Gao Changjiang clutched a stack of documents and said to Lin Tai: "Sit down! Once the contract is signed, you can no longer regret the changes and miss the best opportunity to bargain and get Bai Ji back!"
Lin Tailai waved his hand and said very resolutely: "Just show it to Yuan Zheng! Don't let the interests of Cao Army brothers be damaged because of Bai Ji!"
So Gao Changjiang walked up to Zheng Zhiyan with the contract documents and said a few words briefly:
"The content of the contract is roughly the same as what we just said. The capital of seven thousand salts will be rented to Zuotuan, and the two parties to the contract are Zuotuan and you.
The ghostwriter will go to Gao Yangtze River, but there will also be two guarantors, namely Yang Futai from the north of the Yangtze River and Zhao Futai from the south of the Yangtze River."
The contracts of this era are like this. In addition to the contracting parties, there are often roles such as ghostwriters, intermediaries, interviewers, guarantors, etc., which are determined according to the actual situation.
The two guarantors proposed by Gao Changjiang this time are a bit special, but for such a large share of the contract, it also involves the operation of official salt, so it is understandable to use the governor as the guarantor as the official endorsement.
Zheng Zhiyan definitely didn't dare to make the decision for Governor Yang. He needed to ask Governor Yang for instructions, but first he asked: "Zhao Futai is far away in Suzhou, how can I provide guarantee?"
Gao Changjiang showed several contracts in his hand to Member Zheng. Each contract had been stamped with the security guards of Governor Yingtian.
Ordinary local officials use square seals, while governors use rectangular seals.
The customs and defenses in the contract should all be true, but they really couldn’t be more true. What’s even more outrageous is that they are also stamped with a seal!
Member Zheng: "."
Gao Changjiang explained: "That's right. When Lin was in Suzhou, he wrote the contract in advance and asked Zhao Futai, who was in Suzhou, to act as guarantee."
Zheng Yuanwai felt that his intelligence was deeply insulted!
Could it be that you, Lin Tailai, were so clever that you knew when you were still in Suzhou that you would "rent" the 7,000-yen nest from the Zheng family?
They must have only prepared a blank document and stamped it with Governor Yingtian's seal in advance! Then they just wrote in the specific contents of the contract!
If this horse-riding person were placed in the hands of Emperor Taizu Gao, your operation of stamping blank documents in advance is called "empty sealing", and everyone will lose their heads!
Of course, Gao Changjiang firmly refused to acknowledge the "empty seal" and warned: "Executive members, please don't think blindly! The content of the contract was already written in Suzhou!"
Zheng Yuanwai had no ability to struggle at this time, so he could only walk back to Governor Yang angrily and report the situation.
For Governor Yang, it didn't matter if he guaranteed the contract. Anyway, the profits from the sale belonged to the Zheng family, and he had no actual losses.
Moreover, he did not want Mr. Zheng to go back on his words. It would be best to honestly give up the benefits, and at least make his tenure more stable.
Otherwise, if this group of Suzhou Cao troops did not get any actual benefits, they would often use this as an excuse to "mutiny", which would make him, the governor, uncomfortable.
Therefore, Governor Yang was very happy when it came to the security issue, and the contract was immediately stamped with Governor Fengyang's seal of approval.
At this point, the contract is officially established in four copies.
The two parties to the contract, Lin Tailai and Zheng Zhiyan, each gave one copy to the Lianghuai Salt Transportation Department in charge of the salt industry, and one copy to the Jiangdu County Government Office where the contract was signed.
Official Lin held up the contract and waved to the Cao army, which triggered another burst of cheers.
After the cheers subsided, Lin Daguan immediately announced: "The recent salt transportation matter will be temporarily handled by Zhao Baihu and Gao Changjiang, and will co-host it!"
Among the mutinous crowd present, except for the Lin's club members who fished in troubled waters, the real Cao army numbered about 800 people.
Seven thousand jins of salt, calculated as 200 kilograms per small yin, is 1.4 million kilograms of salt alone, and several million kilograms including "remaining salt".
If allocated to these 800 cavalry troops, each person could transport several thousand kilograms of salt back to Suzhou City every year, and there would be no problem in earning ten taels from it.
When things came to this, Zheng, who had lost one-third of his industrial control, felt extremely uncomfortable, but he could only break his teeth and swallow blood.
He forced a smile and said to Governor Yang: "Please invite Dazhong Cheng into the city. It would be disrespectful to prepare a small amount of wine."
The big losses have been suffered, but the process that needs to be followed still needs to be carried out.
It's like a social animal, even if it is beaten by society, it still has to wipe away its tears and continue living.
But Governor Yang snorted coldly and got on the sedan without looking back.
Then the sedan started up again, but turned around and headed back to the canal pier.
Zheng Yuanwai quickly chased after him and shouted: "Dazhong Cheng? Dazhong Cheng?"
But no response was received, and the sedan was carried to the shore, where the governor's ship was docking.
Governor Yang still didn't say a word and just walked into the cabin without saying hello to anyone.
Then the governor's big boat started again in full view of everyone.
