Chapter 220 Does Jin Yiwei need a reason to arrest someone?
Hu Xi was sitting with Su Xiang talking in a low voice at this time, and would only look up when someone came in.
Of course, as two people, except for a few people, they don't have to get up to greet them in person. It's more likely that people who come take the initiative to say hello to them.
It was just a matter of time over a cup of tea, but already more than a dozen wealthy businessmen from Xi'an Prefecture City had gathered in this restaurant.
These wealthy businessmen are usually considered to be the top tycoons in Xi'an Fucheng. They each have support behind them. Even many officials have to be careful when meeting these people.
To be able to bring these people together this time, to be honest, no one in Xi'an Mansion has such ability.
After all, even the chief envoy who is the top leader cannot always stick to his word. In the officialdom, there are many officials who do not sell the chief envoy's face.
Therefore, given Li Huan's status as an imperial envoy, no matter what these wealthy businessmen thought, no one dared to ignore Li Huan's invitation.
Of course, after coming back, I don’t know what these people are thinking.
At this moment, I heard a voice coming from the door of Tianfang Tower: "The imperial envoy has arrived!"
Hearing this sound, there was a crash, and all the wealthy businessmen who were sitting there stood up and looked towards the door.
Then I saw a figure appear in my sight, who could it be if it wasn't Li Huan.
Li Huan was not wearing an official uniform, but a black uniform. However, the black clothes worn on Li Huan made Li Huan look quite heroic and noble.
Even if they didn't know the identity of the imperial envoy Li Huan, few people dared to underestimate Li Huan just by looking at the temperament he exuded.
Hu Xi, Wei Kun, and Su Xiang's eyes lit up when they saw Li Huan. Although they had seen Li Huan from a distance before, this was really their first time meeting face to face.
Led by a few people, a group of people quickly stepped forward and bowed respectfully to Li Huan, saying: "The common people are waiting to pay their respects to you, Your Excellency."
There was a faint smile on Li Huan's face, his eyes swept over the people, he nodded slightly and said with a smile: "You don't have to be polite, you can come here this time, it is to give me face."
Seeing how polite Li Huan was, no one dared to say anything.
Li Huan sat at the front seat, and then said to everyone: "Everyone, please sit down and talk."
If many people were a little nervous originally, then with the arrival of Li Huan and the kind attitude he showed, many people were secretly relieved.
It seems that the rumors they heard about Li Huan are just rumors. The rumors are really unbelievable. Who said that Li Huan is unkind and murderous? If this is true, who can explain to them? The man in front of them looks like
Who is this young man who doesn't seem so unkind?
Hu Xi chuckled softly, cupped his hands towards Li Huan and said, "I didn't expect that the common people would be so valued by the Imperial Envoy. He specially invited us to come here. This is an honor for us. I specially prepared some small gifts, and I hope you will accept them."
Wei Kun, Su Xiang and others also nodded with smiles and said: "The imperial envoy has come all the way. I hope you like your thoughts."
Li Huan raised his eyebrows. To be honest, he really didn't know about this.
At the same time, Qian Ning came over with a gift list and respectfully presented it to Li Huan: "Sir, this is the gift list."
Li Huan took the gift list, glanced over it, and looked at the gifts given to Li Huan by these wealthy merchants recorded on the gift list, and he couldn't help but be amazed in his heart.
He could only sigh that these people really had such big arms. If they didn't take action, they would rush to knock people down when they did.
There are rare treasures worth tens of thousands of taels, and there are even real gold and silver. A simple estimate of this gift list is probably hundreds of thousands of taels.
When Li Huan was looking at the gift list, Su Xiang, Wei Kun, Hu Xi and others were also secretly observing Li Huan's reaction.
They had communicated with each other before, so they naturally knew what gifts each family had given Li Huan. Therefore, although they did not know the gifts given by everyone, they could estimate some of them.
A gift worth hundreds of thousands, they wanted to see what Li Huan's reaction would be.
You must know that the inspection censor Feng Qin and a group of officials from the third division sent by the imperial court previously spent only hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to settle the matter.
Now this imperial envoy may have an unusual status, but facing so much gold and silver wealth, he should be content with it.
