gnovel Chapter 32 Colluding with each other
Chapter 32 Colluding with each other
In the west wing of Li Chuyun's house, Wang Lu had just fallen asleep when someone shook his arm and poked him awake. Opening his eyes, he saw Zhao Guangmei squatting by the bed: "Lu-ge'er, wake up, don't sleep!"
Wang Lu looked around and said, "Why did you come to my room? Aren't we each sleeping in a separate guest room?"
He touched the bed again: "Where's my bed-warming maid?"
At the doorway, Li Jilong leaned against the wall, yawning weakly: "The Third King gave the order, and no one in our household dared to stop him. Even the maids were chased away by him."
Wang Lu then noticed that Li Jilong was dressed in a neat short-sleeved outfit, with a short knife at his waist, standing by the door like a little adult.
Wang Lu pulled the covers over himself: "What are you trying to do, pulling the covers off me in the middle of the night and chasing away my bed-warming maid?"
"During the day, you said the soldiers were looting and pillaging, but at night it's much worse than during the day?"
Wang Lu rolled his eyes at him: "So this is why you're staying at Long Ge'er's house? Don't tell me you two are planning to call me along to catch the rebels?"
The three of us combined barely make thirty, aren't we afraid of getting chopped up? Besides, it's curfew now."
In the early days of the Song Dynasty, there was no curfew before the first watch of the night, but a curfew was still in effect after the first watch. Only special places such as inns were allowed to operate under special licenses.
Zhao Guangmei patted her chest and said, "I just couldn't resist taking a look. Besides, what's there to be afraid of? This is the capital city, and I'm wearing an identification badge. So what if there's a curfew? With me here, who dares to touch me?"
Li Jilong said, "It's alright. You can't hide it from my father. Even if he lets us go out, he will send people to secretly follow and protect us. We can just pretend we don't know he sent people to protect us."
Wang Lu thought about it and felt that what Li Jilong said should be reliable.
Since everyone had already pulled off the covers, Wang Lu had no choice but to say:
"Alright, it's just for a look. Don't you dare try any of that 'incognito visit' or 'disguised as a white dragon' thing. If anyone asks, just reveal your identity as the Third King right away, understand? It would be too funny if those thugs actually killed us."
If someone breaks the curfew in the middle of the night and is caught by the night patrol, even if he is the emperor's brother, he will still be criticized.
But the Song Dynasty has just been founded, and there are many things going on. The fact that the emperor's brother did not observe the curfew is not a big deal in the gossip of the city, and should not even be mentioned.
Most importantly, he felt that Zhao Guangmei seemed a bit obsessed, and for some reason, he agreed.
Zhao Guangmei was thirteen, Wang Lu was twelfth, and Li Jilong was eleven. The three little boys were dressed in fine clothes, but they didn't even bring a lantern. They didn't have any particular purpose; they just went wherever there was light.
"It's bright over there! Look over there, it's so bright! The torches have turned it into a long dragon. What are they doing? It's so late at night, they're breaking curfew and acting suspiciously. They must be up to no good. Let's go check it out."
Wang Lu: "That's my family's brick and tile factory."
Why is your brickyard violating the curfew?
"Making bricks, building new houses for the Imperial Guards, none of it makes money."
"So, were you robbed by mutinous soldiers?"
"Of course not. Our workshop is under the protection of your second brother, and the workers are all military dependents. Besides, my cheap grandfather has some influence in the army, so the rebels can't take anything from our family."
"I see... So what's all this commotion at your workshop late at night? What are you doing?"
"Why do you care? I don't know either. Let's go, let's go. What's so interesting about our house?"
Wang Lu quickly pulled Zhao Guangmei and Li Jilong away, feeling a little guilty.
In fact, he had just lied. Even if they did some work late at night, it was mainly the kiln that was being smoldered. The bustling activity at night was definitely not right.
He had a vague idea of what was going on over there, which was why he didn't want Zhao Guangmei to see it.
Zhao Guangmei didn't think much of it, nodded and said "oh", and followed Wang Lu. Li Jilong frowned and gave Wang Lu a meaningful look, but didn't say anything.
………………
Inside Tongjifang, the streets were bustling with activity, as carts and boats loaded with packages were being moved to the brick and tile factory.
"Fifth Brother, what's going on? Transporting mud so late at night?"
Pan Wu slapped his underling on the head: "Use your brain, moving things like this in the middle of the night, it can't be mud, can it?"
"Then what is this?"
"What else could it be but grain?"
"Oh, so it's grain. Hmm? Fifth Brother, isn't this hoarding and speculation? That's punishable by death! Grand Commandant Zhao—oops, I mean the Emperor—the Emperor himself issued an edict and posted notices throughout the city."
"In chaotic times, harsh measures are needed. Hoarding and speculating is punishable by death. We...we're making bricks and tiles now, living a good life. Why are you and your employer doing this deadly business?"
"Do you think I'm the one who has to do it? Or is it Jun-ge'er? Sigh~, let's get to work."
"Fifth Brother, you mean... Second King? But these past few days, hasn't the master been providing meals for the mud deliverymen at noon, using Second King's name and saying that the meals are being treated by Second King?"
"What you're delivering now is their lunch for tomorrow, isn't it?"
"What does this mean? On one hand, they're hoarding goods for speculation, and on the other hand, they're providing food and disaster relief. What does this all mean?"
