xymnovel Chapter 115 Land Rental
Chapter 115 Land Rental
Since gaining a deeper understanding of the salt industry, Shao Shuyi felt as if he had developed clairvoyance, and everything he saw was different.
On July 20th, after finishing loading the porcelain in Jingdezhen, he traveled down to Nü'erpu, where he stopped for a day to buy fresh drinking water. At the market, someone was selling salt. Shao Shuyi examined it carefully and found it to be good quality salt.
Jiangxi was the salt-producing region under the jurisdiction of the Lianghuai Salt Transport Office, and the quality of the official salt there was not much different from that of Liangzhe (Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces), since corrupt officials were all pretty much the same. The salt being sold at Nü'erpu was clearly smuggled. Shao Shuyi hadn't thought about this before, but now he could see through appearances to the essence; his insight had improved. I wonder which underworld boss was selling this smuggled salt; I admire him greatly.
When he arrived near Yuxikou on the 25th, he found that the salt used on the small boats selling river fish was of mixed quality.
If guests request that the fish be cooked and delivered, they use smuggled salt. If they are eating it themselves, they use official salt.
The three boats drifted around Yuxikou for a day, buying some fresh fruits, vegetables and river fish. The whole process was quite pleasant, except that Yu Yuan fired a shot from inside the side of the boat, scaring away a boat that ignored the warning and still forced its way closer.
On the 28th, the fleet returned to the old site and anchored at the western end of Matuosha. Shao Shuyi led more than ten people ashore to conduct an investigation.
Because of the rain, the riverbank was quite muddy.
The group trudged along the dirt road in the countryside, their destination a distant village.
As they moved, the group subtly formed a battle formation.
Two seafarers, with ringed knives at their waists and round rattan shields on their left elbows, walked side by side at the front.
This thing is made of rattan, which is very common in the Jiangnan region. It is very strong and can protect against knife cuts and spear thrusts. It may not be as good as the regular shields used in the army, but it is cheap!
The concept of cost-effectiveness is always relevant. While Shao Shuyi's gang wasn't exactly poor, they weren't exactly wealthy either, so why were they so particular?
Six riflemen followed behind the two.
Gao Daqiang carried a jet-black spear, fourteen feet long, which was quite astonishing. Bian Sandou, who was beside him, only had a wooden spear with no iron at the tip, which was very shabby. It wasn't that he didn't have the money to make one, but rather that he didn't have the time.
The weapons of Bian Sidou and a seafarer who followed behind were even more shabby, consisting almost entirely of bamboo spears.
Wei Erdi and Jiang Sanbao were similar, holding bamboo spears, which didn't look very presentable.
Behind these six people, about a step or two apart, Wang Huadu and Wu Heizi walked side by side.
The former carried a gleaming anchor axe on his shoulder, looking imposing.
The latter held a long wooden club, thick at the top and thin at the bottom, which he had had made at a timber market in Jiangxi. It cost a lot of money, mainly because the material was expensive Guangdong ironwood, which is "hard and heavy, and is often used by people in Dongguan to build houses."
Shao Shuyi and Liang Taiyi patrolled the left and right sides of the team, respectively.
According to the tactics, they should be armed with bows and arrows, operating outside the "main force" to harass and hinder enemies that might flank them, thus forming a "guerrilla force".
However, there was only one bow in the "gang," which was carried by Shao Shuyi, so Liang Tai had no bow to use at the moment.
The second bow had actually already been "ordered," and it was also an old one. Cheng Ji said that it would be sold after the superior inspected it at the end of July.
However, Liang Tai seems to want to pay for a new one himself and doesn't like using the old one, so let him be.
"Tie Niu, go ahead." As they walked, Shao Shuyi called out, "No need to stay by my side."
Tie Niu hesitated for a moment.
"Military orders are absolute!" Shao Shuyi said in a low voice.
Tie Niu let out a sound of "Hey," and with a shield in one hand and a knife in the other, he walked to the front of the entire team.
The river breeze rustled, and the reeds swayed in the breeze. The group of thirteen walked silently.
To be honest, it's not perfect yet, and it's going a bit crooked.
But there was nothing he could do; it was a mixed lineup of "starters," "substitutes," and even "youth team members," though the starters themselves weren't much better. Shao Shuyi himself hadn't even cocked his bow; the weather was too humid.
