The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 125 Talking about the Encounter in the Salt Merchant's Garden

Although Lin Ruhai's words were somewhat taboo, Tu Chengyu didn't hold it against him because of his love for his daughter.

Tu Chengyu said, "I understand Lord Lin's concerns, but I assure you that as long as I have no ulterior motives, nothing will happen."

After hearing Tu Chengyu's words, Lin Ruhai almost couldn't help but retort. He thought to himself, "How can you control ambition just because you want to?"

Moreover, as you have more and more people under you, even if you have no ulterior motives, your subordinates will push you toward that goal.

Seeing that Lin Ruhai still looked worried, Tu Chengyu continued, "Lord Lin should be able to see that what I am doing now is something that will offend people."

"In the past six months, I have not only offended the nobles, but also the imperial family, and now I am about to offend the civil officials."

"You've offended everyone in the court. If I really had ulterior motives, why would I act this way?"

"Even if I were to have inappropriate thoughts in the future, given the people I have offended, I wouldn't dare to reveal them."

"Therefore, the more I do now, the safer I will be in the future."

After Tu Chengyu's explanation, Lin Ruhai suddenly realized that the Prince Su in front of him was indeed a master at offending people, and the kind of person who could offend someone to death with just one move.

Such a style of behavior certainly doesn't seem like that of a prince who would vie for the throne.

Furthermore, the more Prince Su offends people, the less of a threat he poses to the throne, and the more reassured the Crown Prince becomes.

As long as the Crown Prince does not suspect Prince Su, and given the rumored level of care the Crown Prince shows for Prince Su, Prince Su will not face any danger in his life.

Thinking of this, Lin Ruhai's worries eased a little, and he began to support Tu Chengyu's desire to get involved in salt affairs.

He said, "Since Your Highness wants to work with me to reorganize the salt administration, I will first explain to Your Highness the various difficulties in this matter."

Tu Chengyu said, "Please speak, Lord Lin."

When the topic turned to salt affairs, Lin Ruhai became serious and focused. He sat up straight, took a sip of tea, and said:

"When it comes to the difficulties in salt administration, there are three aspects that must be considered."

"Firstly, salt is an essential commodity for the daily lives of all people in the world, and the demand is enormous. Salt is produced in various places throughout the world, but Wu salt from Lianghuai is the most important. Therefore, if we want to reform the salt administration in Yangzhou, we must take into account the influence of Wu salt on the world."

"Secondly, the salt tax is the most important tax in the country besides the agricultural tax. Therefore, if we want to reform the salt administration, we must also consider whether it will affect the salt tax."

"Thirdly, the Yangzhou salt administration and the imperial court's policy of opening up the market were intertwined, and the policy of opening up the market involved the strategy of garrisoning and defending the border. Therefore, the reorganization of the Yangzhou salt administration may also cause unrest among the soldiers and civilians on the frontier."

"These three difficulties are issues that must be considered when reforming the salt administration in Yangzhou."

As soon as Lin Ruhai finished speaking, Tu Chengyu's first thought was that reforming the salt administration was like trying to catch a mouse in a room full of porcelain—a situation where one had to be careful not to harm the mouse.

Now he finally understood why the imperial court was hesitant and timid when dealing with salt merchants. Even though they knew the salt merchants had problems, they dared not take strong measures to rectify them.

It turns out that it wasn't that the imperial court didn't want to rectify the situation, nor that the salt merchants' power was so great that the court was wary of them.

Rather, the salt industry is far too complex; it's a matter of interconnectedness where a single move can have far-reaching consequences. Without a foolproof plan, regulating the salt industry could lead to even more trouble, making it a losing proposition.

Knowing all this, Tu Chengyu is now feeling a bit overwhelmed.

He immediately felt a pang of regret, and at the same time, he was very curious about how Lin Ruhai would reorganize the salt affairs. Had he already come up with a solution?

Tu Chengyu asked, "Lord Lin, given so many difficulties, why do you want to reorganize the salt administration? Have you come up with a foolproof plan?"

Lin Ruhai shook his head and said, "This humble official also has no good way to deal with these matters."

Tu Chengyu asked in confusion, "But didn't you say you wanted to reorganize the salt administration?"

Lin Ruhai said, "What I mean by rectifying the salt administration is not to fundamentally reverse the situation, but to give these salt merchants a warning."

Tu Chengyu asked, "Is it only targeting salt merchants?"

