Chapter 218: Are You Rebelling, or Just Smuggling Salt? (For

Yun Shangqian, Steward Yun the Third, was the chief account-house steward of the Taigu salt merchant Qiao family in Yangzhou, known by the nickname "Iron Abacus Yun the Third." He was, of course, also a native of Taigu, Shanxi, and a member of the renowned Shanxi merchants.

The Shanxi merchants would later be famous for the Eight Imperial Merchants, but during the Ming dynasty these Shanxi merchants who did smuggling business with the Manchus were utterly beneath notice. The truly great Shanxi merchants were the salt merchants! Two of the eight great salt merchants of Yangzhou were Shanxi men — one was the Qiao of Taigu, the other the Cao of Pingyang. Both great salt magnates had grown wealthy from the time the kaizhong system was first implemented in the early Ming. With over two hundred years of accumulation, each possessed a fortune of several million taels — truly rich enough to rival a kingdom!

Although Iron Abacus Yun the Third was only the Qiao family's account-house steward, his family had kept the Qiao accounts for eight generations, and the wealth they had accumulated was in the range of two to three hundred thousand taels! Even ordinary rich men could not compare with him.

However, although the Qiao of Taigu, the Cao of Pingyang, and the Yun family of Yun Shangqian called themselves Shanxi merchants, their sons and their business holdings were all in the southeast. The sons of these three families might well never return to Shanxi once in their entire lives.

So the great chaos in the north had little effect on these Shanxi-Shaanxi salt merchants in Yangzhou. What truly worried Steward Yun the Third was the conflict between the Nanjing meritorious nobility and the traveling court that had moved south.

In Steward Yun the Third's view, there was simply no way for the traveling court and the Nanjing meritorious nobility to coexist harmoniously! Because His Majesty and the Crown Prince had not come south alone — they had come in grand procession with tens of thousands of men.

These tens of thousands of "hardship-enduring meritorious officials" and "hardship-enduring loyal followers" who had followed them south were the true heart and core of the traveling court!

With them, the traveling court could put down roots in the southeast!

"Putting down roots" meant letting these trusted followers of the traveling court replace the meritorious nobility of the auxiliary capital and the guard-station officers of the southeast, taking control of the land and population of more than a hundred guard stations in the southeast — and of course also the salt of the Huai region and the golden waterway of the Yangtze.

With the land and population of the guard stations, with the profits of the Huai salt, with the profits of Yangtze shipping, the court after moving south would have good days ahead!

So the traveling court and the meritorious nobility of the auxiliary capital were bound to struggle against each other!

And the four Shanxi-Shaanxi salt magnates of the Huai-Yang region had become a piece of fat meat caught between the auxiliary capital's meritorious nobility and the traveling court!

The traveling court might not necessarily touch the four Huizhou-bloc salt magnates, but it would certainly move against the Shanxi-Shaanxi salt magnates! Because behind the Huizhou-bloc salt magnates were the Donglin and the Restoration Society. Although the scholar-officials of the Donglin and Restoration Society also held large amounts of land and population, there was no ready-made system by which the traveling court could seize the land and population in the scholar-officials' hands. But the guard-station system in the hands of the meritorious nobility was a ready-made system, one that could be thoroughly reorganized and taken over just as the Crown Prince had done in the seven guard stations of Denglai.

Moreover, military colony land was state-owned, so the court could legitimately reorganize it. But privately owned farmland was different — the name was not right, the justification was not smooth. To forcibly reorganize it — would that not make one a second Li Zicheng?

"Master, the ready silver we have on hand is still over one million one hundred thousand taels, and the gold is seventy thousand taels. If we are to load it onto ships, it will take at least a day."

Qiao Antu, the head of the Taigu Qiao family, had his white brows knotted together as he listened to Yun the Third report the firm's accounts.

The great Master Qiao seemed to have already gotten some news. He had summoned Yun the Third early in the morning and told him to sort out the ready silver on hand and load it onto grain-transport boats bound for Nanjing.

But there was simply too much silver and gold — how could it be moved away so easily? And the Crown Prince had very likely posted sentries at the docks and along the canal!

"Master," Yun the Third said, pausing before continuing, "perhaps we should pack up some valuables—"

Old Qiao was already pacing in frantic circles. Hearing Yun the Third's suggestion, he turned and shot him a glare: "Whose appetite can a few valuables satisfy? Without one and a half million taels of silver, will the Duke of Wei's household let this old man go?"

"But—"

"No buts! Go make preparations at once!"

"Yes!"

Yun the Third answered and had just turned to leave when he saw a servant of the Yun household dash into the study as if flying: "Master! Master! Bad news! Embroidered Uniform Guard riders have surrounded the estate! Front and back — not a drop of water can get through!"

"So fast!" Yun the Third exclaimed in surprise, then turned to look at his master. "Master, what do we do?"

