Dongting Mountain is located in the southeast of Taihu Lake, and the so-called "Dongting Merchants" is named after it.
It is not a single mountain, but a general term for East Dongting Mountain and West Dongting Mountain.
Moreover, West Dongting Mountain is not just one mountain. In this era, it is a collective name for three mountains. It was not until three hundred years later that the sediment was connected and the lake was reclaimed to form the appearance of later generations.
Dongting Mountain is not a mountain, but a large island five miles away from the land. It will take three hundred years for it to be directly connected to the mainland and become a peninsula.
Compared to West Dongting Mountain, which is entirely mountainous and has not an inch of flat land, the conditions in East Dongting Mountain are much better.
There are large tracts of flat land on the southwest and northeast slopes of Dongshan Mountain, where manors are built one after another.
Most of them are members of the Dongting Chamber of Commerce.
The retirement garden of the highly respected Chairman Weng is built in Yuhua Scenic Area, which has the best scenery in Dongshan.
The valley is full of ancient trees, winding corridors, stone pillars and flying eaves, elegant and natural. Standing on the pavilion halfway up the mountain, you can overlook the fields and villages below the mountain and listen to the fishermen singing in the evening, which is refreshing.
It’s like a paradise on earth.
However, Hua Bozhen had no intention of appreciating the beautiful scenery of lakes and mountains. He had been waiting in Yuhua Scenic Area for two days but had not received an accurate response.
The white-haired old man who was playing chess with him in the pavilion was none other than Weng Baiwan, the former president of Suzhou Dongting Chamber of Commerce.
President Weng has a youthful face and is well-maintained. He looks much younger than Grand Tutor Hua who is the same age as him.
Weng Fan placed a piece on the chessboard, twirled his beard and smiled, "My dear nephew, you are upset. You are going to lose this game again."
"President Weng is one step ahead. There's nothing we can do about it." Hua Bozhen looked at the situation and saw that the dragon had been slain. He simply gave up and admitted defeat.
"Today is the day when the pirates are going to demand a ransom. Hasn't the president heard about it yet?"
President Weng glanced at his son Weng Fan who was standing beside him.
Weng Fan replied quietly, "Everyone below has replied, no one is involved in this matter."
"What about the food ban on Kunshan?" Weng Yu frowned and asked, "It's getting more and more outrageous. The Chamber of Commerce is there to help everyone out of trouble. It's acting so overbearingly. I think it's not far from being destroyed!"
"It's just a misunderstanding." Weng Fan explained hurriedly, "It's because of the shortage of food during the harvest season. Wu County in Changzhou asked the grain merchants in Suzhou City to give priority to the city. So not only Kunshan, but other counties are also unable to buy food from Suzhou for the time being."
"Hmph, an excuse." Weng Fan snorted, and with both hands he pounded his cane and said:
"Don't worry about that for now. Let them find a way to rescue the people! If anything happens to Miss Wu Ji, Dongting Chamber of Commerce will be humiliated!"
"Yes, father." Weng Fan nodded and gave Hua Bozhen a dry laugh, saying, "Brother Shi, play chess with my father first. I will think of a solution now."
"Okay, thank you for your help..." Hua Bozhen bowed slightly to express his gratitude.
When Weng Fan left, Weng Yan shook his head slightly and sighed:
"My dear nephew, we are a family and we don't have to talk behind each other's backs. Over the years, I have not been involved in the affairs of the association. Now I am just a figurehead. Now the two vice presidents have the final say in everything internally and externally."
"President, you are too kind. I believe this matter has nothing to do with the Dongting Chamber of Commerce."
Hua Bozheng could actually see that Weng Fan already knew the truth, but the girl's reputation was more important, so he could only pretend to be ignorant and rescue the girl first.
"In fact, the Han family and Wu Ji don't have much contact, but the orphans and widows are pitiful. We can't just watch them being hunted down and killed. That would be too heartless."
"Yes, yes." Weng Fan nodded and said, "I had some friendship with Miss Jiang's grandfather back then, and I will never let this happen again."
