Prime Minister

Chapter 264, Page 263: [People's Hearts Yearn for Change]

In the southwest of Yangzhou city, there is a famous garden with elegant scenery similar to the gardens of Jiangnan, which is Xiuyuan Garden, comparable to Yingyuan Garden.

Since the establishment of the Lianghuai Salt Merchants Association, Xiuyuan Garden has gradually become the center of the Huaiyang business community, and small and medium-sized merchants consider it an honor to be able to enter Xiuyuan Garden and meet Qiao Wangshan.

There were also those with shrewd minds who knew that Qiao Wangshan was able to become the head of the association because of Shen Bingwen's humility. The latter was Xue Tongzhi's true confidant. Especially after the news of the engagement between the Xue and Shen families spread, they became even more convinced that Shen Bingwen was the future leader of the Huaiyang business community.

However, the young lady living in Shen Garden was Xue Tongzhi's fiancée, and ordinary people really didn't dare to bother her. They could only continue to visit Xiu Garden every few days in order to try to get some valuable information in advance.

However, the atmosphere in the main hall of the park was somewhat somber today.

When the Salt Association was first established last year, in addition to the chairman Qiao Wangshan and vice chairman Shen Bingwen, a total of fifteen core members were elected. They were the most powerful representatives of the Lianghuai salt merchants, and they were not deeply involved with the already destroyed Liu Zheng and other powerful families. They had all been recognized by Xue Huai and Huang Chong.

Today, seventeen prominent businessmen gathered at the park, a scene rarely seen in the past.

Qiao Wangshan and Shen Bingwen sat in the main seats, while the others sat on their left and right. Although there were many servants and attendants in the hall, not one of them made a sound.

"With everyone here so well, I thought I had sent out an invitation."

Qiao Wangshan broke the silence first, a gentle smile appearing on his old face.

Although he is over sixty years old, he has been leading the salt merchants for the past six months and still appears to be in good spirits.

Naturally, everyone had to give face to the leader, and immediately echoed him with a few words, each with their own thoughts.

Qiao Wangshan took in everyone's reactions and knew their intentions perfectly well. He couldn't help but look at Shen Bingwen beside him, who then nodded slightly.

After a moment's thought, Qiao Wangshan said bluntly, "I have a rough idea of ​​why you have come here today. I suppose it is related to the recent differential treatment by the canal administration?"

Wang Shilin, who was sitting in the first seat on the left, sighed, "Old Qiao, I never expected the Grand Canal Administration and the Grand Canal Gang to act this way. What are we going to do in the future?"

Many people resonate with this statement.

For the merchants in the hall, the pursuit was to make money through harmony, and no one wanted to provoke the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner's Office.

Although they had ways to stay away from the control of the Grand Canal, such as by exclusively using land freight, as long as they didn't get involved with the Grand Canal, the Grand Canal couldn't directly threaten their businesses. However, merchants had to consider costs when doing business.

To give a simple example, if someone here has a business that needs to transport 2,000 catties of goods to Xuzhou, it would take at least half a month by land and cost about 70 taels of silver, while by canal it would only take a maximum of seven days and cost about 40 taels of silver.

In short, wherever canal freight could reach, the time and money spent by merchants were only about half that of land transport. For a few large merchants who owned merchant ships, the cost would be even lower.

No one can ignore such a huge gap. If merchants weren't in it for making money, why would they take such great risks and travel all over the place?

Qiao Wangshan looked around at everyone and said gently, "From the current perspective, the Cao Yamen is only targeting the Qiao family's De'an ship and the Shen family's Guangtai ship, so you don't need to worry too much."

This is the truth.

For nearly half a month, the grain transport authorities have only targeted the merchant ships of the Qiao and Shen families. Moreover, they have handled the situation very well. Even if they endlessly inspect the merchant ships of these two families, they will avoid their salt transport, thereby avoiding conflicts with the Lianghuai Salt Transport Office and only targeting the other industries of these two families.

However, the previous actions of the canal administration were limited to boarding ships for inspection and verbal harassment. But yesterday, the Yangzhou Salt Commissioner's Office took decisive action at the Dongguan Wharf, directly seizing two cargo ships belonging to the Shen family and three cargo ships belonging to the Qiao family. This news quickly spread throughout the Yangzhou business community, so today fifteen core members of the Salt Association came to Xiuyuan together.

Hearing Qiao Wangshan's words of comfort, Huang Dezhong, who was sitting in the first seat on the right, sighed and said, "Old Qiao, the canal administration will definitely not let this go, and these days the canal gangs in the city have been restless, causing trouble for my family's businesses from time to time."

These words immediately resonated with and were echoed by others.

Although the canal transport authorities only targeted the Qiao and Shen families, the canal gangs could not remain completely calm and restrained. Even if they dared not act recklessly in the open, stirring up trouble was their forte.

"The matter with the canal gang is easy to resolve. If anyone dares to come and cause trouble, just report it to the government office."

Shen Bingwen spoke calmly, looking at everyone and saying, "You are all probably already aware of the deeds of that third young master of the Canal Gang. The government will certainly not sit idly by."

This statement reassured many business tycoons somewhat.

Sang Chengze injured Qiao Wenxuan and then personally came to Xiuyuan to apologize to the Qiao family. He is still working for Xue Huai. With such a "hostage" around, the Cao Gang will definitely not dare to go too far.

The problem is that, compared to the canal gangs, these people still fear the canal authorities the most, as the latter have countless legitimate reasons to manipulate them along the Grand Canal. Qiao Wangshan observed the expressions of the crowd, his smile gradually fading, and slowly said, "Please feel free to speak your minds."

No one spoke, and the hall fell silent.

