I just reached the maximum level, and you want me to be a puppet emperor?

Chapter 166 Without a backer, it's hard to survive here. This is reality! (Please subscribe and vote)

The Jiang family has many stores, and Jiang Rong's job is to check the accounts, count the inventory, and pre-order some seasonal items.

Then, of course, I would attend various banquets, which were exchanges among merchant families, where I would discuss cooperation and discover business opportunities.

Every city has a chamber of commerce, and its purpose is to protect the interests of local businesses from the impact of foreign businesses.

To put it bluntly, local businesses stick together to keep each other warm, and there are actually chambers of commerce from other places, and everyone competes with each other.

The Jiang family is a family that was born and raised in Shanghe City, so naturally they are in the Chamber of Commerce.

In the past, the Jiang family was very powerful and occupied a core position in the Chamber of Commerce. Jiang Rong's father once served as the president of the Chamber of Commerce.

Ever since Jiang Rong's father died unexpectedly, the Jiang family's status in the Chamber of Commerce has continued to decline.

Has fallen to the edge.

In fact, the decline of the Jiang family was also due to the suppression of many people in the Chamber of Commerce.

In the past, everyone was willing to do business with the Jiang family because of the prestige of Jiang Rong's father and the fact that the Jiang family was powerful and had people in the palace and the sect, so the cooperation was guaranteed.

And it has been smooth sailing all along.

The industry is also expanding.

But now, the Jiang family has no backing, so why would these merchant families cooperate with the Jiang family?

Many people even envied the Jiang family for owning such a large industry.

Naturally, they created all kinds of troubles in secret and began to gradually devour the Jiang family.

Because only by suppressing the Jiang family can other families benefit.

This is how businessmen think. There is only so much meat and everyone wants to eat it. Only if the Jiang family is driven away can other families get some.

The so-called chamber of commerce is nothing more than a collection of interests.

The bloody reality was placed before Jiang Rong, and she had no way to deal with it. She even showed unprecedented powerlessness.

If my sister hadn't had some face in Yuxu Immortal Palace, the Jiang family would have suffered an even more serious blow.

But my sister is just an ordinary disciple of Yuxu Immortal Mansion, not a core disciple.

Everyone can give a little face, but not much.

After all, there are many ordinary disciples in Yuxu Immortal Mansion, and many aristocratic families in Shanghe City have people there.

After Jiang Rong finished checking the accounts today, she came to participate in the Chamber of Commerce's activities as usual, that is, to discuss the supply issues of Shanghe City in the next quarter.

The Shanghe City Chamber of Commerce naturally has a magnificent building.

Jiang Rong arrived here with ease. In front of the Chamber of Commerce, representatives of merchant families were greeting each other, and no one seemed to pay attention to Jiang Rong.

I still remember that when her father brought her here, these people came to please her father with enthusiasm, expressed warm greetings to her, and said some compliments from time to time.

But now, everyone seemed to ignore Jiang Rong, and no one cared whether she came or not.

Even when Jiang Rong took the initiative to say hello, these people just ignored her.

Jiang Rong also knew that without her father and her backer, it would be difficult for her to survive here. This was the reality.

After entering the Chamber of Commerce's activity venue, Jiang Rong sat in a seat relatively close to the back.

There was no way, she was no longer qualified to sit in the front row.

Those who can sit in the front row now are all from the more prosperous merchant families in Shanghe City.

After a while, Zhang Wanshan, president of Shanghe City Chamber of Commerce, appeared. He sat at the chief seat and began to talk about some recent issues.

Jiang Rong was quite familiar with Zhang Wanshan, a profit-oriented person.

When Jiang Rong's father was alive, he and Jiang Rong's father were very close brothers.

After Jiang Rong's father died, he was the first person to suppress the Jiang family and take away some of the Jiang family's assets.

Every time she saw him, Jiang Rong got angry, but she was not a child and knew that this was business. She could only bury her anger in her heart to preserve other industries.

If he offended Zhang Wanshan directly, he could then legitimately start to take over the Jiang family's assets.

The reason why Zhang Wanshan had so much power was because the prefect of Shanghe City was his cousin.

With such a relationship, who in Shanghe City would dare to offend Zhang Wanshan?

In the past, the Jiang family had connections in the palace and in the sect, so Zhang Wanshan and Jiang Rong's father became close friends.

Now, he doesn't even look down on the Jiang family.

When the family was in decline, Jiang Rong did ask Zhang Wanshan for help, but Zhang Wanshan always refused coldly.

