Chapter 2292: Dividing Spoils
"Who would have thought—just as I'm dozing off, someone delivers a pillow." Yi Haoran smiled. "Wonderful."
"I also sense there's an opportunity here, but I can't quite see how to use it."
"How to use it—I'll need to think on that as well. But right now, Sanhezu has stripped off its defenses completely, leaving itself wide open for us." Yi Haoran rarely spoke so lightly; at this moment, he couldn't help a bit of levity.
"You jest, sir."
"I'm not joking." Yi Haoran grew serious. "First, let's help him settle this matter of the three hundred dan of grain." He asked, "How much silver per dan does Liu Youwang want?"
"Two taels will do—he's eager to sell. Wants cash, must be gold or silver."
"Easy enough." Yi Haoran thought it over. There was a ready-made buyer for this business: Jiang Rongxian. He was already involved in the joint-capital grain-buying scheme. This deal could get him grain immediately, which he could then resell while prices were high.
"Then there's this opera chest problem—that's not easy to solve either... I'm not a local myself," Chang Qingyun said.
"I know Wuzhou better than you. Let me look into it." Yi Haoran agreed readily.
The conspiracy was now advancing at a furious pace. To reduce Luo Yangming's suspicions, Yi Haoran had confined himself to traveling only between the rice shop and the dock each day, avoiding unnecessary outings and rarely meeting outsiders. Jiang Suo, who had rushed back from Gou Er's hideout, took charge of the running and coordination.
During this period, their clandestine activities—aside from liaising with Gou Er's bandit gang and the remnants of Song Ming's forces—had also successively gathered scattered personnel. Most were roving soldiers, wandering braves, and petty officials with blood debts and public enmity who could never be forgiven by the Australians. Yi Haoran used this threat along with the temptation of "meritorious service" to draw them into the conspiracy.
Now, through layered control, he commanded a gang of roughly one hundred men. Many worked under the Australians; many served in the Security Team, assisting the National Army's night patrols and sentry duty. Some had been locally conscripted directly into the National Army. Others had simply wormed their way into the City Government as messengers.
Through these people, Yi Haoran had smoothly mapped out the night shift and patrol schedules at the city gates, the Three Headquarters, and other key locations. This intelligence was crucial to their raid.
They had also obtained weapons through their traitors. After Wuzhou's recovery, whether confiscated from defeated or surrendered soldiers or recovered from the battlefield, most arms had been piled in warehouses near the dock, awaiting shipment back. Heavy artillery had already been transported to Guangzhou for recycling. Better-quality light firearms, sabers, spears, and armor had been distributed to the village braves and militia of various settlements for armed self-defense.
Yet even so, plenty of weapons remained. To Xie Erren, Luo Yangming, and Qian Duo, these were just a pile of scrap metal with no value. But to Yi Haoran and his men, they were the finest equipment for arming their insurgents. Jiang Suo had even procured several sets of armor for Gou Er's bandit gang, burying them at a hidden location outside the city in advance.
Through Yi Haoran's connection, Chang Qingyun made contact with Jiang Rongxian. When Shopkeeper Jiang heard of such a golden opportunity, he immediately agreed to accompany Chang Qingyun to Sanhezu to inspect the goods.
On that visit, the deal was struck at once. Jiang Rongxian bought not only all the grain Liu Youwang and his associates had embezzled but also all the cloth and miscellaneous goods. In one transaction, they netted nearly one thousand taels of silver.
In his entire life, Liu Youwang had never seen so much gleaming white silver. He circled the official box filled with ingots, staring and staring, turning silver pieces of various sizes and shapes over in his hands, rubbing them countless times. His whole body trembled. So much silver! Forget himself—even if you added up all eighteen generations of his Liu family ancestors, they probably had never earned this much!
He thought back to his youth: a little beggar nearly starving to death, wandering and begging in Lingao, ignored by everyone. Forget silver—even getting a bowl of properly cooked rice was a stroke of luck, dependent on someone offering him a meal. Who could have imagined he would rise to such heights!
It was all thanks to the Chief's grace! At this moment, Liu Youwang felt gratitude toward the Senate welling up from the depths of his heart. People spoke of grace like that of one's birth parents—but in truth, Liu Youwang had no impression of his parents whatsoever, let alone gratitude. His gratitude toward the Senate came from the very core of his being.
At this thought, tears suddenly streamed down his face. Chang Qingyun, standing beside him, was rather surprised and asked, "Why is the Master sad?"
"I'm not sad—it's gratitude," Liu Youwang said. "The Senate's grace is truly as high as the mountains and as deep as the sea! Imperial grace, vast and mighty!"
Hearing his jumbled metaphor, Chang Qingyun secretly found it amusing. If the Australians showed more kindness to people like you, he thought, the Great Ming would be saved!
Suppressing his laughter, he agreed: "The Master speaks truly. It is all due to the Chief's deep and generous kindness."
"Bullshit—what kindness has the Chief shown you?" Liu Youwang was in excellent spirits and teased Chang Qingyun. "You're a juren! Your father and grandfather must have been from a wealthy, prominent family."
