"It's so late, why are you shouting?" Zhang Tai is deaf in one ear and his hearing is not very good. He did not hear the alarm bell just now.
"Father, the officers and soldiers came to the island!"
"What?"
Zhang Tai was shocked. The officers and soldiers actually came to the island. This was something that had never happened in twenty years. He asked anxiously: "How many people are there on the other side?"
"Probably hundreds of people!"
There were only a few hundred people, so Zhang Tai ordered: "Kill them all!"
"Father, the other side is too strong. Our brothers can't resist it. We are almost killed by them. Father, please run away!"
Zhang Tai also became flustered. He ran back to the study, took down the thickest book from the bookshelf, put it in his arms, and fled to the back hill with his son and several subordinates.
Zhong Huan invested another 600 soldiers on Changshan Island, and at the same time withdrew 300 water ghosts. The water ghosts boarded the ship, and warships began to circle the island to hunt for those who tried to escape.
It was getting daylight, and the Western Army's killing on the island also stopped. There was nothing left to kill. The commanders, soldiers, stewards, accountants and their families under the salt lord Zhang Tai were all killed, including men, women, old and young, and there were no survivors.
, dozens of young women who were taken to the island to work as camp prostitutes, and more than a dozen maids from the main pavilion.
In the square, the corpses of hundreds of men were lying flat. Eight boatmen came to identify the corpses with trepidation. They had been sailing for ten years, and they all knew Zhang Tai and his important subordinates.
"This is Chief Steward Maxin!" Someone recognized a corpse.
Soon, the bodies of more and more important figures were identified, "This is Zhang Hong, Zhang Tai's eldest son, Zhao Dakuan, the accounting supervisor, and Zhang Sa, Zhang Tai's third son."
After a while, all the important figures were identified, except Zhang Tai and his second son Zhang Dan.
Deng Jinshan frowned. Zhang Tai's maid had confirmed that Zhang Tai and his second son were both on the island. Who knew where they were hiding?
At this time, someone suddenly shouted: "Caught, caught Zhang Tai!"
Deng Jinshan was overjoyed and hurriedly greeted them. He saw a dozen water ghosts dragging the two of them over. They were both tied up behind their backs. They hid in a pool of water and were discovered by a warship before being captured by the water ghosts.
All seven of his men were killed.
Zhang Tai saw a group of people and glared at them fiercely. The boatmen were frightened and turned around, fearing that Zhang Tai would recognize them.
Deng Jinshan wanted to show off his authority after being caught, so he became furious. He slapped Zhang Tai on the face several times, grabbed his hair, walked him in front of the maids, kicked him to his knees, and said, "Is this Zhang Tai?"
?”
Zhang Tai closed his eyes and accepted his fate. Several maids were frightened and trembled, and nodded, "It's him!"
"Cover his head!"
Deng Jinshan gave an order, and several soldiers put Zhang Tai's hood in a black bag and took him away.
The second person was Zhang Tai's son Zhang Dan, a scoundrel who did all kinds of evil. All the maids were abused by him. After Deng Jinshan found out his identity, he kicked Zhang Dan down, stepped on his back, and stabbed him severely.
He chopped off his head, making the maids scream in fright.
He only needs the salt lord Zhang Tai, the others are meaningless.
At this time, Zhong Huan came to the island. He and his men had been killing the fleeing soldiers on the periphery to prevent Zhang Tai, the great salt lord, from escaping. When he heard that Zhang Tai had been caught, Zhong Huan hurried over.
The reason why Zhong Huan was reluctant to go to the island was that he couldn't bear to see so many women, children and the elderly being killed. Even though they were the family members of the salt lords, they would all be beheaded in the end. This is how the salt lords on Sichuan Road were cleaned up. Every family was beheaded at every door.
, private salt was completely banned.
Of course Zhong Huan would not interfere with Deng Jinshan's murder. His Highness King Yong sent Deng Jinshan as his deputy, clearly intending to use bloody methods to deal with Yan Xiao.
Although Deng Jinshan was rather reckless in his actions, when he was in Bashu, he often killed people without leaving any confessions. Even the money to repay several Bashu salt lords has not yet been found, which made Wang Hao very angry with him.
But Zhong Huan also had to admit that he needed a bloody barber like Deng Jinshan.
Deng Jinshan hurriedly stepped forward to salute, "Report to the commander, Zhang Tai has been captured, and his three sons and all major subordinates have not escaped."
Zhong Huan glanced at Zhang Tai, who was sitting on the ground in the distance and wearing a black hood, and asked, "Can you find the list of salt dealers?"
"I found it. I found it in the accounting room. The quantity of each store's purchases and the amount of money. The content is very detailed!"
Zhong Huan asked again: "Have you seen the warehouse?"
"I didn't look at the material warehouse. There are about 20,000 rock salt in the salt warehouse."