That heartless look left no room for Jiang Rong to negotiate.

In order to preserve the family business, Jiang Rong could only continue to endure.

After Zhang Wanshan finished speaking, it was the turn of the big guys in the front row to start speaking.

The one who spoke was the patriarch of the Sun family, whose businesses included sericulture and hemp cultivation.

That is, the supplier of raw materials for textiles. Many families present depend on him for their livelihood. Whoever he gives food to will have food to eat.

The head of the Sun family said as soon as he opened his mouth: "Everyone, the weather has been dry recently, and my family's business is not going well, so I decided to reduce the supply from the west of the city."

When he said this, the whole audience was in an uproar.

Because the west of the city is mainly under the responsibility of the Jiang family.

The Sun family is the supplier of textile materials, while the Jiang family is responsible for raw material processing, textile production, and sales in their own stores after post-processing.

If the Sun family does not provide raw materials, the Jiang family will have no way to produce and make money, and the Jiang family’s textile industry in the west of the city will be completely cut off.

Jiang Rong was also anxious. The Jiang family had many cloth shops in the west of the city. Wasn’t this targeting the Jiang family?
The people around seemed to have a tacit understanding and kept silent, because they all knew that the main purpose today was to suppress the Jiang family and take the cloth shop in the west of the city away from the Jiang family.

Jiang Rong stood up and said, "Master Sun, our supply cooperation with your family still has two years left. How can you cut off the supply at this time?"

The so-called cooperation agreement is protected by the Chamber of Commerce.

It is also something that everyone recognizes.

Jiang Rong's father signed a ten-year cooperation agreement with the Sun family, and there are still two years left.

Jiang Rong felt that the head of the Sun family should not be like this.

I have given you everything else. In recent years, I have opened various shops to you, but you are still not satisfied. Are you trying to push me to death?

The shop in the west of the city is one of the core businesses of the Jiang family. The sale of cloth and clothes is very profitable.

Without this source of income, the Jiang family might go from the bottom of the first-rate families to a second-rate family.

The head of the Sun family didn't care about Jiang Rong's protest at all, and said lightly: "There is a problem with the harvest, and I can't do anything about it. At most, I will compensate you according to the cooperation agreement."

The raw materials only cost a few dollars, and even if double compensation is given according to the agreement, it cannot make up for the Jiang family’s losses.

What's more, compensation is just a sum of money, but industry has endless value.

The people from the surrounding merchant families also looked at Jiang Rong as if they were watching a good show.

Each of them is like a tiger or a wolf, wanting to devour the Jiang family's piece of meat pie.

There were even some family heads who said that since they had a past relationship with Jiang Rong's father, they were prepared to pay a high price to buy the Jiang family's stores to reduce Jiang Rong's losses, and that they were all well-intentioned.

Before Jiang Rong could answer, they all said that if these shops didn't have supplies, the Jiang family would not only not make any money every day, but would even lose money, including store rents and wages for their employees. That would be a considerable expense, so they wanted Jiang Rong to think about it carefully.

As things developed to this point, Jiang Rong finally understood that this group of guys were in collusion and came here today just to swallow up the Jiang family's business in the west of the city.

Faced with all kinds of pressure, Jiang Rong stood in front of Zhang Wanshan, the president of the Chamber of Commerce, and said seriously: "President Zhang, according to the rules of the Chamber of Commerce, if the Sun family has inventory and deliberately provides raw materials, how should it be handled?"

In order to prevent this kind of suppression, the Chamber of Commerce had set up special rules in the past, and all families joining the Chamber of Commerce had to abide by them.

If the Sun family's supply really suffered some losses as the head of the Sun family said, they could indeed stop providing it to the Jiang family and just pay double the money.

But if the Sun family did it on purpose, they must be severely punished and must pay ten times the compensation to the Jiang family.

If it was double, the Sun family and those families that were in collusion with each other could still accept it, but ten times, that was not a small amount.

All Jiang Rong wants is fairness and justice!
But Zhang Wanshan, president of the Shanghe City Chamber of Commerce, turned a deaf ear and said, "Jiang Rong, Patriarch Sun has already explained the reason and promised to compensate you, why are you so aggressive?"

Jiang Rong couldn't understand this sentence. I was clearly being targeted, so how could it be me being aggressive?
Even though she had known for a long time that these people had colluded with each other, Jiang Rong was still extremely angry.

