Daming talker

Chapter 532: Continuous Upgrading
With Xu Fan's reputation in the local area, a group of people naturally came forward as soon as he opened his mouth to greet them.

Moreover, they are all powerful people with a certain status. Ordinary people are not qualified to go to the government office with Xu Fan to put pressure on him.

When Xu Fan was about to leave, he saw Feng Shike standing still and asked in surprise, "Brother Feng! Why don't you go to the government office with me?"

Although you, Feng Shike, have been blaming Lin Taifu just now, this is an internal local conflict.

But if you, Feng Shike, are unwilling to take practical actions and put pressure on the government office, then you will be cutting yourself off from the local people!

Feng Shike replied with little interest: "You have never dealt with Lin Jiuyuan directly before. I am sure that going to the government office will be a waste of time, so why go?"

Everyone: "."

Although Lin Taipu may have made the mistake of left-wing blind activism, Old Feng, you are not allowed to commit right-wing capitulationism, okay?

Feng Shike sighed helplessly, "Forget it! Although I know it's useless, I'll still follow you!"

After that, these local officials and gentry left the provincial school and went to the government office, where they soon met the prefect Xu Zhenming.

For local officials, having a bunch of local gentry come to put pressure on them is one of the most troublesome things.

Xu Fan said to the prefect Xu with deep sorrow: "A peasant woman works hard to weave cloth, but she can only earn 30 pieces of cloth every year.

It all depends on the sales in autumn and winter to improve household expenses, which is related to the livelihood of people throughout the country!
Now we have a powerful neighbor next to us, who has cut off our county’s communications, so that foreign merchants are not allowed to enter and local ships are not allowed to leave.

Tens of millions of pieces of cloth are piled up in the territory, and the people's hard work for a year is wasted. Are you indifferent?"

Xu Zhenming asked like a complete novice: "Why would the people of Suzhou cut off the waterway?"

Xu Fan tried his best to explain: "It was just a small misunderstanding. But we can't let a small misunderstanding affect the well-being of millions of people."

"Mr. Taichang is right!" Prefect Xu agreed with Xu Fan very much, and then said very proactively: "I will immediately send a letter to Suzhou Prefecture, asking the Suzhou Prefecture to work hard to solve this problem!"

Xu Fan was not stingy with his praise, "Your Excellency treats the people with kindness like a parent. I would like to thank you on behalf of the people of this county!"

Prefect Xu asked the servant to serve tea again, and then he took the lead in picking up the teacup, which meant that he wanted to end the conversation.

Everyone: "?"

Is that the end? Just post a message to Suzhou and that’s it? What’s next?
We have all been officials, and everyone knows that just saying "issue a document" is misleading!
Prefect Xu looked at everyone and asked in confusion, "What else do you want me to do?"

Xu Fan had to say: "Sending a letter to Suzhou alone is far from enough to solve the problem. We need to take more measures."

Prefect Xu couldn't help but chuckle and said, "What you are talking about is a business matter, so why not talk about business.

I would like to ask, can the total commercial taxes paid by such a prosperous Songjiang Prefecture reach 20,000 taels?

I am just a humble servant, and I only paid such a small amount of money. How much can I expect the government to do for me?"

Faced with the prefect's twisted logic, everyone was speechless for a moment.

The city has an annual business turnover of several million, but the government's business tax is less than 20,000. What kind of life are you playing with?
In the Ming Dynasty, commercial taxation was so pitiful! Not to mention that the proportion was very low, it was also dispensable.

Then Prefect Xu expressed his embarrassment appropriately and said: "Even if a group of strong bandits occupied the waterway and cut off the navigation channel, it is still within the territory of Suzhou Prefecture.

Even though we in Songjiang Prefecture have organized militias, we have no right to cross borders to suppress them. This is a systemic problem, and I can do nothing about it."

Xu Fan replied: "Then I will appeal to the governor."

Prefect Xu slammed the table and said, "That's right! I've also sent a letter to the governor! Wait for your superiors to deal with it!"

Faced with a bureaucrat's maneuvering and fighting, the gentry actually had no better solution.

After leaving the government office, someone angrily said, "I don't believe that Suzhou really dares to block the waterway! No one will benefit if we keep wasting time!"

Feng Shike said quietly, "Don't disbelieve me, they are really brave. If they continue to waste time, we in Songjiang Prefecture will be the first to give up."

The man said in dissatisfaction: "Why are you boosting others' morale and destroying your own prestige?"

Feng Shike chose to speak with facts: "Haven't you heard that the price of cotton cloth in Suzhou has doubled?
Although Suzhou Prefecture's cotton cloth production was far less than that of Songjiang Prefecture, there were still millions of pieces exported. They must be very happy that the selling price had doubled.

