Hidden in the court

Chapter 111 Poison Your Mulberry Tree

Chang'an City

The city gates were open, and there was a constant stream of traffic, pedestrians, merchants, and envoys passing through, bringing news from all directions and a prosperous atmosphere.

The people in the city were dressed in plain or gorgeous clothes, with happy smiles on their faces. They were busy with their livelihoods, strolling leisurely, or drinking tea and discussing philosophy. Children were playing in the streets and alleys, and laughter echoed in the streets. Everyone was enjoying this prosperous era.

Moving to the commercial street, the road is wide and clean, with shops lined up on both sides with signs displayed. The vendors shouted loudly, selling a wide variety of goods, from silk, cloth to jewelry and jade, from books and paintings to spices and medicinal materials. The air was filled with the aroma of various foods, making people salivate.

On this street, you can see a few "Suo Ji" shops from time to time. If you look closely, you can also find that there is basically no cloth in the shops.

The cloth business of the Suo family has not been doing well recently. Originally, this kind of thing was not a serious consumable. In addition, in the business environment of the North, officials' families can also engage in business. Even if there are not many private merchants, it can be said that there are more monks than porridge.

There shouldn't be much market for trade between the two countries given the prosperity of Liang Wu's commerce. In addition, Liang Wu's customs duties were too harsh, so merchants from the north couldn't leave. Instead, they welcomed a large wave of merchants from the south. The market was constantly squeezed out, so business was naturally difficult.

But if it were just that, it wouldn't be the case. The problem lies in the Suo family's model.

In Liangwusuo's family, they relied on their wealth and power, sat in the management of the Chamber of Commerce, and understood the wind direction, so the merchants would naturally give them face. But in the North, their foundation was unstable, and with the perfect business and market management system here, there were basically no big merchants and chambers of commerce.

Even if Xie An has already completed all kinds of complete industrial chains, it is impossible to go further. Moreover, there are also great disadvantages in doing so. If there is a problem in one link, the entire line will be shut down.

For example, now the cloth shop business cannot be done because there is a problem in the silkworm breeding and silk reeling process of the Suo family.

"Boss, there's really no other way. The original goods have been sold out, and the latest batch of goods hasn't been delivered yet. What do you think we should do..."

"I've asked other silkworm breeders and silk reelers, and they either have a fixed customer base or they're deliberately raising the price. Sigh..."

In the store, several shop owners surrounded Xie An and started complaining to each other.

"Don't worry, bosses. I'll find a solution. Now go back to the store and give some money to the employees. Let them take a holiday. Remember to tell them to start work at any time."

The shopkeepers sighed, nodded and left.

It is not realistic to buy cloth from other companies, and they may not sell it to you. It is not realistic to buy too much cloth from ordinary people, and the quality is uneven and cannot be guaranteed.

Xie An walked home while thinking, and before he knew it, he had arrived home.

Suo Wei came out jumping up and down.

"My husband is back!"

A hint of joy also appeared on Xie An's face.

"My lady, come with me to see the mulberry fields."

"Ah."

Suo Wei nodded. She knew about the cloth shop. If the mulberry trees didn't grow well, they couldn't raise silkworms, and naturally there would be no silk, and without silk there would be no cloth. But for some reason, in the whole city of Chang'an, only the mulberry trees in her Suo family's field couldn't grow good mulberry leaves.

When Suo Wei arrived at the mulberry garden, she saw the diseased trees at first sight. Because the appearance of these mulberry trees was obviously abnormal, they had to attract people's attention.

The leaves of these poorly grown mulberry trees are as yellow as dead grass, or mottled, and have lost their original green color. The edges of the leaves become dry, curled, or burnt. The leaves are also much smaller than normal leaves, thinner, and even fall off early, leaving the trees bare and falling off early in the season when they should remain green.

The branches are thin, dull in color, and lack vitality. The internodes of the branches are short, making the whole tree look compact and short. In addition, the growth of the branches is irregular, appearing clumping or broom-like.

The trunk is fragile, with some cracks or dents on the surface, which is obviously caused by poor root development.

Overall, these poorly grown mulberry trees appear thin, short, and lack vitality and vigor. The crown is sparse, and the leaves are sparse or falling off, making the entire tree look dry and lacking vitality.

"Isn't this poisoned?"

Suo Wei looked for a long time, and followed Xie An around, and found that almost all mulberry trees were like this. If you say it's an accident, no one would believe it!

"Boss, we don't know either. We all take good care of him. We almost treat him like an ancestor..."

The visitor was an old man, one of the people Xie An brought from the Suo family. As for the other people in the garden, most of them were local people from Chang'an, hired by Xie An to take care of the mulberry garden.

At this moment, the old man explained anxiously, fearing that Xie An would blame him.

Xie An reached out to support him, then squatted down and picked up a handful of soil.

Starting with the soil, they rubbed and compacted it, and found it soft and oily, without any problems. From the gullies in the fields, one could also tell that these people were indeed taking good care of it.

"Is it weird?"

Xie An couldn't help but ask questions, and after staring at it carefully for a while, he finally found something wrong.

"The soil is a bit dark in color..."

After hearing his words, Suo Wei also squatted down and touched the place where he had just dug.

"This looks like...lead!"

Xie An was obviously stunned, "Lead? Someone really poisoned it!"

But Xie An didn't understand. Why would someone go to so much trouble to poison the Suo family? You know, there are regulations on land management in the North.

The land can be cultivated, but its fertility cannot be destroyed, not to mention the act of poisoning the land, which is illegal.

But he finally knew the reason, so Xie An continued digging and stopped at about one finger's depth.

He stood up, took a deep breath, and looked at the old man.

"Thank you for your hard work. Go to the city and buy a few dogs. They should be able to guard the garden. If not, borrow a few from the villagers and keep them in this garden. Also, take some people to plow the land, and make sure it is plowed one finger deep."

The old man nodded and went to do it immediately. He also understood that someone had poisoned the land. Damn it, the land is so precious, but they still poisoned it!

After the old man left, Xie An and Suo Wei started to murmur, "Madam, when you go back, go check out the merchants from Liang Wulai in Chang'an, especially those doing silk and cloth business."

"Then what are you going to do?" Suo Wei asked suspiciously.

"I'll go and sue the authorities..."

Suo Wei understood immediately, "Go ahead, and be careful on the road."

"Thank you for your concern, ma'am."

The two of them split up into two groups. Suo Wei went home to check on the person, while Xie An went all the way to the Agriculture Department. The Ministry of Households was responsible for land management, but the northern border had an Agriculture Department that specifically took charge of agricultural affairs.

"Please inform the two of you that I need to report to the authorities."