Late December.
More than a month has passed since the thorough investigation in Xianyang.
The First Emperor's anger greatly shocked the government and the public, and everyone in the court was in danger. After a thorough investigation, hundreds of officials in Xianyang's large and small government offices were arrested, and more than a dozen officials were dismissed or dismissed.
At present, the thorough investigation in Xianyang is gradually coming to an end.
Xianyang is very quiet in the evening.
In a brightly lit restaurant, there were seven or eight men in brocade clothes gathered together. Some of them had completely white hair and beards, some were calm and self-confident, and there were also middle-aged men with a calm face but a hint of evil in their eyes from time to time.
Everyone gathered together.
The leader is still Feng Dong.
After all the people invited gathered, Feng Dong coughed lightly, attracted everyone's attention, and said: "A lot of things happened in Xianyang during this period. Officials in various government offices were investigated and arrested, and even alchemists had their homes confiscated and their families destroyed. , but the chaos in major government offices has given us the opportunity to gain more insight into the inside story."
After Feng Dong finished speaking, everyone's eyes flickered.
Feng Dong glanced at everyone, with a cold look in his eyes, and said: "We are all businessmen, and almost all of them are well aware of the secret methods. If I, Feng, can find out, you must have heard about it a long time ago."
"More than a month ago, the government was strongly encouraging people in salt ponds and mines to increase the production of salt and pig iron."
"Currently, a lot of salt and pig iron have been stockpiled in the major salt ponds and mines in Guanzhong. The government has not handed over these salt and pig iron to us for sale. It may be that they are deliberately wary of bad things like us."
"But we have to be cautious."
Cheng Zheng said expressionlessly: "Brother Feng, do you think the court has noticed something?"
After Cheng Zheng finished speaking, the expressions of the others darkened.
Feng Dong smiled and said: "Probably not. If the government really noticed it, do you think we can still be sitting here today? The government conducted a thorough investigation this time, but several censors were imprisoned. With Qin Ting's cruelty, , how can you put merchants like us in your eyes?"
"But no matter what the court thinks, we must be cautious during this period."
"It must not be easily discovered by the government."
"Besides."
"Whether the government is targeting us or not, this move has seriously affected our plans. We have invited you here this time to renegotiate what we originally planned and whether we should continue to do it."
“Is this ship still sinking?!”
It was quiet all around.
Everyone's eyes flickered, but no one said a word.
a long time.
There was a hint of displeasure in Feng Dong's eyes, but he still kept his temper and said: "I, Feng Dong, am not talented, so I will express my opinion first. I think we should continue to be silent."
"Brother Feng, can you explain the reason?" Cao Bingsheng held his hand.
Feng Dong said: "The reason is very simple."
"money!"
"Ever since the merchant Wang Hai started to engage in commodity trading, our pursuit of merchants has been to pursue profits. Now the Qin court is tyrannical. It not only levies high commercial taxes, but also forcibly seizes the salt and iron foundation that we rely on for our livelihood. Now we and others Operating around, we can barely maintain the family’s livelihood.”
"But is this a long-term solution?"
"With our strength, we cannot compete with Qin Ting, but we can gain more benefits."
"For example, tax cuts, independent pricing, etc."
"But you have all seen what Qin Ting did. After taking over our family property, he did not really trust us, and he still had other plans secretly. If it hadn't been for this big government move, these things would have been exposed. , otherwise we will still be kept in the dark.”
"Qin Ting is unkind, so don't blame us for being unjust."
"If we continue to be tolerant, sooner or later, we will be wiped out by the Qin court. Let alone bargaining with the court, even doing business will be a problem, and we are destined to have to rely on the government."
"You can bear it, but I can't."
"The amount of salt and iron currently hoarded by the government is not enough to maintain the entire Guanzhong operation. This will also be our last chance. Once we seize this precious opportunity, we can force the court to retreat and then seek more opportunities for ourselves. Many benefits.”
"in addition."
"The government is in big trouble."
"But the Salt and Iron officials were a blessing in disguise after the last time. They were not affected too much this time. I believe that many Salt and Iron officials in Guanzhong have a lot of secret connections with you. As long as we are more agile, we may not be able to Problems were discovered by the court.”
"You guys also need to think clearly."
"The salt and iron accumulated throughout the winter is not a small amount."
"Tens of thousands of pounds of pig iron, thousands of pounds of salt."
"Without the government and commercial taxes, how much profit can we make privately?"
"Besides."
"After the ship sinks, we can also ask the government to give us profits on the grounds that we are losing money, allow us to reduce business taxes, or allow us to set our own prices. No matter which one succeeds, our profit margin will be greatly improved. .”
"Accumulated over time, it becomes a massive amount."
"More importantly."
"Once there is a problem with the supply of salt and iron, the government will definitely take out the extra salt and iron produced. At that time, we can get more than 90% of the salt and iron according to the allocation quota given by the government at that time. In this way, the salt and iron in Guanzhong will still be under control. In our hands."
