Xiao Chen laughed, and at this moment he suddenly realized.
After working on it for a long time, we found out that this Hangzhou Prefecture is owned by a government-merchant family. No wonder the silks could not be confiscated. It turned out that they were being manipulated.
"Shopkeeper, leave these tea leaves here for now. We'll come over to pick them up later." Xiao Chen ordered, turned around and walked out of the shop.
"Should we go to Wang's house or Yangzhou Mansion?" Duan Tianming paid the money and followed him out.
"This is just the opinion of the tea shop owner. Let's go to other shops to have a look." Xiao Chen said and continued walking forward.
On the streets of Hangzhou Mansion, there is the largest and most top-notch tavern in Hangzhou, called Hangzhou Banquet.
The Hangzhou Banquet has three floors, with red doors and windows, making it look magnificent. Especially the windows are inlaid with transparent glass for lighting, which keeps ordinary people away.
In addition to the various big businessmen traveling to and from Hangzhou, there are also some dignitaries who dare to go in to drink and spend money.
At this time, two middle-aged people were sitting in a luxury private room facing the street on the third floor.
One is Wang Dachuan, the current head of the Wang family, who has a rough face and is panting hard even when he speaks. The other one is handsome and gentle when driving, and he is Yang Hu, the prefect of Hangzhou.
The dining table was filled with delicacies from the mountains and seas, and there was even a fruit platter that is only found in the south.
Facing a table of delicacies, Yang Hu didn't seem to have much appetite. Instead, he looked a little heavy.
Picking up the glass wine glass on the table, Wang Dachuan breathed out the smell of wine: "Master Yang, come here, let's have another drink."
"Brother Wang, after finishing this glass of wine, I really can't drink any more." Yang Hu forced out a smile and raised his head to drain the cup of soju.
Wang Dachuan looked like a rough man, but his thoughts were very delicate. From the look on his face, it seemed that something was wrong.
"Mr. Yang, have you encountered any difficulties? We are sons and daughters in law. If anything happens, you can speak. As long as money is used, feel free to speak, and I, Wang Dachuan, will never refuse."
There was a sense of arrogance in his words.
"This matter cannot be solved with money." After three glasses of wine, Yang Hu's face turned a little red.
"Could it be something from above?" Wang Dachuan asked.
The top in Wang Dachuan's mouth refers to the Chief Envoy of Zhejiang, which is the immediate boss of the prefect. In Hangzhou Prefecture, there is nothing else that can make Yang Hu frown, except the top.
Shaking his head, Yang Hu said: "It's the imperial court. Zheng He's treasure ships were officially assembled in Taicang on the 30th of the first lunar month. The ministers in the DPRK strongly opposed it, but they still couldn't stop it. As for the silk tax in Hangzhou, I reported very little, Zheng He
They will definitely come and inquire, but I really haven’t thought about how to deal with it.”
"There is too much rain, the mulberry fields are flooded, and there is no silk production, so naturally it cannot be collected. Our Hangzhou government is already in such a situation, and we are afraid that one of his eunuchs will ask." Wang Dachuan sat calmly on the chair, with a smile on his face.
Disdainful.
Even the Chief Envoy of Zhejiang had approved the taxation matter, so the imperial court would not ask any more questions. As for Zheng He, the worst he could do was bring more tea. Anyway, there was a large amount of old tea in the Wang family's warehouse. If he continued
Just buy it and sell it.
"What I'm worried about is not tax matters. The imperial court has given the Hangzhou government the task of purchasing 500,000 pieces of silk, but now, I have only prepared less than 30,000 pieces. If Zheng He comes, he will wander around the streets.
If you turn around, don't you blame me?" Yang Hu said.
"As a eunuch who leads troops to sea, Mr. Yang does not need to be too anxious. At worst, I will transfer another 20,000 pieces of silk from the warehouse to him. Besides, seeing that there are only more than ten days left for the assembly, how can he have time to pay attention to it?
Check it out. Come on, come on, Mr. Yang won't drink anymore and will eat vegetables." Wang Dachuan picked up the chopsticks and said with relief.
"Zheng He is also an imperial eunuch after all. We can't take it lightly. If he comes by himself, it's easy to prevaricate him. If someone from Dongchang comes with him, I'm a little worried." Yang Hu was not in the mood to use his chopsticks.
He had a vague feeling that something was going to happen this year.
"Dongchang? It's the Dongjianji Factory that the emperor just established last year? Aren't the Jinyiwei the people around the emperor? Last time Zheng He called for payment, didn't we use money to send away the Jinyiwei he sent? They are all the same.
Just use money to settle them."
Wang Dachuan didn't know how powerful it was, so he picked up a piece of cooked meat, put it in his mouth and started chewing it.
Looking at Wang Dachuan who didn't care, Yang Hu shook his head.
"This person from Dongchang is still different from Jinyiwei. Some time ago, Dongchang arrested the envoy of Jinyiwei North Town, and even killed the Minister of Rites in public. Hundreds of officials in the court jointly signed a letter, blaming Dongchang. Your Majesty
Not only did he not listen, he even ordered the two ministers of the Ministry of Rites to accuse Dongchang and have the nine tribes destroyed."
"This is a bad omen for the officials in the court. The power of Dongchang is second only to the emperor. After cleaning up the court, it will naturally be in place. And this time when Zheng He's treasure ship went to sea, the supplies were actually
If preparations are not in place, I am afraid that I will become the target of investigation by Dongchang. If people from Dongchang really come, not to mention me, I think you, and the Chief Envoy above will all be implicated."
Frowning, Yang Hu said uneasily.
"Is Dongchang so powerful?" Wang Dachuan put down his chopsticks and asked nervously, "Then, do we want to move the silk we have hoarded?"
"Where are the millions of pieces of silk going to be transferred? When the news is over, contact the merchants in Japan as soon as possible. Even if the price is slightly lower, they must be shipped. Leaving them in the warehouse always makes me sleepless."
Leaning on the back of the chair, the blush on Yang Hu's face receded and he looked a little pale.
"Okay, I will contact the Japanese merchants as soon as possible and let their cargo ships come in from Hainingwei's defense area and take away all the silk." Wang Dachuan responded.
"Have all the silks in the shops in the market been put away?" Yang Hu asked.
"This has been put away long ago."
"We can't put them all away, but we still have to leave some of the silk in the shops. If Zheng He came to Hangzhou and couldn't see a single piece of silk in the shops on the street, he would question us and make him see it.
A small number of silks will believe that the mulberry fields were hit by a disaster last year and there was no silk production." Yang Hu warned.
"Don't worry, sir, that's what I did." Wang Dachuan said.
On the street, Xiao Chen sniffed the humid air of Hangzhou Prefecture, put his hands on his back, and walked into a cloth shop on the street.
In such a large shop, there were only a few rolls of coarse cloth of different colors and a roll of bright silk on the counter. The shopkeeper was sitting on a chair inside the counter, dozing off.
Raising his right hand, Xiao Chen tapped on the counter a few times: "Shopkeeper, we're here to do business."
Opening his hazy eyes and seeing Xiao Chen, the shopkeeper hurriedly forced out a smile: "Sir, what do you want?"
"I want a thousand pieces of silk. Do you have any here?"
Looking at Xiao Chen, the shopkeeper showed a hint of vigilance on his face.
