Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 341, Punishment for a Violation of the Law

Shen Tu is very obedient.

Fang Yong told him to stop implementing the ideas of that national chamber of commerce, so he stopped writing letters and then formed his own society.

He joined forces with three prominent merchants from Nanjing and four prominent merchants from Chuzhou to form the "Yangtze River Mutual Aid Society"!
Among them, three merchants from Jinling were two major silk merchants and one major shipping merchant, while the four major merchants from Chuzhou were two major timber merchants, one well-known escort agency on the river, and one spice and tea merchant.

The seven businessmen are all very large businesses in the area, and the industries they are involved in are also very important.

The only things lacking were grain, salt, and iron.

Shen Tu wisely avoided the salt and iron industries. As for grain, he was recommended by Xue the Cripple, and he couldn't avoid the Xue family business association, so he didn't deliberately avoid it.

After the trading company was formed, Shen Tu used the power it brought to influence commercial trade in Nanjing and Chuzhou, and personally formulated unspoken rules of commerce, which quickly quelled commercial competition.

During this period, more merchants joined the trading company, which quickly grew into a giant industry on the river.

The development of several surrounding cities is inseparable from the trading company, and Shen Tu's status is subtly higher than that of Guo Yu and others who were originally at the same level.

However, Shen Tu was not arrogant because of this. He actively cooperated with the construction and development of the cities around Jinling, and sometimes even took the initiative to reduce the profits of his business to help the city's development needs. Although he was somewhat extravagant in his life, had many concubines, and even kept several courtesans, he was not lacking in moral character.

However, not long ago, an accident occurred.

This is what Shen Tu referred to as the crime of oversight.

The trading company itself was a huge behemoth. After controlling the commerce of Nanjing and Chuzhou, it quickly expanded to the surrounding areas, and almost no industry could stop its expansion.

However, Shen Tu personally intervened and halted the development of the trading company.

Shen Tu withstood the pressure from within the trading company, forcibly maintaining the company's original size and preventing it from growing further.

This move surprised Fang Yong quite a bit.

It's important to understand that the trading company itself is an extension of Shen Tu's power. It can limit itself and control the growth of its own power. Everyone can understand the difficulty of this without Fang Yong having to elaborate.

Many famous ministers and even emperors in history could not do this, but Shen Tu, an unknown nobody who started as an apprentice, did.

Did he sense something, or is his self-control really that terrifying...?

In any case, this action saved Shen Tu's life.

Yes, Fang Yong had been keeping an eye on Shen Tu's movements for a long time.

This is not surprising; it is only natural for bosses to monitor their employees.

Moreover, these are employees who are very active.

Fang Yong knew about Shen Tu's society from the beginning.

But he did not stop it.

Because this is a rare pilot opportunity.

Shen Tu's association allowed him to observe in advance the problems that might arise after the establishment of a national chamber of commerce, providing Fang Yong with experience in managing such an organization.

Whether the trading company succeeds or fails, at most it will only affect Nanjing and Chuzhou.

If problems arise during this period, Fang Yong can send a large army to suppress them at any time and wipe out the newly established trading company.

However, Shen Tu managed to control the development of the trading company...

After that, some disagreements arose within the trading company.

Merchants' pursuit of profit makes it impossible for them to stop expanding; not making money right in front of them is more painful than death for them.

They didn't understand why Shen Tu had stopped expanding.

This did not violate any law.

The business also strictly adhered to the law under Shen Tu's supervision.

Everything is fine.

Shen Tu did not provide a reasonable explanation for this.

So the people in the trading company began to pressure him to resign.

This forced Shen Tu to expand.

Then came the second thing that surprised Fang Yong.

He had assumed that Shen Tu would face only two paths. One was to stubbornly resist the pressure from the crowd, and eventually, when he could no longer hold on, ask him for help.

The other option was compromise, agreeing to expansion, which ultimately led to their annihilation by the Huaiyin army.

However, Shen Tu once again took a third path.

