"There is also good news about the crackdown on illegal salt on Jinghu South Road."
"Wait a minute!"
Chen Qing ordered the soldiers at the door of the tent: "Go and invite all four counselors!"
The entire Ministry of Internal Affairs is extremely concerned about the crackdown on illicit salt, so it is natural to invite them all to participate.
Not long after, Zhou Kuan, Zhao Kai, Zhang Miao and Jiang Yanxian all arrived. Except for Guan Shigu, the superintendent of the Military Department, he stayed in Jingzhao and was in charge, so they couldn't all come for an autumn outing.
Chen Qing smiled and said: "What you are interested in is the progress of clearing up illegal salt on Jinghu South Road."
Everyone was overjoyed and looked for chairs to sit down.
Chen Qing smiled at Wang Hao and said, "Let me report to everyone!"
"Your Highness, counselors, and the commander of the internal guards, Zhong Huan, led his troops into Poyang Lake, destroyed the largest salt lord Zhang Tai, and beheaded him. We are currently making every effort to eliminate the salt dealers in various states on Jinghu South Road."
Zhou Kuan said quickly: "Salt dealers must not be soft when dealing with these salt lords, otherwise it will not be enough to deter lawbreakers!"
"Counselor Zhou, please rest assured. We have adopted the experience of Bashu. Salt lords and private salt dealers basically kill everyone. Even people who sell private salt in shops will be arrested and killed. The only difference is that their family members are not implicated. This is
We issued a notice last year to crack down on illicit salt, but they can’t do anything if they don’t listen.”
In terms of taking a tough stance on cracking down on illicit salt, all counselors in the Internal Affairs Hall have the same attitude. Only by using the most severe means to crack down on illicit salt can lawbreakers be deterred. If you are a little softer, there will be people who will participate in the sale of illicit salt.
Jiang Yanxian asked: "Didn't you say before that Private Salt is related to Zhang Jun?"
"Reporting to Counselor Jiang, the attack is now on the southern half of Jinghu South Road, which is controlled by the salt owl, and then several states in the north, including Jianglingfu, Lizhou, Dingzhou, Yuezhou and Ezhou. These five states are along the Yangtze River and
Along Dongting Lake, they are occupied by private salt from the north, which should be related to Zhang Jun's army. Zhong Huan's next step is to clean up the private salt from the north."
At this time, Zhao Kai said slowly: "No one asked about the key point. I just want to know how much wealth has been seized and to what extent can it make up for the loss of our salt tax?"
The four counselors looked at Chen Qing together. Chen Qing understood what they meant and said with a smile: "This time it will not be used as spoils of war. All the wealth seized will be confiscated and will go into the temple treasury, not the treasury!"
Chen Qing's statement made everyone sigh in relief. Wang Hao added: "It is true that a large amount of wealth has been collected. At present, it is mainly the wealth of private salt dealers. Their combined wealth has exceeded one million yuan. But the big salt lord Zhang
Tai has accumulated wealth for twenty years, but has only collected a small part of it, leaving the bulk of it uncollected."
"What's going on?" Chen Qing asked.
"Zhang Tai has stored most of his wealth in the warehouse of Lin'an Baoji Cabinet. Please send someone to take them out. I am worried that the court will take action on this wealth after getting the news."
Chen Qing nodded, "I understand, I will make arrangements immediately. In addition, there should be many officials involved in covering up the illegal affair!"
"Exactly, more than 30 officials who were covering up illegal activities were arrested. The evidence is conclusive. These officials have been sent to Jiangling Mansion for detention!"
Chen Qing glanced at Zhang Miao and Zhou Kuan and said, "These officials should be handled by the Supervision Department and the Personnel Department!"
Zhang Miao and Zhou Kuan said quickly: "I will arrange for the men to go south now!"
Chen Qing issued three Yongwang orders, ordering Tu Xijun, Lin'an Intelligence Station and special envoy Hu Yun to fully cooperate with the internal guards to take out Zhang Tai's wealth.
At the same time, more than a dozen officials from the Supervision Department and the Personnel Department set off overnight and rushed to Jiangling Mansion via Shangluo Road.
