Chapter 1771: On the March—Off to Rob the Female Treacherous Merchant!

"Why is it only this much? Li Zicheng, aren't you supposed to be the best at extorting confessions? How did you only squeeze out this little silver? A huge treacherous merchant like Fan Yongdou, and all he has is a hundred-some thousand taels?"

Beyond the Great Wall, in the city of Xinghe, inside the great golden-domed tent, Zhu Youjian looked over the confession and property inventory of Fan Yongdou that Li Zicheng had sent over, and began to question Li Zicheng's professional competence!

Li Zicheng listened in utter confusion. What did he mean, best at extorting confessions? Before being selected as a retainer of the Son of Heaven, he had been a post-station runner, not a prison warden, so how would he know anything about extorting confessions?

"My Lord," Li Zicheng hastily defended himself, "I already did my best. I even broke that fellow Fan's arms and legs. This is all he confessed to. Why not send someone else to try?"

"No need." Zhu Youjian thought to himself: no one is better at extorting confessions than you, so who else would I send? Liu Zongmin? We haven't been able to find him at all!

"Shen Tingyang," Zhu Youjian then summoned the "imperial merchant" Shen Tingyang over. "Take a look. Does this amount seem about right?"

Shen Tingyang took the confession and inventory (both written on a single sheet of paper), read them over carefully, and when he finished, nodded and said: "Your Majesty, it is about right. The old Fan family firm is considered a large merchant house in Zhangjiakou, but in the whole of the Great Ming it counts for nothing at all. Being able to produce over a hundred thousand taels in ready silver is truly not easy. The Fan family must live very frugally day to day."

Old money from Shanxi, after all. Of course they cannot compare in extravagance with the young master Shen Tingyang of Jinling! Besides, the Fan family's business of colluding with the barbarians and betraying the country has only just started, and has not yet reached the stage of raking in huge profits. If they could produce several million in cash, that would be suspicious.

Shen Tingyang added: "The Fan family also has some properties—land in Shanxi, real estate in Zhangjiakou and Xuanfu, and some loans out on the street. If these can be disposed of properly, we could get another hundred-some thousand, and putting together three hundred thousand taels would be no problem."

"Only three hundred thousand." Zhu Youjian was greatly displeased. "And the ready silver is only a hundred-some thousand. The other seven treacherous merchants are probably even worse off than the Fan family, aren't they?"

"Of course they are worse off," Shen Tingyang said. "How big is the market in Zhangjiakou? If the ready silver in the hands of those seven families added together comes to seven hundred thousand, that would already be a lot."

"Then that is only eight hundred-some thousand." Zhu Youjian's brows furrowed deeply. "Not enough! And those properties are hard to manage. All that land we confiscated before has yielded almost no grain rent, and the loans we made cannot be collected."

The moment Zhu Youjian thought of the ability of that bunch of eunuchs under him to manage property, he could not help complaining. Those people really are useless. They cannot even collect rent, and their debt-collecting skills are even worse!

"Minister Shen," Zhu Youjian glanced at Shen Tingyang, "your family has been treacherous for generations—no, loyal merchants for generations. Do you have any way to manage such a large pile of property?"

"I—I cannot manage that much." Cold sweat beaded on Shen Tingyang's forehead. This young Son of Heaven had just been about to say his family were treacherous merchants for generations! Heaven and earth bear witness—could the Shen family of Chongming be counted as treacherous merchants? Our family is of upright and honorable pirate stock, not treacherous in the least!

"Your Majesty may not be aware," Shen Tingyang said. Although he was not a treacherous merchant, he still did not want to get involved in the imperial estate properties. The waters of the imperial estates run deep! Managing the inner treasury accounts was one thing, but managing the imperial estates was another matter entirely. Most of the imperial family's properties were under the jurisdiction of the Directorate of the Imperial Horses. What sort of office was the Directorate of the Imperial Horses? Had the Shen family of Chongming eaten too much, to go and snatch food from the Directorate of the Imperial Horses?

But he could not say these things openly, so he had to find other excuses to fob him off: "There are also factional divisions within the merchant trade. My family belongs to the river-and-sea merchant guild, while Fan Yongdou and the other eight families are Shanxi merchants. Their business would be very difficult for my family to take over. Moreover, the merchant houses of Northern Zhili have always been run by merchants from Shanxi and Shaanxi. I am a southerner, and it would be very hard for me to get a foot in. However, I can go to the southeast on Your Majesty's behalf and negotiate with Zheng Yiguan, and I can also help Your Majesty win over other sea merchants."

"Don't change the subject!" Zhu Youjian's face lengthened, and he looked extremely displeased. "Shen Tingyang, you are the Right Deputy Commissioner of the Inner Supply Depot, and your family has been merchants for generations. Do you mean to say you have no ideas at all? Could it be that you think the waters of the imperial estates are too deep, and you do not dare wade in and get a foot in the door? If you do not want to get involved, that is fine—as long as you give Us an idea for how to manage the imperial estate properties properly."