Cheng Zheng disapproved of this and said: "Brother Feng, you have forgotten that our 'ship' was destroyed at that time. How could the government give us the salt and iron again?"
Feng Dong nodded and sneered: "That being said."
"But if the government doesn't give us the extra salt and iron produced as agreed, does that mean we can take the opportunity to ask for some benefits?"
"Otherwise, we will have enough reason to ban the sale of the remaining salt and iron from the past."
"This is a way to express dissatisfaction."
"What if the government asks for it by force?" Cao Bingsheng held his hand and said with cold eyes.
Feng Dong said indifferently: "Qin Ting attaches great importance to spring plowing. In order to satisfy the spring plowing, he will definitely do his best. He may not come to snatch the salt and iron from our hands. But if the government does this, wouldn't it be a breach of trust by the merchants."
"Who among all the merchants in the world will not be frightened by that time?"
"We merchants are indeed very weak, but the merchants in the world are rich and there are many traders and lackeys. How can we not feel in danger when we see Qin Ting like this?"
"Then it won't be us who have the headache."
"This will even push all the merchants to the nobles of the six countries."
"The merchants have a lot of property. If they all go to the nobles of the six countries, I'm afraid it will be the Qin court that is worried. A turmoil has already broken out in Qi. If such ugliness is exposed again, the world will only become more turbulent."
"I believe Qin Ting will not drink poison to quench his thirst."
"What do you think?"
Feng Dong's eyes swept across the audience coldly.
Everyone's eyes flickered, and no one spoke, but they all had some thoughts.
Feng Dong is actually gambling.
Bet that Qin Ting won't drive them to a dead end.
Bet that Qin Ting will make certain concessions and then let them profit from it.
But once the bet is lost.
Perhaps as Feng Dong said, Qin Ting was hated and abandoned by merchants all over the world, but they would suffer heavy losses. Even if Qin Ting was really cruel, he might not wipe them out.
The people of Qin have never looked seriously at merchants.
But if the bet wins.
As long as the 'sunken' salt and iron is not discovered by the government, they can use it to make huge profits, and even more, they can use it to make the government retreat and gain enough benefits for themselves. After a year, it will be a considerable profit. .
It was quiet all around.
Cheng Zheng and others looked at each other with a hint of confusion in their eyes.
There are benefits on one side and risks on the other.
finally.
Cheng Zheng asked: "Brother Feng's idea is excellent, but we have a more difficult matter to solve now. How to prevent the government from finding out the problem. This is not just one or two ships, but dozens of ships." Big ship.”
"With so many ships sunk, the imperial court may investigate closely."
"When something goes wrong."
"Don't talk about letting the government retreat. Whether we can escape unscathed is another question. The government will not show mercy to us."
Feng Dong raised his forehead slightly, with a solemn look in his eyes.
He said in a deep voice:
"That's really the problem."
"It must be resolved as well."
"But you must not forget that Da Qin is a country based on law. If you want to convict us, what you ultimately look at is evidence. As long as there is no evidence, who can convict us?"
"Our ship sank."
"Tens of thousands of pounds of salt and iron also sank into the water."
"And the people on board were also dead."
"Death has no evidence."
"Even if there was a tracker pulling the boat on the case, how much would they know? How could they know what happened in the boat? The only thing they could see was watching the boat sink, and then hurriedly reporting it to the authorities. "
"I'll rush over anxiously and beg the government to send someone to salvage it."
"But the place where the ship sank was tens to hundreds of feet deep. Who in the world can really go into the water to check the situation on the spot?"
"We don't have to say anything then, we just let the government make the judgement."
"And we secretly bribed some officials in the government to lead the problem to the boatman's improper operation, running aground on the rocks, or encountering wind and waves, the hull of the boat was damaged, and some subsequent boats accidentally collided with it, as well as problems with the pig iron binding. The ship's hull was penetrated by the wind and waves, etc. If you want to find a reason, are you afraid that you won't find it?"
Feng Dong smiled at everyone.
Everyone laughed.
Find reasons.
They couldn't be more good at it.
Cao Bingsheng hesitated for a moment and said in a serious voice: "Even so, there is still a problem."
"Since the ship is going to sink, it must not be able to carry too much salt and iron. It will probably take a lot of time to smuggle the salt and iron out. If this is the case, it will be difficult not to be discovered."
Feng Dong laughed and said, "Brother Cao Bing, you worry too much."
"Isn't it easy to transport salt and iron away?"
"You just need to make arrangements with the relevant officials and transport it in advance. Although there will be some troubles at the salt ponds and iron mines, the salt and iron produced from the salt ponds and mines have to be transported outside for storage every day, and this process only requires Be cautious and there won’t be too many problems, and the salt and iron used to be ours, how can we not know the situation near the salt ponds and iron mines?”
"But it's never wrong to be careful."
“Spend money to eliminate disasters.”
"This little money can still be spent."
"Even if these officials realize the problem in the future, will they really dare to betray us?"
"Don't dare!"
"It's all on the same rope."
"If we die, they won't survive!"
(End of chapter)
