Mo Sang – CH 155

Chapter 155. An Outstretched Hand

The reform of the rice merchants’ regulations in Jianle City proceeded smoothly, under the watchful eyes of countless people, from the shadows to the open, from top to bottom.

On the first day of the reform, the Three Departments (Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Revenue, and Jianle Prefectural Government) jointly set up a large tent early in the morning, erecting signs and recording transactions for each rice shop buying and selling rice.

The patrol teams of the Palace Guard also began to casually inspect the major wharves and rice shops daily.

The heads and managers of the various rice shops were all shrewd men. From the moment they saw the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Prefectural Government setting up the tent together, they knew there was no room for resistance.

Li Sangrou did not bother with the silver returned voluntarily by the various guild leaders and elders as long as the amount was not too far off. Of course, none of these guild leaders and elders dared to risk their lives for money, so they silently handed over the required amount.

Half a month later, the new rules for the Jianle City rice market were running smoothly. The silver returned by the major rice shops was counted and stored by Da Chang. Lu Hepeng and Meng Yanqing also selected many new people from the six major rice shops and promoted them to important positions.

Seeing that everything was roughly settled, Li Sangrou had the rice shops compile the new rules into a booklet, printing dozens of copies, each with a small flag bearing the character “Sang.” These copies were then sent by retired Yunmeng Guards to the major rice shops along the Grand Canal.

Da Chang and Lu Hepeng, together, recorded the names of all the rice shops along the Grand Canal from Jianle City to Yangzhou, sealed each shop’s booklet with the new rules, added a “Sang” flag, and handed it over to the Yunmeng Guards. Watching the Yunmeng Guards mount their horses and leave the shop, Lu Hepeng frowned and sighed, “They are stirring up a hornet’s nest, from north to south, all the way!”

Da Chang hummed in agreement.

If this counted as stirring up a hornet’s nest, it was in the wrong anyway.

Back in Jiangdu City, he felt the rice merchants were unfair. Why should rice only be sold to them, only bought from them, and why should the prices be dictated by them?

Because of this, they had to spend tens of taels of silver more each month!

These hornet’s nests that only caused trouble should have been stirred up long ago.

……………………

A few days later, the Yunmeng Guards, who had planted flags along the canal, gradually returned to Jianle City.

Li Sangrou calculated the journey for each household, watching Da Chang circle each family’s flag in the register, marking the date and indicating when each family’s flag was delivered. Along the canal, from near to far, and in the booklet from beginning to end, upon reaching the last house, the day before Yunmeng Guard’s return, Li Sangrou received a top-ranking express courier.

Li Sangrou had been waiting for such courier deliveries ever since those banners were sent out, sipping tea, but she did not know what they would contain.

Xiao Lu, holding the courier, rushed to Li Sangrou and handed her a thin letter.

Inside the envelope was another envelope and a piece of paper.

Li Sangrou looked at the envelope first. It was open, containing two thin sheets of paper.

One sheet was in Zou Wang’s handwriting, simple and clear: he and his son, Wang Dasheng, had been kidnapped and held hostage.

The other sheet was beautifully written and also very simple: these rice merchants wanted to see Master Li in person and requested that she come to Yangzhou.

Li Sangrou slowly folded the two pieces of paper, placed them in the envelope, and then looked at the other piece.

On that piece of paper, line after line, were the location and time:

The open envelope was delivered to the delivery station at the South Wharf in Yangzhou City at the beginning of the hour of Chen¹.

The messenger was a robust man, around thirty years old, dressed as a boatman. He seemed very amiable and smiled as he told Old Ma at the delivery station that it was an invitation.

Old Ma immediately delivered the letter to the post station, which received it at the third quarter of the hour of Chen.

Manager Zou had set off from the Laishun Inn in Yangzhou City early three days ago, accompanied by his son and two attendants, riding towards Wuwei.

After reading the letter, Li Sangrou instructed Xiao Lu, who was squatting in front of her, “Please ask Old Meng to come over as soon as possible.”

“Alright!” Xiao Lu jumped up.

“Several rice merchants in Yangzhou have kidnapped Zou Wang and his eldest son. Get ready; we are going to Yangzhou,” Li Sangrou said, standing up and looking at Da Chang, who was leaning on his shovel.

“Alright,” Da Chang readily agreed, putting down his shovel to wash his hands.

He had been preparing ever since his Boss started sending out Sang banners.

Old Lu said it was like stirring up a hornet’s nest; once the nest was disturbed, the hornets would definitely swarm.

Meng Yanqing arrived extremely quickly.

They had already bought two adjoining courtyards on a street not far from Shunfeng Shop and moved into the city.

