Ridiculous to the end!

How ridiculous?

It is natural to extort money and grain. It is also ordinary to coerce the gentry into giving silver.

The evil young man, the evil slave, runs rampant in the streets and robs women... This is not just ridiculous!

It’s simply outrageous!

But no matter how outrageous it is, for the gentry in Yangzhou City, especially for the eight general merchants of the Salt Merchants Association, what the prince has done in the past few days is simply "unconscionable"!

Five hundred thousand taels!

Each family has to pay five hundred thousand taels of silver!

That day, everyone entertained the prince with great enthusiasm, not even remembering the fact that he might be imprisoned in the high walls of Zhongdu at any time. They complimented him in every possible way during the banquet, and when he first arrived in Yangzhou, they gave him gifts.

He was given food and silver, and all he wanted was to form a "good relationship". It could be said that he was completely benevolent and righteous to him.

When did they, who claim to be extremely wealthy, put the clan in their eyes? In their eyes, those so-called clans are simply nobodies worth mentioning. Even the nobodies are much stronger than these so-called phoenixes and dragons.

.But even so, not only did they not repay the favor to the prince, they even extorted a total of four million taels of silver from them!

In fact, in the past few days, people have been sent to various houses every day to collect money.

Let alone five hundred thousand taels, even if you take out one hundred thousand taels, it is tantamount to cutting their heart out! But that bastard doesn't care about them at all.

What can be tolerated and what cannot be tolerated? Even if they can no longer bear it, they can only endure it with gritted teeth, after all, this man has a knife in his hand.

It doesn't matter whether the knife handle is hard or not, but the blade can definitely be seen on the head. So you have to be careful no matter what.

Once again, early in the morning, as soon as the Qiu Family Salt Hall opened the door, several officers and soldiers came. The leader was still Bao Zengxi. As soon as he walked in, he smiled at the shopkeeper.

"Hey, Shopkeeper Cui, are you ready with the money?"

"Secretary Bao, what a pity, our master crossed the river to Nanjing, and we don't need to pay for it. It's so much money that I can't spend it without my master's consent!"

Cui Jiudao's words also seemed extremely rude, and there was anger on his face. After all these years, let alone such a small person, even for the county magistrate. The uncle has to erase the words "master".

After all, who has the money in these days when it comes to talking about one thousand to ten thousand? Who is the master? But we happened to encounter such a group of Qiu Ba who did not play their cards according to common sense.

"It's okay, then I'll wait in the booth. Shopkeeper Cui, this is not the way to treat guests when doing business. Why don't you serve tea? How about I let the brothers go to the back and do it themselves?"

When Cui Jiudao saw this man staying here again, he immediately said in a bad tone.

"Bao Shushi, don't bully others too much. Why bother pushing each other so hard? If we force a civil uprising, you, can you bear the responsibility?"

When Cui Jiudao finished speaking, the waiters in the shop started making noises.

"That's right, that's right, there are people like you who bully others, don't think that just because you are officers and soldiers, you can be unreasonable!"

"Even if you file a lawsuit with the imperial court, it is rare in this world for people to be as unreasonable as you."

As waiters, they naturally knew what the shopkeeper meant when he said those words, which was to let them echo the words, so that these people would be intimidated.

"Snapped!"

Before the waiter could encourage the salt dices, Bao Zengxi slapped the knife on the table and said sternly.

"Okay! Mr. Cui, if you have the ability, you can show me what a civil uprising is. The brothers' knives have not seen blood for so many days. They have been thirsty for a long time. There is a civil uprising. It's just right. What the hell?

When the time comes, the prince will lead his troops to quell the chaos and hang your heads on the city wall one by one. Then, look at who dares to say no!"

In an instant, all the guys who were clamoring just now became mute. Even Cui Jiudao was dumbfounded. In the past, when they dealt with the government, as long as they mentioned the civil uprising, the government immediately relented, but these Qiu Ba in front of them...

There is no reason!

