Located in the Nanyang Cao family's mansion in Wancheng, Zhuo Yun was full of anxiety, pacing back and forth, looking a little uneasy. Cao Jian's face was gloomy, his thin lips were pursed, and his eyes revealed a trace of exhaustion.

Since the Huaishui freight was not smooth, Guo Xianyang, a big farmer, with the support of the Royal Industrial Group and Shaofu, took a series of dazzling countermeasures, and the salt prices in Nanyang and the surrounding counties suddenly soared. Forty yuan per stone seems to have become a tacit price in the salt industry in disguise, so that the people have a plan in their hearts, and any salt above this price cannot be sold at all.

In the past six months, the Nanyang salt merchants, led by Cao Zhuo and his family, have purchased more than 10 million stone of sea salt at a price of 80 yuan per stone, and in order to stabilize the price of salt, they have closed down many of their salt shops, trying to create the illusion of a shortage of salt in the market. However, as Henan merchants and various post booths began to dump sea salt at unbelievably low prices in Nanyang and surrounding counties, their plot was completely crushed.

"Uncle, the matter has come to this point, and there is no point in holding on any longer, so you might as well take a step back, reopen the salt shop, and sell sea salt at the market price of forty yuan per stone." Zhuo Yun stopped, gritted his teeth and said fiercely: "Although there will be a loss of more than half of the capital, it is better than losing all your capital." You and I both have a deep heritage, as long as we do not abandon each other in the future and support each other, he will be able to make a comeback. ”

Cao Jian smiled helplessly: "Things are not as simple as you think, sell at a loss and then second, once you and I start selling sea salt, the rest of the salt merchants will definitely be in chaos, and even cut off their tails to survive, competing to sell at a lower price." If you think about it carefully, how many people can there be in this Nanyang County, and how much salt can be used up in a month? The mineral salt and sea salt that we are hoarding in our warehouse now far exceed 10 million stones, and once all of them are released, it is very likely that the price of salt in the market will fall sharply again, and even make salt cheaper than sand and gravel. ”

When Zhuo Yun heard this, he couldn't help but look horrified. Although he is the contemporary head of the Zhuo family, he has only just passed the age of establishment, and his vision and experience cannot be compared with the old and cunning Cao Jian. And because Cao Jian is Zhuo Yun's maternal uncle, most of the many methods used by Cao Zhuo's two families to unite with Nanyang salt merchants against the royal industrial group for more than half a year have Cao Jian at the helm. Now Zhuo Yun saw that his maternal uncle, who he originally regarded as relying on, suddenly became exhausted, and naturally became even more confused and panicked.

Cao Jian saw that his nephew's face had changed greatly, he couldn't help but sigh slightly, and opened his mouth to say a few words of comfort, but saw Zhou Kuan, the old housekeeper at home, hurriedly walked into the hall, panting and said, "Master, something is wrong!" ”

Cao Jian frowned, but did not reprimand. Zhou Kuan has been a housekeeper in the Cao family for decades, he has always been loyal and conscientious, and he has seen a lot of the world, but now he suddenly looks anxious, and there must be something big happening.

"Master, someone took a few IOUs and sued in the Taishou Mansion, saying that our Cao family did not repay the debts, and Taishou should uphold justice for him, and severely punish the master according to the law!" Zhou Kuan adjusted his breath a little and said anxiously.

"Ridiculous! I think my Cao family has a big business and a net worth of hundreds of millions, how can I owe money and not pay it back?! Cao Jian seemed to have heard a big joke, and couldn't help laughing angrily, "Who dares to spread such an unobtrusive rumor, and is not afraid to make people laugh?!" ”

Zhou Kuan shook his white head vigorously and hurriedly said, "Master, this is not a rumor. Now the official of the Taishou Mansion has come to the door, saying that he wants to bring the master back to the mansion to ask about the case. The old slave had ordered someone to serve tea, and delayed them in the main hall for a moment before he came to report. Whether you leave or stay, the way for the master to deal with each other quickly is to deal with it. ”

When Cao Jian and Zhuo Yun heard this, their faces were shocked. If the Taishou Mansion has sent officials to bring people there, it means that the complainant does have admissible evidence in his hands and is sufficient to file a case, and the Taishou has also accepted the case.

At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the national policy was to emphasize agriculture and suppress commerce, and the political status of merchants was extremely low. Even if he is a wealthy businessman, even if he has made friends with many powerful people in private, if he really gets into a lawsuit and enters the main hall of the government, he will inevitably have weak limbs and sweaty hearts.

