Ming Dynasty: My Father Zhang Juzheng

Chapter 86 A dead Taoist friend is not dead but a poor Taoist

But after Zhang Yunxiu threw the salt out, the price of salt suddenly dropped a lot. At first, Jin Fu thought that he was a coward and in urgent need of money, so he didn't take it seriously.

Until the "big shot" behind him summoned him.

The big man behind him was none other than Jeong Cheol, the left prime minister of the Uijeongbu.

As the saying goes, "officials and businessmen are inseparable." If a businessman does not have some backing behind him, he would have become a fat piece of meat in the eyes of others long ago.

Therefore, when summoned by his patron, Jin Fu went straight to Seoul with gifts without saying a word.

When they arrived at Zheng Che's residence, the housekeeper led him to the east wing of the main hall.

Zheng Che had been waiting here early. When he saw his backer, Jin Fu bent his knees and was about to salute. Zheng Che waved his hand to signal him not to salute, and then asked him to sit down.

The two of them sat down as host and guest. Zheng Che stared into Jin Fu's eyes, frowned, and said first: "The recent salt price issue is likely to cause a big mess."

"No way?" Jin Fu's heart skipped a beat, but he pretended to be calm on the surface and said, "It's just a few cents, it's not a big deal, and isn't there a war going on in the south?"

Zheng Che waved his hand and replied with some helplessness: "At first, I thought the same as you, but later I asked around and found that someone was selling a lot of salt. Tell me, can the price be stabilized?"

"Then why didn't Minister En report to the king and have them arrested?" Jin Fu asked in a mysterious way.

"If we can catch him, why should we worry?" Zheng Che glared at Jin Fu unhappily and said in a trembling voice, "He is an envoy from the Celestial Empire. It is said that he was sent by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Believe it or not, if we dare to take action, Li Chengliang will come with his troops within three months."

The mighty power of the Ming Dynasty would not tolerate invasion by a small country like theirs.

Jin Fu also secretly cursed himself for being too talkative, so he smiled awkwardly and looked at the old man eagerly, waiting for him to come up with a plan.

Zheng Che had already made plans. Seeing Jin Fu's expression, he became ruthless and told him everything: "When you go back, gather all the merchants you know and ask them to pay to protect this plate."

"En Xiang, didn't you say that the price of salt will collapse sooner or later? Then why should we protect it?" Jin Fu was completely confused.

"Idiot!" Zheng Che leaned forward, blushing and yelling, "If we don't let them protect the plate, how can we throw all the salt out? It's better to let my friend die than to let me die. Don't you understand such a simple truth?"

"Enxiang, if we do this, our reputation will be ruined in the future." Jin Fu looked embarrassed.

Zheng Che covered his lips, burst out laughing, and said sarcastically: "Hehe. Now you know how to seek fame? You businessmen who are full of money, all of you made your fortunes by cheating and deceiving, and now you still care about your reputation."

Being "stabbed" unexpectedly, Jin Fu's fair face suddenly turned purple.

Before he could speak, Zheng Che interrupted him rudely, "Alright, alright, I don't want to say any more to you. If you don't want to do it, there are plenty of people who will!"

These days, the thing that is most in demand is people who aspire to climb the social ladder.

Jin Fu knew that his thin arms were not strong enough to twist his thighs, so he could only nod and agree.

"Ugh"

With a heavy sigh, Jin Fu came back to his senses. At this time, Butler Jin brought a cup of steaming ginseng tea and said respectfully, "Master, I saw that you have been traveling a lot these days, and I am afraid that your body can't stand it, so I made you some ginseng tea."

"Drink it while it's hot."

Jin Fu nodded, took it from the butler, then brought it to his lips and took a sip.

"Gulp. Gulp." He suppressed the heat and drank the whole thing in one breath. Jin Fu wiped his mouth and pointed at the housekeeper and ordered, "Tomorrow, gather our most trusted guys and have them go to various warehouses to take out the salt. When the price stabilizes for two or three days, start selling it."

"Ah? Then we must have offended all those merchants?" Butler Jin opened his mouth in shock and almost dropped the teacup in his hand.

"There's nothing we can do," Jin Fu frowned and said in a low voice, "The master just died here, and the house is on fire over there. Tell me, should we cry for the master first, or ask someone to put out the fire?" He is just a businessman. In the eyes of ordinary people, he is the wealthy shopkeeper Jin.

In Zheng Che's eyes, he was just a beggar.

The kind that could easily crush me to death with just a flick of his finger.

"I understand." Butler Jin saw the master's expression and knew the master's suffering, so he agreed, "I will prepare it right away. If anyone holds me responsible later, I will take full responsibility."

Jin Fu shook his head and waved his hand, motioning him to go down.

Over the past three days, thanks to these merchants stabilizing the price of salt, Zhang Yunxiu sold 5 million kilograms of salt, but the price only dropped to 42 cents.

This made Zhang Yunxiu very happy.

These guys are really not afraid of death. They don't follow him and sell out now, hoping that the price will go up.

Of course, many people bought at high prices and were trapped.

Coupled with the tense war situation in the south, they naively thought that the price of salt would continue to rise.

It's like a gambler, the more he loses, the more he won't let go.

"Since you didn't take the chance I gave you, don't blame me for being ruthless!" Zhang Yunxiu thought to himself and ordered the messenger at the door, "Tell them to throw out all the salt we have, no matter how much we have."

"It needs to be faster and with more force than before."

"Yes." The messenger agreed and left.

Within a few days, Zhang Yunxiu sold the remaining salt directly to the market.

Now, panic spread completely, and those merchants who were trying to protect the market found that there was too much salt in circulation.

The key is that once the big players sell, the small players will follow suit.

In just five or six days, the price dropped from 40 wen per jin to 30 wen per jin, and this trend has not slowed down at all.

It was about to fall below the 30 mark, and by this time, the merchants who had come to their senses were already disheartened.

They now have only one thought.

"Follow the lead, even if it means losing money!"

Therefore, without the support of these merchants, the price of salt plummeted, from 30 cents to 15 cents.

This is not the scariest thing. The scariest thing is that this thing has almost lost its liquidity.

Of course, it’s good to eat it yourself.

Those small households who had hoarded large quantities of salt at high prices and were reluctant to sell their salt have now lost everything.

What's worse, they even borrowed money from loan sharks. Now that the price of salt has dropped, how can the loan sharks be willing to let them go?

Several burly men came to the house and looted everything they could.

For a time, the war in southern Korea was not over and the people in the north were exhausted.

(End of this chapter)