Red Mansion: Incense and God Road, starting from the City God of Shenjing

Chapter 70: Salt Famine and Jia Cong Massacres Salt Merchants
Royal Palace
imperial study room

"Jia Cong actually achieved the status of a great scholar in Yangzhou?"

"This……"

Emperor Shunde looked at the information sent by the Imperial City Bureau and stood up in a panic.

There are many examples in history books of people giving up military service to pursue literature, or taking up arms.

It is not uncommon to see people who are both talented in literature and martial arts.

But most of the time, one is strong while the other is weak. To put it bluntly, they are just icing on the cake and have only a good reputation.

But Jia Cong is different!
four months ago.

The Xuanmen Qi Refining technique breaks through the realm of spiritual cultivation and still follows the lineage of sword cultivation!
Four months later.

A great scholar who has achieved breakthrough in Confucianism and Taoism!

Even before this, no one knew that Jia Cong had Confucian and Taoist attainments.

This talent can no longer be described as terrifying.

It can be said that this is unprecedented.

"Your Majesty, the Imperial City Division has just received news that Marquis Zi Yi's personal guards are outside the gate of Prince Beijing's Mansion..."

At this moment, Xia Shouzhong sent another piece of information.

"Two martial arts masters?"

"Are you sure it's the martial arts innate who just broke through?"

Emperor Shunde took another look at the information in his hand.

"Your Majesty, here are the intelligence reports sent to me by several waves of spies from the Imperial City Department."

"Both of the Purple-Robed Marquis' personal soldiers are at the first level of the Xiantian realm. They must have broken through recently. The two of them joined forces to defeat the Xiantian priest in Prince Beijing's mansion."

Ever since Jia Cong went to Prince Beijing's Mansion for the first time.

The spies from the Imperial City Bureau had already secretly surrounded Prince Beijing's Mansion, making it impossible for anyone to get in or out.

Even a fly going in and out is recorded.

"I once read a book of miscellaneous talks in the Imperial Palace's library..."

"It is said that luck has existed since ancient times. Anyone with extraordinary talents has luck."

"Everything goes smoothly and everything goes well."

"You can even protect your subordinates..."

Emperor Shunde whispered and sorted out a reasonable line in his mind.

Back then, Duke Rong Jia Daishan not only had innate martial arts skills, but more importantly, he had the ability to command troops.

He is secretly known as the number one person in the military.

Even if the Jia family has been in decline over the years, they still don't have any offerings of the third level.

But secretly, there are always a few warriors at the peak of the second realm.

It must be because of Jia Cong's luck and blessing that two of them have recently broken through to the innate realm of martial arts.

"Your Majesty, should we have the spies from the Imperial City Bureau secretly keep an eye on the Jia family?"

At this time, Xia Shouzhong spoke up to remind him.

"You old fellow, you must have received a lot of benefits from Jia Cong on a daily basis!"

sometimes.

When someone speaks for you, it may not be out of kindness.

When someone speaks to you, it may not be out of malicious intent.

Xia Shouzhong's well-placed words seemed to be disadvantageous to Jia Cong.

In fact, it directly eliminated the fear that had just subconsciously arisen in Emperor Shunde's heart.

If it were someone else, who was young, had incredible talent, and had some mysterious luck, it would be fine.

But Jia Cong...

I thought back to what Jia Cong did in his daily life.

"Xia Shouzhong, arrange two groups of spies from the Imperial City Bureau to watch the front and back doors of Rongguo Mansion."

“Don’t hide your identity.”

"Jia Cong has just submitted a report. One million taels of property have been shipped to the capital. There will be more to come..."

"Marquis Zi Yi is collecting wealth for me in Jiangnan."

"I want people to know that I am always paying attention to every move of the Rongguo Mansion."

"If anyone has inappropriate thoughts..."

"Slave, you obey!"

"Eternal life..."

"Maybe Jia Cong can really figure out the mystery of immortality..."

After Xia Shouzhong left, Emperor Shunde sat in the imperial study, but he no longer had the heart to review memorials.

Since ancient times, martial arts have been used to cultivate the body, Taoism has been used to cultivate qi, and Confucianism and Taoism have been used to cultivate righteousness.

Among them, although martial arts and Confucianism can prolong life when they reach the third level, the life span is only two hundred years for one and one hundred and fifty years for the other!
Only the Xuanmen exercises are the best for prolonging life.

In the fourth stage, one practices the method of prolonging life, which can gain a maximum lifespan of several thousand two hundred years.

But no matter how long your life is, it will end one day.

Emperor Shunde himself also had some martial arts skills, which were the result of countless resources accumulated after he ascended the throne and he had just entered the acquired realm.

You can only strengthen your body, you can't even fight with others.

Since ancient times, emperors have all wanted to live forever.

……

Yangzhou
Salt Administration Office
"Master, the price of salt in Yangzhou City is already twice as expensive as it was half a month ago."

"Many people can't even afford salt and cloth."

"In the past half month, the eight major salt merchants, whether official salt or private salt, have not sold a single pound of salt."

"This old slave sent a few people to other places to inquire."

"Not only Yangzhou, but the whole of Jiangnan is suffering from a salt shortage."

