met free Chapter 273 Bribery
Chapter 273 Bribery
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After seeing Su Mingkang and the others off, Liu Ye, slightly tipsy, passed by Dong Xiaowan's room and went straight downstairs without stopping. Unbeknownst to him, a pair of eyes were silently watching his retreating figure from inside the room.
Upon seeing Liu Ye come downstairs, Yan Guang, who was waiting downstairs, asked with a smile, "What a heroic rescue scene today! Dong Xiaowan should be grateful to tears right now. Why doesn't the general strike while the iron is hot and win her over in one fell swoop?"
Liu Ye shook his head: "I was just using Dong Xiaowan's name to put on a good show for those old foxes, to make them make up their minds sooner—I have to finish the raw silk deal within three months and rush back to Lingao. I can't waste too much time here. Besides, Chang Wei's matter needs to be cleaned up, and I don't have time to be indulging in romance here."
Upon hearing this, Yan Guang realized that the general's intention was not merely a superficial rivalry, and asked seriously, "How did the business negotiations go?"
"Things went relatively smoothly; they've already agreed. However, beating up Chang Wei will definitely create some problems. I need to make some preparations to deal with it. Gather everyone here and come with me to the prefectural government office—to deal with someone like Chang Wei, both the legitimate and criminal worlds need to cut off his escape routes," Liu Ye said fiercely.
Yan Guang, being from Nanjing, naturally knew the influence of the garrison eunuch in the Southern Zhili region. He said solemnly, "It is time to make preparations to avoid future troubles."
Inside the study of the prefectural government office.
"What? You actually hit Chang Kun's adopted son?"
Chen Zhongsheng was greatly surprised. Liu Ye seemed to be a calm and composed person, not someone who would be so impulsive!
"The whole story is a long one, and I had my reasons for taking action," Liu Ye explained. "In short, after beating him, the business deal with the Suzhou silk merchants was immediately finalized. As long as things go smoothly from here on out, I'll head to Japan and then return directly to Qiongzhou. No matter how powerful Eunuch Chang is, he can't reach Guangdong. However, this transaction involves a large quantity, and it will take the silk merchants about ten days to gather all the raw silk. My only concern is that Chang Wei might cause trouble at this time. Before the silk merchants deliver the goods, I hope the Prefect can lend a hand and prevent Chang Wei from ruining my plans."
"This..." Chen Zhongsheng hesitated. In the Ming Dynasty, civil officials and the eunuch faction were historically irreconcilable enemies. Although as the prefect of Suzhou, he wasn't afraid of the eunuch stationed in Nanjing, the officialdom was deeply entrenched. Chang Kun was backed by the Directorate of Ceremonial and was himself a servant of the emperor. He might not speak well of him, but slandering him was no problem. Directly offending this eunuch would create a major hidden danger for him.
Liu Ye noticed his hesitation and continued, "If Chang Wei wants revenge on me, he has only three options: first, go back to Nanjing to get reinforcements; second, seek help from the prefectural government; third, gather his men to attack me. During our conflict today, I already assessed his situation; he only has a few close followers, and he's no match for me in a direct confrontation, so the third option is impossible. The first option is also troublesome. From Suzhou to Nanjing, even by water, it would take ten to fifteen days round trip, and there's no compelling reason to persuade Eunuch Chang to act—I pretended it was because of jealousy among courtesans, so Eunuch Chang probably wouldn't take offense over such a trivial matter. Therefore, he's only left with the second option: seeking help from you, Prefect..."
Chen Zhongsheng nodded repeatedly: "Your analysis is good. A good-for-nothing playboy only has a few tricks up his sleeve."
“Even if Chang Wei asks the prefect for help, it would be without proper justification. He’s just the adopted son of the garrison eunuch, a nobody. What reason would he have to get the government involved? Although the prefect doesn’t need to offend such a petty person and can’t outright refuse, he can simply stall, agreeing to intervene on the surface but ignoring the matter altogether. Once I’ve packed up the raw silk and sent it to sea, this matter will be forgotten.” After analyzing the situation, Liu Ye unleashed his trump card, “If the prefect is willing to help, his men will have expenses. I’m willing to contribute two thousand taels of silver as their travel and tea expenses.”
Chen Zhongsheng's eyes lit up. Although the other party claimed the two thousand taels were for his subordinates' travel and tea expenses, it was actually going into his own pocket. A bribe of two thousand taels at once—such generosity was rare even in Suzhou. Although Chen Zhongsheng, as the prefect of Suzhou, was quite wealthy and not short of money, who would complain about having too much silver? Moreover, the other party's analysis was clear: he only needed to stall to deal with Chang Wei, without offending anyone, and he could get three thousand taels in hand, while also forging good relations with Mu Tianyan and Lin Tianming behind Liu Ye—a win-win situation!
After weighing the pros and cons, he quickly made up his mind and scolded, "I have already said that I regard you as my own son. How can I sit idly by while the eunuch faction is causing you trouble? We are all on the same side. It would be too formal to mention money."
Liu Ye was secretly delighted; this blocked Chang Wei's path, and he could do whatever he wanted without consequence. The fact that a single bribe cost over a million RMB left him speechless; the cost of bribery in ancient times was truly exorbitant.
Liu Ye returned to the inn without stopping and immediately called Liang Xiaoming over.
How much cargo can a single "Voyage" ship carry?
Liang Xiaoming replied, "The maximum load capacity is close to half of the displacement. The 'Yuanhang' has a displacement of 500 tons, so theoretically it can carry 250 tons of cargo. However, after deducting the weight of essential facilities, the load is only about 200 tons, not including the crew. Even with dozens of people like us, who take up a lot of space, it can probably only carry a little over 100 tons of cargo."
Liu Ye did a quick calculation: he brought 600,000 taels of silver, and with a 10% markup, he could buy 700,000 taels of ordinary raw silk and 500,000 taels of top-quality Lake Silk. Of course, silk merchants delivered both ordinary and Lake Silk, but to be conservative, he would calculate it at 500,000 taels, which would amount to about 250 tons. The "Voyage" ship simply couldn't carry it all. Fortunately, he had considered this when negotiating the deal.
“We didn’t expect to reach an agreement so smoothly, so we only sent one ship, the ‘Yuanhang’. It definitely couldn’t hold 500,000 to 600,000 catties of raw silk. We asked Li Fei to take the ‘Yuanhang’ back to Lingao and bring the ‘Yangming’ along with it. Then two ships would be enough to hold it.”
Liang Xiaoming, who had not participated in the negotiations with "Leyunlou" and was unaware of the details, asked, "This round trip will take about ten days. Is that enough time?"
“No problem. Delivering hundreds of thousands of kilograms of raw silk at once is an unprecedented large-scale transaction for these silk merchants. Their inventory is insufficient, so they have to purchase from the countryside, which will take about ten days. This is just right.”
Liu Ye was very efficient and arranged everything properly, while Chang Wei was sulking in the prefectural government office.