Chapter 3142: Equally Famous
Gu Huai had no choice but to give in, but how to fill out this official letter was a problem.
You can't fill in the salt. If you have it, you have to hand it over. But if you fill in the salt...
The salt they hid in the salt fields would either remain undiscovered or would have to be moved and hidden elsewhere.
Yang Heshu anticipated their predictions and deliberately forced them to make a choice and get into the trap he had tied. As soon as they moved, Yang Heshu received the message.
The last time the prince left, he left him a lot of people. He put some of them in the open and hid some in the dark, and now they were all used.
The salt fields were still operating, and the purchasing officials who had been lingering in the post station and refused to leave received a letter from their superiors. Seeing that it was asking them to go back and not to purchase official salt in Jiangnan, they immediately packed up their luggage and left without saying a word to the Salt Transport Bureau in Jiangnan.
The other procurement officials who had not yet received the letter watched them leave with envy.
As a result, within two days, two more letters arrived, and the next day, another one arrived...
The purchasing officials left one after another. The Salt Transport Bureau was busy transferring official salt quietly and didn't notice it at all. In the end, the Gu and Lu families felt that it was very quiet recently. The people who had been trying to use their connections to ask the Salt Transport Bureau for salt hadn't come to them for a long time.
Lu Binghua didn't care, but Gu Huai couldn't help but ask one more question. The servant went to the post station to take a look, and his face changed drastically. He ran back and said to Gu Huai, "My dear, most of the adults in the post station have left. Now there are only three adults left."
When Gu Huai heard this, his face darkened and he couldn't help but sit up straight, "Where did you go?"
"I heard he went back."
Gu Huai had a bad feeling in his heart, "Go ask the people who stayed. They live together, so they must know the reason."
"yes."
The three people who stayed behind really knew the answer. Even if they didn't say it, the people who came to buy salt left one after another, and many of them left with a relaxed look on their faces. The three of them could guess something.
The reason why the three of them did not leave was that two of them had not received the letter. Their official office was too far away from Jiangnan, and it would probably take some time for them to receive the letter.
The other one received a letter, but it was asking him to continue staying in Jiangnan, and he didn't have to buy salt at a high price, just stay there and don't worsen the relationship.
He understood as soon as he heard it. His boss seemed to have a backer, but it seemed that the backer was not yet decided.
After getting some information from other purchasers who had already left, the three guessed that the court was transferring salt to them from other places, and it seemed that the amount of salt was quite large, which could completely replace the official salt from Jiangnan. The purchasers who had already left were the ones whose state governments had already received the salt.
But why did they tell Gu Huai this?
Do you really think they are happy to beg for help from everyone during this period?
So when the servant of the Gu family came to inquire, he still looked arrogant, and the three of them ignored him.
Gu family servant: ...
They could only change their attitude, bending down and smiling ingratiatingly, saying, "I'm sorry for being so rude, you adults. But I'm just curious. Didn't those adults come to buy salt? Why did they leave without buying any?"
The three of them ignored him.
Gu family servant: ...
He tried his luck and could only say, "I heard that the three gentlemen wanted to purchase two carts of salt. Although I am a servant, I was born and raised in Wu County and do have some connections..."
The three of them continued to ignore him. Humph, who do they think cares? Well, they do care, but he's just a servant. Once the news gets out, they'll forget about you the moment they turn around.
If they really wanted to give salt, they would have given it to them before when they made such a big fuss.
Their official positions were low, the ninth rank in the lower states, and only the eighth rank in the middle and upper states. Even if they were very angry, they had to tell their superiors first, and then their superiors would write letters of impeachment. This back and forth took a lot of time.
And during this period, they were the ones who suffered the most, almost every day. Humph, they were only at the eighth or ninth rank, but didn’t they have temper?
The three of them successfully drove the servants of the Gu family away and finally got rid of their anger.
One of them sarcastically said, "That eldest son of the Gu family still dreams of being on par with the eldest son of the Yang family. He doesn't even consider whether he is worthy of it."
"Exactly. At about the same age, Lord Yang had already made great achievements, yet he didn't even dare to take the imperial examinations, yet he still claimed to be from an aristocratic family." Another person said, "He's a truly good man. Even if he didn't enter the government to serve the emperor and the people, at least he wouldn't control the salt administration and harm the people of the world."
He gritted his teeth and said, "It's the busy spring season now, and everyone is busy. The people are expending all their energy. If they don't have salt, they'll be exhausted after just a few days of working in the fields, not to mention that they'll get sick if they don't eat salt. How can someone who controls the salt administration for selfish reasons be compared to Lord Yang, who bravely fought smallpox?"
This is the post station in Yangzhou. Even if Gu Huai didn't specifically inquire about it, his spies would have passed on these words to him.
Gu Huai's face flashed with embarrassment, but he quickly calmed down and ordered expressionlessly, "Send someone to ask again. I don't care what method you use. I must know the reason why those people left."
The servant agreed, bowed and retreated.
Naturally, these words were not heard only by Gu Huai. The other owners of the houses also heard them. Lu Binghua could not help but sneer and said to his left and right, "I wonder what expression Gu Huai had when he heard this?"
This was Lu Binghua's study. His attendants were all his confidants and weren't afraid of word getting out, so they laughed along and asked, "Why do you think those people left, sir?"
"Why else?" Lu Binghua sneered. "People can't live without salt. Salt is just like food. You can't lack either. Now that they've left, it means they have salt."
"Where did they get the salt? Did the imperial court stockpile it in advance?"
Lu Binghua's eyes were deep, and he was suspicious in his heart. "It seems that the court has been prepared for this. They must have stockpiled salt from other places in advance. However, there are only a limited number of salt fields in the world. If they want to stockpile salt, they must have forced others to eat less salt, or even no salt at all."
"Humph, they say we're manipulating the salt administration and harming the people. How can they be any better?"
"Then this matter..."
"We don't care," Lu Binghua said. "Jiangnan has the most salt fields. I don't believe they can stockpile salt for a quarter to replace Jiangnan's salt production. Can they stockpile it for two, three, or even a year? It's all about who is more ruthless and patient."
"You think Gu Huai doesn't know such a simple truth? Yet he still persevered in sending people to question them. He simply wanted to know where the imperial court's salt came from. He wanted to find a way to cut off their escape route so as to force them to make a decision as soon as possible."
After all, if this matter is delayed for too long, it will not be good for them.
Just as they were lost in thought, Yang Heshu sent someone directly to the post station to pick up the three purchasing officers and take them to his mansion.
He said to the three of them, "If you want to wait for the letter, wait here. Don't stay at the post station for the time being."
(End of this chapter)
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