Red Mansion: After being expelled from the family, I was granted the title of Marquis of Mobei

Chapter 29: Tacit Cooperation, Suppressing Jiangnan

Just when the atmosphere in the entire Jiangnan region suddenly became tense due to Jia Jue's swift and decisive actions, Lin Ruhai was discussing matters with Jia Jue in the cabin of an official ship at the Yangzhou dock.

Jia Jue looked at Lin Ruhai and said calmly.

"Master Lin, what brings you here today?"

Lin Ruhai hesitated for a moment and then said tentatively.

"My Lord, I have come here today to ask you how you intend to deal with the salt officials and salt merchants in Yangzhou."

Jia Jue said calmly.

"If I follow my previous style of action, I will naturally catch all those who dared to start a riot."

"But judging from what Lord Lin said, it seems he wants to beg for mercy."

"Why, does Lord Lin have dealings with these salt merchants?"

Lin Ruhai waved his hands repeatedly and said.

"My Lord, I swear to heaven that I have no connection with them, and I have never received any benefits from them."

"But I do want to ask the Marquis to show some mercy and not kill all these salt miners and salt dealers."

Jia Jue looked at Lin Ruhai meaningfully and said.

"Lord Lin, you'd better have a good reason to convince me, otherwise you're going to be in trouble today."

Lin Ruhai said with a wry smile.

"My Lord, I know that because of my faction, you are wary of me."

"I dare to ask you, Your Majesty, to put aside your prejudices for the moment and listen carefully to my advice."

"I understand that the Marquis has led his troops here to suppress the New Year's Eve riots that are being planned by officials, salt merchants, and salt dealers."

"Your Majesty, suppressing the riot is naturally a great achievement."

"However, in my humble opinion, Your Majesty's purpose in sending the Marquis here to kill countless people is not to do so. Your Majesty's intention is to completely and successfully reform the salt administration in Jiangnan."

"In other words, killing is a means, not a goal."

Lin Ruhai said this while looking at Jia Jue's face carefully.

Jia Jue said calmly as usual.

"Go on, I'm listening."

Lin Ruhai continued.

"Your Majesty has entrusted me with the task of inspecting the salt industry in Jiangnan."

"After more than a year of investigation, I have clearly identified the shortcomings of the entire salt administration."

"The Lianghuai Salt Works supplied a quarter of the salt consumed by the Great Zhou. The lives and property of over 20 million people depended on the Lianghuai salt industry."

"The official cost of a pound of salt is only one or two cents, but after processing and transportation, the price increases by ten or even dozens of times, so there is a huge profit here."

"And people in every region need to add salt to their meals. The total demand from every household is a huge amount."

"Official salt is so expensive that ordinary people cannot afford it, so naturally there are private salt dealers who take risks for the sake of profit."

"The officials in charge of the salt administration had initially reached a cooperation agreement with the salt merchants. The salt merchants and private salt dealers would resell the salt privately and give the officials a percentage of the profits. The officials would then give a portion to the local treasury and pocket the rest."

"This collusion between officials and merchants directly led to the widespread sale of private salt in Jiangnan, and the unsale of the official salt of the imperial court."

"As a result, officials, salt merchants, salt dealers, and the people all benefited. However, the imperial court's salt tax revenue in Jiangnan was declining day by day, even reaching the point of loss."

After hearing this, Jia Jue thought for a moment and said.

"Lord Lin, I think I understand what you mean."

"Even if I suppress these salt merchants and salt workers who want to riot, as long as this system remains unchanged, my successors will soon continue to collude with salt merchants and salt dealers to reap huge profits, just like their predecessors."

"Even if they are really scared and dare not indulge in private salt, the lower-class people cannot afford the price of official salt and will still choose to buy private salt secretly."

"As long as there's money to be made, there will always be people who take risks and continue to smuggle salt. Do I understand that correctly?"

Lin Ruhai nodded repeatedly.

"Your Majesty is right. This is exactly what I wanted to express."

"Jiangnan's salt administration has formed a stable structure."

"If we want to destroy this structure and ensure the court's salt tax revenue, we can't just kill people."

"Even if the Marquis kills countless people in Jiangnan, it will only be a temporary solution. I am sure that as long as the system remains unchanged, in a few years, the situation will remain the same as before."

Jia Jue nodded slightly and said.

"I understand why you want to protect these salt merchants. As the source and supplier of the entire supply chain, they risk their lives doing dirty work, yet they also have to keep the salt from being sold to ordinary people at high prices. Furthermore, 60% of their profits go to bribe high-ranking officials, leaving them with very little left."

