Lian Erye in the Red Mansion

"I have understood everything Lord Wang said. After returning to the capital, I will certainly report everything to the officials of the court and His Majesty."

"It just so happens that just before leaving the capital, His Majesty still doubted your loyalty and ability to serve the court. If he knew this, perhaps he would understand your suffering over the years and show mercy, allowing other imperial merchants to suffer the same hardships instead."

Jia Lian's casual remark immediately froze Wang Shanxiang's sincere smile on her face.

The other salt merchants were even more shocked.

Two key pieces of information were revealed in Jia Lian's words.

First, the emperor is indeed suspicious of them. He sent Jia Lian down here to gather evidence.

Secondly, Jia Lian was clearly dissatisfied with Wang Shanxiang's answer. After returning to the capital, he might advise the emperor to dismiss all these salt merchants!

The first point was fine because they were mentally prepared, but the second point was something that none of the salt merchants present could tolerate.

Although they believed they were deeply entrenched in the Lianghuai salt administration and had extensive connections in the imperial court, they would never dare to oppose the emperor.

If the emperor were truly determined to dismiss them, I guarantee that those high-ranking officials in the court would immediately discard them as pawns.

After all, the interests of the salt merchants are there, so what difference does it make who collects them?

The imperial treasury may suffer the pain of a blood transfusion, but it will have no impact on the officials in the court.

Zhou Boru immediately raised his hand to stop Wang Shanxiang from continuing to speak, then clasped his hands and said to Jia Lian, "I hope you will forgive me, sir. Vice President Wang is only expressing his gratitude to you because his brothers have many complaints about the donations. He has no dissatisfaction with the court."

In fact, all of us salt merchants, including Vice President Wang, are loyal to the imperial court and are very willing to run the salt business for it.

The reason we paid less tax this time is entirely due to our poor performance and failure to live up to the court's high expectations.

"Please, Your Excellency, consider our many years of service to the court and show us the way. If Your Excellency can help us overcome this difficulty, we will surely regard you as our second parents and honor you every year thereafter..."

Zhou Boru knew that everyone in the world was driven by profit. It was unlikely that the imperial court would wipe out all the salt merchants for a mere one or two million taels of tax revenue, because that would have a huge impact on the salt administration throughout the country.

Not to mention, each of them has powerful figures behind them.

Therefore, the best option for both sides is to appease and win over Jia Lian, and to speak well of them in front of the emperor so that this matter can be turned over.

Jia Lian could certainly understand the filial piety in Zhou Boru's words. He smiled, seemingly much more satisfied with Zhou Boru.

"I am an official who receives the emperor's salary and is loyal to the emperor's duties. Before going to the south of the Yangtze River, I was determined to investigate and report all the malpractices of the salt administration on behalf of Your Majesty."

However, after arriving in Yangzhou and seeing how prosperous it has become thanks to the salt trade, I couldn't bear to disrupt the peace of this place. Speaking of which, my ancestral home is also in Jiangnan, so I'm considered a fellow townsman to most of you here.

Well then, since Chairman Zhou has been so hospitable today, I might as well reveal some information to him.

The drastic reduction in salt taxes has shocked the court and enraged His Majesty. To quell His Majesty's anger and the discontent of the court officials, you must first demonstrate sufficient sincerity.

Zhou Boru's eyes flickered. "Please enlighten me, sir."

"First, what the court and His Majesty are most dissatisfied with is that the salt tax revenue has decreased too much, by more than two million taels compared to a few years ago."

Let's round it up to three million taels. You all must contribute these three million taels to the national treasury; otherwise, your anger will be hard to quell.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Boru and the others looked embarrassed, and many of them looked at Jia Lian with complicated expressions.

Last year, Yangzhou's salt tax revenue was only one million taels less than the year before. Even compared to the peak several years ago, it was only about two and a half million taels less.

Jia Lian, however, demanded they raise a full three million. They were all shrewd people; who knew how much Jia Lian would embezzle…

"Secondly, some people in the court have long suggested that the salt trade is extremely profitable, and that salt merchants are competing with each other and indulging in extravagance in their localities, which has already aroused the dissatisfaction of many upright officials in the court."

This time, I have come down to the capital, and many upright officials have taken this opportunity to launch an attack on the entire salt trade. Yangzhou is just the first stop; in the future, the salt routes of Hedong and Changlu will also be attacked by them.

Therefore, it is necessary to appease these ministers if we want to quell their discontent.

"If you all trust me, please add another million, and I might be able to help you settle this matter. Otherwise, even if you make up the three million in arrears owed by the national treasury, and even if His Majesty's anger subsides, I'm afraid it will be difficult to get past the officials in the court."

Everyone thought that three million was already outrageous and ridiculous, but Jia Lian was not satisfied and asked for another million!

Jia Lian is far too greedy.

The salt merchants' gazes towards Jia Lian at this moment were no longer complex, but filled with dissatisfaction and resentment. Were they being treated like pigs, to be slaughtered at will?

Even the current prime ministers, ministers, and princes of the imperial family are not as greedy as Jia Lian!

Prefect Wu Zhirong and others stared wide-eyed, feeling as if their eyes had been opened to a whole new world.

They already felt they had received enough benefits from the salt merchants, to the point that they felt embarrassed not to help them.

As expected, they were too short-sighted; compared to Jia Lian, they were nothing.

Zhou Boru's eyelids twitched wildly; if it weren't for his years of composure, he might have lost his composure as well.

