"All the money that Xiaoyao Palace made every day went to them. After that, the owner of Xiaoyao Palace died mysteriously. The Hu Xiongnu sent people to Xiaoyao Palace to settle accounts. Xiaoyao Palace then plundered money from all over the place and then set its sights on Xie Fengqing."
Xie Lanzhi found it particularly interesting. Even though she hadn't witnessed it firsthand, she could still find Hu Xiong's outrageous actions amusing: "Corruption, and a transnational corruption case at that."
Xie Fengqing became addicted to drugs and, because of his wealth, attracted the attention of Hu Xiong. Hu Xiong, in order to fill his own huge financial hole, used him as a pawn. He truly died an unjust death.
She said, "In that case, the new owner of Xiaoyao Palace should be a man of the new king Aqina, and that Hun merchant named Anshan should be one of the Hun royal family members."
Zhang Ju quickly replied, "I have heard that the King of Hu and Xiongnu has a younger brother named Prince Anshan, but there is no evidence to support this claim."
"Whether it's true or not, we'll find out after a test." Xie Lanzhi beckoned him closer. Zhang Ju listened intently, his expression growing more and more excited as he listened.
He had long disliked the Hu and Xiongnu, and had even been attacked by them indiscriminately in his early years. If he could personally teach the Hu and Xiongnu a lesson today, it would be a way to vent his anger.
"I'll work with the Western Guard right away!" The Western Guard has many spies in Weidu, while the Censorate is short-handed, so they still need to rely on the Western Guard's strength. At this point, the distinction between the Censorate and the Western Guard is blurred; as long as this corruption case embarrasses the Hu Xiongnu royal family, everyone will be a hero.
When Si Xitong rushed back to Lanzhang Palace, she saw someone already lying on the chaise longue, holding a purple grape in his hand. He opened his mouth, tossed it in, and immediately began to chew it.
It seems we won't see that carefree look for a while.
She took the initiative to step forward and tell Xie Lanzhi what she had found out.
Xie Lanzhi sat up, indicating that she already knew: "Xiwei is quite capable; they found out the truth so quickly."
"Looks like I'm a step behind you again." Si Xitong pouted, a little unwilling. She sat on the other side of the couch and poured herself a cup of tea.
Seeing that she was unhappy, Xie Lanzhi quickly said, "These are all credits from the Western Guard. The Censorate is just reaping the benefits."
“Zhang Changle has already told me the truth. I thought you didn’t know yet, so I was thinking…” Si Xitong couldn’t help but sigh. It seemed that she wanted to share even this little thing with her, but she didn’t expect someone to be so quick, not giving her a chance at all.
Seeing his beloved wife looking like a little girl who hadn't gotten any candy, she quickly climbed over the middle of the tea table, put her arm around her shoulder, and coaxed her gently, "Then let's resolve this as soon as possible. Can't we also implement your commercial tax in Weidu? If you decide on it quickly, your subordinates will cooperate with you."
Remembering the important matter, Si Xitong mustered her energy again, stood up from beside her, and went to the desk on the right side of the hall to begin drafting the commercial tax for Weidu.
Since the Xie Fengqing case, Si Lei of Weidu has been living in constant fear, worried that the forces in New Tianjing might uncover something. If that happens, he won't be able to plug any loopholes.
The reason he is still in charge of Weidu is entirely because he sacrificed his brothers. He is grateful for the Emperor's full support of Weidu's industries, which has allowed the silk trade to flourish and pig farming to generate substantial income. He is already quite content. As long as taxes are collected as usual, he will remain a wise and righteous ruler in the hearts of the people of Weidu.
Ever since the casualties among the Hu and Xie merchants, he had been waiting for news from the imperial palace.
The fact that Lady Xie hadn't written to reprimand him meant that a mere Xie merchant wasn't someone she could provoke. However, things were more complicated with the Hun merchants. The newly arrived owner of Xiaoyao Palace knew the envoy, Shan Yuhou.
Shan Yuhou personally came to Weidu to escort him to the north to meet the new king of the upper kingdom. His attitude towards him was quite friendly. Even when something went wrong, the envoy had his own people stand in front of him, which made Shan Yuhou quite fond of the envoy and feel that he was worth getting to know better.
So he introduced Xie Fengqing to the envoy, but no one expected that Xie Fengqing would die.
His desire to curry favor with Shan Yuhou vanished instantly. He was greedy for fame and fortune, but he wasn't a fool.
While Si Lei was feeling restless, the Xie family finally sent someone to negotiate, and it seemed that they had come up with a solution.
People from the Xiongnu also came, and it seems they have made a new decision as well.
However, after meeting the Huns, Xie deliberately revealed Anshan's existence to them on the spot and sent the account books north overnight.
This group of Huns were the people of the new owner of Xiaoyao Palace, and naturally also the forces of the new king. The Huns left on the spot in a bad mood, leaving Si Lei dumbfounded.
Afterwards, the Hun people clashed with another group of Hun people at Xiaoyao Palace. The new boss captured several Hun merchants, put them on a ship, and escorted them north.
Because there was no evidence, they could only release Shan Yuhou.
