Aoyama

Chapter 366 Dead End
early morning.

Mao Shi.

Si Cao Gui was wiping the carriage outside the side gate.

Suddenly, without turning his head, he kicked backward, and a cry of pain came from behind. Chen Ertong clutched his stomach, his face turning a deep purplish-red as he angrily shouted, "What are you doing?"

Si Cao Gui turned around, expressionless: "What are you doing sneaking around here?"

After a long pause, Chen Ertong handed over a string of coins: "Where did Chen Ji go yesterday?"

Si Cao Gui didn't take the money, but crossed his arms and glanced at him sideways: "Is that all?"

Chen Ertong's eyes widened: "The hundred taels I gave you yesterday is enough for you to live on for several years. What else do you want?"

Si Cao Gui shook his head: "One hundred taels, not a single tael less."

"Dream on, we're all gone now," Chen Ertong said, making a move to leave, but no one called him back when he reached the alley entrance.

He had no choice but to bite the bullet and return, pulling out a string of Buddhist coins from his sleeve: "Quickly tell me, where did Chen Ji go yesterday?"

Si Cao Gui stroked the Buddhist coin with his fingertips: "Yesterday he first went to Tianbao Pavilion, then spent the whole day at Plum Blossom Ferry. Many salt merchants summoned by Young Master Shen came to the capital to buy salt permits. He dealt with them until 9 PM before returning to the Chen residence."

Chen Ertong asked in confusion, "What is he going to Tianbao Pavilion for?"

Si Cao Gui said slowly and deliberately, "Of course, we go to Tianbao Pavilion to buy jewelry for the woman we admire. What else could we do?"

Chen Ertong said disdainfully, "What kind of time is this to still be thinking about women? Did he mention anything about salt permits yesterday?"

Si Cao Gui leaned against the carriage and replied, "No."

Chen Ertong asked suspiciously, "Really not?"

Si Cao Gui said firmly, "There really isn't."

Chen Ertong turned and left.

Si Cao Gui put the Buddhist coin on his wrist and knocked on the side door of the Chen residence.

The next moment, the side door opened a crack, and Chen Ji stood in the crack.

……

……

Chen Ertong hurriedly returned to Chen Family Salt Shop on Mule and Horse Market Street.

Chen Yue had been waiting in front of the door for a long time: "What do you mean?"

Chen Ertong said breathlessly, "Chen Ji's coachman said that Chen Ji went to Tianbao Pavilion yesterday to buy jewelry for a woman, and then stayed at Plum Blossom Ferry all day without coming out."

Chen Yue raised an eyebrow: "Is the driver reliable?"

Chen Ertong quickly replied, "Don't worry, Manager. I've already won him over with this two hundred taels of silver. He's absolutely reliable."

At this moment, Chen Bin entered from outside the door, cupped his hands and said, "Manager, I'm back."

Chen Yue hummed in agreement: "How's it going in Tanggu?"

Chen Bin reported one by one: "It's all taken care of with Li Juren. The night before last, they sent four corpses to the provincial magistrate's office and gathered more than four hundred people to cry and make a scene in front of the office. Also, the person I sent to keep an eye on Chen Ji has reported that Chen Ji went to Tianbao Pavilion yesterday to buy a hairpin and then went to Plum Blossom Ferry."

Chen Bin continued, "These past few days, thanks to the large salt merchants summoned by Shen Ye, the salt permits at Meihua Ferry have been selling extremely fast. After learning that the salt permits were running out, Chen Ji went to the Six Ministries to find Chen Lizun at Shenshi (3-5 PM), presumably to request salt permits from the Ministry of Revenue. But Chen Lizun had already set off for Tanggu, since Tanggu was where he was implementing tax reforms, and he couldn't afford not to go after four deaths."

"Since we can't find Chen Lizun, we can only look for the border households and ask them to come to Meihua Ferry to sell salt permits to make ends meet. Otherwise, we will have no permits to sell in the next two days."

Chen Ertong was stunned; this was completely different from what the coachman had said!

