Chapter 116: Clash

When that Squad Leader heard the Duke of Chengguo's mansion mentioned, he paused for a moment, then slowly straightened up, sheathed his blade, and said expressionlessly: "Whether it's the Duke of Chengguo or the Duke of Weiguo, everyone here must follow the rules! Out of respect for His Grace the Duke, I won't send you all back—just line up here!"

Zheng Laowu was used to throwing his weight around. Glancing sideways and seeing cart after cart of salt being hauled away from the other side, he grew anxious. He threatened: "Your Guard Commander, Lord Luo, treats our Duke with the utmost respect! Our Duke's mansion is a noble house that shares the dynasty's fate! In the eyes of our mansion, you're nothing but a servant—move aside at once! If you don't, I'll report you to Lord Luo, and you won't be able to handle the consequences!"

That Squad Leader smiled and said: "I'm a servant, so what are you? Keep making noise and don't blame me for being rude!" With that, he raised one hand.

From afar came the faint twang of bowstrings, followed by the whistle of arrows cutting through the air. In the blink of an eye, two arrows struck the narrow strip of open ground before the two groups. On the high rooftop of a nearby granary, two archers stood sideways with bows in hand, looking down at the crowd below.

Zheng Laowu's face changed drastically. He had thought to pressure the other side with the names of the Duke's mansion and Luo Yangxing, but who would have guessed they didn't buy it at all—now this was awkward. His eyes darted around, then he turned and took a few steps back, climbed onto a carriage, and waved at the long train of carts behind him, shouting loudly: "Everyone in the back, disperse! The Duke of Chengguo's mansion is buying up all the salt in the granary! There's no point in you all queuing! Go on, disperse!"

The crowd waiting in line behind had long been furious at the Duke's mansion's high-handed behavior. Hearing Zheng Laowu's overbearing words, they immediately began shouting one after another.

"We've been queuing since early morning—why should your Duke's mansion buy everything!"

"Your Duke's mansion didn't attend the last meeting! You shouldn't be here buying salt this time!"

"Does the Duke's mansion intend to buy it all up and then resell it to us at a markup?"

"This is the capital of the Great Ming, not the capital of your Duke's mansion!"

Zheng Laowu flew into a rage and bellowed at the crowd: "If you've got the guts, step forward and say it to my face! I was kindly telling you lot, but you bunch of worthless wretches won't believe me! Fine then—just wait and see! You won't buy a single grain of salt today!"

That Squad Leader left two men to watch the Duke of Chengguo's cart train to prevent them from forcing their way into the queue again, then turned and went back into the granary.

After the better part of an hour, the Duke of Chengguo's train finally reached the front of the line. Zheng Laowu walked into the awning outside the granary and impatiently asked the several bookkeepers behind the table: "How much salt is left in the granary? The Duke of Chengguo's mansion is taking it all!"

One bookkeeper, clearly aware of what had just happened, smiled and said: "Honored guest, please show the attendance certificate from the last salt merchants' assembly!"

Zheng Laowu was taken aback and asked: "Certificate? What certificate?"

That bookkeeper smiled: "So the honored guest didn't attend the meeting at Jingchun Tower last time? Then I'm afraid we can't help you!"

Zheng Laowu gave a cold laugh: "Can't help me? Are you saying that without a certificate, we can't buy salt?"

"Exactly so!"

With a sharp "Crack!"—enraged beyond measure, Zheng Laowu rushed forward and slapped that bookkeeper hard across the face. The bookkeeper cried out in pain, covering his face with one hand while pointing accusingly at Zheng Laowu with the other, his eyes filled with shock and fear.

Zheng Laowu said hatefully: "Have you lot eaten a dog's heart? Insulting the Duke's mansion again and again! If you dare refuse to sell us salt today, I'll smash this shabby stall of yours to pieces!"

Hearing the commotion, that Squad Leader hurried over with several men. After sizing Zheng Laowu up from head to toe, he laughed: "Well, I've seen everything now! A mere steward acting so arrogantly—is the Great Ming too small to hold you? Men! Tie him up!"

A Colonel suddenly strode forward and kicked Zheng Laowu hard in the stomach. Zheng Laowu, wincing in pain, doubled over clutching his belly. The Colonel then leaned in and chopped the side of Zheng Laowu's neck with the edge of his palm. Zheng Laowu's body tilted and he crashed to the ground. Two Colonels rushed over with ropes and had him bound tightly in no time, then dragged him off to one side.

Seeing this, the dozen or so servants of the Duke's mansion surged forward—but several clicks of crossbow mechanisms sounded, followed by cries of pain as a few servants collapsed clutching their thighs. A few paces away, several Colonels holding short crossbows stared coldly at the rest.

The remaining servants, seeing that nothing good would come of it today, hastily dragged up those who had fallen, turned and hurried away, loading the wounded onto carriages before leading the cart train off quickly from the other side.

After this brief clash, the cart train behind became orderly, and no more noise arose. Everyone collecting new salt wore smiles and looked perfectly deferential.

The stewards of the Duke of Weiguo, the Earl of Xiangcheng, and several other noble houses that hadn't attended the meeting saw what had happened to the Duke of Chengguo's people and promptly turned their cart trains around and left.