Butler Lin reported what he had learned to Lin Ruhai.

"I see."

Lin Ruhai frowned slightly.

The situation is more serious than I thought.

The seven major salt merchants controlled nearly half of the salt roads in Daqian.

The salt famine was no less serious than the grain famine.

The people already have insufficient food rations, and if there is no salt for a long time, the strong will fall seriously ill, and the weak will definitely not survive the winter.

The person who was first held accountable by the court was Lin Ruhai, the Imperial Censor of Salt.

"Brother Cong, did you see it?"

"After I took office, I tried every possible means, including dividing and winning over the people, and even replacing a few obedient salt merchants."

"It is true that the annual salt permits are distributed by the Salt Administration, but the annual shares are allocated privately by these salt merchants."

"I am only responsible for stamping the official seal of the Salt Inspector."

"If there is any disturbance, there will be a salt shortage everywhere."

"Then there will be ministers in the court who will impeach him."

"This news spread faster than an express train of 800 miles."

Turning around, Lin Ruhai said helplessly to Jia Cong.

"Just kill him as a mere salt merchant." Jia Cong's expression was calm.

He did not take the salt shortage in front of him seriously at all.

"It's not that simple."

"Not to mention that these seven salt merchants are wealthy and powerful, they all support many masters in their families, and some of them even have martial arts innate level masters."

“The most important thing is that all the salt roads have been controlled by them for decades.”

"Killing them will prevent the salt from being transported out, and it will only cause more trouble."

……

“Salt Road?”

"I see!"

Jia Cong nodded lightly.

Then he got up and prepared to go out.

"Brother Cong, where are you going?"

Seeing this, Lin Ruhai hurriedly called out to stop.

"kill!"

"Revenge for Aunt Min!"

To be precise, I had already started planning before I came to Jiangnan.

Half a month ago, the price of salt just started to show signs of rising.

Jia Cong had already noticed it.

The number of people sent out to gather information was no less than that of Lin Ruhai.

The salt shortage in Jiangnan has finally caused public resentment.

Public grievances are good!
If there was no cause for the wrath of heaven and the resentment of the people, there would be no reason for Jia Cong to take action.

……

钱府
"The price of salt in Jiangnan has doubled."

"It's a pity that we just transported a large amount of salt out of Jiangnan before winter came, while the canal was not frozen."

"Otherwise, the salt shortage will not only affect Jiangnan."

The seven major salt merchants gathered together again.

However, compared with half a month ago, everyone looked happy.

Once the price of salt rises, it means that a huge amount of silver will come into the account in the near future.

"This time, we must drive Jia Cong out of Yangzhou no matter what."

"If he doesn't leave, Yangzhou City will never have peace."

The head of the Zhang family, who is the leader of the seven major salt merchants, said bitterly.

"So what if Jia Cong is so strong?"

"Nine-year-old sword cultivator?"

"We, the seven families, control the salt road."

"If you kill us all, there will be no solution to the salt shortage."

"By then, people will be filled with resentment and Jiangnan will be in ruins."

"We can't rely on Jia Cong alone to transport salt from Jiangnan bag by bag, right?"

After hearing this, the head of the Huang family sneered a few times.

The death of the Han family aroused the "common hatred and common enemy" among the remaining seven families.

As the saying goes, one trick can be eaten all over the world.

The method of driving up the price of salt and causing a salt shortage is this method.

This is not the first time that the salt merchants have used this method. It can be said that it works every time.

Even Lin Ru, the hand-picked third place winner, had to keep making concessions in the face of such tactics.

"Keep driving up the price of salt. When necessary, the seven of us will buy back the salt on the market."

"This money will be doubled sooner or later."

"Let's see how long Lin Ruhai can hold on."

Another person said with a resentful look.

"kill!"

"By order of the general, the Jiangnan salt merchants are plotting treason and rebellion, and their entire clans will be punished!"

"Anyone involved will be killed without mercy!"

At this moment, a burst of shouting and killing suddenly came from the front yard of Qian's mansion.

"Master, it's not good!"

"Marquis Zi Yi has brought people to kill us."

The Qian family's housekeeper rushed in in a hurry.

"what?"

The head of the Qian family, who had looked confident of victory just now, was now shocked.

He stood up suddenly.

"He...how dare he!"

"Even if Jia Cong acted crazy, what about Lin Ruhai?"

"Isn't he afraid that the imperial court will hold him accountable after Jiangnan becomes corrupt?"

"Come on, everyone, follow me out to take a look!"

No matter what, the few people never thought that Jia Cong would actually dare to come and kill people regardless of the consequences.

The seven major salt merchants have just arrived at the Central Courtyard.

Then they saw the elite troops from the Beijing camp brought by Jia Cong charging in.

The entire courtyard was filled with the corpses of the Qian family's servants who were guarding the courtyard.

The blood has already flowed like a river.

Among them was the corpse of the young master of the Qian family, dressed in a brocade robe, which was extremely eye-catching.

But at this moment, the sound has already disappeared.

"stop!"

"Jia Cong, you dare..."

Seeing his most beloved youngest son die, the head of the Qian family was horrified.

