Chapter 959: New Troubles

"Let it be," He Lingchuan said, unconcerned; if need be, he could hire a boat at a high price later. "Look at you, covered in mud. What's so urgent that you had to rush all the way to the island to find me?"

Ding Zuodong opened his mouth to speak. Just then, He Lingchuan noticed some seats in a clearing in the bamboo grove, so he said, "The sky won't fall down. Come and rest for a bit."

Where there are people, there is a market.

This was a large workshop, with over three hundred people living nearby. Everyone grew tired of communal meals and started thinking about other options. So, some people used their skills to set up tea stalls and prepare food, providing a place for workers to rest after labor and earning some extra money themselves.

In this clearing, there was a small market. It had everything from vendors selling fish and wild vegetables to those selling rattan and bamboo furniture, and even stalls selling noodle soup, tea, and bamboo-tube rice, offering a wide variety of goods.

A burly man was squatting on the ground, weaving a grasshopper out of straw, which he gave to a child nearby.

He Lingchuan recognized the profile instantly. Wasn't that Qiu Hu?

He called out, and Qiu Hu scratched his head and came over.

"What are you doing here?" He had specifically sent Qiu Hu to Lesser Whiskered Island, so how did this fellow suddenly appear here?

"The task you assigned me is complete, and it went very smoothly," Qiu Hu said sheepishly. "I just came over to take a look."

Take a look? Look at what?

He Lingchuan's gaze swept to Leini behind Qiu Hu. Her eyes were a bit shifty.

Oh, he seemed to understand.

He didn't expose them. Instead, he motioned for the four of them to sit down at a tea stall. The tea vendor smiled more brightly than sunshine, continuously wiping the bamboo stools with a towel and saying, "Island Lord He, please have a seat, please!"

He Lingchuan firmly pushed a few copper coins into his hand. Then, familiar with the routine, he picked up some steaming Kuding tea himself. Qiu Hu quickly lent a hand.

They brought a total of five tubes of tea.

Indeed, the tea sets and utensils here were also made of bamboo. It was convenient and quick to use locally sourced materials.

However, the Kuding tea was served in moso bamboo tubes. They were about the thickness of a pen holder, nowhere near as exaggeratedly large as the "Giant Bamboo Dragon Tubes."

Workers needed tea to quench their thirst, so the tea here was sold by the "tube."

As soon as they sat down, the surrounding commoners saw. It was clearly the posture for discussing official business, and one by one, they quickly departed.

Within two zhang of the table, there was not a single outsider left.

The local populace feared officials like tigers.

He Lingchuan, feeling helpless, had to give the vendor a bit more money for the tea.

Then he walked to the nearby barbecue stall and ordered a hundred skewers.

Centipede Island was originally the main base of the Three Paths Pirates. It hadn't been disturbed by the sinister aura, so the island lacked nothing in terms of snakes, insects, rats, and ants. The only things missing were live pigs and cattle; the few existing ones had been brought by commoners.

Eating meat was too much of a luxury. The barbecue stall didn't know Island Lord He would grace them with his presence, so what was grilling on the stove were ingredients readily found on the island.

Wild rabbits, bamboo rats, quails, sea hares, oysters, conch, and yellow mushrooms picked from the forest, as well as grasshoppers that weren't very lively after autumn, were all skewered and grilled over the fire.

Since the Island Lord had ordered, the skewers arrived at the table in batches.

The grasshopper legs were charred. Ding Zuodong subtly frowned at the sight. But as soon as He Lingchuan said, "Eat up, don't be shy," Guan Ke immediately took a skewer, following his lord's lead. He chewed with a beaming smile, repeatedly exclaiming how delicious it smelled.

He Lingchuan casually set up a sound-insulating barrier. Only then did he ask Ding Zuodong, "You just mentioned something happened. What is it?"

