lovenovelstory Chapter 271 Private Salt Network
Chapter 271 Private Salt Network
Chapter 271 Private Salt Network
There aren't many days left in April.
After returning, Shao Shuyi spent most of his time training his troops, except for purchasing a batch of cotton cloth, silk, raw silk, and silkworm cocoons for Xia Zheng Silk Shop through Huangtian Trading Company.
The two newly formed teams, in particular, trained the most rigorously, causing everyone to complain endlessly.
But complaining won't help. If you're peasant soldiers and you say that drills every five days are too frequent and you can't stand it, I won't argue with you. But you're not part-time, you're a full-time soldier, someone who makes a living from this job, so don't waste your breath.
Wu Meng's hands were sore from slaughtering pigs, and he sent buckets of pig offal to Chong Sheng Temple. What a peaceful Buddhist sanctuary had become filled with a stench.
The meat that couldn't be sold was also bought up, basically to give the boys extra meals and nutrition, and then to train them like crazy.
It wasn't until early May that Shao Shuyi left training and arrived at the narrow farmland area west of Chongsheng Temple and east of Yaqian Port, ready to harvest winter wheat with the families of the soldiers.
Actually, there wasn't much land; on average, each household had less than five mu (approximately 0.33 acres), and even if they harvested it all, there wouldn't be much grain. But seeing the vast fields of golden wheat brought joy and boosted morale. Although agricultural commercialization is commonplace these days, relying on buying things is never a reassuring thing.
During breaks in the harvest, Shao Shuyi would sit in the fields and listen to news from the outside world.
"What? Your brother is coming to visit?" Shao Shuyi put down his sickle, wiped his sweat, and looked at Yu Yuan in surprise.
Yu Yuan nodded, his expression somewhat unnatural: "I couldn't even stay home for the New Year. I really couldn't stand it. Actually, I didn't want them to come. Maybe they'll—maybe—"
"What else do you want?" Shao Shuyi asked.
"They're even forcing me to get married," Yu Yuan said, head bowed.
Shao Shuyi smiled and said, "That's normal. Gou Nu is getting married next month, and I have to go to Pudong. Before we knew it, all the brothers have reached this age."
After saying that, Shao Shuyi added, "It's good that your brother has come. After the Spring Festival travel fleet departs, the canal administration will be quiet for a while. I haven't had a chance to thank him for the nautical charts last time, so you must stay for a few days this time. I'll approve your leave, so you can take your brother on a good tour of Wuxi and Jiangyin."
Yu Yuan responded with an "oh".
"How are Lu Chaoen, Jiang Cheng, and Wang Xing? Can they handle your workload?" Shao Shuyi asked.
Yu Yuan thought for a moment and said, "Lu Chaoen has already mastered it, so it shouldn't be a problem to hand it over to him now. However, he's not focused on this; I heard he's still thinking about taking the imperial examinations."
Shao Shuyi was speechless. "You've already worked your way up to be an accountant for a triad, and you still want to take the civil service exam? What are you thinking?"
"Jiang Cheng is Lu Chaoen's assistant. He's quite quick at accounting, but he's a bit slow-witted. He can only handle ordinary tasks and can't work independently," Yu Yuan continued. "Wang Xing is still learning and is quite diligent. A few days ago, Yang Mao, one of Mo Tianyou's men, came over. There was no one else in the commune, so Jiang Cheng was the one who received him. During the meal, they talked about purchasing grain from Wuxi. Yang Mao was very happy and said he was willing to offer a good price."
"Not bad." Shao Shuyi nodded, thinking to himself that Wang Xing could be given more attention and training to see if he could eventually take charge of a region and assist military commanders in handling people's livelihood affairs.
"Han De from Yangshe has been promoted to commander of a thousand households. He said he's going to hold a banquet at Dayanlou to celebrate. He's asking if you want to go," Yu Yuan said, bringing up another matter.
"I'm not going." Shao Shuyi refused without hesitation. "I'll just say I'm harvesting wheat and don't have time."
"Okay, I'll talk to him when I get back," Yu Yuan said.
"How did Han De suddenly get promoted?" Shao Shuyi asked.
