Qing Yao

Chapter 153 Another Groom
Honestly, if he and Zhao An weren't in cahoots, Old Ding would have immediately had Zhao An thrown in jail and then stuffed several sacks of dirt into him to suffocate the bastard to death.

Look at this, is this even human language?
Back then, you were the one who came to my door, shamelessly wanting to marry my eldest granddaughter. It wasn't that I was being a fool and insisted on marrying my granddaughter to you.

What do you mean by saying that my Ding family wants to trap you?
Family scandals should not be made public.

Forget it, how could Old Ding, as a grandfather, hold a grudge against his grandson-in-law who has no respect for elders?
There's really no point in arguing; everything is ready, and we're just waiting to enter the bridal chamber.

If this brat hadn't gotten into trouble in Jiangyin, the marriage would have been arranged long ago.

Besides, if he says he won't marry her now, it won't look good for Lao Ding, and he won't be able to explain it to his son and daughter-in-law.

I can only hold my nose and admit it.

However, as harsh as the monkey's words were, there was one thing Old Ding had to admit.

That means the little monkey should have a brighter future than his grandfather. Judging from the current situation, as long as the emperor can live for another ten years or so, the little monkey might actually become a high-ranking official.

In this way, their own granddaughter won't suffer any losses.

Zhao An knew when to stop and obediently followed Lao Ding's arrangements, since marrying into the Ding family would be beneficial for future work.

Next June, the Ministry of Personnel will have regular official titles for sale. Let's see if we can raise funds to get Lao Ding a fifth-rank official position, and buy Lao Song and Teacher Lou each a seventh-rank county magistrate position with real power.

The Ding family had been in charge of all the wedding preparations, including the ceremony and procedures. Zhao An only needed to make an appearance and go through the motions. Since it was still early, he wasn't in a hurry to become the groom. Instead, he told them about how he had obtained several thousand salt permits from the Salt Administration.

"People say that it's easy to get things done when you're an official, but there are some things you can do if you can, and if you can't, you should return the salt to the other party, so that you don't end up giving others a handle to use against you if you fail to get things done."

When it comes to seeking education, the officials' business is nothing more than pursuing "fame and fortune."

With the imperial examinations about to begin in Yangzhou, Old Ding was naturally worried that Zhao An might be blinded by greed and commit a cheating scandal in the examinations. Even with the emperor's protection, he would probably be in deep trouble.

Since Zhao An thought that the two sides were not outsiders, he truthfully told them that he had sold Quande to the current salt commissioner, Akdang'a.

The reason for the sale has been explained: it was to leverage Akdang Akai's legitimate salt company, rather than undermining the old master's business as previously planned. Sneaking around wouldn't allow them to grow and become powerful.

"It's just that this Lord A is too stingy. He only gave me a thousand salt permits, which is less than what the clerk below gave me."

Zhao An gets angry whenever this is mentioned.

Everyone outside says that Akdang'a is the God of Wealth, and everyone gets a red envelope. But when Committee Member Zhao chose to side with you, the God of Wealth, he only got a thousand salt permits. No matter what, it's because you, Akdang'a, don't know how to behave.

There are over two million official salt permits issued in Lianghuai!

"It's not that you're stingy, sir, but that you don't want to harm me."

Old Ding's understanding was completely different from Zhao An's. He believed that the reason why Akdang'a was unwilling to give Zhao An a large amount of salt permits was not because the salt administration could not afford it, but because he was afraid that Zhao An would be attacked by the salt merchant group.

The ways of dealing with salt were already clearly defined by the salt merchants long ago.

Outsiders can make money from salt, and the salt merchants are generous and won't mind; otherwise, there wouldn't be so many smugglers of salt.

However, the total amount of salt sold by illegal salt dealers was less than a fraction of that sold by salt merchants, and they all operated in secret.

As an official of the imperial court, you, Zhao, suddenly have a large amount of salt permits in your hands, and you even have the audacity to want to get a piece of the salt pie. Isn't this a blatant provocation against the salt merchants?

Guilds tend to stick together and exclude outsiders, let alone powerful and influential salt merchant groups.

