Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2223 Much the same 13.0

"I'm not surprised at all after hearing this!" Jin Miaomiao sneered, "They really won't cry until they see the coffin, and won't turn back until they hit the wall."

"Not accurate enough." Shen Cha patted her. "They won't cry even if they see a coffin, and they won't turn back even if they hit a wall, right?"

"In fact, most clans are still very good. The more prestigious they are, the more they care about their reputation, and the less likely they are to do something that would damage their reputation. These are usually the less famous ones."

"That's right." Jin Miaomiao nodded. "Now that the big clans have stopped their activities, they feel that it is easy for them to come forward. However, the way they choose to come forward is completely different from others, isn't it?" She counted on her fingers and said, "Either they colluded with the Qinglian Sect or colluded with Liaoxia to sell private salt, ironware, and tea. Aren't they all trying to use external forces to cause trouble for the Great Xia royal family and prove that the Great Xia royal family is incompetent and can't do anything without these clans? They set such a tone for the Great Xia royal family and the courtiers of Great Xia. It is natural for them to demand participation in government affairs and abolish the prohibition of clans from participating in the imperial examinations and becoming officials." She spread her hands. "They are destroying Great Xia everywhere, and they still think they are so powerful!"

"For their own interests and the interests of their families, they are willing to sell out the interests of the country. These clans are really wise! If we really hand it over to them, it may become like the previous dynasty in less than half a year." Jin Jing snorted and said, "Although the previous dynasty lasted for hundreds of years under their governance, it has always been struggling to survive, constantly relying on compromise and seeking peace to survive. I remember that Uncle Shen and Uncle Xue both said that our ancestors had to defend against enemies from the border while fighting with the people of the previous dynasty."

"That's right!" Yan Bo patted Qin Zheng gently, "Isn't that the case with your uncle Qin's family? It's all the fault of certain clans!"

"So, I don't understand, where do they get the confidence to think that this land cannot exist without them?" Jin Jing rolled her eyes and said unhappily, "On the one hand, they smuggle those banned items to make a profit, but on the other hand, doesn't it strengthen Liao and Jin? In the end, won't the people at the border suffer? Is this the court that they themselves said they must rule?"

"That's right!" Merlin also said indignantly, "If they really were allowed to take power, they would sell Daxia sooner or later. They would also have to see if they had earned enough gold and silver in their own homes!"

Qin Zheng looked at the three indignant children, then at Shen Haolin, Shen Cha and Xue Ruitian, and raised his eyebrows slightly at them.

"Why aren't you talking? Don't you have any opinions you want to express?"

"There's nothing much to say. This is all expected." Shen Cha exchanged glances with Shen Haolin and Xue Ruitian and sighed softly. "We've already experienced their shamelessness and their unscrupulous pursuit of personal gain. Look at what the Ning family has done. Isn't that enough to be surprised? Besides, this is just the beginning. They have done many things that are much more serious than this, so much so that they don't think there is anything wrong with doing something even more unexpected."

"Yes!" Xue Ruitian sighed softly, "The business of smuggling salt and iron is relatively normal. It has existed in every dynasty, right? As long as there is a way, many people will choose to take risks. But they still do a business, which is too outrageous."

"There's another one?" Jin Miaomiao looked at Xue Ruitian and frowned slightly, "What is it?"

"Don't you know? A few years ago in Jiangnan, a shocking case occurred that shocked the entire court. However, this case happened after the Jiangning Prefecture case, about ten years later."

"In other words, they previously made a case in Jiangning Prefecture, and later made another shocking case?"

"That's right." Xue Ruitian nodded. "This case happened in Yangzhou Prefecture. Several prominent families have trained a group of people. They do nothing but go to the streets to kidnap children between ten months and three years old, whether they are boys or girls. After kidnapping them, they classify them and sell those that meet their requirements to the nobles of Liao and Jin. The rest...are gone." He looked at Shen Cha. "You should know about this case, right? If you investigate the Qinglian Sect, you should be able to find it, right?"

