Chapter 95

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Shen Man was once a famous courtesan on the Qinhuai River. She was originally from Suzhou, and her father was a poor scholar who repeatedly failed the local examinations. Apart from studying and preparing for the imperial exams, he was oblivious to the world outside. Fortunately, her mother, Lady Liu, ran a embroidery shop, which earned them several dozen taels of silver each year. Her childhood was relatively comfortable. She was a well-educated young lady, and by the age of twelve or thirteen, she was already proficient in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.

Unfortunately, when she was fourteen, her father fell seriously ill, and the family spent all their savings on his treatment, even selling her mother's embroidery shop. To help her family, Shen Man eventually sold herself for 200 taels of silver. At fourteen, she carried a small bundle and her lute, and traveled by boat to Nanjing, where she became a courtesan on a Qinhuai River pleasure boat and gained some fame for a time.

However, this profession is one that relies on youth. With so many beautiful young women joining, the old ones were quickly replaced by the younger and more attractive. Fortunately, during those years, Shen Man had saved a considerable amount of money, part of which she sent home, and the rest she kept for herself.

Later, like many of her peers, she married a small official in his fifties as a concubine and moved to Huguang. She lived as a concubine for a few years, but it was not an easy life. Her husband had a jealous wife, and after a few years of marriage, she had no children. When her husband suddenly died, he left her a piece of land and a few shops for her to live on in his will. However, before the mourning period was over, the main wife kicked her out of the house, allowing her to take only the trunks she brought in when she entered the household, and nothing else.

Shen Man was still in her twenties, but at that age, she was considered old in the world of courtesans. She could not return to Jinling to resume her old profession, and Huguang was not her home. Although she still had a family in Suzhou, she could not return there. Even though she had sold herself to save her father and save the family, her father refused to recognize her as his daughter.

Shen Man was strong-willed, with her own ideas and principles. Just as she had sold herself for 200 taels of silver, this time she took out all her savings and opened a brothel.

The brothel was not located in the bustling water and land docks of Wuchang or Nanchang, but in a noisy and bustling small town in Beitaiping Township, Macheng County, Huangzhou Prefecture.

The courtyard was not large, with a three-story wooden building situated in the center of a long street opposite the Tiger Head Pass Yamen. From the balcony on the third floor, one could even see the young, strong men training and sweating on the parade ground inside the Yamen.

Originally, there were only a few shops here, and no brothels. However, with the arrival of the young Commander and his Nine-Headed Bird Regiment, the place became lively, with a population of over two thousand. Various buildings were being constructed, and the streets were extending. There were many young men here, but none of them had families. Shen Man was just passing through, but when she saw the bustling scene, she stopped and decided not to continue her journey.

She rented the house on the street, renovated and decorated it into the first brothel in the area, and recruited a dozen young girls from various places, even buying a dozen young girls from the local refugees and personally training them in music and dance.

The red lanterns with the words "Red Sleeve Pavilion" added a touch of ambiguity to the brothel. At night, the pink lights and the laughter of young women always caught the attention of young men, making their hearts race.

Every evening, the brothel was always full of guests. Shen Man was a skilled businesswoman, and this brothel was not just about selling beauty and physical pleasure. There was wine, tea, and various snacks, as well as blind storytellers and blind women playing the lute, and various elegantly dressed dancers performing graceful dances. People came here not just for pleasure but also to listen to songs and watch dances.

The first floor was a hall with daily performances, while the second floor had small private rooms where guests could enjoy tea and wine while requesting beautiful girls to play music and dance.

As the lanterns lit up, it was the busiest time of the day at the Red Sleeve Pavilion. The soft, graceful songs and music drifted through the cool summer night, captivating passersby and nearby residents.

Tonight, Shen Man was dressed in her finest, even sprinkling some rose water from the West on her body. She held a beautifully embroidered handkerchief and stood at the door, looking around.

A generous guest had paid 100 taels of silver to reserve the largest private room on the second floor, asking her to prepare the best banquet and keep the best girls available. Shen Man naturally liked such generous guests, but the reason she was personally waiting at the door was not for the guest, but for the person being invited tonight.

The generous guest was inviting the current top figure in Beitaiping Township, the Commander of the County Militia, Liu Jun (Liu Jiyeh).