"What is there for me to be afraid of?"

At this time, Jia Cong came in from outside riding a white tiger with a gloomy expression.

"you……"

"If we kill the seven of us, who will maintain the salt road and transport the salt out of Jiangnan?"

"Then the world will be in chaos, and you..."

The Qian family head's fingers were shaking and his tone was filled with grief and anger.

"How can a mere salt merchant have the qualifications to stir up chaos in the world!"

"Even if there is chaos, what does it have to do with me?"

"I have waited for half a month. If you don't cause public resentment, what reason do I have to avenge Aunt Min?"

Jia Cong stated his purpose calmly.

"Jiamin!"

"you……"

The seven major salt merchants were shocked when they heard this.

The smug expression from before was no longer there.

"Defense of Yangzhou!"

"Jiangnan Academy!"

"The Han family..."

"Crazy, crazy!"

"You are deliberately making a pressing gesture!"

"Are you trying to get us to drive up the price of salt and cause a salt shortage?"

"Even in the past half month, they deliberately turned a blind eye to the sharp increase in salt prices..."

At this time, a smart salt merchant finally saw through Jia Cong's original plan.

As the old saying goes.

If God wants to destroy someone, he must first make him crazy!
The seven major salt merchants all have their own networks of relationships in the court. In layman's terms, they have connections above them.

But now things have come to this point.

The salt shortage became more and more serious.

With those so-called networks of relationships, who among the senior officials in the court would dare to stand up and speak for the salt merchants at this time?
A little guidance.

That would truly be a disgrace to the people for eternity.

"Jia Cong, don't think that we salt merchants are..."

The head of the Qian family forced himself to calm down and spoke in a timid tone.

Before he could finish his words, he saw Jia Cong's eyes passing over him.

Look directly at the back house of the Qian Mansion.

"How dare you spy on me secretly? You don't know whether you live or die!"

The Shinto seal appeared in his hand.

Under the infusion of divine power, myriad divine lights surged.

It smashed straight into the backyard of the Qian Mansion...

A figure was suddenly forced out by the terrifying power of the Shinto Seal.

Not someone else.

It was the martial arts innate being secretly worshipped by the Qian family.

His strength is not outstanding among innate warriors, and his martial arts cultivation is only at the fourth level of innate.

These years, I have been dazzled by the Qian family's luxurious life.

I want to escape but I can't bear to leave.

So I came here secretly to see the situation.

If Jia Cong was just pretending, it would be good for him to come out and "perform" a bit.

Who would have thought that Jia Cong would kill him without saying a word.

This woke me up.

There are more than one or two third-level masters who have died under the suppression of the Shinto Seal.

"Zi Yihou!"

"Misunderstanding, I just..."

"boom!"

Before the other party could finish explaining, the seal fell directly.

When it returned to Jia Cong's hands, only a pile of flesh and blood was left.

……

"Oh no! Marquis Zi Yi has taken action against the salt merchants!"

"Ouyang Bozheng has been killed, this time it's for real!"

"Come on!"

There was such a big commotion here that only six salt merchants’ mansions were left.

There are a total of four martial arts wills manifested.

But without saying a word, he fled directly out of Yangzhou city!
He didn't even dare to turn his head.

"Anything else you want to say now?"

Jia Cong looked indifferently at the seven salt merchants in front of him.

"Hahahaha!"

"My dear Jia Cong, the law of nature is clear and will continue to repeat itself. One day, you will also..."

The head of the Qian family laughed.

The sword energy flew past and cut off the limbs of the seven people.

The remaining sword energy continued to penetrate into his body, which was almost like the torture of lingchi.

"Justice is clear?"

"I believe you are worthy of speaking to the heavens!"

"Come here, keep an eye on them. Ginseng juice will keep them alive."

"I will make them repent for a hundred days in front of Aunt Min's grave!"

"promise!"

……

at the same time
Zui Xiang Lou
"How dare Jia Cong attack the salt merchant!"

"presumptuous!"

"Without the imperial decree, framing someone and seizing the people's property is against loyalty and righteousness!"

"Even if he is the imperial envoy appointed by His Majesty, we will capture him first."

"At worst, we can go to the capital together with other great scholars from Jiangnan to file a complaint with the emperor!"

Several experts from Bailu Academy noticed the shouts and screams from the Qian residence the moment Jia Cong took action.

They looked at each other and saw the secret joy in each other's eyes.

This time the salt merchants were plotting against Lin Ruhai.

Bailu Academy was also plotting against Jia Cong by sacrificing the salt merchants.

In just a few words, Jia Cong was convicted.

Then he stood up, before he even went out.

Then a clear voice was heard coming from outside Zui Xiang Tower.

“It is a great pleasure to have friends visiting from afar!”

"Mr. Zuo has come to Yangzhou. I was busy with my practice before I entered Lin Ruhai. I am impolite!"

"I came to visit you today to discuss the meaning of the sutra."

"This is a blessing!"

Lin Ruhai came rushing over.

Bow slightly in mid-air.

Very polite.

However, everyone in the Bailu Academy in Zuixiang Tower all turned pale at the same time.

(End of this chapter)