It's a pity that Li Huan's face was calm, so they couldn't see what Li Huan was thinking.
Just when these people were secretly guessing Li Huan's thoughts, Li Huan raised his head, handed the gift list to Qian Ning and said: "I ordered you to put everything away."
Qian Ning put away the gift list and stepped back. At this moment, Li Huan looked at everyone with a smile on his face and said, "Li is really well-deserved for such a generous gift from everyone."
Hearing what Li Huan said, everyone was very happy, which meant that Li Huan had taken possession of the thing.
As the saying goes, eaters have short mouths and takers have short hands. If Li Huan really didn't accept what they sent, then they would definitely feel uneasy.
But now that Li Huan has accepted the gifts they sent, doesn't it mean that everyone will be one of their own from now on?
Thinking of this, Su Xiang couldn't hide the smile on his face and said: "I wonder if the Imperial Envoy has summoned us this time, but do you have any instructions?"
That said, but in the minds of Su Xiang and others, the reason why Li Huan, the new imperial envoy, summoned them here was obviously to get some money from them. After all, they had seen this kind of thing over the years.
too much.
Just like every time when a high-ranking official such as the chief envoy or the inspector-general of Shaanxi takes office, he usually invites them to meet him in private.
It is said that it is to appease local powerful people and understand people's livelihood, but everyone knows what the real purpose is.
The newly appointed officials took the opportunity to receive gifts, and they, the wealthy gentry, also took the opportunity to give gifts to leave a good impression in front of these high-ranking officials. Everyone took what they needed.
So just by looking at Su Xiang's nonchalant look, we knew that Su Xiang thought Li Huan had summoned them for the same purpose as those officials.
Li Huan's expression became serious when he heard this, and he slowly said: "I have called you here today, and I really have something to discuss with you."
Many people were stunned when they heard this and looked at Li Huan subconsciously.
But at this moment, Li Huan's face was serious, his expression was very solemn, and he had a bit of power, so that Hu Xi, Su Xiang and others seemed to be infected by Li Huan, and their expressions became serious.
I don't know why, but looking at Li Huan's solemn look, some people felt a little bad in their hearts.
Wei Kun, Su Xiang, Hu Xi and others looked at each other, and then saw Wei Kun cupping his hands and saying: "If you have any orders, please tell me directly. If the common people can do it, they will definitely do their best."
Li Huan picked up the tea, took a sip of tea, glanced at everyone lightly and said: "Everyone, Li looked at the price of food, salt and other materials in the city, which has almost increased several times compared with normal times, especially salt.
Grain is related to people's livelihood. Prices in the city are so high, but it is suspected of driving up prices and disrupting people's livelihood..."
Everyone's expressions changed greatly after hearing this. Wei Kun took a deep breath and said to Li Huan with a look of grievance on his face: "My lord, you have been wronged. The common people cannot afford to be charged with driving up prices and disrupting people's livelihood."
Su Xiang, Hu Xi and others frowned even more.
Li Huan looked at the crowd calmly without saying a word, but Su Xiang coughed lightly and said to Li Huan: "Sir, there was a disaster in Shaanxi, and food was in short supply. The supply exceeded demand and the price of food skyrocketed. This is human nature, not mine.
Waiting for price gouging."
"Yes, yes, please be careful, sir."
All the wealthy businessmen looked at Li Huan with extremely aggrieved eyes.
Just like Hu Xi said to Li Huan at this moment: "If we hadn't worked hard to maintain the food supply in the city, I'm afraid countless people in the city would have starved to death. Your Excellency, it really chills my heart to be loyal to the country.
Heart."
Li Huan couldn't help laughing when he heard this.
Seeing Li Huan laughing, Hu Xi showed a bit of panic and nervousness on his face, but Li Huan could see clearly that the eyes of these people were extremely calm, and there was no panic at all.
Think about it, there are intrigues in the shopping mall, and if you can become a wealthy businessman, how can you be frightened by Li Huan's few words?
Even if Li Huan is an imperial envoy, it doesn't matter. Qianglong still can't overpower the local gangsters, and they are the local gangsters in Xi'an Prefecture.
To be honest, most people really don't have much respect for Li Huan.
