Chapter 394: Slaughtering the Pig and Butchering the Sheep

Inside the black box Xu Jin had opened lay a tall stack of deeds, yellowed with age.

Completely baffled, Du Yaren looked up at Xu Jin. Only after the other man smiled, nodded, and gestured for him to go ahead did he pick up the deeds and begin examining them one by one.

The deeds themselves were, of course, without issue. A single glance told Du Yaren that these were all proper Red Deeds, with taxes duly paid at the government office.

The problem lay in what the deeds described. Du Yaren was a Gold Medal Real Estate Agent; the location of every plot of land in Jiading and its surrounding areas was mapped in his mind. So when he finished reading through them, a distinct "C" shape instantly formed in his head.

If Old Du were one of the Transmigrators, he would certainly have shouted at that moment: "The First Island Chain!"

Indeed, if the various manors, mulberry gardens, fish ponds, and cotton fields on these deeds were connected end to end, they would perfectly encircle Xiong Dao's Shanghai Port.

Having witnessed countless schemes and dark machinations in his life, Du Yaren now felt a vague premonition of trouble.

Seeing the puzzled look in Du Yaren's eyes, Master Xu Jin first offered a slight smile. Then he casually stubbed out his cigarette in a glass ashtray, interlaced his fingers, and rested them calmly on his stomach before speaking to Du Yaren: "If a single manor can be exchanged for a crystal mirror, then with all this land of mine, how many things could I get from Master Xiong?"

A dense sheen of fine sweat beaded on Du Yaren's forehead as a chill rose from his heart — in that first moment, he recognized the other man's meticulous scheming, and immediately after, he sensed the thick, naked malice.

"These lands, of course, do not all belong to my Xu family," Xu Jin said, still smiling, though the smile now carried an indefinable, ambiguous flavor. "Some of the estates here belong to close family friends. Old Du, I'll be frank with you. We all pooled these lands together precisely because we were prepared to have a talk with Master Xiong, to become friends."

Du Yaren's mind was now crystal clear. He understood the key point in Xu Jin's words: this was a joint maneuver by several great houses of the same rank as the Xu family. This group had quietly and methodically gathered up the land parcels around the dock, intending to use them as leverage against Master Xiong.

Recalling the immense difficulty Master Xiong had faced when acquiring land, and then looking at the stack of deeds the Xu family had tossed before him with such effortless ease, Du Yaren instantly felt the colossal power backing Xu the Gentry, and the crushing pressure that power translated into.

And so he asked, his voice somewhat dry and strained: "May I ask what Master Xu intends to do?"

"Very well." Xu Jin dropped all pretense now, his long face turning cold. "The Xu family will use these deeds to buy shares in Master Xiong's Private Port. From this day forward, for every shipload of southern goods that arrives, the Xu family will take half to sell on our own. Furthermore, we will also take a half share in all those warehouses, taverns, and workshops."

After finishing, Xu Jin resumed his look of detached serenity: "When you think about it, your master is still getting the better end of the deal. The land on these deeds is far larger than that little Private Port of his."

Seeing Du Yaren's face turn alternately pale and green, Xu Jin spoke to him again, gently: "Old Du, this is a good thing. If your master wishes to do business in this flourishing Jiangnan, he will ultimately need someone to have his back and escort him safely, no? Half the shares is not too much. Go back and report to your master. As for me, I shall spend the winter in this residence this year. Master Xiong may come and offer his instruction at any time."

Having said this, Xu Jin reached out and lifted his tea bowl, but did not drink; and the tactful Du Yaren, regardless of his inner thoughts, knew that standing up on the spot and taking his leave was mandatory.

Watching Du Yaren's receding figure, Xu Jin set down his tea bowl with a cold sneer.

It was now the Chongzhen era. Nearly a full sixty-year cycle had passed since the Jiajing era, when Xu Jie served as Senior Grand Secretary and wielded power so immense it seemed to scorch the very air.

Throughout these years, the descendants of the Xu family had always held official posts, keeping the family from falling. Yet, after all, no titan like Xu Jie had ever emerged again, so the family fortune had inevitably shrunk considerably compared to those days.

Of course, this so-called "shrinkage" depended entirely on who you compared it to. Compared to the hundreds of thousands of acres of land that had stunned all Household Staff during Xu Jie's lifetime, it was certainly far, far less. But compared to a normal Gentry household, the Xu family still possessed the strength of a top-tier clan in the Chongzhen era.

Thus, when Xiong Dao and his Private Port had become the talk of the town over the past half year, the Xu family, after going to sound out the details, had turned around and investigated the original circumstances of Du Yaren's visit to deliver the introductory letter.

At this point, the Xu family began to pay close attention... Over the past half year and more, Xiong Dao had thought he was lying low and keeping a low profile, even feeling aggrieved about it. However, the Xu family and the other Gentry who had spotted this juicy piece of meat had not been idle.

So Xiong Dao, that loser from later generations, still had a somewhat poor grasp of the mentality of the top echelons — what he had envisioned was a win-win cooperation, but what the true predators at the top of the food chain envisioned was slaughtering the pig and butchering the sheep.

People accustomed to being apex predators — how could they possibly discuss cooperation with some dog-fart of a soldier's spokesman, an outsider who'd wandered in from who-knows-where, in this savage 17th century? My dear fellow, in which year and month did you pass the imperial examinations and see your name on the honor roll? And what rank did you achieve?

The 50-50 split Xu Jin proposed today, a scheme virtually indistinguishable from robbery, had a name in ancient times: "Donation." In later generations, it was called protection money.

