Commander Chen's speech about the "Piracy Suppression Silver" was hardly enough to convince these shrewd merchants.
Their usual taxes were already heavy, and the loss of their goods to the bandits was a devastating blow. Now, not only had the Government Office failed to immediately dispatch troops to suppress the bandits and recover their losses, but it was demanding they pay extra. This was tantamount to treating them like gullible fools, easy to exploit.
For a moment, the hall erupted in discussion, an undercurrent of discontent surging through the crowd.
They didn't dare to openly defy the officials, so they could only voice their objections, some subtly and some more directly. Many turned their hopeful gazes to the elders of the Gao, Huang, and Yang Families, praying that these influential figures, who truly held sway over the affairs of Changshan County, would step in, offer a solution, and reverse the situation.
