Wu Minzhi winked at the salt merchant who was near the door, the salt merchant immediately got up and followed Qi Ming's footsteps: "Mr. Qi stay, if you have something to say, we salt merchants have always shared weal and woe, and this time is right now. At the critical moment when the court is verifying the salt tax, there must be no trouble inside.
Contradictions come! "
Qi Ming glanced back at the salt merchants in the hall: "I wanted to sell one to save your life, but I didn't expect you to play tricks with me when disaster strikes. Anyway, it wasn't me who panicked in the end. ."
"Mr. Qi, don't be in a hurry. If you have something to say, come in and sit down quickly." A few salt merchants stood up again, and then they invited Qi Ming back to the room.
Qi Ming took a sip of the tea cup and placed it heavily on the table: "Now, can Chief Wu understand what I'm talking about?"
Wu Minzhi looked at Qi Ming, and finally could only nod his teeth: "I think what Mr. Qi said should be that we secretly raised the price of salt, which led to the recent rise in the price of salt, right?"
Qi Ming snorted and slammed the table: "Wu Minzhi, I'm not talking about you secretly raising the price of salt, but you are daring, and you even secretly planned with the government to replace salt with sand to fill the gap caused by your salt tax! "
Wu Minzhi's heart jumped: "Mr. Qi, don't talk nonsense, this is a big crime of looting and annihilating the family!"
"Since you don't repent, there is no need for me to say it," Qi Ming looked at the other salt merchants, "You should be buried with this good leader!"
"Mr. Qi, don't be in a hurry," some salt merchants said directly to Wu Minzhi, "Leader Wu, Mr. Qi can inform us in advance. I think he is with us and wants to save our lives. Confused again."
Qi Ming turned his head and looked at Wu Minzhi with a half-smile, his eyes full of ridicule.
Wu Minzhi sighed and bowed to Qi Mingzuo: "Please forgive me, Mr. Qi, the matter is really involved, and I was so flustered that I couldn't do anything. I don't know where the gentleman got this news?" I wrote a secret letter about exchanging the sand for salt, and sent it to Master Li, and the other party claimed to be able to provide sufficient evidence." Qi Ming shook his head, "This time, Master Li was instructed to verify the salt tax in the south of the Yangtze River. Thinking of selling it for a good, let you read it too
Remembering the kindness of the Li family and the eldest prince, who would have thought that you would be so daring and cause such a big disaster. "Mr. Qi, to be honest, if there is a way, we are not willing to do it. It is really too big a deficit in the salt tax, so we have to make this last resort. I hope to make up the deficit in the name of buying salt this time, who can? Thinking that something big happened, I also asked Mr. Qi to give pointers on what we should do
, can let Master Li raise your hand? Qi Ming sighed and said, "It's not just how Master Li sees this matter, but there seem to be other people watching behind it, especially those who wrote letters to Master Li to expose the identity of the people who exchanged sand for salt. I don't have the slightest clue to prevent Mr. Li himself from being involved.
It is difficult to escape, and now there is only one clear path for you, and that is to make up for the missing salt tax with silver taels as soon as possible. "
Wu Minzhi frowned: "But Mr. Qi should also know that the sinking of the official ship carrying salt has already spread, and it can be said that everyone knows it now. At this time, taking out silver taels to make up for the shortfall, doesn't it mean that we Have a ghost in your heart?"
"I have already told you all about the road. As for whether to go or not, it depends on your own will. I have already brought the words. If you want to come here, you should also have something to discuss, so I will not leave you more. If you have discussed it, you can Come directly to Chunfengyuan to find me."
A salt merchant was anxious, and was about to say something else when he saw Wu Minzhi's look, he immediately stopped talking, and followed him out.
Walking out of Chunfengyuan, Wu Minzhi motioned for a guard to observe in the dark, and then returned to his mansion with the salt merchants.
The atmosphere in the hall was extraordinarily solemn, and after a while, everyone spoke up one after another:
"Boss Wu, what should we do now?"
"That eponymous identity may be believed?"
"Yeah, the road he showed us is clearly not feasible right now, but he says it's a clear road, how should we go?" Wu Minzhi raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet: "I carefully checked the information on the post. The seal, the seal of the Governor of Liangjiang on it is indeed true, and I have already sent someone to investigate the identity of the same name, and I can vaguely find out that he is related to the First Prince's Mansion, which means that he is very likely to be Lord Li in advance.
I came to Yangzhou City. "
"If that's the case, then we have to listen to what he has to say. After all, it is Mr. Li, the Governor of Liangjiang, who came to check the salt tax this time." There will be no future incidents.” These salt merchants have tens of millions of taels to say the least, and it’s no problem for each person to spend a few million taels, but they were too distressed before, plus, the first few
During the annual inspection of the salt tax, he was safe and sound, and he felt a little bit of negligence in his heart.
"We can't even fill the gap now. We've already spread the word about the sinking of the ship. If we fill it up at this time, wouldn't we slap ourselves in the face?"
"Boss Wu, what do you think we should do?"
Wu Minzhi's eyes were dark: "If you think about it carefully, you will understand."
"Equal name?" Everyone looked at each other, and someone involuntarily repeated Qi Ming's words, "...there is only one road to the bright, and that is to make up for the missing salt tax with silver taels as soon as possible... There is only one road to the bright... the road to the bright... "
Some people couldn't hold back and suddenly realized: "There is only one open road, but there can be many secret passages! Now we can't make up for the deficit openly, which means that this road has been blocked, so the rest can only be secretly figured out. , Chief Wu, is my guess correct?"
"Not bad." Wu Minzhi nodded in approval, "The identity of the same name is very likely to be true. Now what we should discuss is how to satisfy him so that Mr. Li can raise his hand."
The salt merchants could not help but fell silent, thinking secretly in their hearts. In fact, they know how much they have in mind, and this is also the practice of verifying the salt tax. Every time an imperial envoy is dispatched, they will definitely send silver taels as filial piety, but how much silver taels should be given
"Boss Wu, what do you think we should do?"
"Yes, please follow the instructions of Chief Wu. You are now the chief of the salt merchants. You have always had more ideas than us. We are listening to you now."
"Leader Wu please make up your mind." Wu Minzhi motioned for everyone to calm down: "Actually, you should also understand that Mr. Li belongs to the line of the first prince. In the past two years, the first prince has repeatedly sent people to recruit us, but now, the situation in Kyoto is unclear. , if we rashly seek refuge, it’s just going to be someone else’s money bag, so we haven’t expressed our attitude for a long time, but now the form is different, the open path can’t go through, but there are still one or two secret paths, and we need to make up our minds together.”