The Xiaoyao Palace was grateful for the intelligence provided by the Xie family and publicly apologized to the Xie family for the Xie Fengqing incident, and even offered 1,000 taels of gold as compensation.
Ms. Xie took the money back.
Immediately afterwards, Xie Xia led 5,000 men into Weidu, and the troops quickly occupied important defensive positions in Weidu.
Upon hearing that all his men had been transferred, Si Lei immediately went to the port to visit Xie Xia.
"General Zuo, what do you mean by this? I have not received any orders from the Marshal to send troops!"
Xie Xia directly pulled out a paper imperial edict: "Your Highness, I have come with new edicts from the Marshal and Princess Feng Ning. The Marshal has naturally not interfered in the affairs of Weidu, otherwise he would have informed you, after all, you are a favorite of the Marshal!"
"Then what about the people you sent?" Si Lei asked, his voice trembling with suppressed dissatisfaction with the decision to station troops.
Xie Xia said, "This general is carrying out His Highness Feng Ning's new order! It has nothing to do with the marshal."
Si Lei's face turned pale. What difference did this make? It was utter sophistry. They were all Xie's people; it didn't matter who sent whom!
Xie Xia did not allow him to question, but instead reminded him: "The new Tianjing has been issuing orders and making reforms constantly. I'm sure Your Highness has heard about it. All the previous capitals have already accepted the reforms under the new orders."
"This time it's Weidu's turn as well, so please cooperate, Your Highness. Also, the Marshal has ordered you to immediately rescue Xie Fengqing's son, ensure his safety, and then send him back to Tianjing."
Xie Lanzhi's order only covered this minor matter. In Si Lei's eyes, it was making a mountain out of a molehill. But considering that Princess Fengning could even command Xie's people, it was clear that her power had already surpassed his own.
Si Lei had no choice but to accept reality: "I will handle Young Master Xie's matter, but isn't it a bit inappropriate for General Zuo to drive all my men into a corner? After all, I am the one who..."
The master of Weidu.
Xie Xia ignored him completely and directly announced the new decree: "Prince Li, listen to my decree. His Highness Feng Ning has decreed that the chaotic tax collection in Weidu be rectified immediately. In order to open up all waterways, it has been decided to implement the collection of import taxes from foreign merchants starting today, without exception, regardless of whether they are commoners or nobles."
"The original price of Weidu silk was ten taels per bolt, and it was first sold to the north and then to the world. However, due to the huge cost of Weidu's ports, in order to control costs, the goods were immediately classified as domestic use and trade goods."
"The price of exported goods will increase by 30%, while domestic goods will be sold at the current price, without any error!"
Si Lei's face grew increasingly pale. Not only had he been replaced as the port's guard, but he had also been stripped of his decision-making power over the goods.
This is outrageous! Is this like boiling a frog in lukewarm water?!
"I absolutely refuse! I must go to the capital immediately to see Marshal Xie!"
Xie Lanzhi had already guessed that he would do this, so she specifically instructed Xie Xia to tell Si Lei something.
Xie Xia relayed the words verbatim to Si Lei: "The Marshal specifically instructed me to have you explain the matter of the letter to the Xiongnu. Do you have anything to say?"
"I did not agree! Your unfounded suspicion is an insult to my innocence!" Si Lei's face was full of righteous indignation, but in reality, the back of his clothes was completely soaked. He hadn't expected that the marshal would send someone to reprimand him so soon after he had this thought.
"I will explain to the Marshal." Si Lei turned around and said, "General Zuo, please withdraw your soldiers."
Xie Xia couldn't help but sneer: "You muddle-headed king, you only care about your own little corner of the world. You can't even see through the marshal's thoughts, yet you dare to call yourself a favorite."
Si Lei asked, "What do you mean?"
"You think your two masters are only after you, but they're actually after the Xiongnu envoy!"
Chapter 102 Their Boiling Frogs in Slow Water
When news of the arrival of 5,000 Xie soldiers in Weidu reached the Hu Xiongnu, the Hu Xiongnu envoy Shan Yuhou knew that he had offended Xie Lanzhi in the last gift-giving incident. He was worried that Xie Lanzhi might target the Hu Xiongnu merchants this time, so he immediately arranged for the merchants to load their important goods onto the ships and leave early the next morning.
Unexpectedly, Xie Bing sent a generous gift: three thousand shi of grain, filling two boats and delivering them to the dock. This was a gesture of goodwill.
The Hun merchant Arufu accepted the grain and opened a shop in Tianjing. He heard that this thing was a newly issued decree.
Arufu saw that the Xie family had sent someone to negotiate again, hoping to order a batch of Xiaoyao Pills, a total of 5,000 pills, and wanted to receive the goods in three days. Moreover, the Xie family had paid half of the deposit, a total of 1,000 taels of gold.
Arufu thought that they had plenty of Xiaoyao pills, but getting the thousand taels of gold back as compensation was a worthwhile deal.
Shan Yuhou firmly refused: "The Lady Xie is notoriously cunning. Since she can send troops to Weidu, she will certainly not let the Hu and Xiongnu merchants here go so easily."
