The chief elder of the Ji clan saw that Fan Li was so determined, and there was really no better way to think of at the moment.
He took out a tiger charm from his sleeve, which was a token of the Ji clan. He also told Fan Li about a secret place where Ji's property was stored on the outskirts of Zhengyi.
"Let's go. I'm old and incompetent and can't preserve my legacy. Now I only hope that this person can turn the tide and save our lives."
So, after Fan Li resigned, he took the token and the tiger talisman and came to the secret room again. Duanmu Ci had been waiting for a long time. When he saw Fan Li coming back, he couldn't help but look forward to it:
"Brother Fan is back, what do you think?"
Fan Li took out the tiger talisman and told Duanmu Ci the location.
"Now... there are more than a hundred members of the Ji clan, as well as Mr. Ziming's beloved daughter, but they all rely on Zigong!"
Duanmu Ci also nodded solemnly:
"I understand that I will never let down Brother Fan!"
Duanmuci took the tiger talisman and sneaked out from the back door under the cover of night. Then he returned to Guanyi and rested peacefully for the night.
In the early morning of the next day, Duanmu Ci first followed the address given by Fan Li and went to the place where Jishi stored his belongings.
After taking out the tokens and tiger charms, the caretaker showed no suspicion and directly guided Duanmu Cishi to the warehouse.
Duanmu Ci walked inside and saw that this warehouse was originally divided into two warehouses: inner and outer.
Now there are only some scattered goods stored in the outer warehouse. Obviously, the bulk of the goods had already been looted by the furious Chinese people.
Walk further inside and come to a wall. Then several people worked together to push open the wall. Obviously this is the inner treasury of the Ji clan.
I saw a bunch of sword coins, one hundred in bunches, which took up half of the inner treasury.
Duanmu Ci roughly estimated the value in his mind, and did not move a penny. After exiting the warehouse, he returned to the official post.
Later, he found a small vendor from Weiguo, and while getting close to him, he promised us high profits.
So they pretended to be Qi Shang, and used Ji Clan's wealth to buy a large amount of sea salt owned by Qi Shang on the market. And all the salt was transported to Weiguo.
Duanmu Ci has his own warehouse in Weiguo, so this matter is not difficult for Duanmu Ci.
On the other hand, because Qi State is far away from Zheng State, it is impossible for Qi State's sea salt to be replenished at once.
As for the unscrupulous retail vendors, seeing that salt was in such short supply, they could not buy more goods, so they raised their prices one after another.
As a result, the price of salt in Zheng State was immediately shot up to sky-high prices!
The people in Zheng Yi could not afford to eat salt for a while, and the ruling minister of Zheng Guo, Si Zhen, seeing this, knew that someone in Zheng Yi must be deliberately hyping up sea salt.
To be cautious, he simply closed down the salt market temporarily and let the officials regulate the salt market.
He only hoped to wait until the sea salt from Qi State was in place before further liberalizing the salt market.
But his move indirectly provoked a conflict between Qi State and their Zheng State!
And privately, the high price of salt directly caused people in Zheng Yi to panic.
Duanmu Ci knew that his plan had been completed, and at this time he began to spread rumors, saying that the current skyrocketing prices, especially the high price of salt, were entirely due to the innocent suppression of the Ji clan.
Just because what Jishi originally bought was the cheap and high-purity Bachu Well salt, and merchants from Qi State wanted to monopolize the salt market, so they encouraged the officials to try their best to suppress Jishi.
As a result, the melon-eating people who originally surrounded the Jifu were easily incited and supported Jishi one after another!
And asked the officials to let the Ji clan come forward to suppress prices.
Just like this, Jishi suddenly became the "light of domestic products" in the eyes of Zheng people.
It's extremely ironic.
Si Ming also didn't understand the reason. He was in a high position, so naturally he couldn't discern the truth.
But he had previously indulged Qi merchants in their business operations in Zheng. Faced with the current predicament, he was naturally to blame.
Therefore, he had to "admit" that all this was done deliberately by Tian's merchants.
As for the Tian merchants, he was also quite angry.
However, for Tian's merchants, they were actually wronged. Although they really wanted to make a lot of money in Zheng State, they even replaced the Ji clan's business in Zheng Yi. However, they have never wanted to control the situation and set the price of salt so high.
Therefore, they also investigated the matter secretly.
However, since Duanmu Ci was very efficient in his work and did not leave any loopholes, they could only find out the heads of a small group of "guards" at most.
In the end, Si Xie was really helpless, and he was glad that he had not completely allowed the "Chinese" to break through the temple before this.
In desperation, he had to reopen Jishi's large and small shops to see if he could suppress the high salt price.
After all, salt prices are crucial in this era. And when it is not controlled, other prices will inevitably rise with the tide.
Since the Tian family's caravan is unreliable, moving the Ji family out again can be considered a method.