Li Sangrou handed the letter to Meng Yanqing.

Meng Yanqing pulled out the two pieces of paper from the envelope inside the envelope, glanced at them quickly, then picked up the other one and examined it carefully.

“Zou Wang was on patrol, not traveling. He would have observed as he went. Three days should have been enough to keep him in Jiangning City. He was captured by the kidnapper in the evening, settled down, had him write a letter, and then traveled from Jiangning City to Yangzhou Prefecture to deliver it. That should have taken around dawn,” Li Sangrou said, looking at Meng Yanqing.

Meng Yanqing listened intently. He only knew how long it would take to travel from Jiangning City to Yangzhou at full speed, but he had no idea how long Zou Wang’s patrol would take.

“Jiangdu City has rice shops, backed by Wu Huaiguo’s beloved concubine, but the rice shops in Jiangning City are located in the garrison commander’s residence. There are no rice shops in Jiangning City. This kidnapping, however, happened in Jiangning City, just across the river from Jiangdu City,” Li Sangrou continued.

Meng Yanqing raised an eyebrow.

“In Southern Liang, after Wu Huaiguo took command, he went directly to Ezhou. Zhang Zheng is stationed in Jiangdu.”

Li Sangrou paused, then smiled. “The previous commander would definitely look down on someone as lowly and despicable as Zhang Zheng, but Wu Huaiguo greatly admires him. Zhang Zheng, as the garrison commander, must have already made a name for himself and might even be a general by now.

Zhang Zheng is a man of many tricks; he only cares about usefulness, not whether it’s despicable or shameful. I will have Hei Ma talk to you about Zhang Zheng later.”

“Does the leader think this is Zhang Zheng’s doing?” Meng Yanqing’s eyes gleamed.

If this was Southern Liang’s doing, it was a military achievement!

“Yes, right now, it’s six or seven out of ten. If they change their target to Jiangning after reaching Yangzhou, then it will be a certainty.” Li Sangrou took the letter and handed it to Da Chang.

“Then let’s…”

“Let’s set off now. Take everyone with you.

For the past ten or twenty years, the Jiangdu City garrison has been killing people; they are not naive newcomers. Tell everyone,” Li Sangrou instructed Meng Yanqing.

“Yes,” Meng Yanqing stood up, hesitated for a moment, and looked at Li Sangrou, saying, “Should we inform the Emperor?”

“Hmm? Then go,” Li Sangrou replied bluntly.

Meng Yanqing grunted, muttered, “I was being nosy,” and quickly walked out.

Both sides prepared extremely quickly. An hour later, Meng Yanqing led over eighty old Yunmeng Guards, divided into several groups, and exited through the four gates, circling around once and a half times, speeding towards Yangzhou.

Li Sangrou, along with Da Chang and others, boarded a boat at the Dongshui Gate and sailed down the river.

……………………

Yangzhou, separated from the Southern Liang by a river, was almost instantly desolate after the renewed fighting between the Qi and Liang dynasties.

Those inside and outside the city who could find refuge with relatives and friends quickly gathered their money, sold their homes and land, and set off to seek refuge with them.

Even those without relatives or friends to rely on, those who were wise enough to make the difficult decision, sold their homes and land and migrated north.

The last bloody war that ravaged the city was only twenty years ago; the pain was still fresh in the hearts of the people of Yangzhou, the scars still vivid in their minds.

Within Yangzhou, the usually quiet southern part of the city was even quieter than usual.

In Willow Lane, outside the side gate of a grand and luxurious mansion, three horses and a man galloped in. Reaching the gate, the burly man on horseback tumbled off, threw the reins to the gatekeeper, and stumbled inside.

A servant rushed out, helped the burly man up, and dragged him inside.

The servant led the burly man into a courtyard. In front of the main house, the middle-aged, plump, white-skinned head of the Yangzhou rice shop, Old Master Qian, and his son, Master Qian, stood one after the other on the veranda, anxiously watching the burly man stumble in.

“Master, they’ve arrived! They’ve arrived!” the burly man shouted upon seeing Old Master Qian, then struggled to stand up, knelt, and kowtowed in greeting.

“Get up quickly and tell me carefully! How did they get here? How many people were with them?” Old Master Qian asked urgently.

“Yes, yesterday morning, around the hour of Chou², at the Dongshui Gate Wharf of Jianle City, I personally saw that Boss Sang board a fast boat.

With her were her brothers, surnamed Chang, surnamed Ma, and four others, ones whose names were like Mazha—seven people in total.” The burly man remained kneeling on the ground, reporting directly; he was utterly exhausted.

“That’s all?” Old Master Qian frowned, seeing the burly man remain silent.

