I support the army through farming and business.

Chapter 335 Taken advantage of

Jin Ge racked her brains to find an excuse to delay, "This matter is too big for me to make a decision on my own. I need to go back and ask my family for their opinion first."

Manager Jiang and Manager Zou echoed this sentiment.

Yang Qian silently stared at the three men for a long time before saying calmly, "Then please, the three of you, act as soon as possible."

Jin Ge and the other two stood up and hurriedly left the Salt Transport Commissioner's office.

"As for you," Yang Qian glanced at the officials of the Salt Transport Commissioner's Office who were sitting on chairs pretending to be quails, their heads hunched over, "I don't care what methods you use, whether you steal or rob, you must obtain enough fine salt to fill a salt warehouse within seven days. Otherwise, don't blame me for disregarding our years of working together."

The officials of the Salt Transport Office turned pale and respectfully replied, "Yes."

Yang Qian waved the people away and then took a carriage back to the Yang family's old residence.

The Yang family of Suzhou is a long-established family in Jiangnan. The ancestors of the Yang family followed the founding emperor of the previous dynasty to conquer the country and made great contributions. As a result, the ancestors of the Yang family were granted the title of Duke of Yang.

The Yang family governed themselves through military force, and their descendants all entered the military for training and held important positions in the army. This led to the fact that soldiers in Jiangnan only knew the Yang family and not the imperial family.

After the establishment of the Great Yu, Emperor Kangzhi felt that the Yang family was very powerful in the army in Jiangnan. On the one hand, he issued an order to prohibit Yang family members from joining the army, and on the other hand, he installed his trusted generals to take military power into his own hands. As a result, the Yang family declined.

However, even a centipede with a hundred legs does not die easily. Relying on the intricate marriage ties with the Jin, Jiang, and Zou families, the Yang family members entered the court through the imperial examinations. After decades of hard work, the Yang family members were found in every corner of the court.

Yang Qian was just one of the hundreds of disciples of the Yang family.

Yang Qian waited outside the main courtyard for two hours before being invited inside by a servant.

After stepping over the high pear wood threshold and passing the bamboo screen carved with auspicious symbols of fortune, prosperity, and longevity, one enters the main hall and sees the Yang clan patriarch and elders sitting in sandalwood chairs, the atmosphere solemn.

Yang Qian's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly stepped forward, knelt down, and bowed, "Junior Yang Qian greets the clan leader and all the clan elders."

A full cup of tea had passed before Yang Qian heard an aged yet authoritative voice from above, "Get up."

"Thank you, clan chief," Yang Qian stood up, about to speak, but was interrupted by the clan chief, "No need to waste words, we already know what happened at the Salt Transport Commissioner's office."

Yang Qian knelt on the ground again, "This junior is useless, please punish me, clan leader and elders!"

As early as when Emperor Wu'an issued an edict appointing Tang Zhao as the new Salt Commissioner, Yang had already received the news. At that time, he was full of confidence and believed that no matter how capable Tang Zhao was, he would not be able to cause any trouble in Jiangnan or in the territory of the four major families.

The saying "Even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake" illustrates this point.

But less than a month later, under pressure from Tang Zhao, he had no choice but to ask the clan chief for help.

The clan chief despised incompetent members the most. Cold sweat streamed down Yang Qian's face. After today, he wondered if he could continue to hold this position of leadership.

"Punishment?" Elder Yang sneered. "If punishing you could conjure up tens of millions of catties of fine salt, then I'll overstep my bounds and beat you to death, you useless thing, on behalf of the clan leader!"

Elder Yang, speaking up for his grandson, said, "This matter cannot be entirely blamed on Thirteen."

"It's not his fault, it's mine!" Elder Yang Er roared like a fire-breathing bull. "Such an important position as the head of the Salt Transport Commission was entrusted to him, yet he couldn't even defeat a mere woman and was forced to return to his hometown for help!"

"If you don't have the ability, you should hand over this position to a capable younger brother as soon as possible. Don't just sit there doing nothing!"

Elder Yang cursed, "Vulgar!"

Elder Yang Si tried to smooth things over, saying, "Brothers, please stop arguing. At this point, the most important thing is to find a way to resolve the current crisis." "How?" Elder Yang Er attacked indiscriminately, "Buy back the salt that has already been sold at a higher price, or hand over the clan's salt mines?"

Yang Sizu was speechless and couldn't help but look at the clan leader sitting in the head seat.

Yang Fan sat cross-legged on a rosewood bench, twirling a string of prayer beads carved from the finest sandalwood in his hand, his eyes closed as if he hadn't heard a thing.

Elder Yang Wuzu interjected, "Whoever caused the trouble should clean it up themselves; don't drag others into it!"

"What do you mean by that, Fifth Brother? Does that mean everyone tacitly approved of Thirteen's smuggling of government salt?" Elder Yang was furious. "They were quick to take the money, but now that things have gone wrong, they want to wash their hands of it!"

"All right!"

The moment the authoritative voice rang out, everyone fell silent.

"Third brother, how many kilograms of salt can your family produce?"

After a moment's thought, Elder Yang Sanzu said, "My branch owns three salt mines, which can produce three million catties of salt."

Yang Fan looked at Elder Yang Si and said, "My branch can produce two million catties."

Elder Yang Er, with his neck stiff, said, "My family's salt mines have long been exhausted." Under the clan chief's dark eyes, Elder Yang Er lowered his voice, "At most, at most one million catties."

"Six million catties," Yang Fan scoffed. "The twelve salt warehouses in the east and west should have at least two thousand catties of fine salt. What about the rest?"

"Let the Jin, Jiang, and Zou families pay!" The second elder of the Yang clan thought it made more and more sense. "Our Yang family owns half of the salt in the salt warehouse, so naturally the other half should come from the three families!"

“That makes sense,” Yang Fan nodded, “but where will the Yang family find the four million catties of salt they are short?”

“Go to Gao’s Salt Shop to buy it,” said the old man of the Yang family. “Although sea salt and mineral salt look different, in my opinion, Tang Zhao only wants to take back the salt from the salt warehouse and will not investigate whether the salt is sea salt or mineral salt.”

Elder Yang rolled his eyes. "If only we could buy some! My manager said that the Gao family's salt shop not only sells salt in limited quantities, but also specifically states that it doesn't sell to the four major families!"

Elder Yang said indignantly, "They say the four major families own countless salt mines, producing enough salt to last several lifetimes. Why would they need to compete with ordinary people for salt?"

Pooh! what!
If we don't sell to the Yang family, they won't even bother buying it!
What do you mean by using wood ash to remove toxic substances from sea salt? You think you can just remove them like that?

After those lowly people die from eating the poisoned sea salt, let's see what Tang Zhao does then!
Even if those lowly people don't die, he has ways to make them die!

A hint of murderous intent flashed in the eyes of the second clan elder.

Yang Fan looked at his son sitting below.

Master Yang stood up. “The Gao family shop said that the Yang family can buy salt, but the price cannot be ten coins per catty, but rather,” Master Yang lowered his eyes, “three hundred coins per catty.”

boom!
Elder Yang slammed his hand on the table, shouting, "Arrogant!"

"They're asking us to pay 300 coins a pound for sea salt that costs 10 coins a pound. Do they think the Yang family is a sucker?"

"In my opinion, we should just find a way to kill Tang Zhao and be done with it! She's just a princess, so what if she dies!"

"Second Brother, are you getting old? Don't forget, Tang Zhao has Gu Ci and the Northwest Army guards by his side!" Elder Yang sneered. "Does Second Brother still think the Yang family is the same as before, where you can kill whoever you don't like?"