Zhou Yuan was not shocked, but happy!
He knew that Pei Lun, the governor of Hedong Road, and Zhao Muyun had been in cahoots with each other and had long since become a community of interests.
There is also Yinji, the son of the ninth son of the current Emperor Yongchang, Prince Jin, who originally went to Yinzhou on behalf of the royal family and the Salt and Iron Bureau to raise an army and demand punishment.
As a result, he reached a private agreement with Zhao Muyun and "colluded" with him.
As a result, the Zhou family, which originally controlled the distribution rights of crude salt in Hedong Road, instantly lost its market position.
The snow-like fine salt soon flooded the market, and at a reasonable price, it quickly squeezed out the bitter and expensive coarse salt market, leaving nothing behind.
The prices are similar, but the quality of the products is very different. Any sane person would choose fine salt.
Even the people from the Salt and Iron Bureau summoned the heads of salt well workshops from all over the country overnight and asked them to study how to produce fine salt at low cost within a limited time, otherwise their properties would be confiscated and their heads would be executed.
The heads of these workshops dared not be negligent and hurriedly asked the craftsmen in the workshops to tackle the technical problems.
Just as Zhao Muyun said to Yinji, the emergence of private salt in Yinzhou forced the Salt and Iron Bureau to make progress!
With the capabilities and skills of the Salt and Iron Bureau, there should be no problem in developing a low-cost process for purifying crude salt.
However, before the development of the technology came out, the Zhou family had completely lost its power.
In less than two months, tens of thousands of kilograms of crude salt in the Zhou family's warehouse could not be sold, and all the funds were tied up in the goods.
The sales network built by the Zhou family over two generations also began to collapse.
Zhou Yuan and his father Zhou Dequan hated Zhao Muyun.
In their opinion, the family's current bleak situation was caused by Zhao Muyun alone.
It was Zhao Muyun who used the guise of the Wuhuan people to smuggle fine salt, which made the Zhou family's coarse salt business impossible.
So Zhou Yuan didn't say hello to Yinji, nor did he care about Bai Sheng's life or death. He went back to Jinyang without stopping to discuss countermeasures with his father.
After Zhou Dequan learned about the situation, he was shocked and hurriedly took a large amount of gold and silver and went to the capital.
Before leaving, he told Zhou Yuan not to act rashly and to wait until he returned from the capital.
However, after Zhou Dequan left, Zhou Yuan became more and more unhappy. Through various channels, he found the famous killer organization, Xuetangzhai.
Upon hearing that a captain was to be killed, Xuetangzhai offered a price of 100,000 taels of silver.
At that time, Zhao Muyun was still the captain of Yinzhou and had not yet received the imperial edict to be appointed as the captain of the Seven Prefectures.
If Xuetangzhai knew that Zhao Muyun was going to be promoted, they would definitely not offer this price.
Zhou Yuan gritted his teeth and took out the silver, and Xuetangzhai also accepted the business.
It's just killing a captain! He's not an important official of the court.
The master of Xuetangzhai made the arrangements without thinking too much.
In order to kill the enemy with one blow, Xuetangzhai sent out twenty assassins, used the military's crossbows, bribed the officials of Shuozhou, and set up positions in Shuozhou City.
However, despite such thorough preparations, not only did the assassination fail, but even the twenty assassins sent out never returned.
After the master of Xuetang Zhai learned about the result of the assassination, he immediately sent Feng Tiangan, a veteran of the Zhai, to comfort Zhou Yuan, the financial sponsor, first!
After all, if you take money from someone to help them get rid of disasters and the assassination fails, then you must be wrong.
Feng Tiangan also kept smiling throughout the whole process and was extremely humble, just asking Zhou Yuan not to get angry.
After temporarily calming Master Zhou's anger, Feng Tiangan said that he would take it seriously this time and sent out masters from his studio to plan a second assassination.
Seeing that Xuetangzhai showed a positive attitude in dealing with the crisis, Zhou Yuan agreed to give Xuetangzhai another chance.
Zhou Yuan, who was very satisfied, was about to take a rest when he heard someone come to report the rumor in the city that Zhao Muyun had his own troops and was colluding with the rebels.
"That's good now. It seems that Zhao Muyun has offended not only our Zhou family, but also other families."
"Otherwise, why would someone spread such rumors for no reason?"
Zhou Yuan was very smart, and of course he guessed that the words about Zhao Muyun in Jinyang City were most likely rumors.
But those who spread these rumors must be allies!
"I want to add fuel to the fire and make these words known to the entire Hedong Road."
"Also, if possible, spread the news to the capital!"
"No matter how innocent Zhao Muyun is, there will always be some powerful people in the court who will be unhappy with him."
Zhou Yuan touched his chin, walked back and forth excitedly in front of the window of the room, and then talked to himself facing a rockery in the yard.
Seeing that Zhou Yuan seemed possessed by a demon, the housekeeper Zhou Shou hurriedly advised, "Young Master, calm down and don't act impulsively. The master has instructed us to wait until he returns from the capital before we discuss anything."
Zhou Yuan suddenly turned around and stared at Zhou Shou: "Butler Zhou, do you know who my father is looking for in the capital?"
"Sir, I...I don't know, I don't know!" Zhou Shou was suddenly asked this by Zhou Yuan, and waved his hands in panic!
Seeing his panic, Zhou Yuan pressed him, "You must know something. If you're hiding it from me, I'll chop you down right now!"
Zhou Yuan is handsome, but there is a bit of evil between his eyebrows. He usually acts insidiously and cruelly. How could Zhou Shou not know this?
Now that the master is not around, Zhou Yuan is the head of the Zhou family. If he really wants to kill Zhou Shou, then he's dead. What can Zhou Dequan do to Zhou Yuan when he comes back?
"I really don't know who the master is looking for!" Seeing Zhou Yuan's threat, Zhou Shou resisted at first.
"Humph! Do you think you don't take me, the eldest son of the Zhou family, seriously?"
Zhou Yuan's expression changed, a coldness seeped out from his eyes, and one hand had already grasped the hilt of the sword at his waist.
Zhou Shou was so frightened that he fell to his knees with a thud: "Sir, that's not what I meant. I really don't know!"
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