xymnovel Chapter 119 Extinguishing the Fire
Chapter 119 Extinguishing the Fire
For a moment, Zheng Guozhen felt a little dazed, as if he had returned to a year ago, when the young man had tied up the shopkeeper Wang Sheng and brought him in front of him, talking eloquently and arguing his point.
The difference is that back then, Shao Shuyi only had four people, and they were in a panic and desperate situation, hoping that I would give them a chance.
Although Shao Shuyi only brought one attendant with him, he was confident and unhurried, and approached the situation with a reasonable attitude.
There is certainly a reason in the world, but there aren't many people who are willing to reason with you, or perhaps you're not worthy of his reasoning.
Does Shao Shuyi have the right to reason with him now?
"I have successfully completed my mission. All 10,000 pieces of Jingdezhen porcelain have been delivered to the shop. They will be put into storage and cataloged in the next few days. At this point, the shop will have more than 54,000 pieces of porcelain of various kinds, of which 30,000 pieces are the foreign kiln wares that Ali needs." Shao Shuyi did not mention Zheng Guoqing's matter at all, but first talked about the next important task, "Ali will arrive at Liujiagang by the end of August at the latest. At that time, he may also bring a lot of foreign goods. We might as well ask a few experienced and prudent people to appraise the value of the goods on Ali's ship. Instead of bartering, we can make a profit in this way."
When the topic turned to the upcoming big business deal, Zheng Guozhen calmed down slightly. After glancing at Shao Shuyi, he said, "Several trips back and forth must have been exhausting. I heard there were bandits on the way to Jiangxi?"
Shao Shuyi clasped his hands and said, "The bandits of Chaohu Lake have always been a major scourge, and have yet to be eradicated. They frequently rob merchants and travelers. Now, with the heavy rains in Henan, the Yellow River has breached its banks, and plagues are breaking out in Huainan, causing people to be displaced. As such, many more will join the bandits, and the Yangtze River is becoming increasingly turbulent. Thanks to Sanshe, I have gathered some relatives and friends, and we have been practicing boat handling and combat skills day and night. We are now able to deal with the bandits."
"So rampant?" Zheng Guozhen asked.
"Third Dormitory, it wasn't this rampant before, but it will only get more rampant in the future," Shao Shuyi said, glancing at him.
Zheng Guozhen remained silent for a moment, then nodded slightly.
Seeing his expression, Shao Shuyi felt a sense of relief.
Demonstrating one's value is paramount at all times. This applies to everything from significant contributions to national unity to minor commercial value.
After the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the term "powerful clans" no longer existed.
Perhaps such systems still existed in the early Tang Dynasty, but after 150 years of regional warlordism, they had long since disappeared. The scholar-officials of the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties who dared to call themselves aristocratic families could only make their predecessors from the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, who possessed thousands of private armies, laugh.
The Zheng family is the same.
Shao Shuyi can help them fill the gap of "private soldiers," and that is his value. Dozens of private soldiers are still private soldiers. Shao Shuyi, who wallows in the mud, doesn't care about fame, and doesn't seek advancement, can do a lot of work without attracting attention. Isn't that a good thing?
"Be more careful next time," Zheng Guozhen admonished. "Previously, some pirates from Taizhou attempted to infiltrate Liujiagang, but were stopped by government troops..."
Shao Shuyi had just returned and was hearing about this for the first time. He instinctively connected it with Li Da Weng and felt a chill of fear. Fortunately, the imperial court was in a hurry to prepare for the day and had increased the number of soldiers stationed at various ports and ordered the navy to patrol the seas. Otherwise, Li Da Weng might have really managed to sneak in.
More than thirty people came ashore; who knows how much trouble that will cause.
This incident also served as a reminder to him. Li Da-weng hadn't let him off the hook yet; if he were to find an opportunity to land in a remote place in the future, it would be impossible to guard against. Damn it! Shao Shuyi now shared Zheng Guozhen's thoughts: Liujiagang wasn't as safe as it used to be.
