C77 (1/2)
Chapter 77 - Silver Mountain, Silver Sea
If Jiu Shuai said that Ma Bao died in battle, then he died in battle. Forget about the hundreds of eyes staring at him from the harbor, Ma Bao died in battle. This was the majesty of a commander in chief, this was the power that the Han Manipulation held after turning over.
”I'll send three thousand silver to the Ma Bao family later. My good eldest son is gone just like that, tsk tsk tsk tsk …” Ceng Guoquan returned back to his chair from the window and took a sip of fragrant tea. His face was extremely calm and collected, as if he had just crushed an ant.
After the death of the Master High Scholar and Ma Bao, the only ones who could be pushed out were the hoodlums under the Xiao Pi Sun. With the help of countless of Green Forest people, the entire underground powers of the Tanggu City were wiped out, and 90% of the Xiao Pi Sun's disciples and grandchildren were gone.
Bladelight flashed on the wharf one by one. The heads of the people lined up on the wharf fell to the ground. Blood gushed out from the heads as the bloody scent struck into the noses of the people. They all knew that Zhou Mingkui was a civil servant after all, and Jiu Shuai forced him to do the supervision mission this time. When had he ever seen such a bloody scene?
Not only him, but all the merchants and commoners present at the scene vomited. Yesterday and today, they had seen too many dead people, and if they were not a little bit more determined, they would have collapsed.
Especially the group of merchants led by the Keeper Niu of the Four Seas Trading Station. Each and every one of them had ashen faces as they stood in a corner, helplessly watching the scene of human heads rolling in front of them.
Why did he have to go through so much trouble? Isn't it courting death to come together with those Huang and Xiao Pi Sun? We are merchants, we are merchants of the lower class, who are not bullying us? How could he choose to go along with them? It's good now, we have completely offended Xiao Letian, the next wave will be us getting our heads chopped off.
Keeper Niu and the rest had come with the intention to die, but now that the entire Tanggu was under martial law, there was no way they could escape even if they wanted to. During the riot yesterday, every family's business had been snatched clean. Other than the bulky and worthless goods that were still there, the wealth had already been swept up by the mob.
Everyone looked at their own smashed, tattered faces and burning warehouses. They knew that the hard work they had put in for half their lives had finally come to an end today.
What was even more terrifying was that they were enemies with a dragon like Xiao Letian. This dragon not only looked like its subordinates were armed, its relationship with Xiang Army was also not bad. What should he do? If Ma Bao and the High Scholar Huang are both dead, would we merchants still be able to live?
Now, their only hope was that Xiao Letian would not kill all of them. Seeing that these people did not directly intervene in the riot, and that their business had only gone sour, Xiao Letian hoped that he would not kill all of them.
The atmosphere became more and more depressing, the merchants who were frantically puking on the ground had finally broken down. Boss Wang, the first one to sell Xiao Letian pig hair, suddenly rushed out of the crowd like a madman and knelt in front of Xiao Letian's goods station, kowtowing to him as if he was making a mess.
”Master Xiao, please be merciful. I am just a lowly merchant. I have only been picking up food from the crowd my whole life. I really don't want to go against you …” I am truly afraid of the threats of High Scholar Huang and Xiao Pi Sun, please forgive me … ”My entire family fortune was exchanged for my rotten life, please be magnanimous …” After saying that, he bounced and kowtowed until he was bleeding from the head.
There was one in the lead, and then there was the second one. The fearless merchants in the midst of this massacre had already given up all hope in order to survive. They took out their land deeds and some silver bills, and raised their hands, begging Xiao Letian to reward them, in order to exchange for their lives.
At this time, even the executioners stopped. One by one, they stared blankly at the hundreds of merchants kneeling on the stone slabs in front of the cargo station, their wails shaking the sky. At this time, Zhou Mingkui also secretly shed tears, he did not know that he had touched his, so he cleared the place and said softly, ”If I knew earlier, why did I have to do it this way? I already said it, Grand Master of Western Studies is the reincarnation of the stars in the sky, although he's the reincarnation of the stars in the sky, that's not something you can humiliate … Tsk tsk tsk, that's terrible! ”
Xiao Letian stood by the window, watching the group of merchants kneel down in front of him. He didn't feel the excitement of a face-smacking, nor did he feel the pleasure of a face-smacking, and instead felt as if he had fallen into a bottomless abyss.
This was the Great Qing Dynasty, a merchant that only knew how to do business. They all say that merchants do not commit adultery and that they only seek profit because of their low morals. However, who knew what kind of life these merchants lived during the thousands of years of Confucianism in China.
In the feudal dynasty, were any of the famous big merchants from China able to get a good result? There was no need to talk about the distance, just think about Shen Wansan at the beginning of Ming Dynasty, then look at Hu Xueyan at the Qing Dynasty, he was already a top merchant, so what would happen in the end?
The people kneeling before him were all small merchants unworthy of leaving names in history. They were diligently and diligently working, struggling between black and white, as if any person on the street who could call them master could step on them.
Yes, they were not some moral gentlemen. They could not guarantee that they would do business in good faith throughout their entire lives, but they were not lowly people. They were also living people, using their hard work and intelligence to make profits, what kind of crime was this?