Chapter 221: Could the Great Victory at Dagukou Be Real?

North of Yangzhou, Jiang Garden.

In the study of Wang Wanchun, head of the four great salt merchants of the Huizhou guild in Yangzhou, several men sat stunned like wooden chickens. Wang Wanchun, the great talent, a scholar-merchant in his fifties, today could not even bring himself to visit Wei Chunhua, that first-rate courtesan of the Lichun Court who could compose poetry and prose and excelled in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. He had merely summoned his retainers to his study, where he held a copy of an edict, turning it over and over and studying it carefully. No one knew how long he had been at it, but he could not utter a single word. Ji Kun, the man who had earlier gone to Zhu Cilang to report the rebellion plot of Zhu Guobi and Xu Yongji, was also in this spacious, bright study, gently waving a paper fan, his brows tightly knit, wearing the look of one deep in painful thought.

The room was utterly silent, save for the sound of the great talent sighing.

At last, Wang Wanchun let out a long sigh, laid the edict copy gently on the desk before him, and said with a bitter smile, "This is no abolition of the salt laws or disbanding of the salt administration. This is plainly meant to take the life of an old salt merchant like me. The salt trade is hugely profitable and touches too many interests; every side wants a share. A head merchant like me only looks impressive from the outside — in truth I have little real wealth."

"Once the salt laws are abolished and the salt administration disbanded, I will no longer be able to make money for all those parties! When that happens, will they still let me go and live out my old age in peace? What little I have will be devoured clean in the blink of an eye. Perhaps my very life will be thrown in as well!"

Hearing the great talent's despairing words, the retainers present all felt a pang in their hearts, and tears came to the eyes of several. These men were not merchants, but poor scholars sponsored by Wang Wanchun, most of them holding the xiucai degree. Serving as guests under the Wang household, they spent their time both studying for the examinations and running about the official and scholarly circles on Wang's behalf, seeking advantage.

This practice of great merchants sponsoring poor scholars, hoping that after they passed the examinations they would become backers in officialdom, was extremely common among the great merchants of the southeast in the late Ming. And because the core competitiveness of the Yangzhou salt merchants lay in their political connections, they placed even greater emphasis on sponsoring talented poor scholars.

In the two prefectures of Huai'an and Yangzhou, as well as in the Huizhou merchants' home bases of Huizhou, Chizhou, Ningguo, and other prefectures, a talented poor scholar who passed the xiucai examination could generally obtain merchant sponsorship and no longer had to worry about food and clothing. If he passed the juren examination, he became an honored guest of the Huizhou salt merchants.

The guests under Wang Wanchun were the finest of these poor scholars — not only excellent at the eight-legged essay, but also possessed of practical ability and worldly wisdom. Once they entered officialdom, they were certain to become capable officials.

Yet these future capable officials now could not for the life of them understand how the edict abolishing the salt laws and disbanding the salt administration had come down so quickly. Since when had the Ming court acted with such thunderous speed? It had caught everyone so off guard that there had been no time to pull strings or work connections.

Moreover, Grand Secretary Qian, who had only recently entered the Grand Secretariat, was an old friend of the Huizhou salt merchants. Why had he not found some way to delay matters? Could it be that Grand Secretary Qian meant to turn his back on them and swallow up the wealth of the four great Huizhou salt merchants?

Wang Wanchun knew that his retainers were no longer equal to this upheaval, so he could only turn a pleading gaze toward Ji Kun — it was Ji Kun who had brought the news of the salt law abolition and salt administration disbanding yesterday morning!

Ji Kun shook his head. "He does not truly mean to abolish the salt laws. He is reaching out for money! The annual production of salt in all the Ming cannot be less than two billion jin, and the total sale price cannot be less than thirty or forty million taels. The court gets only a few hundred thousand to a little over a million taels. How could anyone be satisfied with that?"

"How much does he want?" Jiang Wanchun asked with a pained face.

"If it is not ten million a year, I fear he will not be satisfied! In the Song dynasty, how much did the court take in from the salt trade each year? It must have been more than ten million strings of cash, surely? And in this dynasty? How much last year? How much this year? I think the Lianghuai salt trade will have to produce six million taels of silver a year."

"Six million taels?!" Wang Wanchun gasped repeatedly. "How is that possible?"

"Whether it is possible or not, the head merchant knows better than I." Ji Kun shook his head. "In what year has the Lianghuai salt trade brought in less than fifteen million taels? Is it too much for the court to take forty percent in salt tax? The great profit of the salt trade comes from the monopoly itself — in truth it is a head tax! Before the old kaizhong system was abolished, salt merchants exchanged grain for salt certificates and delivered several million shi of grain to the nine border garrisons every year. The value of several million shi of grain today would come to about that figure. And if you add the cost of transport, it would be no less than ten million taels!"