"My lord, these past few days I've been contacting foreign merchants for shipments. Seven or eight of them were very interested after sampling our oil products and expressed willingness to cooperate. Among them, two fleets primarily operate sea routes to Mou and Ya nations, and their order volumes are substantial."

Needless to say, Guan Ke must have been the intermediary who made these connections, but Ding Zuodong didn't mention him.

Guan Ke was the local information broker. He accurately grasped information about incoming and outgoing goods, which was how he managed to secure a generous salary under He Lingchuan.

"Isn't that good news? Where's the problem?" He Lingchuan picked up a skewer of roasted quail.

"The problem is, we've sent samples of our oil products and medicinal herbs to the Maritime Trade Commission three times, and each time they've been rejected as unqualified." Ding Zuodong rotated a skewer of yellow mushrooms in his hand, clearly not in the mood to eat. "In Blade Harbor, without a quality permit issued by the Maritime Trade Commission, we cannot open a shop, nor can we publicly sell, transport, load, or unload goods."

The Maritime Trade Commission is the official agency responsible for managing the port. Its main duties include inspecting foreign goods on incoming and outgoing ships, levying duties, and overseeing all trade matters. In Blade Harbor, it also assumes all functions of the local government office, wielding significant power.

He went on, "Among the spoils you confiscated from the Three Paths Pirates were several well-located shops in Blade Harbor. We had intended to use them to open our own stores, but now that will likely be delayed."

He Lingchuan immediately realized the core of the problem.

As long as the Maritime Trade Commission doesn't issue a permit, the freshly produced palm oil, herbs, timber, fish, and mushroom shoots from Yangshan Archipelago—including future specialties like fluorescent spores and spider silk—cannot be publicly sold in Blade Harbor!

"Can't we set the transaction location on our island instead?"

"Foreign merchants won't accept that," Guan Ke interjected. "For many years, merchants have defaulted to trading large quantities of goods in Blade Harbor. And these goods must hold a permit from the Maritime Trade Commission to prove their quality; only then will anyone buy them."

In other words, the approval of Blade Harbor's Maritime Trade Commission is crucial. Without that document, He Lingchuan would have difficulty selling goods even on his own island.

Unless he didn't do business with external parties.

Guan Ke said with a serious expression, "Furthermore, opening a shop in Blade Harbor is very important. It not only allows us to display our goods to all merchants and commoners but also makes it convenient for clients to come and negotiate. If we can't open this storefront, doing business will be difficult."

"There's no way our products have quality issues," He Lingchuan said, asking the two men, "Does the Maritime Trade Commission often make things difficult for people?"

"Generally speaking, if there aren't any major quality issues, a small gift or one or two meals will be enough to pass," Guan Ke replied. "If there's a greater discrepancy, you just give a larger offering."

In short, within the scope of regulations, this permit wasn't difficult to obtain.

"We sent samples for inspection three times, gave gifts three times, and hosted dinners three times. Assistant Inspector Zhao, who was in charge of the random checks, ate until his mouth was greasy. But each time, he returned an unqualified result." Ding Zuodong's face darkened. "We went to see Chief Commissioner Wu, who oversees the Maritime Trade Commission, and he said that official matters must be handled officially, and the results verified by Assistant Inspector Zhao would be final."

Of course, Ding Zuodong didn't go to Chief Commissioner Wu empty-handed.

Yet, under these circumstances, Chief Commissioner Wu still gave him a stern refusal.

He Lingchuan stroked his chin. "Have we offended anyone at the Maritime Trade Commission in our actions?"

"Not once."

How long had He Lingchuan and his group been in Blade Harbor? They had been busy focusing on their own business. Only recently had they begun dealing with the Maritime Trade Commission, and those interactions were purely business-related.

What old grudges could there be?

Guan Ke, however, said, "My lord, what is your relationship with Bailei like?"

He Lingchuan's heart skipped a beat. "What do you mean?"