The only fig leaf, perhaps, was those land deeds.

This was, in truth, a display of power and a threat: the Xu family's old craft of seizing land by force and fraud was still intact. They had not used it before only because the family's fortunes were gradually declining, and they dared not stir up widespread public anger on a large scale. But now, with other Gentry backing them, Xu Jin had, within this half year, very easily secured that stack of deeds — and done so silently and without a sound.

This was power. This was a naked threat: the deeds were merely the first taste. If you refused to accept, there were plenty more methods to follow.

Stepping out the gate of the Xu Residence and looking up at the blinding midday sun, even Du Yaren, who was accustomed to all manner of extortion and plunder, could not help but feel a sense of helplessness at Xu Jin's exorbitant demands.

Fortunately, Du Yaren was, from start to finish, only a messenger. The matter of the deeds had little to do with him personally; at most, he would just lose out on a commission.

And so, sighing as he went, Du Yaren retraced his route with his servants. He boarded a ferry at the county seat's East Gate and crossed the river to report back.

Du Yaren did not need to rush back to the port thirty li to the north to deliver his report, because someone was waiting for him right there at Yangjiadu.

Even in later generations, Yangjiadu, this transportation hub directly facing Shanghai Great East Gate, still had a customs house and a ferry crossing. Moreover, the river-crossing tunnel passed right through here.

After disembarking at Yangjiadu, Du Yaren met up with two people waiting for him there. One of them, the younger man, Du Yaren was very familiar with; they had worked together before... The young man was called Liu Qingyun.

After the two parties joined up, they went to an inn at the ferry crossing. In a private room at the inn, Du Yaren recounted the entire content of his conversation at the Xu family's place, completely and in full detail.

Then, under Liu Qingyun's repeated questioning, Du Yaren also shared some of his own views and judgments on the matter.

Throughout this time, Du Yaren talked until his mouth was parched and his tongue dry, constantly drinking water. Yet he never once noticed the blue handkerchief placed on the table.

When both sides had finished their discussion, the young man Liu Qingyun presented a silver ingot with both hands as Du Yaren's compensation, then sent someone to escort Old Du out of the inn.

The moment Old Du stepped out the door, Liu Wang, operating under the alias Liu Qingyun, lifted the handkerchief, picked up the small Sony Recorder hidden beneath it, and handed it to a subordinate beside him: "Quickly, send it by fast horse back for the master to listen to."

"Yes!"

After this, Liu Wang went out again and turned into a side room in the courtyard. The moment he entered, he said: "Send a telegram. I have important information."

The telegram message was quickly transmitted to the Port Authority Building dozens of li away.

Using the telegraph naturally made it impossible to convey details with great nuance, but even so, the content of the message was sufficient for Xiong Dao to fully understand everything that had just transpired at the Xu Residence.

"Fine, fine, fine. A man schemes against the tiger, but the tiger has a mind to harm the man. I suppose I've gone and lured the tiger out of its cave myself." Sitting in his office on the Second Floor of the Port Authority, Xiong Dao had just finished reading the telegram draft when he let out a cold sneer. "I never expected this. I never expected these masters would silently and without a fuss acquire all the surrounding land. Impressive skill, truly impressive. It's a real waste of talent that they didn't go work for a demolition company."

After his exclamations were done, Xiong Dao's expression darkened. He spoke to the several subordinates standing in his office: "Since that's the case, then set things in motion. Follow the plan. Control the rhythm."

"Yes!"

That very afternoon, the commercial district outside the port welcomed its first wave of excitement: the Port Authority released a massive amount of Stock, and merchants from all routes immediately swarmed in.

A portion of these goods had local general agents. Once the manifests were released, the Shopkeepers the general agents had stationed in the commercial district only needed to pay the full amount for the goods before heading to the Old Warehouse District to take delivery.

Other goods for which agents had not yet been finalized began to be sold at public auction.

This was a time of frenzy for the small and medium merchants. These loser merchants, who normally had no qualifications whatsoever to act as agents for any kind of goods, now began forming temporary consortiums on the spot. Red-eyed, they loudly shouted bids for the released manifests, fiercely competing with the big merchants.

At the same moment the auctioneering began, the subordinates of those large agents were already expertly hauling money chests filled with gold and silver to the Port Authority to settle their accounts. The scene at this time was spectacular: in front of the Port Authority's two-story building, silver chests hauled over by every household and family were piled high — a real-life mountain of gold and sea of silver.

And today, the silver mountain piled before the building's entrance was exceptionally vast — all the Stock from every Warehouse had been brought out. Not a single item was held back; everything was to be sold.

By evening, the clamor finally subsided. In a single afternoon, the merchants, using carts and boats, had swept away every last piece of released goods. And now, the commercial district was finally empty of people and abandoned, as the great mass of merchants and their guards all escorted their goods and left.

The now-empty Old Warehouse District also offered a convenience to the guards: from now on, they could reduce the Manpower needed for patrols. Of course, reducing Manpower did not mean everyone had nothing to do — tonight, though there was no need to guard against thieves coming to set fire to empty warehouses, everyone could still go set a fire at someone else's place, couldn't they?

And so it was that, late at night, a raging inferno blazed up in the Xu Village located north of the port... The locals called this manor "Old Sangyuan," precisely because there were several mulberry gardens within it.

And then, these several mulberry gardens were doused in the middle of the night with expensive "Fire Oil" and set ablaze with a single spark. That night, the flames lit up the sky, visible to people twenty li away.