104. Prince Wei
"This young lady is already married."
After dealing with the Wei family, Shen Suqin returned to the inn where Pei Tingfeng was staying late at night.
She knocked on the door twice, and Pei Tingfeng, who hadn't slept, quickly opened the door to let her in.
"How is it?" he asked anxiously.
"They've agreed on the surface, but it's hard to say whether there will be any changes behind the scenes." Shen Suqin walked to the window and opened it a crack. Sure enough, she saw someone tailing her at the street corner. She closed the window. "Tell the guards not to touch the person tailing you."
“I know, I gave the orders.” Pei Tingfeng frowned. “What other unexpected changes do you think might occur?”
Shen Suqin pursed her lips, "It's hard to say. What if someone in the Wei family is smart enough to come to their senses and realize that we can play good cop and bad cop respectively? That would solve everything."
"That can't be right, I acted pretty well."
Shen Suqin smiled but remained silent.
"Alright."
"I asked them for 10,000 taels of gold as a reward. Don't try to take it from me; I'm going to give it back to the Black Flag Army for military expenses."
"Why would I take it from you? If you can get it, that's your skill. I'm not going to take it."
"That's more like it. Tomorrow, if you're even more grumpy, bring two tall, fierce-looking guards with you."
"knew."
On the other side, after Shen Suqin left, the Wei family's house was brightly lit.
The kind and gentle demeanor of Master Wei was completely gone; his eyes were now filled with malice.
"These two youngsters are quite the actors, putting on a show together," said Master Wei.
He'd met plenty of people in his life; he wasn't going to be fooled by these two greenhorns.
Young Master Wei looked completely bewildered. "You mean, she's bluffing us?"
"Alas, not quite." Master Wei sighed deeply. "It's fate, it's destiny, Ke'er, the Wei family's days are numbered."
Wei Ke became anxious, "Father, what do you mean? What do you mean the Wei family is finished?"
Master Wei punched him in exasperation, saying, "If only you had half the skill of that Shen Suqin."
"Don't you think about it? Who proposed the Three Offices? If it weren't for Shen Suqin stirring things up, would His Majesty have thought of taking action against us? Tonight, she's playing the good guy, acting like she's thinking of us."
"Then we can just ignore it."
"Are you stupid? How much power does the Wei family have to go against the entire Liang Dynasty? If we don't hand it over, they might send troops to rob us."
Wei Ke took a step back and slumped into his chair, his mind a complete mess.
"Then what about the salt official..." He couldn't understand it; he felt that being a salt official was also a viable path.
"That's why I say Shen Suqin is smart. She took a step back and let us be the salt officials ourselves. But Ke'er, being a salt official isn't a long-term solution. You need to help the Wei family find a new way out."
Five or ten years, the higher-ups might tolerate them. But what about twenty or thirty years? Once the salt mines are nationalized, will the higher-ups still allow them to tamper with things in secret?
Wei Ke seemed to understand.
The next day, Shen and Pei stayed in the inn without moving.
The Wei family had been waiting at home since early morning. Master Wei had instructed them to be patient today and prioritize securing the salt official position. The Wei family members listened dejectedly, though they harbored deep resentment towards Shen and Pei.
The sun was high in the sky, and the Wei family had prepared food and waited for them, but they didn't see a single person.
Wei Ke frowned and looked at the sky, asking, "Why hasn't that man surnamed Chen arrived yet? Didn't he say yesterday that he would bring Lord Pei with him?"
Master Wei sat in the main seat, his fingertips lightly tapping the table. "Oh no!"
He suddenly stood up, slapped his thigh, and hurriedly walked out.
"Father, what's wrong...?"
"Ke'er, hurry up, come with me to the inn."
Wei Ke followed his father outside, looking completely bewildered. Halfway there, he realized that they were being waited for to come and beg for help.
He wanted to say something, but hesitated for a long time and then remained silent.
They're the ones begging now; they need to recognize the situation.
Upon arriving at the inn, Master Wei pushed aside the innkeeper who came to greet him from afar, his face beaming with smiles, and called upstairs, "Minister Shen, Lord Pei, would you like to have a drink sometime?"
No sooner had he finished speaking than Shen Suqin poked his head out from the second floor and laughed, "Oh, it's Master Wei. Didn't we agree to come to your house? Why did you come all the way here in person?"
"Since you two are unfamiliar with Gongchuan, I must extend some hospitality and show you around."
“Master Wei probably has ulterior motives,” Shen Suqin said with a smile. “Wait a moment, I’ll go and call Lord Pei.”
After saying that, she turned and went to Pei Tingfeng's room.
“They’re here,” she said quietly, raising an eyebrow. “This is settled, we can report back.”
Pei Tingfeng nodded.
In the afternoon, Shen and Pei, led by members of the Wei family, went to inspect the salt mine.
The carriage sped into the mountains. The mountain road was flat and wide enough for three carriages to travel side by side, and it really didn't look like a road carved out of the mountainside.
Wei Ke sat opposite Shen Suqin, his gaze lowered, but occasionally he would lift his eyelids to secretly observe the person opposite him.
