Everyone nodded.
Liu Rui's sinister gaze swept across their faces. "Zhao Lin is here to rob us of our money. As the saying goes, to steal someone's money is like killing their parents. Zhao Lin is here to kill our parents, so we must kill him too. Let's all work together to get this done so that we can continue to run our business smoothly. If anyone dares to disobey orders or act recklessly, don't blame me for being rude!"
Wang Liancheng immediately shouted, "President, don't worry. If Zhao Lin dares to steal our money, we will take his life."
"That's right! We all work so hard to make a living at sea, and he wants most of us to leave just by opening his mouth. Why?" Cai Zhenhe shouted, "Let's kill him and show the court that we are not to be trifled with. Let's see who dares to come after us again."
"Kill him!"
"Kill him!"
The sea merchants shouted.
Liu Rui was very satisfied.
"It would be best if everyone could work together. After Zhao Lin is killed, the governor will ask for some warships from the higher authorities in the name of preventing pirates, and everyone can change ships." Liu Rui gave the merchants some encouragement.
Sure enough, when the sailors heard that they could exchange warships, they cheered.
Although their merchant ships were large and strong, they were no match for warships.
If you want to sail safely on the sea, you must use the imperial warships.
Liu Rui immediately arranged the task.
"Zhao Lin is always protected by 3,000 Qingzhou soldiers. Even if he's going on this incognito visit, given his cowardly nature, he should bring at least a few dozen people with him. We must kill them all immediately or stop them from getting close to Zhao Lin."
"No matter where Zhao Lin goes tomorrow, we must lead him to the seaside. The seaside is soft and unsuitable for cavalry operations. Even if we can't kill Zhao Lin right away, we can hinder the Qingzhou army's rescue efforts and buy time for the pirates."
"Once Zhao Lin is dead, everyone will immediately take action to eliminate the pirates and create chaos. Prepare some corpses tonight, dress them in pirate clothes, and keep them for tomorrow."
Liu Rui arranged them one by one.
Wang Liancheng asked, "President, where can we find the body?"
Liu Rui showed a hint of cruelty: "If you can't find them, just kill them. There are so many villages out there, wouldn't it be enough to just slaughter a few?"
Wang Liancheng was shocked: "Massacre the whole village? This, this..."
"What, you don't want to?" Liu Rui stared at Wang Liancheng coldly, as if he would beat him to death immediately if Wang Liancheng dared to admit it.
Wang Liancheng quickly said, "It's not that we don't want to, but most of our men are from outside villages. If we kill their families, there's no guarantee they won't rebel."
"That's why I want you to massacre the whole village," Liu Rui said. "Kill them all, and then say it was pirates. That way, their families will be dead, free of ties, and they'll be able to work more easily. They won't have to board a ship for years."
Several sea merchants laughed and gave thumbs-up signs.
"It's better for the president to think long-term. This way, we can kill two birds with one stone."
"With the president here, who can bully us?"
"Even the imperial court has to be polite."
Their cheers echoed through the quiet room.
"Go ahead and do it," Liu Rui ordered. "As long as we succeed this time, no one will dare to attack us."
When everyone else left, only Liu Rui and a few other big merchants were left.
Liu Rui immediately ordered: "Come here, keep an eye on them!"
"Are you worried that they will tell on you?" asked a merchant.
He is the second largest sea merchant after Liu Rui, named Liao Bo.
The Liao family is also a big family in the local area. They have more than 20 sea vessels and thousands of strong men who can fight.
"Not bad." Liu Rui said.
"He won't tell on me, will he?" Liao Bo asked doubtfully.
"Humph! Of course not. We are strong and occupy the best business. They can only do some offshore business. If they can bring us down, won't all the business be theirs? If it were you, would you inform on them?" Liu Rui snorted coldly.
Another big sea merchant immediately gave a thumbs up: "Old Liu is really thoughtful. In that case, why bother dragging them along? We can just do it ourselves."
Liu Rui sneered, "Let them be scapegoats. Let their men attack first, and then kill them all together. Then we can say they colluded with the pirates to murder Zhao Lin. This will not only clear us of suspicion, but also take over their ships and business."
Liu Rui said complacently, "Who would complain about too much business, right?"
Everyone laughed together.
Wang Liancheng hurried back and left. Sitting in the carriage, Zhao Lin's words rang in his ears.
"With Liu Rui and his men around, you small merchants will remain small merchants your entire lives. If you're lucky, you can do some offshore business, but if you're unlucky, you'll be swallowed up by them and won't be able to do business, and you might even lose your lives."
"If you surrender to me, I will say nothing else, as long as you obey the law, I guarantee that your future will be no worse than Liu Rui and the others."
"You decide what to do!"
"How? How?"
Wang Liancheng muttered to himself, his face full of struggle.
If we follow Liu Rui and the others, we might be able to kill Zhao Lin, but what good would it do if we kill Zhao Lin?
Everyone is still the same as before, big sea merchants like Liu Rui eat meat, and small sea merchants like Wang Liancheng drink soup.
Sometimes there is not even soup to drink.
and.
If the sailors' families were killed, would these maritime merchants still have a place to stand in the future?
If I had followed Zhao Lin.
As long as Zhao Lin can keep his promise and distribute their ships to himself after killing Liu Rui and others, no, even if he doesn’t distribute them to himself, as long as there is no pressure from these big sea merchants, small sea merchants like himself will be able to rise.
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