Chapter 37 Temptation
Chapter 37 Temptation
Finally fooling the three of them, Zhu Shenzhui breathed a sigh of relief.
However, it is still a long way to go before success, and we still need to discuss how to deal with the Liu family.
After all, the Liu family is not an ordinary family. Liu Shancheng is a wealthy businessman in Pingyang, and the relationships behind him are complicated.
If they were members of the royal family just coming to ask for money, it would not be difficult for them to get a few taels of silver from the Liu family based on their royal status, but this was not Zhu Shenzui's original intention at all.
The real reason why Zhu Shencui dragged the three of them to target the Liu family was because of Jiezhou. Jiezhou was the source of Zhu Shencui's private salt. In the past two years, Zhu Shencui made some money by smuggling private salt from Jiezhou, and also led the people of Wangjia Village out of poverty.
Next, Zhu Shenzui has other things to do, especially he plans to go to the grassland after the beginning of next spring. If all goes well, Zhu Shenzui will implement the next plan after returning from the grassland.
In addition, Li Hu of Yangtou Mountain is now considered Zhu Shenzui's man. Yangtou Mountain will be of great use in the future. Zhu Shenzui will need to continue investing in Yangtou Mountain. The amount of salt transported will double next year, and the support expenses will also increase.
If the salt road to Jiezhou was cut off at this time, then all of Zhu Shenzhui's plans would be impossible to implement, and even completely reversed. This would mean that all the hard work over the past two years would be in vain, and Zhu Shenzhui was absolutely unwilling to see this result.
Who was the person who caused this? Wasn't it the Pingyang Liu family? Or rather, the head of the Liu family, Liu Shancheng.
If Liu Shancheng and himself had nothing to do with each other, Zhu Shenzhui would not have bothered to target the Liu family. But now it was not him who wanted to target Liu Shancheng, but Liu Shancheng's greed had cut off his source of wealth and forced him into a desperate situation.
Therefore, it was inevitable to deal with Liu Shancheng. If Liu Shancheng's case was not dealt with, Zhu Shenzhui's private salt business would not be able to continue.
But Zhu Shenzhui had carefully considered how to solve the problem. The mine supervisor had no way to deal with it. Firstly, his identity could not be exposed, and secondly, his financial resources were far less than Liu Shancheng's.
Liu Shancheng must have spent a lot of money to bribe the mine supervisor. Although Zhu Shenzhui had some money, it was far less than Liu Shancheng. Compared with Liu Shancheng, he had more money? Zhu Shenzhui was not that stupid.
Furthermore, there must be a surplus between input and output, otherwise it would be a loss-making business, and only an idiot would do such a loss-making business!
As for reporting Liu Shancheng for smuggling salt with the authorities? This was also useless. The Liu family had been in business for so many years and had a very complicated network of relationships. Big merchants like him smuggled salt by exploiting loopholes in the salt permit issued by the Central Government. This practice was common among big merchants in Shanxi, and everyone did it.
Moreover, when doing this, the merchants who smuggled salt only took a portion of the profits, while the rest of the profits were shared by local officials and soldiers at the border. They were all in the same boat.
Therefore, informing on Liu Shancheng for smuggling salt would not only be futile, but would also be counterproductive. When the time came, the chief judge sitting in the court would slam the wooden stick and shout, "Who in the court is suing me?" Wouldn't that be asking for trouble?
Ordinary methods would definitely not work if they wanted to target Liu Shancheng. Since the three of them had decided to do it, Zhu Shenzhui didn't beat around the bush and simply stated his purpose of targeting Liu Shancheng.
Of course Zhu Shenzhui would not tell them the truth, he just found an excuse. He told them that his friend had a conflict with the Liu family in the business world, and planned to teach Liu Shancheng a lesson. If he could disrupt the Liu family and make Liu Shancheng lose sight of the big picture and have no energy to focus on business, then this would be a success.
As for how to do it and how to find opportunities, this is something that everyone needs to figure out on their own.
After Zhu Shenzhui finished speaking, the three of them couldn't help but start thinking hard, and the room suddenly became quiet.
"How about I guard the gate of the Liu family, and when that old guy Liu Shancheng goes out one day, I will find a reason to break his legs? At worst, we can say that he bumped into the royal family for no reason and lost his legs in anger? In this case, even if he is punished, it will just be a few beatings from the clan house." Zhu Qiuqi's eyes lit up after thinking for a moment, and he quickly made a suggestion.
"Nonsense!" Zhu Minfeng rejected it immediately and shook his head, saying, "What kind of method is this? Do you think Liu Shancheng is an ordinary citizen? The Liu family is rich and powerful. It is unreasonable for Liu Shancheng to go in and out alone. Moreover, the Liu family has many guards, all of whom are martial artists. Not to mention whether you can get close to Liu Shancheng, even if you really attack him, are the people around him just decorations? By then, Liu Shancheng's leg will not be broken, but you don't know whether you can save your leg. In broad daylight, in front of everyone, your excuse of offending the royal family will not work."
"This..." Zhu Qiuqi was stunned. Zhu Minfeng was right. He thought it was too simple.
"If this doesn't work, I will quietly find an opportunity to sneak into Liu's mansion..." Subconsciously, Zhu Qiuqi changed his mind and thought of another way, but he couldn't finish his words.
