As for this question about Deng Zhengde.
Wei Yu thought it was not a big problem.
After all, doing things is definitely not something done overnight. He still had two months in Jiaozhou, so it could be said that he had plenty of time to slowly discuss and explain everything with Deng Zhengde.
Moreover, about that matter of white salt and sugar prices, Wei Yu even wanted Deng Zhengde to take charge of it.
“This matter is not urgent. I can still stay in Jiaozhou for two more months.”
Since the other party had openly revealed his position to His Highness, Wei Yu was not polite and directly asked if he was willing to stay temporarily in Jiaozhou.
Deng Zhengde agreed without much thought, “This commoner is willing.”
Wei Yu immediately smiled, “If so, right now I happen to have something I need you to do. If you can handle this well, I will then explain in detail about cooperating with the merchants’ association, how about that?”
Deng Zhengde was left behind exactly for the merchants’ association matter written on paper!
He thought about it. Although he wasn’t sure what the Wise King would have him do, he guessed it must be related to business or the grain sent by the Deng family. In any case, it shouldn’t be too difficult.With this in mind, Deng Zhengde agreed.
“What Your Highness says, this commoner dares not disobey.”
A boss still has to learn how to use people.
With Deng Zhengde’s arrival, Wei Yu planned to throw the white salt sales issues on him, so Wei Yu took him to see the prepared white salt.
When Deng Zhengde first saw the pure white salt, he was extremely shocked, especially after learning that the white salt was purified from rock salt.
The merchant’s little brain started turning. For the first time, Deng Zhengde felt grateful that salt was controlled by the government.
After all, if it was like gold before, with salt controlled privately, then when such white salt appeared from the government, the first to panic and be affected would be the major salt merchants and prominent families.
Fortunately, these were all assumptions.
After being shocked, Deng Zhengde was pleased that fewer people would consume toxic salt in the future, and also learned from Wei Yu that this salt was appearing for the first time in Great Wei, and Ziyang County would be the first place to sell it!
What did this firsthand news mean?
It meant opportunity.
Not about money, then about connections.
It was impossible to make a profit by selling salt at high prices elsewhere—right under a prince’s eyes, who would dare to resell salt elsewhere for a higher price? That would be slapping the court in the face!
Deng Zhengde thought about expanding his connections.
—Expanding connections for the Deng family, and for the Wise King.
No merchant was without cunning. Once Deng Zhengde saw that rock salt was purified into white salt, he knew this was definitely the Wise King’s handiwork.
And this good deed benefiting the country and people, rather than reporting to the court immediately and promoting it nationwide, was instead quietly experimenting in a small place like Ziyang.
Why?
Given his position, Deng Zhengde could only think it was to compete for the throne.
A prince coming to poor remote places like Jiaozhou and Ji Prefecture was probably also trying to achieve merit.
Words like these couldn’t be openly said, but everyone understood clearly.
This mutual understanding was completely confirmed in Deng Zhengde’s heart when he heard the Wise King mention the plan to sell white salt in glass bottles.
Listen to this: selling white salt in glass bottles, and only for 300 wen?
Before, Deng Guang told him about the merchants’ association. One glass bottle was sold for 1,200 taels, right?!
How much time had passed, and now the value had dropped so much?!
Wasn’t this clearly using glass bottles to win people over?
With his imagination, Deng Zhengde mentally tagged Wei Yu as “power-hungry,” “scheming,” and “deeply calculating,” and he was much more respectful in behavior when facing Wei Yu.
And because Wei Yu was used to people being respectful around him, he didn’t mind. Seeing Deng Zhengde was genuinely working hard, he didn’t interfere much and kept hoping for more talented people to come every day.
So…
In the end, was this wait-for-fortune tactic useful or not?!
The grain sent by the Deng family, Wei Yu sent a letter instructing his Second Prince to send people to transport it.
After all, there really were few people left idle in Ziyang County. Wei Yu had sent them all to work. Even the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled left at Oxhead Mountain, he had them reclaim wasteland and repair roads.
Yes, reclaim wasteland.
There were simply too many wastelands nowadays. Modern old houses grow wild weeds after half a year of no one living in them. Even more so for large tracts of land — if something happened, no one would farm it.
In the past, the people living outside the city in Ji Prefecture often suffered from mountain bandits harassing and robbing grain.
When the grain harvest was good, it was stolen, so people simply stopped farming. Gradually, even fertile fields turned into wasteland.
Previously, when Wei Yu saw the land registers at the county office and heard from Guo Yajun that many lands were abandoned, he decided to bring all the elderly, weak, sick, and innocent mountain bandits to reclaim land and farm!
Starting from the wasteland closest to the county town, expanding outward, working four hours a day, two meals provided by the government daily, returning to Oxhead Mountain to rest at night.
If they behaved well during this, caused no trouble, they would regain their good status; if they caused trouble or were not obedient, forget it, they would remain to be used for road construction later.
Anyway, locking them in jail doing nothing was something Wei Yu would never do — it was too much waste of labor.
When Wei Yu sent a letter to the Second Prince, the latter was already leading the Oxhead Army near Yuanyang County.
Because their attack was too fierce and advancing too fast, Guo Xiu, who had completely ignored the bandits before, hadn’t reacted at all!
Before this, it was Qi Ling besieging the city, and the bandits were disorganized and dared not move. How did suddenly a group of Oxhead Army bandits appear outside the city, claiming to be ridding the people of harm?
Guo Xiu immediately knew this was not a trick that the previous bandits could have thought of.
That moral banner was raised very well. But was that something the previous fools were capable of?
Completely a different level!
There must be some problem in between!
Guo Xiu firmly believed there was a problem, and there was definitely someone like a strategist in the Oxhead Army.
He wanted to send people to spy, but unfortunately, the Oxhead Army was now stationed outside the city, and the city gates were closed — no one could get out.
Even the prefectural captain’s combined troops inside, both openly and secretly, only amounted to two thousand!
How could that compare to the Oxhead Army outside?
The scout reports said the Oxhead Army had nearly five thousand men!
That was almost like the colonel’s army, except the other side’s equipment was worse.
The Oxhead Army had been camped outside for three days, and Guo Xiu was annoyed for three days.
He was cowardly and feared death, not wanting to take any risk.
So Guo Xiu privately asked the prefectural captain, “If we quietly leave the city at night, how confident are you?”
The prefectural captain was silent.
This meant abandoning the city and leaving, regardless of the fate of the people inside.
Although the captain and Guo Xiu were alike in character, the captain still had some pride as a military man and could not bring himself to abandon the city outright like Guo Xiu.
It was not for the people’s sake, he simply couldn’t let go of his military pride.
The captain did not believe his two thousand troops couldn’t defeat that group of bandits.