I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 237 Face to Face
Mr. Shen's hand holding the teacup trembled, but luckily he quickly controlled it, but a lot of tea still spilled out.
"Four million jin?" Mr. Shen asked in shock.

"Yes! Four million jin." He Kui confirmed with a smile.

"Has it been shipped to Shunde Prefecture?"

"Yes! Just outside Shunde City."

Mr. Shen temporarily lost the ability to speak.

"Brother Shen, didn't you say you wanted to buy more low-priced salt? This batch of salt is also twenty cents per pound. I wonder if Brother Shen wants to buy it?" He Kui rubbed his hands and said.

Countless thoughts flashed through Mr. Shen's mind. When the four million kilograms of salt came out, he also felt that something was wrong.
"If I don't buy this batch of salt, what will Manager He do with it?" Mr. Shen stared at He Kui closely.

"The order given by the headquarters is to sell this batch of salt in Shunde Prefecture. The key point is to sell it. It doesn't matter to whom it is sold. If Mr. Shen doesn't buy this batch of salt, then I can only sell this batch of salt to other people who want to buy this batch of salt," He Kui said lightly.

Mr. Shen looked straight at He Kui, as if he wanted to see through him.
"Mr. Shen, please make a decision as soon as possible and give me a clear answer tomorrow," He Kui continued.

"Okay!" Master Shen said slowly.

"Why does this matter feel more and more wrong?" Mr. Zhou paced back and forth.

The masters of Shunde City gathered at the Shen Mansion to discuss the matter of four million kilograms of salt.

"I also know that something is wrong, but we have no choice now!" Mr. Shen sighed.

"This is different from before. These 4 million kilograms of salt can really shake up the salt price in Shunde Prefecture. If we allow 4 million kilograms of salt to flow into Shunde Prefecture, the salt price will not be maintained." Mr. Shen continued.

"So we have to eat this batch of salt, right?" asked Mr. Li.

Mr. Shen nodded silently.

"It's only been a few days, and another four million kilograms of salt have been shipped in. Could that He guy be deceiving us?" Master Zhou said with a frown.

"It really has been transported here!" said Mr. Shen. "I have been asking my servants to keep an eye on the warehouse outside the city recently. Just yesterday, a convoy from the north came on the railway. There were a total of 140 cars. The convoy stopped at the warehouse outside the city and unloaded a lot of salt bags."

"One hundred and forty carts can carry four million kilograms of salt?" Mr. Li said in shock.

"One of my servants just came back from the capital. He said that the train running on this railway is called Marxist. The two carriages of a Marxist train can carry 3 kilograms of cargo," explained Mr. Shen.

Now everyone was silent, this transportation capacity was too shocking.

"8 taels of silver, are you going to pay it out or not?" Mr. Zhou asked.

Finally, after some discussion among the masters, they still had to swallow the four million kilograms of salt. If the salt price in Shunde Prefecture collapsed, their loss would not be as simple as 8 taels of silver. They still knew which was more important.
In addition, they also urgently sent people to other prefectures to inquire about the salt situation, and also sent people to the upstream salt merchants to inquire about the situation.
Capital, Nangong.

"Your Highness, the person has been brought here and has been searched," Chen Hong said respectfully as he walked into Zhu Houxun's office.

"Let him in!" Zhu Houxuan's voice came from behind the pile of documents on the table. "Yes!"

Zhu Houxuan raised his head, his face looked a little tired. He had been staying up late recently. He stood up and walked to the bathroom nearby, washed his face with cold water to refresh himself.

At this time, Chen Hong had just brought someone into the office.

The visitor was a wealthy middle-aged man, wearing a silk robe and with an extraordinary demeanor.

"Huizhou merchant Cao Zhengong pays his respects to His Royal Highness the Prince of Jing," the visitor said after bowing.

"We think we've met before?" Zhu Houxun looked at Cao Zhengong and said. He asked this question even though he knew the answer. His powerful memory allowed him to remember everyone he had met.

"Yes, I spoke to Your Highness at the merchants' conference a few months ago." Cao Zhengong said respectfully, with a hint of excitement on his face.

Zhu Houxuan asked Cao Zhengong to sit down first.

"Then why did you come here today?" Zhu Houxuan asked deliberately.

"I'm here because the Royal Group is suddenly selling large quantities of salt at low prices." Cao Zhengong raised his head and stared straight into Zhu Houxuan's eyes.

Zhu Houxuan knew that Cao Zhengong was the envoy of the salt merchant group and the head of the Cao family in the Huizhou merchant group.

After the third batch of salt was released, the salt merchants realized the seriousness of the matter. This was because the salt pulled out from the Nanbao Salt Field was already the annual output of the Changlu Salt Field. Plus the salt that the salt merchants had withdrawn from the Changlu Salt Field, this meant that the salt output of the Changlu Salt Field this year was at least twice that of previous years. Such a huge amount of salt was sold to the four northern provinces, which would definitely have a huge impact on the local salt prices.

So they used all the power they could to have a face-to-face conversation with Zhu Houxuan.
Zhu Houxuan also received many hints and requests from Duke Dingguo and Cabinet Grand Secretary Yang Yiqing, which led to this meeting.

Zhu Houxuan was not at all surprised that the salt merchants were able to invite Duke Dingguo and Cabinet Grand Secretary Yang Yiqing. He was surprised that the salt merchants could not do that.

He also knew that Duke Dingguo and Cabinet Grand Secretary Yang Yiqing had been fed by the salt merchants and were their representatives in the court. Duke Dingguo was the head of the nobles, so it was not surprising for him to be involved in the salt industry.

Zhu Houxuan discovered the problem with Yang Yiqing because Yang Yiqing was from Anning, Yunnan. After he became rich, he did not return home. Instead, he moved his family to Zhenjiang Prefecture and built a mansion in Zhenjiang. Zhenjiang was the center of salt industry activities at that time.
With the hints and requests from the two heavyweights, and knowing that hiding any longer was meaningless, Zhu Houxuan agreed to the meeting.
"Your Highness, what exactly do you want? Just tell us what you want. There's no need for such a big fuss." Cao Zhengong said with a smile, looking very friendly.

"If I tell you, can you give it to me?" Zhu Houxuan looked at Cao Zhengong with interest.

"If Your Highness doesn't tell us, how do you know that we can't satisfy Your Highness?" Cao Zhengong looked at Zhu Houxuan fearlessly.

"Good!" Zhu Houxuan nodded appreciatively.

"I want the price of salt in all parts of the Ming Dynasty to drop below 20 cents per pound." Zhu Houxun said lightly.

Cao Zhengong's expression suddenly became very interesting, but he quickly calmed down, smiled and said, "Your Highness, please stop joking."

"I'm not joking. I'm talking to you seriously. Why do you think I'm joking?" Zhu Houxuan's expression gradually became serious.

"That's impossible." The smile on Cao Zhengong's face gradually disappeared.
(End of this chapter)