The water surface of the Xiangjiang River is wide, and boats are constantly coming and going, making it extremely lively. It is not uncommon to see dozens of cargo ships connected together. After entering Dongting Lake, the water surface is as wide as the sea, with more ships, and flocks of seagulls soaring and singing in the sky.
In the morning, a fleet of more than a hundred thousand-stone flat-bottomed cargo ships was sailing toward the north. At the front was a vehicle and ship, with rolling blades and white waves. More than a hundred cargo ships were led northward by ropes.
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This fleet is the salt transport fleet of the salt lord Zhang Tai. They travel between Poyang Lake and the Xiangjiang River every ten and a half days, selling large amounts of private salt to various states and counties along Jinghu South Road.
This time they also completed the task of transporting salt. Just as the internal guards came again, the fleet immediately returned to Poyang Lake.
The leader of the fleet is named Zhang Cai, who is Zhang Tai's nephew. He is tall and round, with strong muscles. He is shirtless, and his skin is dark and shiny from the sun. He also looks fierce, with a fleshy face and a pair of triangles.
No one takes it seriously. He has been on this line for seven or eight years and has never had any problems. He has deeply realized that as long as he bribes the government, even if he goes to Lin'an to sell salt, no one will
What do you dare to do to him?
"Third brother, Baling is just ahead. Do you want to go and replenish some food? There is no meat!" one of his men shouted.
"No need, go directly to the Yangtze River!"
It was not that Zhang Cai was afraid of what the government would do, but that Yuezhou was not their territory and was also controlled by salt barbarians, Zhang Jun's army, salt barbarians. He was afraid of causing unnecessary misunderstandings.
The fleet continued to go north, and the outline of Baling County was clearly visible not far away. The water in front became narrower. Suddenly, a crew member shouted: "There is an unknown ship approaching us from behind!"
Zhang Cai looked back and saw five or six ships approaching the cargo ship from behind. At this time, he suddenly saw groups of soldiers jumping onto the fleet.
"Oops!"
Zhang then realized that he was in trouble. The opponent was a regular army with too many people. They were no match for them at all. He shouted, "Cut the rope!"
At this time, like a gecko, he was about to cut off his tail to survive. A dozen of his men slashed at the rope with their swords. In a moment, the rope was cut, and the main ship and more than a hundred cargo ships separated. The two quickly separated.
But before he could rejoice, four or five warships surrounded him. The waterwheel made a loud noise and the ship stopped. A boatman shouted: "Third brother, the oars are entangled and the ship cannot move!"
Zhang Cai ran over and saw that the waterwheel was tightly entangled in the fishing net. Then he saw that there were more and more warships around. There were already more than a dozen ships, all of which were filled with soldiers holding crossbows.
Zhang Cai was so frightened that he pulled out the water spike and shouted: "Brothers, dive into the water to break out!"
As soon as he jumped into the Dongting Lake, his subordinates also jumped into the water. As soon as Zhang jumped into the water, his arm was grabbed by someone. He was surrounded by water ghosts. What he encountered was the dragon army from the scout camp, who were professional water ghosts.
Specially trained in underwater fighting, even though Zhang Cai has excellent water skills, he is far from a match for the three opponents. With three moves and two moves, Zhang Cai was captured alive by the water ghost, and his other subordinates were also captured by the water ghost.
, tied up and thrown on board.
In less than half an hour, Zhang Tai's salt-carrying fleet was captured by the long-awaited Western Army.
Next came the interrogation, a high-intensity and cruel interrogation, where Zhang Tai's lair was interrogated. This was the specialty of the internal security guards.
"Even if you kill me, do you think I will give in? Bah! Ah——"
Zhang Cai's shrill screams resounded through the night. Both of his legs were broken, his teeth were pulled out, both ears were cut off, and his face and body were bloody. But this man was very fierce and died.
Refuse to confess.
Deputy Commander Deng Jinshan nodded, "As expected of the Salt Owl, he is indeed brave and not afraid of death. He dragged him in front of the others and chopped off his head in public!"
Zhang Cai, who was tortured to the point of dying, was dragged in front of twenty-seven other people, stripped of his clothes, and tied to a chair. The Western Army internal guards raised their swords high and chopped off his head with a single blow. Blood spurted from the cavity of the headless neck.
