Chapter 84: Is the Intelligence Real?!

"What?! Are there really Japanese pirates running amok in Gyeongsang-do?"

Early the next morning, just as Zhang Yunxiu finished washing up, he suddenly heard Han San come to report that there was fighting in the south, which startled him into exclaiming aloud.

Han San was beaming, his tone filled with excitement: "It's true, our men are still on the road, but fighting has already broken out in the south, and judging by the commotion, it's no small matter; it's likely a large force of pirates."

"This is truly someone bringing a pillow just as I was getting sleepy; let's give them a mix of truth and falsehood." Zhang Yunxiu clapped his hands, looked at Han San, and instructed, "Send people to spread the word far and wide, and Li Gui's men must follow suit; if the pirates can't hold their ground, we can give them a push from behind."

"Understood." Han San grinned, then stepped out of the main room.

Zhang Yunxiu took a deep breath, a faint smile on his face, sat back in his chair, and closed his eyes slightly to doze.

After receiving this news, Zhang Yunxiu concluded that the panic among the common people would only intensify.

By now, the price of salt no longer required him to drive it up; the Yangban nobility and wealthy merchant clans of Joseon were already red-eyed with greed.

Now, he only needed to wait, wait for the salt price to reach a high point that he deemed sufficient.

Then the rest of the story would be exceptionally clear: the salt price would plummet, and he would make a fortune.

As for those small-time holders who had hoarded a little salt, if they could cut their losses early, they might still make a bit of profit.

If they resisted to the end, heh heh, once he suddenly dumped his twenty million catties of salt, it would be beyond their control.

However, he felt not a shred of pity; for these gamblers, he could only say they deserved it.

They risked their life savings to gamble, and even though they could profit by selling now, they insisted on making more.

In the end, if they lost everything, who could they blame?

Smiling and shaking his head, Zhang Yunxiu lifted his robe and stepped out of the main room.

For the next ten days or so, reports of victory came one after another, and the price of salt soared all the way, breaking the forty-wen-per-catty mark.

Those commoners who had sold earlier were all beating their chests and stamping their feet, cursing themselves for being idiots.

What they had sold for thirty wen back then, they were now buying back for forty.

Even so, there were still many speculators scrambling to hoard it. The crazy price hikes had already caused them to lose their reason.

The war had only just begun, and once the fighting intensified, the price of salt would surely rise even further.

What truly pushed the price of salt to its peak was a single battle report.

The Right Naval Commander of Gyeongsang-do led five thousand subordinates to meet the enemy, but he was unlucky and a headwind blew up that very day.

The enemy used fire attacks, and in one stroke, Yuan Jun was soundly defeated.

Only a thousand or so of the five thousand naval troops remained, and they fled in disarray, not daring to go out to sea to fight again. From then on, control of the seas near Gyeongsang-do was completely lost.

Once this battle report, which should have been "classified," was widely disseminated.

All the common people, Yangban nobility, and merchants of Joseon became frantic.

They had only one thought in their minds—this war would not end so quickly, and the price of salt could still go higher.

Consequently, they didn't even care about the grief of Yuan Jun's defeat; instead, they spent great effort shouting and buying up salt.

Those who had already jumped on the bandwagon continued to drive up the price, while those who hadn't were desperately trying to squeeze on.

I don't know how others were doing these days, but Li Ergou was all smiles all day long, his face glowing, wearing a grin for everyone he met.

People are like that; when things are going well, everything looks good. Once they hit a streak of bad luck, even the most fragrant meal loses its flavor.

At noon this day, he went to the warehouse for his usual round.

Looking at the warehouse filled to the brim with salt and smelling the slightly salty, pungent odor, he felt himself becoming dazed.

These were his reliance for settling down and heading toward wealth.

As long as he had these things, he had the capital to turn his life around. Why should those Yangban nobles be wealthy for generations? Why should he have to live at the bottom, struggling for a living?

He was unconvinced and felt the world was unfair.

Fortunately, he would now ride this favorable wind and fly straight to the heavens.

