At noon the next day, as usual, an official ship sailed across the Yangtze River and stopped in front of the dock on the other side. On the other side of the Yangtze River was a small town called Xiangbei Town, which was also under the jurisdiction of Yuezhou.
This Xiangbei town is an important river-crossing hub. On the other side are Baling County and Dongting Lake. It is the entrance to Jinghu South Road. A large number of businessmen and people come to Xiangbei town to cross the river by boat. People come and go on the pier, which is quite interesting.
lively.
There are more than a dozen warehouses not far from the pier. Five of them are a little more remote. The doors are usually locked, so no one knows what is in the warehouses.
The official ship arrived at the pier, which was a little far away from several ferries. Immediately, a dozen people pushed wheelbarrows and rushed towards the pier. There were three or four bags of salt on each wheelbarrow. They only had to make three or four trips to fill the ship.
This is a typical ant moving method, moving 150 to 60 pieces of rock salt at a time, making five or six trips a day.
The first round of fifty bags of salt was carried onto the ship, and the wheelbarrows went back. Soon they were pushed back full of salt, and the second batch of salt, also more than fifty bags, began to be carried to the ship.
The supervisor of the escort was Lu Jing, a close subordinate of Sima Hugong. He anxiously urged the porter, "Hurry up! Hurry up!"
Just then, the men behind him shouted: "Lord Lu Bo, we have a boat!"
When Lu Jing turned around, he was immediately frightened out of his mind. He saw three warships surrounding him from three directions, dozens of steps away from the official ship. Then there was movement on the shore. Dozens of soldiers rushed over and raised their hands.
Crossbow shouted: "Don't move at all, otherwise you will shoot with the crossbow!"
All the salt transporters were so frightened that they did not dare to move. The soldiers came forward, pushed them down and tied them up behind their backs. The three warships docked on the official ship. Zhong Huan led a few soldiers on board and sneered:
"Can't you wait a few more days? Are you starting to transport illegal salt in such a hurry?"
When Lu Jing saw Zhong Huan, he knew it was over. This guy didn't leave at all. He forced himself to be calm and said: "General Zhong misunderstood, this is not private salt, this is official salt. I have official salt and he took it."
The Yan Yin was handed to Zhong Huan. Zhong Huan took the Yan Yin and looked at it. He snorted disdainfully and said, "This is the Yan Yin from half a year ago. It has been invalidated a long time ago. There are twenty stones of salt on it. How many do you have on the ship? Hundreds
It’s a stone! How do you explain the extra eighty stones? Besides, the Salt and Iron Company’s warehouse is in Jiangling, so what’s the point of you going to Jiangbei Town to collect salt?”
Zhong Huan waved his hand and said, "Search for me!"
Two soldiers came forward to hold Lu Jing down and search him. Lu Jing shouted: "I am the ninth-grade master of the state government, Bo, you can't do this to me!"
"As an official smuggling illegal salt, you will be punished by being executed. Don't you know?"
When he heard the words 'Everyone is beheaded', Lu Jing's face instantly turned pale.
"Found it!"
The soldiers found a piece of paper from him, which was a delivery note. It said that Sihai Trading Company delivered 140 shi of salt. It was signed by two people. One of them was Lu Jing. Sihai Trading Company was founded by Zhang Jun's army.
The evidence is conclusive.
Lu Jing collapsed to the ground all of a sudden, and his whole family was executed! His two sons aged ten and nine, his young daughter, and his gray-haired old mother shed tears of remorse. At this time
, Zhong Huan stepped forward and whispered something into his ear. Lu Jing's eyes lit up, "Really?"
Zhong Huan said coldly: "It's up to you to believe it or not!"
Lu Jing shouted as if he had been injected with chicken blood: "
I confess that the report I made was done by Hu Gong, and Governor Wang Kuang also had a hand in it!"
"Take him to take a statement!"
The soldiers took him into the ship to write a confession. At this time, a scout led dozens of soldiers and escorted several stewards and guards in the warehouse. Apparently there had been a fight, and the two guards were still carrying
hurt.
The scouts all stepped forward and saluted: "To report to the commander, all three stewards have been captured. We have killed six of the ten guards and captured four."
"How much salt?"
"About seven or eight thousand stones!"
At this time, the chief steward said: "General Zhong, we are the people of Zhang Xuan's envoy. I'm afraid it will be difficult to explain to you if you detain us!"
Zhong Huan sneered and said: "This has nothing to do with me. King Yong will tell you that he actually sold the private salt on Jinghu South Road. Do you think Zhang Xuanfu will admit it? It must be you people below.
He is a high-ranking official in the imperial court, so how can he sell salt privately?"