I heard that even the price of silk, Suzhou Prefecture's main product, was inexplicably driven up.

If those foreign merchants who came to Songjiang Prefecture with money to purchase cotton cloth did not want to make a wasted trip, they could only spend money to purchase it in Suzhou Prefecture!

So who do you think will give up first, them or us?"

Everyone: "."

Songjiang Prefecture is a powerful county in the world, and its economy is the best in the country!
Men farm and women weave, producing 15 million shi of grain and 40 million rolls of cotton cloth every year!

The total volume is much higher than that of Changzhou, the third largest city! The per capita volume is higher than that of Suzhou, the largest city! They are really proud of this!

How come I only discovered today that I can be easily controlled and sanctioned by others?

Xu Fan said to the others: "It seems that just as Feng Shike said, the simplest and most convenient way is indeed to make Lin Taifu bow his head.

It doesn't seem appropriate to let the people of the entire county fight to the death with Lin Taifu."

Just like his father Xu Jie, when he met Yan Song, he had to be submissive.

Seeing that others were silent, Xu Fan asked Feng Shike again: "Did Lin Jiuyuan have any conditions?"

Feng Shike replied: "Lin Jiuyuan said that the Xinwu Company has just opened, and the planned main business of Wusong River shipping has not yet been launched, so there is no business at present, and it is urgently needed to open up the business.

Therefore, starting this year, all cotton cloth produced by the tenants of the Lin family will be purchased and sold by the Xinwu Society."

The cotton cloth production and silk fabric production of this era seem to be both textile industries, but in fact they are two completely different models.

Silk weaving is done in a workshop mode, and a large silk loom often requires three to five people to operate.

The production of cotton cloth is a typical "small peasant economy". A spinning wheel can be operated by one person, and weaving is done by housewives at home.

Therefore, cotton cloth production, to some extent, is still dependent on the land and is considered the main sideline of farmers.

Lin Tailai's "unified purchase and sales" condition is based on this.

Everyone then went to Suyuan on the outskirts of the city to persuade Lin Taifu.

At this time, Lin Taifu looked even more haggard than when he was injured, probably because he had not slept well in the past few days. Because Lin Taifu was unable to manage the affairs of the Lin family, his younger brother temporarily took charge of the affairs of the Lin family.

"Impossible!" Master Lin rejected the peace terms without even thinking about it.

The tenants under the name of their Lin family produce 200,000 rolls of cotton cloth a year. How can they give such a big business to others for free?

Xu Fan asked: "Then how do you think this matter can be resolved?"

Master Lin gritted his teeth and said, "Don't worry about it! We in the Lin family naturally have the old way!"

Xu Fan did not ask any more questions and stood up to leave. The others also pretended to know nothing and prepared to leave.

If you can settle the matter with Lin Jiuyuan, everyone will be happy to see it happen, Mr. Lin, but if you can't, we'll talk about it later.

Everyone can guess what Mr. Lin meant by the "old method". After all, they are all local tycoons and powerful people, and they have a lot of common ideas.

Now is the slack season for farming, and it is not difficult to gather one or two thousand, or two or three thousand tenants and farmhands who are dependent on the family.

Smashing a government office or attacking a county prison is not something that cannot be done.

Arousing public anger and triggering civil unrest is not a new thing. It has happened many times in the neighboring Suzhou Prefecture in recent years!
Only the kind-hearted Feng Shike tried to persuade him, but Mr. Lin Er did not appreciate it. Instead, he said to Feng Shike:

“I know that you, Brother Feng, have a good relationship with Lin Jiuyuan, but we are not afraid of Lin Jiuyuan finding out about our actions!
If Lin Jiuyuan doesn't want to lose control, he should take the initiative to leave the county prison, stop pretending to be wronged, and go back to Suzhou Prefecture!"

This was roughly what Mr. Lin Er was planning. If Lin Jiuyuan was scared and ran away, then the lie that he was wrongly imprisoned would be exposed.

If Lin Jiuyuan is brave enough to refuse to leave, then just kidnap him and take him hostage.

The enraged mobs were capable of anything. They even dared to attack the governor, let alone Lin Jiuyuan!
After all, this is Songjiang Prefecture, not Suzhou Prefecture. Taking advantage of the home field is a necessary quality for every powerful team!
Feng Shike did not want to see the conflict between Lin Tailai and the local villagers escalate, so he informed Lin Tailai of the news that Lin Taifu's family was gathering people.

His original intention was to persuade Lin Tailai to "stay away from the limelight for a while" and that a gentleman should not stand under a dangerous wall.

But he didn't expect that Lin Tailai was still living in the county prison and refused to come out, as if he didn't think the county prison was a place of death.

Those who are familiar with the Jiangnan region know that due to the dense population, in many places the city and the outside of the city are connected, and the city defense has become almost non-existent.