Besides, it’s not like they have no backers, right? Not to mention that many officials in the Shaanxi officialdom are friendly with them, even in the court, they don’t have no backers either.
If you don’t have some background support, do you really think you can maintain your multi-million family fortune?
As Li Huan's laughter stopped, although there was still a smile on Li Huan's face, that smile gave people an unkind connotation in the eyes of everyone.
Li Huan was heard to speak slowly: "You are a role model for all walks of life in Xi'an Prefecture, so I hope that you can take the lead in lowering prices and assist the court in stabilizing prices, so as to calm the people's minds."
After speaking, Li Huan said again: "If you can help the court to stabilize prices and stabilize people's hearts, I will definitely report it to the emperor and let heaven hear it."
Everyone's expressions changed after hearing this.
At this moment, Li Huan stood up and strode towards the entrance of Tianfang Tower.
Everyone noticed Li Huan's actions and couldn't help being stunned. They looked at Li Huan in astonishment. Didn't they invite them to a banquet? They didn't even see the food and wine. Li Huan was about to leave. What did this mean?
Thinking of Li Huan's words just now, which were vaguely threatening to them, Hu Xi, Su Xiang, and Wei Kun looked at Li Huan's back, and their eyes became sharper.
When he reached the door, Li Huan suddenly stopped and looked back at everyone and said, "I hope you won't disappoint me!"
As Li Huan left, he soon saw a group of royal guards guarding the door following Li Huan. In the blink of an eye, only the wealthy gentry invited by Li Huan were left in the Sifang Building.
The hall was quiet, and suddenly a bang was heard, and a wealthy gentleman slapped the table, snorted coldly: "What does this mean? Threatening us, why don't you do it to us?"
An ultimatum."
Several people looked over, and the person who spoke was Liao Rong, the elder of the Liao family. Because of their relationship with the Prince of Qin's Palace, the Liao family was involved in all aspects of Xi'an's industry. Whether it was food, salt, tea and other industries, they could not compete with Su Xiang.
, compared to people like Wei Kun.
But no one in the room would underestimate the other person.
They have the backing of Prince Qin's Mansion and a backer stronger than anyone else. In just over ten years, the small Liao family has grown into a behemoth.
Others may be concerned about Li Huan's identity, but Liao Rong is not afraid at all. The Liao family came here to give Li Huan face as an imperial envoy. At the same time, they also came with the idea that doing more is worse than doing less. Otherwise, they came here. They may not send anyone here yet.
Hu Xi coughed lightly, glanced at Liao Rong and said: "Brother Liao, the intention of the imperial envoy just now is very clear. He just hopes that we can lower the prices of food, salt and other materials related to people's livelihood..."
Liao Rong said immediately: "Fart, he will suppress him as he says. If he says a word, we will get tens of millions of taels of benefits. Who does he think he is? Let alone a mere imperial envoy of his, even if he is the emperor."
Now that we are here, we will set the price accordingly."
Liao Rong said with a sneer: "Grain, salt and other materials are in our hands. We can raise prices however we want. Who does he have to dictate?"
"That's good. Brother Liao's words are reasonable. Anyway, I, Jiang Zhengye, have left my words here. Unless Jiang is dead and the King of Heaven comes, don't even think of me lowering the price."
A wealthy man in his forties shouted with excitement on his face.
"Yes, we don't steal or rob, so why should he ask us to lower prices? What's wrong with the high prices? It's none of our business if the people in the city can't afford salt and grain. If they don't have money, they'll just starve to death. Don't even think about asking us to lower prices!
"
Suddenly, the public sentiment was fierce, and almost everyone had the same attitude, that is, they would not lower the price until death.
Soon everyone's eyes turned to Su Xiang, Wei Kun, and Hu Xi.
Su Xiang and others jointly control almost half of the salt and grain supply in Fucheng, Xi'an. As long as they are willing, they can raise the price of grain and salt in Fucheng at any time.
In addition, Su Xiang and the others were vaguely their leaders, so everyone looked at Su Xiang and the others just to see what their attitude was.
Su Xiang and others looked at each other.
I saw Wei Kun stroking his beard and standing up with a serious face. There was a faint evil spirit on his body and said: "What you all said is true. Our food, salt, tea and other supplies are not brought by strong winds. Why should he?"
