Qing Yao

Chapter 168 How Many Guns Do You Have? (Bonus Chapter 4 for Monthly Tickets)

Drawing lots is a must.

Zhao An made his position clear: either the Jiao family would give up half of their "shares" to the Canal Gang, and then everyone would do business together, with each of them calling each other Boss Zhao and Boss Jiao, and making a fortune together.

Either the Jiao family will be wiped out today, with only the women left alive and no men.

Whether the government will cause trouble for the canal gang afterwards is Zhao An's business; you, Boss Jiao, can neither see nor care about it anyway.

Although Zhao An admitted that holding a public lottery had an element of intimidation towards the Jiao family, he could not prevent the massacre of the entire family from happening as long as Jiao Zheng did not back down.

To paraphrase what I said in my past life, since we're already here, what would it look like if we didn't kill a few people?

If the person in charge, who was chosen by lottery, hesitates and backs down, he shouldn't stay in the canal gang anymore.

Therefore, Zhao An was in a difficult situation, caught between a rock and a hard place.

He could only gamble on what Jiao Zheng dared not gamble on!
New information has arrived that the canal gangs at the docks have completely gained the upper hand.

The thugs that the Jiao family had drawn from various places were not exactly no match for the canal workers who outnumbered them several times over. However, they only lasted for less than half an incense stick's time before being completely crushed by the canal gang like a rabble.

The weapons the canal workers used to crush the Jiao family thugs were not knives, axes, iron bars, or wooden sticks, but their means of livelihood—bamboo poles.

The second gang, led by a minor leader named Baili Yunlong, used over two hundred of his men to form a circular formation with bamboo poles, forcing over four hundred Jiao family thugs to jump into the canal.

In the dead of winter, even if they didn't drown, these thugs would freeze to death.

However, there was a big problem that Zhao An was unaware of: the large-scale brawl involving more than 10,000 people that occurred at Xiaguan Wharf had attracted the attention of the "relevant departments" in Yangzhou.

Gang feuds are not uncommon, and deaths over territory are even more common, as long as you don't cause trouble for the government.

However, this was the first time in Yangzhou's history that such a large-scale armed conflict had occurred, deeply touching the sensitive nerve of the relevant government departments in Yangzhou.

Because, in the eyes of officials, armed conflict was the "trigger" for rebellion.

The Lin Shuangwen Uprising in Taiwan, which was quelled a couple of years ago, originated from a gang fight.

A large-scale armed conflict broke out between the Tiandihui (Heaven and Earth Society) from mainland China and the Leigonghui (Thunder God Society) from Taiwan, which resulted in suppression by the Qing army and ultimately led to the Lin Shuangwen Uprising.

Prior to this, the Qing army's suppression of Hui troops in the Northwest was also due to armed conflicts between the old and new sects of the Hui people, which led to a rebellion.

Therefore, once armed conflicts escalate to a large scale, local officials are undoubtedly terrified.

The Yangzhou Prefectural Government, the Jiangdu County Government, the Ganquan County Government, and the Military Commander's Office that commands the troops stationed in the Yangzhou area are all sending people to investigate this matter.

Because Zhao An had already given instructions, Lao Ding only pretended to ask about it in Ganquan County. However, the prefectural government and the provincial council were very nervous, fearing that this armed conflict would escalate into an anti-Qing uprising.

The Salt Administration Office was also paying close attention to this matter.

The canal has been blocked by the grain transport gangs for three days. If these government offices still don't know what's going on, then they're truly a bunch of useless people.

However, neither the Salt Administration nor the Prefectural Government sent anyone to demand that the Canal Transport Guild stop their "strike" during these three days, nor did they even ask the Canal Transport Guild what their demands were. Instead, they remained silent as if nothing had happened.

Zhao An's understanding of this is that it stems from the inherent flaws of officials.

As long as it doesn't involve me, you can do whatever you want.

I don't mean to undermine you, nor do I mean to help you.

They probably all wanted to see the Grand Canal transport office make a fool of itself.

