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

Chapter 243 His Majesty has paid for us
But the onlookers were reluctant to leave. The temptation of salt at ten cents a pound was too great.
At this moment, a team of yamen runners also hurried over.

When Shen Da saw it, he immediately shouted, "Look, Captain Wang is here. They are here to investigate the case of someone dying from the salt in this store. If you don't believe me, ask Captain Wang."

Captain Wang was a little confused by what Shen Da said when he first arrived, but he continued, "Yes, everyone, please disperse quickly and don't block the way here. If I see anyone blocking the traffic again after an incense stick of time, I will lock him up and send him to jail to enjoy a few days."

The onlookers looked at Captain Wang's uniform with fear, then looked at the salt bags piled at the door of the branch and were in a dilemma.

"Go!" Captain Wang took a step forward, shaking the iron chain that locked the person in his hand.

"Go!" All the yamen runners also shouted!
"Hurry up and go!" Shen Da shouted along with his servants and thugs.

The people finally began to waver, and some of them kept casting angry glances at Shen Da and Captain Wang, but the people just slowly dispersed.
"Bah! These peasants are useless. No matter how many there are, they are scared away by just a few words from me." Shen Da said as he spat a mouthful of thick phlegm on the ground.

"Brother Shen is really the reincarnation of Zhang Fei. In ancient times, Zhang Fei drove back millions of Cao's soldiers at Dangyang Bridge. Today, Brother Shen is scaring off thousands of untouchables in Shunde City!" Captain Wang joked with a smile.

"Captain Wang, you are joking. I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it. You have helped a lot today. I will set up a table in Feihong Tower tomorrow and we brothers can have a drink. Captain Wang, please do me the honor of coming!" Shen Da said with a smile on his face.

"Haha! No problem, I'll be there when the time comes."

"Boss, are we just going to stand here and watch them throw dirty water on our store?" A waiter said in dissatisfaction as he watched the situation outside.

"This is the local tyrant! Although we have been here for more than a year, we are still away from home. What can we do with our strength? The order given to us by the higher-ups is to conserve our strength and wait and see. Now we just have to obey the orders!" He Kui said with a gloomy face.

The guys were pacified.

He Kui stared out of the store in a trance, and he felt a surge of anger slowly building up.
Feihong Building.

Several masters were toasting each other in a lively atmosphere.

"It's all thanks to Brother Shen that the price of salt has been controlled. Those peasants and people from the Royal Group dare not say a word." Master Li said with a big laugh.

"My dear brothers, the execution is great." Mr. Shen was also in high spirits.

"This Royal Group has been established for less than two years, and it wants to overturn the order of the salt industry. I heard that the person at the helm is King Jing. King Jing is only in his early twenties this year, and the hair on his mouth is not even fully grown. He is too young and too impatient! King Jing should have run out of tricks now." Master Shen said proudly.

The masters burst into laughter again.

"I hope the salt merchants can quickly defeat the Royal Group and resolve this matter once and for all," Mr. Zhou suddenly said.

"We can definitely defeat him. Come, have a drink!" said Mr. Li.

Fatty Ding was very angry. He knew the truth, so he actually spent fifty cents to buy five pounds of salt, which he ate without any problem.

But it was useless for him to be angry, because his power was too small. He had been telling the truth in private, but what could he do after knowing the truth? Facing the power of several big families in Shunde Prefecture, they could only let out a long sigh.
However, even so, Fatty Ding discovered in the next few days that the Royal Group was selling salt for ten cents per pound, and more people knew about it. Even his relatives in the countryside came to him to inquire about the price of salt.
It is more difficult to guard against the people's mouths than to guard against the river. This kind of news cannot be concealed at all.

But he also found that there were suddenly many rumors in the past few days. These rumors said that the Royal Group's salt was bad, and some said that people died after eating it, and some said that people got sick after eating it. These many rumors misled many people, and made him depressed.
He was feeling depressed, so he simply went to a teahouse to drink tea to relieve his boredom.

It turned out that the storyteller who was about to go on stage was Cao Tingyun, who had not appeared for a while. Cao Tingyun was the most popular storyteller in Shunde City in recent years. The stories he told were fresh and interesting, and were very popular among the people of Shunde City.

As for some unknown reason, he disappeared recently. Many people speculated that he went to other places to tell stories. Fatty Ding felt sorry for a long time when he heard the news. Unexpectedly, he met him today. Fatty Ding's mood suddenly became much better.

A person's reputation is like a tree's shadow. The news that Cao Tingyun was going to take the stage quickly attracted many passers-by, and the teahouse was soon packed with people. Fatty Ding arrived early, found a good seat, and waited earnestly for the lecture to begin.

When Cao Tingyun saw that most people had arrived, he slammed the gavel and said loudly: "Thank you all, fellow villagers and neighbors, for coming to support us. It's been a long time since I last saw you."

Cao Tingyun circled around and bowed to the audience.

"Where has Mr. Cao been recently?" someone shouted from the audience.

"Good question!" Cao Tingyun opened his fan and said, "I went to the capital recently and heard about the Royal Group selling low-priced salt when I came back. I also happened to hear some news about the Royal Group in the capital." Cao Tingyun's words immediately aroused everyone's interest.
Capital, Nangong.

"Your Highness, will the third step of the plan really work?" Chen Hong couldn't help but ask Zhu Houxuan who was taking a walk.