Zheng Guoqing, who was kneeling on the ground to the side, suddenly raised his head, somewhat dumbfounded.
Should Shao Shuyi's domineering behavior be let off so easily?
His actions clearly attracted Zheng Guozhen's attention.
"You worthless wretch!" Zheng Guozhen kicked him hard in the chest, angrily saying, "You're hopeless! I told you to do your job properly, and you only cause me trouble. Pack your bags and get back to Quzhou today, and don't ever come back."
"Sanshe, I..." Zheng Guoqing panicked, pointing at Shao Shuyi, and said, "Sanshe, this man is a heartless ingrate. He eats the Zheng family's food, uses the Zheng family's things, and in the end, he still humiliates the Zheng family's children. He is clearly a wolf in sheep's clothing. One day, he will surely turn on you."
"Shut up!" Zheng Guozhen waved his hand and said, "Take him out."
Two strong servants came in and dragged Zheng Guoqing out—this was the third time in one day that he had been dragged around like a dead dog.
"It's much quieter now." Zheng Guozhen huffed, then looked at Shao Shuyi and said, "Xiao Hu, you haven't been up for long. Just provide one hundred shi of grain. Once the grain is ready, hire boatmen to accompany the fleet to transport the grain north. This is urgent, don't delay."
"Third stop." Shao Shuyi bowed and said, "The canal boats can't go to Zhigu, and the Zuanfeng Haiqiu needs major repairs and won't be able to travel in the short term. Besides, there's also Ali's matter."
Zheng Guozhen looked at him quietly for a while, then suddenly laughed and said, "Hmm, I was inconsiderate. Oh well, you've just made two trips to Jiangxi, and it would indeed be against human nature to send you north to Zhigu again. I'll have someone send the money for the water transport over in a bit. Do your job well."
"Yes," Shao Shuyi replied.
The room fell silent.
Just as Shao Shuyi was about to ask if there was anything else and prepare to take his leave, Zheng Guozhen spoke up: "I heard today that Sun Chuan's farmland and residences on Zhenjiang Road have been sold off two-thirds of their value and changed hands. Without official protection, he is not far from death."
At this point, he smiled and said, "Enough, why bother saying all this? I have nothing else to do, you may leave."
"Yes." Shao Shuyi bowed again, took his leave, and departed.
Zheng Guozhen stood in the main hall, his hands behind his back, watching Shao Shuyi's back for a long time before finally turning his gaze away.
"Bring Guoqing over here," he instructed after sitting back down in his chair.
The servant obeyed and left, quickly bringing Zheng Guoqing back.
Zheng Guozhen waved for the servants to leave and stared intently at Zheng Guoqing.
Zheng Guoqing was initially terrified, but gradually he understood what was happening. His expression slowly improved, and a glimmer of hope appeared in his eyes. "Tell me about what happened that day, and don't miss any details," Zheng Guozhen said.
The Zheng family delivered the remaining payment for the water and water the next day.
Shao Shuyi handed over the remaining balance he had retrieved from Taicang to Yu Yuan, instructing him to deposit it into the account.
Yu Yuan immediately updated the "account balance": "Including the water money sent by Manager Mo, Brother Shao, you now have 344 ingots of Zhongtong paper money, 21 strings of cash, and 750 cash."
"So poor!" Shao Shuyi said with a self-deprecating laugh.
"Brother Shao, three hundred ingots is already a lot," Yu Yuan couldn't help but say. "My brother has been a clerk for more than ten years and he hasn't saved up that much money." "Let your brother join in, and you'll have it soon," Wang Huadu said slowly, picking his teeth.
Yu Yuan ignored his words.
Shao Shuyi asked, "What are the next areas where we'll need to spend money?"
Yu Yuan opened a small booklet and said, "Brother Shao, the capital city will have to pay a lot of money, all for weapons. Long spears, bows, arrows, ammunition, shields, muskets, and many other things."