“Yes, I saw them board the boat, and it immediately pulled up its awning and sailed away. I rushed back to the inn as fast as I could, traveling for a whole day and night, riding three horses in rotation, without a moment’s rest.”

“Hmm, I see. Go.” Old Master Qian waved his hand impatiently.

The burly man, taking the servant’s hand, stood up and moved out.

Old Master Qian, his brows furrowed, watched the burly man leave, then looked at his eldest son, Master Qian. “Really only seven people?”

“I told you long ago, she did not have many people. Her brothers were all killed by Commander Wu long ago. It’s good enough that these six survived. See? I was right.” Master Qian opened his folding fan with a flourish, quite pleased with himself.

“Even these seven are not to be underestimated. That woman is very formidable,” Old Master Qian said, “very formidable,” but clearly let out a sigh of relief.

“No matter how powerful she is, two fists cannot fight four hands. Father, should we send a message to General Zhang?” Master Qian leaned close and whispered to his father.

“No need.” Old Master Qian pondered for a moment, then shook his head. “General Zhang said there’s no need to send messages for everything. Sending too many messages could lead to a disaster if something goes wrong, ruining everything. Besides, General Zhang has people watching over things.”

“Hmm.”

“Today is too early. Let’s wait until tomorrow or the day after. Early the day after tomorrow, send someone to tell everyone that the boss has already set off. Tell everyone to come to Yangzhou and make all the necessary preparations.” Old Master Qian frowned thoughtfully, then continued.

“Father, what do you think will happen after that boss dies?” Master Qian asked with a hint of longing.

“Nineteen rice shops, none of them will escape. They will all be beheaded.” Old Master Qian snorted, his tone quite cheerful.

“That’s going too far, all for a woman?” Master Qian scoffed.

“That woman is just an excuse.” Old Master Qian glanced at his son. “Do not judge a book by its cover; look at the core. The core is profit!

That gang leader is just a knife in the Emperor’s hand. If this knife breaks, there’s another one, but of course, it’s not for this.

Changing the rules for rice shops across the land—this is not what that gang leader wants to do; it’s what the Emperor wants to do.

Think about it: with the rice shops in Jianle City changed to their current state, with these rules, who’s taking the silver?

The Emperor!

Alas, when war breaks out, it’s all about mountains of silver and seas of grain. The rice shops are such a tempting piece of meat!

But the Emperor, the court, must abide by the rules. If they were to forcibly seize it, it would create panic, and chaos would not be far off. So, he needs to use that gang leader to wield this knife. In short, it’s a case of the wicked eating the wicked.”

Old Master Qian let out a cold laugh.

“If that big boss dies, the Emperor will have an excuse,” Master Qian said coolly.

“That’s right,” Old Master Qian sighed again. “Let’s not talk about that. Go and deliver this year’s silver to the Cao family.”

“Deliver silver to them again? The Marquis of Yongping’s mansion has long since collapsed. What’s the use of sending them silver now?” Master Qian was displeased.

“You silly child. Sigh, you are so grown up now; you still need to be clear about everything. Sigh.

This silver is to leave a way out.

The matter of contacting General Zhang must be pinned on the Cao family. Anyway, that connection has always been with the Cao family.

Between Qi and Liang, who will win, who will ultimately rule the world, who can say for sure?

A great victory for Liang would be best, but what if Qi wins? Then, would our family not be irredeemably wicked?

This irredeemable wickedness cannot be placed on our shoulders; it has to be given to the Cao family, let them bear it.

They’ve taken silver from our rice shop for over ten or twenty years; they cannot just take it for nothing. When the sky falls, we have to push them out.” Old Master Qian carefully instructed his son.

“Father, you’ve thought it through so well. I understand; I will go now,” Master Qian said, turning to leave.

Old Master Qian watched his eldest son leave, stood there for a long while, then turned and went into the backyard. Old Master Qian entered a lavish courtyard in the backyard.

The owner of the courtyard, Old Master Qian’s third concubine, Lady Yan, hurriedly came out to greet him.

Master Qian did not go inside. Standing in the spacious courtyard, he gestured for Lady Yan to come closer and said softly, “Is everything prepared here?”

Lady Yan nodded quickly.

“Tonight, you will set off with Seventh Son and Ninth Son. Be careful on the road. When you reach Hangzhou, hide well. If I am safe and sound, I will naturally come to find you. If…

You must raise Seventh Brother and Ninth Brother well.” Master Qian raised his hand to stroke Lady Yan and said softly.

“Alright.” Lady Yan’s throat choked with emotion. “Master, you must be safe and sound.”

“Do not worry.” Old Master Qian patted Lady Yan, a smile appearing on his face.