novelraw Chapter 424: State a Price
Chapter 424: State a Price
After stealing several glances at the big girl washing clothes with a telescope, Old Nan Feng felt satisfied, very satisfied. He hummed a little tune as he walked down from the arrow tower, wearing a bright, cheerful expression.
He happened to run into Master Zhan Sheng leading a group of porters, still digging shooting holes on the fort wall.
Seeing Old Nan Feng so relaxed, Master Zhan Sheng smiled lightly and said, “General, you are in a good mood. It seems there is no trouble around, right?”
Old Nan Feng giggled and said, “We just discovered scouts from the bandit army; they will soon attack.”
Master Zhan Sheng: “!!!”
The nearby porters chiseling the holes: “!!!”
The entire group looked at Old Nan Feng with strange eyes, thinking: The bandit army is about to attack, and you laugh so happily? With such a cheerful look? What exactly is wrong with you?
Old Nan Feng wore a smile full of amusement: “Ah, Zhongyuan is truly nice; there are pretty big girls washing clothes by the river too. Back in the north… ahem…”
He quickly stopped himself and dropped the smile: “You digging shooting holes, speed up! All remaining shooting holes must be finished in one day. Otherwise, when the bandit army attacks, our firearm soldiers will have no place to fire.”
As soon as he said these words, the porters’ actions accelerated threefold.Damn it, how dare they not hurry? If they could not hold back the bandits, they would escape death only narrowly.
Master Zhan Sheng let out a long sigh, tightened his grip on his staff, and said, “Amitabha! Kindly manage the situation! Kindly manage the situation!”
Old Nan Feng gave him a sidelong glance: “Master, just from your build, I can tell you are a trained fighter; your skills are superb. I probably cannot defeat you, and Gao Chuwu may not be your match. Also, you carry a heavy aura of killing; in your youth, you frequently committed murder and arson, did you not?”
Master Zhan Sheng placed his palms together: “Past events are forgotten now by this poor monk.”
Old Nan Feng chuckled: “To save these common folk, you will certainly need to act. How about it? Do you wish to swap that staff? I can get you a big blade; one glance tells me you are a skilled wielder of a knife.”
Master Zhan Sheng shook his head: “A knife bears too heavy a burden of bloodshed; this poor monk prefers his staff. Staff technique is the ‘divine art of subduing without killing’; I no longer wish to kill.”
Old Nan Feng snorted a laugh: “The ‘divine art of subduing without killing’—how easily can it be achieved? By my view, killing one to save two is immense virtue; what do you think, Master?”
Master Zhan Sheng shook his head: “Not killing even one and saving two, would that not be better?”
Old Nan Feng laughed loudly: “Master, you call that greed!”
Master Zhan Sheng said: “In such matters, a little greed is not bad.”
Old Nan Feng shook his head, turned, and walked away. In no time, he arrived at the warship. The warship’s captain sat at the prow, idly watching the porters shift goods on the cargo vessel.
Old Nan Feng beckoned to him with a wave, grinned, and said, “Brother, very bored?”
The captain grinned: “Yes, commanding such a powerful warship yet having no chance to act is rather vexing.”
Old Nan Feng said: “You will not be bored soon; the thieves are coming.”
This sentence made the captain rushing with pride: “Hey, then I…”
Old Nan Feng cut in: “I must ask you to hide first.”
The captain quickly grew anxious: “Why? Barely got a chance to act.”
Old Nan Feng explained: “If your ship remains anchored here, the thieves will not make a move.”
This sentence snapped the captain back to sense; yes, with this vessel’s twelve cannons placed here, how would the bandits dare move?
Old Nan Feng chuckled lightly: “The fleet will unload as normal. After unloading, you will lead the fleet back to Qiachuan Port, yes? Sail north several miles until you no longer see the ancient ferry dock. Then find a place with calmer water flow to wait. Once you see dense smoke rising from the ancient ferry dock, bring the fleet back.”
The captain instantly understood: “Hahaha, so that is it; thank you, General Nan Feng.”
It was completely dark. Fortunately, a bright moon hung in the sky, casting silver light over Jie Pond, making the entire shore appear silver-gray. The naked eye could barely see.