He also wanted to make himself another banner, the kind that could be stuck on his back, embroidered with a majestic beast, as a symbol of his command—this kind of thing was very popular in the Tang Dynasty, and it seems to have existed in the Ming Dynasty as well, though he couldn't quite remember.
Once we get back, the inspection of most of the troops will be completed, and then we can start collecting the spoils. Since the officials have all inspected them, what use are the weapons? It's reasonable to sell them, isn't it?
"Hey? Isn't that a temple over there?" Wang Huadu asked, pointing to a cluster of buildings nestled among green trees and red flowers at the foot of the mountain in the distance. Shao Shuyi walked over and reminded him, "No noise."
Wang Huadu gave an awkward smile and shut his mouth.
But he was also annoyed. Why were there so many rules? He felt that the military was against his nature, and he was so fed up with it.
Wu Heizi felt the same way.
Earlier, when we got off the boat by the river, we saw a nest of wild duck eggs in the reeds. We had only taken a few steps and were about to touch them when Liang Tai rushed over and ordered us to go back and line up.
He wanted to argue back, but in the end, out of respect for Brother Shao, he reluctantly obeyed, though he was very unhappy about it.
This was not the battlefield he had envisioned; it felt like a cage, with all sorts of constraints and no mercy, completely different from the life he had lived for the previous twenty years.
The military life depicted in operas is not like this at all. There's no chasing the enemy, achieving fame and fortune, or securing a good life for one's wife and children. On the contrary, it's very tough. You feel like a horse that has just been put on the reins, and you're not used to it at all.
Lost in thought, Wu Heizi was startled when the car in front of him suddenly stopped. Caught off guard, he nearly bumped into the person in front of him.
He subconsciously turned his gaze to Liang Tai, only to find the other man looking at him. Annoyed, he took two steps back and stood still.
"The march ends here. Pack up your equipment." Shao Shuyi ordered, "You can sit down and rest, and have some food and water."
As if granted a pardon, the crowd immediately scattered, forming groups here and there, and the noise grew louder.
Liang Tai walked to Shao Shuyi's side, his brows slightly furrowed.
Shao Shuyi laughed heartily, put his arm around his shoulder, and said with a smile, "It's always like this the first time."
"This is the second military training exercise," Liang Tai corrected.
"A cow that has just had its nose pierced needs time to adjust," Shao Shuyi said. "Back in the day, when Cao Mengde went to Danyang to recruit soldiers, there was a mutiny in his camp on the way back, and only five hundred of his several thousand men remained."
Liang Tai was speechless.
He knew this was absolutely one of the most embarrassing moments in Cao Cao's life.
Perhaps this is just how new recruits are: unfamiliar with military law, hesitant, and with low morale. We can't be too harsh on them in the short term.
It took Cao Mengde many years and a great deal of effort to gradually mold his ragtag group into a formidable force capable of conquering the north and south.
Thinking about this made her feel a little better, and then she couldn't help but look at Shao Shuyi.
Shao Ge'er sometimes speaks strangely, as if no one taught him from a young age that there are certain things he can say and certain things he can't say. He just doesn't have that kind of mindset or habit. Is it appropriate for him to compare himself to Cao Mengde?
But then I thought about it again—it doesn't seem like such a big deal.
Back in the early years of the dynasty, Liang Dong wrote a poem called "Da Mao Feng," which was accused of "slandering the court" and "longing for the Song dynasty." As a result, the Ministry of Rites ruled that he was not guilty and released him, believing that "even if it was slander, it was not something that the great Celestial Empire could not tolerate."
By this time, there were so many rebellious poems like "Beating me three times a day, what else can I do but rebel?", and nobody cared.
As long as you don't go around banging drums and gongs in the street saying you're going to rebel, nobody will pay any attention to you, which makes you seem relaxed.
"Buddha Tooth, what are you thinking about? Hurry up and follow me." Shao Shuyi stood beside Tie Niu and waved from afar.
Liang Tai quickened his pace and followed.
Smoke was already rising from the village ahead, and some farmers were still working in the fields.
The arrival of Shao Shuyi and his group made them subconsciously a little nervous.
"May I ask, sir, are there any vacant houses or fields in the village?" Shao Shuyi asked gently as he approached a man.
