The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 139 Two Mantises Meet the Oriole
Lu Yinghui and Wei Yuncai, one seems to have pledged allegiance to Prince Su, while the other seems to be very close to Lin Ruhai.

However, when it came to matters concerning the vital interests of the salt merchants, they would rather offend Prince Su than compromise their own interests.

These may explain why the salt merchants, despite several changes in leadership since the founding of the People's Republic of China, have been able to maintain control over the salt industry in the Jiangnan region.

So, despite their mutual hatred and desire to kill each other, these two people still managed to get together to discuss a solution.

Han Bocai continued the questioning, asking Lu Yinghui, "Since Prince Su agreed so readily, were our conditions too high?"

Lu Yinghui shook his head and said, "I don't think so, and the conditions have already been stated."

Han Bocai continued, "Shouldn't we try to test the waters a bit more and see if Prince Su will back down?"

Lu Yinghui sneered and said, "If you want to test me, go ahead. I won't get involved."

Han Bocai said, "There's no harm in testing the waters. If Prince Su disagrees, we can simply backtrack and discuss it again."

Lu Yinghui still had an expression of disagreement, but this time he didn't even bother to say a word.

Seeing that Lu Yinghui remained silent, Wei Yuncai seized the opportunity to interject, "Brother Han, how do you plan to test Prince Su?"

Han Bocai said, "I plan to convert the half of the business we are giving up into silver and tell Prince Su directly that we can give him this much silver every year so that he will not interfere with our salt merchants' business. If Prince Su is not satisfied with the amount of silver, we can add some more."

Problems that can be solved with silver are not problems for salt merchants; their only concern is whether the money spent is worthwhile.

Bribing a prince with so much silver is clearly a worthwhile investment.

"Moreover, this test has another purpose," Han Bocai continued, "that is, to test Prince Su's attitude and see if he is greedy for money or wants to interfere in the salt affairs."

"If he were greedy, he would certainly prefer the option of adding silver; if he wanted to interfere in the salt affairs, he would find a way to refuse."

Han Bocai's method drew unanimous praise from the others, but Lu Yinghui disagreed.

He said, "You're oversimplifying things. You think you're dealing with the same officials as before."

"As long as you offer them the silver, and then use some coercion and enticement, they will cooperate obediently."

"Open your eyes and look carefully, this time we are facing someone different from the past."

"This is a prince who doesn't care about human life. Believe it or not, if you send over the conditions you've proposed tonight, he'll bring his men and wipe out my entire Lu family before dawn."

When Lu Yinghui said this, everyone remembered that this Prince Su was indeed a ruthless person, and the number of people who died directly or indirectly at his hands was probably no less than a hundred.

What's most frightening is that this man never discriminates over status when killing people, from imperial grandsons to commoners; he doesn't spare anyone he deems worthy of death.

Wei Yuncai retorted, "It's just a test; Prince Su wouldn't be so impulsive."

"Testing the waters? Impulsiveness?" Lu Yinghui never gave Wei Yuncai a friendly look. He sneered, "So what if he acted impulsively once? What can you and I do about it?"

"Besides, if you can test them, why can't they? If the business is converted into silver, and they double the amount later, will you still pay them?"

Lu Yinghui bombarded the room with a barrage of questions, leaving the assembled guests speechless.

Although they all knew that Lu Yinghui's main reason for stopping everyone from testing them was to protect the Lu family, his reasoning was correct.

The others remained silent, except for Wei Yuncai, who stubbornly retorted, "I don't believe that Prince Su would dare to risk a salt workers' strike by attacking us."

Lu Yinghui immediately retorted: "It was our Lu family that was captured by Prince Su, of course you don't believe it."

"Moreover, the reason we believe that Prince Su would not dare to take action is because Prince Su is a person who considers the big picture."

"But have you considered that Prince Su is only an eleven-year-old child? If you anger him, can you guarantee that a child will consider the bigger picture?"

Children's tempers are always unpredictable, let alone a prince with military power.

Everyone present understood this principle, so even Wei Yuncai kept quiet.

Seeing that they were all silent, Lu Yinghui softened his tone and said:
"Since we have already discussed and agreed on a strategy, let's not change our minds easily. Moreover, we have already come up with a way to deal with it. Even if Prince Su gets the salt business, he won't do anything to us."

Lu Yinghui's earnest persuasion seemed to have finally convinced these people, with several of them nodding in agreement with his statement.

Upon seeing this situation, Han Bocai asked everyone, "What do you all think? Please share your opinions."

No one spoke, but it was clear that no one wanted to take the risk.

Han Bocai's idea was just a spur-of-the-moment thing; he suddenly thought of testing the waters. Now that he sees that no one supports him, he sees no need to persist alone.

Han Bocai said, "Since everyone wants to proceed according to the original plan, let's discuss how to make things go smoothly."