In fact, everyone knew in their hearts why the canal administration and the canal gangs were targeting them. Ultimately, it was because the establishment of the Salt Merchants Association affected their vital interests.

As long as the Salt Merchants Association is dissolved, the dispute over salt and grain transport can be resolved immediately, and the two sides can return to their previous harmonious relationship.

But who dares to bring this up?
The Salt Association was personally promoted and established by Xue Huai. He personally drafted the association's charter and devoted himself to creating a relatively fair and open business environment. What is even more commendable is that he did not interfere too much with the daily operation of the Salt Association. Instead, he stepped forward to appease the merchants when they needed it.

For these salt merchants, the establishment of the Salt Association brought them many benefits and conveniences. For example, they no longer had to go around bribing officials to apply for salt permits as before; when there was direct competition among them, someone would help coordinate; and they no longer needed to pay their share to the canal gang, thus saving a lot of expenses. These were all benefits that they personally experienced.

Although their vision was not as broad as Xue Huai's, they vaguely realized that as the association continued to improve, they, as the first core members to join, would benefit from far more than just these benefits in the future.

If it weren't for the fact that they now had to face the terrifying behemoth that is the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner's Office, these salt merchants would certainly be the association's most steadfast supporters.

Seeing that no one spoke, Qiao Wangshan coughed lightly and said seriously, "Since no one is willing to speak, then I will say a few words. I believe everyone here remembers what kind of life we ​​lived before Lord Xue took office in Yangzhou. At that time, Xu Guanlan, Liu Fu, Zheng Boyan and others colluded to control the profits of the Lianghuai salt industry and treated us as if they wanted to devour us clean. If it weren't for Lord Xue's intervention to investigate and deal with them, even if our businesses could survive, they would certainly be in a state of barely hanging on."

"That's right!"

Sitting on the right, Xu Deshun sighed, "If it weren't for Lord Xue's superior strategy in inviting Elder Qiao, Master Shen, and our colleagues in Hangzhou to help us when Xu Guanlan and the others plotted to seize our business, my family's estate would have been taken away by those people. Even just because of this incident, I would absolutely support Lord Xue and our Salt Merchants Association!"

Qiao Wangshan looked at him approvingly and nodded, saying, "That's exactly the point. You all have seen how much effort Lord Xue has put into our Lianghuai salt merchants. At the beginning of the Salt Merchants Association, Lord Xue said that this would arouse the suspicion of the Grand Canal Administration and the Grand Canal Gang. At that time, none of you raised any objections. Why are you so dejected now because of a little setback and hardship?"

Everyone lowered their heads in shame.

A moment later, Zhou Yan, sitting next to Wang Shilin, said cautiously, "Old Qiao, the Grand Canal Administration is ultimately not something we merchants can contend with. However, I am not here today with any ulterior motives. I only hope that Old Qiao and Master Shen can represent us and ask Lord Xue for help on this matter."

Huang Dezhong nodded and said, "Yes, Elder Qiao, as the saying goes, the common people cannot fight against the officials. If we offend the canal transport authorities, I'm afraid that our merchant ships will never be able to appear on the canal again. We really cannot bear such consequences."

Within moments, seven or eight people echoed his sentiments.

For them, staying in the Salt Merchants Association would bring many conveniences and benefits, but completely offending the Grand Canal Administration would be a loss. Therefore, the best solution was to ask Xue Huai to intervene. As long as the all-powerful Lord Xue reached an agreement with the Grand Canal Administration, they would not be caught in the middle and in a dilemma.

Qiao Wangshan felt a pang of disappointment, but he didn't show it on his face. He said in a deep voice, "Let me be frank, what do you take Lord Xue for? You expect him to solve your problems when you encounter difficulties, while you leisurely make a lot of money. Where in this world is there such a cheap and easy thing? You only want to enjoy the rights but are unwilling to bear the obligations. I'm afraid the Salt Merchants Association cannot accept such a person."

Upon hearing this, many people turned pale.

Qiao Wangshan's words were unpleasant to hear, but they were the absolute truth.

If the Salt Association always has to rely on Xue Huai for shelter and they can just hide behind him and make a fortune, then why should Xue Huai bother with all this effort?

Seeing the expressions on everyone's faces, Shen Bingwen said, "Elder Qiao, please calm down. After all, the Grand Canal Administration holds considerable power, and what Brother Wang and Brother Huang said makes some sense. Since the Grand Canal Administration is only targeting the Qiao and Shen families, then please, Elder Qiao, and I will go to the Supervisory Office to negotiate with that Magistrate Zhao and see if we can resolve the misunderstanding between us. If we can resolve it smoothly, we won't need to bother Director Xue, and everyone can rest assured. What do you say?"

Qiao Wangshan remained silent for a moment, then finally nodded and said, "Very well, let's do as Brother Shen suggests. Does anyone have any objections?"

Everyone quickly expressed their opinions.

After they left the main hall, Qiao Wangshan snorted coldly with an unfriendly expression and said to Shen Bingwen beside him, "This time... I'm afraid we're going to lose face badly."

Shen Bingwen smiled and said, "It's easy to share happiness, but difficult to share hardship. Otherwise, you can't see people's true character."

Qiao Wangshan also laughed, and involuntarily looked in the direction of the government office.

The recent actions of the Grand Canal Transport Office were exactly what Xue Huai had expected, and he and Shen Bingwen were also mentally prepared for it. Even today's less-than-pleasant negotiations were progressing exactly as Xue Huai had predicted.

At this moment, Qiao Wangshan suddenly felt a little scared, because he still couldn't see through the whole picture of the game set up by that young man.

He could only sigh silently, "The younger generation is truly formidable."

(End of this chapter)