Chapter 89: The Golden Man

Lin Yi's words were definitely not alarmist or arrogant. With the Lin family's wealth, they were definitely capable of supporting the new emperor to ascend the throne.

However, businessmen value profit but are also afraid of death. Making money is a small matter, but if they risk their lives, that would be a big deal.

Mr. Lin's words just now were really arrogant, which scared everyone. The wealthy businessmen stood up and said goodbye, and finally only Shao Chunqiu and Li Huijun were left. One of them was a tea merchant and the other was a silk merchant. The wealth in their hands was among the top in Jiangnan and even in the whole country.

Although the two of them had some concerns in their hearts, they knew that once the tax law was reformed, it would cause great harm to their interests. Moreover, any discerning person could see that the emperor was targeting them. Who knew whether commercial taxes would also increase in the future?

Boss Li said with a gleam in his eyes: "Mr. Lin, you said that most of the heirs of the previous dynasty are dead, and only the Tenth Prince Yang Yuanji is left. This man is timid and cowardly, and is now imprisoned in Shangjing. I'm afraid he can't be used by us..."

Lin Yi asked: "Does it have to be the heir to the previous dynasty?"

Li Huijun and Shao Chunqiu looked at each other. Could it be that Boss Lin still wanted to ascend the throne and become emperor?

Lin Yi naturally had no such plan. Building an army was time-consuming and labor-intensive. Even if he had money, it would be difficult to buy a general to lead the troops into battle.

He is already sixty years old, how many more years can he live? I am afraid that even if he conquers the country, he will only be making wedding clothes for others.

"If we can't use the Yang family, we can use the Jin people. As long as we give them enough salt and iron, they will surely cause unrest in the north."

Shao Chunqiu's eyes lit up. This is a good idea! As long as the north is in chaos, the emperor will have no time to worry about the south. Then, wouldn't the new tax law become a decoration?

The two of them hurriedly asked, "Mr. Lin, when do you think we should start?"

Lin Yi stood up and said, "No hurry, let's order people to prepare first. It won't be too late after the tax law is promulgated."

They dared to use the Jin people to contain the imperial court. This tactic was indeed a clever one, but it was also very cruel and completely disregarded the lives of the people.

Back in the days of Emperor Tiansheng, the Jin invaded in large numbers and massacred seventeen cities one after another. The Jin counted military merits by the number of heads taken, and all the men, women, old and young in the captured cities were beheaded, and those heads were piled up into a mountain at Yanmen Pass.

Even after hundreds of years, many skulls can still be seen in the fields outside Yanmen Pass. It is a scar engraved in the hearts of the people of Beiguan, and it hurts whenever they mention it.

It took the Sheng Dynasty more than ten years and millions of soldiers died in battle to drive the Jin people out of the Great Wall. Unexpectedly, these merchants dared to seek benefits from the tiger for the sake of money. They were so cruel that they were not afraid of getting into trouble!

*

"Stop for routine inspection." Five or six fully loaded carriages were waiting in line at the gate of Longxi City, waiting to be allowed to pass.

The leader of the convoy was called Lao Qiu, a short middle-aged man wearing a mink hat. He got off the carriage, put his hands in his pockets and ran to the front, smiling with wrinkled face, and said, "Two generals, you are working hard, right?"

Don't hit a smiling person. The two city gate guards who were responsible for checking the trucks saw that he looked familiar and asked, "Not bad, what's wrong?"

Old Qiu quietly took out a piece of silver from his sleeve and stuffed it into the two men's hands: "It's cold, buy some wine. The cart is full of cloth, it will rot if stabbed by a knife, I hope the two officials will be flexible."

The two soldiers were holding a large amount of silver, at least five or six taels, and they calmly waved their hands to let the carriage pass.

Old Qiu bowed to the two of them, then quickly got on the carriage and took the truck into the city.