"Our principle is that we can make concessions now, but we must be prepared to kick out Prince Su's people in the future."

Based on this principle, they made corresponding modifications according to the information they received today.

Then Lu Yinghui returned to the Lin residence to report back, carrying the opinions of the salt merchants.

Because the two sides had similar opinions, the matter was finally decided after only one round of negotiations.

That is, the Lu family gave half of their salt business to Tu Chengyu.

After Tu Chengyu takes over, he can send someone to manage this half of the business independently, but it will still nominally belong to the Lu family.

Moreover, after the handover between the two parties, Tu Chengyu must immediately release the arrested members of the Lu family.

The deal was struck that very night, but something quite interesting happened.

That is, as the two sides in the struggle, their ideas were surprisingly consistent.

They all have the mentality that they can suffer a loss now, but they will get rid of the other party in the future.

Just as these two mantises were each mistaking the other for a cicada, waiting for the right moment to deal with each other.

They never expected that a cunning oriole would suddenly appear and catch them off guard.

As for what this suddenly appearing oriole did, we'll have to wait until the next day to find out.

The next morning, just as Tu Chengyu was preparing to take over the Lu family's salt fields and see what salt merchants were like.

Lin Ruhai came running over, panting, and the first thing he said was bad news.

"Your Highness, something has happened."

Tu Chengyu was caught off guard and asked, "What happened? What happened?"

Lin Ruhai caught his breath and said, "Something happened at the saltworks. The salt workers suddenly went on strike."

Upon hearing about the salt workers' strike, Tu Chengyu's first reaction was that the salt merchants were going back on their word and secretly causing trouble.

He asked angrily, "Are the salt merchants causing trouble?"

Lin Ruhai shook his head and said, "Although I haven't found out the reason yet, I don't think the salt merchants would do something so irrational."

Tu Chengyu said, "Regardless of whether they dare or not, let's arrest Lu Yinghui first and question him."

Just as Lin Ruhai was about to go find Lu Yinghui after hearing Tu Chengyu's words, the steward of the Lin family hurriedly came over.

After the steward finished bowing, he said to Lin Ruhai:

"Sir, the salt merchants, Mr. Han and Mr. Wei, have come to request an audience."

Speaking of Cao Cao, Cao Cao will arrive.

Tu Chengyu was just about to ask the salt merchants for clarification when they came to him of their own accord.

He said, "Since they're here, bring them over."

It's the same study, and the same few people.

This time, Han Bocai's attitude was even more humble than when he met Tu Chengyu before.

However, Tu Chengyu did not intend to let him off the hook just because of his humble posture. Tu Chengyu coldly asked, "You salt merchants have quite the methods, aren't you? Are you planning to make a fool of me?"

Han Bocai and the other man couldn't tell whether Tu Chengyu was genuinely angry or just pretending, so they could only deal with him cautiously.

Han Bocai said, "Your Highness, please calm down and allow me to explain."

Tu Chengyu slammed his fist on the table in anger and said, "Explain what? Explain how you negotiated with me while simultaneously engaging in underhanded tactics?"

Seeing that Tu Chengyu had even slammed his hand on the table, Han Bocai dared not linger any longer. Without waiting for Tu Chengyu's agreement, he said directly:

"Your Highness, we did not do this."

Tu Chengyu said, "It was your men who caused trouble, but you say it wasn't you. How can I believe you?"

Han Bocai continued to explain: "The salt workers' strike was caused by the prefect arresting people."

"Prefect?" Tu Chengyu asked in confusion, "Which prefect?"

Han Bocai: "Naturally, it was the prefect of Yangzhou. Yesterday, someone reported that Lord Lin had been assassinated. Prefect Tian led people to investigate the case, and somehow they ended up at the saltworks. Then Prefect Tian led his people to the saltworks, which eventually led to a riot by the salt workers."

Upon hearing this, Tu Chengyu remembered that he had indeed sent someone to report the case yesterday.

However, his original intention was to put pressure on the salt merchants by reporting the case to the police in order to achieve his own goals.

Unexpectedly, the prefect was so serious. Not only did he investigate the case immediately after receiving the report, but he also quickly traced it back to the saltworks.

Tu Chengyu believed that, given the salt merchants' abilities, the Yangzhou prefect would surely take care of them secretly.

But judging from the current situation, could it be that the salt merchants and the prefect have a bad relationship, and the prefect is taking this opportunity to vent his anger on the salt merchants?

Or perhaps the prefect knew that he, Prince Su, was standing behind Lin Ruhai, so he wanted to put on a show.

Or perhaps he is a rare good official who simply wants to do his job conscientiously.

It's possible that Tu Chengyu can't see clearly for the time being.

He asked, "Since Prefect Tian went to investigate a case, how did it lead to a riot by the salt workers?"