If Li Huan wants us to lower prices, we must listen to him. If he dares to influence us to make money, then he is our enemy."
How can Wei Kun, who almost monopolizes most of the salt supply in Shaanxi, be an easy person? As a big salt merchant, Wei Kun has thousands of thugs under his command, and his hands are contaminated with salt.
I'm afraid there were dozens or hundreds of lives lost.
Not only Wei Kun, a big salt merchant, but also Su Xiang and Hu Xi were involved in large-scale grain transactions. Which of his subordinates didn't cultivate a group of desperadoes?
When Jiang Zhengye heard this, his face showed a bit of joy and he cupped his hands towards Wei Kun and said: "Master Wei, tell us what we should do, everyone will listen to you."
As he spoke, Jiang Zhengye's eyes flashed with murderous intent, and he lowered his voice and said, "How about you send someone to kill that bullshit imperial envoy?"
Many people's eyes flashed brightly when they heard this. This idea sounded good.
They sent someone to kill Li Huan quietly. With their connections and contacts, they could easily handle the situation with the government, and then their death would be passed on to the refugees.
With a slight cough, Wei Kun glanced at everyone and said: "Everyone, after all, he is the emperor's imperial envoy. Even for the sake of you adults, it's not good for us to kill the imperial envoy like this. Let's take a look first. Let's take a look first before talking.
.”
Liao Rong glanced at Wei Kun and sneered: "Wei Kun, when did you become so cowardly? What about the imperial envoy? As long as you do it without being noticed, there is nothing terrible. It's just killing an official. Don't tell me, you didn't
Killed..."
Wei Kun's face turned cold after hearing Liao Rong's words. He stared at Liao Rong with a sharp look in his eyes and said: "Liao Rong, you have to provide evidence when you speak. Wei has always been law-abiding, but you are blaming someone's innocence out of thin air..."
Liao Rong waved his hand and said: "Okay, since Wei Kun said you should take a look before talking, then let's take a look first."
After saying that, Liao Rong stood up and said: "Everyone, doesn't Li Huan want us to lower the price? Tomorrow my Liao family's grain store will increase the price by a hundred cents per bucket of grain. I want to see what Li Huan can do to me!"
Watching Liao Rong strode away.
Some people couldn't help but sigh with envy and disdain: "The Liao family is so damn advantageous. They have such a big backer such as Prince Qin's Mansion. Over the years, the Liao family has not only sucked blood from Prince Qin's Mansion, but also fought against them."
With the power of Prince Qin's palace expanding rapidly, his stomach is full of fat and his mouth is full of oil..."
At this time, Jiang Zhengye stroked his beard and said: "Everyone, I have decided that after the Liao family increases the price tomorrow, the price of salt sold in the store will also be increased by 10%."
Everyone's eyes lit up when they heard this, and some people clapped their hands and exclaimed: "Okay, as the saying goes, the first bird is shot, and with the Liao family taking the lead, even if Li Huan wants to cause trouble, he will only go to the Liao family. Besides,
Well, Li Huan really thinks that he is just an imperial envoy and can force us to lower our prices with empty words. Who does he think we are? If we don't fight back, he really thinks that we are afraid of him."
"That's right. He should know whose territory this Xi'an Mansion belongs to and who has the final say."
"Hey, it's not that we look down on him, Li Huan. Let's unite together. The life and death of hundreds of thousands of people in Xi'an is not a matter of our words. It really makes us anxious. Everyone closes their shops. It will take three to five days.
Hundreds of thousands of people in Xi'an Prefecture will be short of food and salt."
Stroking his beard, the man's eyes were full of sternness and he said: "Then we will say that it was his imperial envoy Li Huan who forced us to close the store and see how he can withstand the anger of hundreds of thousands of people."
Su Xiang, Wei Kun, Hu Xi and others sat there calmly and calmly, with smiles on their faces.
Wei Kun chuckled and said, "Isn't he just an imperial envoy? The hundreds of thousands of people in Xi'an Prefecture are our biggest support, so there is nothing to worry about."
For a moment, everyone was in a good mood. Even some people were worried that Li Huan would cause trouble for them, but they all felt at ease now.
