"Ah, what a shame. All that silver ended up in the hands of corrupt officials. It would have been better to give it to the court! At least then it could have been spent on the people of Great Xia."
The wealthy merchant Zhu Zhizhuan sighed. Whenever he thought of all the silver he had handed over disappearing into those corrupt officials' bellies, he felt furious.
But there was nothing he could do about it. If he refused to hand over such a large sum, he would not even be able to keep his ordinary business running.
To Jiang Yunsheng's ears, however, those words meant that a great deal of silver should have been his, only to end up in the hands of corrupt officials instead.
Remembering how, before he began selling refined salt, his treasury had been stretched so thin that every major expense left it struggling to make ends meet, he felt an inexplicable fire of anger surge in his chest.
"Take our trip to Qingshui County this time, for instance. We have to give the county magistrate a large sum of silver, or there's no way we can do business there."
At the thought of this, Zhu Zhizhuan looked even more dejected.
"Hmph. I'm not paying that silver. Let's see what he can do to me!"
Jiang Yunsheng gave a cold snort and spoke with commanding confidence.
Making him pay silver? That was truly turning heaven's order upside down. The magistrate should count himself lucky Jiang Yunsheng had not demanded silver from him.
"Ah, I can tell this is your first time doing business in Qingshui County, Brother Jiang. If we don't pay, never mind doing business—our goods will probably be seized and held at the magistrate's residence."
Seeing Jiang Yunsheng's reaction, Zhu Zhizhuan sighed. When he