The faces of several stewards became extremely ugly. Zhong Huan's words hit home. Zhang Jun would never admit that he was selling private salt.
"Take them down to record their statements and then imprison them!"
Dutou led more than thirty people and took all the prisoners away.
At noon, Yang Yuanqing personally led five thousand troops and hundreds of large ships to the north bank of Yuezhou. Zhong Huan sighed, and the formation scared away the salt traders.
Helpless, he had no choice but to take people on board the ship, and the ship sailed toward Baling County in a mighty manner.
Hu Gong rushed towards the state government office with one foot in front and the other in front of him. When he entered the door, he shouted in a tearful voice: "Zhizhou, something bad is going on!"
Wang Kuang was sitting at the table drinking tea, looking frighteningly calm, "What are you yelling about?"
"Lu Jing has been captured. Hundreds of warships are heading towards the county seat to capture us."
"What did Lu Jing do? Why was he arrested?" Wang Kuang asked calmly.
Hu Gong was stunned for a moment, his eyes widened and he said, "We are selling private salt together, don't you want to admit the debt?"
"Damn it!"
Wang Kuang slammed the table and angrily shouted: "Who is selling smuggled salt to you? How dare I, the governor of a state, sell smuggled salt? You dare to slander me, come on! Throw him out."
Hu Gong was so angry that he was trembling all over. He pointed at Wang Kuang and said, "Okay, you don't admit it now. Do you think I have no evidence?"
Several men rushed up and carried Hu Gong out. Hu Gong shouted: "I have your evidence. Your son is also a private salt dealer. Do you think I don't know?"
"Call me out!"
Hu Gong was taken out, and Wang Kuang was upset for a while. He immediately ordered: "Go back home!"
Wang Kuang's official residence was right behind the government office, and he could return directly from the government office. He hurried back to the back house with a few followers, and met the housekeeper. He asked urgently: "Where has Erlang gone?"
"It seems that I went to Ezhou to deliver goods early this morning!"
"oops!"
Wang Kuang stamped his feet anxiously, and the housekeeper was stunned and said: "Master, what's wrong?"
Wang Kuang quickly said to the housekeeper: "You take one hundred taels of silver and rush to Ezhou. You must find Erlang. If you find him, take him to Lin'an. Don't come back. The army is coming to inspect the illicit salt. Big trouble may happen."
"I know, I'll go right away!"
The butler left in a hurry.
Wang Kuang had two sons. The eldest son was studying at Lin'an Imperial College, and he took his second son with him. I don't know when, his second son also participated in selling illicit salt, and became the largest illicit salt dealer in Yuezhou.
Wang Kuang himself has no evidence, but his son will implicate him. As long as he sends his son away, he can deny it no matter how Hu Gong testifies.
Five thousand troops quickly took control of Baling County. According to Lu Jing's confession, Zhong Huan began to arrest people in the city, mainly petty officials from the state government and private salt dealers.
There are also Sima Hugong and Zhizhou Wang Kuang. The evidence of Hugong is conclusive. His signature was found in the illegal salt documents searched, but Wang Kuang only testified and had no conclusive evidence. However, his son was involved in selling illegal salt. Based on this,
Wang Kuang can no longer wear his black gauze hat.
However, after searching the city for a long time, no sign of Hu Gong was found.
From the messy suitcases in his house and a few pieces of broken silver left behind, we knew that Hu Gong had absconded.
On the dock, Qin Kuangming and several internal guards were monitoring a group of people boarding the ship.
Qin Kuangming suddenly saw a short, fat woman in a red dress who was a bit strange. Other women tried to stay away from men, but this short, fat woman was on the contrary. She squeezed in wherever there were many men. She wore a flower headscarf, and the headscarf covered her head.
She was embarrassed. The key was that the package she was carrying was very heavy and she seemed unable to carry it.
Qin Kuangming stepped forward, took the big package from her and said with a smile: "Sister, let me help you carry it!"
Unexpectedly, his hand sank, and the package fell to the ground. It was too heavy, weighing at least dozens of kilograms, and there was a metallic sound. Looking through the gap, it was full of white silver ingots.
The woman was caught off guard, and the package was suddenly carried over. She suddenly panicked and turned to run away, but Qin Kuangming grabbed her arm and pulled off her headscarf, and her face was immediately exposed.
The people around burst into laughter. This woman was painted with makeup and powder, and her mouth was painted blood red, but her eyebrows and eyes were clearly that of a man, and her beard had not been shaved off in time.
"Let me go!" The fake woman struggled desperately, but unfortunately his voice was also that of a man.
Qin Kuangming said coldly: "Don't you think it is inappropriate for Hu Sima to dress like this?"
