Do you know: I have a different surname: Wang, uncle Minglan.

Chapter 285: The House Was Confiscated Because of the Left Foot Entering the "Government Office"
Xie Yuying's mission here was just to perform.

No matter whether the song played in the end is good or bad, it doesn’t matter to Wei Yuan and the people on this flower boat.

They had gathered together for her fame, and as long as she was here, they had a hundred reasons to explain why they were here.

How could she not know that her fame was being used by Wei Yuan and King Wu?

She was just a geisha, she couldn't control her own fate, maybe even she didn't know why she asked Wei Yuan like that, could it be...
Want to play a song for him from now on? She didn't know if she would have the chance to meet him again after leaving this flower boat.

She had imagined many times what a hero guarding the border for the country should be like.
Tall, majestic, not like an ordinary person, she had thought of all kinds of words, but only when she really saw it, would she sigh from the bottom of her heart that this is what a hero is.

After two hours have passed.

Wei Yuan probably felt that Xie Yuying was tired. Yes, after playing the "Breaking Formation Music", he only took a short break and then continued playing for another two hours.

The ten slender fingers began to tremble slightly.

Or perhaps Wei Yuan noticed that the wealthy businessmen in this attic were tired of listening.

He slowly stood up, waved his hand, and signaled Xie Yuying to go down and rest.

Seeing this, everyone was startled and quickly sat up straight, because they knew that the real meaning of this party was about to begin.

"As expected of the Marquis of Wei, if anyone in Jiangnan wanted to ask Miss Xie Yuying to play a piece for you, it would be a great achievement. But this Miss Xie played for you for such a long time, which is really rare."

"Yes, if it weren't for Marquis Wei, I'm afraid we wouldn't be able to listen to the heavenly music for so long today."

"Thank you, Lord Wei."

"."

Xie Yuying is very famous in Jiangnan, and according to Wei Yuan's guess, the real boss behind her might be King Wu.

Otherwise, there is no reason for a geisha to reject so many gracious invitations from wealthy families in Jiangnan every day.

She's just a geisha.

And in the whole Jiangnan region, the only one who could support her in doing so was the King of Wu.

It was extremely difficult for ordinary people to hear her play a piece of music, let alone play for two hours. It was precisely because of this that her title as the most beautiful woman in Jiangnan was even more rare.

Except for Xie Yuying, all the women in the attic, including Zhao Jianjia, had left.

Wei Yuan began to get to the point, "Although I have been dismissed from my post, in the final analysis, the affairs of the Southeast were decided by me personally. Therefore, after I was dismissed from my post, I came to Jiangnan as soon as possible."

As soon as he finished speaking, some merchants could no longer sit still. This man was a big boss in the Hangzhou silk industry, named "Li Youcai".

According to local people in Hangzhou, before Li Youcai became rich, he was a scholar, but he lacked talent and failed to pass the provincial examination. He had no choice but to marry into a merchant family and slowly started a merchant business.

Later on, for some reason, he seemed to have no rivals in the silk business, and his business grew bigger and bigger until he became the number one in the Hangzhou silk industry.

But deep down, he preferred to be a scholar and hoped that his descendants would be talented, so he changed his name to "Li Youcai". As for what he was called before the name change, many people have forgotten it.

"Logically speaking, as a mere merchant, I have no right to make irresponsible remarks in front of you, but I believe that Marquis Wei invited us here to listen to our talk about Southeast Maritime Transport."

"Now that the sea transportation has been opened for more than a year, we have been following the rules you set at the beginning. I get 50%, the Maritime Customs gets 20%, the local government gets 10%, and you get more than 150%."

"We have been following your rules completely, but now someone is asking for too much and is going to break the rules. As the saying goes, there is no order without rules."

"Lord Wei, you might as well be frank. You brought us together to set new rules, or do you want to follow the old rules? If we follow the old rules, what about this person who broke the rules?"

Li Youcai dared to speak like that, obviously, he had someone backing him up. As for who that person was, Wei Yuan didn't care and didn't want to ask.

In addition to the profits given to the Maritime Customs, the government and Wei Yuan, half of the profits were kept. That half was life-saving money and no one could touch it.

If anything goes wrong, the half profit is an explanation.

When Guo Hao heard what he said, his face darkened noticeably. He drank alone without saying a word.

Wei Yuan looked at the others, "Does anyone else want to say anything? The reason we gathered everyone together today is to let everyone speak out whatever they want. It would be best if everyone could speak out everything they know."

When everyone heard this, they no longer felt timid and started to speak:

"Lord Wei, to be honest, we have difficulties in doing business. We have to pay taxes to the court and support our subordinates. If someone asks for 10% of the profit from us, how can we survive?"

