Chapter Thirty-Two: Zhu Xiaoer
Zhang Luo saw the scars on Tiebaosan's arms.
Suddenly asked:
"Tiegun San, have you ever heard of the ghost market?"
"Of course I've heard of it. Not only have I heard of it, I've also been there."
"Then do you know anyone who sells illegal salt in the ghost market?"
Tiegun San narrowed his eyes and asked:
"What do you want to know, young master?"
"What do you know?"
"I know all the top people in the county."
"Anyone who hangs around in the county will obey my orders."
Zhang Luo said calmly:
"Tiegun San, you are now at Zhenhaiwei."
"You can't do evil in the county town!"
Tiegun San laughed and said:
"I can tell you everything I know."
"But I have conditions."
Zhang Luo asked seriously:
"What do you want?"
"It's very simple. I want to follow the young master."
"What? Why are you following me?"
"Didn't you realize that Zhenhaiwei is very poor?"
Tieguang San waved his hand and said:
"At the beginning of the year, a Taoist priest gave me a hexagram."
"Say I can meet the Ming Lord this year."
"I guess the young master is the enlightened master that the Taoist said."
Zhang Luo is still self-aware of his own temperament.
He didn't realize that he had captured Tiezhi San.
He will change his mind and become his little brother.
Iron Stick Three wants to stay in Zhenhaiwei.
I'm afraid I'm not well-intentioned.
But now Zhang Luo needs the information he has.
So he deliberately said:
"You have to tell me the details of the salt dealer first."
Tiegun San smiled and touched his beard and said:
"The man who sells salt in the ghost market is named Zhu Xiaoer."
"A few years ago it was the furnace owner of Fuzhou Saltworks."
He really is the furnace owner of the saltworks.
That’s why we can produce so much coarse salt from Fuzhou Salt Farm.
"I used to be a furnace merchant, why now I sell private salt?"
According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, once you enter a certain household registration.
Then all future generations will have this place of origin.
The furnace owner is the salt worker in the salt field.
Is it possible that a furnace owner can turn back into a commoner?
Iron Stick Three continued:
"Zhu Xiaoer, of course, is still a furnace user."
"But he took his brothers and started to be pirates."
"Now I'm trading with the Japanese pirates."
Pirates, Japanese pirates.
Zhang Luo sighed softly.
I have been in Zhenhaiwei for so long.
It's time to meet some big villains.
"Then Zhu Xiaoer was kidnapped by the Japanese pirates."
"Or is he planning to be a pirate?"
Tieguang San walked a few steps, held his right leg and said:
"I'm really not sure about this."
"Young master, you read a lot, I believe you can come up with the answer yourself."
Tieguang said again:
"Zhu Xiaoer used to be a big furnace owner in Fuzhou Saltworks."
"Although life was still hard, I didn't think twice about it at that time."
"But six months ago the Fuzhou Saltworks was in trouble."
"It was robbed by a group of Japanese pirates and thieves."
Zhang Luo asked puzzledly:
"Isn't it common nowadays to be robbed by Japanese pirates?"
"Is it possible that if your own home is robbed, will you degenerate into a thief and rob other homes?"
Tie Guan San took a sip of cold water and said with a smile:
"Young master, don't be impatient. Listen to me and explain slowly."
"It is common for saltworks to suffer disasters."
"But something is wrong in this time of trouble."
"Last year, Mr. Li, the governor of Fuzhou, took office from Beijing."
"I took it in my hand and asked for a thousand salt quotations from the Ministry of Finance."
"Preparing to steal to Fuzhou Salt Farm to extract salt."
"At that time, the Fuzhou Saltworks said there was not enough refined salt, and they could not produce a thousand liters of salt."
"But just two months later, the Fuzhou Salt Farm was robbed of 800 tons of salt."
This time Zhang Luo figured it out.
Some important officials of the imperial court would ask for salt from the imperial court when they were outside.
When I get to a place, I will pick up salt.
During the Jiajing Dynasty, too much salt was issued, causing the salt supply to expand.
It often happens that you cannot get the salt when you hold it.
Insufficient refined salt is a common method used by salt farms to cope with the above problems.
The prefects of Fuzhou were frequently changed.
I don't know which day Master Li will be transferred.
If you spend a thousand dollars, it will be nothing.
That's what's bad about this.
I just explained to Mr. Li that there is not enough refined salt.
Within a few months, several hundred dollars were robbed by a gang of Japanese thieves.
Isn't this just a slap in Magistrate Li's face?
Magistrate Li had a close relationship with Eunuch Lu in the imperial court.
Naturally, such a big thing will not pass by in a daze.
Tiegun San saw Zhang Luo's understanding look.
continued:
"The young master must have understood the reason."
"Prefect Li brought the matter to the court."
"Now the chief envoy can't hold him back anymore."
"Force Fuzhou Salt Farm to collect 2,000 yuan of refined salt within three months to give to Prefect Li."
"Two thousand refined salt is equivalent to seven to eight hundred thousand catties!"
Fuzhou Salt Farm cannot produce so much refined salt for more than half a year.
The furnace owner in this situation is in serious trouble.
Tiegun San sighed heavily and said:
"Prefect Li is still not relieved."
"Order the guards of the prefect to go to the salt field to supervise the work."
"The furnace owners work in the field every day and every night."
"It didn't take long for more than a dozen of them to die from exhaustion."
"Prefect Li still put down his harsh words."
"I can't hand over the salt within three months."
"So everyone was sent to the sea as slaves."
"I wish the waiter has some reputation among the furnace owners."
"Seeing that everyone's lives were in danger, a group of people killed the supervisor together."
"They all went to sea to become pirates."
"So, I can't say for sure whether Zhu Xiaoer doesn't want to be a thief willingly."
Zhang Luo looked at Iron Rod Three without thinking.
Did not continue to speak.
Tiegun San looked at Zhang Luo without any reaction.
He sighed softly and said:
"Is there anything else you want to know, young master?"
Zhang Luo shook his head and said:
"Now I'm sure you have some intentions in staying in Zhenhai Weiding."
"From today onwards, you will stay in the temple."
"I asked grandpa to find someone to keep an eye on you every day."
Iron Stick Three pointed at his broken right leg and said:
"As a lame person, what bad things can I do?"
Zhang Luo looked at Iron Rod Three and said:
"I can't believe you."
Third Master Tiegun also had nothing to say.
Tieguan San moved his arms and said:
"Tell the young master one more thing."
"I wish Xiaoer to open a salt farm on Dingyan Island not far away."
"There are about twenty pirates in this group."
"With Zhenhaiwei's formation, it should be easy to defeat them."
Zhang Luo brought the three iron bars back to the temple.
I also found Grandpa Zhang and told him about Iron Stick Three.
Grandpa Zhang immediately found a tribesman.
Locked Tie Guan San into the confinement room of the ancestral hall.
As the name suggests, the confinement house is a place where clan members are imprisoned when they make mistakes.
After closing the iron rod three times.
Zhang Luo takes the ghost market to the market.
Zhang Bing told Grandpa Zhang about being followed.
Grandpa Zhang said with his crutch:
"This Dingyan Island is a very small island on the other side of the mountain."
"There are a lot of mosquitoes on the island, and even the Japanese pirates look down upon them."
"I didn't expect that Zhu Xiaoer actually took over the island."
"It's a pity that Zhu Xiaoer didn't get on the thief list of Fujian Beiwa Si."
"There will be no military merit if we suppress him."
Zhang Luo asked puzzledly:
"Didn't the imperial court have a decree that there would be heavy rewards for killing Japanese pirates?"
This chapter has been completed!