"Why are there muskets? Oh, I see." Shao Shuyi nodded and said, "Then have them sent them as soon as possible."
He currently has two brass hand cannons, which are similar in design.
The reason for saying "about the same" is simply that one of them weighs seven or eight jin and the other weighs nine and a half jin, which is almost the same weight as the light arquebuses of the Ming Dynasty.
"Pistols" and "rifles" weigh about the same; the only difference is the material.
Copper is much more ductile than iron, which makes it less prone to bursting, but it is also more expensive.
However, no matter how good its ductility was, due to limitations in manufacturing processes, the first one they bought already had visible cracks. Even with two iron reinforcing hoops on it, Shao Shuyi dared not let Yu Yuan use it anymore and had to scrap it.
"When we have the means in the future, we must have some longer muskets made. The current ones don't shoot far enough," Shao Shuyi said. "Let's not talk about that now. Let's talk about other places where we need to spend money."
"Repairing the ship," Yu Yuan said. "We've made several trips to Suzhou and Jiangxi."
Shao Shuyi hummed in agreement.
The waves on the Yangtze River are much smaller than those at sea, but they still need to be maintained.
"Next is buying a boat," Yu Yuan added, "and there's the additional expense of buying 100 shi of grain today."
Shao Shuyi frowned in thought, then sighed, "There are so many places to spend money."
After saying that, he added, "Give each of the brothers who are training the troops twenty strings of cash as a reward for their hard work, and give them a Buddha tooth ingot."
Yu Yuan was somewhat surprised and said, "Brother Shao, this will cost eight or nine ingots."
"Here you go." Shao Shuyi said without hesitation, "We can't skimp on the money that needs to be spent."
"Okay." Yu Yuan nodded.
"Don't worry too much." Shao Shuyi glanced at him and said, "If the fleet that went to Srivijaya returns, I'll get a bonus. I can't say exactly how much, but it should be quite a bit. Sanshe needs me right now, so it's unlikely he'll renege on this debt. He wouldn't break his promise for such a small amount of money." "I remember now!" Wang Huadu slapped his thigh and laughed, "Isn't it the money for the 30,000 pieces of blueware that we didn't sell to Sun Chuan last year?" "That's right." Shao Shuyi nodded and said, "Once the money arrives, we can start getting things done. Speaking of which, maritime trade is really profitable. If we have the opportunity in the future, we should get involved. It might be even more profitable than smuggling salt."
"We need to kill Li Daweng first," Wang Huadu reminded him.
Shao Shuyi remained silent.
Yes, with every gain comes a loss. The goods robbed back then have now become an inescapable problem. But if given the chance, Shao Shuyi would still do the same thing; it's not just about money, but also about how to bring down Sun Chuan.
"You all should seize every spare moment to train. The more you sweat in peacetime, the less you bleed in wartime." Shao Shuyi stood up, looked at Wang Huadu, and said, "Eat and drink as you please. Don't try to save money for me. Training is tough; you need to eat and drink well to have the strength."
"Okay!" Wang Huadu readily agreed.
"Yu She, prepare some money and come with me to the Shen residence," Shao Shuyi said.
"Are we going to buy grain from Madam Shen?" Yu Yuan asked.
"It's... Madam Shen, I'm going to see Manager Mo." Shao Shuyi waved his hand and said, "I'm going to the market to buy some gifts. Manager Mo has been a great help, let's go sit at his place."
"Okay, sure," Yu Yuan replied.
After saying that, he couldn't help but look at Shao Shuyi. He always felt that Brother Shao wanted to see Madam Shen. Although Manager Mo was at the Shen residence at this time every day, he could still see him at the shop tomorrow morning.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Shao Shuyi coughed and said, "I will indeed be visiting Madam Shen on the way. I didn't agree to the grain transport agreement with the Third She today, and I have a bad feeling about it, so I need to make a few more preparations."
So that's how it is! Yu Yuan lowered his head in embarrassment; he had misunderstood Brother Shao.