"Yes, it would be fine if we just gave some money as a tribute every year. After all, that's what we should do. But we can't be too extreme, right?"

"Many merchants from all over Jiangnan are afraid to do shipping business. How can we do business like this?"

"."

They were afraid that they might not mention Guo Hao's name.

Ever since Wei Yuan came to Jiangnan, they have been waiting to see what attitude Wei Yuan, the person in charge of Southeast Shipping, would have.

He was the one who set the rules in the first place. Now, his people are breaking the rules again. Does he want an explanation?
Although Wei Yuan had been dismissed from his post, many people, including but not limited to them, knew that the emperor was just pretending.
Soon, Wei Yuan will still be reused.

Or, wait until the new emperor ascends the throne.

No matter what, Wei Yuan’s banner will not fall.

Wasn't Wei Yuan also worried about their thoughts?

He looked at Hai Qing, the head of the Hai family from Haizhou, and asked, "Hai family head, do you have anything to say?"

Hearing this, Haizhou slowly stood up, bowed calmly and said, "I will leave it to the Marquis of Wei to decide. I have no complaints."

Too many people have already said what he wanted to say. What he says now is actually not important. It is better for him to choose to stay out of it.

Wei Yuan nodded and looked at the others, "What about you?"

Everyone had no choice but to bow together and say, "Let the Marquis of Wei decide."

Wei Yuan smiled and said, "Commander Guo, what do you think?"

Guo Hao knelt on one knee and said, "Brother, whatever you say is what I will do. I will never break the rules again!"

Wei Yuan smiled and said, "In that case, the previous rules will remain the same as they were before. What do you think?"

When everyone heard this, they all breathed a sigh of relief. They were afraid that Wei Yuan would side with Guo Hao and continue to exploit them.
"What the Duke of Wei said is absolutely right. The rules you set in the beginning cannot be easily changed."

"I will listen to the Marquis of Wei. Whatever the Marquis of Wei says is what I will do."

"."

Guo Hao remained silent, as he had already guessed this would be the result.

Wei Yuan continued, "But you all know that the water affairs in the southeast are now decided by our Commander Guo. If I leave Jiangnan in the future and our Commander Guo changes his mind, what should I do?"

Guo Hao was anxious, "Brother, please rest assured, I am your younger brother."

Before he could finish his words, Wei Yuan came up to him, patted his shoulder and signaled him to shut up.

Guo Hao had no choice but to bow his head and remain silent again.

Then, several merchants began to speak one after another.
"Marquis Wei, you finally came to Jiangnan. You should settle this matter before leaving, right?"

"Yes, just as you said, if..."

"."

Wei Yuan said solemnly: "I have a compromise. Every year, each merchant will give thirty thousand taels of silver to honor our Commander Guo."

"No matter who becomes the commander of the navy in the future, you should still show respect in this way. What do you think?"

Thirty thousand per family?
Everyone couldn't help but gasp. The total amount of money from the various companies was two hundred thousand taels of silver!

You can't kill people like this, right?
Li Youcai frowned deeply and said, "Marquis Wei, isn't thirty thousand taels of tribute a bit too much?"

many?
Wei Yuan sneered, "You should know your place. It's only 30,000 taels per family, not much."

As he spoke, the tiger guard standing there had already unsheathed the precious sword at his waist. The cold light was so sharp that everyone couldn't help but feel frightened.

Afterwards, Wei Yuan looked at Hai Qing intently.

The latter understood what he meant, gritted his teeth and bowed, saying: "Whatever the Marquis of Wei says, that's what it is!"

Wei Yuan looked at the others again, "What about you?"

Now that things have come to this, who dares to say no?
Although they didn't believe it, Wei Yuan really dared to kill people, and the people he killed were well-known and prominent people like them.

However, they did not want to offend Wei Yuan rashly because of this matter.

Moreover, we are still on Taihu Lake at this moment.

Even if you have objections, you should leave Taihu Lake before taking any action.

So, everyone agreed.

The wealthy merchants in this attic need thirty thousand taels each. As for the other merchants on the ship, each of them needs to pay at least three thousand to ten thousand taels.

This amount of silver is already a considerable income.

Afterwards, these merchants left this place and returned to their respective residences to rest, waiting to leave Taihu Lake early the next morning.

In the attic.

Wei Yuan looked at Guo Hao and said expressionlessly: "The silver they gave is not all for you. Some of it will be used to subsidize the families of our comrades who died with us, and some will be sent to the capital."

He did not say exactly how much money he was to take.

The amount of money given by each merchant was fixed, and Wei Yuan could roughly guess how much tribute Guo Hao would receive.

