Chapter 325 Wandering in the Jianghu, Dreams Are Not Peaceful
The banquet at Huizhenlou has ended, but the crowd has not. Dozens of salt merchants are still talking around Mr. Wang.
Originally, most salt merchants did not know Lin Tailai and had no intuitive feelings or personal pain.
But just now Lin Tailai suddenly showed up in front of everyone, talking and acting like a super villain, which put great pressure on everyone.
Moreover, what Lin Daguanren showed was not the kind of little villain who cares about his own selfish interests, but the big villain who wanted to subvert the existing structure and redefine all interests.
This made all the vested interests present feel fear from the bottom of their hearts. A series of incidents showed that Lin Tailai was not just a madman who only talked about getting high, but he really had powerful actions.
Although Lin Tailai has left, there still seems to be a terrifying ghost wandering around in Huizhen Building. Only around Wang Yuanwai can one feel a sense of security.
The two business gang leaders, General Manager Sun of the Western Businessmen and Zheng Yuanwai of the Huizhou Businessmen, looked at each other and felt that they had lost a lot.
In the nearly one hundred years of business history in Yangzhou City, there has never been an industry figure so highly respected by both Westerners and Hui people.
At this time, Wang Yuanwai was already standing on the chair, ensuring that his voice could be heard by everyone and his expression could be seen by everyone.
"Colleagues! It's not that I, Wang Qing, am so great, but there are some things that only I can say and some things that only I can do!
Because Lin Tailai won't kill me in the short term, at least I won't have any worries for a month!"
Wang Yuanwai's words are very real, but it is because of their realness that they feel believable.
Then Wang Yuanwai continued: "I only want to say two things to you about the future.
First, as long as we unite, we will be able to resist Lin Tailai's disruption to the salt industry!
Taicang's silver accounts for a large proportion of its salt industry, and Huai salt accounts for half of the world's salt industry!
If Taicang's silver plummets due to disruption to the salt industry, no one can bear the responsibility, not even Lin Tailai and his backers!
But the premise is that we must unite, and fighting alone will only result in being eaten by the invaders!"
This sentence can be regarded as encouraging everyone and making everyone realize their own advantages.
Next, I heard Wang Yuanwai say: "Second, we still have to be cautious and not act rashly for the time being!
Although Lin Tailai said he was temporarily leaving Yangzhou just now, he did not rule out the possibility of luring a snake out of its hole.
So we don’t have to do anything these days, just pay attention to Lin Tailai’s movements, and wait until Lin Tailai leaves Yangzhou clearly!
From now on, if I am in the open and you are in the dark, even if something happens and someone is held accountable from above, I, Wang Qing, will bear all the responsibilities!"
"Okay!" Everyone cheered and encouraged Wang Yuanwai, who was strategic and well-controlled.
Facing the fierce dragon crossing the river, the salt merchants finally had a backbone, a guide, and a clear direction for the future.
On the other side, after Lin Daguan left Huizhen Tower, he went directly out of Lijin Gate, boarded the boat and left.
Lin Daguan, who was regarded as the devil by the Yangzhou salt merchants, did not lie. He really went back to Suzhou.
He really wasn't playing hard to get to lure the snake out of its hole, but the two women, Mrs. Fan and Huang Wuniang, were about to give birth.
The due dates for both of them are from the end of August to the beginning of September. If we don't go back, it will be too late.
For a leader with a huge foundation, the most fearful thing is that there will be no one to follow him.
Therefore, Lin Daguan attaches great importance to having offspring. This time he came to Yangzhou for business and there were no scandals. He was just worried about affecting the mood of the two pregnant women.
He didn't even dare to touch the 400-year-old white oiran who was kept in Wang Yuanwai's courtyard and could only be left for next time.
Feelings are just that, not as important as the heir who is about to come.
Unlike when he arrived and smuggled in in a low-key manner, when he left, he went through the city with great fanfare and ostentatiousness. Lin Daguan left Yangzhou City openly in front of everyone's attention.
Everyone in Yangzhou City, from officials to businessmen, breathed a sigh of relief, but did not dare to relax completely.