In the middle of the night, a hundred internal guard soldiers surrounded a civilian courtyard. The soldiers jumped over the courtyard wall and surrounded two rooms from all sides. After a while, they captured one person from each of the two rooms. They were Wang Shuang and Zhou.
Zhou Hua, both of them looked pale, knowing that their lives were in danger, Zhou Hua shouted: "Lu Sima from the military department is also one of ours!"
The soldier knocked him down with a slap. Wang Hao stepped forward and snorted: "Stop dreaming. Lu Sima is following the orders of King Yong to deal with you, and you still take it seriously!"
Wang Shuang and Zhou Hua looked at each other, both of them regretting it. Wang Shuang suddenly screamed and vomited out a mouthful of blood. He was so angry that he fainted.
"take away!"
The soldiers put hoods on the two men, tied them behind their backs, and took them away.
Juxiang Restaurant was also surrounded by nearly 300 internal guards. Han Feng fought desperately to clear a bloody path and jumped onto the courtyard wall. Unexpectedly, hundreds of crossbow arrows were shot from all directions. Han Feng only knocked down five or six arrows, and the other arrows were shot away.
The arrow could no longer be blocked, and was instantly shot into a hedgehog. He fell straight from the courtyard wall to the ground, and died on the spot.
This time Lu Qiao almost leaked the secret, which made Chen Qing weigh the pros and cons again. Although retaining the opponent's spies could be used for counterintuitive tactics, the opponent's constant probing of Tie Huolei's secrets also put the Western Army at risk of major leaks. After repeated consideration, Chen Qing decided
Qing finally decided to eliminate the risk of leaking the secret. Wang Hao personally led 500 internal guards to dispatch and arrest Wang Shuang and more than 20 of his men from four locations.
The internal guards have been following them for a long time and know every bit of information about them.
One night ago, all the Jin soldiers' spies were arrested, and none of them slipped through the net. The last one to be arrested was Lu Jiao. The internal guards found him in a brothel and grabbed him from the bed of a prostitute.
In Lin'an, after the farce of arresting Western Army intelligence spies ended, there was basically no disturbance. No one cared about this kind of thing. As time went by, the arrest of Western Army spies was gradually forgotten.
The Changfeng Tea House opposite the Beijing News office recently changed its owner. This is of course a small matter. Even the government has not transferred the ownership, and no one is paying attention to it.
Dong An, the shopkeeper of Liuweiju Teahouse, continues to be the shopkeeper of this teahouse. They are not afraid that Yang Yizhong will find out again. Some games are played on the table. According to the rules, you are forced to check, so I will cooperate.
You, so that you can explain to the superiors that if Yang Yizhong really breaks the rules, the Western Army will not show mercy.
Hu Yun went to Changfeng Tea House to have a cup of tea in the afternoon as usual and chat with Wang Mu for a few words.
But today he had a special mission. He came to Dong An specifically. In a private room on the second floor, Hu Yun put a wooden box on the table and pushed it to Dong An. "This is where the salt lord Zhang Tai put his wealth."
According to the certificates in the Lin'an Baoji Cabinet Shop, King Yong asked us to take out the wealth and transport it away as soon as possible, and Wang Qinghui led a fleet to meet us off the Qiantang River."
Dong An took the box and opened it. Inside was a voucher and half a piece of jade. Dong An asked again: "Does the imperial court know about this wealth?"
"Zhang Tai will definitely not leak it. Now we are worried about Baoji Cabinet. How much do they know? If they know who Zhang Tai is and know that Zhang Tai is dead, then they will definitely tell the court about it, so we
There can be no delay, we must act as soon as possible.”
Dong An also heard about the background of Baoji Cabinet Shop, which was founded by some powerful people from the previous dynasty.
Dong An pondered for a moment and said: "The humble position suggested that Mr. Hu go and get this wealth in the name of His Highness King Yong. Baoji Cabinet House dared not deny it, and then sent people to keep an eye on them and not allow them to send people to inform. Give it to them."
We transport wealth and buy time."
Hu Yun also felt that it made sense, nodded and said: "That's it, I'll give you three days. You first get to know Baoji Cabinet Shop, and probably know some details, and then I will withdraw the wealth."
After Hu Yun left, Dong An immediately sent someone to find Wei Yanzong and assigned him an important task.
