Volume 2: Eagle vs. Dragon Chapter 68: Warehouse Search
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw an old scholar walking out from the crowd. He was escorted to the door of the warehouse by Zhu Qing and several other attendants. Although the man was old and short and thin, he had a gaunt look and a righteous demeanor. Although he was wearing casual clothes, he was intimidating without even getting angry.
Cai Qinghua hurried forward, bowed and said, "Grand Lord."
Everyone was shocked and realized that the old man in front of them was actually the emperor's teacher and governor-general of Guangdong and Guangxi , Mr. Zhu Gui.
At that moment, everyone, regardless of whether they were officials or civilians , knelt down, and Jishan had to stand up and salute.
Zhu Gui looked around and said calmly, "It is said that Guangzhou is a fairyland that refuses to obey the king's rule. I didn't believe it at first, but today, I have to believe it. Even though the Governor's Office issued a clear order, we cannot enter the warehouse of Yihehang to search and raid. This Thirteen Hongs is really connected to the sky."
Ji Shan said: "Your Excellency the Governor is wrong. The Thirteen Hongs are under the jurisdiction of the Guangdong Customs, and the Guangdong Customs is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Aren't the Guangdong Customs and the Ministry of Internal Affairs the king's rule?"
Zhu Gui smiled lightly and said, "Master Jishan, you are not in charge of the Guangdong Customs, but you are called by a guarantor and you rush to guard the door for him. You are not afraid of losing your identity."
Jishan was furious: "Zhu...you!" Zhu Gui was secretly calling him a watchdog. If it were last year, he would have cursed back regardless of his official position, but now he thought that the other party was the emperor's teacher after all, and his official status was higher than his own, so he had to endure it.
Zhu Gui asked again: "Or... are the things in this warehouse related to you?"
Ji Shan hurriedly said, "Governor Zhu, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't say anything you want! Please don't say anything you don't have any evidence for."
Zhu Gui said, "If it is irrelevant, then why are you so anxious? It's not like they are confiscating the property right now. It's just a search of the warehouse. Do you need to defend it with your life like this, Master Jishan? You are also dragging the reputation of the current emperor down with you! Does my search of this warehouse mean that I, Zhu Gui, am disrespectful to the emperor, or disobeying the imperial edict? Don't forget that I, the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, was also appointed by the emperor. In these two provinces, I am the emperor's tour guide! Since I have been entrusted by two generations of emperors, as the military and political governor of the two provinces, can't I even search a merchant's warehouse? If you, Master Jishan, dare to say in front of all the scholars and people in Guangzhou that you can't search, then I won't search today. Let's submit a memorial together and argue in front of the emperor and the emperor."
Jishan said: "This... this..."
Zhu Gui said: "In fact, we can tell at a glance whether there are any prohibited items. If there are none, then this insurance company has been cleared of all charges. Right, Master Jishan?"
Jishan's eyes rolled around as he calculated the pros and cons in his mind. Seeing that Zhu Gui was actually here in person, Zhou Yijin knew that he couldn't stop him today no matter what. If he continued to resist, Zhu Gui would be so angry that he would kill people on the spot.
Zhu Gui waved his hand, and Cai Qinghua said, "Go in and search!"
The two guards from the Governor's Mansion took the lead, and the servants of the mansion, backed by the Governor, also became more courageous and followed.
Ou Jiafu glanced at Zhou Yijin, and seeing him shaking his head, he sighed and stepped aside.
Seeing Jishan's angry face, Hutabu was extremely anxious. Zhou Yijin took advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, quietly approached and whispered something in Hutabu's ear. Hutabu's eyes lit up and he quickly whispered something in Jishan's ear.
Jishan's face calmed down immediately. Cai Qinghua had already walked in, but Jishan shouted, "Wait a minute!"
Zhu Gui asked, "Master Jishan, do you have anything else to say?"
Ji Shan said, "As a rule, the affairs of the Thirteen Hongs are supervised by the Guangdong Customs. Since the Governor General said that he was on duty on behalf of the emperor, if you insist on breaking this rule, I, Ji Shan, can do nothing about it. However, once this precedent is set, it will be difficult for us at the Guangdong Customs to do our work in the future. If the palace asks about this, I, Ji Shan, will not be able to answer. I would like to ask the Governor General to give a clear answer to the responsibility here. This is a precedent that breaks the rules, and if the palace asks about it later, I can only answer like this. Governor Zhu, what do you think?"
When everyone heard this, they realized that Jishan was forcing and threatening them.
Zhu Gui's long eyebrows drooped. He looked not evil, but determined: "Okay, if there is any burden, I will take it all."
Jishan laughed and said, "Well, all the people in Baietan are witnesses to this! Search, go ahead!"
Cai Qinghua was secretly worried when he saw that he suddenly became rampant, but he could not stop now as things had come to this point. He immediately ordered the officers and soldiers of the Governor's Office and the Guangzhou government servants to enter the warehouse and search thoroughly.
Yihehang is now one of the four largest Thirteen Hongs, and its warehouse is naturally filled with all kinds of bulk goods from all over the country and all kinds of rare and exotic items from overseas countries. Since the arrival of the popular goods, Wu Chengjian and Zhou Yijin have been anticipating this day. In order to avoid additional charges, the entire warehouse has been kept much cleaner than in previous years, without any prohibited items.
In fact, some of the prohibitions on the Thirteen Hongs by the Qing court were reasonable, while others were useless. For example, prohibiting the export of grain - the Qing Dynasty did not have enough grain to eat - made sense, but prohibiting the export of ironware and gunpowder - at that time, the Qing Dynasty's ironmaking and gunpowder technology had long lagged behind the world, and prohibiting these illegal exports overseas was just a matter of routine. Therefore, many of the Thirteen Hongs' merchants did not take it seriously.
