Chapter 227

Much less will he let the people of the Great Ming be disappointed!

Hu Zongxian never expected it.

It is this very humble Hai Rui, a mere juren graduate, who will soon stir up in the southeast a great wave worthy of eternal fame.

The instant Hai Rui received the Shangfang Sword.

He immediately borrowed two thousand troops from the Zongduya Sect and launched a sweeping hunt across the southeast for those who had once consorted with Wang Zhi.

Yet for this group of people,

Hai Rui did not resort to torture.

Because Hai Rui knew,

The true titans lurking beneath the surface would never do such a thing themselves.

They were merely the hands-on clerks.

And merely upon Hai Rui's promise that he would open the seas in the future,

These men readily and effortlessly named their superiors.

They merely sought to make a living by trading on the sea.

Now that they had Hai Rui's promise to open the seas and show leniency, there was no need to conceal anything.

And Hai Rui likewise knew,

They were merely sparks.

To ignite the fire across the southeast, he must trace it step by step upward!

Soon, behind these men came the petty and major gentry of Zhejiang and Fujian.

On the very night Hai Rui arrested these gentry,

When the weary Hai Rui returned to his inn room,

He suddenly saw two merchants dressed in silk.

The moment they saw Hai Rui enter,

They immediately rose and bowed respectfully, saying,

"My lord Hai, we have been awaiting you for some time."

Hai Rui's expression darkened.

He coldly stared at the two men and asked,

"Who are you related to?"

Hai Rui instinctively assumed these two were the rescue emissaries sent by the gentry he had just arrested.

After all, during the arrests,

Many gentry had brazenly slipped him silver.

Hearing Hai Rui's question,

The two men did not answer directly, but smiled at him and said,

"Name your price, my lord. Whatever we can afford, we will not haggle over a single coin!"

Hai Rui's brow furrowed as he glared at the two men and asked,

"What exactly do you mean?"

"My lord, do not worry—we are not relatives of any of the gentry you have already arrested."

"Our meaning is this: my lord, cease now. The gentry you have already seized are more than enough for you to report to your sovereign."

This clearly told Hai Rui they were not any gentry's rescuers.

Likewise, it directly informed Hai Rui,

That behind these gentry stood others!

Hai Rui's brow tightened.

The two men, unable to sit still, immediately offered their price.

"Fifty thousand taels!"

Hai Rui's heart jolted.

Fifty thousand taels of silver!

When I was in Chun'an County, the entire year's tax revenue was less than fifty thousand taels!

Before Hai Rui could speak,

The two men raised their offer themselves.

"One hundred thousand taels!"

"Two hundred thousand taels! My lord, two hundred thousand taels—your name remains the revered Brush Stand of Heaven, no one will ever know of this, and your family will live in comfort forever!"

Hai Rui's face remained unchanged.

He stared silently at the two men, unblinking.

"Five hundred thousand taels!"

At this, the two men's brows also knitted tightly.

"My lord, let us be blunt: one million taels. Cease your investigation, and we can all make our reports."

These two did not know,

That at this moment, Hai Rui's worldview had been shattered.

One million taels of silver!

How much silver did the Great Ming collect in a full year?!

And these two spoke of it as if it were mere idle chatter!

Hai Rui stared fixedly at the two men before him.

His expression gradually grew gloomy.

Seeing Hai Rui's displeased face,

the two men could only change their tune.

"My Lord Hai, here's the deal: a flat price of two million taels of silver!"

Hearing this, Hai Rui's figure swayed slightly.

For the great families of the Southeast,

if Jiajing truly established the Maritime Trade Office,

how much more than two million taels of silver would need to be paid to the court annually?

Even if they used a year's worth of customs duties to settle this matter, it would be an extremely worthwhile deal!

And Hai Rui at this moment,

had already been stunned into a daze by the number before his eyes.

Two million taels of silver!

That was two hundred thousand jin!

Enough to cover the Great Ming's nine frontier garrisons' military pay for a year!

Under the gaze of the two men,

Hai Rui struggled to open his mouth and squeezed out a single word from between his teeth:

"Agreed!"

"Two million taels of silver, it's a deal!"

Seeing Hai Rui's expression,

the two men before him immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"My Lord Hai, the first time is always like this."

Hai Rui did not respond.

Instead, he stared fixedly at the two men before him and asked,

"What must I do to obtain these two million taels of silver?"

The two men exchanged a glance; one of them then immediately drew a memorial from his robe and placed it before Hai Rui.

"As long as My Lord Hai signs his name on these two memorials,"

"two million taels of pure silver, we two will present them with both hands!"

Hai Rui glanced roughly at the memorial before him.

One of them was a case-closing report.