"I heard that the Han army is about to be mobilized. After breaking his leg last time, Commander Yelü Ying has not fully recovered. Upon hearing that there is going to be an expedition, he immediately resigned and handed over the command to Han De."
"Off to war? Where to?"
"I heard we're going to Jurong."
"To wipe out Zhu Mantun's tribe at Yidao Palace?"
"Hearing that the palace was out of food and that they could not plunder down the mountain, Zhu Mantun led his troops to break through to the north. When they passed Jurong County, they plundered for a day and repelled the government troops that followed. They fled north to Huashan and joined forces with Zhu Sanshan's troops." Yu Yuan said, "Now the government refers to these two groups as 'Huashan bandits' and has issued orders to the Yidu New Army (Jiqing Road), Huaian (Taiping Road), Changzhou (Changzhou), and the Tongshi Han Army (Jiangyin and Changshu), totaling 40,000 households, to mobilize troops to surround the Huashan bandits."
"That's quite a mobilization," Shao Shuyi laughed. "They say there are four Wanhu Prefectures, but three of them are lower-level Wanhu Prefectures. It would be good if they could raise five or six thousand soldiers. If they can't take down Zhu Mantun and Zhu Sanshan, I don't know what to do. Should we transfer troops from Shizilu (Pingjiang Road) and Hubaoyi (Huzhou Road) as well? Or should we draw troops from Yangzhou in Jiangbei? In that case, the Prince of Zhennan would have to be the commander."
Yu Yuan hummed in agreement, then continued, "Actually, Han De had hinted to you, brother, that you should take a group of men and go west with him, just in case something really went wrong and it would be difficult to handle. I know you don't want to get involved in these things, so I refused. Commander Han was not very happy at the time."
"Let him be unhappy then, we won't indulge him now." Shao Shuyi sneered, "You've been out and about so many times, you know a thing or two about the abilities of the government troops. Leaving aside distant matters, what can the men of Dadu do besides throwing tantrums and playing tricks? When the Han Chinese interpreters besieged the Wang residence, they were initially full of confidence, but in the end, those few notorious bandits escaped. If the Han Chinese interpreters are like this, how much better can the Yidu New Army be? After the two Zhus merged, the mountain roads are narrow, and no matter how many soldiers there are, they won't be able to deploy effectively. I think the government troops will suffer losses. The name 'Huashan Bandits' will probably spread far and wide, let's wait and see."
"Okay." Yu Yuan also felt that this was none of his business and nodded in agreement.
******
Yu Yuan left on the third day of the fifth lunar month, traveling on the shallow-water boat Pingwu, carrying 70,000 catties of Huai salt to Huangtian Port.
He disembarked here and gathered a group of boatmen to pull the Pingwu ship to Wuxi.
Gao Daqiang led his team to escort the 70,000 catties of salt to the warehouse rented by Huangtian Trading Company on the Grand Canal. Part of the salt was handed over to Mo Tianyou in Wuxi, while the rest continued south to Yixing. On the return trip, a batch of grain would be taken back to Matuosha.
That evening, more than ten small boats carrying 20,000 catties of Huai salt sailed into Huangtian Port, where Song Shen, the representative of the Song family of Changzhou, had been waiting for two days.
"Why is Master Song in such a hurry?" Yu Yuan was having dinner with Lu, Jiang, and Wang when he heard the news. He wiped his mouth slightly, ran ahead, took a deep breath, and then slowly pushed open the door and entered.
"We're out of salt, how can we not be anxious?" Song Shen sighed, then tentatively asked, "I saw a boat heading south today, and the boatman said it was carrying salt. Is that true?"
Upon hearing this, Yu Yuan sighed inwardly.
Brother Shao said he needs to keep an eye on his subordinates and make them keep their mouths shut; it doesn't seem like that's easy.
"Master Song, it's not that I don't want to give you salt, but my elder brother said that Wujin and Jinling counties will use salt from someone else." Yu Yuan looked into Song Shen's eyes and said sincerely, "Today, one portion of this salt will be sent to Wuxi, and the other portion will be sent to Changshu."
"Changshu Prefecture? Isn't that Pingjiang Road? I've heard that Suzhou and Hangzhou are places of trade and commerce, so smuggled salt isn't easy to sell there, right? Why not give it to me?" Song Shen said somewhat eagerly.
