The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 148 Settling Old and New Grudges Together
From these people, Quan Wenwei learned about their methods of smuggling goods overseas.

This is how these people smuggle goods.

First, Japanese and Western merchants would bring smuggled goods to the near sea and place them on designated deserted islands.

After they left, the salt workers would take advantage of the night to bring the goods from the island to the salt fields on the shore.

Then, someone will transport these goods away and hand them over to the merchants who have already paid.

At the same time, merchants in Jiangnan would also sell goods such as silk to Western merchants through this method.

In this process, from Western merchants to salt workers and people like Ding Jia, everyone worked together in close coordination to complete the smuggling of goods.

These poor salt workers could also benefit greatly from this process.

No wonder they were so determined to protect Manager Wu from the very beginning.

Because even though Manager Wu was using them, he could genuinely bring benefits to the salt workers.

Now that Quan Wenwei had gotten what he wanted from the salt workers, and the salt workers' rebellion had been quelled.

Tu Chengyu felt that there was nothing left to do here, so he could head home.

He himself has nothing to do, but others still have things to do.

The first issue was the punishment of the salt workers who participated in the rebellion.

There were many salt workers involved in this rebellion, probably one or two thousand in total.

With so many people involved, it's impossible to punish them all severely; we must differentiate between those who are treated more leniently and those who are less lenient.

Originally, Tu Chengyu intended to hand this matter over to Prefect Tian and County Magistrate Zhu Xingwen.

But to this day, Prefect Tian is still missing and has not been found.

Zhu Xingwen, however, claimed that he was of low status and dared not handle the matter alone, and asked Tu Chengyu to give him a standard for punishment.

Tu Chengyu thought to himself that a rebellion was indeed not something that a mere county magistrate could handle.

But he himself cannot stay here for long to hear the case.

After discussing it, the group decided that Zhu Xingwen would handle the case.

However, Tu Chengyu listed several standards for judging cases for him.

That is, apart from the salt workers' leaders, the remaining salt workers who participated in the rebellion were tried based on what they did after the rebellion.

Anyone who participated in burning, killing, and looting after the county town was captured was to be executed on the spot without any reason.

Those who had not committed any heinous acts were released on the spot and allowed to return to the salt fields.

With this standard in mind, Zhu Xingwen happily went to do his work.

This is Tu Chengyu's last chance for him. If they can seize it and handle the case of the salt workers well, Tu Chengyu will not mind helping them out.

Besides interrogating the salt workers, Tu Chengyu also had a personal matter to attend to.

That was the salt business he got from Lu Yinghui, which also needed to be dealt with.

These businesses included several salt fields and the salt workers working on them.

Coincidentally, these salt fields are located nearby.

Since we're already here, let's get it done while we're at it, to avoid any unforeseen complications later.

However, Tu Chengyu does not need to handle this matter personally.

All that's needed is for Quan Wenwei to bring his people over to take over.

As for the subsequent management, it will be handed over to the Xue family of Jinling.

After arranging these matters, Tu Chengyu returned the way he came.

Tu Chengyu barely managed to complete his mission in this suppression of the rebellion.

However, there were also aspects that displeased Tu Chengyu.

The first problem is that, so far, he has only found Manager Wu, who runs errands for others, and has not yet dug out the person behind the scenes.

Secondly, he discovered that the garrison in Jiangnan was in dire need of a major overhaul; otherwise, it would truly fall into complete disrepair.

While reflecting on the past two days of suppressing the rebellion, Tu Chengyu was also writing a memorial to the emperor.

He wrote down everything he saw at the salt fields in his memorial to the emperor so that the emperor could have a clear understanding of it.

He also wrote down some of his concerns.

Finally, he also included some solutions he had come up with for the emperor's reference.

These were the methods that Tu Chengyu had been thinking about ever since he saw the tragic state of the salt fields. Only after getting on the ship did he manage to come up with a few simple ones.

He originally intended to discuss it with Lin Ruhai, but then he thought that the issue of the salt workers involved the imperial edict of the founding emperor.

Even if Lin Ruhai, this subject, had a solution in mind, he dared not say it to Tu Chengyu's face.

Therefore, Tu Chengyu had to figure it out on his own.

The journey there was smooth sailing, and the fleet arrived in less than a day.