I just want fairness, and you don’t even give me that? Isn’t this the rule written by our Chamber of Commerce?
Jiang Rong continued, "I just want to follow the rules of the Chamber of Commerce. Please answer my question directly. If the Sun family has inventory and deliberately provides raw materials, how should we deal with it?"

Zhang Wanshan felt that his dignity was challenged, his face darkened, and he slammed the table and angrily shouted: "How dare you! You are simply making trouble for no reason! Do you want to remove the Jiang family from the Chamber of Commerce?"

The powerful voice filled the entire area, frightening the representatives of every family. It seemed that the president was really angry.

But in Jiang Rong's opinion, this is definitely a threat!

If the Jiang family is expelled from the Chamber of Commerce, they will not be protected by the Chamber of Commerce rules and the consequences will be serious.

When the people around saw Zhang Wanshan was angry, they urged Jiang Rong to apologize to Zhang Wanshan immediately, and some began to blame Jiang Rong for her mistakes. In the end, everyone thought that Jiang Rong was just making trouble.

Jiang Rong was very surprised at the current trend. How could it still be my fault?
Did I do something wrong today?

You guys are too much of a bully!

Seeing these ugly faces, Jiang Rong was furious.

She was considering whether to just go crazy and fight these guys to the death, or continue to swallow her anger and look for other solutions.

But President Zhang Wanshan seemed to be targeting her on purpose, and angrily said, "You still don't know you're wrong, right? Come on, kick Jiang Rong out!"

Zhang Wanshan’s attitude is like saying to Jiang Rong: So what if I bully you?

I have a backer, I am powerful, you can't afford to offend me?
Do you have the guts to explode? Don't forget, the governor is my brother.

Zhang Wanshan knew that Jiang Rong would take all this into consideration and would definitely continue to bully Jiang Rong.

Moreover, it is the result of everyone's discussion, and doing so can even be a big favor.

Seeing the Chamber of Commerce's men coming over, Jiang Rong's maid also stood up, and they seemed ready to start fighting if they disagreed.

Jiang Rong was really controlled by Zhang Wanshan. She was just getting angry for a momentary pleasure, because his backer was the prefect.

How could someone like her from a poor merchant family afford to offend the prefect, who was so powerful?

If they were really expelled from the Chamber of Commerce, these big families would take direct action and suppress the Jiang family without hesitation, and the Jiang family would be doomed.

But if they continue to stay in the Chamber of Commerce, they will slowly erode the Jiang family, which will be a dead end.

Jiang Rong began to despair and didn't know what to do.

The once proud business genius girl now can't think of any solution.

Just at this moment, someone walked in from the door, and the noisy scene inside suddenly became much quieter.

He looks majestic and has a strong aura that makes everyone here respectful to him.

He is the lord of Shanghe City and the head of the Ding family, a large cultivation clan, Ding Tianming.

The appearance of Ding Tianming made the representatives of the nearby aristocratic families bow one by one.

"I've met the Lord of the City!"

"I've met the Lord of the City!"

"I've met the Lord of the City!"

Ding Tianming is about 40 or 50 years old. He has a very high prestige in this city, not to mention his status.

The most important thing is that Ding Tianming's terrifying strength and the powerful background of the Ding family allow him to sit firmly on the position of the city lord of this place.

The Ding family is not only powerful, but also has members who hold important positions in the surrounding sects. It is a veritable behemoth in Shanghe City.

Even if Zhang Shanhe saw it, he would have to give some face, not to mention Jiang Rong, she also bowed her head when meeting Ding Tianming.

"What happened here? Why is it so noisy?"

Ding Tianming's voice was very powerful and full of energy.

As the lord of Shanghe City, he is indeed qualified to meddle in other people's affairs. This is his duty.

His status must be higher than Zhang Wanshan.

If Zhang Wanshan did not have the support of the prefect, he would probably have to bow his head in front of Ding Tianming.

When Jiang Rong saw Ding Tianming, she felt like she had seen a life-saving straw.

In order to prevent others from talking nonsense, Jiang Rong told the story again.

While saying this, he was looking at Ding Tianming's expression.

She prayed in her heart that Ding Tianming was not in the same group as this gang, otherwise the Jiang family would be doomed.

Even though Ding Tianming used to have a good relationship with Jiang Rong's father and often visited the Jiang Mansion.

But that was only in the past, Jiang Rong knew this very well.

Now is the mentality of giving it a try.

After listening to this, Ding Tianming nodded and asked others, "Is what Jiang Rong said true?"