Chen Yue kicked him in the shin: "I wasted two hundred taels of silver and couldn't get any truth out of him! That coachman is clearly in cahoots with Chen Ji! Look at Chen Bin, and look at you. No wonder he can become the head of the team and manage you guys!"

Chen Ertong hugged his legs and howled.

Chen Yue turned to Chen Bin and said, "The information you have here matches the information I gathered. It should be correct. The border households I've been cultivating reported that Chen Ji visited some of them yesterday. He arrived at the inn at Shenshi (3-5 PM) and didn't leave until Haishi (9-11 PM). It seems that the salt permits in Plum Blossom Ferry are really about to run out, which is why he's in such a hurry."

Chen Bin calmly replied, "Exactly."

Chen Yue then asked, "What about the people monitoring Plum Blossom Ferry? Have they seen anyone carrying anything in?"

Chen Bin shook his head: "No, I sent people to Mei Rui Lou to pretend to be salt merchants and keep an eye on things. They saw with their own eyes that all the salt permits in Jinling, Yangzhou and Suzhou had been sold out, and even the bamboo plaques on the wall had been taken down."

Chen Yue sneered, "We'll make our move tonight. We must drive Chen Lizun out of the capital before he returns. Chen Ertong, you take men and guard Meihua Ferry today. As soon as the salt permits for Jinling are put up, buy them back immediately. Make sure he doesn't have a single one."

……

……

As night falls, Plum Blossom Ferry comes alive.

On the west side, in the Red Plum Pavilion, were high-ranking officials and dignitaries from the capital who came to admire Liu's reputation, entering through the main gate; on the east side, in the Plum Blossom Pavilion, were salt merchants from all over the country who came for salt permits, entering through the back gate.

Outside the back alley, Chen Yue emerged from a sedan chair.

Chen Bin was waiting there early, followed by several border households, with several large boxes beside him. He whispered to Chen Yue, "We have collected 20,000 salt permits from the border households for transport to Jinling, but we haven't paid them yet."

These border households used to collect old grain and send it to the border towns to exchange for salt permits, which they would then take back to the capital to sell to the big salt merchants. They were the lowest-ranking laborers among all the salt merchants.

Chen Yue glanced at the miserable border dwellers: "Remember to tell them that if they don't do as we say, they can forget about making a living in the capital in the future."

Chen Bin said in a low voice, "We've already warned them... Manager, what should we do next? What exactly is this loophole you mentioned?"

Chen Yue chuckled and pointed to the box on the ground: "When consigning salt at Plum Blossom Ferry, only the salt certificate number needs to be recorded. Salt merchants don't need to leave the salt certificate at Plum Blossom Ferry, right or wrong?"

Chen Bin said thoughtfully, "That's true. Chen Ji must be worried that someone might burn down Plum Blossom Ferry. If all the salt permits inside were burned, he wouldn't be able to afford to pay for it even if he sold himself."

Chen Yue nodded: "Now that Plum Blossom Ferry has no salt permits left to sell, if I consign tens of thousands of permits and wait for someone to buy them, but then I don't go to complete the transaction, what will he do?"

Chen Bin was stunned: "The buyer paid the money but couldn't get the salt permit. Meihua Ferry had no choice but to pay the money back, ruining its reputation."

Chen Yue then pointed meaningfully at Mei Rui Lou and asked, "If he can't return the money, can the buyer report him to the authorities and have him arrested?"

Chen Bin suddenly realized: "I see. But since he accepted the money, how could he not be able to return it? The money is in his hands."

"That's not something you need to worry about. Go on."

Chen Bin bowed his head and clasped his hands in a fist salute: "Yes."

Chen Yue watched as the border households carried the salt permits into Meihua Ferry before turning around and getting into the sedan chair: "To the main gate of Meihua Ferry."

The sedan chair wound its way through the Eight Great Hutongs to the main gate. Chen Yue swaggered into Plum Blossom Ferry, found a seat on the third floor of Red Plum Pavilion by the railing, and drank alone while his gaze drifted into the courtyard of Plum Blossom Ferry.

Half an hour later, he saw the villagers finish their consignment business and hurriedly carry their salt certificates out the back door, and only then did he feel relieved.

As usual, Meihua Ferry did not leave any salt permits, but only made a registration.

