"What is going on here, and who asked you to bring so many people here?"
After Cao Shunhe finished speaking, he turned his gaze to Zheng Shizhong and asked.
"Reporting to the Governor, I have received news that people have gathered in front of your house to cause trouble! I am really too worried, so I acted like this."
Facing the doubts from Cao Shun and the governor, Zheng Shizhong became nervous and sweat broke out on his forehead as he responded.
"Then look at the people here, do they look like they are here to cause trouble?"
"Are they carrying any weapons? Or are you just trying to incriminate yourself, so why bother!"
Cao Shunhe obviously had no intention of letting Zheng Shizhong go, but followed up and asked.
"My lord governor, this is a lowly official who has offended your lord because of his poor thinking. Please forgive me!"
When Zheng Shizhong saw this, he quickly knelt on the ground and begged Cao Shunhe.
"Forget it, I will spare you for now. If there is a next time, I will never forgive you lightly!"
"have you understood?"
Cao Shunhe took in the expression on Zheng Shizhong's face and said calmly.
"Yes, I must remember the governor's teachings!"
Seeing that the matter was over, Zheng Shizhong breathed a sigh of relief and said.
"Well, get up."
Cao Shunhe glanced at Zheng Shizhong and ordered.
"Yes, Lord Governor!"
Zheng Shizhong dared to get up from the ground only after getting Cao Shunhe's permission.
"Tell me, what is going on here?"
"Yes, Your Majesty the Governor, I will tell you the whole story right now!"
Seeing him asking about the situation, Zheng Shizhong gritted his teeth and immediately chose to tell Cao Shunhe everything he knew about the situation so far.
"Reporting to the Governor, this is what happened! I was working in the Yamen earlier, and suddenly my guards came to report that there was a group of common people outside clamoring for the government to punish the salt merchants!"
"After the official learned about the incident, he did not hesitate at all and quickly came forward to understand the specific situation."
"Then what these people said is true that the price of salt in the city has increased from seven cents per catty to sixteen cents per catty?"
Cao Shunhe became a little impatient and immediately interrupted.
"Governor... Your Majesty, all this is true. The price of salt in the city has indeed begun to soar. It has now reached seventeen cents per pound!"
Zheng Shizhong saw the impatience on Cao Shunhe's face. After hesitating for a long time, he mustered up the courage to respond.
"And as the prefect, not only did you not punish this group of salt merchants who hoarded goods and made huge profits, you instead targeted the defenseless people!"
"Tell me, are you worthy of being a prefect?"
After listening to Zheng Shizhong's defense, Cao Shunhe became furious and immediately reprimanded.
"My Lord Governor, I don't want this to happen to you! You know, I am from a humble background and have no foundation in the court."
"And those salt merchants are very capable in the court! Even many high-ranking officials in the capital serve as their backers. The lower officials really can't afford to offend them!"
"Perhaps if I arrest someone today, I will have to respectfully ask them out tomorrow! The day after tomorrow, I will be impeached on unfounded charges and sent to prison."
"Who is clean in the officialdom?"
Zheng Shizhong's words made Cao Shunhe fall into silence.
As the governor of Jiangxi, he knew very well that the energy behind this group of salt merchants headed by the Liang family, Li family, and He family should not be underestimated!
At the beginning, as early as when he took office, Cao Shunhe was aware of this problem and wanted to try to solve this group of salt merchants.
But Cao Shunhe's attempts, without exception, all failed!
Later, Cao Shunhe was unwilling to give in and wrote corresponding memorials to the court, but every time they fell into disgrace and received no response.
After a series of failures, Cao Shunhe gradually gave up on this idea. He just wanted to do his best during his term of office to benefit the people of Jiangxi!
Later, he always turned a blind eye to the behavior of this group of salt merchants, as long as it did not involve the bottom line, and the two sides always lived in peace.
And Cao Shunhe's inaction for many years has also fueled the arrogance of this group of salt merchants!
They also became more and more unscrupulous in their actions. Not only did they begin to bribe court officials, but they also secretly raised private soldiers at home in the name of guardian servants.
And when Cao Shunhe found that he was being ignored and under constant surveillance, it was too late.
Jiangxi's local chief envoys, inspector generals, and capital commanders have all sided with the salt merchants!
And this means that civil affairs, supervision, military affairs and other powers are gradually out of the control of Cao Shun and the Jiangxi governor.
It's just that this group of people didn't dare to come openly. At least on the surface, they were extremely respectful to Cao Shun and the Jiangxi governor!
When their own interests are not involved, this group of people usually choose to follow Cao Shunhe's orders to prevent the two sides from completely breaking up.
"Okay, I also know your difficulties."
After listening to Zheng Shizhong's self-report, Cao Shunhe turned to comfort him.
"I would like to thank you, Lord Governor, for your understanding!"
Seeing that Cao Shunhe wanted to spare him, Zheng Shizhong quickly burst into tears of gratitude.
"But, the price of salt in the city has increased so much now, which is not a normal phenomenon!"
"The common people cannot afford such a high price! Let's go and notify the heads of the Liang family, He family, and Li family on my behalf."
"Let them come to the government office as soon as possible to discuss how to stabilize the price of salt as soon as possible!"
Cao Shunhe glanced at Zheng Shizhong and ordered.
"Yes, Lord Governor, I will definitely tell you the truth!"
After Zheng Shizhong responded, he led a large number of his guards and left quickly.
"Everyone should disperse here! After I discuss the relevant matters with them, the price of salt in the city should drop a bit."
After Cao Shunhe finished speaking, he turned his gaze to the people in front of him and said this.
"Yeah, let's all disperse!"
"If we are here now, we will only cause chaos to the governor. Let's disperse!"
Soon, under Cao Shunhe's persuasion, all the people gathered at the door dispersed.
Cao Shunhe sighed helplessly and returned to the government office.
…
After Zheng Shizhong returned, he also fulfilled his promise and sent people to deliver the news to the Liang family, Li family, and He family respectively.
Soon, after learning the news, the heads of the three families chose to gather together to discuss countermeasures.
"Everyone, what do you think? The governor invited us to go to the government office to discuss measures to stabilize the price of salt."
The head of the Liang family, Liang Hong, was a thin old man with gray hair. After he finished speaking, he picked up the cyan porcelain cup on the table and began to play with it carefully.
"Let me tell you, what else are we going to do? Can't we just pretend that this is not the case?
"Anyway, Cao Shunhe is a mere commander and has no one he can use. Let's give him face and call him Governor. If we don't give him face, we can deal with him at any time."
As soon as Liang Hong finished speaking, Li Yide stood up from his chair and gave his opinion.
Li Yide is extremely fat. How fat is he? The fat on his body trembled with his movements.
And the clothes he was wearing, even though they were the largest size, still didn't seem to fit him well.
"No, no matter what, Cao Shunhe is still the governor of Jiangxi in name! We can't completely break up with him yet."
"Right now, I think we should go to the government office."
"Although this will damage some of our interests, think about it, what we are doing this time is a business without capital. No matter whether we sell more or less, we will make a profit!"
"Let's save Cao Shun's face from the governor of Jiangxi and prevent him from jumping over the wall and doing something irrational!"
He Jin, the head of the He family, immediately retorted decisively after listening to Li Yide's words.
"Okay, let's give him some face and lower the price of salt by a few pennies!"
After listening to He Jin's analysis, Li Yide nodded in agreement.
(End of chapter)
