serious man in the red chamber

Chapter 15 Anger and Reality
Salt Chamber of Commerce.

The streets are bustling and bustling.

The door of the chamber of commerce is closed.

The yard was full of servants in charge, all of them nervous and silent.

In the hall, eight general merchants sat opposite each other at a long table.

At this time, the chiming bell in the corner suddenly rang!
Everyone trembled.

Mr. Wang looked back - it was noon!

After being silent for a while, Mr. Wang said: "There are three hours left before the sunset, so we can't delay any longer." Then, he pressed his hand on the official document, "40 taels, 5 taels for a family, go back and prepare Next, after an hour, they will be transported to the military camp outside the city together."

Mr. Cheng raised his head: "It's easy to say, 40 taels was swept through the cracks in the cabin, and it was also swept out. It's just that the guy surnamed Jia didn't know which muscle was wrong, and he was on the embankment. Soldiers, how do you get the salt?!"

Boss Bai: "How long?"

Mr. Cheng: "At least two or three months."

"It will take so long?!" Everyone was shocked.

Mr. Wang was stunned, and sat there silent for a while, then waved his hand: "No matter what, deal with the errands first, this is a donation, and it is also a military order, and people will die if they are late."

Everyone was silent.

Mr. Jiang asked with a cold face: "One mouthful is 40 donations, and it has to be delivered before sunset. What does the surname Jia mean? Today we want 40, and tomorrow we want another 40. Even if we have a big family, we can How long?"

Everyone was shocked again, they all raised their heads and looked at Mr. Wang.

Mr. Huang squinted his eyes: "Yangzhou is a place where gold and silver are thrown away, and spending this little money is nothing. If we can get on the boat of the Xungui military, let alone 40 taels, it will be 400 million It's worth two."

Mr. Jiang snorted, and Mr. Wang quickly grabbed the conversation: "That's it, that's it. The boat will be straight when it reaches the bridge. Let's pass this one first."

Mr. Huang nodded.

Wang Zongshang: "Recently, we have stopped all private salt. While taking the official salt allocated by the Ministry of Households step by step, we took advantage of the sharp rise in salt prices to sell all the salt in the two salt warehouses. I calculated it and removed We can still make a lot of money from the tax money handed over to the Yanzheng Yamen. The court got the money, the man in the military camp got face, and everyone is safe and sound."

General Manager Jiang replied angrily: "Brother Wang, what do you mean? Are we still afraid that a brat will fail! We have seen a lot of officials with Jinshi backgrounds, big and small, and how many imperial envoys, when they come, One shouted more fiercely than the other, but in the end, they just took the money and walked away obediently."

Mr. Huang: "It's different this time! Didn't you see that they hold an army in their hands, do you think you've lived too long?"

General Manager Jiang shouted angrily: "I don't need your lesson!"

Mr. Ma: "Don't get angry, don't get angry. Brother Huang is also for everyone's consideration. As the old saying goes, rich people don't fight with officials, and they upset him."

General Manager Jiang swept the tea bowl on the table far away, stood up slowly, and sneered: "Lao Ma is also a role in Jiangnan, but now he is doing well, following behind others all day to promise, those who don't know think you It's someone else's servant."

Mr. Ma blushed immediately: "You!"

Mr. Huang slapped the table and said, "If you want to talk, you should speak well, don't criticize Sang Huai here."

General Manager Jiang became even angrier when he heard this: "A salt merchant, actually colluding with outsiders, eating inside and out!"

Mr. Huang's complexion changed, he stood up abruptly, walked a few steps, and said loudly, "Actually, this has nothing to do with Mr. Huang. To put it bluntly, I want to find a way out for the salt merchants."

General Manager Jiang said coldly: "Ask yourself, are you worthy of the salt merchants and your ancestors?"

Mr. Huang: "Don't worry, I'll give you an explanation."

General Manager Jiang: "Explain? You have benefited, but we have no way out."

Mr. Huang didn't say anything. He took out a dagger from his arms and stabbed it directly into his thigh, deep into the handle of the knife. Blood flowed out, staining the dark pants red.

Mr. Jiang said with a livid face, "You are ruthless!" After saying that, he left without looking back.

Mr. Cheng tried his best to be calm: "I said, man, why are you bothering? The friendship of several generations, now." Shaking his head, he strode out the door.