He also turned around abruptly, left Yangzhou City, and headed north along the canal, probably going back to Huai'an Prefecture.
Countless melon-eaters on the shore were talking about it. The number one official in Jiangbei, He Cao, the governor and governor of Fengyang, and the future minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, turned around and left again before he entered the city after getting off the boat in Yangzhou, as if he had been struck by an evil spirit.
Got it!
However, this time I was not happy because there were many key conversations between the parties involved, and the people watching from afar could not hear them.
Most of the melon-eaters could only see that after Lin Jieyuan, a celebrity from Suzhou, appeared, Governor Yang turned around and left.
Zheng stood outside on the shore and watched the governor's boat leave. He had no choice but to walk to another large boat on the shore.
Although Governor Yang has left, today's heavyweight guests are not only Governor Yang, but also others, so we cannot neglect them.
This large ship came here with the governor's fleet just now, but after docking, no one got off the ship for the time being.
The eyes of the people eating melons followed Zheng and they also noticed this other large ship.
The big ship has the official card, and there is always a shortage of knowledgeable talents among the people who eat melons, let alone a transportation hub like Yangzhou City where countless officials pass through every year.
Immediately, a scholar noticed it and said: "The official sign of this boat is the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs of Nanjing. He is probably the former governor Li Gongshida, who is going from Huai'an Prefecture to Nanjing City to take up his post."
Anyone who understands the dynamics of the officialdom knows that Li Shida, the previous governor of Fengyang and governor of Hecao, had just been promoted to Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs of Nanjing, the highest rank among civil servants except for the false title of Gongbao.
Especially Li Shida, who is only fifty-three this year. At this age, he is already a second-rank minister, and he will definitely have a better future!
According to the historical trajectory, Li Shida became the censor of Zuodu in a few years, and was the leader of the Yanguan.
Li Shida and Li Tianguan were indeed sitting in the boat at this time. The reason why he did not get off the boat just now was to avoid stealing the limelight from Governor Yang.
After all, the Jiangbei area is now under the jurisdiction of Governor Yang. It is more appropriate for the newly appointed Governor Yang to accept the local welcome alone.
Later, when the noise was heard, Li Shida still did not get off the boat because he was no longer the governor and did not need to take responsibility.
But Li Shida didn't expect that Governor Yang would actually turn around and go back to Huai'an.
After agreeing to hand over the governor's customs, they sent him out of the country with gifts and attended the Pingshan Hall Gathering together in Yangzhou City?
Governor Yang could turn around and go back to Huai'an, but Li Shida couldn't. He had to go to Nanjing to take office.
At this time, the servant who had disembarked from the ship to inquire about the news also came back and reported the general situation to Li Shida and said: "Zheng Zhiyan, the leader of the salt merchants, is under the ship, waiting for the master to move into Pingshan Hall."
Li Shida ignored Zheng Zhiyan, but said to himself: "Lin Tailai?"
The Qingke scholar who accompanied Li Shida asked: "Does Mr. Li know this person?"
Li Shida only said: "This person was mentioned many times in friends' letters."
Li Shida's political pedigree leans towards Qingliu and he has a close relationship with Qingliu forces.
However, due to political and strategic considerations, his relationship with Qingliu was not made public in order to achieve the effect of "hidden child".
When he was previously serving in Jiangbei, because he was relatively close to Jiangnan, he had many correspondences with Gu Xiancheng, who was lecturing in Wuxi, and Zou Yuanbiao, Li Sancai, and Wei Yunzhen, the three direct officials in Nanjing.
In the letters written by these Qingliu brothers, they all mentioned, without exception, a Suzhou troublemaker named Lin Tailai.
Now that he heard that Lin Tailai was "calling the wind and rain" on the shore, Li Shida, who was over fifty years old, couldn't help but stood up out of curiosity and walked out of the cabin.
He wanted to see with his own eyes what kind of character the legendary Lin Tailai was? Did he have three heads and six arms?
At this time, Officer Lin had appeased the Cao army, and temporarily handed over the remaining docking matters to Gao Changjiang, and he was free for a while.
Then he saw Member Zheng still greeting guests on the shore, so he walked over curiously.
Is it possible that in addition to Governor Yang, there are other distinguished guests worthy of the salt merchant leader's humble greeting today?
Standing behind Member Zheng, Lin Daguan looked at the boat again and again, heard a few comments from others, and suddenly realized in his heart.
Finding Lin Tailai peeking behind him, Zheng Zheng secretly clenched his fists, but in the end he endured the humiliation and bore the burden.
Mr. Zheng, who took over the family business when he was only in his thirties, finally learned a valuable lesson from Mr. Lin today about the meaning of patience.
Isn't it just that I lost one-third of my family fortune, and I can still continue to live?
When Li Tianguan appeared on the bow of the ship, Zheng took a few steps forward and was about to pay his respects when he was suddenly pushed to the side with force.
Then he saw Lin Tailai's figure appearing in front, and said with great surprise: "But Mr. Li of Jingyang is in person? I didn't want to see him today. I am truly lucky!"
Li Tianguan couldn't figure it out, which one was this?
To be continued...