There are still 300 Suzhou Guards soldiers stationed in Shuicicang on the other side of the east gate. It seems that this place has become a base for the Suzhou Guards. Lin Tailai will make a comeback at any time.
One day later, the city of Yangzhou received definite news that Lin Daguan had crossed the river and entered Jiangnan.
Ma Yongdeng, the patrol censor who was still staying in Yangzhou City and refused to leave, immediately became active again and summoned more than a dozen representatives of salt merchants worth more than 10,000 yuan, including Wang Yuanwai.
Ma Xunjian gave enthusiastic encouragement: "Lin's evil deeds have made you miserable. This court has always been committed to serving the people and is firmly on your side.
If you find any clues or are harmed, you can complain to this court, and this court will definitely accept it!"
After the salt merchants came out from the inspection court, they had a lot of discussions about Ma Xunjian's attitude.
Most people feel that Ma Xunjian was also bullied by Lin Tailai, and they share the same hatred. This channel can be used.
Only Wang Yuanwai said: "This person is incapable of planning."
Two days later, an imperial edict arrived in Yangzhou City, making a final decision on the incident in early August.
Ma Xunjian was directly demoted to Guangxi as a postmaster on the charge of "exceeding his authority to cause trouble and risking a military rebellion", and became the biggest victim.
This inexplicable result surprised the entire city of Yangzhou.
In everyone's mind, the people most responsible for this incident should be Governor Yang and Lin Zhuangyuan.
And Ma Xunjian was just a supporting character who appeared for less than half a day. He was neither the instigator nor the leader of the incident, but he received the heaviest beating in the end.
Even Governor Yang, who was the first to cause trouble, was only demoted one level, deprived of his duties as Governor of Fengyang, and only retained the position of Governor of Hecao. The punishment was much lighter than that of Ma Xunjian.
No one could understand the political logic here. Even Ma Xunjian himself did not expect that when he was still planning to retaliate against Lin Tailai, he would be uprooted and become the worst offender.
I don’t know what others think, but the salt merchants are convinced by Wang Yuanwai’s foresight and respect Wang Yuanwai more and more.
As for Lin Zhuangyuan, he was fined heavily for one year and was exempted from the additional title of director of the department. He was retained as a fifth-rank official of Qianhu and continued to be responsible for supervising the transportation of grain to Suzhou.
The title of Commander Lin was not yet popular, and he became Lin Qianhu again, but there seemed to be little difference. He still did what he was supposed to do, and his actual authority was not affected.
When official Lin received the punishment edict, he was at Jingkou Post.
Seeing that he had gone from a nominal fourth grade to only a fifth grade, Lin Daguan could not help but feel strong and he looked up to the sky and sighed.
He was demoted less than two months after taking office!
After lamenting the unpredictability of the officialdom and the uncertainty in life, Lin Daguan, who was demoted to the fifth rank at the age of nineteen, naturally took the pen and ink from the hands of the guardians and began to write poems on the wall of the lobby of the post house.
"The meaning of the creek hall is sudden, and the mind is not far away. The morning glow is shining in the evening dew, and the water birds are chirping in the morning smoke.
Clouds sleep on the trees on the wall, the wind rumbles on the rocks, and the springs rise. Infinite thoughts in the rivers and lakes linger in front of the sand gulls."
With a small poem and five rhymes, it expresses the idea of being frustrated in officialdom and retreating to the world.
Demotion was a huge blow to Lin Daguanren, a rookie in officialdom.
On the way back home along the canal, Lin Daguan's ink marks full of sorrow and anger were left on the most eye-catching places on the walls of the lobby of various inns.
Compared with Lin Daguanren's previous works, the artistic style of these works has changed significantly, fully demonstrating the influence of life encounters on artistic style.
When he arrived at Xishan Station outside the south gate of Wuxi County, Lin Daguan felt inspired again and wrote a poem on the wall titled "Gengluozi·Original Intention".
"The moon is slanting across the sky, the stars are sparse, but the autumn night is really eternal! The sound is slow, the drops are cold, and the eyes are not easy to close.