Therefore, how much Guo Hao gave depended entirely on his own wishes.

If this thoughtfulness was lacking, Wei Yuan's brotherly love for him would naturally be less.

Seeing that there were no outsiders around, Guo Hao knelt down in front of him and kowtowed repeatedly to admit his mistake.

Wei Yuan couldn't bear to watch it any longer, so he asked Lin Zhaoyuan to help him up and said earnestly:
“There is nothing wrong with greed for money, but people should not break the rules because of ambition.”

"Daniu said something right. It's not easy for us brothers to get to where we are today. We must not wait until we see blood before we repent."

Guo Hao could sense the ill will in his tone, and said fearfully, "Don't worry, big brother. After this incident, I was really wrong, and there will never be a next time."

Wei Yuan sneered and said, "You are now a wealthy family, and I only have the title but no real power, so I can't control you."

Hearing this, Guo Hao knelt down again and repeated the kowtow he had just done. "Brother, I know I was wrong. Please forgive me!"

Wei Yuan waved his hand.

He was pulled up again by Lin Zhaoyuan.

Wei Yuan said, "I heard that the rebel king's daughter has become your woman? Do you still want to marry her?"

Guo Hao was shocked, "If big brother thinks her identity is a hindrance, I will drive her away tomorrow."

Wei Yuan looked at him without saying anything.

He was getting more and more panicked, "Big brother wants me to kill her."

Wei Yuan smiled and said, "It's time for you to get married. The daughter of the sinning king has been forgiven by the emperor. Now the emperor is ill, so don't be too anxious about marrying her."

Guo Hao's face lit up with joy, "Thank you, big brother!"

Wei Yuan said: "After all, this is your private matter and has nothing to do with me."

After a pause, he stared at Guo Hao's face and said in a deep voice: "I have sent someone to take your parents to Bianjing. Let them live in the capital for a while, is that okay?"

Guo Hao was very flustered. "Brother, I understand what you mean. My parents have always dreamed of going to Kyoto. Now, you have fulfilled their dream."

What can we do now that things have come to this?
At this time, Chen Daniu suddenly said, "Brother, since you have already decided to ask them for money, why don't you ask for more? These merchants are greedy and ruthless. It's not a bad idea to take this opportunity to teach them a lesson."

Wei Yuan shook his head and said, "The relationships behind them are complicated. We don't need to offend them completely. Besides, our roots are not in Jiangnan."

Chen Daniu seemed to be thinking about something.

Wei Yuan looked at Lin Zhaoyuan and said, "Check the guy named Li Youcai."

The latter clasped his fists and said, "The King of Wu has already recorded the list of merchants on board and their detailed backgrounds. I will go and get it for you, my Lord."

Having said that, he left the room.

During this time, Wei Yuan had been waiting quietly in the attic.

Guo Hao stood there like a piece of wood, not daring to move.

Chen Daniu ate and drank as usual without any delay.

About a cup of tea later, Lin Zhaoyuan came back and handed the file about Li Youcai to Wei Yuan.

The latter took a closer look and said, "It turns out that he is backed by Duke Lian."

Lin Zhaoyuan said: "It seems that this Duke Lian is not honest."

Wei Yuan said: "Find out what Li Youcai did and punish him."

Lin Zhaoyuan said: "I heard that he came to Taihu Lake not by water, but by carriage."

Take a carriage?
Wei Yuan snorted coldly, "He is neither an official nor a noble. Who gave him the courage to ride in a carriage? Tell the governor of Hangzhou, Mei Zhi, to confiscate his property based on this."

Being raided for riding in a carriage?

It's the only one of its kind in history, right?

It is clearly written in the laws of the Great Zhou that merchants are not allowed to ride in horse-drawn carriages and can only ride in sedan chairs.

Lin Zhaoyuan frowned slightly and said, "Duke Lian's side..."

Wei Yuan said, "Doesn't Duke Lian have a legitimate son who is unemployed at home? Let Changzhi take care of it and make arrangements."

Lin Zhaoyuan bowed and said, "Yes."

After a pause, Chen Daniu asked curiously, "Can the governor of Hangzhou help us?"

Wei Yuan smiled and said, "The last time he came to the southeast, Mei Zhi thought he had offended me, and tried to please me everywhere. He even came to Fuzhou to see me, but I refused to see him."

Chen Daniu suddenly realized, "In order not to offend the Marquis, he had no choice but to confiscate Li Youcai's house. But, why did Big Brother confiscate his house?"

Wei Yuan smiled and said, "Didn't you just say that you wanted to give them a beating?"

Chen Daniu was stunned.

Beating is not a house-raiding.

(End of this chapter)