Lin Ruhai: "Yes, because recently salt merchants have become increasingly rampant and have severely exploited salt farmers. I am worried that if this continues, it will lead to the salt farmers fleeing, and in severe cases, it may even cause them to riot."

"In order to prevent such things from happening, I can only deal with the salt merchants and make them behave themselves."

Tu Chengyu understood that Lin Ruhai's talk of rectifying the salt industry had basically nothing to do with the salt industry itself.

He was simply worried that the salt farmers would be exploited too much, leading to unrest, which would reduce salt production in the Huai River region and thus affect the court's policies.

Therefore, Lin Ruhai's so-called rectification of the salt industry was just patchwork and patching things up, and it did not address the root cause at all.

Tu Chengyu said, "What Lord Lin is doing can only be effective for a short time, and will not have a lasting effect."

Lin Ruhai said, "I know that this can only manage the immediate situation, but I am merely a salt inspector and cannot do anything more."

Tu Chengyu thought about it and agreed. Salt affairs involved too many things, and it was indeed beyond the control of a single salt inspector.

However, now that I have someone to back Lin Ruhai up, even if there are still things that hinder him, I can still do more than Lin Ruhai can do alone.

He said, "Lord Lin, now that I am here, perhaps we can do more things."

Lin Ruhai said, "With Your Highness here, I can naturally act freely. However, salt affairs are related to important matters of the court, and I hope Your Highness will pay close attention."

Tu Chengyu said, "I know I won't act recklessly. Now you can tell me how you want to deal with the salt merchants and stop them from exploiting the salt farmers."

This was the second time Tu Chengyu had asked him this question, but the situation had changed compared to the first time, so Lin Ruhai's answer was different.

He said, "Since Your Highness is here, I intend to directly shut down one or two salt merchants. This will serve as a warning to others, deterring the remaining salt merchants from causing trouble again."

Tu Chengyu asked, "How do you plan to take down these two salt merchants?"

Lin Ruhai said, "I have already gathered some evidence against them. Now, all we need to do is solidify this evidence, and we can take care of these one or two salt merchants."

Seeing Lin Ruhai say this, Tu Chengyu felt that Lin Ruhai already had a complete plan in mind, and all he needed to do was help him.

So he said, "Lord Lin, if there is anything I need to do at that time, please don't hesitate to ask."

Lin Ruhai said, "With Your Highness's help, we will surely achieve twice the result with half the effort. I would like to thank Your Highness for your help in advance."

Next, the two discussed some details and then went back to their respective rooms.

Back in his room, Tu Chengyu thought about his conversation with Lin Ruhai while waiting for Quan Wenwei to arrive.

Tu Chengyu originally thought that Quan Wenwei had sent Lao Yao and the others out to scout ahead and they would be back soon. However, to his surprise, they did not return to the Lin residence until almost dinnertime.

Because Tu Chengyu had given prior instructions, when Lao Yao and the others returned, Quan Wenwei brought them directly to see Tu Chengyu.

Upon meeting, Tu Chengyu immediately asked, "How did things go today?"

As the leader of the group sent out, Lao Yao answered Tu Chengyu's question on their behalf.

"Your Highness, we followed Mr. Quan's instructions and went out to scout the area outside the Lin residence. We discovered that there were indeed people watching the Lin residence, but they didn't follow us when we left." "No one was following us. It seems the situation is different from what Tu Chengyu suspected."

So he asked, "None of you were being followed?"

Old Yao replied, "Your Highness, none of us were being followed."

Tu Chengyu then asked, "Since no one was following you, why are you so late?"

As soon as Tu Chengyu finished asking the question, before Lao Yao could even answer, Quan Wenwei, who was standing next to him, spoke up.

"Your Highness, it was I who instructed them to do so."

Since it was Quan Wenwei who gave the order, he must have had his reasons. Tu Chengyu remained silent, waiting for his explanation.

Upon hearing this, Quan Wenwei continued, "Your Highness, before they went out this time, besides testing whether anyone was following them, I assigned them another task."

Tu Chengyu asked, "What kind of mission is it?"

Quan Wenwei replied, "The task was to send out coded communication signals. That's what the students were thinking at the time."

"Because His Highness just arrived at the Lin residence today, these people in Yangzhou City would not expect that His Highness would send people out to do things so soon after arriving."

"Therefore, the students believe that there won't be too many people sent to the Lin residence to keep watch, which means there won't be enough manpower to track the movements of Guard Yao and his men."