As the saying goes, wealth can make people's hearts flutter. Nine out of ten of the guards and officials who came in to check were not very honest. But with two huge Buddhas outside and countless Yihehang employees watching nearby, those officials did not dare to act rashly this time. They searched the warehouse one by one. They did not dare to take anything, but it was inevitable that they would deliberately use heavy hands and smash some things to satisfy their greed and hatred.
Finally, even the silver vault was forced to open - the Wu family of Yihehang had two silver vaults, one here and one at home. Now was the trading season, and the silver in this silver vault was very full.
Zhou Yijin said, "The silver vault is a restricted area and no outsiders are allowed to enter. Otherwise, if there is a problem with the amount in the future, no one can explain it clearly. How about asking the Governor to personally review it?"
Zhu Gui and Ji Shan had already entered the warehouse. At this time, Zhu Gui said, "I will not go in. Qinghua will go in for me."
Cai Qinghua nodded in agreement, and followed an old clerk from Yihehang inside. As soon as he entered the door, he was almost blinded by the silver in the warehouse. He saw shelf after shelf, box after box, all filled with gold and silver. Even though Cai Qinghua was mentally prepared, he couldn't help but think: "It is said that the Thirteen Hongs are the richest in the world, and it is indeed true. This is just the Wu family, and they are not all insurance merchants, but they already have so much silver."
Although the silver vault was not small, the shelves and boxes were arranged in an orderly manner for the convenience of statistics. It was almost clear at a glance. I took a few glances and found that there was nothing inside.
After Cai Qinghua came out, he shook his head at Zhu Gui.
The Governor's Office brought a capable person with them this time, and this capable person was provided by Cai Shiwen. Although the old man had never been to the warehouse of Yihehang, he was well aware of the design of the warehouse. After Cai Qinghua checked the silver vault without success, he was not in a hurry. He searched slowly and finally came to a corner. He moved a fake wall and opened the secret warehouse.
Ou Jiafu's face turned ugly when he saw that the secret warehouse had been discovered. Hutabu was actually worried when he saw the precious goods being put into the warehouse and locked. Jishan couldn't help but look at his servant at this time, wondering whether the words "the precious goods have been secretly transported away" were true.
Cai Qinghua was overjoyed. After he got in, he came out and said, "There is another door inside, and it is sealed. Master Ya and Master Jishan, why don't we go in and take a look together?"
Zhu Gui nodded.
The entrance to the secret warehouse was narrow, so Zhu Qing and Hutabu hurried in first to pave the way for their master. Then Zhu Gui and Jishan ducked in one after another, and sure enough, they saw another door inside, which was sealed.
Cai Qinghua said, "Open it."
Ou Jiafu said, "Master Cai, didn't you see that there is a seal from the Guangdong Customs here? How dare we open it?"
Cai Qinghua thought about it, then turned around and asked Zhu Gui for instructions. Zhu Gui took two steps forward, looked at the seal, and asked with a smile: "This is the private warehouse of Yihehang, right? How come there are things from Guangdong Customs?"
Jishan snorted and said nothing.
Zhu Gui said, "It seems that the seal has not been moved. Since it is from the Guangdong Customs, how about asking Master Jishan to order us to open the seal and inspect it?"
Jishan looked at Hutab impatiently, and Hutab went to remove the seal. Cai Qinghua hurriedly opened the door of the secret warehouse and looked inside expectantly, only to see that the secret warehouse was empty.
Ou Jiafu was stunned, while Hutabu was relieved. Seeing this, Jishan laughed and said, "Governor, you have mobilized so many troops, but have you found any contraband?"
Cai Qinghua's face was covered with pig blood. He glanced at Cai Shiwen, who shuddered and shouted, "It's impossible that there isn't any! It's impossible that there isn't any!"
Cai Qinghua looked at Zhou Yijin again, only to see that he looked calm as always. He secretly loved and hated this disciple - he loved him because he had so many tricks and was worthy of being taught by him, but he also hated him because he had so many tricks and was actually taught by him!
He gritted his teeth and shouted, "Search again! "
Zhu Gui was able to sit in this position, so he naturally had a keen eye. After observing the expressions on people's faces, he knew that further searching would probably be in vain, but he did not stop it.
This time Zhu Qing personally led people to search. Cai Qinghua looked at Zhou Yijin, while Zhou Yijin looked at his nose with his eyes and his heart with his nose, as if he was in a trance.
This round of search and raid was more thorough, almost the entire warehouse of Yihehang was plowed and swept, and even the silver vault, Cai Qinghua personally went through it twice. After careful knocking, he did find several secret compartments. However, although there were rare treasures hidden in the secret compartments, they did not find the evidence they needed!
Jishan kept making sarcastic remarks beside him, but he did not stop him. He waited until Cai Qinghua had searched once more before he said coldly, "Governor Zhu, do we need to search a third time?"
Zhu Gui was very calm and said calmly: "That's not necessary."
Ji Shan snorted, "If that's the case, then the innocence of Yihehang and Guangdong Customs is preserved, right? But Governor-General, you have insisted on interfering in the internal affairs of Guangdong Customs just because of an unfounded accusation by an insignificant person. You have broken the rules set by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. When the palace asks about this, please bear with me!"
He flicked his sleeves and said, "Let's go!"
The servants sneered together and were about to leave.
Cai Qinghua suddenly said: "Wait a minute!"