Upon careful consideration, Zhao An realized that this was indeed a factor, but he was certain he would still consume salt.

In economics, the less money you have, the less willing banks are to lend you money.

Conversely, the more money you have, the more banks will try to lend you money.

Extending this to Zhao An, small loans will eventually escalate into financial fundraising, transforming small businesses of two or three hundred thousand yuan into large transactions of hundreds of millions or even tens of millions of yuan.

So, if he wanted financial groups, including government-run banks, to happily lend money to Lord Zhao, Lord Zhao himself would need to have several large corporations.

Those companies that are publicly listed are obviously not short of money. It seems the huge education market isn't within Zhao An's reach right now, so he can only try to find a way in the salt sector.

The eight major salt merchants never seemed to be fixed at eight, and there didn't seem to be a rule that the richest man in Yangzhou had to be from a particular family.

The salt merchants' power seemed immense, but Zhao An remembered that when Liu Xiaolou took him to visit Dongguan when he first arrived in Yangzhou, he had mentioned that the salt merchants were having a hard time these days.

Many salt merchants appeared successful on the surface, but in reality, they were deeply in debt due to high-interest loans, leading to the ruin of many families.

The culprit behind all this was the old man who slaughtered the salt merchants like pigs.

The Qing army will be deploying troops on the plateau next year. Although the number of troops deployed is not large, the logistics will be a bottomless pit.

As expected, after the spring, the salt merchants will definitely be asked to donate military supplies, and perhaps some of them will want to quit at that time.

This is Zhao An's opportunity.

Therefore, he now has to start a salt company, even if it's pitifully small, at least he can be considered a salt merchant.

Without the identity of a salt merchant, he would not have been able to compete for the position of official merchant.

Only by becoming a government official and a businessman can one truly make a fortune.

Because, four years later, the White Lotus Rebellion would be launched in Hubei, and Hubei was the designated sales area for Huai salt.

Salt prices will skyrocket due to the uprising, and this will continue for eight years.

This may have been the last chance for the salt merchants of Lianghuai to make their fortune before the canal transport was discontinued.

Knowing that a certain stock would skyrocket dozens of times, how could Zhao An not go all in?

Of course, he couldn't tell Lao Ding about the White Lotus Sect; he only said that he needed to find a way to establish himself in the salt industry.

Old Ding is the county magistrate, and he is the supervisor of education. With their respective influence, it shouldn't be a big problem for them to help Xinglong Company gain a foothold first.

Old Ding did not object to Zhao An's plan, but he was currently busy because the water conservancy project was already underway, and he urged Zhao An to quickly move Zhao Youlu's parents to Jiangnan.

Zhao An, of course, had no objections and followed Lao Ding's arrangement to become the groom.

The actual process was entirely arranged by his mother-in-law, Ms. Li.

Because Zhao An had no parents and his mother-in-law, Li, liked him so much, the whole process made Zhao An feel like he had become a live-in son-in-law of the Ding family.

Due to the need for secrecy, apart from the Ding family and Instructor Song, no one else knew that Zhao An had gotten married.

It's a pity for County Magistrate Lao Ding, and it's also a pity for Committee Member Zhao An.

How could I not feel regretful? I missed out on so many red envelopes!

Getting married is considered auspicious, but the "red" in weddings and funerals is permitted by the imperial court to involve lavish banquets and the collection of red envelopes (gifts of money).

Everything was done according to the ceremony for marrying a principal wife. Until they entered the bridal chamber, Zhao An did not know what the bride looked like, only that she was a little small.

She's only sixteen; how could she not be young?

The elders of the Ding family were all present, and Zhao Ande stayed with them until the banquet ended before returning to his room.

The young bride was alone in the room. Zhao An, in a moment of childish whimsy, peeked through the crack in the door to see what Old Ding's eldest granddaughter was doing, wondering if she was secretly taking off the red cloth and eating something.

It turned out that the young bride wasn't sitting obediently on the bed waiting for him to lift her veil; instead, she was lying on the bed playing with some kind of toy.

It looks like a little figure made of porcelain, and it might even have some kind of mechanism, as it makes a crisp "popping" sound from time to time.

(End of this chapter)