Outside of Nanjing, there is the nearest city, Zhenjiang.

Zhenjiang and Nanjing are both located on the banks of the Yangtze River and are the closest to each other.

The prefect of Zhenjiang was not good at economics, so the city's economy recovered very slowly after the war.

This caused his performance evaluation to consistently hover in the lower-middle range. If Fang Yong hadn't expanded too rapidly and there hadn't been a severe shortage of talent, he probably would have been replaced long ago.

The prefect of Zhenjiang was clearly aware of his own situation.

So after Shen Tu's trading company rose to prominence, he repeatedly asked Shen Tu to expand the company's business to Zhenjiang to help Zhenjiang revive its economy.

This should have been a win-win situation, but for some reason, Shen Tu just wouldn't agree.

Later, after Shen Tu restricted the development of the trading company, the members within the company began to have their own ideas about it.

In order to force Shen Tu to expand, the Lu family, one of the original seven major merchants under his command, secretly reached an agreement with a county under Zhenjiang.

The Lu family's steward bribed the county magistrate extensively, falsely claiming that there was a large order for the sale of Western goods but a shortage of raw silk, and wanted the county magistrate to convert the county's land into mulberry fields.

The magistrate would certainly not agree. The Huaiyin Army controlled the land and paid special attention to the military farms. They knew every bit about the land and would inspect it from time to time. Wouldn't it be easy to spot if mulberry seedlings were replaced?
Besides, it won't pass the grain delivery when the autumn harvest comes!

The Lu family steward told the magistrate not to worry, as he had already taken care of the Huaiyin army and would specially transport grain to help the magistrate get through the autumn harvest.

Subsequently, the Lu family steward invoked Shen Tu's name and produced Shen Tu's token, falsely claiming that it was Shen Tu's intention. He argued that Shen Tu was a member of the Xue Clan Chamber of Commerce, and that misappropriating a small amount of grain was insignificant.

Under these circumstances, seeing the bribe offered, the county magistrate was tempted.

He began converting rice paddies to mulberry trees on land in the county.

It turned out that the Lu family had lied to him.

The truth came out just three days after the rice paddies were converted to mulberry trees.

The Lu family's so-called "bribing" was actually just bribing two minor officials in charge of land reclamation and a greedy veteran from Huaiyin Army—only three people in total, all for show to the county magistrate.

On the third day, the official in charge of the military farms in Huaiyin Army made his usual inspection. When he saw the mulberry seedlings covering the land, which covered dozens of acres, he almost thought he had taken the wrong road.

Who would have thought someone could be so bold?
To do something like this so blatantly?
The county magistrate was quickly arrested.

Then the prefect of Zhenjiang stepped forward.

This matter is neither a big deal nor a small one.

Under Fang Yongzhi's regulations, the prefect had the right to issue policies to change the use of land totaling less than 500 mu.

All that's needed is to report upwards at the end of each quarter.

This was mainly to facilitate the construction of workshops and weaving factories. It's impossible to report every little thing to the capital repeatedly; that would consume too much manpower and resources, and we couldn't wait that long.

Currently, the county magistrate has only altered a few dozen acres of mulberry fields. If the prefect of Zhenjiang were to step forward and say that he approved the matter, and then provide the necessary documentation, the matter could be resolved peacefully.

However, if the prefect of Zhenjiang does not step forward, then the matter will be thoroughly investigated. A little torture and interrogation of the county magistrate will make the matter clear.

The Lu family's steward had long been drowned in the river, and the Lu family vehemently denied bribing the county magistrate.

The token in the county magistrate's possession belonged to Shen Tu.

Shen Tu was clearly like mud had fallen into his crotch; even if it wasn't excrement, it was still excrement.

If this continues, the consequences will be dire.

How could they get the Zhenjiang prefect to help them?

Naturally, it was the trading company that moved into Zhenjiang.

That way everyone will be happy.

otherwise……

(End of this chapter)