"Yes, in this case, they are connected with the Qinglian Sect, and the Qinglian Sect is responsible for helping to provide them with transportation." When mentioning this case, Shen Cha's face suddenly became ugly. "I remember that it was recorded in the file that during that period, there were suddenly many brothels and mansions in the territory of Liaojin, and the girls and boys in them were not from Liaojin, but from Xia, that is, they came from Changzhou Prefecture. Of course, they will definitely not come out from ten months to three years old. Generally, they will start to appear in these places when they are six or seven years old. Many nobles in Liaojin like little girls, and there are also many who like little boys. If you like them, you only need to pay a sum of money to take them home. If you don't like them after taking them back, you can sell them again." She sighed softly and said, "Their fate can be imagined. The lucky ones may return to their homeland, but most of them are unfortunate. When they are found, there may be only a corpse left, and some may not even have a corpse."

"What a bunch of beasts!"

"But they don't think so." Shen Cha glanced at the indignant Merlin, chuckled, and said, "After they were caught, they confessed their actions and didn't think there was anything wrong with what they did. They even thought that they were the benefactors who saved those children and they should be grateful."

"Why?" Jin Miaomiao slammed the table fiercely, "Why?"

"Because even if these children stay in Daxia, they may not grow up, or they may not avoid being sold by their families."

"I see." After hearing what Xue Ruitian said, Jin Miaomiao immediately understood, "They are children from poor families, and those families that only value boys and despise girls, right?"

"Yes." Shen Cha nodded, "Of course, not only those children were abducted, but also sold by their families."

"Although the economy was bad in the past few years, people wouldn't sell their children, right? Jiangnan is a rich place." Jin Miaomiao couldn't help shaking her head. "I can't tell whether it's because their parents are too abominable, or because these traffickers are too abominable."

"Each has its own abominations!" Shen Cha touched his chin and took a sip of tea. "Just like the salt and iron trade, these noble families have done this kind of business more than once or twice. They have been doing this kind of business for a long time, and the earliest can be traced back to the previous dynasty." "Xiao Cha, what do you mean?" Jin Miaomiao couldn't help swallowing, "has this business been going on for several generations?"

"You heard it right, Xiaocha means this." Qin Zheng raised his eyebrows slightly, "Do you know the Xie family in Wujiang Prefecture and the Sun family in Qingyue?" Seeing Jin Miaomiao nod, he continued, "They started out by relying on this."

"Aren't they a well-known family of good people? They actually made their fortune by being human traffickers? This is unbelievable!"

"It is true that this is a family of good people, but it is also true that their ancestors accumulated their wealth by being human traffickers. However, they were forced to do this. They did not kidnap children to sell, but the first ones they sold were their own children."

"Because you are poor? Can't afford it?"

"Yes!" Qin Zheng nodded. "Their two families were originally from the same village and were neighbors. The first time they came into contact with this was because someone in their family was seriously ill and needed very precious medicinal materials. The medicine was very expensive. They had many children, plus the high medical expenses, so they had no choice but to sell their children with great pain. The money from the sale was exchanged for medicinal materials. At first, they sold their children to the palace. In the last years of the previous dynasty, because there were no female relatives, they needed a large number of eunuchs. Many families who could not make ends meet began to sell their children. The price of a young boy who is young and good-looking is relatively high. The Xie family and the Sun family caught up with this period. They each had more than ten boys, and finally sold seven or eight of them, which really made a lot of money. In addition, the patient died not long after, and even the cost of medicine was saved. They made their first pot of gold. Later, they made this business on a certain scale, and relatives and neighbors who needed this would come to them. Later, people from a hundred miles around came to them, and gradually they became famous. "

"So, they don't kidnap children, but wait for them to come to them, right?"

