As he was speaking, Li Erbing came in to report that He Yifan, Ou Jiuyan and others had arrived.
Kang Yueran invited them all in and asked someone to bring a set of tables and chairs over.
After He Yifan and the others paid their respects to Chai Shibo, they asked Kang Yueran, "We heard from Manager Li of Wang's Cloth Shop that merchants in Ningzhou no longer want to do business with us, so we came here to ask what's going on."
"It's because of me. I just made an agreement with Prince Ning that he will send a cargo ship to help you transport the goods to Ningzhou. The Ningzhou governor will definitely not dare to stop him."
Ningzhou isn't the only city in the south with docks, but the Ou family's cargo ships rarely go there. "How about we also send two ships to Ningzhou?"
Kang Yueran said apologetically, "Uncle Ou, thank you very much, but it's not necessary. The only thing that the Ningzhou governor dares not stop is the imperial cargo ship. One ship is a little less, but it's better than nothing. It will be fine once it's shipped back by sea."
Ou Jiuyan insisted, "I'd better send one ship and follow the imperial ship."
Zuo Bai stared at Ou Jiuyan suspiciously, "Old Ou, you've always been timid, why are you so bold this time?"
Ou Jiuyan was worried that the imperial court would also target the canal shipping business on the inland rivers. "When did I become afraid?"
Kang Yueran didn't point it out, explaining, "Don't worry, Uncle Ou. The fact that goods can't flow between the two places is not only unpleasant for us, but the merchants in Ningzhou are also probably unhappy. Everything will be back to normal by the New Year at the latest."
Ou Jiuyan didn't understand why Kang Yueran was so confident, but he believed in Kang Yueran very much, "Okay, then I'll listen to Yueran." Yueran would definitely not let him suffer any loss.
Zuo Bai was even more puzzled, looking back and forth between Kang Yueran and Ou Jiuyan.
Kang Yueran noticed Zuo Bai looking at her and said, "Father Zuo Bai, I couldn't bring back your wood. I've asked my master to bring it back once he finds it."
"Don't worry, I still have a batch of stock in my warehouse, which will last for a while."
Meng Dechang also quickly expressed his opinion, "I'm not in a hurry for my medicinal herbs. I've made a lot of money from Panax notoginseng from Black Dragon Mountain alone. It doesn't matter if I sell less of the other herbs."
Mu Lian followed up, "I still have quite a bit of tea leaves, and I asked An Yuan before, and he said we can harvest some of the tea you planted this year. It's more than enough!"
He Yifan comforted her, "We are not in a hurry, Yueran, don't be anxious either."
Ou Jiuyan said: "My family's ship is at your command at any time. If you need anything, you can always come to me. Yueran, it was Duke Lu who was too bullying. We don't blame you."
Chai Shibo felt a pang of sadness as he watched the scene unfold. Merchants have their own moral principles. "Miss Kang, consider this a loan from me for the money used to build the government office. I'll pay you back next year when I make money from shipping!"
"No need. If we only build the government office, it will cost at most five thousand taels of silver. I can afford it."
Ou Jiuyan was very generous this time. "I am the one who is in partnership with the government office. I will pay for half of the money to build the government office."
Zuo Bai said, "I will provide the timber for building the government office."
Kang Yueran quickly waved her hands, "Don't worry about it, I'll do it myself." She asked guiltily, "Did the merchants scold me when they found out that it was my idea to build the Maritime Transport Office?"
He Yifan was surprised and asked, "Was it your idea?"
Kang Yueran was even more surprised, "You don't know?"
Chai Shibo smiled and said, "You were not mentioned in the emperor's edict, so no one knows about it."
You can hide it for a while, but not forever. "Everyone will know sooner or later, so it's okay to tell it. Too many lice don't itch, so this is a good opportunity to tell it all. Let everyone scold you if they want."
Chai Shibo said proudly, "Whoever dares to scold you will soon become my sixth sister-in-law."
In name, Kang Yuanfeng was the head of Kang Yueran's family, so the imperial decree granting the marriage went directly to Four Seasons Garden, and the people in Anzhou were still unaware of it.
Facing the surprised expressions of the crowd, Kang Yueran hesitated for a moment and said, "The emperor has already granted me, Prince Heping, a marriage, but it will take two years to get married."
Since the marriage had been granted, it was set in stone that she would be Prince Ping's principal wife. Everyone began to congratulate Kang Yueran, and Kang Yueran blushed slightly as she thanked him.
When the merchants heard that the merchants in Ningzhou were unwilling to do business with them because of Kang Yueran, they were about to get angry, but then they heard that Kang Yueran paid money to contract the job of building a government office, and in this way asked Prince Ning to continue to help them transport goods.
When the merchants heard that it was Kang Yueran who proposed the construction of the Maritime Transport Office to the court, they were about to get angry, but then they heard that Kang Yueran was married to Prince Ping as his principal wife.
The merchants in Anzhou were upset by the news one after another. They wanted to scold Kang Yueran, the future Princess Ping. In addition, Ou Jiuyan, He Yifan and others said a lot of good things about Kang Yueran in private, and the anger of the merchants in Anzhou quickly dissipated.
Because of Kang Yueran, the merchants cooperated very well with Chai Shibo, and Chai Shibo was also very polite to the merchants, so his work progressed very smoothly.
In mid-July, Qin Shu suddenly appeared in Kang Yueran's bedroom in the middle of the night.
As soon as he came up, he accused Kang Yueran, "I waited and waited but there was no news from you, so I came to see you."
"Where are you from? The capital?"
"No, I came from the North."
Kang Yueran said anxiously, "Does your father know? You are too anxious. I just left the capital and you went to the northern border right after. Even a fool would guess that something is wrong."
"Don't worry, the emperor has summoned me to the palace and asked me to go through the northern border and then come to Anzhou to find you privately to help you eliminate Duke Lu's power."
She bit her lip and continued, "Yueran, my father won't let me tell you, but I want to tell you. My father said that His Majesty's actions seem to want to depose the Crown Prince and support Prince Ping, but he knows that although His Majesty really wants to depose the Crown Prince, he will never pass the throne to Prince Ping. I asked my father why, but he refused to tell me."
Kang Yueran pressed her lips into a line. "Actually, Ajing and I have guessed this too, but we couldn't figure out the reason no matter how much we guessed."
The decision to depose Chai Shirong is easy to understand. Duke Lu was too powerful for Chai Shirong to control. If Chai Shirong wanted to succeed him, Duke Lu couldn't be killed, which would have forced Dayong to change its surname. Killing Duke Lu would have prevented Chai Shirong from controlling the other princes, and he wouldn't have become emperor.
If Emperor Jianning did not support Chai Shirong's enthronement and eliminated Duke Lu's power, he could pass the throne to whoever he wanted. He could use all the princes and then choose a suitable person to inherit the throne based on their abilities.
Yet, Emperor Jianning had pushed Chai Shijing to the forefront. If this was to temper Chai Shijing, wasn't he afraid that he would actually die under Duke Lu's knife? He had long known that his health was failing, so how could he have had the time to train an heir? Wasn't he afraid that Dayong would be entrusted with the wrong person?
Kang Yueran had discussed this with Chai Shijing, and she even suspected that Emperor Jianning was secretly cultivating a prince, but Chai Shijing found no clues after searching for a long time.
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