"You are a salt merchant, and you make a living by selling grain?" Zhu Su said with sarcasm. "Just now you opened your mouth, Your Highness is young, but you kept silent, Your Majesty doesn't know."
"Why, do you really think that this king is young and ignorant and is ready to draw chestnuts from the fire?"
"How dare you common people? Your Highness's words are serious. Your Highness please calm down."
Ma Fengsun lowered his head and kept begging for mercy, looking scared, but the eyes hidden in the shadows revealed a bit of disdain and cunning. "Your Highness, Your Highness, Cao Min is the family member of General Yang, the commander of the Suzhou Guard."
"We, the Ming Dynasty, are members of our own family!"
"...Yang Lu?" Zhu Su was startled, remembering Commander Yang who had the same smiling face.
"Ah, yes, yes, yes. It's Commander Yang who just had a banquet with His Highness a few days ago!" Ma Feng and Sun Mei said with a smile, but there was a hint of imperceptible pride deep in his eyes.
"Cao Min is the uncle of Commander Yang in the guard station. To be honest, the Yang empress in the palace is also Cao Min's niece!"
"Heh." Zhu Su laughed. Sure enough, there are people in the court who are good at doing things. This man named Ma can grasp the influence of a wealthy state like Suzhou. As expected, he has some connections in the court.
Since ancient times, salt merchants have not been easy to get along with. They are fighting merchants among merchants and the most difficult to mess with. This group often has a very high status in both black and white circles. The rich ones are not as powerful as him, the powerful ones are not as well-connected as him, and the ones with strong connections are not as many thugs as him!
Let’s not talk about other things, let’s talk about the previous batch. Among the salt merchants in Suzhou decades ago, who was the most famous person? Zhang Shicheng!
Zhang Shicheng, who dominates Suzhou and competes for the world, was born as a salt merchant!
Salt merchants paid salt fees to the Yamen in exchange for salt and were led to transport and sell salt in all directions. When transporting salt, it is often necessary to carry more "private salt" than the amount of salt. In order to market these private salts, salt merchants often have salt transporters who are loyal to them, called "salt sticks." There are even some salt merchants themselves who are good players in the world.
As a salt merchant in Suzhou, Ma Fengsun had the support of powerful generals like Yang Lu and Concubine Yang in the court. He was countless times more "local" than other "local snakes". No wonder he was not very afraid of his own. "Strong Dragon".
Thinking about it, he also heard that he was polite to Yang Lu before, and Yang Lu lent him another thousand soldiers, which was considered a "kindness", so he dared to show this relationship to his face, thinking that he would definitely be lenient. Bar?
After all, hoarding is not a good thing to talk about, but in reality, it is not a big deal. After all, there are currently no provisions in the law that address this aspect.
Even if the Suzhou magistrate and others go to Beijing to sue, given Concubine Yang's face, they will only be fined a few taels of silver and settle the matter, right?
In the compartment below, Ma Fengsun looked at Zhu Su knocking on the armrest thoughtfully, and couldn't help but raise the corner of his mouth with a hint of control. Sure enough, as he expected, the young prince turned against him and weighed the pros and cons.
Earlier, my nephew, who was the commander, had said that Prince Wu was just a child at heart, and he just wanted to show his support in front of his emperor.
The "combination of kindness and power" with one move has frightened so many people into taking out their food. This is enough to make a difference, and they will definitely not come back to bite this tough hedgehog like him.
Moreover, even if the shipping of military rations is really profitable, can he still lose his place with his nephew's connections in the military?
Why pay such a high price to fill the bottomless pit of King Wu?
Ma Fengsun thought that Zhu Su would never take action, but he didn't know that Zhu Su was already looking down from above and caught the smile at the corner of his mouth.
He was really weighing the pros and cons. It is true that he deliberately wanted to "kill the chicken to scare the monkeys" from the beginning and wanted to "force" a few disobedient businessmen to rebel.
But now the person who came forward was unexpectedly related to Yang Lu, the commander of the Suzhou Guard, which forced him to make some considerations.
There is no harm in a businessman harboring resentment. It can be used as bait to catch turtles in an urn.