"But — but too many people take money from the salt profits!" Wang Wanchun shook his head repeatedly. "How much actually ends up in the hands of the salt merchants? If we have to produce another six million taels, none of us will survive."

Ji Kun shook his head. "The question now is not whether six million taels can be produced, but which side to bet on. Does the head merchant stake his life and fortune on the Crown Prince succeeding, or on the Crown Prince failing?

If the Crown Prince can succeed, the Nanjing nobility and the Jiangnan Donglin will all have to lie down, and then the head merchant need only ingratiate himself with the Crown Prince alone. Is it really so hard to squeeze six million taels for the Crown Prince out of a Lianghuai salt trade that brings in at least fifteen million taels a year? For the sake of those six million taels, will the Crown Prince allow those people to devour the head merchant clean?

And if the Crown Prince cannot succeed — then who can stop him from succeeding?"

Wang Wanchun drew a cold breath and said in a low voice, "The great profits of the salt trade go first to the nobility, second to the palace eunuchs, third to the Donglin — none of them to be taken lightly! What does Thousand Years have on his side?"

"The Crown Prince has sixty thousand men of the new army of hardship!" Ji Kun said. "Right now the Crown Prince can use the Son of Heaven to command the realm, and what he relies on is these sixty thousand new troops. The day before yesterday, when I saw him at the docks, he was with Zheng Sen, the young master of the Eighteen Zhi, counting firearms and cannon! Two great Zheng-family warships had delivered who knows how many firearms, cannon, and gunpowder!"

"But the Nanjing nobility have troops of their own!" Wang Wanchun said. "The Capital Camps of Nanjing alone number no fewer than fifty or sixty thousand. When Zhu Guobi and Huang Shu came south, they also brought with them a good number of the throne-rallying troops that Shi Kefa had assembled. And those Nanjing noble houses are all great clans of more than two hundred years, every one of them with deep pockets!

Besides, Ma Shiying and Huang Degong are loyal to His Majesty, and they still have thirty thousand troops in Fengyang. And upstream, Zuo Liangyu is closely tied to Huang Shu. The Crown Prince's side has too few men!"

Ji Kun smiled bitterly. "Head merchant, then which side do you bet on?"

Wang Wanchun's eyes darted about. "Can I bet on both?"

"I fear not!"

Wang Wanchun swept his gaze over the retainers filling the room.

"Head merchant, the Southern Metropolitan Region has always been the domain of the Nanjing nobility and the Donglin scholars!"

"Head merchant, the Crown Prince should not have seized control of the Son of Heaven. He is in the wrong."

"Head merchant, a wise man does not fight when the odds are against him. The four Shanxi-Shaanxi salt head merchants have all been arrested! We are in someone else's grip right now!"

Wang Wanchun nodded, and was just about to make up his mind and pick a side when hurried footsteps suddenly sounded outside the door, followed by a young man's voice: "Father, a letter from Jinan Prefecture!"

At the words "a letter from Jinan Prefecture," the air inside the study grew even more tense.

Jinan Prefecture was the front line facing the eastern barbarians!

And by the side of Gao Hongtu, who was stationed in Jinan, there were scholars sponsored by Wang Wanchun serving as aides. If anything changed at the front, word would be sent to Gao Hongtu at once.

Wang Wanchun took an envelope from a young man in scholar's robes who came in from outside, hastily tore it open, took out the letter, and began to read. He had not read halfway before an expression of disbelief appeared on his face.

"Head merchant, have the Tartars attacked?"

Someone below immediately asked.

Wang Wanchun shook his head. "No. The Tartar Prince Regent has sent envoys to discuss a marriage alliance with the Crown Prince. The Tartar Prince Regent is no longer attacking Shandong, and he even wants to marry his only daughter to the Crown Prince as a consort!"

"What?"

"Can this be true?"

"Could the great victory at Dagukou be real after all?"

"Impossible, surely? Killing three thousand Tartars in one battle — those are Tartars!"

"Then why would the Tartar Prince Regent be willing to make a marriage alliance?"

A chorus of sharp intakes of breath rose from the men below, and all felt a chill wind pass over their necks. If the Crown Prince's new army of hardship could kill — no, defeat — no, even fight three thousand Tartars to a draw, then the Nanjing Capital Camps, Huang Degong at Fengyang, and Zuo Liangyu at Wuchang would all be beneath consideration. A reliable sword-hand was stronger than anything else!

Wang Wanchun abruptly stood up. "Quickly, prepare fifty thousand taels of silver — no, gold! Prepare fifty thousand taels of gold. This old man is going to pay his respects to the Crown Prince, Thousand Years!"

Recommending a great work by the wolf of the history school, "Picked Up a Copy of the Records of the Three Kingdoms." The author is a big gray wolf currently studying history, with rock-solid professional knowledge — absolutely worth a read.

(End of Chapter)