My father said that the woman in front of me was very capable. It wasn't that he didn't believe her, but he was very curious.
“Young Master Wei,” Shen Suqin suddenly spoke up.
"Huh?" Wei Ke looked up.
"This young lady is already married."
Wei Ke suddenly opened her eyes wide, and color slowly returned to her cheeks. Pei Tingfeng, on the other hand, looked like she had a toothache and wished she could cover her face and pretend she didn't recognize her.
"I...I didn't, I didn't..."
"Alright, alright," Shen Suqin forced a smile, "I know you didn't mean it that way. Your father must have told you I'm not someone to mess with, right?"
Wei Ke shook his head, but that didn't work either.
“He’s right. I’m petty and vengeful. If anyone crosses my line, it’s not as simple as skinning them alive,” Shen Suqin said in a low voice, her tone cold and sharp.
"I wouldn't dare," Wei Ke said.
As they were talking, the carriage rounded a large mountain wall, and suddenly a very open dam appeared before them.
In the dam area, towering triangular wooden frames were densely packed together, beneath which were salt wells. Buckets of brine drawn from these wells were being transported to the large workshop in the center of the dam area.
“Those are called ‘sky chariots’. They are used to secure the ‘sky rollers’ and pull up the barrels filled with brine, which saves time and effort,” Wei Ke explained, standing in front of the carriage. “These were all built bit by bit by the Wei family over the past hundred years; they are all the result of their hard work.”
Upon hearing this, Pei Tingfeng sneered, "All land under heaven belongs to the king. Ha, the Wei family merely stole it..."
"Steal?" Wei Ke nearly jumped up. "This open-pit salt field was discovered and built by the Wei family. How could it be stolen? Explain yourself!"
“The brine underground wasn’t prepared by your Wei family,” Pei Tingfeng said.
Wei Ke was speechless for a moment.
Pei Tingfeng continued, "Gongchuan salt has enriched your Wei family for generations. His Majesty's decision not to pursue the matter is out of benevolence."
“Lord Pei, this brine sustains more than just the Wei family,” Wei Ke said through gritted teeth. “The entire Gongchuan region, and even half of Yunzhou, benefits from these few salt wells. Lord Pei is simply turning a blind eye and a deaf ear.”
Hearing the two arguing more and more fiercely, Shen Suqin calmly stepped between them and said slowly, "What's the point of arguing? The matter is settled. If you two insist on arguing, why don't you move a couple of steps to the side and argue over there? My ears hurt."
The two glared at each other, each suppressing their anger.
Shen Suqin turned to the dam, her gaze vaguely fixed on the dense, towering overhead cranes, her ears filled with the sound of pulleys rolling.
This is the salt well, the lifeline of the Liang Dynasty's finances.
She knew there were many more like this in places like Daliang, and it wouldn't be easy to find them all.
But now, the Wei family has made a good start.
She confidently strode down the mountain, as if stepping into a ray of light.
Three days later, Shen Suqin and Pei Tingfeng's convoy drove away from Yunzhou.
Behind them was the newly established Salt Commissioner of Yunzhou Prefecture, which oversaw the Salt Official Wei Ke of Gongchuan and several supervisors. The Salt Commissioner had direct access to the Emperor and was in charge of salt affairs.
From then on, Gongchuan salt nominally belonged to the imperial court. Supervisors would assist salt officials in handling the entire process of salt mining, refining, transportation, and sales, with 40% of the profits going to the national treasury.
The so-called 40% was considered a show of leniency towards the Wei family.
But Master Wei knew that this 40% wouldn't last long, and those remaining supervisors would be the death knell for his Wei family. He had to make plans as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Shen Suqin and his group's next stop was Chiyan in Qingyu County, Xizhou.
Before heading to Xizhou, they would pass through Huize County, which is rich in mulberry silkworms and naturally has many skilled weavers.
Shen Suqin detoured to Huize halfway, intending to find a few more weavers there to send to Ningyuan, so that they could help her come up with some new patterns.
"You're going to personally find someone who knows how to weave?" Pei Tingfeng asked in surprise.
They probably thought that such a small thing could be done by someone else, so why bother making the trip themselves?
“The cotton-padded clothing workshop is very important to someone,” Shen Suqin said. “I don’t want to make any mistakes in this.”
"But we both have imperial orders to carry out; is it really right to let personal matters interfere with public duties?"
“This is no private matter. Let me tell you,” Shen Suqin looked at him, “this is just as important as the salt tax. Once he finds out, he definitely won’t blame me.”
"Alright then, whatever you say."
And so, the train set drove into Huize in a grand procession.
"Boss, would you like some cloth?"
"Want some fabric? It's cheap and good quality."
As soon as the bicycle entered the city, a large crowd swarmed around it, clinging to the frame and asking questions eagerly.
Seeing this, the coachman was very annoyed. He flicked his whip in the air, about to lash the horse's rump.
"Wait a minute." Shen Suqin called out to him, lifted the carriage curtain and stood next to the coachman, saying to the crowd that had gathered around, "Hold up the fabrics you're holding, let me take a look at the material."
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