"If we don't hoard grain, how can the price of grain continue to rise? If more people starve to death, how can the people appreciate the kindness of the Second Prince?"
The Second King is treating people to a meal now, which is considered a small act of kindness. But if the price of grain rises further, exceeding two hundred or even three hundred coins per bushel, then it will be a matter of saving lives.
Upon hearing this, the younger brother was dumbfounded.
After a while, he curled his lip in disdain, spat on the ground, and started working.
In the distance, Wang Jun was not asleep either. Instead, he was on a two-story official kitchen, gazing at the bustling activity of his workshop and the long lines of grain transport teams.
The so-called official kitchen was a private kitchen prepared in the middle of the night specifically for ministers attending the morning court or working overtime. It was not open to the public and was not subject to curfew restrictions.
"Brother Zhaoyuan, what are you looking at? Don't worry, I've already made all the arrangements, there won't be any problems."
At the dinner table, a slightly overweight, fair-skinned, beardless man dressed like a scholar, who looked to be about the same age as him, spoke.
"Just take a look, I'm naturally at ease with Xun-ge's work," Wang Jun said.
"It's all for the Second King's sake. Today's batch is just the first batch. Tomorrow night, there will be a second batch, about 30,000 bushels. The day after tomorrow, there will be another 30,000 bushels, and the day after that, there may be 40,000 bushels."
Wang Jun's hand trembled, and he almost dropped the chopsticks he had just picked up: "Wouldn't that be 100,000 hu?"
"Well... Xun-ge'er, I don't have any money. The Second King gave me some tea, but most of it hasn't been sold yet. And with the current grain prices..."
"It's alright, we can pay on credit. A bunch of unscrupulous merchants hoarding goods and speculating on prices, who would dare disrespect the Second King?"
Wang Jun: "…………"
The man dining with him was a trusted confidant whom Zhao Guangyi had acquired at some unknown time. His name was Sang Xun, and he was the second son of Sang Weihan, the prime minister of the Later Jin Dynasty.
This person was also a child prodigy, having been appointed as a corrector in the Secretariat at the young age of ten. He worked in Kaifeng Prefecture for a long time. Sang Weihan himself had served as the Prefect of Kaifeng, and died in office when Zhang Yanzhe went to the capital.
Therefore, although he was a traitor who sold out the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun, he still had a high reputation in Kaifeng Prefecture. Although Sang Xun did not hold a high official position in Kaifeng Prefecture, he wielded considerable influence.
Such a large-scale grain transport in the middle of the night, all handled by him, a mere clerk, without anyone investigating or even using Zhao Guangyi's name, truly impressed Wang Jun.
He had asked Wang Lu during the day, and learned that Sang Xun was later Zhao Kuangyin's core confidant. He had once stepped forward to help Zhao Guangyi confront Zhao Pu, making Zhao Pu look bad. He was also a ruthless person.
A person who dares to confront Zhao Pu when Zhao Pu is at the height of his power in the early Song Dynasty must be ruthless to himself and even more ruthless to others. Wang Jun concluded that this person is extremely ambitious and has a strong gambling instinct.
Normally, people would avoid him like the plague, so how come they're colluding with each other?
Tongjifang is located in the south of Kaifeng. It was originally a place where migrant workers and canal laborers liked to stay. A few days ago, Wang Jun felt that the price of grain was rising and the government's relief grain was not enough. He felt sorry for the poor people in the south of the city.
Furthermore, his current collusion with Zhao Guangyi, who monopolizes the tea trade in Kaifeng by giving him control over all the tea production, makes him feel uneasy about the money he's making.
Therefore, he simply spent his money to treat the people from the south of the city who had brought him mud to lunch.
As a businessman, even a low-ranking official like himself couldn't easily win people's hearts, so he said that Zhao Guangyi had invited him, which wasn't entirely unfounded.
After all, those tea leaves were indeed given to him by Zhao Guangyi. He was able to treat everyone to a meal because he made money from tea. It's not wrong to be grateful to Zhao Guangyi for the favor.
When Zhao Guangyi learned of this, he was naturally overjoyed and praised Wang Jun for handling the matter well. He asked Wang Jun to increase the scale of the meal, but Wang Jun said that he did not have enough money to buy grain. Zhao Guangyi then said that he could not let Wang Jun spend his own money to do things for him.
Then, I introduced him to this mulberry flute.
And that's it.
That's not what he originally thought!
He just didn't want the money to burn and wanted to spend it on good deeds, so why is he hoarding it?!
Seeing the worried look on Wang Jun's face, Sang Xun smiled and said, "Brother Jun, don't worry. Yesterday, the Emperor issued an edict that any unscrupulous merchant in Kaifeng who dares to hoard grain and drive up prices will be executed without mercy."
Wang Jun's hand trembled slightly again.
"This grain belongs to those unscrupulous merchants. Although they each have their own backgrounds, the dynasty has changed, and it's now the Song Dynasty. Their backers may no longer be reliable, and no one dares to test the sharpness of the government's sword."
The grain is stuck in their hands, and they're already having trouble selling it. Now that the Second King has stepped in, they're being persuaded to sell it to you. Heh, even if it's just on credit for a short period, what can they do if you really refuse to pay them?
Wang Jun remained silent upon hearing this, but picked up the wine on the table, sighed softly, and drank it all in one gulp.