After speaking these words, Pu Kaishan couldn't help but burst into tears.
If he couldn't understand by now that someone was plotting against the Pu family from behind, he would truly have been a fool to have been in the business world for so many years.
However, at this point in time, what good would it do even if he understood?
The Cai family was not going to come forward to refute the rumors. In fact, what role the Cai family played in this matter was still debatable.
They say rumors stop with the wise, but the problem is, under the guise of money, lies would probably soon become truth...
When money speaks, all truths are forced to fall silent.
"Master, there are many people outside, all clamoring to see you..."
Just then, the urgent voice of a servant came from outside the door again.
"What a venomous scheme. The Pu family's generations of hard work, over a hundred years of enduring hardship, all turned to ashes today..."
"Hahahaha!"
Listening to the noisy sounds from outside, Pu Kaishan suddenly burst into wild laughter. However, as he laughed, tears of blood began to flow from the corners of his eyes.
"Master, you must take care of your health. You are still the one in charge of affairs in Mingzhou!"
Although the old steward didn't fully understand business matters, seeing Pu Kaishan's miserable state, he quickly whispered words of persuasion.
"At this point, what is there left to be in charge of? The army is collapsing like a mountain falling. At this moment, it's impossible to turn the tide..."
"Hahahaha, decades of hard work, only to have made wedding clothes for others in the end. Heavens, I'm not reconciled, I'm not reconciled!"
After letting out an angry roar to the sky, Pu Kaishan turned into a weeping mess.
Ever since the ancestors of the Pu family painstakingly established their roots in Champa over a hundred years ago, to reach the scale of the Pu family today, his grandfather and father had all perished at sea.
And he, since arriving in the Great Song Dynasty with Pu Haida thirty years ago, only he knew how much hardship, how many grievances, and how many times he had narrowly escaped death over these thirty years.
The hard work of several generations, a hundred years of enduring hardship, and now seeing the Pu family on the verge of collapse, only he could truly understand the grief and indignation in his heart.
"Master, in gambling, there's a saying: not betting means you haven't lost. Why be so pessimistic?"
Looking at the bloodstains on Pu Kaishan's face, the old steward lowered his voice and said.
"Don't you understand yet? This is clearly someone in the government coveting the Pu family's assets and wanting to uproot us completely..."
As Pu Kaishan said this, he closed his eyes in pain.
If this were a business war between merchants, perhaps they could still preserve a last shred of strength. However, based on all the current signs, he was already certain that the person taking action must be from the officialdom.
Having struggled in the Great Song Dynasty for over thirty years, he was already deeply aware of the darkness within its bureaucracy. These people, when they moved, they moved decisively, and their actions were always fatal.
To make the Cai family abandon years of friendship, to give up nearly tens of millions of guan in annual profits, what kind of power was this that a small merchant family like theirs could contend with...
"Master, the Song people have a saying that is very apt: a cornered dog will jump over the wall, and a desperate rabbit will bite! Don't forget, we hold hundreds of ships!"
Hearing the old steward's words, Pu Kaishan was stunned.
Looking at the old steward's dark face, Pu Kaishan's right hand trembled involuntarily.
"Hoo—"
After letting out a long sigh of stale air, Pu Kaishan finally calmed down again.
That's right, he had been in the Great Song Dynasty for too long, so long that he had forgotten the ferocity ingrained in his bones.
He was not like those meek merchants of the Great Song. They were descendants of bandits who had fought their way from the far west!
"You're right. Help me up, help me to the treasure vault!"
Gritting his teeth fiercely, Pu Kaishan seemed to have made up his mind again.
"Yes!"
The old steward chuckled, revealing his row of yellow teeth, and then reached out to help Pu Kaishan up.
A quarter of an hour later, supported by the old steward, Pu Kaishan finally arrived at the Pu family's treasure vault.
After sending the old steward out, he took out a dark iron chest from a hidden compartment in the corner.
Upon opening the iron chest, it immediately revealed stacks of thick parchment paper.
Compared to ordinary gold, silver, jade, and pearls, these were the most valuable things in the entire Pu family.
The reason why the Pu family could make the spice trade so large was that among several major families, only the Pu family controlled the shipping routes to the Spice Islands.
And this route had been directly charted by the descendants of the Pu family into sea charts, in two copies. One copy was kept in Mingzhou, and the other was hidden in the old residence in Quanzhou.
This was also the Pu family's highest secret. Only the head of the Pu family, the heir, and those Pu family disciples who had proven their loyalty with their lives were privy to the locations of these two sea charts.
Now that the family business in Mingzhou could not be saved, he certainly couldn't let these things fall into the hands of the officials.
With immense reluctance, after caressing them for the last time, he forced himself to endure the heartache, took out a fire starter from his pocket, ignited it, and threw it directly into the pile of parchment paper...
"If you want to take away a century of my Pu family's foundation, then let's see who's more formidable, your steel knives or my teeth!"
With a few eerie laughs, looking at the parchment paper that had turned into a pile of ashes, Pu Kaishan said slowly...
"Son-in-law, the matter has been handled. More than half of the merchants in Mingzhou city are now rushing to the Pu family. I think tonight will be exceptionally lively for their family!"
When the drum had struck three times, Jiang Yan, dressed in black, quietly returned to Han Mo's room to report.
"What are you saying? Didn't I tell you not to go yourself? Look at what you're wearing. Quickly change out of that outfit and go to the Mingzhou Prefecture Office. If that Lord Li hasn't set off yet, go and give him a good warning, make him ponder whether he wants to wear that official hat on his head!"
Looking at the night-walking clothes Jiang Yan was wearing, Han Mo glared at him with annoyance.
This was clearly a simple matter, but this fellow insisted on putting on night-walking clothes. If he were caught by the officials, he might stir up trouble even if there was none to begin with...