Mr. Ma and the others were stunned by Mr. Huang's move.

Mr. Wang was also startled, and shouted, "Come on!"

All of a sudden, Mr. Wang's entourage and several of Mr. Wang's entourages, together with the stewards here, all ran in, and they were all shocked when they saw this.

Huang Zongshang's entourage hurriedly ran over to hold him.

Huang Zongshang endured the pain, bowed his hands to Wang Zongshang and others, and said to his followers: "Go back to the house."

At a loss, the followers lifted him up and walked out.

Mr. Ma made an apologetic expression to several people, and followed him out.

Bao and Bai quickly exchanged a knowing look, and then sent them out.

Mr. Wang stood there blankly, muttering: "...how could it be like this?"

Xiao Zongshang also showed a dazed and gloomy look in his eyes.

Yanzheng yamen, back house.

The medicine pot on the stove was gurgling and steaming.

Sitting next to the medicine jar, Wang Momo wiped her tears while staring at the medicine jar.

In the ward, several old nuns held their breath and stood aside nervously looking at Imperial Physician Wang who was taking Jia Min's pulse.

After a while, Doctor Wang opened his eyes, stood up, and walked out without saying a word.

Lin Daiyu hurried out from behind the green gauze cabinet, and quickly held Jia Min's hand: "Mother?"

Jia Min opened his eyes, looked at Daiyu, sighed first, and then said, "Yu'er."

Lin Daiyu: "My daughter is here."

Jia Min: "Mother, it looks like she won't have a few days to live. The only thing I can't let go of is you."

Lin Daiyu knelt by the bed, and said with a choked voice, "You are in good fortune, and you will definitely recover."

Looking at her teary-eyed daughter, Jia Min reached out and touched her little face, "Good boy, don't cry, mother doesn't like to see your teary eyes." Then he coughed violently.

Daiyu quickly wiped away the tears from her face with a handkerchief, smiled, and held Jia Min's hand: "Don't cry. My daughter doesn't cry."

Carts full of silver ingots, rice and meat were parked in the teaching ground outside the Yangzhou military camp.

Li Mingbo, the magistrate of Yangzhou, Wang Zongshang and others stood outside the gate waiting for the mission.

Suddenly, the ground vibrated slightly, everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, what's the sound, so neat?

Looking back, I saw teams of sergeants running neatly along the official road, all of them were fully armed and wore iron armor. When they ran, the queue was not chaotic at all, only a neat roar was heard.

Everyone took a breath, is this still those young men who just put down their hoes?

Looking at the troops pouring into the camp, Li Mingbo's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help saying, "This is the army."

General Manager Wang and the others nodded.

After a while, the officer on duty came out and said to them, "Follow me in."

Li Mingbo exchanged glances with Wang Zongshang and Ma Zongshang, and walked in.

Jia Hu was sitting on the handsome seat, looking down at the account books.

Lin San led Li Mingbo and others into the room.

Lin San went to Jia Hu's side and reported: "General, the magistrate Mr. Li and several general merchants have arrived."

Jia Hu nodded, flipped through the account books quickly, and then his eyes stopped: "I want 40 taels to donate, why only 35 taels?"

Mr. Wang took a step forward: "It is an honor for me to be a salt merchant to be able to serve the general. After we discussed it, each family donated 5 taels of silver. In addition, we sent [-] sheep and [-] taels of silver to the barracks every day. Pig."

After a pause, "As for Mr. Jiang's 5 taels, I think it's still on the way."

Jia Hu nodded to him, then took out his pocket watch.

The pointer on the pocket watch has already pointed to the end of the future.

At this moment, Yang Dayong walked in: "General."

Jia Hu glanced at him: "What's the matter?"

Yang Dayong looked at Li Mingbo and the others, walked up to Jia Hu, and said in a low voice, "General, there's news from Imperial Physician Wang that my aunt's time is only a few days away."

Although these words were light, they penetrated into everyone's ears clearly.

Several general merchants couldn't help trembling.

Jia Hu stood up abruptly and strode out.

"Send someone to Jiang's house and ask Jiang to bring the donation. Otherwise, kill his whole family!"

Everyone was shocked by Jia Hu's words!

(End of this chapter)