"Yes, in the last few decades of the previous dynasty, except for the aristocratic families, everyone had a hard time. Selling children was actually the norm. If there was someone who knew the ins and outs of this business, he could get some information about his own children, which was much better than those evil-hearted people, wasn't it?" Qin Zheng sighed and continued, "It's just that after the fall of the previous dynasty, both families retired from this business. After all, their fortunes were not legitimate, and even if they were forced by the situation, they did a lot of bad and immoral things, which might bring disaster to their descendants. Therefore, in the next hundred years, both families had people who became monks or nuns since childhood."

"Becoming a monk?" Jin Miaomiao and Meilin looked at each other and said, "Is it to forgive sins?"

"First, to forgive the sins of the ancestors, second, to pray for the children who passed through their hands, and also to pray for the future generations. Not only that, the clansmen of these two families have also done a lot of good deeds, and many famous and great good people have emerged in the past hundred years. So, over time, their reputations have gradually improved. Otherwise, how can they become a family of good deeds?"

"I see." Jin Miaomiao nodded. "But no matter what, they were forced to do so by the situation. Although what they did was not a good thing, at that time, it was also hard to say whether they saved some families. At least both the parents who reluctantly sold their children and the children who were sold had a chance to survive in the troubled times. But those Jiangnan families who were not ashamed but proud of it were not forced by the situation, but purely for their own interests, and they harbored evil intentions. Anyway, they were not good people."

"They are indeed not good people." Qin Zheng raised his eyebrows slightly, smiled at Jin Miaomiao, and said, "I have no other purpose in talking about this case, except to tell you that they have no bottom line or principles, and even no humanity."

"Yes, after all, in their eyes, people and human lives are commodities that can be bought and sold, not to mention salt and iron!"

"Hearing this, it seems that Second Grandpa's investigation will be very difficult." Shen Cha looked at Shen Haolin, Xue Ruitian, Qin Zheng and Yan Bo, "Jiangning Prefecture, although it doesn't seem to be mentioned as often as prefectures like Yangzhou Prefecture, Songjiang Prefecture, and Changzhou Prefecture, and it doesn't seem to be as famous as these prefectures, but it seems to have produced many celebrities, and in terms of wealth, it is not much worse than those famous prefectures."

"A typical example of someone who made a fortune quietly." Shen Haolin nodded. "Because there are many merchants coming and going from Jiangning Prefecture, there are also many escort agencies and martial arts schools. Probably, the escort agencies and martial arts schools in other prefectures combined do not have as many as those in Jiangning Prefecture."

"So scary?" Shen Cha frowned slightly, "Don't they look down on warriors?"

"How can a Jianghu person be the same as a soldier?" Qin Zheng felt a little tired from sitting, so he stood up, found an empty place, and slowly started to practice boxing to stretch his muscles. He said, "Many children of aristocratic families are both talented in literature and martial arts."

"That's right." Yan Bo and Qi Bo said in unison. The two looked at each other, and Qi Bo, who had lived in Jiangnan for many years, continued to explain, "Many famous swordsmen and knights in the world are from aristocratic families, and many aristocratic families also have businesses like escort agencies and martial arts schools."

"I've heard of that, too." Jin Jing touched his chin. "Many escort agencies and martial arts schools in Jiangnan originated from Jiangning Prefecture, right?"

"That's right." Qin Zheng continued to slowly practice his health-preserving fist and said, "Even if the Second Master borrowed people from Mr. Liu, he was still a little stretched during the investigation. After all, there are quite a lot of shops and families involved. In order to prevent their private transactions from being discovered, many shops have hired guards from the escort agency. If he does anything unusual, he will be targeted."

"That's right." Shen Cha thought for a moment, "Then what is Second Grandfather going to do?"

"He didn't know this at the time, so he was spotted after just two or three days of wandering around the city."

"Being followed?" Shen Cha watched Qin Zheng boxing, and he stood up, walked to Qin Zheng's side, and started boxing with him. He couldn't help but laugh, "Being followed already? Isn't it a little too early to be exposed?"