Crossing the River

"The gold handkerchief you returned to me is fake!"

Zhu Ruirou gestured for his sons to stop, then looked at the pawnshop manager, whose face was bruised and swollen, and said sternly:

"Do you know that this is a treasure bestowed upon my ancestors by our great-grandfather?!"

"Your Highness, I truly did not tamper with anything, what I returned to you was indeed..."

"Still being stubborn?"

Seeing that the shopkeeper refused to admit it, Zhu Ruirou ordered his sons, "Beat him to death!"

"Your Highness!"

A middle-aged man dressed in a scholar's robe strode over, pointed at the shopkeeper on the ground, and said to Zhu Ruirou with a smile:

"Stop hitting him! His father has already sent the money over."

Zhu Ruirou stopped his sons and asked the middle-aged man in the scholar's robe, "Scholar Chen, how much silver did his father send over?"

"How about you give the pawnshop fifteen taels, plus an apology of thirty taels?"

Chen Ding, a student from Changzhou, took out two silver notes and a few pieces of loose silver from his satchel, handed them to Zhu Ruiru, and smiled.

"...Alright then."

Zhu Rui put away the silver notes and loose silver, picked up the gold-wrapped handkerchief and pretended to look at it for a few moments, then sneered at the shopkeeper:

"It was my mistake to misjudge you; there was some misunderstanding. Please forgive me."

The shopkeeper dared not say anything and could only silently shed tears as Zhu Ruiru's sons dragged him up and carried him out of the mansion.

"Your Highness, shall we go down and take a look at that fellow?"

Upon hearing Chen Ding's words, Zhu Ruiru went to the underground water dungeon and sternly addressed Wu Yu, the Suzhou merchant imprisoned inside:

"Hey Wu, are you willing to buy that batch of goods?"

Having been kidnapped for many days, Wu Yu was tortured to the point of near death. He weakly said to Zhu Ruirou:

"You...you can kill me then, I will never buy your tampons!"

"Ungrateful!"

Chen Ding spat in Wu Yu's face and cursed angrily:

"You beast, the cost price was two taels and four or five mace! The prince sold it to you for two taels per catty, what are you complaining about!?"

Wu Yu turned his head away. The market price of tampongolica has now fallen below one tael and two mace. How could he possibly buy it for two taels?

Moreover, Zhu Ruiru has more than 3,000 catties of dried bamboo shoots in his hands, and if he takes them all, he will lose at least 800 taels.

"You son of a bitch!"

Seeing that Wu Yu refused to accept the goods, Zhu Ruirou turned around and yelled at his sons who had followed him in, "Kill him!"

Several sons jumped into the pool and pounced on Wu Yu, throwing wild punches.

Wu Yu initially groaned a few times, but gradually fell silent. Sensing something was wrong, Chen Ding quickly asked Zhu Ruiru to call his sons back.

After checking his breathing, Wu Yu was found to be dead!

"What a short-lived wretch, what bad luck!"

Zhu Ruiru kicked the corpse hard, then looked at Chen Ding beside him, "Scholar Chen?"

"I'll go call Lao Hu over."

Chen Ding smiled at Zhu Ruirou and said, "Don't worry, Your Highness, I will handle it perfectly."

"Why don't we ask his family first?"

Zhu Ruiru slapped his forehead and asked Chen Ding, "Fifty taels of silver, and they're allowed to collect the body?"

Hearing Zhu Ruirou ask this question, Chen Ding was speechless and advised:

"Your Highness, if the other party's family takes this matter to the authorities, it won't be easy to handle."

"You're right, then take it and feed it to the dogs!"

Zhu Ruirou sighed deeply, waved his hand at Chen Ding, and then angrily cursed:

"Damn the Jin Yun ship! It's all their fault for selling those stocks, leaving me with over three thousand catties of dried mushrooms stuck in my hands!"

"Your Highness,"

Chen Ding said mysteriously to Zhu Ruirou:

"Your fourth brother has recently landed a big business deal that will not only allow you to vent your anger but also earn you a lot of money. What do you think?"

"What kind of business? How much money can you make?"

......

Nanjing City, Shangxinhe Port.

Those who greeted Zhang Kun and his entourage included Huang Kezuan, the Minister of War from Nanjing, who served as the counselor for military affairs.

