Chapter 880: The Zhou Prince Estate Has Come Too

Liu Yong nodded in confirmation and said, "Xin Qitao and his study attendant said the same thing — probably a drunken reflection."

"He does have some insight," Zhao Jin remarked. Hearing this, Liu Yong hesitated, then spoke: "Brother, what Third Brother said isn't wrong. We're sorely lacking talent in Xuzhou, especially educated men. This Provincial Graduate Xin seems different from those pedants — he's actually quite like Third Brother, both talented and capable of getting things done. Xuzhou's situation is growing bigger by the day, and we need men like this. But educated men like him are all similar to Third Brother — proud, waiting for others to come asking. For the greater good, Brother, why not give him some face?"

"You're not wrong. But tell me honestly — when Zhaojing handles matters now, is he truly free of other thoughts? No more guilt, no more pointless brooding?" Zhao Jin countered.

Liu Yong hesitated again, then gave a rueful smile and shook his head. He said quietly, "Third Brother carries too much weight in his heart. Some knots he just can't untangle. I fear he's been dwelling on it all along."

After saying this, Liu Yong hastily added in explanation, "But Third Brother handles affairs without the slightest selfish motive, never half-hearted."

"We grew up together, faced life and death together, and even he hasn't untangled himself — still often feeling ashamed of having read the sages' books in vain. Then what grounds do we have to trust an outsider? How long has he even been here?" Zhao Jin asked in return.

"Brother, Xuzhou's situation is different now. We've defeated the court's armies from both north and south, forced the court into peace talks. Xuzhou and its surroundings have been built up by us to thrive and prosper. A while back I heard some scholars say that Xuzhou today surpasses even the so-called golden ages of peace. Brother, you've done so well — compared to anywhere else, it's the difference between heaven and earth. Any outsider who sees it will be genuinely convinced. This Provincial Graduate Xin is a man of some insight; perhaps he's been awed into submission, and that's why he's inclined to join us. Besides, I've had my men watching for so long, and Third Brother's side has been extremely cautious too — this Xin has shown nothing suspicious." Liu Yong still held to his own view.

Zhao Jin rubbed his forehead. His authority had been built through victory after victory, decision after correct decision. Young as he was, everyone willingly submitted — but not in a meek, unquestioning way. Whenever someone believed their idea would benefit Zhao Jin and the Zhao Battalion, quite a few dared to argue their case. Because they had no selfish motives, they dared to speak up, and they weren't afraid Zhao Jin would hold it against them. Of course, those who could communicate like this were only the close companions and the core confidants at the top.

"Just keep watching for now. I only said to observe — I didn't say he's a spy or informant. If he truly proves trustworthy, then of course we'll use him, and we'll make him an example to others." Zhao Jin replied. Only then did a smile appear on Liu Yong's face.

The conversation paused. Liu Yong pulled out a sheet of paper, glanced at it, and fell silent for a moment. This did not mean the discussion was over. The matters Liu Yong's Internal Guard dealt with were always critical and confidential. Apart from the base files, nothing was allowed to be transmitted in writing. Six clerks from the Xuzhou Magistrate's yamen wrote without pause every day, but what they wrote down could not be taken out, and the contents they handled could not be spoken of outside. The entire families of these six men, young and old, lived in the He Family Estate — they were the most reliable sort.

That room where documents and archives were stored — only Zhao Jin and Liu Yong could enter. Even the other companions could only make inquiries through the two of them.

Liu Yong himself strictly observed this rule. But sometimes, when there were too many matters to report, too detailed, he had to write a summary. The only writing that could be taken out was just that. After the summary was used, it had to be burned in front of Zhao Jin. Though Zhao Jin never demanded it, Liu Yong never relaxed this practice himself.

The summaries themselves were written with extreme brevity. At moments like this, when making his report, Liu Yong often had to pause and recollect before he could give a detailed account. Zhao Jin had mentioned to him before that they should ask Ma Chonghao about it — see if the Embroidered Uniform Guard had any useful procedures or methods. It couldn't go on like this, with a thousand tangled threads all pressing down on Liu Yong alone.

"Brother, a new Zhou Family Goods Store has opened in Xuzhou. Several long-established merchants from the salt market and the general market vouched for it, letting it take a shopfront where the old livestock pens used to be. On the surface, this store deals in sundry goods, but in reality, it belongs to the biggest salt smuggler in Henan. Setting up a storefront here is just to make contacts in the salt market more conveniently."

Once Liu Yong finished, Zhao Jin's brow furrowed. "The biggest salt merchant in Henan — wouldn't that mean connections to the Prince of Zhou in Kaifeng?"

Smuggling a few hundred or a thousand catties of salt — that was the work of jianghu gangs and local strongmen. But supplying an entire province with tens of thousands of catties, such enormous volumes, could only be done by high officials or noble relatives. The Prince of Zhou had been in Kaifeng since the founding of the Ming dynasty, his descendants spread throughout every part of Henan. He could be called the most powerful top-tier magnate in Henan. Supplying the whole province with illicit salt — only his house could manage it.

Moreover, the Zhou Prince Estate conducted its illicit salt trade openly and aboveboard. Inside Kaifeng city and in the surrounding prefectures and counties, there were salt shops belonging to the Prince of Zhou's house — selling illicit salt under the name of official salt. No one dared provoke them. The business was done on a colossal scale.