Han Bocai said, "Prefect Tian was probably in a hurry to get things done. After arriving at the salt field, he launched a large-scale search and arrest operation and subjected people to severe torture."

"Moreover, during the interrogation, several people were accidentally killed, which aroused the dissatisfaction of the salt workers."

After listening, Tu Chengyu frowned.

In his mind, he had already categorized Prefect Tian as a bad official. An official who could beat someone to death during interrogation, no matter what his reasons were, was not a good official.

Then Tu Chengyu asked, "How many salt workers rioted?"

Han Bocai replied, "As far as I know, three saltworks have already been involved. I cannot say for sure how many more will be involved later."

Tu Chengyu didn't quite understand how the saltworks were calculated, but three saltworks must amount to a considerable sum.

Moreover, Han Bocai said there would be more to come, which makes the problem serious.

By now, Tu Chengyu had no idea what Prefect Tian was up to.

He asked, "What did Prefect Tian do after he instigated the salt workers' riot?"

Han Bocai said, "Prefect Tian knew about the salt workers' unrest, but he did not back down. He continued to confront the salt workers, and he also ordered the Yangzhou Garrison to suppress them."

Tu Chengyu found it increasingly strange. An ordinary official, when faced with such a large-scale disturbance, should first stabilize the situation and appease the unresting crowd.

Why is Prefect Tian doing the opposite? Instead of appeasing them, he seems to be escalating the conflict.

Was he doing this to create a difficult situation for himself, the Prince of Su, or to crack down on the salt merchants?

Thinking of this, Tu Chengyu continued to ask, "What is the relationship between you salt merchants and this Prefect Tian?"

Han Bocai understood Tu Chengyu's intention in asking this question, and he replied:

"Your Highness, we, the Prefects of Hotan, get along well on ordinary days and visit each other during festivals."

What he meant was that they maintained a good relationship with the prefect of Hotan on a regular basis and would send him gifts during festivals.

In that case, there was no such thing as Prefect Tian cracking down on the salt merchants.

So why did he do this? Was he really targeting me?

But why would this prefect cause trouble for him for no reason? Tu Chengyu really couldn't understand it.

Just as he was pondering, Lin Ruhai quietly walked up to him and said in a voice only the two of them could hear:

"Your Highness, perhaps someone is trying to use Prefect Tian to sow discord between you and the salt merchants."

Upon hearing this, Tu Chengyu was immediately enlightened.

He was blinded by his own involvement, focusing his attention on the salt merchants and the prefect of Tian, ​​so naturally he couldn't grasp the key point.

Now, thanks to Lin Ruhai's reminder, he can broaden his focus and discover that, besides the salt merchants, there are many other forces eyeing his conflict with them.

Among these forces, there must be those who want him to continue fighting with the salt merchants.

When they realized they were negotiating with salt merchants, the two sides eventually succeeded in their negotiations.

These people were bound to be unwilling to accept this, which is why they took the opportunity to cause trouble, making it impossible for Tu Chengyu to continue his negotiations with the salt merchants.

Tu Chengyu had to admire these people; they were able to find out about the negotiations in such a short time.

They devised a plan so quickly and used Tu Chengyu's report to achieve their goal.

Moreover, they did this without revealing the slightest flaw.

Even with Prefect Tian, ​​whom they had put forward to handle the matter, Tu Chengyu couldn't think of a way to deal with him for the time being.

Faced with such a scheme, Tu Chengyu's struggle with the salt merchants these past few days was like a mantis stalking a cicada, unaware of the oriole lurking behind to deliver a fatal blow.

These people seemed to be well aware of Tu Chengyu's concerns, as well as the salt merchants' trump cards.

Therefore, their actions immediately exposed the salt merchants' true intentions and dispelled Tu Chengyu's concerns.

With this point broken, the temporary balance that Tu Chengyu and the salt merchants had worked so hard to build was shattered.

At this point, if Tu Chengyu wished, he could deal with the salt merchants without any scruples.

Meanwhile, in order to protect themselves, the salt merchants might stir up even bigger trouble.

If such a situation were to occur, no matter how far the struggle progresses, both Tu Chengyu and the salt merchants would suffer heavy losses.

The oriole hiding in the shadows can take advantage of the conflict between the two sides to gain more benefits.

Tu Chengyu figured this out in such a short time.

Surely the shrewd salt merchants would have figured this out, otherwise they wouldn't have rushed over to explain to Tu Chengyu as soon as they heard about what happened.

Since neither side wants to escalate the situation, they should work together to find a way to resolve the trouble caused by Prefect Tian.

Thinking about this, Tu Chengyu couldn't help but feel a little amused.

Before today, he and the salt merchants were rivals fighting to the death, each trying to defeat the other.

Unexpectedly, after just one night, they ended up working together and becoming temporary teammates.

How unpredictable life is!

(End of this chapter)