allendalepharm Chapter 791 Private Salt Industry Chain
Chapter 791 Private Salt Industry Chain
Jiang Youzhen had just returned to the government office when Li Dongsheng came back.
As soon as Li Dongsheng came back, he sat down at the round table leisurely, and then pointed at the tea bowl.
Jiang Youzhen smiled helplessly and poured him a bowl, "Did your Highness succeed?"
Li Dongsheng coughed lightly, "Don't you want to see who will take action? It's just a small matter, how can it be done?"
He took out several booklets from his bosom and placed them on the table. "Here? They are all here. Apart from those five families, there are still people in this city who dare to sell without getting the documents. They are really looking for death!"
Jiang Youzhen took it, opened it and looked at it for a while, then asked in surprise: "Is this a private account?"
"That's right! Those shops have signed contracts with the Wan family and sold private salt from them.
The official salt here is sold at 28 to 30 wen per jin, while their private salt only costs 15 wen to buy and sells for 18 to 21 wen. You say the difference is so big, of course the people will buy private salt. "
Li Dongsheng snorted coldly, "Look at the records here. From small shops to large shops, they sell hundreds to thousands of kilograms of meat every day."
Jiang Youzhen took the profit from one of the shops, which was Zhang Ji in the east of the city. Jiang Youzhen knew that this shop was not small.
Because Jiang Youzhen asked Jiang Li and others to ask the yamen runners today, they had already found out all the big shops in the area.
From the records in the booklet, we can see that Zhang Ji sold more than 1,000 kilograms of private salt every day, and the selling price ranged from 19 to 21 wen.
This should be adjusted according to the range of each purchase price. Whether it is official salt or private salt, the cost of transportation on the road directly affects the price of salt.
There are also bulk transactions, such as buying dozens or even hundreds of kilograms at a time, which are cheaper by one or two cents.
Jiang Youzhen guessed that these were probably sold to small vendors, such as doctors who traveled the streets to sell them.
"This has formed an industrial chain, with one link connected to another. The Wan family is the source of it. They ignored the court and the government and started selling private salt openly." Jiang Youzhen snorted.
"If someone takes advantage of this and poisons the private salt, it will be a disaster." Jiang Youzhen looked through the other booklets again and found that this was the case.
These are secret account books, specifically used to record the purchase and sale of contraband salt.
"Isn't it? But they won't do that just to make money and win the hearts of the people."
Li Dongsheng shook his head. Why sell private salt? Of course it's for money. If it's poisonous, who would dare to buy it in the future?
"They won't, but those who are interested will! For example, if the remnants of the previous dynasty frame the court and say that this is to prevent the people from buying private salt, do you think the people will believe it or not?"
After Jiang Youzhen’s analysis, Li Dongsheng also felt that it was possible, and he felt scared just thinking about it.
"But it's a bit difficult to change people's minds now."
"That's right! But no matter what, our government can't be too strong, otherwise the people will rebel and things will only get messed up. Now the people in this city all give a thumbs up to the gang leader Chen Xiaotian. If we go to war with Chen Xiaotian directly, we will lose the support of the people.
By then, if the civilians and bandits are united, we might not even be able to leave the city. If the law does not punish the masses, the death will be in vain. "
Jiang Youzhen sighed, "For them, the people's hearts can be used!"
"Can the people's hearts be used?" Li Dongsheng murmured these four words and now had a deep understanding of them.
"Your Majesty is right. If we continue to allow this person to develop, it will become a serious problem!" Li Dongsheng clenched his fist.
"So what are your plans for the next step?" This was the first time Li Dongsheng faced such a situation, so he asked with a frown.
"Sir, the person you are waiting for has arrived." Qing Lang suddenly came into the room to report.
"Please come in quickly!"
A look of surprise flashed in Jiang Youzhen's eyes. They were finally here!
Li Dongsheng was wondering who it was when he saw a man in a cloak being led in by Qing Lang.
He lowered his hood and saluted, "I, Xiuzhou Supervisor Zheng Quanhai, greet the Imperial Envoy!"
"There's no need to be so polite, Censor Zheng. Please stand up quickly!" Jiang Youzhen stepped forward and helped the other person up.
"Sir, you are finally here! Sir Xu was stabbed to death, and I am still in fear. Those people are so powerful that not only Lin'an Prefecture and Dongzhou fell, but even our Xiuzhou Salt Field is in cahoots with them!
I have been hiding here and there with the evidence in my arms. If you hadn't sent someone to pick me up, I would have never been able to reach Lin'an Prefecture."
Zheng Quanhai was very emotional, and Jiang Youzhen quickly led him to the table and sat him down.
"Don't worry, Censor Zheng. Let's talk slowly." Jiang Youzhen said and ordered Qing Lang, "Qing Lang, go prepare some food for Lord Zheng."
"There's no rush for this, sir. I brought a lot of evidence. The salt fields in Xiuzhou were in cahoots with those people, working together with the salt warehouse."
As he spoke, he took out the account books and seals tied to his body and said, "After you sent a letter from the capital saying that you would thoroughly investigate the case, I started to collect evidence."
Li Dongsheng was very surprised. "Since you said they were colluding, why didn't you report it to the court?"
Zheng Quanhai looked at Li Dongsheng. He had previously thought that he was Jiang Youzhen's confidant.
"This is Mr. Li, my aide." Jiang Youzhen had no intention of revealing Li Dongsheng's identity.
"Oh! Mr. Li." Zheng Quanhai nodded and then began to explain.
"Why didn't I report it? In fact, I don't know how many memorials I wrote back to the capital, but none of them were heard.
Later, my cousin Huang Andao was promoted to Right Censor-in-Chief. I thought that the memorial could be sent directly to the emperor through my cousin, but who would have thought that my cousin had offended the Third Prince because of a previous case, and was being watched too closely by the Third Prince's people. In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, I had to hold back. "
Zheng Quanhai sighed repeatedly as he spoke, "It is all thanks to my caution that I have survived these years.
But when they heard that the Imperial Envoy was coming to investigate the assassination of Censor Xu, they went crazy, fearing that I had evidence in my hands. They had only assassinated before, but this time they wanted to kill openly. If the envoy hadn't sent someone to help, my life would be in danger."
"You've suffered a lot, Censor Zheng. When I return to Beijing this time, I will definitely report your hard work and great contributions to the emperor." Jiang Youzhen patted the other person's shoulder, and the other person almost burst into tears.
"I am not afraid of those rats, but I have been the Imperial Censor of Salt Inspection for three years, but I am helpless against them. Even if I return to the capital safely, it will be a regret in my life."
Zheng Quanhai's eyes were moist. Jiang Youzhen looked at him with deep emotion and couldn't help but sigh that there were still people who could do things in the court.
Zheng Quanhai was chosen because, as the Imperial Censor of Xiuzhou Salt, he must know whether there was any collusion between the salt fields and salt warehouses.
Jiang Youzhen is not sure whether Dongzhou Salt Field was involved.
Zheng Quanhai is Huang Andao's cousin, and Huang Andao owes Jiang Youzhen a favor, so naturally she has to get it back.
And now, Zheng Quanhai brought her a surprise.