Thinking of this, Li Ergou grinned, and suddenly a crisp, pleasant voice rang in his ear: "Brother Ergou, stop looking at your precious treasure and come out to eat."

"Coming."

Hearing that it was Min'er's voice, Li Ergou responded with a smile, then walked out of the warehouse, locked the door, and put his arm around Min'er as they headed straight for the dining hall.

Li Ergou's ancestors had once been wealthy, but by his generation, only this house remained.

The two walked into the dining hall and sat down; on the table were white steamed buns, and a porcelain basin the size of a washbasin was piled high with meaty bones.

"Mm, it smells so good." Sniffing with his nose, Li Ergou swallowed hard, then picked up a meaty bone and placed it in Min'er's bowl: "Min'er, you try it first."

Min'er smiled sweetly but hurriedly waved her hand: "I've already tasted it; you are the head of the house, so you should eat this piece first."

"Why are you being so coy? It's not like there isn't more in the basin; I told you to eat it, so eat it." Li Ergou's face stiffened, and he asked with a frown, "Are you getting too big for your boots now? Can I no longer command you?"

"No... no." Panic flashed across Min'er's eyes, and she hurriedly picked up the meaty bone to her mouth, carefully gnawed off a bit of the lean meat on the side, then smiled and gave a thumbs up to Li Ergou: "It's delicious, the taste is just right; Brother Ergou, you eat while it's hot too."

"Right." Li Ergou smiled and added, "From now on, our family will eat like this every day, stewing two basins of big meaty bones; whatever we don't finish at noon, we'll save for the evening."

"Won't we get as fat as pigs?"

"I want to raise you into a fat pig so you can't run away and can only stay by my side." Li Ergou was lean and spoke in a glib, oily manner; just this mouth of his made Min'er blush crimson.

"No, I'm not talking to you anymore."

Blushing and shooting a glare at Li Ergou, Min'er buried her head in her bowl and began to eat heartily.

In no time at all, the feast on the table was wiped clean.

Glancing at the leftovers on the table, Min'er stood up quickly and nimbly began to clear the mess.

Li Ergou waved his hand, signaling her to sit down, then smiled: "Why are you cleaning up? Tomorrow, I'll go buy a maid to specifically wait on you."

"I have hands and feet, why do I need others to wait on me?" Min'er replied dismissively, though her hands didn't stop moving.

"When one becomes a master, who doesn't have someone to carry their sedan chair when they go out, or someone to hand them their clothes when they come in? You need to get used to it, so I don't make a fool of myself later."

"If others want to laugh, let them laugh; I rely on my own hands to eat, and I'll never go hungry." Min'er tucked back her disheveled hair and replied with a smile.

"Relying on your own hands to eat, you'll never be full." Li Ergou stood up and grabbed Min'er's small, calloused hand: "Look, you're still so young, yet your hands are as rough as a man's."

"Sister, I understand now; sometimes a person just has to believe in fate. Working yourself to the bone for decades is not as good as hitting one good opportunity; just suffering won't make you a person above others."

"If you want to become a person above others, you must eat people."

"Eat people?!" Min'er was so shocked she covered her lips.

Seeing Min'er's reaction, Li Ergou grinned: "Look how scared you are; what I'm talking about isn't eating human flesh, but rather knocking on bones to suck the marrow, squeezing others' pockets dry and stuffing it all into our own."

"Just like this time, we only need to flip it from one hand to the other, and we can move the money from someone else's purse into our own pockets."

"Brother Ergou, then let's hurry and sell the salt; it's already risen to forty wen. Once we sell it, we can buy land and buy shops."

"And then, then I can give you a big, chubby son," Min'er blinked her eyes and said softly.

"No rush, the salt can still rise; we'll sell it when it hits forty-eight or forty-nine wen," Li Ergou shook his head with a smile.

"What if—"

Min'er's face was full of worry and she was about to speak, but Li Ergou waved his hand to cover her lips, stared into her eyes, and said firmly, "There is no 'what if'; I trust my own instincts, this is an opportunity Heaven has given us."

(End of this chapter)