Yingda on the premise of self-protection, but not to directly intervene in the negotiations between the Seven Surnames and the local government, so as not to trigger higher-level diplomacy dispute.
After reading the call back, Yuan Tao secretly breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Zhoushan can support his decision, he can also let go of his hands and feet to make deployments. If the other party really planned to attack Dai Yingda while he was in and out of the city, then he wouldn't mind showing off his real skills to let these salt merchants know what a professional team is.
However, before taking action, Yuan Tao still needs to carefully discuss the specific arrangements with Dai Yingda. At the same time, he must make corresponding arrangements for the left-behind personnel and prepare a response plan for possible situations.
(End of chapter)