The Salt Inspector of Hedong Circuit had only just fallen asleep when a servant's report jolted him awake, informing him that the guard captain from the salt village across the lake requested an audience. Instantly, all traces of sleep vanished.
Having held the position of Salt Inspector for many years, he knew that salt smugglers often sneaked to the southern shore of Xie Lake in the dead of night to acquire salt. Normally, they'd bribe the guards with a small amount of silver, buy a few hundred catties of salt, and make their getaway. But if someone wanted to make a bigger deal, the guards wouldn't be able to handle it on their own and would come to him. That meant serious money, a substantial sum, and a major operation.
So, when someone woke him in the middle of the night, it could only mean one thing: profit.
The Salt Inspector quickly threw on an outer robe and got up. Stepping into the outer chamber, the guard captain presented a pouch. The Salt Inspector, with just a glance, knew it contained roughly two hundred taels of silver. His heart swelled with delight.
"A big salt smuggler, then?" The Salt Inspector chuckled, his tone full of greed. "How much merchandise does he want?"
The guard captain murmured, "He wants all the salt from Feng Family Village."
The Salt Inspector's eyes gleamed. "Oh! That's quite a gamble. This smuggler must be formidable."
The guard captain nodded. "It's an old acquaintance of yours—Tie Niaofei."
The Salt Inspector furrowed his brow, his memory a little slow. "Tie Niaofei? I don't quite recall."
The guard captain added with a strange tone, "Just name your price."
The Salt Inspector smirked. "Ah, now I remember! That fellow, right. His business wasn't substantial before—can he really handle an entire village's worth of salt now?"
The guard captain shrugged. "Whether he can handle it or not, I don't know, but he's certainly got the silver. Two hundred taels."
The Salt Inspector grinned. "Alright then, for two hundred taels, I don't care what kind of trouble he stirs up. Sell him all the salt from Feng Family Village. I'll tell my superiors that there was a fire, and they're rebuilding, so no salt could be submitted. That should settle everything."
The guard captain nodded, but didn't leave. He looked at the Salt Inspector expectantly.
The Salt Inspector pulled out a few silver ingots, roughly fifty taels' worth, and tossed them into the guard captain's hand. "Distribute this to your brothers at Feng Family Village. And make sure no one talks about this."
The guard captain's eyes lit up, and he quickly cradled the silver and departed, rowing a small boat back to Feng Family Village.
The round trip involved eight li of water travel, which took time. By the time he reached Tie Niaofei again, it was already past midnight.
"Boss Tie," the guard captain announced, "the deal is done. The Salt Inspector has given his nod. All the salt from Feng Family Village is yours, but... you understand, the two hundred taels only got you the right to buy it. To actually take it, there's another payment."
Tie Niaofei laughed. "Name your price."
The guard captain raised two fingers. "Twenty coppers a catty."
Tie Niaofei smiled broadly. "Done! Tell the salt workers in the village to bring all the salt out. I'll pay an additional fee for them to help transport it to Puzhou."
Normally, salt in a production area like Xie Lake would sell for as little as four coppers a catty. But in times of severe drought and war, prices had soared. Even in producing areas, salt could sell for twenty to thirty coppers a catty, and in non-producing regions, it might fetch seventy or eighty coppers a catty.
Tie Niaofei didn't care about the high price. After finalizing the deal, he returned to the woods and signaled to Xing Honglang. Xing Honglang's forty-two subordinates, along with Tie Niaofei's eighteen men, emerged from the forest and took their positions at the village entrance.
The guards organized the salt workers, and soon they began transporting the salt out of Feng Family Village, cart by cart. The two sides then negotiated the price for transporting the salt all the way to Gudu Ferry in Puzhou. The salt workers pushed their carts, and the caravan set off.
At this point, everything seemed like any other illicit salt transaction.
The guards waved with smiles as the caravan passed by. They didn't think much of it.
But once the salt caravan was out of sight of the officials, things took an unexpected turn.
Suddenly, the sound of galloping hooves echoed from the forest. Zao Ying, leading fifty cavalrymen and several dozen riderless horses, emerged with a rush.
The spectacle startled the salt workers transporting the goods, but the cavalry didn't harm them. Instead, the cavalry handed over the horses to Xing Honglang's and Tie Niaofei's men. The two groups swiftly mounted, transforming into "unordinary salt smugglers."
The salt workers watched the mounted, imposing-looking smugglers and secretly wondered: Boss Tie seems different today. He never had such a grand escort before. What's going on?
Xing Honglang then addressed the salt workers directly, catching their attention. "Salt-worker brothers, the salt I bought from you today, how much of that money will actually end up in your pockets?"
The salt workers exchanged glances before one of them muttered, "Two coppers a catty."
Xing Honglang sneered. "I actually paid twenty coppers a catty."
The salt workers froze, stunned into silence.
Xing Honglang chuckled. "The officials are exploiting you far too much. How would you like to bypass them altogether? I'll buy directly from you, and I can offer ten coppers a catty."
It was clear to anyone: who wouldn't want their income to multiply five times?
The salt workers eagerly responded, "Of course we would!"
Xing Honglang smiled. "It's simple. Do you have the courage to leave Feng Family Village, dig a new salt pond where the officials can't see it, and then sell all the illicit salt you produce to me?"
The salt workers blinked in disbelief. "But... how could we dare? If the officials find us, it's a death sentence."
Xing Honglang scoffed. "Don't be afraid. Xie Lake is massive—over forty li long and four li wide. Find a hidden corner, a lakeside spot the officials can't reach, and dig a salt pond there. As long as you conceal it with tall reeds, no one will spot it unless they're right on top of it. Then, you can divert water into the pond and sun-dry the salt. Every copper you make will be yours. Isn't that better than what you're getting now?"
One salt worker said, "If we do that, we'll all be undocumented."
Xing Honglang smirked. "Don't you know what's going on outside? Shanxi is plagued by bandits. Half—maybe even six out of ten decent folk—have joined the rebels. They're all undocumented now. Who's afraid of that anymore?"
The salt workers exchanged uncertain looks, but it was true—most people were either fleeing or becoming rebels. The fear of being undocumented had less weight now.
One salt worker spoke up. "It would be difficult to dig a salt pond by Xie Lake without being seen. But there's a pond west of Xie Lake called Xiao Lake. The salt it produces is a bit bitter, not as good as Xie Lake's salt, so the officials never bother with it. If we set up a private pond there, they'd never notice."
He gritted his teeth and continued, "If Boss Tie and Lady Boss are willing to guarantee my life, I'll leave Feng Family Village, become a refugee, and set up a shack by Xiao Lake to dig salt for you. I just worry that the bitter taste of the salt might not be to your liking."
Xing Honglang grinned. Gao Family Village needs salt for alkali production anyway. What's bitterness to them? It's not for human consumption, she thought. "Excellent! Let's do it by Xiao Lake."
The other salt workers were emboldened by the offer. Several more of them spoke up, eager to join the plan. "We'll come too!"