Longxiguan City is the last stop on the Daqi border. Since the court allowed the market to open last year, it has become much more lively than before. Now it is almost the twelfth lunar month, and there are still many pedestrians on the street.

Merchants of various ethnic minorities were hawking items not commonly seen in the Central Plains, including spices, jade, and rare animals. Most of these merchants traded goods, while some used gold, silver, and other treasures. However, few accepted copper coins, since the Daqi coins could not be used when they were taken back.

The convoy stopped in front of a restaurant in the city.

This restaurant looked no different from any other ordinary restaurant. There was a sign on the door saying it was called Bai Xiang Lou. There were customers drinking inside and it seemed like it was doing good business.

Old Qiu asked the driver to go in and deliver the message. Soon the side door of the restaurant opened and several trucks were allowed in.

The difference was only noticed as the carriage entered the backyard. The decoration and layout here were clearly in the style of the Jin people.

The Jin people admired the color navy blue, and the entire yard was hung with navy blue curtains. In the center of the yard there was a stone-carved eagle, which was the Jin people's sacred eagle totem.

After the carriage came in, three or four men walked out of the yard. Although they were wearing Central Plains clothes, judging from their looks and the style of their beards, they were undoubtedly Jin people.

Old Qiu pretended to be brave and stepped forward and asked, "Excuse me, who is Lord Wanyan?"

"It's me." A burly man responded.

"This is a letter from our masters to you. Please take a look." Old Qiu took out the envelope from his arms and presented it with both hands.

Wanyan Xun took the letter and handed it to the attendant beside him for inspection, as he did not recognize the characters of the Central Plains.

After reading it, the attendant whispered in his ear. Wan Yanxun's expression gradually relaxed, and finally he laughed out loud: "Boss Lin is really righteous! Come on, unload the goods!"

A group of Jin men rushed up, lifted the oilcloth on the carriage, removed a few pieces of cloth on the surface, and found that there were blocks of iron underneath!

These pieces of iron were uniformly cast into square shapes, each about ten inches in size. This was not ordinary pig iron, but refined iron that had been refined hundreds of times! One look at the quality revealed that it was an official item made specifically for military supplies.

According to the laws of the Daqi period, anyone who privately sells more than one hundred stones of pig iron will be beheaded. These stones amounted to at least several thousand stones, and they were actually delivered to the border so openly and sold to the Jin people!

Old Qiu walked up to Wanyan Xun with a flattering smile and said, "Sir, this is just a small deposit. If you can help our master, you will be able to send us more fine iron like this."

Wanyan Xun showed a fierce smile, patted Lao Qiu on the shoulder and said: "Don't worry, with these pig irons, we will definitely make the north restless."

The slap almost made Old Qiu fall down. He endured the pain and nodded, "Yeah, yes, yes."

After unloading all the iron from the carriage, Lao Qiu and his men drove the empty carriage out of the yard and went to the inn nearby to stay, intending to rest for a night before leaving.

Several fellows who were traveling with the same business sat together to eat, all of them looked flustered and worried. These people were the men employed by the Lin family, and were usually responsible for transporting goods everywhere.

When we arrived, we all thought that this train was transporting cloth. Who could have imagined that there was so much pig iron hidden in the train? If someone found out, they would lose their heads!

"Mr. Qiu, why didn't you tell us in advance?" The speaker was an elderly driver in the team.

"I told you, are you still coming?"

"This..." The old driver was speechless.

The driver's son slammed the table angrily and stood up and said, "If the government finds out, won't we all have to pay with our lives?!"

Old Qiu waved his hand nonchalantly and said, "Sit down and keep your voice down. Do you want others to hear you?"

"I'm not telling you about this for your own good. Why don't you just pretend you know nothing? Besides, the money you earn from this trip is enough for you to spend for two years."

Old Qiu took out some silver from his pocket and started distributing money to everyone. Normally, one could earn ten taels of silver for a trip to Longxiguan City. This time, Boss Lin gave them several times more, a full fifty taels per person!

