Fenghou

"Only one, about five hundred shi."

The official ship is actually a passenger ship, and it can't transport much. At most, one hundred halite, one hundred bags, five or six hundred shi a day, and three days is nearly [-] shi. The price of salt in the market should indeed drop.

Zhong Huan asked Qin Kuangming who was at the side, "Where did the official ship bring the salt, have you found it?"

Qin Kuangming nodded, "There are more than [-] warehouses in Jiangbei Wharf, and five of them are very suspicious."

"How big is the warehouse?" Zhong Huan asked.

"The warehouse is medium, three thousand stone warehouses!"

There are at least 1 rock salts in that warehouse, and attacking this warehouse is enough to deter Zhang Jun.

Zhong Huan immediately ordered: "Transfer the warship to Junshan immediately, we will enter the Yangtze River overnight, and clean up these bastards tomorrow!"

Chapter 67 Clearance

At noon the next day, an official ship sailed across the Yangtze River as usual, and stopped in front of the pier on the opposite bank. On the opposite bank of the Yangtze River was a small town called Xiangbei Town, which was also under the jurisdiction of Yuezhou.

This Xiangbei town is an important hub for crossing the river. On the other side is Baling County and Dongting Lake. lively.

There are more than a dozen warehouses not far from the pier, five of which are a little more remote, and the gates are usually locked. No one knows what is in the warehouse?

The official ship was admitted to the pier, a little further away from the several ferries. Immediately, more than a dozen people rushed towards the pier pushing their wheelbarrows. Each wheelbarrow contained three or four bags of salt, and they only needed to make three or four trips to fill the boat.

This is a typical way for ants to move houses. They move one hundred fifty or sixty rock salt at a time, five or six times a day.

The first round of [-] bags of salt was loaded onto the boat, and the wheelbarrows went back again. Not long after, they were pushed back full of salt, and began to carry the second batch of salt to the boat, also more than [-] bags.

The person in charge of escorting the boat was Lu Jing, a confidant of Sima Hugong, and he anxiously urged the porter, "Hurry up! Hurry up!"

At this moment, the subordinates shouted behind him: "Lu Zhubo, there is a boat!"

As soon as Lu Jing turned his head, he was scared out of his wits and saw three warships encircling him from three directions, dozens of steps away from the official ships, and then there was a change on the shore, dozens of soldiers rushed over, holding The crossbow shouted: "Don't move at all, or shoot with the crossbow!"

All the salt transporters were stupefied with fright and did not dare to move. The soldiers stepped forward and pushed them down and tied them up behind their backs. The three warships boarded the official ship. Zhong Huan boarded the ship with several soldiers and said with a sneer: "Can't you just wait a few more days? Are you starting to ship private salt in such a hurry?"

When Lu Jing saw Zhong Huan, he knew it was over. This guy didn't leave at all. He forced himself to be calm and said: "General Zhong misunderstood. This is not private salt, this is official salt. I have official salt." Guo Yanyin handed it to Zhong Huan, who took the Yan Yin to look at it, and snorted disdainfully, "This is the Yan Yin from half a year ago, it has been invalidated long ago, and there are twenty stones of salt on it, how many do you have on board?" It’s a hundred stones! How do you explain the extra eighty stones? Besides, the warehouse of Yantiesi is in Jiangling, so what’s the point of going to Jiangbei Town to collect salt?”

Chong Huan waved his hand, "Search for me!"

Two soldiers came forward and held Lu Jing down for a body search. Lu Jing shouted, "I am Bo, the Ninth Rank Master of the State Yamen, you can't do this to me!"

"As an official, smuggling salt will result in the whole family being executed, don't you know?"

Hearing the words 'slash all the doors', Lu Jing's face turned pale in an instant.

"I found it!"

The soldiers found a piece of paper from him. It was a delivery note. It said that the Four Seas Trading Company sent 140 shi of salt, and there were two signatures on it, one of whom was Lu Jing. The evidence is overwhelming.

Lu Jing collapsed to the ground all of a sudden, beheading all over the house!His two ten-year-old and nine-year-old sons, his young daughter, and his gray-haired old mother were shedding tears of remorse. At this moment, Zhong Huan stepped forward and whispered something in his ear, Lu Jing's eyes lit up, "Really?"

Zhong Huan said coldly, "Believe it or not!"

Lu Jing yelled like chicken blood: "I confess, I reported it, it was Hu Gong who did it, and the governor Wang Kuang also had a part!"

"Take him to record a statement!"

The soldiers took him into the ship to write a statement. At this time, a scout led dozens of soldiers and escorted several stewards and guards from the warehouse. Obviously there had been a fight, and the two guards were still carrying hurt.