When he came out, the others were silent, and no one showed any fear on their faces.
Deng Jinshan shouted: "Drag everyone out and line up. Come one by one and kill them one by one. If you dare to say no, your head will be chopped off!"
Deng Jinshan, nicknamed the Barber in the inner guard, was ruthless and quick to kill. This time, Chen Qing specially appointed him as Zhong Huan's deputy. Zhong Huan's biggest weakness was that he was not ruthless enough.
When nineteen of the twenty-seven salt owl men were brutally killed, the remaining eight boatmen completely collapsed and each confessed to their lair in Poyang Lake.
At noon the next day, Zhong Huan led 500 cavalry and returned to Baling County.
Deputy Commander Deng Jinshan held up a detailed map and said to him: "General, this is the map of the Salt Owl's lair that we drew based on the confessions of eight boatmen."
"It's not easy to interrogate!"
Deng Jinshan nodded, "This group of people are not afraid of death. They refused to recruit anyone. They were all killed and refused to recruit. In the end, it was the boatman who recruited them. They have all been to Zhang Tai's lair."
Zhong Huan looked at the map carefully, pointed to the old nest marked in red circle and asked: "Is this an island?"
"It's called Changshan Island. It consists of a series of small islands. The old nest is on Changshan Island. I asked two local boatmen. They confirmed that there were water thieves near Changshan Island and no ships dared to approach.
We have to walk around Changshan Island."
"Does the local government not care?"
"They didn't say it, and they probably didn't know. They were probably bribed."
"Command the brothers to assemble, we are ready to go!"
The main reason why illegal salt overflows on Jinghu South Road is that the source is not dead, so it resurfaces every time. A steady stream of illegal salt is transported from the salt lord's lair in Poyang Lake to Tanzhou and other state capitals.
So this time Zhong Huan was ordered to crack down on illicit salt, and his goal was very clear, which was to crack down on the salt lords at the source. Of course, Zhang Tai was not the final big salt lord. He also got goods from even bigger salt lords. This is difficult to trace.
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That night, thirty warships carrying 1,200 soldiers left Baling County and sailed toward Poyang Lake hundreds of miles away.
It has been a month since Chen Qing returned to Jingzhao. After the conflicts over finance and land were alleviated, everything began to operate normally.
Chen Qing also kept going out for inspections, but his inspections were only for short distances and would come back in a day or two.
That afternoon, Chen Qing returned from an inspection in Lantian County. As usual, Chen Qing went directly to his official room.
Chao Qing quickly followed Chen Qinghui and reported: "Your Highness, Wei Sima came to see His Highness twice today. It seems there is something urgent."
Chen Qing nodded, "Go find him, I'll wait for him."
Chao Qing went there in a hurry, and Chen Qing sat down, picked up today's "Beijing News" and glanced through it. The first page of today's "Beijing News" has a notice about the autumn examination of Taixue. In mid-October, that is, in each state
One and a half months after the Mansion Autumn Examination ended.
According to Chen Qing’s ideas on the reform of Taixue, Taixue will focus on cultivating professional officials, and professional officials will also be reformed in the next step and distinguished from civilian officials. All official positions will also be divided into three categories: civilian officials, workers
Officials and military officials.
According to Chen Qing's idea, for example, a county currently has four officials, the county magistrate, the county magistrate, the county captain and the chief clerk. Chen Qing considered adding a county clerk in the future, among which the county magistrate and the chief clerk are civil officials, and the county clerk
Belonging to the work-level officer, the county lieutenant will belong to the military-level officer.
The most important county magistrate is relatively vague. Generally, it is mainly civilian officials, but work officials and military officials can also serve. This depends on the characteristics of the specific county. For example, in a county with mining as the main industry, it is likely that work officials will be employed.
Officials serve as county magistrates, and for counties with a relatively important strategic position, such as Datong County, it is likely that military officials serve as magistrates.
This improved reform idea will be published in newspapers for public discussion, which will also prepare everyone psychologically.
At this time, Chao Qing said at the door: "Your Highness, Lu Sima is here!"
"Let him in!" Chen Qing put down the newspaper, not knowing what urgent matter Lu Wei wanted to see him for.
