Xue Panzhi's gossip red mansion

"Third brother, it's not my brother who said that although you are busy with the affairs of the Ministry of Punishment, you should also take a good rest." When the court was leaving early in the morning, the crown prince met Xie Chang outside the hall. His expression was not very good, obviously Haven't slept well for several nights.

"Thank you for your concern, Brother Prince. My brother must be paying attention. The recent reform of the tea law has kept everyone busy day and night. The Ministry of Criminal Justice is in control of large and small cases. It is a busy time, and there is no way around it." Xie Chang thought that the prince showed a smile of gratitude for his concern, but turned his attention to the tea method.

In the court hall of Daqing, the most lively thing these days was the reform of the tea law.As we all know, in this land of Daqing, there has been a habit of drinking tea from a very early age, and later it has developed a charm and style. For this reason, there is also the emergence of tea poetry.At the time of Daqing, this kind of charm has begun to spread all over Kyushu, and it has been spread overseas for many years.The reform of the tea system was said to have started in the previous dynasty, but just this month, the emperor issued an edict to change the tea industry from official management to private participation, which caused a thousand waves of waves However, the tea merchants in the north and south of the river are also happy and sad.

"You're right. My father has been worrying about this matter recently. As sons, we must share our worries." Hearing Xie Chang's words, the crown prince also echoed with a smile, "Third brother's prison But a lot of people have been admitted. I have also heard of the case of those who evaded taxes in the past and killed people because of a tea mountain enclosure. If it weren’t for this thorough investigation, I would have never thought of it. There are so many things in things?"

"Who says it's not? If you say it's a businessman seeking profit, the government should monitor it carefully." Xie Chang was sent to the Ministry of Criminal Justice by the Holy Lord. The first difficult thing he received was the case related to the tea law, but It's very annoying.

To talk about this reform from government to civilian, the first thing to check is whether you have the qualifications and whether you have violated laws and regulations in the past business, and then you can get approval to engage in this tea business after review. industry.There is still a certain difference from the previous business that was affiliated with the government, that is, there are much fewer restrictions on the surface now, and the key is to allow and make private tea merchants bigger.

However, such a thing is tantamount to opening up a market, allowing free competition to emerge. In just a few months, many small tea shops have been annexed by large ones, because the big tea shops Controlling the vertically integrated commercial channels such as stores and sources of goods.

Therefore, under such circumstances, all kinds of conflicts erupted, ranging from unfair competition between several stores to murders due to the acquisition of the entire supply of goods.The sentencing is also in the trial operation period, and Xie Chang is really too busy. Although he is not in charge of the criminal department, how can he, a prince, escape such troubles? One is here to plead, and the other is to reason .At this time, Xie Chang became envious of Xie who was before this. Originally, when Xie was in the Ministry of Criminal Justice, because he had a cold face and a personality that was not easy to get close to, and there were no such troubles, he made the Ministry of Criminal Justice feel better. The day was quiet for a while.

Speaking of which, Xie Chang didn't understand why his father asked Xie to leave the capital and leave the center of power, but now he couldn't allow him to think too much, because the servant of the Ministry of Punishment was already waiting at the gate of the palace. "Third Lord, something happened again. This time it's a major event. The news from Fujian just passed on, because after the power of private management was released, their business there was taken away by the Jiangnan side. You also know that there is Because there are a lot of famous teas in Jiangnan, there are many good teas in the first place. The tea shops in Jiangnan are integrated into one, and they want to raise prices for exports from Fujian and Guangdong."

Hearing the servant's words, Xie Chang was a little unclear about how this had anything to do with the Ministry of Punishment. If he wanted to report it, he should report it to the Ministry of Household Affairs. "Lord Liao, does this have anything to do with our Ministry of Punishment?"

"Third Master, it was originally irrelevant, but who made the murder case happen? The book I just received, because the tea merchants in Jiangnan raised their prices, and the tea shops in Fujian and Canton not far away gave up these profits. On the other hand, it was frozen. Who knew that during a tea collection recently, a life lawsuit broke out in a shop on the other side of Jianning, claiming that several people were poisoned to death by drinking Longjing from Hangzhou Mingxiangfang, and ten more A few of them stayed in the medical center. The Jianning side said that there was a problem with the tea making at the Hangzhou side, so they stopped buying their goods, and the Hangzhou side said that when Jianning sold it, they were given by their opponents. Damn. Things are still in a stalemate."

Xie Chang glanced at Liao Shilang, and both of them shook their heads. No matter whose problem it is, there is no escape.At this time, this memorial was also submitted to the imperial case, and the emperor summoned several ministers to discuss this matter. "Let's talk about it, what do you all think? This tea reform has been troublesome not long after it started, and now it has caused things to be involved between the two provinces."