Within less than half an hour, Chongzhen received a report of this minor clash. After glancing over it briefly, he set it aside.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard had its own pride. Luo Yangxing had previously kept a low profile and feared trouble because he lacked the Emperor's support—of course he had to play the coward.

More than a year had passed since the Emperor redefined the importance of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and admonished him several times. The traits of the Guard that Luo Yangxing had absorbed through generations of family influence were now stirred to life.

Though he still treated important ministers and nobles like the Duke of Chengguo with courtesy, that courtesy had become mere surface formality rather than genuine fear and reverence. The only ones he truly revered now were the Emperor and his family.

Ever since the Emperor instructed him to keep a close watch on several noble houses, Luo Yangxing had understood that their days of glory were about to become a thing of the past. Their present splendor would soon be scattered by wind and rain—the Emperor simply hadn't yet made clear how exactly he would deal with them.

After learning that the Duke of Chengguo and several others hadn't attended the last salt merchants' assembly, Luo Yangxing ordered all Chiliarchs in the capital that no one who hadn't attended could be sold salt. If anyone tried to use their power and connections to force the issue, they were to be arrested and dealt with directly. With clear orders from above, the Colonels on duty had the confidence to act—otherwise, no one would dare oppose such a colossus as the Duke's mansion.

Chongzhen was fairly satisfied with the Embroidered Uniform Guard's timely delivery of information now. The Emperor couldn't slip out of the palace whenever he pleased like in those idiotic dramas of later ages, going around flirting with common women or righting wrongs—going incognito among the people was extremely dangerous. If someone figured out his patterns, who knew what might happen. That little Zhengde Emperor loved leaving the palace to roam about, turning a deaf ear to his ministers' remonstrances, and in the end he accidentally fell into the water, ran a fever for over a month, and died.

Without even thinking hard, Chongzhen knew there had to be something strange about that affair.

The Emperor, the supreme sovereign of ten thousand chariots, actually fell into the water while on a boat—how utterly inconceivable! Who had been standing beside the Emperor at the time? How had the Emperor fallen in? He hadn't drowned, so why did the fever linger for over a month without improving? And why, after his death, were all the imperial physicians who had treated him executed? Wasn't that silencing witnesses?

The realm nominally belonged to the Zhu family, but in reality it belonged to the civil officials. When these literati turned ruthless, there was nothing they wouldn't do.

Gong Fanwu had already arrived at Changlu. Chongzhen issued an edict dispatching five hundred Embroidered Uniform Guard troops to accompany him.

Following Chongzhen's instructions, aside from keeping enough hands to dig out the salt fields, the remaining salt households began repairing the roads leading from the salt works to the outside world.

Chongzhen was extremely dissatisfied with the road conditions of the Great Ming. Take the imperial estates he had visited a few times, for instance: from the capital to the estate, a distance of several dozen li, the road could only accommodate two carriages side by side, and most of the surface was full of ruts and bumps. Riding in carriages without any shock absorption left one jolted to the point of nausea and vomiting—and this was still an official highway near the capital. One could only imagine the road conditions in the prefectures and counties of the Great Ming.

No wonder those transmigration protagonists all built roads upon returning—having grown accustomed to the wide, flat highways of later ages, modern people truly couldn't endure road conditions they'd never even seen the likes of before.

Chongzhen had the Grand Secretariat transfer a Bureau Secretary and several clerks from the Ministry of Works' Waterways Division to Changlu to plan and supervise the road construction. The stated purpose was building roads so that troops could swiftly suppress any pirate uprisings. Though the Ministry of Works found the Grand Secretariat's order baffling, they could only carry it out according to regulations.

The Shouguang salt works had already been taken over by personnel dispatched from the Embroidered Uniform Guard's Records Office. Those sent there only needed to recruit labor to expand the salt field area, with daily management following the original standards. Shouguang had an abundance of destitute locals, so recruiting hands under favorable conditions posed no problem.

All Gong Fanwu needed to do was rapidly open up salt fields and produce salt as quickly as possible to meet the enormous market demand. Due to transport limitations, although Shouguang produced large quantities of sun-dried salt, only a small amount could be shipped to the capital each time. The more than fifty thousand dan of salt in the northern granary was nearly sold out, and now they could only wait for the salt-laden ships and carts to arrive from the docks at Tianjin Guard.

The dry weather was extremely favorable for salt production. Once the salt fields were opened, under the blazing sun and high-temperature evaporation, coarse salt crystals could be obtained within a few days. After being crushed by hand, it became what was now called snow-white—though in truth slightly yellow—table salt.

As long as the Changlu salt works proceeded smoothly, before long the capital region's table salt could be obtained from nearby sources. Shouguang salt would mainly supply Shandong, Henan, Huguang, and other regions.

Once the Changlu salt works expanded in scale, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia, and other places would also become markets for dumping salt. At that point, the slightly yellow sun-dried salt would turn into gleaming silver flowing into the privy purse and the national treasury.

Thinking of all this, Chongzhen had even woken up laughing in his sleep several times, startling Empress Zhou badly—she thought His Majesty had lost his mind.