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"Oh, it's Mr. Tang. Please come in and have a seat." The clerk at the Xianfeng Grain Store was surprised to see Tang Tong standing at the door, and then he hurried forward to greet him. For this Lord Tang and the kind-hearted Mr. Tang, the people of Changzhou prefer to call him Mr. Tang. This title is both intimate and respectful. It can be said that everyone in Changzhou who knows Tang Tong has respect for him in their hearts.
"Well, I won't sit down. I'm just passing by. By the way, little brother, why has the price of grain increased so much recently?" Tang Tong waved his hand. As a person from the later generations, he knew the importance of being close to the people, so he didn't put on airs like an official to the clerk in the grain store.
"Ah, Master Tang, you don't know. The grain harvest was poor last year. The northern provinces were in a mess again due to bandits. Shandong was also in turmoil due to the White Lotus Rebellion. It looks like the world will become more and more chaotic in the future. Many merchants took the opportunity to hoard grain, so the grain price has skyrocketed." If other officials asked, the clerk in the grain store would not tell the truth. But when it came to this Master Tang, the Master Tang who had thousands of Buddhist followers in Changzhou, the clerk told the truth and there was no need to worry about getting into trouble.
"Shandong is in chaos again?" Tang Tong was a little surprised. Historically, it was Kong Youde and his men who caused chaos in Shandong at this time. Unexpectedly, after Kong Youde died, the White Lotus Sect emerged to cause chaos.
Tang Tong's reach into the domestic intelligence of the Ming Dynasty was not very broad, and the forces under his command were almost all used for overseas expansion, so Tang Tong was not very clear about some of the things happening in the Ming Dynasty.
"I'm sure Lord Tang has heard of the White Lotus Sect. Nine years ago, the White Lotus Sect staged a rebellion. Although it was suppressed by the imperial court at that time, the main forces of the White Lotus Sect did not suffer too much loss. In the past two years, Gao Yingxiang and others have been rebelling, tying up most of the imperial court's military forces. How could the White Lotus Sect not take advantage of this opportunity to revolt? Moreover, their rebellion has affected not only Shandong, but also Henan, Hebei, Jiangsu, and northern Anhui. The grain transport has been the most affected, causing grain prices in the north to soar. This has forced grain merchants in the south to stockpile grain and wait for the price to rise."
The man who said this was a young man who looked a little down and out, but his eyes were bright and he exuded confidence and pride. Tang Tong looked the young man up and down and smiled slightly. "This young man seems to know a lot about this matter. May I know your name?"
"My surname is Huang Feng, and I am from the Huang family, a grain and oil merchant in northern Jiangsu." Huang Feng also studied for ten years and passed the imperial examination, but he had no interest in the imperial examination. However, in this era, the identity of a scholar was more noble than that of a businessman.
"The Huang family in northern Jiangsu, which son are you?" The Huang family is a large merchant family in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Naturally, the Tang family caravan also had dealings with them and even bought food from the Huang family.
"My Lord Tang, I am the third son of the eldest branch of the Huang family." Huang Feng said respectfully. Although the Huang family is a merchant family, generations of accumulation have formed an incomparably huge family. But compared with Tang Tong's Tang family caravan, this rapidly rising economic giant, although still a short time old, has a huge strength under its umbrella. The Huang family is far from comparable. Not to mention Huang Feng, even the patriarch of the Huang family would not dare to look down on Tang Tong.
"Haha, it turns out you are the third young master of the Huang family. But looking at you, you don't look like you are out for a trip." Tang Tong smiled and asked curiously.
"Yes, I have come here to seek refuge with Lord Tang, hoping to work under him." Huang Feng said with a salute.
"Oh, okay, what do you want to do?" Tang Tong was a little surprised by Huang Feng's words, but he didn't ask why.
Huang Feng was the third son of the Huang family. He was smart but a little arrogant. As the head of the family, his eldest and second brothers plotted to exclude him. They first killed a maid in the Huang family and threw her into a well. The maid left a suicide note saying that she was too ashamed to live after being raped by Huang Feng.
It was no big deal in that era for a maid to be raped by a young master. Others would just say that the young master was a little lustful. The head of the Huang family would naturally not do anything to Huang Feng. But later, the eldest and second brothers bribed one of the head of the Huang family's concubines and made it seem like Huang Feng molested the concubine. Once this happened, it not only ruined the reputation of the Huang family, but also challenged the authority of the head of the Huang family. The head of the Huang family was furious and drove Huang Feng out.
Huang Feng was slightly stunned when he heard Tang Tong's question. As a person in a high position, Tang Tong's current attitude was to be courteous to the wise and humble in this era, but the speed of accepting a person was a little too fast, which naturally made Huang Feng a little uncomfortable. However, Huang Feng quickly came to his senses. He came here this time mainly to use Tang Tong's power to seize the position of the head of the Huang family.
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