Chapter 210: Offense and Defense
After eating lunch, the group set off for Wujiang County. They arrived in Wujiang County in the evening and, by noon the next day, had traveled from Wujiang County to Jiaxing County.
Jiaxing is a large county and a place where silkworms are raised and cocoons are produced. The county has a total of forty-six weaving workshops. Any silk merchant house with some reputation in Jiangnan has a weaving workshop in Jiaxing.
Without exception, all these weaving workshops have ceased operations.
Similar to Changshu County and Wujiang County, the weaving workshops belonging to about a dozen of the largest silk merchant houses were the first to stop work, one day earlier than in Changshu and Wujiang counties. The remaining dozens of small weaving workshops followed these dozen large weaving workshops, stopping work a day or two later.
Li Xiaonan sat under the corridor, turning her head to survey her surroundings.
As usual, they had rented a small courtyard. This was a very large inn, and this section of small courtyards was connected to other small courtyards. The main hall on the first two floors was at least three or four courtyards away from their small courtyard.
From the second floor of the main hall, they could not see her location. The small courtyard was surrounded by buildings. As long as they didn’t shout, any conversations within the courtyard would certainly not be heard outside.
“Second Uncle,” Li Xiaonan called out in a raised voice.
Li Wenru, who was chatting with A Wu, quickly responded.
Li Xiaonan observed her Second Uncle, who had a strong scholarly aura. Eldest Uncle had said that Second Uncle was very knowledgeable and might be able to discuss things.
Li Wenru ascended the steps. Li Xiaonan stood up and pulled a chair over to place beside him.
Li Wenru sat down and looked at the dejected Li Xiaonan. Before he could speak, Li Xiaonan spoke first, “Second Uncle, the weaving workshops in these three counties have all stopped work. How could it be such a coincidence?”
“Coincidence? There are no such coincidences! It must have been planned,” Li Wenru clicked his tongue.
“What’s the benefit of planning to stop work?” Li Xiaonan looked at Li Wenru.
“The Young Lord would certainly not tell you this,” Li Wenru chuckled and lowered his voice. “Linhai Town is full of hidden talents! Ever since the Young Lord purged Linhai Town…”
“Ah?” Li Xiaonan was startled by the word “purged.”
“That’s a metaphor, not a literal purging. Think about it, the Young Lord is so swift and decisive. With one sweep, he apprehended everyone from the Jiangnan Silk Guild, big and small, and the Maritime Tax Bureau. Those involved in the silk business say that the entire Jiangnan Silk Guild is bound to be purged by the Young Lord!”
Li Wenru clicked his tongue again.
“People in their silk guild say that this purge by the Young Lord is to change the rules, just like the old Prince Rui. Setting aside other matters, even if he consolidates the two shifts at the wharf into one, this alone would be a huge blow to the silk guild. This one change alone would be a fortune!”
“I’m telling you, cutting off someone’s source of income is like killing their father. That saying is wrong!”
Li Wenru’s mouth turned downwards.
“A Nan, your Second Uncle tells you, killing a father cannot compare to cutting off someone’s source of income. Yi Ya, for the sake of wealth, even steamed his own son. If Duke Heng wanted meat that was more chewy, Yi Ya would surely have killed his father and then his mother as an afterthought!
“People love their own children the most, not their parents. This is human nature. If one can steam and bury their own child, then their parents are even less of a concern.
“These people would even kill their own children for the sake of wealth. Killing a father is nothing; it’s cutting off someone’s source of income and obstructing their future that is truly a matter of life and death, tsk!”
Li Xiaonan looked speechlessly at her Second Uncle. Her Second Uncle’s words were very true, but he was too prone to going off-topic!
“Are you saying that they planned to stop work because the Young Lord intends to cut off their source of income?” Li Xiaonan steered the conversation back.
“Exactly! This has happened before. During the time of the old Prince Rui, the weaving workshops were uniformly taxed at fifty percent. Those workshops that originally paid twenty or thirty percent tax all stopped work. Alas.” Li Wenru’s sigh carried a similar weight to his clicking of the tongue.
“Did it work?” Li Xiaonan asked, feigning ignorance.
“Of course, it didn’t work. But that was different from now. Back then, some weaving workshops paid fifty percent, while others paid twenty or thirty percent. Because of this, there were constant arguments within the silk guild. When the workshops paying twenty or thirty percent stopped work, the workshops paying fifty percent would rush in and seize their business. Heh!”
“Still, quite a few weavers were left without work,” Li Xiaonan said.
“At that time, many weavers did not have indentures. They could come and go as they pleased. They were without work because they refused to sell themselves. Nowadays, every weaver is bound by an indenture.
Li Xiaonan hummed softly, “Then, Second Uncle, what do you think will happen with this work stoppage?”
“That’s hard to say. It depends on whether the Young Lord is willing to compromise. Can you discern the Young Lord’s temperament?” Li Wenru asked in a low voice.
Li Xiaonan shook her head. “Second Uncle, according to what you’ve said, they stopped work to contend with the Young Lord. So, before this contest is decided, they will stop work, but they won’t sell off their weavers, right?”
“Yes, yes, yes! You’re very quick-witted,” Li Wenru raised his eyebrows.
“If they don’t sell off the weavers, they won’t pay them wages either. They’ll let the weavers go hungry and then incite them to cause trouble,” Li Xiaonan continued.
Li Wenru froze for a moment, then nodded incessantly, “Yes, yes, yes, that must be it!”
“Second Uncle, do you think if we spread the word that we’ll take in all the weavers who want to come, will anyone compete with us to take in weavers?” Li Xiaonan continued.
“Definitely! The fact that the Young Lord treats you differently is known by almost everyone in Linhai Town and Pingjiang City. Many people also know that the Young Lord has consulted you on the Investigation of Things and that you are friends with him. Some people have been following us, doing whatever business we do,” Li Wenru replied, nodding.
“Then, if we spread the word, how many weavers do you think we can take in?” Li Xiaonan said with a worried expression. “I’m afraid it will be too many.”
“My original plan was to have two or three weavers in a small county and five or six in a large county, teaching everyone weaving in rotation in various villages. Now, if we spread the word, the weavers who come to us will surely be more than two or three, or five or six.
“Weavers are too expensive. What if I don’t have enough capital?”
“Don’t worry about that!” Li Wenru leaned forward. “Didn’t your Weng Weng ask me to come along to be your money bag?”
“How much silver does Second Uncle have? A hundred weavers would cost over a thousand silver!” Li Xiaonan pouted.
“Your Second Uncle doesn’t have much silver, but your Weng Weng has plenty. Your Second Uncle will tell you secretly, although your Second Uncle doesn’t know how much silver your Weng Weng has, your Second Uncle once saw your Weng Weng exchange gold for silver, and it was at least over ten thousand!” Li Wenru chuckled.
“Then what did Tang Weng Weng say before you came? Why don’t we spread the word first and see?” Li Xiaonan looked at Li Wenru.
“It’s best to spread the word first. Otherwise, if someone gets ahead of us and spreads the word to the real estate agencies, we’ll have to pick from what’s left over.
“Coincidentally, Jiaxing County is a large county. I’ll go to the real estate agency right away and have them spread the word to various agencies for us. They communicate quickly among themselves.”
Li Wenru said as he stood up.
“I’ll go with Second Uncle,” Li Xiaonan stood up and followed Li Wenru out.