"Hmph, Shopkeeper Cui, don't say I'm making things difficult for you. The prince has given you half a month to raise money. If you can't get the money after half a month, then the prince will come to get it in person.

, then it won’t be as simple as getting money!”

When getting up to leave, Bao Zengxi said again.

"Also, the prince has ordered that from now on, 500 shi of food will be provided to the refugees every day. If there is no food, the refugees have a civil uprising, and someone's garden is burned down, the prince will be unable to help!"

threaten!

It is definitely a threat. After doing so many businesses, Cui Jiudao has never seen such a clan.

The refugees outside the city... were obviously recruited by Prince De, so why should they be allowed to feed them with food?

But Cui Jiudao didn't dare to say this.

He can threaten the government with civil unrest, and the prince can certainly threaten him with civil unrest. Of course, refugees will not rush into the government offices, but refugees will set fire to the gardens outside the city!

"Oh my god, send that prince to the high walls of Zhongdu quickly..."

Of course, Cui Jiudao and the others just thought about this idea in their hearts. After all, everyone knew that the prince wanted money at most, but if Donglu came over, he would definitely die!

"You Qiu Ba will let you be proud for a few days. When that man is gone, let's see who will support you..."

Cui Jiudao, who was thinking this way, didn't know at all. In fact, as early as two days ago, the officers and soldiers in the military camp outside the city had quietly left Yangzhou under the cover of night. Starting from two days ago, these two soldiers

The team of more than 10,000 people hid day and night, marching towards the river mouth under the cover of darkness.

Of course, the outside world knows nothing about this. But knowing nothing does not mean that no one is prying. In fact, on the first day when Prince De led the troops, several people also came to Yangzhou. These few

As soon as the Shanxi people came over, they lived in the Qiu family and told the outside world that they were joining Mr. Qiu's fellow villagers. However, in fact, they were slaves of the Fan family and came to Yangzhou just to inquire about the news.

From the time the Qing army entered the country, more than a dozen families, including the Fan family, sent their confidants to lead the way for the Qing army. They also relied on Shanxi merchants from various places to provide them with intelligence. If they heard the news, they could inform the Qing Dynasty.

It is said that hard work pays off.

Because the military camp was heavily guarded, Zhang Wu gave up the idea of ​​going into the camp to find out what was going on after several attempts. Instead, he went directly to the vicinity of the military camp. With the eyesight he had honed over many years of business, Zhang Wu could tell people when he saw them.

He talked nonsense, and soon he became familiar with the shopkeepers of many nearby shops.

When he arrived at Baoji Restaurant that day, he saw the other party loading jars of wine onto the carriage. Seeing this, he pretended to be curious and asked with a smile.

"Shopkeeper Li, your business seems to be good!"

"Oh, brother Zhang, thanks to Master Shi, there are thirty to forty thousand troops living in this camp. Although they are not allowed to leave the camp, one person can drink two taels of wine that day, at least hundreds of bottles!"

Relying on the business in the military camp, shopkeeper Li has been making money recently. He smiled and said in a low voice:

"Brother Zhang, you don't know that the prince listens to the music troupes singing and drinking wine all day long. The wine pool and the meat forest are nothing more than that. He can get out hundreds of kilograms a day. I heard that he

They also sent people to other places to invite music groups to come over. In fact, the son-in-law was there to listen to music, which was clearly an opportunity for a beauty pageant. Isn't this what the people from Zhang Jiale's music class who came out yesterday said that two girls in their group were retained again?

Go on, count it out, this time, the prince has left more than a dozen prostitutes, hey, man! Why don't you cherish your body so much?"

The face of the shopkeeper, who seemed to be sighing, was filled with envy. Obviously, any man would always feel envious of this, and it goes without saying that those prostitutes are all beautiful and fragrant women.

"You said, I have raised a skinny horse for many years, and it just ended up in the prince's bed. It's really..."

"That's also their blessing, isn't it?!"

Zhang Wu's words made shopkeeper Li immediately laugh.

"Isn't that the case? It's better to accompany someone like the Prince than to accompany those bad old men from the Association!"
Chapter completed!