Fenghou

Chapter 1059
"It's so late, why are you shouting?" Zhang Tai was deaf in one ear, and his hearing was not very good, so he didn't hear the alarm bell just now.

"Father, the officers and soldiers have killed the island!"

"what?"

Zhang Tai was taken aback. The officers and soldiers actually killed the island, which had never happened in twenty years. He asked anxiously, "How many people are there?"

"Probably hundreds of people!"

There were only a few hundred people, Zhang Tai ordered: "Kill them all!"

"Father, the other party is too strong. We brothers can't resist at all. We are almost killed by them. Father, run away!"

Zhang Tai also became flustered, he ran back to the study, took the thickest book from the bookshelf, put it in his arms, and fled to the back mountain with his son and several subordinates.

Zhong Huan sent another [-] soldiers to Changshan Island, and at the same time withdrew [-] water ghosts. The water ghosts boarded the boat, and one after another the warships began to hunt around the island for those who tried to escape.

As the sky gradually dawned, the killing of the Western Army on the island also stopped, and there was nothing left to kill. The commanders, soldiers, stewards, accountants, and their family members under Zhang Tai, the salt lord, were all killed, men, women, old and young. , dozens of young women who were caught on the island as prostitutes, and a dozen maids in the main pavilion.

In the square, the corpses of hundreds of men were lying flat. Eight boatmen tremblingly came to identify the corpses. They had been sailing for ten years, and they all knew Zhang Tai and the important men.

"This is Ma Xin, the chief steward!" Someone recognized a corpse.

Soon, more and more corpses of important figures were identified, "This is Zhang Tai's eldest son Zhang Hong, this is Zhang Tai's chief accountant Zhao Dakuan, and this is Zhang Tai's third son Zhang Sa."

After a while, all important figures were identified, except Zhang Tai and his second son Zhang Dan.

Deng Jinshan frowned. Zhang Tai's maid had confirmed that both Zhang Tai and his second son were on the island, so where did they hide?

At this time, someone suddenly shouted: "I got it, I got Zhang Tai!"

Deng Jinshan was overjoyed and rushed to greet them, only to see more than a dozen water ghosts dragging the two of them over, both of them were tied behind their backs, they hid in a water sway, and were discovered by a warship before they were caught by the water ghosts Suddenly, all seven of his subordinates were killed.

Zhang Tai saw a group of them and gave them a vicious look. The boatmen were all frightened and turned around one after another, fearing that Zhang Tai would recognize them.

Deng Jinshan wanted to put on a show of prestige when the other party was caught, and suddenly flew into a rage. He slapped Zhang Tai on the face several times, grabbed his hair, went to several maids, kicked him and knelt down, "Is this Zhang Tai? ?”

Zhang Tai had already resigned to his fate with his eyes closed, and the maidservants trembled in fright, nodded, "It's him!"

"Put his hood on!"

Deng Jinshan gave an order, and several soldiers took Zhang Tai's hood away in a black bag.

The second person is Zhang Dan, the son of Zhang Tai, a whore who commits all kinds of crimes. He has insulted all the maids. Deng Jinshan found out his identity, kicked Zhang Dan down, stepped on his back, and stabbed him severely. He cut off his head, and the maidservants exclaimed in fright.

He only needs Zhang Tai, the salt lord, and the others are meaningless.

At this time, Zhong Huan came to the island, and he led his men to kill the fleeing soldiers on the periphery to prevent Zhang Tai, the great salt lord, from escaping. When he heard that Zhang Tai had been captured, Zhong Huan rushed over.

The reason why Zhong Huan refused to go to the island was that he could not bear to see so many women, children and the elderly killed. Although they were the family members of the Yan Xiao, they would all be beheaded in the end. This is how the Yan Xiao on Sichuan Road cleaned up. , Private salt was completely banned.

Of course, Zhong Huan would not interfere with Deng Jinshan's murder. His Royal Highness King Yong sent Deng Jinshan to be his deputy. It was obvious that he wanted to use bloody means to deal with Yan Xiao.

Although Deng Jinshan was rather reckless in his actions, when he was in Bashu, he often killed people without leaving any confession, so that the money for several Bashu salt lords has not been found so far, so Wang Hao is also very annoyed with him.

But Chong Huan also had to admit that he needed a bloody barber like Deng Jinshan.

Deng Jinshan hurried forward to salute, "Report to the commander, Zhang Tai was caught, and his three sons and all the main subordinates did not escape."

Chong Huan glanced at Zhang Tai, who was sitting on the ground in the distance, wearing a black hood, and asked, "Can you find the list of salt dealers?"

"I found it. I found it in the accounting room. The quantity of goods purchased by each family, the amount of money, and the content are very detailed!"

Zhong Huan asked again, "Have you looked at the warehouse?"