Sneaking into Liu's house? How did Zhu Qiuqi sneak in? He was just an ordinary member of the royal family. Although he was young and strong, he had never practiced. He could neither walk on water nor fly on grass. Could it be that he had the talent to be a thief?
If he had this ability, how could Zhu Qiuqi still live like this? Besides, the Liu family was large and powerful, and there were many guards in the house. If he entered the Liu family, he might be discovered by the guards without even seeing Liu Shancheng. If the news of the royal family being a thief spread, his fate would be unimaginable.
Zhu Minfeng shook his head. His nephew was too unreliable. What bad ideas did he come up with?
But for a while, he couldn't think of any good solution. It was not easy to figure out Liu Shancheng and get this done. As for Zhu Minyu, he had never done such a thing before. Although he was determined to make a lot of money for his family, he was completely confused about how to do it. At best, everyone could come up with a strategy and Zhu Minyu could help out. It was really difficult for him to figure out this matter.
After talking for a while without coming up with a feasible solution, several people couldn't help but feel frustrated.
This matter seems to be easy to handle, but how to do it and how to do it well is not easy. It may not be difficult to deal with ordinary people, but it is not easy to deal with a big merchant like Liu Shancheng. Moreover, they are just ordinary royal family members, neither princes nor county kings, nor even generals of the country, and they have no power at all.
"There's no rush for this matter. If you can't think of a solution, just think about it slowly. Liu Shancheng is not an ordinary person. If you want to think about it, you have to think it through carefully. Don't let yourself get hurt by not getting things done." Zhu Shenzhui comforted them.
Seeing their anxious expressions eased slightly, Zhu Shenzhui continued, "Doesn't the Art of War say that knowing yourself and your enemy will ensure victory in every battle? Although Liu Shancheng is also in Pingyang Prefecture, we have never dealt with him on a daily basis. We don't know much about the entire Liu family, and we are completely in the dark about Liu Shancheng's family affairs."
"In this case, we might as well find out more about the Liu family first, find out the situation of Liu Shancheng and the Liu family, and see if there is anything we can do to benefit from the Liu family."
"There are many disputes in a big house. A fly will not bite an egg without a crack. It is true that the Liu family is rich and powerful, and it is also true that the Liu family has connections in all aspects. But think about it, the Liu family has been doing business for so many years, it is absolutely impossible for them to be all-inclusive. Liu Shancheng is a businessman, and businessmen have conflicts when doing business. There are many things in the business world and the officialdom that are hard to explain, and there must be many people who don't get along with the Liu family."
"Just like this time, although the one who caused trouble for the Liu family was my people, is there no one else who also had this plan? I think we can think carefully about it from this angle and find out the situation of the Liu family. Once we understand everything, it won't be too late to decide where to start."
"That's right!" Zhu Qiuqi slapped his thigh. What Zhu Shenzhui said made sense. Liu Shancheng was not an ordinary person. If they wanted to mess with the Liu family, they had to be thoroughly prepared. Now they were completely in the dark about the situation of the Liu family, including Liu Shancheng. How could they even talk about figuring out Liu Shancheng?
First, we need to understand the situation of Liu Shancheng and the Liu family. The Liu family is so big, and as a member of the royal family, Zhu Qiuqi knows the dirtiness of the mansion. Doesn't the seemingly glamorous Liu family have any dirty and shameful things? If we know these, wouldn't it be much easier than blindly finding faults?
Thinking of this, his mind instantly opened up and Zhu Qiuqi became energetic.
Brothers Zhu Minfeng and Zhu Minyu also nodded repeatedly, thinking that what Zhu Shenzui said made sense. This is how they had to do it first, and they would figure out how to proceed after they had figured out the situation of the Liu family and Liu Shancheng.
Seeing that everyone had no objection, let's just settle the matter.
Zhu Shenzhui immediately assigned tasks to the three people, including who would inquire about the news, who would ask people about the situation, and who would use connections to get close to the Liu family, etc.
After making the arrangements, Zhu Shenzhui asked them if there was any problem with this. The three of them smiled and said that this was not difficult. They, the clan members, had nothing to do on weekdays anyway, so they just did this these days.
It is said that the emperor does not want hungry soldiers. Since Zhu Shenzui asked them to do this, he would not let the three of them down.
After finishing the instructions, Zhu Shenzui reached into his bosom and took out three ten-liang silver ingots and placed them one by one in front of them.
When they saw the silver insulator, the three of them's breathing suddenly became rapid, and their eyes were fixed on the silver insulator and couldn't be taken away.
"Why are you looking at it like an idiot? This is the deposit for you. There will be a big payout after the job is done. Why don't you collect it quickly?"
The three of them smiled instantly. They never expected that there would be such a benefit as a deposit, and Zhu Shenzhui was very generous, giving ten taels to each of them.
Ten taels of silver is not a small amount. With this, the family will have no problem getting through the winter safely. Thinking of the two hundred and fifty yuan promised by Zhu Shenzhui, her heart was burning with anger, and a flush appeared on her face.
He hurriedly thanked him and picked up the silver ingot in front of him, his heart filled with joy.
Zhu Minyu couldn't even believe that he was holding real silver in his hand. He subconsciously put it in his mouth and bit it hard. When he felt the collision of his teeth and the silver, and then saw the tooth marks left by his own bite, Zhu Minyu's mouth could not be closed instantly due to smiling.
(End of this chapter)