"This…" Shen Tingyang knew that getting through this hurdle today would not be easy. If he did not give the little emperor an answer, the Shen family of Chongming might well have to go back to being pirates!

"I have it, I have it." Pressed by Zhu Youjian, Shen Tingyang actually managed to summon up a bit of latent talent. "Your Majesty, Fan Yongdou's confession mentions a Shanxi merchant of great renown who can help Your Majesty manage the imperial estate properties."

"Mentioned in the confession? Who?"

Shen Tingyang said: "It is the Widow Xu, head of the Bai family of the Huai salt trade, whom Fan Yongdou mentioned."

This Bai family is one of the eight chief merchants of the Lianghuai salt industry. They have their main firm in Yangzhou, an old firm in Pinggu, Shanxi, and a Tian-branded firm in Beijing, each with its own head. This Widow Xu is the head of the Tian-branded firm, and also the chief merchant of the Beijing Shanxi Merchants' Guild. Her business is very large and her connections are extensive. The copied memorials about the Prince of Dai and the various commandery princes of Datong spreading rumors to delude the masses—she was the one who obtained them and brought them to the Shanxi Guild Hall, after which Fan Yongdou got hold of them."

"Then has this Widow Xu colluded with the barbarians and betrayed the country?" Zhu Youjian asked again.

"She probably has not." Shen Tingyang considered for a moment, then added, "This Widow Xu is actually descended from loyal subjects. She comes from a military household; her maiden family has held the hereditary post of Guard Commander of Zhenxi Guard in Shanxi. Her ancestor seems to have been a member of the main clan of Xu Wuning, the Prince of Zhongshan. Moreover, the Bai family of the Huai salt trade is an old-line salt merchant family that rose to prominence through the kaizhong system. In the Huai-Yang region they are renowned as immensely wealthy. They would not stoop to colluding with barbarians and betraying the country for a bit of petty cash."

Colluding with the barbarians and betraying the country is still small business at present; the truly great treacherous merchants look down on it. But even if there is no collusion with barbarians or betrayal of the country, that hardly matters—if one wants to confiscate a household, is there any fear of lacking a charge?

"Hmph," Zhu Youjian snorted. "Even if there is no collusion with barbarians or betrayal of the country, the Bai family and this Widow Xu are no good people either! This lot of salt merchants are the most hateful. They clearly ought to pay ten million in taxes, yet they only give Us a little over one million. Every one of them deserves to die!"

Isn't it just evading salt taxes? Shen Tingyang thought to himself: where does all this hatred come from? Besides, if those salt merchants did not have your family's princes, the great ennobled nobles of the two capitals, and that bunch of eunuchs in the palace shielding them, how could they evade any taxes?

"Li Zicheng!" The more Zhu Youjian thought about it, the angrier he got—back in Yangzhou, that unfilial son had casually knocked six million in salt taxes out of the salt merchants there! And that was only half the realm. So he summoned Li Zicheng.

"Muster the troops!" Zhu Youjian roared. "Transmit Our edict: the First Regiment and the Second Regiment are to prepare five days' marching rations and horse fodder. Each man is to be issued two horses. We march!"

March? The New Year is almost here, and we still have to fight?

Li Zicheng was stunned for a moment. "Your—Your Majesty, march where?"

"Beijing!" Zhu Youjian said through gritted teeth.

"Beijing?" Li Zicheng was startled. "Your Majesty, could there be unrest in the capital?"

"It is not that there is unrest," Zhu Youjian said through gritted teeth. "It is that We are going to rob a female treacherous merchant!"

"Rob?" Li Zicheng could hardly believe his ears—how could an emperor rob someone?

Zhu Youjian glared at him: "Li Zicheng, get moving! Speed is the essence of war. If We go too slowly, the female treacherous merchant will get away!" He turned back and said to Shen Tingyang, "Shen Tingyang, you are coming too!"

"I—I don't know how to rob."

"Bah!" Zhu Youjian said. "Do you think We don't know the background of the Sea Sand Gang? Your family has been great pirates of the southeastern seas for generations. It was only at the time of the Joseon campaign that you accepted pacification and helped transport grain. And you sea merchants are all merchants and pirates at once—how could you not know how to rob?"

Shen Tingyang was speechless, but thought to himself: my family has been pirates for generations, and your family were Red Turban rebels. Right, and not long ago you robbed the Great Princess of the Uriankhai! The family craft has not been lost!

Shen Tingyang had nothing to say, and Li Zicheng had even less. Although he had never been a bandit, he was not at all averse to the profession. If he had not been selected as a retainer of the Son of Heaven, he might well have taken to the hills by now.

Having received Zhu Youjian's order, Li Zicheng immediately went to relay it. This time Zhu Youjian had brought Sun Chuanting's and Lu Xiangsheng's two regiments with him beyond the Great Wall. Now they were all assembled, and with the eight great treacherous merchants in custody, they entered Zhangjiakou together, then sped all the way toward Beijing.

(End of Chapter)