Sign in: The female supporting character in the book disrupted the heroine's glory

Chapter 787: Selling illegal salt is equivalent to treason

Jiang Youzhen went forward to take a look, and saw that the salt at the cut had already solidified into lumps, and looked as if it had been soaked.

"Your Excellency, I am the one who deserves to die! We are located in the south of the Yangtze River, close to the canal, and the humidity is heavy. Salt is easily affected by moisture."

Jiang Youzhen glanced at him, then stepped forward, observed carefully for a while, dipped a little with his finger and put it in his mouth. Then he grabbed a handful and twisted it in his hand. At this time, the two ambassadors were already sweating profusely.

"You tell me, is this all salt? After being soaked by water vapor, it didn't melt, but all condensed into lumps."

Jiang Youzhen grabbed the salt block in his hand and walked over to the two of them. He sneered and said, "The stone is ground very finely! It must have taken a lot of manpower, right?"

The two were immediately shocked, and the ambassador said, "No... I don't know what the imperial envoy is talking about."

"Look carefully, what are these tiny particles? They are just rocks. Even if they are ground into small pieces, they cannot become salt."

Jiang Youzhen sneered, then asked Qin Yandong to carry down the other sacks and randomly selected a few to split open for inspection.

"I think you are quite courageous! More than half of the salt in this room is mixed with stones. Since no one from the court is coming, you think this salt warehouse is your own, right?"

Jiang Youzhen pointed the sword at the ambassador, who took a few steps back in fear.

"Please spare me, sir! Please spare me! I was fooled by these people. They must have replaced the salt. I really didn't know!"

"Then what use are you?" Jiang Youzhen said in a flat tone, but the ambassador and the deputy ambassador were already trembling with fear.

"Go open the other rooms and draw randomly." Jiang Yi and the others immediately took the order.

They all held swords in their hands, and those people didn't dare to stop them. The two ambassadors winked at the guards, but the guards all looked embarrassed. With the imperial sword in front of them, how dare they stop them? It would be in vain if they died!

"The prefect has arrived!"

Just when they were in despair, the prefect finally arrived.

Zhou Qing hurried as fast as he could and ran to the warehouse after getting off the carriage.

As soon as he entered the warehouse, he saw a young man in front of him watching everyone checking the salt bags. He couldn't help but think for a moment and suddenly calmed down.

"I am Zhou Qing, the prefect of Lin'an Prefecture, and I am here to see the Imperial Envoy!"

No matter what rank Jiang Youzhen is, he is an imperial envoy now, so he has to bow when he meets him.

"Your humble servant, Sun Wei, the co-magistrate of Lin'an Prefecture, pays respect to the Imperial Envoy!"

Jiang Youzhen glanced at the two of them, then his eyes fell on the prefect Zhou Qing.

"Sir Zhou, I have been ordered to thoroughly investigate the case of the assassination of the Salt Inspector Xu in Lin'an Prefecture. Why are you so late, Sir Zhou? Do you think you don't take us seriously?"

Jiang Youzhen's cold voice sounded, and Zhou Qing's eyebrows immediately raised, "You're here, why don't you tell me! How would I know you're here if you don't tell me?"

"Reporting to the Imperial Envoy, I was not aware that the Imperial Envoy had arrived in Lin'an Prefecture. I am sorry for not welcoming you from afar. Please forgive me!"

"No wonder you don't know! But the account book of the salt warehouse's inflow, outflow and loss is in the hands of Lord Zhou. Is it true?"

Zhou Qing looked at the two ambassadors beside him and saw them nodding. He hesitated for a moment before saying, "It was in my hands before, because I have to check the account books every three months. It's just..."

"Just what?" Jiang Youzhen ordered his men to keep moving, and she had someone bring a stool and sat down leisurely.

Zhou Qing remained calm upon seeing this. It seemed that this boy was going to intimidate him right away.

But he was not in a hurry, because he was not the one who was in a hurry anyway.

"But the account book was stolen before the New Year. This matter is really strange. I have been investigating it, but have found nothing so far." Zhou Qing said with a sigh.

"It was stolen in Lord Zhou's house? It was done by someone in the house? Lord Zhou must have some concerns. Why don't you let me investigate? I will definitely not bend the law for personal gain."

Zhou Qing's face changed. This kid was so strong.

"No need to bother you, sir. We have already checked and there is no suspicious person in the mansion. I think it must be a thief who sneaked into the mansion to steal."

"How important is the salt warehouse account book? How could it be lost? Logically, the government office should have a backup of the salt warehouse's annual account book, right? Why don't you please take out the backup, and I want to check the account book."

Jiang Youzhen's voice became colder and colder. These people dared to treat the imperial envoy so perfunctorily. This shows how difficult it was for Xu Zhanrong to investigate the case at that time.

"This? Oh! It's just a coincidence. Half a month ago, the warehouse where the government office kept the files caught fire accidentally. Many files were burned, and the account book of the salt warehouse was among them."

Jiang Youzhen looked at Zhou Qing. He had a round face and looked wealthy, but his eyes were rolling around, making him look shrewd.

That's right! If you're not smart, how can you gain a foothold in Lin'an Prefecture?

"This is Lord Zhou's dereliction of duty! All the account books were either stolen or not burned, which makes this official doubt Lord Zhou's motives."

Sun Wei behind Zhou Qing said nothing, just stood aside, watching his nose with his eyes and his heart with his nose.

"My Lord, I am loyal to the Emperor and the court! Otherwise, I would not have reported the murder of Lord Xu to the court immediately. If I had any ulterior motives, wouldn't that be like the thief crying thief? Don't you agree?"

Zhou Qing took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat off his face, smiling bitterly.

"Lord Xu was murdered, and the matter will be exposed sooner or later. If you know about it but don't report it, and then the investigation is led to Lord Zhou, wouldn't Lord Zhou be even more of a suspect?" Qin Yandong snorted coldly.

"I will never wrongly accuse a good person. If Lord Zhou is truly innocent, I will also report your hard work and great contributions to the emperor. But for now, Lord Zhou has to do his best to prove your innocence!"

As Jiang Youzhen spoke, he suddenly stood up and walked in front of Zhou Qing.

"Look! The account books have been destroyed. Do you have any other evidence to prove your innocence? Otherwise, even if you are not an accomplice of the rebellion, it would be a serious dereliction of duty."

"Treason?" Zhou Qing was confused.

"Yes! Selling private salt is the same crime as treason. Salt is one of the main taxes of this dynasty. If anyone dares to sell private salt, he is a traitor and his entire family should be executed!"

Jiang Youzhen stared into Zhou Qing's eyes, and Zhou Qing's heart suddenly trembled. He felt that the young man's gaze was as sharp as a torch, which made him feel uneasy.

"Sir! We have checked the other ten salt warehouses and randomly sampled twenty bags of salt. According to our statistics, 50% of the salt is adulterated with foreign substances."

Jiang Yi came over and showed the results of the registration and random inspection to Jiang Youzhen.

After Jiang Youzhen scanned it, he said, "The impurities include ground stones, soil, gravel, and even coarse salt?"

"Sir, this is actually very normal. After all, impurities will definitely be mixed in during the drying process." Tongzhi Sun Wei suddenly said.

"Half of the impurities are mixed in? Is this normal? What about the coarse salt? The coarse salt is only half made and is slightly toxic. I believe you two adults are aware of this, right? Are you trying to deceive me?"

Jiang Youzhen suddenly shouted, "I am from a humble background, but I am not the kind of person who is lazy and doesn't know how to grow crops!"