"I know that the group was established less than two years ago and its power is limited. It can't suppress those local tyrants at all, but the third step plan is too..." Chen Hong continued.

"Don't worry. Don't underestimate the resistance spirit of our Chinese nation. We are the nation that shouted 'Are kings, princes, generals, and ministers any different species?' more than 1,700 years ago," Zhu Houxuan said lightly as he stretched his body.

Chen Hong looked at Zhu Houxuan in surprise and wanted to say something, but he quickly held back.
A teahouse in the south of Beijing.

The storyteller on the stage was also preparing to start telling the story.

Two men dressed as noblemen walked into the teahouse, followed by a dozen people.

"Mr. Huang, why are you in the mood to come to this teahouse today?" one of them said.

"Bin'er, your uncle plans to help me change my reputation among the people today. He also said that my current reputation is the biggest negative asset of the group. I want to see how he changes it." Mr. Huang's eyes sparkled with excitement.
"The helmsman of the Ming Royal Group is Prince Jing, and Prince Jing is a good brother of the current Emperor." Cao Tingyun said with his hands raised high.

"Last year, His Majesty went on a private visit in disguise to understand the people's sentiments. He felt deeply the suffering of the common people and the high price of salt, so he decided to lower the price of salt and sent the King of Jing to handle the matter."

The teahouse was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Fatty Ding listened to Cao Tingyun's words with full concentration, not daring to miss a single word.
"After more than a year of preparation, the King of Jing finally found a way to lower the price of salt. He told His Majesty that the price of salt could now be reduced to 20 wen per pound."

The teahouse suddenly became chaotic, and everyone present started discussing. Fatty Ding was also a little confused. The salt sold by the Royal Group was clearly ten cents per pound.
"Bang!" Cao Tingyun slammed the gavel and raised his voice to drown out the discussion. "Your Majesty says: No! It's still too high. My people live a hard life and may not be able to afford it."

Cao Tingyun's speech was witty and vivid, as if he was present when the Emperor was speaking, and it also made the people present stunned.

"When the Prince of Jing heard what His Majesty said, he kept saying that it was impossible and that if the price was any lower, he would lose money. Guess what His Majesty would say?" Cao Tingyun began to keep the secret.

"Mr. Cao, please speak quickly! Please speak quickly!" The audience's curiosity was completely aroused and they were scratching their heads anxiously.

After keeping everyone in suspense for a long time, Cao Tingyun finally spoke slowly: "His Majesty said to the King of Jing: Shut up, I'm going to tell you a price now, and you must sell it to me at this price!"

This is actually a joke that was used to sell goods on TikTok in later generations. Although it seems very cliché to people in later generations, it is still a new version that is 500 years ahead of the current Ming natives and has never been seen before.

When Zhu Houxuan was finalizing the propaganda text, he found that although this paragraph was short, it had all the elements of introduction, development, turning point and ending. It was very easy to arouse the emotions of the audience and was very conducive to dissemination. Even people in later generations who had been baptized by the Internet could not withstand it, not to mention the uneducated people today, so he used this paragraph.

"Your Majesty says: ten cents. You must reduce the price of each pound of salt to 10 cents for me!" Cao Tingyun slammed the gavel again.

The audience's emotions were ignited and they started cheering instantly. When they thought about the recent rumors, their hearts were even more excited.

"Prince Jing hugged His Majesty's thigh and said with tears in his eyes: No, Your Majesty, this will really make a loss. No matter how much you sell, you will lose!" Cao Tingyun described vividly.

The audience was amused. This kind of brotherly relationship was very consistent with their understanding. They couldn't wait to listen to the next part.
"Your Majesty said: Stop crying, it's not a big deal. I will use the money from the national treasury to make up for whatever you pay! I will make up for whatever you pay! I can't let my people go without salt!"

"This is the reason why the Royal Group dares to sell salt at ten cents a pound because His Majesty has already paid for us." Cao Tingyun closed the paper fan with a "snap" and ended the storytelling.
"Hahahahahahaha!" Young Master Huang in the teahouse in the capital city laughed so hard that tears came out of his eyes, forming a sharp contrast with the shocked faces of the people around him.

The people around looked at Master Huang with anger.

Mr. Huang wanted to control himself, but he couldn't. "Hahaha, this is so interesting! So fun! Your uncle is going to twist it like this. I'm laughing to death."

"Uncle's method is really unexpected," said the man called Bin'er with a strange expression.

The audience in the teahouse in Shunde Prefecture was in great shock, although some of the logic of this story was very far-fetched, such as why the emperor had to go on a secret visit, why he wanted to lower the price of salt, and whether there was silver in the treasury to make up the difference.
If someone who knows something about the politics of the Ming Dynasty heard this, they would sneer and would not believe it at all. But this story is not prepared for them at all, and they don't need to believe it.

This story is prepared for the vast majority of workers in the Ming Dynasty. They have a low level of education, and their understanding of the court comes from operas. They have a beautiful yearning for wise rulers and honest officials, and this story is very much in line with their tastes.

The most important thing is that the Royal Group really sells salt for 10 coins per pound. With this fact that is closely related to them and what they care about most, it is easy for them to believe the above content.
After all, after decades of high salt prices, the price of 10 cents per pound of salt really broke the limit of their imagination. They never dared to dream that the price of salt could be so low.
Fatty Ding sat there blankly, with only one sentence echoing in his mind: Your Majesty has paid for us.
(End of this chapter)