Now, the return trip was much slower, taking a full day and a half to reach the dock outside Yangzhou.

Upon arriving at the dock, Tu Chengyu did not disembark.

He ordered Lin Ruhai to go down and take away the captured salt workers' leaders and the surviving Japanese slaves.

At the same time, all the useless soldiers in the Yangzhou garrison were dismissed, leaving only the barely usable ones on the ship.

Tu Chengyu didn't let them go down because he would need them later.

Just as Lin Ruhai was making a big show of disembarking, drawing everyone's attention away...

Su Xuanbao, who had been sent out by Tu Chengyu in advance, secretly boarded Tu Chengyu's ship.

Su Xuanbao was sent by Tu Chengyu to gather information about Manager Wu, so as soon as he boarded the ship, Tu Chengyu asked him directly:

"Has the person been found?"

"Your Highness, we've found it."

"Still in Zhenjiang?"

"Your Highness, they are still here."

"He didn't notice, did he?"

"Your Highness, this time when I was gathering information, I used men sent by Lord Lin. They all spoke with a Jiangnan accent, so it didn't arouse their suspicion. Besides, they wouldn't have expected that Your Highness would send people before you even returned from suppressing the rebellion."

"We can't be careless. Have Yang Chun and the others arrived yet?"

"Your Highness, we arrived early this morning and should be on the ship by now."

The reason Tu Chengyu specifically asked about Yang Chun was because he would need Yang Chun and his subordinates later.

Back then, when Tu Chengyu left the capital, he sent Yang Chun with a team of men to secretly investigate the grain fields in Jiangnan.

Later, for reasons unknown, the people secretly investigating the grain fields were discovered by officials and gentry in various places.

In some places, people tried to get rid of the investigators after discovering the fashion.

In some places, people are bolder and have detained these people. They haven't been released yet.

Although these places all resisted the investigation, they were somewhat restrained and did not go too far.

However, there was one place that did something that still makes Tu Chengyu grit his teeth whenever he thinks about it.

This place is Zhenjiang Prefecture.

At that time, Yang Chun assigned a five-man team to Zhenjiang. They were eventually discovered by officials and gentry.

However, upon discovering the men Tu Chengyu had sent out, they did not immediately expel or detain them.

Instead, they were incredibly audacious and burned down the inn where the five-person group was resting.

The fire killed three of the five people instantly.

The remaining two escaped the fire by sheer luck, only to encounter thugs who had been lying in ambush nearby.

In the end, one of the two died from being beaten with clubs while trying to hold off the pursuers.

The other one escaped by chance, but was also seriously injured.

Fortunately, the one who escaped was found by Yang Chun, who was searching everywhere, and brought back to Yangzhou, saving his life.

Tu Chengyu harbored a deep resentment over the murder of his subordinate and constantly plotted revenge.

However, the secret investigation of the farmland could not be made public, and Tu Chengyu could not act rashly, so the matter was temporarily suppressed.

However, during this campaign to quell the rebellion of the salt workers, he inadvertently learned about Manager Wu, a man from Zhenjiang.

Tu Chengyu felt that the time had come to go to Zhenjiang to avenge his men.

Therefore, on the very night the rebellion was quelled, he couldn't wait to send Su Xuanbao to investigate the situation.

At the same time, Yang Chun, who had been investigating the matter, was also summoned.

Now, he heard that this Manager Wu did indeed exist, and that he happened to be in Zhenjiang.

Tu Chengyu felt he couldn't wait any longer.

Therefore, after Lin Ruhai took away all the people who were supposed to be taken away.

Tu Chengyu didn't waste a moment and immediately ordered the boat to set sail, heading directly towards Zhenjiang.

Zhenjiang and Yangzhou are separated by a river. Although the boat was going against the current, it didn't take long.

Within an hour, Tu Chengyu's fleet appeared at the dock in Zhenjiang.

The inn where the fire occurred was not in Zhenjiang city proper, but in a county under its jurisdiction.

Therefore, Tu Chengyu's fleet arrived directly outside the county town.

Because Tu Chengyu's fleet was quite large, their arrival at the dock outside the county town caused quite a stir.

However, when they saw the government flags flying on the bows of the ships, especially the royal flag on one of the largest official ships, they stopped panicking.