Yu Yuan shook his head and said, "There are indeed salt merchants in Changshu Prefecture, but they don't interfere with the private salt wells. There used to be a man named Zhang Sanniu selling salt there, but he's disappeared recently."
"Then why did you come to our door in the first place?" Song Shen asked, displeased.
Yu Yuan blushed.
Previously, in order to advance into Changzhou Prefecture, they did send people to the Song and Lu families, saying that they could supply them with private salt to replace Zhu and Chen.
The Lu family hasn't replied yet, but the Song family arrived yesterday, and we've been waiting for two days.
As for the person he mentioned who "disappeared," he was referring to Zhang Sanniu. It wasn't that he had really disappeared, but rather that he had been chased away by Wang Bai—after getting to know him, they already knew that Wang Bai's real name was "Wang Kerou," and that he was a well-known manor lord and wealthy man in Taizhou, who kept many people under his command.
In early April, Wang Bai personally led Li Huafu, Zhang Si, Zhang Jiusi and others to Changshu, where they fought a fierce battle with Zhang Sanniu's men, killing and wounding more than 20 of his followers. Sanniu was no match for them and fled to Suzhou, where he has now indeed disappeared.
With Wang Kerou putting in so much effort, the task of supplying goods to Changshu Prefecture was entrusted to him.
The 20,000 catties of Huai salt transported today by those dozen or so small boats belonged to Wang Kerou. It will first stop at Huangtian Port, where the newly opened branch of Shengye Trading Company—right next to Huangtian Trading Company—will settle the payment for it. Then it will be sent to Fushan Port to be settled with a local Mr. Sun.
After Zhang San Niu's defeat and retreat, this man was the first to seek refuge with them, so they immediately gave him 0 catties of salt as a set example.
In truth, this Master Sun and Song Shen are the same kind of people. They are both influential and capable individuals in the local area. Entrusting the salt to them for sale is worry-free and effortless.
Before he left, Brother Shao told him that the main task this year was still to "lay a solid foundation".
For Yu Yuan, his job was to quickly make contact with various powerful figures and gradually take over the chaotic private salt market that had been left in disarray after Zhu Chen's death.
It was only now that Song Shen learned that the supply of salt for Jinling and Wujin counties had been entrusted to a "Jiangbei man," and he was not very happy. He said, "Yu She, does Master Cao not have any salt? Jinling and Wujin counties are the heart of Changzhou. My family sells no less than 25,000 catties of salt every month. Can they afford to supply us? If you have salt, send me a batch first, and we can negotiate with that Jiangbei man later, how about that?"
Yu Yuan shook his head again and said, "Rules are rules. Without instructions, one cannot act arbitrarily."
"Sigh!" Song Shen sighed heavily, "Why are you so rigid? Do you know that my nephew married Tu Miandai's youngest daughter?"
Yu Yuan was taken aback.
The Changzhou Wanhu Prefecture has had five Darughachi to date: Hadan, Baitabai (Hadan's son), Yaoyao (Baitabai's brother), Tumiandai (Yaoyao's son), and Shoutong (Tumiandai's brother). The first four have passed away, and Shoutong is the current Darughachi.
Song Shen's cousin, Song Zhizhong, was the deputy commander of the Changzhou Wanhu Prefecture, so it is not surprising that they were related by marriage.
Upon hearing this, he suddenly asked, "I heard that the Huashan bandits are causing quite a ruckus in Jurong. Has the Changzhou garrison sent troops?"
Song Shen thought for a moment and decided there was nothing wrong with talking about it, so he nodded and said, "We've received the order, but the higher-ups aren't too keen on it and are dragging their feet. We don't know when we'll set off. Besides, the Changzhou Army is a subordinate ten-thousand-household prefecture, which only has three thousand men to begin with, but only about fifteen thousand are actually usable. We can't send out many soldiers. Sigh, let's not talk about this anymore. Salt, give me salt."
Considering Song Shen's background, Yu Yuan did not refuse directly this time, but said that he would ask Brother Cao again. It was not easy to fool Song Shen.
Early the next morning, before Song Shen even arrived, someone from Jiading Prefecture on Pingjiang Road came knocking on his door again.
The smuggling of salt spread like wildfire.
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