MLMD -Chapter 178 First Visit to the Market

Hunyuan Prefecture was located in the northeast of Shanxi, along the middle and upper reaches of the Hun River, a tributary of the Sanggan River. To the east, it bordered Guangling; to the west, Yingzhou. Its southeastern boundary with Lingqiu and Fanshi counties was marked by Mount Heng, while to the north, Liuleng Mountain connected it with Datong and Yanggao counties. Geographically, it was quite convenient, and as a result, Hunyuan was relatively prosperous.

That morning, as dawn broke, farmers began entering the city through the gates, carrying local produce and mountain goods to sell. By mid-morning, the large eastern marketplace was already bustling with people. Everywhere were cries of merchants selling their wares, customers haggling, and even some bankrupt farmers kneeling by the roadside, each wearing a blade of grass on their head as a marker of poverty.

Yue Yang walked through the market with Hu Laosan and a few guards. Looking at the bustling crowd, he nodded slightly and turned to Hu Laosan. “It seems that Prefect Jiang isn’t entirely useless. A marketplace this lively is quite beneficial for the people.”

Hu Laosan looked around and agreed. “You’re right, my lord. Compared to Wulizhai and Yingzhou, Hunyuan may not be as prosperous, but in comparison with other places, it’s still quite decent.”

Yue Yang chuckled at this. “Not bad, Hu Laosan. From the way you speak, it seems you’ve seen quite a bit of the world.”

Hu Laosan puffed up a little with pride. “Seen the world, my lord? I wouldn’t say that. Back when I wandered the Jianghu, I traveled north and south for seven or eight years. I wouldn’t claim to have been everywhere in the Ming Empire, but I did make a good circle from south to north.”

“Oh, I forgot—you traveled the Jianghu before coming to Wulizhai. So that explains it—you really have seen a lot!” Yue Yang laughed.

“My lord, you flatter me. It’s hardly from experience; it was all just to make a living. Who would willingly leave their home these days if they didn’t need to fill their stomachs?” Hu Laosan’s face, however, showed not pride but bitterness.

“Ah… I had forgotten about that.”

Yue Yang realized that travel back then was not comparable to modern times. A journey could take a year or more, and with the terrible road conditions, it was truly grueling. Few would leave their hometown and wander the Jianghu unless absolutely necessary.

Feeling a little awkward, Yue Yang was about to change the subject when a commotion and shouting came from ahead.

Curious, he waved his hand. “Let’s go see what’s happening up front!”

After all, enjoying a spectacle was a national pastime, and Yue Yang was no exception. When he and Hu Laosan reached the scene, the crowd was already packed tightly. Yue Yang gave Hu Laosan a look. Hu Laosan understood immediately—if the boss wanted to see, his subordinates must clear the way. He quickly led two bodyguards forward, using their height and strength to push the crowd aside.

“Damn you! What are you doing?!”

“Move over! You wanna die?!”

“Stop pushing, or I’ll hit someone!”

Their behavior quickly drew the ire of the crowd. Many men being pushed aside glared at them, while some hot-headed ones even raised their fists. But when they saw the towering Hu Laosan, with his broad, muscular frame and a face full of flesh, flanked by a few burly men with waist knives at the ready, they instinctively lowered their hands and smiled as meekly as they could.

Only then did Yue Yang, flanked by four bodyguards, step into the crowd. At that moment, he recalled a fleeting memory from before his time travel—his old ideal of holding a birdcage while strolling through a market.

Of course, it was just a brief thought. His attention was quickly drawn to a scene of people being beaten.

Seven or eight soldiers in tattered official jackets were surrounding an elderly man and a young boy, punching and kicking them while shouting insults:

“You two poor bastards dare to come buy salt without silver? Don’t you see this salt isn’t for the likes of you? If you have no money, you should eat coarse salt like good poor folk!”

“Sir, please, have mercy! Sell us just one jin of salt. We’ve saved up three hundred wen, and the villagers are waiting for us to bring it back!”

