“What is wrong?”
Guan Xiaorou and Tang Dongdong asked in unison.
“I have just received news. The prefect personally led men to the escort agency in the prefectural city and confiscated all the weapons there. He also said that from now on, escorts are no longer allowed to carry weapons into the city!”
Xiaoyu said, “Moreover, for the chamber of commerce selling items like kitchen knives and sickles, every single one needs to be marked. Then we have to report daily to the prefectural yamen about who it was sold to. If someone uses our kitchen knives or sickles to commit murder or cause trouble, we will be held responsible too.”
Nowadays, the scale of the iron smelting workshop in Xihe Bay keeps growing. The first batch of female apprentices led by Man Cang have all graduated and are now training their own apprentices.
To give these third-generation disciples practice, the iron smelting workshop also produces simpler household tools like kitchen knives and sickles, which are sold through the Jinchuan Chamber of Commerce.
Thanks to the more advanced smelting techniques used in the workshop, the kitchen knives and sickles produced are not as sharp and hard as the black knives, but they are still far superior to those made by other blacksmiths on the market.
Most importantly, Jin Feng does not care about the small profits from ordinary people, so he sets the prices low.
As soon as they hit the market, they became very popular among people everywhere.
Whenever the escort agency delivered goods, they would be snapped up in at most one day.
With such a large volume of sales, recording and tracking each one individually would be an enormous workload.
“How could this happen?”
Guan Xiaorou panicked immediately upon hearing this and looked at Tang Dongdong for help. “Dongdong, what should we do?”
“Do not worry, Xiaorou. Let Xiaoyu finish first.”
Tang Dongdong stood up, patted Guan Xiaorou on the shoulder, and asked, “Has Zhong Ling’er gone to visit the new prefect Xie Xiguang?”
Zhong Ling’er was one of the first batch of female shopkeepers trained by Jin Feng and Tang Xiaobei. She is in charge of the Jinchuan Chamber of Commerce in Guangyuan Prefecture and its subordinate counties. Her ability is considered outstanding among the female shopkeepers.
“She has. The news came from Ling’er.” Xiaoyu nodded.
“Since taking office, Xie Xiguang has kept out of our way. For him to suddenly strike like this, there must be a reason. Has Ling’er found out anything?” Tang Dongdong asked again.
“No,” Xiaoyu shook her head. “In her letter, Ling’er said Xie Xiguang keeps his mouth tightly shut and refuses gifts. He only says that everything is being done in accordance with court laws.”
“Has the legal department checked the laws?” Tang Dongdong asked once more.
In the feudal era, apart from formally promulgated laws, a casual remark from the emperor could also become law.
Thus, feudal laws were far more complicated than those in Jin Feng’s previous life.
As a science and engineering graduate, Jin Feng could be a bit careless in speech and action, yet he was meticulous and paid great attention to detail.
To avoid being caught out on minor issues, after becoming a noble, not only did he refrain from misbehaving, but he also selected a few careful and sharp-minded girls from those he had bought, specifically to study the laws of the Great Kang and the daily records of past emperors.
Jin Feng jokingly called these girls the Xihe Bay Legal Department.
Later, somehow, this name spread, and others began using it too.
When Jin Feng was unsure about something and whether it might be illegal, he would consult the girls in the legal department.
Gradually, Xiaoyu, Tang Dongdong, Tang Xiaobei, and others developed the same habit.
So when Tang Dongdong heard something involving laws, her first thought was to ask Xiaoyu if the legal department had been consulted.
“They checked. The Great Kang laws do indeed explicitly state that escorts cannot carry weapons longer than one chi into the city.”
Xiaoyu said, “It is just that previously we had good relations with the old prefect and Commandant Xiao, so they turned a blind eye. The situation in other prefectural cities was similar. No one wanted to make extra trouble and offend the master, so nobody enforced it.”
“Then why are kitchen knives and sickles not allowed into the city either?” Tang Dongdong asked again.
She could understand laws prohibiting weapons in the city, as they threatened urban security.
But kitchen knives and sickles are household items. Banning them from entering the city seemed absurd.
If that were the case, what would people in the city use to chop vegetables and cook?
Gnaw with their teeth?
“The legal department checked, and there really is such a precedent. It is not an explicit clause in the laws, but two hundred years ago, in the capital, a commoner used a kitchen knife to kill a yamen runner. At the time, the emperor said in court that sharp tools like kitchen knives and sickles should be registered in future and not sold indiscriminately.”
Xiaoyu said helplessly, “Back then, the capital did implement knife control for a while. But later they found it too labour-intensive and of little real effect, so it was quietly dropped.
If Xie Xiguang really uses this as his justification, we truly have no counter.”
“In that case, we can only follow the capital’s example.” Tang Dongdong said, “Build a warehouse outside the city gates. Let the escorts deposit their weapons there before entering the city and collect them again when leaving.”
“That is exactly what I was going to say next.”
Xiaoyu continued, “Today, when the escorts transported goods into the city, they were stopped by the prefectural soldiers at the gate. The soldiers opened all the boxes, threw the goods all over the ground, and did not even spare the salt bags. Clearly, they were instructed by someone to deliberately make things difficult for us.”
“This is troublesome now.” Tang Dongdong frowned slightly.
If it were just prohibiting escorts from carrying weapons into the city, that would be manageable, since the capital has always done so.
But if the prefectural soldiers strictly inspect the goods every time, that would be disgusting.
Not only would it waste time, but many goods, once opened and soiled, could no longer be sold.
For example, salt spilled on the ground. How could that be sold?
With the new prefect acting like this, it was equivalent to driving the Zhenyuan Escort Agency and Jinchuan Chamber of Commerce out of Guangyuan City.
Guangyuan was where Jin Feng had made his fortune and one of the main bases for the Jinchuan Chamber of Commerce and Zhenyuan Escort Agency.
Its importance was second only to Xihe Bay, even greater than the capital or the Jiangnan region.
Losing Guangyuan would cause not only financial losses but also a major blow to morale.
“If only Commandant Xiao were still here.” Xiaoyu sighed.
Previously, the leader of Guangyuan Prefecture’s soldiers was Commandant Xiao. Back then, escorts moving goods in and out of the city were never inspected.
But later, Commandant Xiao led men to protect the Ninth Princess to Xichuan. On the way, they encountered an ambush by Dangxiang people, and the soldiers all fled in terror.
Commandant Xiao was held accountable for this, lost his position, and now works in the Zhenyuan Escort Agency as a small squad leader.
Most of his soldiers had run away at the time. The remainder were dismissed upon return, just like him.
Now, all the soldiers guarding the city belong to the new prefect Xie Xiguang.
“This is clearly Xie Xiguang targeting us. Even if Commandant Xiao still commanded the soldiers, it would be useless. He would still have to obey the prefect.”
Tang Dongdong shook her head. “Besides, talking about that now is pointless.”
“Then what should we do now?” Guan Xiaorou clutched Tang Dongdong’s sleeve. “Dongdong, you have seen and experienced a lot. Think of something.”
She had no education or worldly experience. At this moment, she was completely flustered. With Jin Feng and Tang Xiaobei away, she could only rely on Tang Dongdong.
