After Hou Zhensheng finished writing, he handed each sheet to Kang Yueran, explaining each one.
"Duke Lu has hidden his own soldiers in the four mountains. This piece of paper contains the address, the number of soldiers, and the name of the steward."
"I have placed people in all four locations. Written on this piece of paper are their names and codewords."
"Fourteen of the Huaizhou garrison commanders were once close associates of the previous Duke Lu, but now eighteen are under his command. This piece of paper contains the names and preferences of the eighteen commanders!"
"Duke Lu loves to bribe officials. This piece of paper lists the names and titles of the officials he bribed."
"This piece of paper lists the names of merchants who gave money to Duke Lu. Some of them were voluntary, while others were forced. I have marked them all."
......
The reason why the Hou family became the richest family in Ningzhou was because of Hou Zhensheng. This was also the reason why Kang Yueran came to find Hou Zhensheng. She believed that even if Hou Zhensheng really fell into obscurity, he would definitely be unwilling to accept it.
She had also prepared a speech to sow discord between Hou Zhensheng and Duke Lu. Of course, she had also guessed that Hou Zhensheng might have some small moves in private, but she never expected that Hou Zhensheng would be so well prepared.
"Master Hou, I'm really curious, how did you do it?"
Hou Zhensheng handed Kang Yueran the last piece of paper. There was no writing on the paper, only a drawing of a silver cake.
"Every three months, I send silver to Duke Lu. The silver is made from new silver cakes that I had recast. I deliberately dropped two sets of molds, and the silver cakes that were cast are slightly bent.
They've got to spend the silver cakes. If we follow this clue, we'll definitely find people related to them. By keeping an eye on them, we can uncover more people and more things."
Kang Yueran really had to admire Hou Zhensheng. He had quietly found so much information with just a tiny clue. "Thank you!"
"I'm not only doing this for you and Prince Ping, but also for myself." His health has been getting worse in the past two years. If he dies, not only will the existing family business be lost, but even his daughter and grandson might not survive.
Hou Zhensheng talked too much tonight. His face was as pale as paper and he coughed a few times.
Kang Yueran put away the stack of papers and said, "Master Hou, please go to bed early. I'm leaving now."
Hou Zhensheng sent Kang Yueran to the door and said, "From now on, I'll have to trouble you, Mr. Kang."
Kang Yueran nodded, walked a few steps, stopped, turned around and advised: "Master Hou, I will take care of the future, you just need to rest and recuperate. It is satisfying to have your revenge, but the most satisfying thing is to see it with your own eyes!"
A smile appeared on Hou Zhensheng's skinny old face. "Thank you, Mr. Kang. I'll keep it in mind!"
Kang Yueran opened the door and left. After leaving Hou's house, she did not leave the city, but returned to Hou's house and lay on the roof of Hou Zhensheng's house to eavesdrop.
Hou Zhensheng was awake and talking to someone. "Lao Quan, I have no regrets!"
Lao Quan, the steward of the Hou family, cried, "Who said there is no such thing? Don't you regret not seeing the young master get married and have children?"
"No regrets, didn't you send someone to Anzhou to inquire? Kang Yueran is a kind-hearted person and will definitely be able to take good care of them."
"Master, Master, you can't die, wuwuwu..."
Hou Zhensheng laughed and scolded, "You old boy, you're still crying at your age. I can't die for the time being, and I don't want to die. I want to see my revenge with my own eyes."
Lao Quan wiped his tears and said, "Then I will ask Dr. Hao to come again tomorrow..."
Kang Yueran didn't listen any further. After leaving Hou's house, he returned to the boat.
As Kang Yueran expected, the business did have problems. Ma Shun hurried back from Ningzhou City to tell Kang Yueran that the owner of the Xing family carriage company refused to take their business anymore.
Kang Yueran went to Heilongshan to find Hua Rongyue and borrowed 120 people and the only 17 carts, and pushed and carried the Wang family's cloth to the cloth merchant.
Mr. Hong, the owner of the cloth merchant, counted the goods and said, "Master Kang, Shopkeeper Li, the goods are correct. I have prepared the money. I will take you to collect it!"
Shopkeeper Li said with a smile: "Why are you in such a hurry? I want to order a batch from you..."
"Brother Li, sir! We've been doing business with each other for many years, and I... sir! I'll just say what I want to say. The higher-ups have issued an order prohibiting us from doing business with you. I can no longer buy your cotton cloth, nor can I sell you silk."
Shopkeeper Li was stunned. "Why?"
Kang Yueran understood why, and she asked, "Master Hong, if the Wang family's cloth business no longer asks us, Kangji, to ship goods, can you still do business with them?"
Mr. Hong was also reluctant to lose the Wang family, a big client. He looked around and whispered, "If we can turn a corner without being discovered, maybe it will work."
"In other words, the order from above is that even if Kangji doesn't ship the goods, the Wang family can't do business?"
"Well, alas! I also have a lot of grievances to share. Mr. Kang, Mr. Li, please don't blame me. I really can't afford to offend you."
Kang Yueran comforted him, "Don't blame you, blame me. I'm the one who's hindered you. I'll find a way to deal with this. Master Hong, are other merchants unable to do business with us?"
Mr. Hong nodded and said, "Because there is an existing contract, if we don't accept this batch of goods, we will have to pay double compensation, so the governor agreed to let us accept this batch of goods, but we can no longer do business with you.
At that time, most of the big merchants in Ningzhou were there. Someone asked if we couldn’t accept any goods from Anzhou and if we couldn’t sell any goods to Anzhou. The governor nodded and said yes!
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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