Preparing to Strike Back

"Of these four families, the Li Household is the most powerful. The Li Household rose to prominence through military achievements, and many members of the clan serve in the border army. Our Yuxi Prefecture is right next to the northern border, and with people in the military, we naturally have the strongest foundation."

"Second is the Wang Household, who follow the path of combining farming with scholarship. Many members of the clan have become officials, from the Capital Chang'an to various counties in our Yuxi Prefecture."

"The Pan Household mainly dealt in salt, both official and smuggled; there was no business they wouldn't dare to engage in."

"As for the Huang Household, they are the largest landowners in our Yuxi Prefecture. They own two or three tenths of the arable land in the prefecture, and they basically dictate grain prices."

Lin Weiyuan paused, his tone becoming more serious:

"The Pan Household and Huang Household openly conduct legitimate business, but secretly they also smuggle grain, salt, and iron to the northern border regions. They are also connected with the Li Household's influence in the border army; they are all in cahoots, protecting each other. Of the four families, the Wang Household has a relatively decent reputation; I haven't heard of any major misdeeds. But I don't really know the full extent of their crimes."

Shen Jingchuan frowned. "They're so lawless, doesn't the prefect of Yuxi Prefecture care?"

"Hey, the prefect is a visiting official, his term is only four years."

Lin Weiyuan shook his head:

"If they encounter an honest official, they'll conspire to sideline him, making him unable to get involved in anything; if they encounter a corrupt one, they'll simply collude with him, turning the place into a mess. This prefect came two years ago; he's notoriously corrupt and is in cahoots with four families."

Look outside, how many refugees have starved to death? Have they cared? Grain prices keep rising, and it's all their doing behind the scenes."

He sighed heavily at the end.

Shen Jingchuan nodded and then asked, "So, what is the relationship between our Lin Household and these Four Great Lineages?"

"Your father-in-law has relied on my skills to establish myself in Yuxi Prefecture for many years, and I'm quite capable of doing so."

Lin Weiyuan:

"Furthermore, our escort agency's business doesn't have any fundamental conflict with theirs, and they don't usually provoke us. Sometimes, when they're short-handed with their own servants, they'll hire our agency for short-distance escorts. However, they never hire us for smuggling to the north, and I would never take that job either."

He paused, his tone turning colder:

"Ever since the Pan Household ambushed and killed you twice, the two sides have basically cut off all contact, and even when they meet, they don't exchange a word."

"Just thinking about it makes me angry!"

Lin Yue suddenly slapped his thigh:

"I said from the beginning that we should go to the Pan Household to demand an explanation, and my brother agreed, but Dad kept stopping us, so we've been putting up with this until now!"

"Second brother, don't be in such a hurry."

Shen Jingchuan spoke:

"I've always kept in mind the two ambushes by the Pan Household. But I didn't know much about these families before, and I wanted to accumulate enough strength before making a move, so I didn't act rashly."

I was going to take it slow, but this time the Huang Household has really gone too far, daring to intercept us halfway. Father-in-law, I think we can't tolerate this any longer."

"You're right."

Lin Weiyuan voice:

"It's time to teach them a lesson, otherwise they'll really think the Lin Household is a pushover that anyone can bully. And you don't even know, the Li Household has started making their move too."

Last month, someone from the Li Household came and bought two of our four-wheeled carriages, saying they would settle the bill when they got back, but they haven't paid a single penny yet.

When we sent people to demand it back, they started acting like scoundrels, clearly wanting to take it for free.

Just then, the curtain was lifted and Lin Shan strode in. He had just returned from escorting goods from the Capital and was still a little dusty, but his eyes and brows revealed joy.

"Father, Jingchuan, Second Brother." He greeted them one by one, then pulled up a bench and sat down.

Lin Weiyuan raised his eyes and said:

"You're back? Was the journey smooth? How are car sales in Capital?"

"Everything's fine, nothing's wrong."

Lin Shan smiled and turned to look at Shen Jingchuan:

"Jingchuan, you didn't see it, Zhou Tong is really good at business. When our four luxury carriages were transported to the Capital, he simply parked them in front of his shop, posted a notice saying that anyone who could damage the glass or the carriages with a weapon would be compensated one hundred taels of silver on the spot. To prevent anyone from messing around, anyone who wanted to try had to pay a registration fee of one tael of silver first, and he still managed to gather more than a dozen people."

He paused, then continued:

"He spread the word that he would demonstrate it to the public in three days. The car attracted a lot of people when it entered the city, and on the day of the demonstration, the whole street was packed with people, and even the government sent people to maintain order."

Arrows were shot, spears were thrust, swords were slashed—several people went up to try, but the cart only sustained shallow marks and wasn't damaged at all. Later, a man came with a sledgehammer and insisted on trying it. Zhou Tong wasn't confident and immediately demanded ten taels of silver before letting him try, which the man paid without batting an eye.

"The hammer struck the glass, and cracks appeared instantly, but it didn't shatter."

Lin Shan shook his head, his tone tinged with surprise:

"That caused an uproar. People were chasing after him to buy it that very day, but Zhou Tong refused to sell, saying it would be auctioned off in three days to the highest bidder, including the car with the cracked glass."

"And then?" Lin Yue's eyes widened in astonishment, and he couldn't help but interject.

"The bidding started at 5,000 taels, and the highest bid was 12,000 taels. The remaining two intact carriages were sold for 9,800 taels and 10,010 taels respectively. Even the one with cracked glass sold for 8,000 taels."

Lin Shan laughed:

"Oh, right, Zhou Tong also asked me to ask you if the glass can be replaced. The person who bought the car said they'd give us another thousand taels of silver if we could replace the glass."

Shen Jingchuan smiled upon hearing this, but didn't say much. He knew very well that this idea was originally something he had suggested to Zhou Tong in a letter earlier, and the results were even better than he had expected.

Lin Yue leaned forward and asked hurriedly, "What about the rest of the cars we produced?"

"Hey, there's no need to sell slowly." Lin Shan waved his hand.

"Once the luxury cars stirred up the scene, the ordinary models parked next to them also benefited, and people immediately started bidding. They were put up for auction together, and the lowest price for one of them was 1,200 taels."

The room fell silent for a moment after he said that. Lin Yue's eyes widened and his mouth hung open for a long time; Lin Weiyuan's hand holding the teacup also froze in mid-air, his face full of surprise.