Yes, they only need one word to start the turmoil in Xi'an. So what if the imperial envoy has really angered hundreds of thousands of people. Without them taking action, the emperor will chop off the imperial envoy's head to calm the people's resentment.
But it was said that Li Huan returned to the Yamen of Jinyiwei Qianhu Office with the gifts from these wealthy merchants.
There were more than a dozen big boxes filled with gold and silver items. They were white and golden, which was really dazzling. Even those Jin Yiwei who followed Li Huan were used to seeing too many gold and silver items. Now they saw
Looking at the belongings in the box, I couldn't help but sigh.
Chen Yao said to Li Huan: "Not to mention, these people are really rich. Any gifts they give are worth tens of thousands."
Qian Ning coughed lightly and said: "What is this? It is said that the big grain merchant Su Xiang directly sent one hundred thousand taels of silver, a separate courtyard, and several top beauties from Jiangnan to the newly appointed chief envoy.
Cheng Tai."
Hearing this, Chen Yao couldn't help but said: "Damn, Cheng Tai is really brave. Sir, when did we go and ransack his house?"
Li Huan glanced at Chen Yao lightly and said, "Where are Guan Zheng, Ren Ping and the others now?"
Seeing Li Huan asking about the news about Guan Zheng and the Zhenwei Camp led by Ren Ping, Chen Yao looked serious and said: "Returning to your lord, there was news not long ago that the two commanders have entered the boundary of Xi'an Prefecture and can reach the city in three days at most.
.”
Li Huan nodded slightly, a smile flashed in his eyes and said: "Do you think Hu Xi, Su Xiang, Wei Kun and others will listen to my words and take the initiative to stabilize food prices?"
Qian Ning immediately shook his head and said: "Absolutely impossible."
Du Guang said calmly: "Businessmen are the most profit-oriented. How is this possible if you want them to give up their immediate interests?"
Chen Yao scratched his head and said: "The way I see it, even if you, the imperial envoy, have spoken, I am afraid that even if you invited the emperor's edict, they would not be able to take the initiative to lower the price."
Li Huan nodded slightly and said, "Yes, it would be normal if they didn't lower the price. It would be weird if they did."
Chen Yao said with some curiosity: "Since you know that they can't lower the price, why do you want to see them today? Isn't this a useless effort?"
Qian Ning, Du Guang, Cao Yu and others also looked at Li Huan with puzzled faces.
They could all see the true nature of those merchants, and Li Huan could obviously see it, but in this case, Li Huan still summoned these wealthy merchants, and it seemed like a waste of effort.
Maybe those merchants are still laughing at Li Huan behind his back at this moment for not overestimating his abilities.
However, they have been following Li Huan for a long time, and they know better than anyone else that Li Huan never targets the target without aim, so this time Li Huan met those wealthy businessmen, he must have his own intentions.
Li Huan chuckled lightly, with a flash of murderous intent in his eyes: "God has the virtue of good people, I just don't want to punish them without teaching, what if some of these people listened to my words and took the initiative to cooperate with the price reduction?
.”
Qian Ning's heart tightened when he heard this, and he felt the aura of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood rushing towards his face. He couldn't help but said: "Sir, we can't just go up and arrest people. We must have evidence."
Hearing this, Li Huan glanced at Qian Ning indifferently, with a slight smile on his lips. He put his hands behind his back and said with a look of aloofness in his eyes: "When did the Jin Yiwei need a reason to take someone?"
Chen Yao's eyes gleamed when he heard this, and he said with great excitement: "Yes, our Jinyi Guards never need a reason to arrest people. We arrest them first and then talk about it."
Qian Ning frowned, with a look of worry on his face and said, "Didn't your Excellency say before that you can't arrest people without evidence?"
Li Huan said calmly: "What I said is that officials like Cheng Tai and Wu Wei cannot be arrested without evidence. After all, Shaanxi still needs these officials to stabilize the situation, but they are just a group of local wealthy businessmen. If they are arrested, they will be arrested."
Why would Mr. Li want to accommodate a group of profiteers who are making huge fortunes in the country?"
[I’ve been a bit stuck these two days, and the updates haven’t been great, so I’m sorry!]