Chapter 40 Salt Merchants
At the same time, Kou Shen, then governor of Suzhou, met two important guests in his own villa.

"People say that the three salt merchants in Yangzhou are Qin, Jin and Hui. The Hui merchants are the most powerful. Among the Hui merchants, you two are the richest. It is a great honor for me, Kou, to see you today!"

Kou Shen, dressed in plain clothes, sat at the top of the living room and smiled at the two middle-aged men at the bottom.

There were two middle-aged men, one fat and one tall. Upon hearing this, the fat one laughed and said, "Salt merchants like us are only working for the court and making a small profit."

Kou Shen chuckled and said, "Everyone knows that your master Wang Fuguang is very wealthy, has thousands of salt merchant ships under his command, and has monopolized the Huguang salt shipping ports. If this can only make a tiny profit, then what's the point of doing this Huai salt business?"

Although Kou Shen spoke with a smile, every word he said was extremely impolite.

Wang Fuguang controlled the Huguang salt transport port. As the largest water merchant in Yangzhou, how could he tolerate such humiliation? However, this time was different from the past. He felt embarrassed but ultimately said nothing.

Seeing his companions being humiliated, the tall middle-aged man at the opposite table smiled and tried to smooth things over, "Lord Kou is a sensible man. If it was a good year, the Huai salt business would still be viable. But now the court is using troops at the border, and since the Tianqi era, the eunuch Wei Zhongxian has sent tax collectors to force people to donate money. Even if we earn a little hard-earned money, it's all gone to fill a bottomless pit!"

"Now, for some unknown reason, the Holy Emperor not only resurrected Wei Zhongxian, but even sent him directly to Jiangnan. It's really... Alas, in short, now not only are our Hui merchants suffering, but even those Westerners are also complaining bitterly!"

The so-called Westerners mentioned by Gao Ge are the salt merchants from Shanxi and Shaanxi.

The salt merchants from Shanxi and Shaanxi were originally the oldest salt merchants in Yangzhou. However, they were defeated by the up-and-coming Huizhou merchants in recent years and had to join forces to fight against the competition from them.

The two gangs were fighting openly and secretly, and both wished the other side to die.

At this time, the tall guy also brought up Shanxi and Shaanxi. The meaning of his words was very clear, that is, regarding Wei Zhongxian's collection of salt tax, the entire Qin, Jin, and Hui gangs had temporarily reached an alliance of interests.

Kou Shen was a Jinshi in the 44th year of Wanli's reign, and served as the prefect of Suzhou in the 6th year of Tianqi's reign.

Although Suzhou was not the base camp of the Lianghuai salt merchants, it was close to the city and connected by waterways, and Suzhou was also a prosperous place, so these salt merchants often came to Suzhou.

Kou Shen had some understanding of the background of these salt merchants and would not be easily frightened.

Upon hearing this, he just said indifferently: "You, Shopkeeper Ma, also know that the court is deploying troops at the border. This deployment of troops naturally requires food and wages. You salt merchants are making huge profits. Even if you take out some to support the court's deployment of troops, it can be regarded as protecting your homeland, right?"

Seeing this, Ma Guoyong knew that it was pointless to continue playing dumb, so he said directly: "If the court asks us salt merchants to donate, then of course we have nothing to say. Although we merchants are of humble status, we also know how to serve the court."

"But who is Wei Zhongxian? Lord Kou had dealt with Wei Yan in the Zhougong case, so he naturally knows who Wei Yan is. It would be fine if the salt tax collected could really reach the border, but the question is, can Lord Kou guarantee that Wei Yan will not be greedy?"

The Zhou Gong Case mentioned by Ma Guoyong was a fight between five Donglin Party members headed by Zhou Shunchang and Wei Zhongxian in the sixth year of the Tianqi reign.

At that time, Zhou Shunchang was known as one of the Seven Gentlemen of the Donglin Party and was the leader of the second generation of the Donglin Party.

Because he spoke ill of Wei Zhongxian in his hometown, Wei Zhongxian sent the Jinyiwei to arrest him.

At that time, in order to rescue Zhou Shunchang and others, the people of Suzhou killed on the spot a Jinyiwei Tiqi who came to arrest them.

Fortunately, Kou Shen stepped in to resolve the situation and appeased the people, otherwise none of the Jinyiwei sent by Wei Zhongxian would have survived and a civil uprising would have almost occurred.

The remaining Jinyiwei realized that they could not catch the people and would be beaten to death by the people if they stayed in Suzhou. So the remaining Jinyiwei fled back to the capital and reported the matter to Wei Zhongxian. Wei Zhongxian was furious and wanted to mobilize the army to suppress these unruly people.

This incident was later written into "Notes on the Tombs of Five People" by Zhang Fu, the leader of the Fushe Society, and became one of the strong evidences used by later generations to accuse Wei Zhongxian.

Fortunately, Kou Shen came out to mediate again, and thus prevented the army from entering Suzhou.

Of course, the main reason for this is that Zhou Shunchang and others voluntarily surrendered themselves in order to avoid implicating their fellow villagers.

But it is undeniable that given Wei Zhongxian's power at the time, Kou Shen dared to disobey Wei Zhongxian and even spoke up for the rioting Suzhou people and Zhou Shunchang and others, which shows that he was a good official who was not afraid of power.

Ma Guoyong thought that by bringing up the past, he could get Kou Shen to stand on his side.

However, Kou Shen just said coldly: "Shopkeeper Ma, you should be careful with your words. Since you mentioned Zhou Gong, you should also know why Zhou Gong and others were killed."

Although Kou Shen's words were very impolite, Ma Guoyong was not angry. Instead, he couldn't help but shudder all over at the reminder, and even turned his head to look around, as if there was some invisible honey around him.

As if he found himself embarrassed, Ma Guoyong immediately regained his composure and said, "It is precisely because we know this that we have to take the risk to find Lord Kou for the welfare of the people of the world!"

Kou Shen sneered, "Wei Zhongxian has come to collect his salt tax, what does it have to do with the welfare of the people of the world?"

Ma Guoyong immediately retorted: "Mr. Kou is wrong! With people like Wei Zhongxian in the Ming Dynasty, how can the people of the world live a good life?"

"The people in Huaibei and Zhejiang are going to have a hard time making ends meet! I heard that tens of thousands of people in the surrounding counties have already learned about Wei Zhongxian and are heading to Suzhou!"

"What!" Kou Shen raised his head fiercely and glared at Ma Guoyong, "Ma Guoyong, do you know what you are doing?"

Although the people of Suzhou hated Wei Zhongxian because of Zhou Shunchang's case.

But it was not enough to make tens of thousands of people from surrounding counties gather in Suzhou. What were they doing there? To kill Wei Zhongxian? That was no different from rebellion!

Kou Shen immediately understood that if tens of thousands of people really came to Suzhou, there must be someone instigating them behind the scenes.

And the person who instigated this is most likely the salt merchant Ma Guoyong.

Kou Shen knew without even thinking that those who could be instigated must be the kitchen owners.

Because Wei Zhongxian collected salt taxes, apart from the salt merchants, the people he was most worried about were the stove owners who did the hard labor.

For ordinary people, Wei Zhongxian's coming had nothing to do with them.

At most, when he thought of Zhou Shunchang, he would curse Wei Zhongxian.

After all, life in the Jiangnan region is much better than in the north.

(End of this chapter)