"I'm talking about the vault!"
Zhong Huan said with some dissatisfaction: "King Yong wants to use their wealth to make up for the loss of salt tax, and the treasury is the most important!"
Deng Jinshan scratched his head and said: "I have looked at the treasury, but it seems that there is not much money, only tens of thousands of coins. I have not seen any silver or gold. I think he is hiding in a cave. I will arrange for soldiers to search it immediately."
Zhong Huan shook his head and said: "Zhang Tai has been a salt owl for twenty years, and no government has ever come to deal with him. There is no need for him to hide in a cave. His wealth cannot be on the island, it must be outside."
Zhong Huan thought for a while and asked: "Have you searched his body and found anything?"
"have!"
A soldier handed a thick book to Zhong Huan. Zhong Huan took it and it turned out to be Wang Anshi's "New Meanings of the Three Classics", tied with a ribbon. Zhong Huan was very familiar with this book and almost memorized it.
He knew it was wrong as soon as he started it, the weight was wrong.
He untied the ribbon and opened the book. As expected, it was empty. There was a wooden box inside. When he opened the wooden box, there was half a piece of jade inside, as well as a storage certificate from Baoji Cabinet Shop. When he took a closer look, it turned out to be Lin'an.
The storage certificate of Baoji Cabinet Shop.
This is similar to the passbook of later generations. Half a jade is the password. This guy is very cunning! He actually deposited his wealth in Lin'an.
Deng Jinshan hurriedly said: "If you are humble enough to interrogate him, let's see if he has any wealth hidden elsewhere?"
Zhong Huan nodded, "Tell him, if he tells the truth honestly, I will keep his body intact, and if the four of them, father and son, are buried together, if he still refuses to tell the truth, then it's up to you!"
"Beiji understands that Beiji has many ways to make him speak!"
In the evening, Zhang Tai, who had been eaten away by thousands of ants, finally confessed.
Cunning Rabbit has three burrows. His property is hidden in three places, including one on the main island, which is the least. There is a copy hidden in the family ancestral hall in Poyang County, his hometown, which contains more than 100,000 yuan.
The most wealth is stored in the warehouse of Lin'an Baoji Cabinet. He is the second largest customer of Baoji Cabinet. He has rented three warehouses and he does not remember how much wealth is stored. The receipt for withdrawing money is in the box.
Baoji Cabinet Store storage certificate and half a piece of jade.
At noon the next day, Deng Jinshan received news from Poyang County that he had found a total of 150,000 copper coins hidden in the family ancestral hall.
Zhong Huan immediately ordered Zhang Tai to be executed through the heart, and the bodies of his father and son were buried together.
Two days later, hundreds of 3,000 stone cargo ships from Jiangling Prefecture arrived at Changshan Island and began to transport a large amount of property back to Jiangling.
After the inner guard cavalry withdrew from Changsha, the salt dealer Wang Conglin was not in a hurry to return to Changsha. He was worried that the inner guard was trying to escape, so he waited patiently.
On the tenth day, he received a letter from his eldest son. The letter said that the internal guards came not to check for smuggled salt, but to arrest the spies placed by the imperial court on Jingnan South Road.
Wang Conglin breathed a long sigh of relief. He also felt that something was wrong. If he came to investigate illegal salt, how could he use cavalry?
Wang Conglin immediately packed up and returned to Changsha with his two concubines.
But soon after his boat left the Xiangjiang River, three warships surrounded him.
"Master, what kind of ship are they?" The two concubines were frightened and panicked.
"Don't panic, stay calm! Nothing serious?"
Wang Conglin forced himself to calm down and comfort his two concubines.
But when more than a dozen internal guard soldiers jumped on the boat and rushed in front of him, Wang Conglin was so frightened that he collapsed to the ground, his face was pale, and he could not say a word.
Three days later, the internal guards beheaded more than thirty members of Wang Conglin's family in public in Changsha County, and confiscated all his property. More than a dozen officials, including Tanzhou's general magistrate, county magistrate, county lieutenant, and custodial clerk, were also arrested.
catch.
Immediately afterwards, the internal guards launched comprehensive arrests in Hengzhou, Shaozhou, Yongzhou, Daozhou, Quanzhou, Chenzhou, Jingzhou, Yuanzhou, Wugang Army, Guiyang Prison and other places. Except for the salt dealers in Yongzhou and Chenzhou,
As a result, all other salt dealers were arrested and suppressed with the most severe methods of beheading their entire family and confiscating all their property. All officials involved were also arrested.
The internal guards cracked down on the salt lords and private salt dealers vigorously and resolutely. In the following ten years, no more private salt appeared on Jinghu South Road. The other two salt lords were also frightened and quit Jinghu South Road and stopped setting foot on it.
But this is only half the battle against illegal salt.