As a result, those who originally surrounded the Sacrifice Mansion dispersed one after another, and those who did not disperse were directly driven away by the officers and soldiers.
The siege of Jifu was temporarily eased, and businesses of all sizes gradually reopened.
However, the problem is not solved here. At least, Duanmu Cihuan didn't want to stop there.
As for the Ji family, since they did not know the existence of the "Wei people", they would not buy salt from them, but would get Bachu's well salt from other channels.
And Bachu's well salt cannot be completely in place for a while, so the high price still cannot be changed.
Duanmuci sneaked into the Jifu again and met Fan Li again.
Duanmu Ci did not hide anything and said directly:
"Brother Fan, a lot of Qi salt has been stored in Wei State with the money that was given to the clan sacrificers before. But we can't take it out now. We can only wait until the clan sacrifice business group can leave, and then withdraw from the Lu state. At that time, if we throw all these salts out together, we might be able to make a lot of money!"
"My master once said: 'The people can let it go, but they can't make it known'! These are all their own faults. From Ci's point of view, there is no need to worry about them anymore!"
Of course Fan Li also knew that the prices in Zheng Yi were now ridiculously high. If Duanmuci did this, especially if the Ji clan evacuated en masse at that time, Zheng Yi would definitely fall into panic again.
By then, the people of Zhengyi may really have no choice but to complain that the sky is not responding and the earth is not functioning properly.
Therefore, Duanmu Ci continued to add:
"In this way, not only can the Ji clan make back all its losses, but it can also further sow discord between Qi and Zheng. It can be said to kill two birds with one stone!"
Fan Li had no objection to this. The people of Zheng State besieged the Jifu, putting both him and Guang'er in danger. It is impossible to say that he is not angry.
What's more, he was from Chu and had no feelings for Zheng Guo. Therefore, he agreed to Duanmu Ci's proposal at this time.
Fan Li then began to plan for the relocation of the Ji family.
…
On this day, Si Xie suddenly summoned Fan Li. Fan Li had no choice but to go and meet Si Xie. Si Xie looked at the young man in front of him, and he was actually no stranger to him.
At that time, Li Ran came to Zhengyi with Ye Yi's army. He had been ordered by Feng Duan to defend the city. Later, the person who came to persuade him to open the city was Fan Li.
When Si Zhen saw Fan Li, he didn't speak at first.
Seeing that Si Zhen was silent, Fan Li had no choice but to bow forward and say clearly:
"Sir, the price of salt has stabilized now. Although it is still at a high level, it will be completely stabilized only when the salt from the outside is replenished. Therefore, it only takes a while for it to stabilize! "
"It's just that... my clan caravan can't leave the city yet. If we only rely on hawkers to resell, there's no guarantee that they won't make profits from it."
Si Xie narrowed his eyes:
"Oh? If that's the case, how should we deal with it?"
"Of course we need our Ji clan caravan to be able to enter and exit freely."
Si Ming knew what he was asking, but remained silent for a moment:
"It's just... you Ji clan won't take the opportunity to run away, right?"
Fan Li smiled slightly, shook his head and said:
"Your Excellency, you are overly worried. Zheng Yi is the foundation of the Ji clan. The Ji clan has been established in Zheng for hundreds of years, but where can they escape? What's more, it is just a small accident now, so what can the Ji clan do? Will you just leave?"
Simin couldn't help but smile when he heard this.
"Haha, don't be offended by Fan Li. Just because the sacrifice of the clan is very important to the State of Zheng, and the State of Zheng cannot do without the sacrifice of the clan at the moment, so I don't hope that something like this will happen. What's more, at the moment, Lu The country is about to attack our country of Zheng, and Li Ran is in the country of Lu now. I don’t blame you for worrying about where the Ji family will go!"
After hearing this, Fan Li couldn't help but think about it, and then continued to reply:
"Although Li doesn't know what happened, this is definitely not Mr. Ziming's intention. Mr. Ziming has always cared about Zheng Guo, and Yang Hu was a retainer who betrayed the master, so it was not enough to do this. It’s strange. So, I hope Sir Si can understand it clearly!”
Si Xie pursed her lips:
"Haha, that Li Ziming... although he looks kind-hearted, he is actually just a hypocritical and treacherous person! I don't know if you knew about my father's death, but Li Ziming is guilty of an unforgivable crime!"
Today, I’m here to make peace with you! The Ji clan's caravan can return to normal, but the Ji clan members, including Li Ran's daughter, are absolutely not allowed to leave the Ji clan's mansion! Li Ran's daughter is in Jifu, and I can keep her safe for the time being, but once she leaves the house, life or death will be unpredictable! "
Si Xie's words were full of threats.
Fan Li continued to apologize and said with a smile:
"No! This is natural. The young master will never leave the Jifu."