Chang Qingyun smiled awkwardly. "My family was hardly wealthy! Otherwise, why would I be here serving as an advisor? But since being captured by the Chief, I've at least been spared my life and allowed to drag out an existence in this world—isn't that the Chief's great, great grace..."
"There's some truth in that. If the Chief were like your Great Ming officials—one word and 'drag him out to be beheaded'—your head would have rotted away by now."
Chang Qingyun gave a dry laugh. "If my head had rotted away, how could I handle errands for the Master?"
"True enough. So the Senate are all our great benefactors. Old Chang, you really are a capable fellow!" Chang Qingyun had settled Liu Youwang's grain buyer in no time at all, which raised him considerably in Liu's estimation. His tone grew much warmer.
"You flatter me, Master—you flatter me."
"The opera chests..."
"Leave it all to this student. I guarantee the Master will be satisfied!"
"Good, good." Liu Youwang patted his belly. He was tempted to take an ingot from the box and give it to Chang Qingyun as a reward, but found himself unwilling. He hesitated for a long while, then finally said, "You may go."
Liu Youwang watched Chang Qingyun leave, secretly annoyed. Had he known earlier that Chang Qingyun was this talented, he should have pressed him into "service" sooner! Why had he ever bothered partnering with Jiang Yougong? Now four hundred taels of this thousand-odd in silver would have to go to that man. The thought filled him with bitter reluctance.
The more he dwelt on it, the more resentful he became. He felt Jiang Yougong was being "unfair." He was tempted not to share with him at all. But considering that he still needed Jiang Yougong's protection here at Sanhezu, he swallowed that thought. He did, however, leave himself a hedge: he mentioned only the grain sale to Jiang Yougong, saying nothing of the cloth and miscellaneous goods—quietly pocketing an extra two hundred taels for himself.
Jiang Yougong had no inkling of Liu Youwang's scheming. When he heard the grain had been sold, he immediately came over to discuss how to deliver the silver to Zhu Si.
Carrying silver directly to Zhu Si's quarters was out of the question. The Wuzhou Prefecture Yamen, where the National Army Battalion Headquarters was located, was crowded with people. A hundred taels of silver was heavy, difficult to carry and conceal. The Australians were highly vigilant about bribery among their subordinates, and all current pay was issued in silver dollar circulation coupons. If Zhu Si were seen with a hundred taels of silver, he'd have no way to explain it.
"Why not invite him here and give it to him?" Liu Youwang suggested. "My place is absolutely safe."
"Collecting silver here is safe enough. But how does he carry it back? A hundred taels of silver is heavy—it can't go in his pocket. He'll need a special box. When he returns to battalion headquarters and someone sees it, what does he say?"
"Surely no one would dare question him?"
"That's hard to say," Jiang Yougong said, lowering his voice. "You should know—the Chief has eyes everywhere..."
This remark sent a chill down Liu Youwang's spine. That the Senate had ears and eyes everywhere was something all naturalized citizens knew to some degree, but no one dared discuss such matters openly.
"Of course I know that. Why else do you think my place is safe? There isn't a single naturalized citizen here."
"The problem is the city is crawling with them!"
"That's troublesome."
Both fell silent. Liu Youwang had no experience with this; neither did Jiang Yougong. He'd seen his share of corruption since defecting to the Australians, but the amounts had never been this large. Besides, silver had long been phased out in Lingao—everything was in circulation coupons, which was far more convenient. He had plenty of experience from his Great Ming days, but none of it applied directly here.
"You're useless for this!" Liu Youwang said. "I think we'd better consult Mister Chang!"
"That's our only option." Jiang Yougong said, "I'll make myself scarce first. If he sees too many people, he might be reluctant to speak freely."
When Chang Qingyun was called back and heard what this was about, his mind raced through several calculations. He came up with a plan and then said, "There is a method, but it can only be temporary..."
"Go on!"
"There are many ways to avoid delivering silver directly, but most don't work under Australian rule. However, there is one approach we can use now." Chang Qingyun explained, "Find a substantial shop with minimal dealings with the Australians..."
The specifics were to deposit the silver at this shop, which would issue a secret token—a small seal. Whenever the silver was needed, one simply wrote a slip, stamped it with the seal, and as long as the amount was within the quota, the shopkeeper would hand over the silver directly upon seeing the seal.
More sophisticated methods existed, of course—ones that allowed deposits and withdrawals at will and could launder money clean. But Chang Qingyun saw no need for that. In wartime, excessive complexity would only arouse suspicion.
"An excellent method! But why do you say it's only temporary?" Liu Youwang asked.
"The Australians use circulation coupons exclusively. Right now, with military affairs pressing, this has been temporarily shelved. But once things calm down, they'll surely take it up again. At that point, withdrawing and exchanging silver will become troublesome..."
"You're worrying about nothing, damn it!" Liu Youwang laughed. "That doesn't matter! I deposited silver, so they give me silver. Who cares about the rest?"
He thought it over and said, "This method is good. I think I'll save my share this way too—otherwise, keeping it on me makes me nervous. Afraid of inspections, afraid of thieves. Your method is much more sensible! Handle it just as you've described!"
Next Update: Volume 7 - Guangzhou Governance Part 496 (End of Chapter)