"Arufumo is losing a fortune for a small amount of money. He'd better move his things onto the ship now and come out of port with me. It won't be too late to come back in once things have calmed down in Weidu!"
As a businessman, Arufu saw a bright future in Weidu. He objected, saying, "Weidu is such a good location. We have already traded over a thousand bolts of cloth and grain with Weidu, making tens of thousands of taels in profit. You want me to give up this prime location?"
"Are you doing this on purpose because you're unhappy that I killed Kenzie?"
Kenzie was the former owner of Xiaoyao Palace.
The interests of Weidu and the Xiongnu were deeply intertwined, and the temptation of tens of thousands of taels of silver was something few could resist. Moreover, they had a powerful motherland behind them, and even the southern overlord had to acknowledge them as a superior nation.
Arufu recalled how Shan Yuhou's return gifts to small countries were all underhanded dealings.
He couldn't help but ask suspiciously, "Have you offended Lord Xie?"
Shan Yuhou sneered repeatedly: "This envoy represents the face of His Majesty, so whatever this envoy presents, all vassal states should fawn and smile upon him. Who dares to disobey? Even that old man from Beiluo wouldn't dare to return such a gift to my motherland!"
Just as expected, even after twenty years, he still hasn't changed his arrogant and domineering ways! Arufu felt that he and Shan Yuhou were indeed at odds politically. This time, the king sent him to investigate corruption. If Shan Yuhou hadn't helped him before, he wouldn't have taken the initiative to help him cover up the corruption case and shift the blame onto Kenqi.
"How utterly foolish! Don't you realize how much of our business goes through Weidu? It was one thing when Weidu wasn't under Xie's jurisdiction, but now it's their territory, and you still dare to act recklessly!" Arufu said, "There's an old saying in the Central Plains: Hakka people can't occupy local territories! Even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake!"
"Nonsense, don't give me that nonsense. I'm just asking you, are you coming or not?!" Shan Yuhou was losing his patience. He asked Arufu repeatedly, but Arufu wouldn't answer.
Soon after, Xie sent another messenger, General Xie Xia, to visit Arufu at the Imperial Envoy's residence.
Seeing that he was acting strangely, Arufo couldn't help but ask suspiciously, "You're not afraid of Lord Xie, are you?"
Dan Yuhou sneered: "Who can I be afraid of besides the King? But I just feel something is wrong. I feel that Lord Xie is here to take revenge on us!"
“This woman is different from Bei Luo; she’s got a lot of guts. Who knows what kind of tricks she’s up to in Weidu! You saw her plant five thousand men and help her wife carry out some new orders.”
"Even Li Wang's army of ten thousand men has to avoid Xie Gorge, and they are guarding all the important ports, practically sealing off all the passages. If we don't escape now, we'll be trapped like turtles in a jar, with no way to escape later!"
Arufo thought to himself that this guy had indeed offended the Lord.
But what he said wasn't without merit; their trade here was enormous, and they couldn't afford to gamble away two years' worth of hard work. However, if even the Hun merchants were so worried, then other small countries and Western merchants must also be feeling anxious.
Let's find out their current situation first.
Arufu said, "I'll see General Xie first, and then I'll make preparations when I get back!"
Seeing that he had let go, Shan Yuhou reminded him, "You'd better hurry. I'm waiting for you at the dock right now. There are our people there."
"Is it really necessary to be so cautious?" Arufu scoffed, and immediately went to the front hall to meet Xie Xia.
Xie Xia knew he didn't need to personally visit a Hun merchant, but since this merchant was no ordinary person—he was a royal merchant of the Hun Kingdom with connections to the royal family—he had to set aside his airs.
He sat in a chair, drinking tea. When Arufo came over, he made quite a show of himself, but he was still quite humble and had some of the manners of a scholar from the Central Plains.
"General Zuo, I have long admired your name. May I ask what brings you here?" Arufu clasped his hands in the standard Central Plains greeting.
Xie Xia then stood up and clasped his hands in a fist and said, “Brother Arufu, I have come here for trade between our two countries. My lord has issued a new decree to expand the Jiangnan region without exception. Weidu is now a key location since the new decree was issued.”
"Our sudden visit to announce the new decree has caused many merchants in Weidu to fear that Tianjing will cut off their business interests. In order to appease you merchants, our lord has instructed us to each hand over the tax application forms issued by Tianjing."
"As long as everyone pays their taxes, they can move around freely here."
Xie Xia handed Arufu a white leather book with a tax document written on it. Arufu was wondering what kind of tax it was. Could it be that taxes were going to be increased? He could afford to pay a little extra money, but the most important thing was the property in Weidu.
When Arufu opened it, he found more than a dozen tax categories, all requiring a payment of ten taels of silver.
Ten taels?! Cheaper than Liwang?! Could it be that cheap things are of poor quality?
Seeing his disbelief, Xie Xia knew that merchants were also prone to suspicion, so he reminded him, "My lord has lowered the threshold tax and is calculating taxes based on scale in order to increase support for Weidu's industries."
"The vendors at the stalls probably don't even have twenty coins."
"You gave me ten taels only because your business is so large."