Shen Man, having opened her business here, naturally had to be well-informed about the local authorities. Liu Jun was not a thug, but he was indeed the master of the area. The prosperity of the place was all due to him. Even the building of the Red Sleeve Pavilion was rented from Liu Jun, and in addition to the monthly rent, she had to pay an extra fee for security, management, and sanitation, which was essentially a protection fee.

Although she had to pay an extra fee, Shen Man, who had traveled far and wide, found this quite normal. Moreover, the fee was reasonable, and they provided a receipt. There were no additional demands or extortions. After paying the fee, they indeed ensured that no one would cause trouble, and they would handle any disturbances. They even cleaned the garbage in front of and behind the building.

Of course, if it were just that, Shen Man would not have paid so much attention. She had a high regard for Liu Jun because she had personally witnessed the rapid changes in the area since she opened her business. Liu Jun had never visited her place, even though she often saw him pass by the door without ever entering.

This made Shen Man very curious about this young man.

Today, a guest was inviting Liu Jun to the Red Sleeve Pavilion, and Shen Man was eager to get a close look at him. As her business improved day by day, she also had a small idea: to build a good relationship with Liu Jun, the local authority. If she could get closer to him, even if it meant a few rounds of socializing, it would be even better.

She was a woman, and she did not mind having a close relationship with a young, tall, and handsome man like Liu Jun.

The guest tonight was surnamed Hu, a scholar who had passed the provincial examination in his early thirties but failed to pass the imperial examination after more than ten years of trying. He then gave up on his ambitions and, through an introduction, started working for the Andong Prince's mansion. He was fortunate to be favored by the Prince and became an external manager of the mansion, earning a substantial fortune despite having no official rank.

Hu Guang's wealth came from the Andong Prince's name. He did not use the Prince's name to swindle, but managed the salt trade for the Prince. The Prince made the big profits, while he made a smaller but still substantial profit.

In the Ming Dynasty, nothing was more profitable than the salt trade.

In the early years, various salt policies, such as the "Kai Zhong" system, allowed merchants to transport grain to the border regions in exchange for salt permits, which they could then use to collect salt from the salt fields. This made many merchants, especially those from Shanxi, very wealthy.

However, the "Kai Zhong" system was long gone, and the current system was the "Gang Yan" system. In simple terms, the government established a register, and only the merchants listed in the register had the right to sell official salt, which was a monopoly.

The government directly changed the state monopoly on salt to a merchant monopoly, collecting taxes and fees while designating the merchants to have the exclusive right to sell official salt, which could be inherited by their descendants. The government also assigned specific regions for the merchants to sell salt, making the process very simple.

These merchants, through connections with officials and the powerful, applied to the Salt Transport Commission for the right to sell salt, paid a deposit, and found a guarantor. They would then receive a permit from the government.

The permit, known as a "wo dan," was essentially a legal document issued by the government to the salt merchants, granting them the right to sell official salt. It specified the amount of salt and the regions where the merchant could sell it.

With this permit, the merchant had the exclusive right to sell salt, which could be inherited by their descendants or sold.

After obtaining the permit, the merchant had to pay an annual fee to the government to renew their right to sell salt for the year.

In short, under the "Gang Yan" system, the most important thing was the permit. With a permit, one had the exclusive right to sell salt.

Many powerful figures obtained permits and resold them for profit. Some simply resold the permits without doing any business, making huge profits. The Andong Prince, a descendant of the Yi Prince, was part of this group. However, unlike many powerful figures in the capital who resold permits, the Andong Prince held many salt permits and managed the business himself.

The Andong Prince's designated sales region was the eight counties of Qihuang. However, such a large area could not be managed by one person. In reality, this region was led by the Yi Prince of Jiangxi and the Jing Prince of Qizhou, with the Andong Prince and a few other princes participating in the business, sharing the monopoly on the official salt trade in the Qihuang region.

The salt trade was extremely profitable, attracting many powerful figures.

For example, in the Qihuang region, the official salt sold by the Andong Prince and others was transported from the Lianghuai salt fields. The entire Huguang, Jiangxi, Huainan, and Liangzhe regions were part of the Lianghuai salt area, and the exclusive sales region of the Andong Prince and others was within this area.

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