But if he was forced to rebel against the Yifu Guards... Although he had no intention of relying on the unreliable guy from Suzhou Guard Yang Lu. But if this person grows branches outside the knot, he really has to weigh it up.
After much thought, Zhu Su decided to take the man named Ma out alone and teach him a lesson. At first glance, Yang Lu looked like a selfish person. Although Ma Fengsun and he were close relatives, he had finally climbed to the position of commander and would not necessarily stand up for this mere uncle.
Secondly, while I was thinking about the pros and cons from above, some of the businessmen below who had agreed to "provide food" had expressed regret and heartache. If this horse salt merchant is allowed to run free, I am afraid that these merchants who have been obediently serving food will definitely be resentful of him when they return!
It's the lesser of two evils, and besides, I really don't like the person named Ma.
"Di Meng." Zhu Su said.
"What are your orders, Your Highness?" Upon hearing this, a soldier standing beside Zhu Su immediately turned around and half-knelt down in response. The clattering sound of armor as he squatted down also made Ma Fengsun, who was thinking that the overall situation was decided, stunned on the spot. The other merchants who were watching could not help but hold their breath and concentrate.
"In my Ming Dynasty, no matter whether I am an official or a general, I will be honest and self-responsible. There are also people in the palace who understand the righteousness and never interfere in politics."
"This salt merchant surnamed Ma dares to arbitrarily accuse a general of the imperial court and mention the name of a concubine in my father's palace in public in order to suppress the king." Zhu Su said calmly.
"Gah?" Ma Fengsun was immediately confused. This... isn't this just talking nonsense? When did I falsely accuse the general? As for Concubine Yang’s name, she didn’t even say a word about it!
"I have calculated with my fingers that this person named Ma must be relying on the name of General Yang and Concubine Yang to dare to hoard. He must also do a lot of illegal things on weekdays."
"Otherwise, how could he, a salt merchant, save so much food?"
"Go and check it out. You will be fined and deducted what you deserve. This is the first major case that I have encountered since I came to Suzhou. There can be no ambiguity."
"Yes!" Di Meng held back his laughter and tried to look dignified with a straight face. The merchants below all looked strange. His Highness has a greedy mouth, and what's more, just a few calculations? Your Highness, what kind of brand new method is this?
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty, the common people are willing to donate! The common people are willing to donate 70,000 stones!" Ma Fengsun's knees weakened in shock and he screamed immediately. He never expected that the prince would actually use the matter of hoarding food to put a label on his head as "the name of General Yang and Concubine Yang".
Although there is no prohibition in the teaching, when it comes to "virtue", neither Concubine Yang in the palace nor Yang Lu, the commander, will definitely stand up for it.
If you want to get ahead, you are betting on your official career and the favor of the emperor in the harem!
One's own family knows one's own affairs. If they are involved with these things, it is really hard to say whether my nephews and nieces who are separated by a layer will miss my "close relative"!
"You gave in quickly. It's too late." Zhu Su sneered. For this kind of reactionary who only knows how to be afraid at the critical moment, even if he stops his action at this time, he will still hate himself deeply. In this case, why not take the food from his home first?
Anyway, you have to hate it if you take it, and you have to hate it if you don't take it. Everyone on the left and right is hating them, so why not give Su Song victims more confidence first?
"Your Highness! The common people are willing to donate 80,000, no, 90,000..." Ma Yanshang continued to increase the amount. I have to say that this person is indeed a ruthless person. Once he understands the direction of the wind, he will not hesitate to spend money. It was a pity that Zhu Su had already made up his mind to operate on him. Not only was he unmoved by this, he even raised the corner of his mouth with the intention of humiliating and teasing him.
"Ah, this person has such a sharp voice!" Zhu Laowu looked frightened with his hands on his heart. "Could it be that you want to get violent and hurt someone?"
"I am still young and cannot withstand such a fright. Di Meng, please shut up this man and drag him down!"
"My body is weak and I will fall ill soon!"
"Yes." Di Meng twitched the corner of his mouth. Fortunately, he had received professional training and successfully kept his face serious as he walked on. In Ma Fengsun's horrified and disbelieving eyes, he knocked him unconscious with the handle of a knife and dragged him out of the banquet hall.
(End of chapter)
