Gasp! She's a Time Traveler Using Modern Tech to Improve Ancient Life-Chapter 358 - 355: Leaving a Toll Payment

In the Great Tang, only the wealthy could afford pepper. Saying that an ounce of pepper cost an ounce of gold might be an exaggeration, but it definitely wasn’t less than half an ounce of gold.

At this time, pepper was completely reliant on imports, and it was actually harder for Great Tang people to make money than for Europeans (the nobles in Europe were easily fooled with lots of money to spare).

Seventy percent of the dietary needs of the European wealthy class required pepper, so the demand was imaginable.

Therefore, those Western Regions merchants were more willing to sell the pepper they bought from Southeast Asia to European countries, with very little making it into the Great Tang market.

The rarer the commodity, the higher the value. As such, it’s no wonder that pepper was even more expensive in the Great Tang.

Lin Wanwan in the modern era spent thirty-nine thousand to buy a ton of pepper, which equated to nearly a ton of gold in the Great Tang.

She intended not to secretly transport pepper again in the future and wanted a legitimate route for her family’s pepper.

As for showing off wealth? There’s no worry at all!

Originally, she, as the Village Lady of Le’an in Mao County, was already famous as a rich person. Those impoverished old aristocrats scorned her for lacking etiquette after suddenly gaining wealth (the number of her family’s servants alone was enough for them to look down on), yet secretly envied her for her extravagant meals (pepper being equivalent to gold).

With the dual identity as a Village Lady and Xiao Chong’s cousin, as long as Xiao Chong was in Mao County, basically no one dared to provoke her with a lack of vision.

Once Xiao Chong got promoted and left, Lin Wanwan believed she would have already elevated Lin Family Manor and the surrounding ten miles into a new gentry force.

By that time, if a new County Magistrate came without sufficient background, they wouldn’t dare mess with them.

When taking the ship, Hua Nong informed the other party they intended to pay with pepper, and Lu Ping readily agreed.

Pepper in those years wasn’t easy to get. Every time merchants from the Western Regions came, they couldn’t bring much, making it one of those commodities that couldn’t be bought even with money.

Even during the Song Dynasty, Guangzhou only had to pay tribute of fifty pounds of pepper to the court. Later, the Emperor thought this burden was too heavy and reduced it to twenty pounds.

The Prime Minister of the Great Tang, Yuan Zai, embezzled 800 piculs of pepper (equivalent to 64 tons), which directly shocked the Emperor’s understanding of wealth as the Emperor couldn’t even obtain so much pepper himself!

Angry, the Emperor even dug up the Yuan Family’s ancestral grave and killed all their descendants.

It shows how for everyone in the Great Tang, pepper was equivalent to what RMB means to modern people, something that nobody could resist!

With this batch of pepper, Lu Ping would definitely receive praise from his master, why wouldn’t he be willing?

Lin Wanwan exchanged thirty-five pounds of pepper for a large ship, feeling very pleased. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Both the buyers and sellers felt they profited, making this deal a great success.

When everything was going smoothly, they encountered obstacles while trying to move goods onto the ship.

A group of hooligan thugs blocked the warehouse door, extorting a fee of twenty bolts of silk and twenty pounds of pepper from Lin Wanwan for clearing the way.

The leader of the thugs was Fu Ergou, known in the docks as Master Fu Er.

Even though Lin Wanwan was a Secondary Fifth Rank Village Lady, they wouldn’t dare provoke her, was not the case here.

Lin Wanwan only traveled with a Kun Lun and a Hua Nong, with no retinue to speak of.

Although Kun Lun had learned some martial arts moves following the muscular man from Xiao Yixun’s family, his large build could still intimidate many, but Hua Nong was completely a mere presence.

Among noble ladies in the Great Tang, none had less of a retinue than Lin Wanwan, the Village Lady of Le’an.

Without a troupe of servants announcing her arrival, who would care for a Village Lady without real power?

An official without power is just a mascot, let alone a nominal Village Lady who couldn’t even contend with local gentry as a County Magistrate.

Moreover, Lin Wanwan, the Village Lady of Le’an, wasn’t local, just a passing deity.

Although there were government enforcers maintaining order at the docks, Hua Nong quietly told Lin Wanwan that just a few days ago at the guesthouse hall, she had seen with her own eyes the enforcers managing the docks drinking and making merry with these thugs blocking the door.

Such things are actually quite normal and have existed throughout history, so Lin Wanwan wasn’t surprised.

Given Lin Wanwan’s financial strength, she really didn’t care about this bit of extorted money. Twenty bolts of silk and twenty pounds of pepper were plenty in her warehouse.

In the Great Tang, a bolt had some difference compared to a modern one, albeit not large, and twenty bolts of silk was approximately equivalent to twenty bolts of modern satin; however, the pound was indeed different, with the Great Tang using a hexadecimal system, where a pound was sixteen ounces, meaning twenty pounds of pepper was equivalent to thirty-two pounds of modern pepper.

In the Great Tang, this was a considerable sum of money, equivalent to the value of more than half a new ship, yet what Lin Wanwan bought from the modern era cost so little.

But, why should she?

Having reached the Secondary Fifth Rank, she could still be manipulated by a dock thug?

The porters actually advised, saying this was the dock’s rule. There were no miscellaneous taxes imposed by the government, nor any broker’s fees, just paying a small sum to the local bullies was really negligible.

Paying for peace was the priority, ensuring the smooth transition of goods from warehouse to ship.

Moreover, it was subtly hinted that this was essentially the docking fee paid by passing ships to the dock. Although the request was quite harsh this time, it was because Lin Wanwan’s wealth was revealed.

Through the broker, Hua Nong intercepted a new ship from the Lu Family’s fleet at a price much higher than the market rate, which had spread across both the black and white worlds over the past couple of days.

"Lady, tell your mistress not to go against Fu Er. If you don’t give him this money, your ship’s cargo will likely have difficulty returning to Mao County smoothly." One porter whispered to Hua Nong.

In truth, Hua Nong had the same thought. The situation was beyond their control; those living by the sea were generally not kind because the sea could truly bury any crime.

How noble her mistress was! It wasn’t worth getting into a conflict with dock thugs over such trivial matters, potentially placing herself in danger.

"Mistress, maybe we should pay them first and file a heavy complaint with the government once we’re back at Lin Family Manor?"

Lin Wanwan shook her head; she didn’t want to yield.

The primary reason being that the good-hearted are bullied. Considering the wealth she displayed, if she gave in, there’d be no way beyond returning safely to Mao County.

How could sharks that smelled blood not gather around?

Lin Wanwan whispered a few words into Hua Nong’s ear and then let her take her Jade Token and quietly retreat.

Here, Hua Nong could only become a burden to Lin Wanwan; it was better to let her go and gather reinforcements amidst the chaos.

Lin Wanwan instructed Hua Nong, then made a gesture for Kun Lun to take action.

Sure enough, Kun Lun charged into the thugs without another word, wreaking havoc.

With a robust figure and tremendous strength, having learned a few martial arts moves from the muscular man from Xiao Yixun, his attacks were relentless, far beyond what the sickly and weak dock thugs could compare to.

But however, the opponents were numerous. As the saying goes, "two fists are no match for four legs." With Kun Lun alone charging into the gang, wishing to make the thugs know their place was impossible, at most it resulted in chaos.

Hua Nong took advantage of the ruckus, mounting her horse, and charged through the crowd, breaking free.