"Xu Yongji, Guard Commander of Yangzhou Guard, plotted treason and has now fled to escape punishment. The Embroidered Uniform Guard searched his residence and discovered that you salt merchants were on excessively intimate terms with him. That is why the Embroidered Uniform Guard has brought you here to Our Grand Marshal's Office."

In the Grand Marshal's Office of the Army-Pacifying Command at Daming Temple, Zhu Cilang sat grandly upon the main hall's dais, looking down at the group of salt merchants kneeling below, speaking with a pleasant, amiable expression.

"Injustice! This commoner knew nothing of the traitor Xu's rebellion—"

"Injustice! This commoner is merely a merchant and never plotted treason with the traitor Xu—"

"This commoner is wronged—"

"This commoner is truly wronged!"

The salt merchants were cunning, of course — not one would admit to participating in treason! If they admitted that, it would mean the extermination of their entire families!

"Oh." Zhu Cilang smiled. "Whether or not you participated in Xu Yongji's treason is something the Embroidered Uniform Guard will investigate and determine. The Embroidered Uniform Guard of today is not what it was before — it was rebuilt by Our own hand and will not wrong good people. If you truly did not commit treason, you have nothing to fear."

The Embroidered Uniform Guard not wronging good people... and besides, these people could hardly be counted as good people no matter how you looked at it, could they?

The salt merchants were speechless, but they dared not talk back to Zhu Cilang!

Zhu Cilang nodded: "Your silence, I take it, means you are at ease. However, the Embroidered Uniform Guard did indeed seize account books from Xu Yongji's home, and in them are your names and the amounts of gold and silver you presented to him! The sums are enormous! This gold and silver was clearly military funding for the traitor Xu's rebellion! How do you explain this? You are proper salt merchants — what connection do you have with him, a Guard Commander of Yangzhou Guard? Why did you give him so much money? Was it not to fund his treason?

The evidence is as solid as a mountain! There are account books, there is the seized illicit silver, and there are the confessions of the Xu household. What more do you have to say?"

"No! Thousand Years misunderstands!"

"The money we gave him was, was for—"

The whole group of salt merchants did not know how to speak. Xu Yongji had taken their money and rebelled — how were they supposed to clear themselves?

How could they say it?

Say that they had bribed Xu Yongji and the Duke of Wei's household behind him in order to sell illicit salt? Say that the Duke of Wei's household and Xu Yongji both held secret shares in their businesses and sat collecting enormous profits? Selling illicit salt was a grave crime — even the lightest punishment was a hundred strokes of the heavy bamboo and three years of penal servitude.

Given the amount of silver these salt merchants had given Xu Yongji, the quantity of illicit salt they had sold was certainly not small — at the very least it meant beheading and confiscation of property!

This was truly a matter of life and death!

On one side was participation in treason — extermination of the family!

On the other side was large-scale illicit salt selling — beheading and confiscation. So there was simply no way out at all!

Zhu Cilang's tone turned stern: "Whether you committed treason, We cannot yet determine. But every one of you gave money to Xu Yongji, and in enormous amounts! Why? Why did you give money? Did you collude with Xu Yongji to sell illicit salt? What does the Great Ming Code say? As salt magnates and salt merchants, selling illicit salt in enormous quantities — that is a capital crime!

Choose, then: treason, or bribery plus illicit salt selling?"

So they were doomed either way?

The four Shanxi-Shaanxi salt magnates present were already trembling uncontrollably, unable to speak. Kneeling together with these salt magnates were the chief stewards, shop managers, and account-keepers of each household — all of them people Zhu Cilang had specifically ordered to be arrested.

His Highness the Crown Prince was not the sort who only seized the ringleaders and let the coerced followers go unquestioned.

He wanted even the coerced followers.

So Iron Abacus Yun the Third, that great coerced follower, was now kneeling below as well, the little abacus in his heart already clicked over who knew how many times.

His master was certainly in grave danger — whether for treason or illicit salt selling, death was certain! And he himself, as a major coerced follower, was also guilty of no light offense. If it came to prosecution, at the very least it meant a beating and military exile!

But the question was — was the Crown Prince's goal really to drive everyone to their deaths?

Thinking this, Yun the Third shuffled forward on his knees until he was five paces from Zhu Cilang, where the guards stopped him.

"This commoner Yun the Third has something to say—"

"Good!" Zhu Cilang nodded. "Take him away first and hold him separately!"

Two guards stepped forward and led Yun Shangqian out. Zhu Cilang looked smilingly at the crowd in the hall: "Well? Does anyone else have something to say?"

Of course they did!

How could there be none?

The four salt chiefs were doomed, but the major accomplices below all believed they could keep their lives! Not only keep their lives — they even had a chance to serve their new master with all their might!

They were all capable men; otherwise they could never have become major accomplices!

(End of Chapter)