Even so, I couldn't help but ask, "Four million? Isn't that too much? Forgive my bluntness, but I'm afraid no one in the world, except the national treasury, could come up with such a large sum of money."

Although we are working in the salt trade, we don't have that much silver to spare.

Please, sir, be lenient...

Zhou Boru shook his head, feeling a sense of respect but also a desire to keep his distance from Jia Lian. This man was truly greedy!

It's important to understand that while the salt trade was extremely profitable, there were many other players vying for a share. In Yangzhou alone, there were at least twenty or thirty such businesses!

Moreover, no matter how profitable it is, it still requires transporting and selling salt, bit by bit. And underneath that, it also needs to support countless workers and thugs.

Besides all that, most importantly, they also have a large number of powerful figures behind them who they need to curry favor with. Those are the ones who reap the greatest benefits.

Therefore, the actual profit that they can keep each year is only so much.

Jia Lian is going to take four million at once? That means all of them will have worked for nothing for the past few years...

"I don't think it's much. Alright, everyone, think it over carefully."

"Having just arrived in Yangzhou, I have many matters to attend to, so I will take my leave of you all."

Jia Lian stood up, bowed to Wu Zhirong and the others, then beckoned to his men and left.

Officials including Wu Zhirong tried to persuade him to stay but failed, so they quickly got up to escort him.

However, after Zhou Boru and all the other salt merchants rose to see them off, none of them left their seats without prior arrangement.

Zhou Boru sighed softly and gestured to everyone, "Please sit down, everyone. There's no one else here, so feel free to speak your mind."

The salt merchants, unable to contain their emotions, immediately erupted.

"This is outrageous!"

"This Jia Lian really treats us like fish to be slaughtered at will, it infuriates this old man."

"Indeed, these powerful and influential people from the capital are all insatiably greedy and hateful; they deserve to die!"

"..."

After letting them finish complaining and quieting down on their own, Zhou Boru looked at the table next to him and asked with a smile, "Where is Master Bai for such an important event today?"

One of the men at the table quickly stood up and said, "President, please forgive me. My master is not feeling well today and is not suitable to go out, so he sent me to come and check on him. But President Zhou, rest assured, our master said that as long as it is for the good of the entire Yangzhou salt industry, our Bai family will definitely give our full support and cooperation. Once you have made up your mind, just let him know."

Zhou Boru shook his head and said nothing. The Bai family, relying on the Empress Dowager's maternal lineage, had a long history of arrogance and self-importance, so it wasn't surprising at all.

Even he himself felt that if this matter was not properly resolved, everyone present might be in serious trouble, except for the Bai family, who were unlikely to be affected.

Even if Jia Lian is arrogant, it's unlikely he would dare to touch the Bai family.

This is why, after realizing the difficulty of winning over Jia Lian, the Bai family was the first family he thought of. If the Bai family was willing to lend a hand, there would be some chance of dealing with Jia Lian.

Unfortunately, that old fox Bai Yi clearly has no intention of getting involved in this matter.

"Gentlemen, what do you think? Should we give them the four million taels of silver that the Imperial Envoy mentioned, or not?"

Everyone present was on their side, so there was no need to pretend anymore. Therefore, Zhou Boru asked whether they would give it, not whether they could afford it.

"No!"

"Absolutely not."

"That's right. This Jia Lian has such a great reputation, but he's nothing more than a greedy and lustful man, and an insatiable one at that."

Besides, even if we give him the money, he might not be able to solve this problem for us.

As Zhou Boru had anticipated, he shook his head and said, "Although giving it to him might not completely solve our problem, if we don't give it to him, I'm afraid he'll turn on us in a heartbeat."

Given his status as a close advisor to the emperor, if he is determined to deal with us, it would be a real problem.

Everyone, think it over carefully. If you have any good suggestions, please feel free to share them.

Four million is too much; it's impossible to reach a consensus on it. But when it comes to how to deal with Jia Lian, everyone is at a loss.

It was only because Jia Lian's status was too special and he received too much imperial favor.

If it were a different civil official, even if it were the Minister of State or the Prime Minister himself, they might not be so bewildered.

This was because most of them were backed by powerful and influential families in the capital. Using these powerful figures to suppress civil officials still gave them a certain chance of success.

However, Jia Lian was a powerful and influential man, and he came from the family of a founding duke. Not only did he hold the title of marquis, but he also had an older sister who was a concubine, and finally, he had the emperor's favor. No matter how rich these salt merchants were, they couldn't come up with a strategy to control or restrain Jia Lian in a short time.

Seeing that Jia Lian alone had everyone helpless, Wang Shanxiang, who was sitting next to Zhou Boru, suddenly had a fierce look in her eyes: "We absolutely cannot let this person control us, otherwise we don't know how greedy he will become and how he will oppress us in the future."

In my opinion, if this person truly doesn't know when to advance or retreat, he might as well be like An Siyuan...

Wang Shanxiang made a throat-slitting gesture, and everyone understood what he meant.

In fact, in a short period of time, more than one person had had similar thoughts. They had done the same when faced with people who posed a significant threat to their interests.

However, Jia Lian's status made them hesitant to say such a thing.

The death of An Siyuan was already enough to alarm the court. If another imperial envoy with a powerful background were to die, the court would likely be thrown into chaos.

At that point, it might be a lose-lose situation where both sides suffer heavy losses.

Zhou Boru narrowed his eyes and saw Wu Zhirong and the others returning in the distance. He said indifferently, "Master Wang, please be careful with your words."

Wang Shanxiang glanced at the pretentious Zhou Boru, sneered, and didn't say anything more.

(End of this chapter)