The angry look on Cao Jian's face was swept away, replaced by a pale and frightened look, and all kinds of thoughts quickly surged in his mind.

It is impossible to escape, the so-called monk can't run the temple, Nanyang Cao's family has a big business, and if you want to run away, it is tantamount to a fool's dream. Although Cao Jian is the head of the family, he is only the strongest room among the Cao family. Even if you don't count the family lineage, as far as the lineage is concerned, there are at least two forces that can influence Cao Jian's decision-making. They categorized that they would not abandon their ancestors' inheritance for the sake of Cao Jian alone.

In addition, those who fail to repay their debts within the time limit are within the scope of miscellaneous laws (equivalent to the civil law of later generations) according to the Han law, and if they can repay the debts as soon as possible, they will only be punished with flogging. Moreover, during this period of time, the creditor cannot take the debtor's property and money to pay off the debt, otherwise he will be severely punished according to the law. Compared with the legal system of most feudal dynasties in China, Han law was an extremely benevolent law in "some respects", even the rights of debtors were guaranteed.

Of course, if in the end the debtor is really unable to repay the debt, the cruel side of Hanlu will be revealed. First of all, all the family property is confiscated, and the official government sends a scribe to appraise it, and if it is still insolvent, the debtor himself and his wife, children, and children in the family must be registered as slaves. After becoming a slave, there are only two ways out, one is to become a private slave of the creditor, and the other is to become an official slave, and the government pays the creditor according to the market price.

"Don't worry, sir, although the guards took you to hear the news, the old slave didn't see them holding shackles, and his words didn't seem to ask about the guilt. I think that Taishou did not convict the master, but wanted to recruit the master to confront him in court. Zhou Kuan saw Cao Jian's face was discouraged, and couldn't help but say comfort.

Cao Jian was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then pondered for a long time before he came back to his senses, and said with a hesitant expression: "This matter is really a bit strange, these days, although my Cao family borrowed a large amount of money from several wealthy businessmen in the county for turnover, but I have never heard of someone coming to ask for debts, how could someone suddenly sue the old man to court?" ”

Zhuo Yun on the side was also confused, if those wealthy businessmen wanted the Cao family to repay the money, they only needed to take the IOU to ask for it, and the Cao family would definitely try their best to repay the debt. After all, honesty is the most important among merchants with equal strength, and as the leader of Nanyang Salt Industry, the face and reputation of the Cao family are far more precious than hundreds of millions of silver dollars.

"The master doesn't have to think about it in vain, he just needs to go to the Taishou Mansion with the palace guard, and the reason is clear. If someone deliberately frames him, he should go to clear himself as soon as possible. The old man went late, but he seemed to be weak for no reason, and people were terrible. Seeing this, Zhou Kuan couldn't help but be a little anxious.

According to common sense, when the government officials came to take people, they were all rampant and unreasonable. Today's official did not go straight to the back house, but stayed in the front hall quite kindly, so that Zhou Kuan had time to come and report to Cao Jian, which was already very kind. This is thanks to the fact that the imperial court has wantonly purged the officialdom of Nanyang a few years ago, so that the local official style has been cleared.

However, even if the officials were kind, they still had to bring Cao Jian to the mansion as soon as possible. Now that half of the tea has passed, if Cao Jian doesn't go out again, I'm afraid that the guards will soon break into the back house to take people. Once you change from "bringing people" to "taking people", the quality of your surname will change, even if you don't have shackles, I'm afraid you will inevitably be beaten and tied tightly.

Cao Jian saw the old housekeeper urging, and knew that if he continued to hesitate, not only would it not help, but it would make the situation more and more unfavorable. He has been in business for decades, and he is also a happy person who can afford to put it down, so he immediately turned his heart sideways, tidied up his clothes a little, and did not forget to tell Zhuo Yun: "You go back to the house first, neither continue to buy sea salt, nor do you easily reopen the salt shop." After I finish dealing with this, I will send someone to you to discuss the follow-up countermeasures. ”

Zhuo Yun saw that Cao Jian was still worried about the business even though he was entangled in lawsuits, and he didn't know how to deal with it, so he had to smile bitterly: "Uncle's instructions, the little nephew should obey it, and I hope that my uncle will take care of it." ”

Cao Jian nodded heavily, no longer spoke, but led Zhou Kuan slowly to the front hall. Zhuo Yun looked at his back that suddenly seemed a little rickety, sighed heavily, and suddenly felt a trace of tiredness and boredom in his heart.

(This chapter is a little missing due to its sub-chapters.) The next chapter will be late, and the brothers can get up tomorrow morning and read it again, and the next week should be two changes a day. (To be continued.) )