"Therefore, before Guard Yao and his men set off, the students told them to be extra careful and to make sure that no one was following them."

"The students advised them to turn their probing into action, sending them to explore Yangzhou City and see if they could find the coded message left by Lord Yang Chun."

"If we don't find it, Guard Yao and his men will release our coded communication signal."

Tu Chengyu understood what Quan Wenwei had done.

He then said, "Mr. Quan has considered things very carefully. Since Mr. Quan has given these instructions, have you noticed that Yang Chun sent someone to leave a coded message?"

Old Yao said, "Your Highness, we have searched everywhere but have not found any coded communication signal."

It seems that Yang Chun has not yet sent anyone to Yangzhou, and we will have to wait.

Tu Chengyu thought for a moment and said, "Since no one is following us, starting tomorrow, you few will go to Yangzhou City every day until Yang Chun sends someone to pick you up."

Upon hearing this, Lao Yao and the others replied in unison, "We obey."

Having assigned this task, Tu Chengyu had nothing more to say.

Seeing the opportunity, Quan Wenwei led Lao Yao and the others away.

After they left, Tu Chengyu stayed in the study for a while until Xiao Xing'er came over to invite him to dinner, at which point Tu Chengyu left the room.

After finishing the meal, he told Quan Wenwei about his conversation with Lin Ruhai that day and asked Quan Wenwei to help analyze it.

The two talked until very late before Tu Chengyu returned to his room to rest.

Nothing happened on Tu Chengyu's first night at the Lin residence, and he slept soundly until dawn.

The next day, since everything had already been arranged, there was nothing for Tu Chengyu to do personally.

After having breakfast, Tu Chengyu, feeling a bit bored, decided to take a stroll through the Lin family garden.

Since he had already been there yesterday, Tu Chengyu didn't have the servants from the Lin family lead the way this time. He took Xiao Xuanzi and Xiao Xing'er to the garden himself.

The garden wasn't far from the front yard; it didn't take long to walk there.

However, when he arrived, the garden gate was open, and he could hear voices coming from inside the garden.

It seems there are already people in the garden.

Since others had already arrived, Tu Chengyu didn't want to disturb them by going in rashly.

Just as I was about to turn and leave, I heard a familiar voice again.

"Sister Lin, this flower is pretty, let's choose it."

The voice belongs to Jia Tanchun, so the "Sister Lin" she refers to is naturally Lin Daiyu.

It turned out that the people in the garden were Lin Daiyu and her companions.

Upon realizing it was them, Tu Chengyu stopped in his tracks and stood there, lost in thought.

After thinking for a moment, Tu Chengyu unconsciously put on a smile.

Then he turned back and continued walking toward the garden.

Xiao Xuanzi and Xiao Xing'er watched as their prince circled around before finally heading to the garden, and naturally knew what he was up to.

Xiao Xuanzi asked in a low voice, "Your Highness, should I go in and inform them?"

Xiao Xuanzi asked this question because he thought that this was, after all, the Lin residence, and it was not good for the prince to barge in without permission.

But Tu Chengyu ignored all of this. In his view, everyone was still a child, so why did Lin have to be so particular?

Besides, he also wanted to see how Lin Daiyu would react when she suddenly saw him.

Will she become the Lin Duidui she saw on TV in her past life, uttering a few of Lin's sinister words, or will she be just like an ordinary little girl, panicked and at a loss?

This scene must be quite interesting.

Therefore, he directly rejected Xiao Xuanzi's suggestion and left Xiao Xuanzi and Xiao Xing'er to guard the garden gate, while he entered the garden alone.

Entering through the gate, without the obstruction of the courtyard wall, Jia Tanchun and Lin Daiyu's conversation became much clearer.

Tu Chengyu looked in the direction their voices came from, past the flower bed, and through the pavilion.

He saw the figures of three little girls on the other side of the lake.

They stood with their backs to the garden gate, among a clump of flowers, seemingly doing nothing.

Perhaps they were too engrossed in what they were doing, or perhaps they were talking too loudly, which masked Tu Chengyu's footsteps.

In short, they didn't realize anyone had come in until Tu Chengyu was almost at the pavilion in the middle of the garden.

Tu Chengyu felt that these three carefree girls would only notice him if he walked up behind them.

However, Tu Chengyu couldn't actually walk behind them, so he had no choice but to stand under the pavilion and cough a few times on purpose.

(End of this chapter)