Zhou Jiamo, the Minister of Revenue in Nanjing, was in charge of the Southern Zhili region and oversaw the taxes of Zhejiang, Huguang, and Jiangxi provinces, as well as the national salt permits and yellow registers.

Marquis Chang Yinxu, the garrison commander of Nanjing, and Earl Chen Qisi, the assistant garrison commander of Nanjing.

There was also Luo Chaoguo, the acting Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate's Censor-in-Chief who was in charge of river patrols, and Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei, who was in charge of river patrols.

Yingtian Governor Wang Yinglin, Nanjing Inner Garrison Eunuch, and Xie Tong Inner Garrison Eunuch.

And Marquis Li Bangzhen of Linhuai, Marquis Tang Guozuo of Lingbi, Marquis Gu Dali of Zhenyuan, Marquis Zhao Zufang of Wujing...

It can be said that the entire capital city turned out!

There are three reasons. First, Xu Bengao was carrying an imperial edict from the Wanli Emperor.

It was an edict personally drafted by the Wanli Emperor, and its standard was no less than that of an imperial decree, indicating that the emperor himself attached great importance to it.

If Xu Bengao could mention himself briefly in his memorials when reporting on his work, it would greatly benefit his career.

Secondly, the Nanjing Jinyun ship had already caused chaos in Nanjing and even the entire Southern Zhili and Zhejiang provinces.

Moreover, with the Nanjing Jinyun's current strong financial resources, it can certainly continue to make changes!

More importantly, due to a lack of knowledge and experience in the financial field, the capital was helpless in the face of the "Tambaku bubble".

Thirdly, there's Zhang Zhiyuan from the British Duke's Mansion, who's been running around Nanjing these days.

He continuously sent positive signals of willingness to cooperate to the nobles and officials in the capital, and money was a powerful motivator.

They either hold shares in Tambak or Nanjing Jinyun.

The former expects Nanjing Jinyun to provide a solution, while the latter hopes that Nanjing Jinyun will grow stronger and increase its value through dividends.

Moreover, the establishment of the Nanjing Jinyun ship as a key merchant ship meant that more taxes could be collected, which would benefit everyone.

As the saying goes, in business, the more friends you have, the better.

"Greetings, Grand Commander!" "Greetings, Commander Xu!" "I have long admired Commander Xu's esteemed name!"

"Nephew, how is the Duke's health?" "Nephew, your father and I are cousins, not even five degrees of kinship!"

Zhang Kun still let Xu Bengao and Zhang Zhiyuan, who had the backing of the Duke of England, take the spotlight.

It was one thing for a lowly fifth-rank official like myself to be treated so well by the major salt merchants.

Being fawned over by so many high-ranking officials of the second and first ranks, and even those of the highest rank, was truly astonishing.

We should learn from Emperor Hongwu's development strategy: build industrial barriers, accumulate capital resources, and manipulate the market behind the scenes.

Standing beside Zhang Kun, Zhang Jingzhen discreetly observed him:

It has to be said that this young man is bringing her more and more surprises.

Marrying such a person, it's hard to say what married life will be like, but at least it won't be boring.

Wang Wei, Xu Fo, and Yang Wan, who were further back, witnessed this entire scene and almost simultaneously thought to themselves:

What's with this "just close friends" nonsense? Their eyes have been on you the whole time, haven't they?

Zhang Kun also "invited" the three socialites to Nanjing to help with the various banquets and parties that followed.

When Zhang Kun founded Jin Yun Hao in the capital, he employed many famous courtesans from brothels to promote Jin Yun Hao's tampoo.

The social atmosphere in Southern Zhili and Zhejiang was more open than in the capital, and famous courtesans had a stronger ability to promote products.

Yang Wan and Xu Fo are both nearly thirty years old. The former is married to a concubine and is no longer a top star in Jiangnan, but she is still considered a popular actress.

Wang Wei is in his prime and is far ahead of his contemporaries, such as Zheng Tuoniang, Ma Ruyu, and Zhu Wuxia.

Furthermore, the prime of life for some famous courtesans can even extend beyond their youthful years.

For example, Xue Susu, who is over forty years old, and even Zhao Caiji, who was in the same period as Ma Xianglan, still have considerable influence today.

After all, many of the young scholars who admired them back then have already achieved great success and are willing to spend their youth on gold coins.

These days, transportation is very backward. If you don't meet in person and write a letter, the old men will use their imaginations to automatically add beauty filters.