However, the Grand Canal Gang's large-scale armed conflict with the Jiao family at the docks made the officials who wanted to see the Grand Canal transport system fail restless. Zhao An's public lottery for death had already drawn strong "protests" from the prefectural government and the provincial council to the Grand Canal Gang's branch headquarters.

However, even if he knew this, he couldn't care less. If he didn't subdue the Jiao family now, the backlash from this matter would come crashing down on him like a tidal wave.

The gang members in charge of drawing lots had already mixed up the live and dead lots together. Time was ticking away, and Zhao An was extremely nervous.

But he made the right bet.

Jiao Zheng indeed dared not gamble, or more accurately, dared not take the risk.

No one would risk the lives of their entire family to gamble on whether the other party is bluffing.

Or perhaps Jiao Zheng realized that he had to back down, because the person secretly in charge of the canal gang could not turn back.

Moreover, the Grand Canal Gang now holds an absolute advantage in strength, and his men simply cannot resist them.

The lottery ceremony was paused at the last second. Jiao Zheng agreed to give up some of the "routes" he operated to the Canal Gang, on the condition that the Canal Gang would never again use Zhang Baofa's death to "extort" the Jiao family after obtaining the "operating qualifications" for these routes.

At Zhao An's behest, Ding Jiu led several officials to the mansion to negotiate with Jiao Zheng.

He wasn't afraid of Jiao Zheng killing him behind closed doors; if he dared to do so, thousands of members of the Canal Gang could raze his house to the ground.

Half an hour later, Ding Jiu and the others came out.

Jiao Zheng's proposed solution was to give two "routes" to the Grand Canal Gang, and the 80 salt boats belonging to the Jiao family on these two routes would also belong to the Grand Canal Gang.

One route goes to Hunan, and the other goes to Xuzhou.

"How much freight revenue can the Jiao family earn each year from these two routes?"

Zhao An only knew the salt prices in different regions, but was unaware of the profit margins in the transportation sector.

Ding Jiu knew that, conservatively estimated, the annual transportation cost was around 120 million taels.

The 1.2 million taels is definitely less than half of the Jiao family's revenue that Zhao An wanted; the difference is at least 1 million taels.

"Young Master, this should be Jiao Zheng's bottom line."

Ding Jiu suggested that they should stop while they were ahead, because this was the best result he and Jiao Zheng had reached after several rounds of back-and-forth negotiations. If they insisted on asking for more, it would be difficult to guarantee that they wouldn't push Jiao Zheng to the brink of desperation.

He also mentioned that he saw several guards carrying bird guns at the Jiao family's residence.

"A musket?"

Zhao An frowned. The Qing court strictly prohibited civilians from privately possessing vests, shields, cannons, and crossbows, and also banned arquebuses. However, arquebuses were sometimes exempted, such as for defense against thieves or wild animals.

However, matchlock guns were strictly prohibited. Anyone who privately manufactured or possessed a matchlock gun, whether a civilian or an official, would be executed. The reason for this was that matchlock guns were far more powerful than muskets.

In my past life, I read a book written by Ji Da Yandai, which seemed to contain stories about civilians carrying firearms. The fact that Ji Da Yandai could write about it so openly suggests that it must have been commonplace for civilians to possess firearms like muskets in the later years of Emperor Qianlong's reign. Otherwise, Ji Da Yandai wouldn't have dared to equip his servants with two muskets.

The fact that Jiao's guards took out their bird guns shows that Jiao Zheng was prepared to fight to the death.

But it's also possible that they deliberately let Ding Jiu and the others see it.

After a moment's consideration, Zhao An said to Ding Jiu, "Go and tell Jiao Zheng to compensate my Canal Gang with 300,000 taels of silver in one lump sum. Also, I don't want the Hunan route; I want the Hubei route. If he agrees, my Canal Gang will never make things difficult for him again. If he doesn't agree..."

Zhao Anwei snorted: "You might as well tell him outright, do you think his family has more muskets than my brothers from the Canal Gang?"

(End of this chapter)