Xing Honglang, Zao Ying, Iron Bird Flies and others dismounted a li away from Jie Pond. Zao Ying’s people stayed behind, hiding with the horses in the woods.
Xing Honglang and Iron Bird Flies then led the salt smugglers and continued forward.
They all changed into black clothes, blending into the darkness, making them hard to detect with the naked eye.
Iron Bird Flies pointed to the huge city on the north shore of Jie Pond: “Look! Hedong City. The salt tax office of the court was inside. One thousand officials were always stationed there. However the bandits outside caused trouble, these one thousand officials never moved; they guarded Jie Pond tightly.”
Xing Honglang nodded.
The two led their men around to the south shore of Jie Pond.
Jie Pond was over forty li long and four li wide. If they went around to the south shore, it was not easy for the authorities to spot them. The salt smugglers always contacted the salt craftsmen on the south shore to secretly bring in smuggled salt.
The two crept through the darkness. A village appeared ahead, surrounded everywhere by salt ponds, one after another, spreading over wide patches. Tall wooden walls encircled the salt ponds, almost enclosing the entire village and all nearby salt ponds.
There was a gate in the wooden wall with a small window. Peering through the small window showed two officials guarding behind the gate.
Xing Honglang whispered, “I haven been in the salt trade for years. I didn’t recognize these two soldiers.”
Iron Bird Flies chuckled and said, “Relax, I recognized them.”
He darted out from the woods and walked towards the two officials with a smile.
The officials sensed someone approaching in the darkness; they placed hands on their sword hilts and said, “Who is it? This is key territory for government salt; do not come closer.”
“It’s me, Iron Bird Flies!”
The two soldiers immediately smiled and said, “Oh, it’s Boss Iron.”
Iron Bird Flies chuckled, took out a silver ingot, and slid it through the small window in the gate. Quickly, the gate opened. The two officials whispered, “That’s a lot this time. Boss Iron, are you aiming for something big?”
Iron Bird Flies said, “Yes, very big. It depends on if you are afraid or not.”
The two soldiers laughed and said, “That depends on how big it is.”
Iron Bird Flies said, “I want to take away all the salt in this village.”
The two officials looked at each other, a bit confused: Take all away? Crazy?
However, this was just one of many salt villages around Jie Pond. Even if they took all the salt from the whole village, it had little effect on the court. Other villages would still make salt.
It was not that they dared not play, but just relying on the two soldiers, they certainly dared not.
“We must report this to the top.”
One soldier said, “We need the salt tax office to approve before we dare help.”
Iron Bird Flies said, “How much money is needed to get the salt tax office to agree? Name the price.”
The soldier whispered, “At least… one hundred taels. No, two hundred taels.”
“Fine! Two hundred taels it is.” Iron Bird Flies took out a bag of large silver ingots he had prepared beforehand: “Go and inform them. I’ll wait here.”
The two soldiers nodded. One kept guarding the salt village entrance, and the other took the bag of large silver ingots and ran into the village. Soon, the Captain of the officials in the village also rose. After seeing the large silver ingots, he quickly rowed a small boat, crossed Jie Pond, and headed towards Hedong City on the opposite shore…
The salt administration offices of the Ming Dynasty were very corrupt. During Emperor Yingzong’s time, an imperial decree had been issued: “Recently heard that officials in the salt transport offices of Lianghuai, Changlu, Liangzhe, and various salt tax offices refused to follow laws, pursued greed freely, allowed salt makers to privately boil salt and goods, extorted funds from merchant guests in countless ways. Among them, some patrol officers traded themselves, some pretended to be powerful figures to make salt themselves, some forged merchant permits to sell along roads, and even gathered followers, assembled boats, arranged weapons to commit violent acts arbitrarily.”
It was not hard to see the prevalent problems in the Ming Dynasty salt system at that time: rampant corruption, years of defaults in salt tax duties, widespread smuggled salt, failed enforcement of the kaizhong system, leading to inadequate military supplies for border defense. The salt production and sales system was severely damaged, forcing the Ming court to send officials to impose control.
However, it was impossible to control; the root was rotten, so how could the surface be fixed?