The scouts stepped forward and saluted: "Report to the commander, all three stewards were arrested, and we killed six of the ten guards and captured four."

"How much salt is there?"

"About seven or eight thousand stones!"

At this time, the chief officer said: "General Zhong, we are the envoys of Zhang Xuanfu. I'm afraid it will be difficult to explain why you detain us!"

Chong Huan sneered and said: "This has nothing to do with me. King Yong will talk to your envoy Xuan Fu, but he actually sold his private salt to Jinghu South Road. Do you think envoy Zhang Xuan Fu will admit it? It must be you. People did it without permission, he is a dignified court official, how could he sell private salt?"

The faces of several stewards became extremely ugly, Zhong Huan's words hit the nail on the head, Zhang Jun would never admit that he was selling private salt.

"Take them down to record statements, and then lock them up!"

Dutou led more than [-] people to take all the prisoners away...

When it was noon, Yang Yuanqing personally led [-] troops and [-] large ships to the north bank of Yuezhou. Zhong Huan sighed, and the formation scared away all the salt dealers.

Helpless, he had no choice but to take people on board, and the big ship sailed mightily towards Baling County.

Hu Gongshen ran towards the state government with one foot shallow and one foot shallow, and when he entered the door, he cried out in a crying voice: "Zhizhou, something is wrong!"

Sitting at the table drinking tea, Wang Kuang was terribly calm, "What are you talking about?"

"Lu Jing... was arrested, and a hundred warships are heading... to the county town to arrest us."

"What happened to Lu Jing and why was he arrested?" Wang Kuang asked calmly.

Hu Gong was stunned for a moment, his eyes widened and he said, "We sell private salt together, don't you want to admit it?"

"Damn!"

Wang Kuang slammed the table and said angrily, "Who sold you illegal salt? My majestic governor of a state sells illegal salt? You dare to spit on me, come on! Throw him out."

Hu Gong was so angry that he trembled all over, pointed at Wang Kuang and said, "Okay...okay, you don't admit it now, do you think I have no evidence?"

Several subordinates rushed up and carried Hu Gong to the outside, Hu Gong shouted: "I have your evidence, your son is also a private salt dealer, do you think I don't know?"

"Call me out!"

Hu Gong was taken out, Wang Kuang was upset for a while, and he immediately ordered: "Go back to the mansion!"

Wang Kuang's official residence is just behind the state government office, and he can go back directly from the state government office. He hurried back to the rear residence with a few entourages, met the housekeeper, and asked anxiously, "Where did Erlang go?"

"It seems that I went to Ezhou to deliver the goods early this morning!"

"oops!"

Wang Kuang stomped his feet anxiously, the housekeeper was stunned and said, "Master, what's the matter?"

Wang Kuang quickly said to the steward: "You take 100 taels of silver and rush to Ezhou. You must find Erlang. If you find him, take him to Lin'an. Don't come back. The army is here to inspect the illegal salt, and there may be big troubles."

"I see, I'm going!"

The butler left in a hurry.

Wang Kuang had two sons. The eldest son was studying at Lin'an Taixue, and the second son was taken by his side. I don't know when, his second son also participated in the sale of private salt, and became the largest private salt dealer in Yuezhou.

Wang Kuang himself has no evidence, but his son will implicate him. As long as he sends his son away, no matter how much Hu Gong testifies, he can deny everything.

……

Five thousand troops quickly took control of Baling County. According to Lu Jing's confession, Zhong Huan began to arrest people in the city, mainly the small officials of the state government and private salt dealers.

There is also Sima Hugong and Zhizhou Wang Kuang. The evidence of Hu Gong is conclusive. The private salt documents searched have his signature and signature, but Wang Kuang only testifies and has no conclusive evidence. However, his son participated in the sale of private salt. Based on this, Wang Kuang's black hat couldn't be worn anymore.

But after searching the city for a long time, no sign of Hu Gong was found.

From the messy suitcases and a few pieces of silver left in his house, it was known that Hu Gong had absconded.

On the pier, Qin Kuangming and a few internal guards were monitoring a group of people on board.

Qin Kuangming suddenly saw something strange about a short and fat woman in a red dress. Other women try to stay away from men as much as possible, but this short and fat woman is on the contrary. Where there are many men, she will squeeze there. Confused, the key point is that the package she was carrying was very heavy, and she seemed a little unable to carry it.

Qin Kuangming stepped forward, took her big package with a smile and said, "Sister, let me carry it for you!"

Unexpectedly, when the hand sank, the package fell to the ground. It was too heavy, weighing at least dozens of kilograms, "Dang bang! 'There was a metallic sound, looking through the gap, it was full of white silver ingots.