Frost leaves are falling, ghosts are wadding, how can thin wine make you drunk! The affairs of the world, and the minds of young people, are all clear and deep."
After finishing writing, the guardians on the left and right put away their pen and ink skillfully, and then Zhang Wu said to Lin Daguan:
"Have a seat! I heard that the people in Wuxi are very unfriendly to you. I'm afraid the poems you wrote on the wall here won't last long. They might be shoveled away or painted over in two days."
It was rare for Zhang Wu to put forward reasonable opinions, so Lin Daguan encouraged him and asked: "Then what do you think we should do?"
Zhang Wu turned around and said to Yi Cheng: "The poems we wrote on the wall while sitting in the library are all important works of the Update Society, and they must be kept for at least half a year!
Before next summer, we update the community to send people to patrol along the canal regularly.
If there are any damages to the poems on the wall, it means that you, the Yi Cheng, are enemies of our Xinxin Society, and if we say we will destroy your whole family, then you will destroy your whole family!"
Seeing the growth of his subordinates, Lin Daguanren's depressed mood after being demoted was somewhat relieved, and he said happily: "You can teach me."
Continuing to move forward, we arrived at Xushuguan again today. Unfortunately, the people in the past had gone there on the Yellow Crane, and there were no longer any royal tax envoys in Xushuguan.
Due to work needs, Wang Zhidu did not go to the prosperous Yangzhou. He continued to be the head of the Ministry of Household Affairs and was transferred to Jiujiang Pass on the Yangtze River as a tax envoy. By the way, he also had a deputy military envoy.
It was the place known as Chaisang in ancient times, and it was also the place where Bai Juyi wrote Pipa Xing. Song Jiang also wrote here "Dare to laugh at Huang Chao without a husband".
Nowadays, the new tax envoy from Xushuguan is named Dong. Official Lin didn't pay much attention to the specific background and met him at the customs office as a courtesy.
The capital of the king left a letter to Lin Daguan, and it was delivered to Lin Daguan by the newly arrived Dong tax envoy.
In the letter, because the place of employment was changed from Yangzhou City, where he expected to have more money and less trouble, and be close to home, to Jiujiang Pass, where gangsters are said to be frequent, the king of the capital sent a three-page cordial greeting to Mr. Lin.
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Official Lin put down his letter and strolled to the customs office. When he saw the people coming and going, all of whom were paying taxes and doing business, he nodded with satisfaction.
Then he took up a pen and wrote a seven-rhyme poem on the wall of the accounting room, titled "Reply to Wang Shufeng's Letter".
"Wandering around in the rivers and lakes, my dreams are not peaceful, and my thoughts are lingering in my mind.
Sinful words only feel anxious all the time, but when they are lonely and angry, who knows how to repay the country for the disaster.
The Huo food in the mountain is not enough, but the Heyi river is not cold enough.
It’s a common thing for a man to be wandering, so I’d like to thank you for your writing before the ink is dry.”
Dong Shuzhi, who was watching from behind, was speechless. The reply should be written on paper and sent there. How could there be any sense in writing it on the wall?
However, Dong Shushi didn't say anything. We were all educated people and we couldn't burn harps and cook cranes. After all, writing poems on walls during a journey was elegant.
After finishing writing, Lin Daguan said to Dong Shushi: "I would like to ask the envoy to make a copy and send it to Jiujiang."
This tone is like calling a scribe.
Although Dong Shishi felt that it was "none of my business", he still agreed.
Seeing that Dong Shizhi seemed to be a good person, Lin Daguan showed his face again and said:
"Don't move the separate customs at Mudu Port, but you can do it yourself at Xushuguan and Likou Port."
The tax envoy Dong was overjoyed. Lin Daguan was so generous that he actually handed over most of the shares to himself.
Originally, I heard that Mr. Lin was in a bad mood and full of negative energy after he was demoted. I was worried that I would be in bad luck as a new official.
Is it because of the heating? I've been very sleepy these two nights, and the coding rhythm is messy.