"I didn't check the material warehouse, there are about [-] rock salt in the salt warehouse"

"I'm talking about the vault!"

Chong Huan was a little dissatisfied and said: "King Yong wants to use their wealth to make up for the loss of salt tax, and the treasury is the most important!"

Deng Jinshan scratched his head and said: "I have also checked the treasury, but it seems that there is not much money, only tens of thousands of guan, and I have not seen any silver or gold. It is estimated that he is hiding in a cave. I will arrange soldiers to search immediately."

Chong Huan shook his head and said: "Zhang Tai has been a salt lord for twenty years, and no government has come to punish him. There is no need for him to hide in a cave. His wealth cannot be on the island, it must be outside."

Chong Huan thought for a while and then asked, "Have you searched him and found anything?"

"Have!"

A soldier handed a thick book to Zhong Huan, and Zhong Huan took it. It turned out to be Wang Anshi's "Three Classics and New Meanings", tied with a ribbon. This book was very familiar to Zhong Huan, and he almost memorized it. As soon as he got it, he knew it was wrong, the weight was wrong.

He untied the ribbon, opened the book, and it was indeed empty. There was a wooden box, and when he opened the wooden box, there was half a piece of jade inside, and a storage certificate from Baoji Cabinet Workshop. After a closer look, it turned out to be Lin'an. Certificate of Deposit of Po Kee Cabinet.

This is similar to the passbook of later generations, half jade is the password, this guy is very cunning!He actually stored his wealth in Lin'an.

Deng Jinshan hurriedly said: "The humble official will interrogate him carefully to see if he has hidden wealth elsewhere?"

Zhong Huan nodded, "Tell him, if he confesses honestly, I will keep his whole body, and if the father and son are buried together, if he still refuses to confess, then it's up to you!"

"Humble job understands, humble job has plenty of ways to make him speak!"

In the evening, Zhang Tai, who was devoured by tens of thousands of ants, finally confessed.

The three caves of the cunning rabbit, his property is hidden in three places, one on the island, which is the least, and one is hidden in the family ancestral hall in Poyang County, his hometown, with hundreds of thousands of coins.

The most wealth is stored in the warehouse of Lin'an Baoji Cabinet. He is the second largest customer of Baoji Cabinet. He has rented three warehouses. As for how much wealth is stored, he does not remember. The money withdrawal certificate is in the box. Baoji cabinet store deposit certificate and half piece of jade.

At noon the next day, Deng Jinshan sent news from Poyang County that he had found copper coins hidden in the family ancestral hall, a total of [-] coins.

Zhong Huan immediately ordered Zhang Tai to be executed by piercing his heart, and the four bodies of his father and son were buried together.

Two days later, hundreds of three-thousand stone cargo ships from Jiangling Mansion arrived at Changshan Island and began to transport large amounts of property back to Jiangling.

After the inner guard cavalry retreated from Changsha, the salt dealer Wang Conglin was not in a hurry to return to Changsha. He was worried that the inner guard was playing hard to capture, so he waited patiently.

On the tenth day, he received a letter from his eldest son, in which he said that the internal guards had not come here to search for smuggled salt, but to arrest the imperial court's spies on South Jingnan Road.

Wang Conglin heaved a long sigh of relief. He also felt that something was wrong. If he came to investigate illegal salt, how could he use cavalry?
Wang Conglin immediately packed his bags and got up and returned to Changsha with two concubines.

But soon after his painting boat left the Xiangjiang River, three warships surrounded him.

"Master, what ships are they?" The two concubines panicked in fright.

"Don't panic, hold on! Is there anything serious?"

Wang Conglin forced himself to calm down and appease the two concubines.

But when more than a dozen inner guard soldiers jumped on the boat and rushed in front of him, Wang Conglin collapsed to the ground in fright, his face was pale, and he couldn't speak a word.

Three days later, the inner guard beheaded more than [-] mouths of Wang Conglin's family in Changsha County, and confiscated all his property. More than a dozen officials, including Tanzhou Tongjuan, County Chancellor, County Lieutenant, and Escort officials, were also arrested. catch.

Immediately afterwards, the internal guards launched a comprehensive arrest in Hengzhou, Shaozhou, Yongzhou, Daozhou, Quanzhou, Chenzhou, Jingzhou, Yuanzhou, Wugang Army, Guiyang Prison and other places, except for the salt dealers in Yongzhou and Chenzhou who ran away. In addition, all other salt dealers were arrested, and suppressed with the most severe method of ransacking and confiscating all property, and all officials involved were also arrested.

The inner guards resolutely cracked down on the salt lords and private salt dealers. In the following ten years, there was no more private salt on Jinghu South Road, and the other two salt lords were so scared that they quit Jinghu South Road and never set foot again.

But this is only half of the campaign against illegal salt.

(End of this chapter)