The woman was caught off guard, and the package was carried over at once. She panicked and turned to run, but Qin Kuangming grabbed her arm and pulled off her scarf, her face was immediately exposed.

The people around burst into laughter. This woman was covered in rouge and powder, her mouth was blood red, but her eyebrows and eyes were clearly that of a man, and her beard hadn't been shaved off in time.

"Let me go!" The pseudo-girl struggled desperately, but unfortunately his voice was also a man's.

Qin Kuangming said coldly, "Don't Hu Sima dress up like this, don't you think it's inappropriate?"

Chapter 68 Shopping

Two days later, the inner guards caught Wang Kuang's second son, Wang Huaiyi, on the river. According to his and Hu Gong's confessions, the evidence of Wang Kuang's participation in the smuggling of salt, the governor of Yuezhou, was convincing. The governor of Yuezhou, together with other criminals, was sent to Jiangling County for detention.

At this time, more than 1000 main forces of Zhonghuan returned again, and began to carry out a comprehensive suppression of illegal salt in Jiangling Prefecture, Yuezhou, Lizhou, Dingzhou, and Ezhou. There are 13 salt shops, and the private wealth of Wang Kuang and Hu Gong alone is worth nearly 75 guan, and other salt dealers and salt shops have also confiscated more than 30 guan of wealth.

Why is the wealth of private salt seized in the five northern states far inferior to that of Zhang Tai?This is mainly a matter of time and scope. Officials have been involved in salt smuggling for a short period of time, only three years, and the scope is limited to one prefecture and four states.

Prior to this, it was occupied by Zhang Tai's private salt, and it was later squeezed out of the north by Zhang Jun's private salt forces.

Zhang Tai is different. He has been selling private salt for 20 years, occupying the entire Jiangnan West Road market, and later entered Jingnan South Road. Even before Zhang Jun raised his army with salt, the Jingxiang area was also Zhang Tai's territory.

Although he did not make much money, the severe punishment he received was the same. All salt dealers, including Wang Huaiyi, ransacked and killed all the salt shop owners, and the officials who participated in the illegal salt sale were also killed. Hu Gong, they need to be escorted to Jingzhao, but they can't escape death. Although Lu Jing is one of the main culprits, he has made meritorious prosecution and escaped the fate of being ransacked. Lu Jing was killed and his family property was confiscated, but The family survived.

Afterwards, Chen Qing returned the three chief executives and several subordinates to Zhang Jun, but they were publicly executed by Zhang Jun for the crime of selling private salt. Zhang Jun denied that he was selling private salt. If they are found out, they will be punished severely. How could the dignified Huaixi Xuanfu envoy sell illegal salt?

The extermination of private salt this time is over. When Zhang Tai’s wealth is transported to Jingzhao, the imperial court will make a one-time profit of 500 million guan, and the annual salt tax will increase by one million guan. Only then did the balance finally come down.

This time the hero is undoubtedly Chong Huan. Chen Qing specially signed the order of King Yong, making an exception to promote Zhong Huan to the commander, Deng Jinshan to the commander, and the rest of the generals above the head of the capital were all promoted to a higher level, rewarded with 20 guan, and clothed [-] horses. , to reward this army that has made great contributions to the inspection of private salt.

……

Time flies to mid-November, the first heavy snowfall of this year, Jingzhao City has become heavily makeup, every household is covered in heavy snow, on the streets, tens of thousands of troops use shovels to remove snow, tens of thousands of people also walked out of their homes , Cooperate with the army to remove snow.

There should be no snow on the street, otherwise pedestrians and carts will turn into a piece of mud after passing by. Once it freezes, it will be difficult for everyone to move, so the snow must be removed in time.

After entering the winter, the demand for cold protection and warmth has increased sharply. The transactions on the Jingzhao Market are extremely hot. Of course, not only Jingzhao, but also the entire Shaanxi Road, Hedong Road, Sichuan Road, Henan Road, Lingxia Road, Xihe Road, and Jingnan South Road. Tens of millions of people in the road, Hexi area, etc. have the need for cold protection.

It’s just that Jingzhao is a trading center. Merchants from all over the country came to buy goods, and the demand for silver soared. The Finance and Taxation Department of Prince Yong’s Mansion once offered a million taels of silver to the merchants for exchange the year before, but they were all exchanged within three days. All of the silver was collected and not circulated in the market.