"Your Majesty, I feel that we still need to take a long-term view. This incident happened in Fujian. Since the source was found in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, both of them cannot escape. Now the first thing to do is to find out who the poison in the tea is." The top priority is to figure out what's going on." The Secretary of the Ministry of Justice is no stranger to these cases of businessmen fighting for profits, and it's not unusual for this dead man to speak harshly.

"This has to be investigated. Tell me what to do after this. If the two sides fail to reach a price, this kind of thing will not end." The emperor looked at Hubu Shangshu, "Zhaoping, what do you say?" Do you have any good suggestions, how can the tea market be stabilized."

The named Mu Shangshu is from Ningdu, Jiangxi, which is close to Fujian. "I thought that the reform of the tea law would inevitably lead to chaos for a period of time, and the court wanted to control the overall situation. Speaking of Daqing's tea area, it is not just Lianghuai and Jiangnan, but at present everyone only Concerned about it, or because of business with Westerners trouble.

Unlike Lianghuai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, for example, most of the tea in Sichuan and Southwest China has been drunk by ourselves, and it is inconvenient to traffic it out due to the high mountains and dangerous roads.But here in the south, the reason for the prosperity of the tea industry is that it has a lot of trade in the sea, which is trafficked to the East and the West. The profits are huge, but it must pass through the trading ports of Fujian and Guangdong. In the word of profit, bargaining is certain.

To talk about the stability of the entire tea market, in my humble opinion, from ancient times to the present, it is still necessary to expand the entire tea market.It would be nice to say that Fujian and Canton have their own famous teas.In this way, the source of famous tea does not need to be controlled in Lianghuai and Jiangnan, and other places can be equally divided. "

The emperor nodded after hearing this. Although this matter is clearly not urgent, it is also very tricky. There must be a solution immediately. The next letter was sent to Song Quan in Fujian, asking him to come up with a feasible solution. way.

***

Xue Pan and Xun on the other end also caught up with the tea reform turmoil, and they happened to be in Xue's shop in Jianning Mansion.However, these teahouses have lost the bustle of the weekdays, and they are all empty. Everyone seems to be afraid of drinking poisonous tea.

"If you want to say it, I don't know why we have good tea here. Why are the high-priced teas that are sold come from Jianghuai."

"Who says it's not? I usually just drink it fresh. The ones in Anxi Mountain are really good, but there are still people who look at the rare things that go out to the sea, so they fold themselves in. It's really a crime. .”

"Don't tell me, it's not just rumors. This matter is caused by our local snakes not allowing Jianghuai tea to be sold at such a high price. If there is such a murder case, how dare everyone drink it? Just buy some from the shop on the hill behind my house."

Licorice listened to people whispering outside the medical hall, and after roughly understanding the ins and outs of the matter, she went back and reported to Xue Pan. The entire Jianning City was frightened by the tea poisoning, and she didn't know how long she would have to be worried. .

"Master, this is really a disaster without reason. I have inquired about it. The poisoned guests all started to vomit and have diarrhea after drinking the batch of Longjing from West Lake. Two of them died on the spot. , everyone is panic these few days, and even the business of the various tea shops has dropped a lot, so they dare to drink it only after finding out that it was the black-hearted person who poisoned the tea?"

Xue Pan looked at the related letters sent, and there was Song Quan in it, so he asked himself to stay in Jianning, and he will rush to Jianning to find out this matter soon.Just as he was thinking, Xie entered the door. When something like this happened, the emperor sent a secret decree to Xie, asking him to assist in the investigation of the tea case. "Fifth brother, what's the news?"

Xie frowned and shook his head, "There is no latest progress yet, all the tea leaves from this tea store have been handed in, and the magistrate has ordered to open the boxes one by one to check carefully to see if there are any problems, or just that one. There is a problem with the approval. But the team that escorted the tea is also detained, and is waiting for the inspection results of the tea-making land in the south of the Yangtze River."

"The master said that he was going to Jianning these two days. Even if we found out which party did it, it was still not settled. The key problem is that in Fujian, there is no famous tea of ​​his own. All of them come from In the south of the Yangtze River and the north of the Yangtze River, such an imbalance is not a solution.” Xue Pan knew that after the tea market opened, if the tea source did not expand, there would always be successive problems. As long as it is long enough.

"Calpin, I'm afraid that the interests of a tea company are not hurt here, and you know that the tea merchants in the south of the Yangtze River have the shadow of the capital behind them, and there is a lot of support behind them in Fujian. I’m seriously injured, and I don’t know who released the news, as long as the tea leaves from Jianghuai can’t escape the word poison, I don’t know what’s mixed in during this long journey. This is really nonsense!”

What Xun said was getting colder and colder. He was really angry about using whatever means to benefit and hurt people's lives.

Xue Pan knew that the first step must be to find out who did it, but later, it will take a while. Isn't the interests of the whole Fujian being redistributed.