Immediately afterwards, Chen Bin led a group of waiters in through the back door and headed straight for the brightly lit Mei Rui Lou. After only a short while, Chen Bin led his men away again, presumably having already paid the money.

At this point, the matter is half resolved.

Chen Yue's gaze was deep.

The managers haven't yet covered the deficit in the salt shop's public account, so there are only 40,000 taels of silver left. Adding the 80,000 taels Chen Bin just paid for salt permits, Chen Ji should only have 120,000 taels of silver on hand.

Once the 120,000 taels of silver are emptied, Chen Ji will be in a dead end.

Chen Yue turned his head and looked at a square table in the Red Plum Pavilion, where a middle-aged man dressed in a fur coat was sitting alone.

He raised a glass of wine and toasted the middle-aged man from a distance. The middle-aged man also returned the toast from a distance and drank the wine in his glass in one gulp.

The middle-aged man put down his wine glass and left the Red Plum Pavilion.

When he arrived at the back gate of Plum Blossom Ferry, there were more than twenty men waiting silently, with more than ten large boxes beside them.

These people had sunburned purplish-red cheeks, and their skin was as rough as the rocks of the Northwest frontier.

The middle-aged man calmly said, "Carry the box and come inside with me."

More than twenty men filed in and headed straight for the brightly lit Meirui Tower.

Upon entering the room, more than twenty men suddenly threw their boxes on the ground as if no one else was there, the loud noise silencing everyone present.

When the merchants saw the short knife at the man's waist, they all stepped back, making way for an open space.

Chen Ji was talking quietly with the members of the Gelaohui when he heard the sound of a box hitting the ground. He immediately turned around and asked, "What brings you gentlemen here?"

The middle-aged man leading the group grinned and said, "I am a grain transporter from the border town, also known as a border household. I specialize in transporting salt through Datong. Over the years, I have accumulated a lot of salt permits. I finally managed to transport them to the capital, but no one is willing to accept them. They all say that I can't sell any salt from these permits."

The middle-aged man placed his hand on the hilt of his knife at his waist and said casually, "Yesterday, when I was drinking in Li Sha Mao Hutong, I heard that you sell salt permits here, so I brought these salt permits over."

Chen Ji politely cupped his hands and said, "Then you've come to the right place. This is a place for buying and selling salt certificates. You can register here, put your certificates on consignment, and sell your salt here..."

The middle-aged man shook his head: "I am a rough man and do not understand the rules of you capitals. I only ask one question: here are 400,000 salt permits, which I will sell to you for three qian of silver each. Will you take them or not? After these salt permits are exchanged for silver, I will lead my brothers to do other business. Let whoever wants to be a poor border household can be one."

Each note costs three qian of silver, which is cheaper than withdrawing from the Ministry of Revenue. Four hundred thousand notes would cost a total of 120,000 taels of silver, but they could be resold for a tenfold profit.

To collect or not to collect?
Chen Ji smiled and said, "Okay. Brother, please have the accountant count the salt permits, and then pay them the 120,000 taels of silver."

Counting the salt permits was hard work; even a cursory glance by the accountants took a full hour.

Once it was confirmed that there was no problem with the salt permit, the gang leader immediately took two camphor wood chests from the Chen family's salt shop, along with the 80,000 taels of Buddhist coins they had just received that night, totaling 120,000 taels, and handed them over to the group of border men.

The man surnamed Li chuckled, turned and left: "Money and goods settled, no further charges, farewell!"

But no sooner had the men left than the accountant in Mei Rui Lou stared at the ledger and said, "Master, something's not right."

Chen Ji turned his head and asked, "Something's not right. Is the salt certificate fake?"

The accountant shook his head: "The salt certificates are certainly not fake, but among so many salt certificates, why is there no salt certificate from Nanjing?"

The candlelight flickered in Mei Rui Lou, illuminating Chen Ji's eyes with a flash of light: "Perhaps they have already sold the salt permits of Jinling to some big salt merchant? It doesn't matter, keep the salt permits safe. This batch of salt permits can make you and me a lot of money, so be careful not to let anyone burn them."

(End of this chapter)