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment as they took the silver. They were speechless. Although this trip was dangerous, they made a lot of money. Fifty taels of silver was enough for a family to live on for several years.

Everyone finished their meal in silence and went back to their rooms to rest. They had to get up early the next morning to return.

No one noticed that there was a hooded man sitting at the table next to him. This man had just followed them all the way here from the restaurant. He was Bai Yizhou, who was stationed at the border.

It was a coincidence that Bai Yizhou would lead his troops to Guanshi to maintain order on the first and fifteenth day of every month. The first and fifteenth day of every month were big markets in Guanshi, and many foreigners would trade here. Due to language barriers when doing business, these people often had disputes.

The foreigners were ferocious and sometimes there were murders. Ordinary yamen runners did not dare to step forward to intervene. The local prefect sent a letter to the army stationed outside the pass asking for help. Since he had nothing to do anyway, Bai Yizhou brought a team of people into the city to manage the situation.

Some time ago, he discovered this group of golden men in Baixiang Tower. The leader seemed to be of high status and was protected by followers whenever he went in and out.

Although Daqi does not prohibit foreigners from opening shops in the city, there are very few Jin people doing business in the city. After all, the two countries are enemies. A few decades ago, the people wanted to kill the Jin people with knives. Although they don't hate them so much now, they are unlikely to patronize the restaurants opened by the Jin people.

Bai Yizhou felt that this was unusual, so he changed his clothes and disguised himself as a foreigner to have a meal.

He found that both the owner and the waiter in the restaurant were locals. If he hadn't discovered it by chance, he would never have realized that this was a restaurant opened by the Jin people. What on earth were those Jin people hiding in the city for?

In the next few months, every time he came to patrol the city, he would come here to hang out, and today he discovered this caravan.

This afternoon he saw a caravan coming here to deliver something. The carriage came out half an hour later, and all the things on the carriage were unloaded in the backyard of the restaurant.

Unfortunately, the backyard was heavily guarded, and Bai Yizhou had no way of going in to see what was going on, so he followed these people.

From the conversation between several people, he had vaguely guessed that the items transported in the car were not ordinary. After these people left, he paid the bill and hurried towards the city gate.

It was getting dark outside. The fiery red sun hung over the western hills, illuminating half the sky with red.

The two city gate guards were discussing where to go for fun in the evening. They had earned so much money today and they would feel itchy if they didn't go out to have some fun.

"If you ask me, we have to go to Honglefang to find Xiao Jiaohong. That little girl is really awesome!" The man sucked his saliva, his eyes full of lust.

Another said: "It would be more comfortable to go and play for a while. If I win dozens of taels of silver, I will quit and go home to open a shop..."

As the two were discussing, Bai Yizhou suddenly came over with a knife in his hand and put it on the neck of one of the gate guards: "What are the things on the carriages that entered the city at 9:00 p.m. today?"

The soldier was so frightened that he fell to his knees and shouted, "Please spare my life!"

The other one stammered, "Okay, it looks like cloth."

Cloth? What did the Jin people need cloth for?

"Have you two checked?"

"I checked... I checked."

Bai Yizhou used his knife to cut the soldier's neck, causing him to feel a sharp pain. He was so scared that he quickly told the truth: "No, we didn't check. The driver gave us five taels of silver each, saying that the cloth was easy to tear and asked us to make some concessions."

Bai Yizhou snatched the silver from the two men and kicked one of them in anger, what a bunch of useless people!

He put away his knife and immediately ran back to the inn. Seeing the carriages still parked in the backyard, he felt a little relieved. There was definitely nothing cloth on the carriages, but what was it carrying that scared the drivers so much?

Bai Yizhou put the silver he had just paid on the table and said, "Boss, a guest room."

It's not convenient to check now because of the coming and going of people, so we can only wait until it gets dark to find out what's going on.

(End of this chapter)