A few days later, two to three thousand people gathered on the street near the county government office, shouting slogans to expel the Jiuyuan thieves.

No one knew who gave the order, but these two to three thousand people rushed toward the county prison west of the county government office.

In the local ecology of the Ming Dynasty, generally speaking, the government runners, militiamen, or local garrison troops did not dare to take action against such "rioters" on the spot.

Unless there is a death order from superiors, it must be severely suppressed.

The rioters are not scary. What is scary is the people who can organize the rioters. The yamen runners, militiamen, and stationed soldiers are afraid of them.

This time was no exception. Two to three thousand rioters rushed through the front yard of the county government office in one breath and arrived at the west gate of the county prison.

Because of its special nature, the outer walls of the county prison are taller, tougher and more defensive than ordinary walls.

After the rioters rushed over, they were unable to climb over the wall or break down the gate for a while, and the offensive came to a brief halt.

Then, under the command of someone who was concerned, some people began to carry the prepared ladders and set them up on the outer wall.

At this moment, a drum sound was heard from the county prison, and then a row of soldiers in red jackets appeared on the wall.

Every soldier held a crossbow in his hand and shot outside without mercy.

Because the crowd outside was so dense, there was no need to aim. Arrows were flying everywhere and people were hit one after another.

These rioters were originally gathered together by farmers who were off-duty during farming season and were totally unprepared for this situation.

In most people's minds, they just came here with the crowd to have some fun, but they never expected that they would be killed without mercy.

When the first group of people were hit by arrows, although only a dozen people were injured or fell to the ground, the crowd exploded instantly!

At this time, a loud shout was heard from outside the county government office, and the voice of "government troops are here" was faintly heard.

Then all the rioters disappeared and became good citizens on the spot, and everyone turned around and fled.

Those who were already inside the county government office hurriedly ran out; those who were outside the county government office could see more clearly that a large number of government troops had arrived at the alley entrance, and they ran directly out of the city from the other end of the alley!
The government troops gathered outside the county government office did not rush to take action, but just followed the rioters from a distance.

A group of main rioters subconsciously wanted to find a backbone, and ended up running to the Lin family's Suyuan not far outside the city wall.

Then, about several hundred to a thousand government troops followed them and rushed into Suyuan following the rioters.
Today's riot and the farce of suppression directly shocked all those who were there to watch the fun.

The worst thing was that the government troops who were suppressing the riots actually rushed into the Lin Family Su Garden!
This made all the local wealthy gentry feel extremely frightened and lose their sense of security!
Everyone is asking, how can there be such a government army? Is this still a peaceful and prosperous era?

Several local leaders knew where the key figure was, and as soon as they got the news, they all went to the county prison.

Mr. Lin hugged a beautiful woman and explained to everyone: "The governor heard that there was a dispute between the two prefectures and was worried that I would be harmed in Songjiang Prefecture, which would lead to even more unpredictable consequences.

So I specially transferred 1,500 government troops from Suzhou Guard and conscripted 300 militiamen from Suzhou Prefecture, and they came to Songjiang Prefecture two days ago to protect me.

I originally thought that this was a waste of time, but I didn't expect that someone would actually want to harm me and would even go so far as to attack the county prison!
Fortunately, we have the protection of government troops, and we can find the lair by chasing the rioters and catch the culprit!
This is truly a great kindness! If I were killed, the blood feud between the two governments would be very difficult to resolve!"

Everyone in Songjiang Prefecture: “.”

I have never realized so deeply the truth that the winner is the king and the loser is the villain. Whoever wins has the loudest voice.

Originally everyone had a lot to say to blame Lin Tailai, but now they couldn’t say it because it was meaningless!

Prefect Xu, who was standing nearby, seemed to be still in shock and said, "Thank goodness the governor had foresight, otherwise this prefecture would have been guilty of a great crime!

I think the defense force in Songjiang City is really insufficient. We should apply to the governor to set up a garrison post and form a garrison camp in the same way as Suzhou."

Lin Tailai replied: "We should indeed strengthen our defenses. It is wrong to allow two or three thousand people to attack the government office at will.

It just so happens that there are 1,500 soldiers from Suzhou Guard here, and they can be temporarily loaned to Songjiang Prefecture to serve as a garrison force."

Everyone in Songjiang Prefecture: “.”

The city of Songjiang Prefecture was garrisoned by the Suzhou Guards. What was this about? Would there still be sovereignty for the local area in the future?
Could it be that you, Lin Tailai, have been planning all this since you started beating people up?

Are you deliberately teasing others and escalating the situation?
It was as if countless pieces of information were impacting the brains of the gentry in Songjiang Prefecture, making it difficult for them to think clearly.

(End of this chapter)