County Magistrate Song was overjoyed, his eyes curved, "That's great, to have your guidance is something I've been longing for, how could I dislike it!"
The wealthy merchants who came with County Magistrate Song looked at their masters in astonishment. Didn't they say they were in a hurry to see the prefect? ​​Why were they chatting with the old lady here?
Magistrate Wu took the opportunity of arranging the side rooms to tell the people around him about Qiao Xin's identity.
"Aren't you still trying to sell pottery from my hometown to the southwest? It's more useful to ask the old lady for help than to ask you, sir. The whole workshop is the work of the old lady. You, sir, may not be able to take care of it."
The merchant surnamed Meng said bitterly, "Oh, my good sir, how can we afford to dream of this now? This year's brick tea is all in our hands, and we can't get back any of the capital. If no one wants our brick tea in Yuncheng this time, the tea farmers won't be able to pay for their capital, and we will be bankrupt."
County Magistrate Song knew the truth of what the other party said. Originally, selling tea was a major economic pillar of Anhua. At the beginning of this year, God was indeed kind, with good weather and good harvests. The tea leaves grew well and there were few insect pests. It was thought that it would be a bumper year.
However, when the harvested tea leaves were being processed, the weather changed. The sudden change in weather caused not only the new tea leaves to "mold", but also the old tea leaves that had been stored for one or two years to turn yellow.
As soon as the news came out, the merchants who had originally agreed with them to break the contract, despite the goodwill they had lost over the years. This caused heavy losses to the tea merchants and tea farmers in Anhua County!
County Magistrate Song originally did not interfere with the local tea business, which was all managed by the Tea and Salt Bureau sent by the imperial court. But if the tea tax in the county could not be paid on time, his position as county magistrate would be over, and many villagers would be displaced, sell their children, and die in poverty.
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