"If we want to completely eradicate the malpractices in the salt industry, we should start from two aspects. On the one hand, we must control the cost of official salt, avoid exploitation at all levels, and ensure that the majority of the lower-class people can afford salt."

"In this way, people will not take the risk of buying illegal salt."

"On the other hand, we should start with the big salt merchants."

Lin Ruhai's eyes lit up when he heard this, and the look he gave Jia Jue was one of astonishment.

"The Marquis is truly a god-like being. He and I have the same aspirations."

"I have been in Jiangnan for over a year now, and after careful investigation and research, I have come to these two conclusions."

"I never thought that the Marquis would reveal the secret so clearly. This humble official feels so ashamed."

Jia Jue said after waving his hand slightly.

"Lord Lin, you are too kind. I only came to this conclusion after listening to your description."

"Lord Lin is able to have such a high-level perspective and such a thorough understanding of the salt business in Jiangnan. It's clear that he has put a lot of thought into it."

"Let's put it this way. Those illegal salt dealers and a large number of salt workers have now been surrounded by my army at the Yizheng Twelve Wetlands Salt Wharf. There are thousands of them."

"I will order my army to surround the city without attacking, and let these illegal salt dealers select a few leaders to come out and discuss with me and Lord Lin the new official salt sales and transportation arrangements in Jiangnan."

A hint of joy appeared on Lin Ruhai's face.

"It is a blessing for the people of Jiangnan that the Marquis is so kind."

Jia Jue said after waving his hand slightly.

"Lord Lin, don't think that because I'm known for my brutal campaigns in Mobei, I'm a murderous person. In fact, I don't like fighting, I only like to end fights."

"You're right, killing is a means, not an end."

"If the Jiangnan salt business can be resolved peacefully, I would not want my soldiers to be stained with the blood of the people of my Great Zhou." Lin Ruhai said with a bow.

"To be honest, my Lord, when we first met, I was truly overwhelmed by your majesty."

"After today's conversation, I know that the Marquis is truly the backbone of the country, and he always puts the interests of the court and the people first."

"Most of these illegal salt dealers and salt collectors are poor people with nowhere else to go. They haven't committed any serious crimes."

"I shouldn't say this, but if it weren't for them, I don't know how many places in Jiangnan would have suffered from salt shortages, and how many people would have suffered."

"In the new salt administration system in Jiangnan that I envision, the monopoly of large salt merchants must be abolished."

"In the past, the salt permits issued by the Jiangnan Salt Administration were only available to those salt merchants whose families had been engaged in salt trading for generations and who had enormous assets and connections."

"After the salt permits were issued, they controlled the price of salt in Jiangnan. On the one hand, they raised the price of official salt, and on the other hand, they colluded with private salt dealers. They made a lot of money, but the salt tax collected by the court was getting lower and lower every year."

"I intend to recruit all of these over a thousand illegal salt dealers. From now on, the sale of salt throughout Jiangnan will be consolidated. The court will directly issue salt permits to them, and they will sell it throughout Jiangnan."

"The most they can do is control the salt supply of an entire county. They're not like the big salt merchants who are so powerful that they collude with officials."

"Although the Jiangnan Salt Administration may need to recruit some staff, the cost is negligible compared to the benefits."

"If this system succeeds, and with proper supervision, the Jiangnan salt industry can enjoy at least fifty years of peace and stability, contributing a steady 7 to 8 million taels of salt tax to the imperial court each year."

"I think the main officials involved in the salt business in Jiangnan are now under the control of the Marquis."

"The biggest remaining obstacle is these twenty or so salt merchants."

"This new system I've implemented has completely wiped out their roots."

Jia Jue smiled after hearing this.

"It's always the common people who rebel. I've never heard of merchants rebelling against the government."

"I have unique methods for clearing obstacles."

"I wonder if Lord Lin has brought the list of these twenty or so major salt merchants?"

Lin Ruhai nodded, then took out a list from his sleeve and handed it to Jia Jue respectfully.

Jia Jue took the list, took a look at it, and said calmly.

"Lord Lin, please stay aboard my official ship tonight. We will proceed to the Yizheng Twelve Weir Salt Wharf overnight to meet with the salt merchants."

"As for these twenty or so salt merchants, they will certainly be happy to contribute to the national treasury and your Majesty's inner treasury."