However, Henan's salt came from two sources: one was Huai salt from Lianghuai, the other was Changlu salt from Northern Zhili. But Huai salt had the advantage of water routes, allowing bulk transport. It had long since pushed Changlu salt out of the market. Now that the Xuzhou salt market had opened, it was practically supplying from next door, with favorable prices to boot. Huai salt flooded Henan all the more. It was just that the salt market provided the distribution hub, the Lianghuai salt merchants were the source, and the actual retail business was all handled by the Zhou Prince Estate — each had their distinct role.

"It is indeed a property of the Zhou Prince Estate. The head manager of the salt shop here, Zhu Gang, is said to be from a cadet branch of the Prince of Zhou's line — only he no longer holds any title."

"Why are we only learning of this now?"

A princely estate's enterprise setting up in Xuzhou — this was critical intelligence. By all rights, they should have known immediately.

"This Zhou Family Goods Store hasn't been the least bit conspicuous. It looks like an honest, modest business. In its dealings at the salt market, it follows all the rules. If our eyes and ears planted in the salt market hadn't overheard, we might have found out even later," Liu Yong said with considerable frustration.

Seeing Zhao Jin nod, Liu Yong continued, "According to our intelligence, the Zhou Prince Estate has been coming here to purchase salt for a long time now. Looking into it, we can see that the Zhou Prince Estate has always followed the rules in its outside business dealings. It's just that recently they've come into conflict with the Lu Prince Estate. Now the Lu Prince Estate's people have all pulled back, so the Zhou Prince Estate simply went ahead and opened a shop directly, to consolidate the salt trade going into Henan. Brother, should we drive them out?"

The Lu Prince Estate had coveted the Zhao Battalion's wealth, stirring up enormous trouble. And the Lu Prince Estate had used the Niu Jinbao case to threaten them, causing no end of entanglements. These examples had made everyone in the Zhao Battalion extremely wary of princely estate powers, fearful that more disasters might erupt.

"We need to plant our own people inside. If he does business honestly, then we treat him as a businessman. If he doesn't play fair, we have ways to deal with him too. Nothing to be afraid of."

Wariness was one thing, but having lived through the whole affair of Wang Youshan's arrest, the Zhao Battalion wasn't really afraid anymore. It was nothing more than tearing off all pretense and fighting it out. Henan had, at most, three Guard commanders' worth of troops — hardly worth taking seriously.

"Speaking of which, many of the new shops opening here now are connected to salt. Several well-known figures from the Shandong salt routes have also set up shops here. On the surface, they all sell local products and sundries, but in reality, they're all tied to salt. These people are more troublesome than the jianghu outlaws gathering here. They keep a few fighters in the shop in case of trouble, and they've stationed more men outside the area we control. There's no telling when trouble might break out. Then there are the groups from Xuanfu and Datong — clearly frontier army men, here for our liquor business. Every one of them looks like bad news."

"People coming here to do business are paying us rent. Spending money in Xuzhou makes them merchants, and we should treat them well. Besides, we take our cut at the source. The more salt and liquor sold, the greater the benefit to us. There's no point fighting over this."

At this point, Zhao Jin paused thoughtfully, then spoke again: "That said, given the current situation, no one within Xuzhou's borders dares to stir up trouble. But in the areas around Xuzhou that aren't our territory, there must be large numbers of jianghu types gathering. They don't dare come in, but they stay out there, ready to coordinate and await orders. That in itself isn't a problem. But if someone targets those merchant caravans and traveling traders, that would be damaging. We need to think of a way."

By the end of the eleventh month, every merchant doing business in Xuzhou and Qingjiangpu knew one piece of news: the Xuzhou Zhao Battalion was willing to guarantee the goods and valuables of any house. From departure to destination, there was no need to worry about bandits or mounted raiders the entire way. But this guarantee only applied to overland routes. For waterways, only the stretch of canal from Qingjiangpu to Yutou Town, and the Yellow River within Xuzhou and Huai'an Prefecture, were guaranteed. Overland, however, it covered all provinces north of the Yangtze River.

If you used the carts and horses of Cloud Mountain Carting, then naturally there was no need for any separate guarantee — Cloud Mountain Trading guaranteed safety the entire way. If goods were damaged or lost, Cloud Mountain Trading would pay compensation. If not, then you paid half a percent of the goods' value as a protection fee, hung up a cloud-patterned, cloud-charactered triangular flag issued by Cloud Mountain Trading, and your safety was assured without worry.

Regarding this rule, the merchants didn't think it would help much. They simply felt this bunch of Xuzhou military men was finding new ways to squeeze money. The Zhao Battalion had promoted recognition flags in Xuzhou before, but that had eventually faded away without a trace. Because after things were brought to order, even without flying any flag, no mounted bandits or outlaws dared commit violence, and there were no checkpoints with extortionate levies. Everything flowed smoothly. Naturally, there was no need to fly some flag and pay an extra share of money.

But outside Xuzhou, in places beyond the Zhao Battalion's control, bandits, mounted raiders, and local bullies were things you had to reckon with. If you wanted your goods to reach their destination safely, without incident on the road, all these had to be paid off and given their cut. This was also why many merchant houses, even knowing the Xuzhou salt market and general market had cheap prices, were still unwilling to come. Because while Xuzhou was cheap, once you factored in all the costs and risks along the way, it wasn't so worthwhile anymore.

Thanks to the two readers "User: You Speak, I Instantly Understand" and "Yuan Heng Li Zhen" for their tips. Thank you all for your subscriptions and monthly tickets.