The old man was stunned for a moment.
Shao Shuyi thought he didn't understand, so he repeated it again.
The old man pointed to the temple in the distance and said, "This land all belongs to Chong Sheng Temple."
Shao Shuyi and Liang Tai both turned their gazes toward the temple.
It seems I'll have to deal with the monks.
"Go, gather everyone and go rent a house in the temple," Shao Shuyi instructed Tie Niu.
Tie Niu accepted the order and left.
In less than fifteen minutes, a group of more than ten people entered the gate of Chong Sheng Temple, much to the surprise of the monks who were performing their evening prayers.
Almost simultaneously, in Shipai Garrison, Jiangyin Prefecture, a chaotic battle was about to end.
Zhu Ding, a renowned "wandering knight" in the village, led more than twenty men to attack a group of henchmen of Zhao Yangui, a local tyrant.
Several carriages overturned on the ground, and white salt spilled from bags, scattering all over the ground.
The coachmen had all fled.
Those who come here to do day jobs only earn a few hundred coins a day, why risk their lives?
The Zhao family's martial arts guards are still fighting for their lives.
One of them was stabbed multiple times and collapsed to the ground with a thud, his gushing blood staining the salt bag red.
Another man was already wounded; during the fight, blood kept seeping from his clothes, and he was already teetering on the verge of collapse.
Besides the two martial arts masters, there were two Zhao family servants, holding wooden spears hidden under the cart, fighting the invaders.
"Still haven't taken him down?" Zhu Ding roared, his longsword slashing heavily across the shoulder and neck of the martial artist in front of him, almost severing half of his neck. "Enough nonsense!" Wang Zongsan wielded his spear, swiftly thrusting it towards the throat of his enemy.
The Zhao servant on the opposite side hurriedly parried, but unexpectedly, Wang Zongsan changed his move halfway, raising his spear high and plunging it diagonally downwards into the Zhao servant's foot. Caught off guard, the servant screamed in agony.
A man rushed forward and slashed his neck with his knife.
The last Zhao servant, his eyes filled with despair, parried his opponents' swords and spears with his spear while cursing, "Zhu Ding, Wang Zongsan, you will die a horrible death! Your whole family will be wiped out! Hahaha, Grandpa will be waiting for you in the underworld."
Zhu Ding rushed over like a whirlwind, his long sword sweeping and powerfully blocking the servant's desperate thrust of a spear. After closing in, he gripped the long sword tightly with both hands and slashed down heavily.
"Pfft!" Fresh blood gushed out.
The servant's head lolled to one side, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud.
"Pah!" Zhu Ding spat on the corpse and cursed, "Find out this bastard's name and kill his whole family in a few days." The henchmen responded in unison.
"Clean up the salt," Wang Zongsan ordered, putting away his spear.
Half of the people in the field remained still, while another eight or nine responded and began to collect the overturned vehicles and salt bags.
It's obvious that this is a case of two groups coming together and clashing with a third party, the reason being nothing more than fighting over salt and territory.
"Clean up the body too," Zhu Ding said lazily, leaning on his sword. "It's better to avoid trouble."
"Okay, Brother Zhu."
"Understood."
"Whatever Brother Zhu says goes, we've struck it rich again today."
"Two brothers have been lost, alas."
The group of people who hadn't moved before immediately sprang into action, digging a pit to bury the body.
Zhu Ding watched all this with satisfaction, then his gaze swept over Wang Zongsan.
Wang Zongsan's heart tightened, but his face remained expressionless.
"Where has Chen Xianwu been selling salt lately?" he asked.
"I don't know," Wang Zongsan said.
Zhu Ding smiled smugly and said, "If he knows what's good for him, that's fine. If he doesn't, he'll end up like this sooner or later."
Having said that, he picked up his knife and left, laughing loudly, "Tomorrow I'll go to the city to deliver the salt, and have some fun while I'm at it."
The crowd responded enthusiastically, beaming with joy.
They're all reckless fools who live for the moment, why not spend their money when they have it?
There's nothing in the countryside, and the village girls are ugly and stupid. How can they compare to the women in the city? Not to mention, there's fine wine and good food.
The vast Jiangyin Prefecture is now Brother Zhu's territory. Even the government has to appease him with kind words. How wonderful!