The person in charge at the dock sent someone over to inquire which prince was visiting.

On the other hand, he also sent someone back to the city to report.

However, Tu Chengyu completely ignored the dock manager's inquiries.

Instead, after the ship came to a stop, a group of people disembarked and surrounded the entire dock.

The dock in the county town was small, but it had a lot of people coming and going, including many who traveled around all year round.

These people found themselves inexplicably surrounded, and some of the more hot-tempered ones immediately became unwilling to stand up for themselves.

But no matter how much he resisted, it was to no avail when facing the army.

When they saw the surrounding army start to draw their knives, even the most hot-tempered person would obediently stay where they were and dare not move.

After the soldiers on the first ship surrounded the people on the dock, the soldiers on the subsequent ships also disembarked one by one.

After they came down, they lined up briefly on the dock.

They immediately split into two groups, each carrying Tu Chengyu's banner, and set off in two different directions.

Both teams were guards from Tu Chengyu's palace, accompanied by some soldiers from the Yangzhou garrison.

Their primary objective was to capture Manager Wu, an important figure.

The second reason was to bring back some people who were involved in the arson at the inn.

Although Tu Chengyu had not yet figured out how to handle the arson case, he had never relaxed his investigation.

After meeting with Yang Chun, he handed over the person he was investigating to him.

Yang Chun lived up to expectations, and in a very short time, he uncovered some clues and identified some people.

This led to the immediate dispatch of men to arrest people as soon as the fleet arrived in Zhenjiang.

Yang Chun's ability to achieve so much in such a short time was also inseparable from Tu Chengyu's help.

To talk about the help Tu Chengyu provided, we have to go back to the time before he left Beijing.

When the retired emperor heard that Tu Chengyu was going to Jiangnan alone on business, he was quite worried.

In order to protect Tu Chengyu's safety and to ensure that Tu Chengyu can successfully complete his business.

The retired emperor even requested some manpower from Dai Quan and assigned them to Tu Chengyu.

The people who came from Dai Quan were all spies that Dai Quan had sent to infiltrate Jiangnan a long time ago.

These people, having spent a long time lurking in Jiangnan, are quite familiar with some things happening there.

Tu Chengyu originally thought that he would not use these people unless it was absolutely necessary.

Who would have thought that the people in Zhenjiang would be so arrogant as to set fire to the imperial envoy?

Tu Chengyu could no longer tolerate it, so he used Dai Quan's subordinate.

It was thanks to the help of these people that Yang Chun was able to achieve results so quickly.

Tu Chengyu only got off the boat after the two groups of people who were arresting the criminals had left.

When he disembarked, he was followed by two unusual people.

One is Yang Chun, who hasn't been seen in a long time, and the other is Mu Ming, the only survivor of the arson case.

Although Mu Ming survived, her external injuries are quite severe, and she still needs to be carried around.

Originally, Yang Chun hadn't planned for him to come to Zhenjiang this time.

However, when this family heard that Tu Chengyu was going to avenge his companions, they insisted on coming, and in the end, they had no choice but to have someone carry them there.

The three of them disembarked from the ship, surrounded by a group of guards.

After getting off, they didn't go anywhere else, but followed Mu Ming's directions to a row of houses not far from the dock.

This row of houses served as warehouses and lodging areas on the dock.

There should have been an inn on the far left of these houses, but now only a charred, empty space remains.

Upon arriving at this place, Mu Ming, who had been suppressing her sadness the entire way, could no longer hold back.

He struggled to get off the chair that had been carrying him, then collapsed to the ground and burst into loud sobs.

In this situation, Yang Chun's face was ashen, his fists clenched tightly, and he seemed lost in thought.

Tu Chengyu looked at the vacant lot where the fire had occurred, his brows furrowed.

By now, everyone should be able to guess that this is the place where the arson occurred.

Mu Ming's three companions were burned alive in this very place.

Just as Tu Chengyu and the others were immersed in a somber atmosphere, Old Yao quietly walked up to Tu Chengyu and said:

"Your Highness, the local magistrate has arrived and wishes to see you."

Upon hearing Lao Yao's words, Tu Chengyu suddenly turned around and looked behind him. Sure enough, he saw a man dressed as a county official standing not far away, looking at them intently.

(End of this chapter)