"I feel relieved with the president's words." Hua Bozhen nodded.
When Weng Fan came down from the pavilion halfway up the mountain, he saw Liu Zhengqi, vice president of the Dongting Chamber of Commerce, waiting anxiously in the corridor.
"Brother Le Dao, what did the president say?" Liu Zhengqi stepped forward and asked cautiously.
Weng Fan glanced at him and thought, "Why are you thinking about my father now? What did you do before?"
"What else can I say? I can't sell out Vice President Liu, can I?"
"You didn't explain to the president? I just wanted to teach Wu Ji a lesson. I didn't say I wanted to arrest their eldest daughter."
Mr. Liu had a bitter face, feeling that he had not yet finished his journey.
Who could have thought that by simply seizing two Wu Ji boats, the eldest daughter of the Jiang family could be captured?
What is Miss Jiang’s status? Why would she take a grain ship for no reason?
The nine major families and even the Dongting Chamber of Commerce are all benefiting from the glory her grandfather provided.
Only three days had passed when the Wang family of Taicang, the Hua family of Wuxi, the Gu family of Changshu, and the Lu family of Wuxian all sent letters and people to express their concern.
Hua Bozheng, the eldest son of the Hua family, even went to Yuhua Scenic Spot in person to ask President Weng for people!
This is really a hornet's nest that has been disturbed by just a casual move.
It would be easy if he was the only one who had the final say in the Dongting Chamber of Commerce, but the problem is that there is another vice president, Xu Zhixiang.
One of them came from West Dongting Mountain and the other from East Dongting Mountain. They had originally formed their own factions and were competing with each other.
In the past two years, they have been fighting fiercely for the position of the next president.
Last year, the reason why Mr. Liu was in such a mess was largely due to the secret efforts of Vice President Xu and his gang.
Seeing that he had made another stupid move, there was no reason for Vice President Xu not to stir up trouble.
Xu Zhixiang joined forces with a group of Dongshan fellow villagers to question him whether he had really colluded with the pirates.
It's like they weren't in collusion.
They also brought up the matter of his grain ban, and criticized him for using the name of the Dongting Chamber of Commerce to settle personal grudges and causing the Chamber of Commerce to offend the government for no reason.
It was as if Xu Zhixiang was unaware of it.
Mr. Liu originally wanted to contact his fellow townsmen from Xishan and fight against the wolves from Dongshan, but Hua Bozhen informed the old president again.
Although the old chairman has not been in charge of affairs for many years, he is highly respected among the Dongting merchants. Just one word from him can make Mr. Liu turn over a turtle.
When Mr. Liu got the news, he hurried from Suzhou City to Yuhua Scenic Spot to put out the fire.
"Of course I said all the good things, otherwise how can the old man cover it up for you?" Weng Fan smiled faintly and said, "As long as the old man nods and says that this matter has something to do with you, you can forget about being the vice president."
"Yes, thank you Brother Le Dao for your advice." Liu Yuanwai hurriedly thanked him. Although he knew that President Weng would never admit it, the reputation of the entire Dongting Chamber of Commerce would be greatly affected. "I will reward you handsomely in the future."
"We'll talk about that later." Weng Fan said in a deep voice, "The most important thing is to release the people first. Those pirates are capable of anything. Don't tear up the tickets after three days."
"That's impossible. I'm looking for someone who is very reliable." Mr. Liu was not worried, but he couldn't say it out loud. Instead, he had to follow the other party's wishes and said solemnly:
"I'll ask my son to negotiate in person. We must rescue Miss Jiang no matter what!"
"Well, hurry up and go." Weng Fan nodded, pointed at Banshan Pavilion with his chin and said, "There are people waiting for news there."
"Okay, I'll go right away." Mr. Liu turned around and trotted away.
Looking at his back, Weng Fan shook his head, thinking that this was a bad luck god...
It’s better to stay away from him in the future to avoid being infected with bad luck.
ps. The first chapter of the three consecutive updates is here, please give me monthly votes and recommendation votes~
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