Lin Ruhai understood as soon as he heard it. Needless to say, these people were in trouble.

Jia Jue didn't even bother to meet these second and third rank officials, and just wanted to arrest people directly.

A group of salt merchants may have complex connections in Jiangnan and the support of some powerful people in Shendu, but in front of an iron-blooded general like Jia Jue who holds military power, they are just a group of fat pigs waiting to be slaughtered.

Jia Jue must be too lazy to speak and listen.

These twenty or so big salt merchants who have been entrenched in Jiangnan for a hundred years are destined to be ruthlessly purged without even seeing Jia Jue.

As for the reasons, there are too many, such as bribing officials, colluding with private salt dealers to make huge profits, inciting private salt dealers and salt workers to riot and deliberately rebel, etc. In short, it must be a serious crime that requires the execution of the entire family.

As for the thoughts of these salt merchants, who would care? Perhaps the officials in the court who had received benefits from them would care, but Emperor Yongping, Jia Jue and Lin Ruhai would not care about the life and death of these merchants.

A group of weaklings actually thought they could control the overall situation of the government and used force to resist the court's salt administration rectification. They deserved to die.

After explaining things to Lin Ruhai, Jia Jue issued another order, ordering his generals to immediately raid the properties of more than twenty major salt merchants in Jiangnan.

After everything was settled, Jia Jue and Lin Ruhai quickly set off by boat to Yizheng Twelve Wetlands Wharf.

Time flies, and another five days have passed in the blink of an eye.

In the Yangzhou government office, everything has returned to calm.

During these five days, Jia Jue and Lin Ruhai worked together and successfully recruited more than a thousand salt merchants.

These salt dealers took the risk of smuggling salt just to make a living.

Now that there is an opportunity to do salt business in an honest way, he naturally agreed with pleasure.

Of course, they are not completely unconcerned.

However, seeing that they were surrounded by an army of 20,000 armed to the teeth, they had few choices. Either they agreed to the conditions of Jia Jue and Lin Ruhai, or they were ruthlessly suppressed by the army of 20,000 and became a rebellious mob.

After dealing with the illegal salt dealers, there was no need to worry about other things. The main officials involved in the salt case in Jiangnan were all caught by Jia Jue and were detained in the Yangzhou government office.

The twenty or so salt merchants were also wiped out one by one. Although they tried hard to resist, the guards in their mansions were overestimated when facing the army armed to the teeth to say that they were vulnerable.

At this time, at the Yangzhou dock, Lin Ruhai was seeing Jia Jue off.

Lin Ruhai said with some emotion.

"My Lord, you have swept Jiangnan with lightning speed. The great task of reforming the Jiangnan salt administration is about to be completed. Your contribution is truly great."

Jia Jue waved his hand slightly and said.

"If Lord Lin had not been fully aware of the shortcomings of Jiangnan's salt administration, even if I were to sweep Jiangnan clean, I would have been unable to guarantee the success of the salt administration reform."

"Lord Lin truly deserves to be called a capable minister who governs the country. This duke admires you immensely."

"Well, my mission has been completed."

"Next, I will escort the main criminals in the Jiangnan Salt Administration case, as well as the confiscated stolen goods, to the capital."

"I'll have to trouble you, Lord Lin, with the subsequent reconstruction of the Jiangnan Salt Administration."

"Working with Lord Lin really makes me feel happy. Lord Lin, after the Jiangnan Salt Administration case is concluded, when you return to the capital to report on your work, I will definitely treat you to a drink."

Lin Ruhai bowed and said.

"My Lord, I am deeply honored by your praise. I do not deserve it."

"I am far less decisive than you, Lord. If you hadn't cut the Gordian knot, if the salt smugglers and salt officials had succeeded in their rebellion in Yangzhou, the consequences would have been truly disastrous."

"When we arrive in the Divine Capital, it will be my turn to treat the Marquis to a drink."

Jia Jue said with a hearty smile.

"Alright, there's no need for us to be so modest, Mr. Lin. We'll meet again later. Goodbye."

"I respectfully send you off to the Marquis."

After watching Jia Jue board the official ship, Lin Ruhai couldn't help but feel sincerely happy.

Working with a hero like Jia Jue is like drinking fine wine, it is extremely pleasant.

After seeing Jia Jue off, Lin Ruhai was about to get on the carriage when he suddenly coughed violently several times. Lin Ruhai subconsciously covered his mouth with a handkerchief. When he took off the handkerchief, it was covered with blood red.

(End of this chapter)