The speaker was an elderly man, about fifty, wearing a tattered coat. His hands were calloused, his bare feet veined, and his face lined with wrinkles—a typical impoverished villager. Beside him was a boy of thirteen or fourteen, dressed similarly. Two soldiers held him back as he flushed red and shouted angrily:

“Are you even reasonable? Other shops sell it for three hundred wen per jin, and you charge nine hundred! Has your conscience gone to the dogs?!”

The soldiers laughed at the boy’s words. The leader guffawed: “Conscience? How much silver is conscience worth? If you think our price is high, go somewhere else. I want to see a salt shop in all of Hunyuan cheaper than ours.”

Yue Yang watched, bewildered. Inside the shop, several clerks were just sitting on stools watching the spectacle, while the soldiers seemed more proactive in defending the merchants than the clerks themselves. Puzzled, Yue Yang grabbed a passerby.

“Sir, can you explain what’s going on here? Why is salt nine hundred wen per jin? Why are the soldiers defending these merchants, while the clerks just watch?”

The passerby frowned at Yue Yang’s abrupt question but, seeing Yue Yang’s silk robe and the burly men behind him, softened. He said bitterly, “What else could it be? The salt shop belongs to the Fang family, and the soldiers are their lackeys. That’s why it’s like this.”

“Uh… I still don’t quite get it. Could you explain more clearly?”

Yue Yang, still confused, took out a handful of copper coins from his sleeve and handed them to the passerby. “Here, have some tea. Can you tell me exactly what’s happening?”

The passerby’s expression improved as he took the coins. “It’s all about the salt prices. You see, the Fang family…”

As the passerby explained, Yue Yang gradually understood. After he had brought large quantities of high-quality refined salt from the modern era, it had severely undercut the local coarse salt market. Salt merchants in Shanxi were struggling. In the end, these merchants became middlemen, buying salt from Yue Yang in Yingzhou and reselling it locally.

Yue Yang had been considerate in setting wholesale prices—one jin at 150 wen, with a retail price of 300 wen. He thought a profit of 100 wen per jin was fair. But accustomed to marking up salt several times over, the merchants ignored his rules, raising the price to 900 wen per jin. The common folk were left complaining.

“Wasn’t there coarse salt available? Couldn’t people just buy that?” Yue Yang asked in disbelief.

“Coarse salt? Who wants that anymore!” The passerby looked at him with disdain. “Over the past year, Yingzhou’s refined salt has crushed the market. Merchants everywhere are switching to your refined salt. No one buys that bitter coarse stuff anymore. It’s nearly impossible to find any coarse salt in shops now.”

“How could it come to this?” Yue Yang muttered. He had not anticipated this result. His good intentions—to provide quality salt and earn a bit of money—had backfired, leaving the common people without salt. The irony was bitter.

He turned to Hu Laosan. “How did this happen? Was it wrong for me to sell salt to those merchants?”

Seeing Yue Yang’s growing concern, Hu Laosan quickly reassured him. “My lord, this isn’t your fault. It’s those unscrupulous merchants. You have nothing to blame yourself for.”

“No… it’s my fault.” Yue Yang closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. “I underestimated their greed and ambition. Marx was right—if there’s 300 percent profit, people will commit any crime, even under the threat of hanging. It’s my mistake. Without a strong oversight system, selling salt to these merchants is just encouraging them!”

Hu Laosan noticed a cold light in Yue Yang’s eyes and shivered. He didn’t know who this Marx was, but he could tell someone was about to be in trouble.

The coldness, however, passed quickly. Yue Yang turned to Hu Laosan. “Alright, let’s head back. Tonight Prefect Jiang will host a banquet for us. We should get ready. We’ll deal with this in a couple of days.”

With that, Yue Yang turned and walked away. The incident seemed to leave him unaffected on the surface, but Hu Laosan, knowing his master well, could sense the simmering anger beneath his calm exterior. When it eventually erupted, he shuddered to think how many people might suffer.