Forced the Department of Finance and Taxation to implement bills, which were promoted by Sichuan-Shaanxi No. [-] Cabinet and Baoji Cabinet. This kind of bill is actually very effective, such as saving money in Taiyuan and withdrawing money from Jingzhao, or depositing money in Chengdu and withdrawing money from Jingzhao; The business of depositing and withdrawing money in different places became relatively mature during the Tianbao period of the mid-Tang Dynasty, and it was called Feiqian at that time.

After depositing [-] coins in Taiyuan Sichuan-Shanxi No. [-] Cabinet Shop, merchants can bring a batch of Taiyuan specialties to Jingzhao. Go to Jingzhao.

When the businessman arrives in Jingzhao, he first confirms that he can withdraw money, then sells the goods, buys a batch of warm sheepskin or cashmere, and then withdraws money from Jingzhao's Sichuan-Shaanxi No. [-] cabinet for payment.

This is very convenient, and it can also transport an additional batch of goods and do more business.

As for the banknote meeting, Chen Qing didn't want to implement it for the time being, as it could easily be imitated by Jin Guo or the court.

In the morning, Chen Qing took an ordinary carriage to Dongda Street. Unlike Bianliang in the Northern Song Dynasty, there were many carriages on Jingzhao Street, and they were basically old horses. They were docile, easy to control, and fast. Jingzhao, where the streets are wider, is used, and the rich families basically have a carriage, most of which are drawn by two horses.

There are also many horse-drawn carriages, which are basically rented carriages. They run on the street and stop whenever they are called. The carriages are spacious and much more comfortable than slow-moving ox carts. A large number of old war horses were eliminated, of course, Jingzhao City was given priority to supply, so that Jingzhao City had many horse-drawn carriages.

Chen Qing's carriage stopped in front of a big shop specializing in all kinds of filling and heating materials. This big shop is a government-run shop and belongs to the Commerce and Trade Department under the Left Secretary of Government Affairs.

The name of this store is Junuange, and the brand is still inscribed by Chen Qing. There is a bronze plaque next to it, with the words 'Official Store' written on it, and on the left it says that it specializes in all kinds of fur, cotton and linen.

Chen Qing walked into the lobby and found that there were quite a lot of customers, all of whom were carefully selecting the goods. There were four rows of long tables in the lobby, and the tables were all covered with small baskets. The baskets contained various samples, and the furnishings of large stores were basically like this. The format is mainly based on samples.

The four rows of tables are divided into categories, such as wool, which contains various wool, cashmere, camel hair, etc., with different grades and different prices. There are more than 20 kinds of this item alone.

Then there is poultry down, mainly duck down and goose down. Some poor people use feathers to dry as bedding and pillow fillings, which are very low-end items and will not be sold in this store.

The third row is fur, all kinds of fur, sheepskin, deerskin, rabbit skin, fox fur, among which sheepskin is the most, and there are more than a dozen types of sheepskin alone.

The fourth and fifth rows are plant fillers. There are many types, mainly fine linen, multi-layer fine linen, which is currently the most used by civilians. Common people will buy multi-layer fine linen when making winter clothes at home, and then close them. It is tightly sewn inside the underwear, and four or five pieces of clothes are put on outside, which looks very bloated. Poor people spend the winter like this, and they wear all the clothes they can wear to keep warm.

The best sellers are sheepskin and cashmere, and the long table here is crowded with merchants.

At this time, the shopkeeper quietly came to Chen Qing's side, "Your Highness, please go inside to talk!"

Chen Qing smiled, and followed the shopkeeper to the inner room. When he reached the innermost row of tables, Chen Qing stopped again. He saw the cotton, wood cotton and straw cotton in the basket.

He went forward and twirled grass cotton, which was short-staple cotton and could not be spun into cloth. It was the best stuffing material for bedding and cotton clothes, but he wanted to plant a large amount of long-staple cotton in Lingxia Road and Hexi Corridor. Where does the linter come from?

Chen Qing frowned slightly, and asked the shopkeeper, "Where does this grass cotton come from?"

"It was produced in Liangzhou, and 20 catties were shipped in. It seems that the seeds used for planting are wrong, so this batch will be replaced next year."

Hearing this news, Chen Qing felt annoyed. Needless to say, this was a major liability accident. The wrong seeds were actually used, and they were not reported.

It's not that mistakes are not allowed, the key is to conceal this, which makes Chen Qing very dissatisfied.

Chapter 69 Cotton expensive

When he came to the guest room and sat down, Chen Qing smiled at the shopkeeper, "Is the store busy every day?"

The shopkeeper nodded, "They are all businessmen from all over the world, and they purchase a lot. If we hadn't stocked up enough, we really wouldn't be able to supply them."

"How much can you earn in one winter?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, I can make a net profit of [-] guan in one winter."

Chen Qing was taken aback, "Are there so many?"