"This Chief Commissioner Wu comes from Qucheng in Bailei, and his family is related to the Lu family. I heard that for him to become the Maritime Trade Commission's Chief Commissioner, the Lu family pulled quite a few strings behind the scenes." Blade Harbor was borrowed from Bailei and is now managed by Qing. The intricate web of personal favors, power struggles, and entanglements within this arrangement is incredibly complex, known only to local generalists like Guan Ke. "Of course, Chief Commissioner Wu's rise to power was also due to the recommendation of Ning Guangrong, the Emperor's uncle from Qing."

"You purchased the Yangshan Archipelago from Bailei, and I heard the price was very... favorable. It was cheap, practically a bargain. Now that the Yangshan Archipelago is flourishing, might someone be feeling unhappy about it?"

After purchasing the Yangshan Archipelago, He Lingchuan essentially flipped the "big sucker" hat back onto the Lu family's head. Could Bailei be happy about that?

They wanted to see someone make a fool of themselves, but they ended up becoming the biggest joke. Guan Ke, putting himself in their shoes, thought that if he were the head of the Lu family, he would at least be internally bruised with frustration by now.

If they couldn't reclaim the Yangshan Archipelago, was there still no way to make things difficult for He Lingchuan?

How many people are so magnanimous that they wouldn't be envious when others gain significantly at their expense, or smile and offer congratulations, or genuinely want to cooperate with them?

They would rather see you stumble and fall face-first, and then stomp on you to release their pent-up anger.

He Lingchuan nodded slightly. So that was it.

It was Bailei pulling strings from behind again. This time, it was even more despicable, using official channels to suppress him.

The Maritime Trade Commission was the local power, the official authority in Blade Harbor. He Lingchuan was a lord on the Yangshan Archipelago, but in Blade Harbor, he was just a commoner.

Commoners have historically not contended with officials, and He Lingchuan would gain nothing good by directly confronting the Maritime Trade Commission.

If officials wanted to deal with you, they could turn regulations into whips and lash you until you were spitting teeth.

The Lu father and son had struck very accurately this time, temporarily strangling the Yangshan Archipelago's lifeline.

In the first round, by inflating prices, they had a taste of success. This was the second round, and they wanted to win again, to redouble their efforts to bring down He Lingchuan.

"My lord?" Guan Ke asked, seeing him distracted.

"Hmm," He Lingchuan snapped back to attention. "Continue."

"Furthermore, Chief Commissioner Wu himself owns hundreds of acres of forest land, all planted with cash crops, including vast quantities of palm trees, herbs, and fruit trees. His steward used to approach me to help connect with buyers." Guan Ke paused, then added, "What gets planted in the forests and fields of Qing is not decided by commoners. The Wu family has truly earned a lot of money from these dealings."

Not only in Qing, but in Iris, and previously in Xiji and Panlong City, the fields were meant to produce rice and wheat, and the forests, sweet potatoes, buckwheat, and sorghum. These were all subject to official restrictions; you couldn't just plant whatever you wanted.

Everyone knew that diversified farming brought more profit. Wouldn't it be better to plant herbs, tea leaves, tobacco, or fruit trees in mountain fields instead of grain?

No, it wouldn't. A nation without sufficient grain is unstable.

But Chief Commissioner Wu's family was not ordinary; he could comfortably earn this kind of money.

Therefore, the future economic output of the Yangshan Archipelago might strike a blow to his family's livelihood. As long as Chief Commissioner Wu was displeased, he could create countless problems for He Lingchuan.

He Lingchuan had invested most of his fortune into the construction of the Yangshan Archipelago. This included money for boat rentals, material purchases, and substantial entertainment expenses. But the most expensive cost was labor. Currently, nearly nine thousand people worked for him across the fourteen islands. Although most were temporary workers for the palm harvest season, the money spent was very real.

Every morning, as soon as he opened his eyes, even before doing anything, he had to spend over two thousand taels of silver, which was two million qian.

This rate of spending was something he could never have imagined when he was a young master.