Under his intimidation, representatives of nearby merchant families nodded one after another, indicating that what Jiang Rong said was indeed correct.

Jiang Rong also looked at Ding Tianming with anticipation.

Ding Tianming pondered for a moment and said, "There is no order without rules. Since the Chamber of Commerce has such rules, then this city lord thinks that we should follow the rules. If the Sun family is indeed damaged by the disaster, then they need to pay double the compensation. If they are deliberately targeted, not only will they have to face ten times the compensation, but they will also need to accept the investigation of this city lord!"

Ding Tianming's words gave Jiang Rong hope. She never dreamed that City Lord Ding would actually say something fair.

It seems that Jiang Rong still remembers her old relationship with Jiang Rong's father. She feels guilty for having just doubted Ding Tianming's character.

Ding Tianming is the city lord, and his words are the rules.

The head of the Sun family nodded and said, "Everything will be arranged by the city lord."

Jiang Rong said excitedly: "Thank you, City Lord, for being fair!"

This sudden justice made Jiang Rong extremely grateful. It seemed that there were still good people in Shanghe City. Jiang Rong's favorability towards Ding Tianming increased greatly.

The daily activities of the Chamber of Commerce also ended. Originally, they just wanted to split up the Jiang family, but who knew that the city lord would come, so they had to adjourn the meeting.

After leaving the Chamber of Commerce, Jiang Rong stayed with Ding Tianming, chatting about past events.

Ding Tianming also teased Jiang Rong that she had really grown up.

As they chatted, Ding Tianming changed the subject and asked, "Is your mother home these days?"

Jiang Rong didn't know why City Lord Ding mentioned his mother, but she began to speak honestly: "My mother left home yesterday and has not returned yet."

Hearing this, Ding Tianming sighed and said, "Your mother may be in big trouble."

This sentence frightened Jiang Rong so much. After her father passed away, her family had fallen into such a state. She depended on her mother for many things. What would she do if something happened to her mother?

Upon hearing that her mother was in trouble, Jiang Rong anxiously asked what had happened.

Ding Tianming said that this was not the place to talk and invited Jiang Rong to go to Ding Mansion.

Jiang Rong now trusted Ding Tianming's character, so she followed him.

The location of the Ding Mansion in the center of Shanghe City is enough to show how high the Ding family's status is in Shanghe City.

This is a family of cultivators, a truly powerful clan.

After entering the Ding family, Jiang Rong followed Ding Tianming to the hall.

After the servants served tea, Ding Tianming asked them to leave, as if he had some secret to tell them.

Jiang Rong's maid glanced at Jiang Rong, and at Jiang Rong's nod, she also left the hall.

After all, this is the Ding family, the city lord is very powerful, and the maid can't do anything about it.

Besides, City Lord Ding and Jiang Rong's father are old friends, so he would probably not do anything to Jiang Rong.

Seeing that the servants had left, Ding Tianming said seriously, "Your mother has been busy in recent years to avenge your father. I can understand that."

Jiang Rong knew these things. Her mother's origins were very mysterious, but her cultivation was very strong. How strong she was exactly, Jiang Rong didn't know, and her mother never told her.

Ever since her father's death, her mother has loved him deeply and vowed to avenge him. She has been looking for clues about his enemies.

Jiang Rong's mother did come to ask Ding Tianming for help, and Ding Tianming also sent some people to assist in the investigation.

But the problem is, that is a sect struggle, and Ding Tianming cannot get involved.

The enemy hid very deeply, and Ding Tianming was powerless to do anything over the years.

Jiang Rong expressed her gratitude, and Ding Tianming waved his hand, telling her not to take it to heart.

Then he continued, "But your mother seems to have been secretly in contact with the demon tribe recently. Someone has discovered it and there is evidence. The matter was reported to me a few days ago. I suppressed it because of my long-term relationship with Lao Jiang. But that person reported it to the new city supervisor. Contacting demons is a serious crime. The city supervisor takes this matter very seriously. As you know, she is a confidant of the emperor, so I can't do anything about it."

When these words came out, Jiang Rong was shocked!

"City Lord Ding, please don't believe the rumors. How could my mother be a demon?"

Even though Jiang Rong tried her best to deny it, she felt that this might be possible.

My mother is a mysterious person and has many talents, but she never teaches anyone at home.

My mother loves my father very much. If normal channels cannot eliminate the enemy, she may really go to those powerful monsters for help.

Besides, the Xincheng Prisoner named Lin Yue'e actually came to investigate yesterday!

(End of this chapter)