Fenghou

Chapter 830 News
Early the next morning, Chen Qing came to the official room, and as soon as he sat down, he ordered Chao Qing to invite Zhao Kai.

After taking a sip of tea, Chen Qing took out the letter written by Zhong Huan and read it carefully. A lot of news came from his father Zhong Hong, which made Chen Qing hear of the name Chuan Li School for the first time.

At this time, Zhao Kai walked in quickly, and said with a smile: "The king of the county is looking for me?"

When Chen Qing met Zhao Kai in Sichuan, he was not in good health, giving people the feeling that he would not live for a few years, but after arriving in Jingzhao, his health was getting better and better, not only energetic, but also walking vigorously , completely like a different person.

Zhao Kai is currently in charge of finance, taxation and material circulation, and he has contributed a lot to the smooth flow of money in Sichuan and Shaanxi.

Chen Qing asked Zhao Kai to sit down, and asked the tea boy to serve tea, "What does Counselor Zhao think about Li Yi's assassination?"

Zhao Kai's eyes were gloomy, and he said in a deep voice for a long time: "It can only be said that these people have gone crazy for their own interests."

"Who are these people, the Chuanli faction?"

Zhao Kai nodded and said: "The king of the county also knows the Chuanli faction, yes, it is them, he claims to be a royalist faction, and he supports the imperial court. So, spent most of the time fighting them."

"Is it so cruel? An assassination method was used."

Zhao Kai sighed, "There is a salt inspection office under the transfer envoy. There are ten officials in it, and nine of them died unexpectedly. The king of the county, the salt dispute in Bashu has always been a life-and-death struggle, and Li Yi was assassinated because of it."

"So sure?"

Zhao Kai nodded, "If the government takes all the salt tax in Sichuan, it should be more than three million guan a year, but in reality we only get [-] million guan a year, but last year the salt tax dropped to [-] guan. It can be seen that private salt is rampant. At the beginning of the year, the Ministry of Internal Affairs deployed all the prefectures in Sichuan to crack down on private salt. Basically, there was a lot of thunder and little rain, but the Chengdu government was serious. It has hanged more than a dozen salt lords in a row. I am very worried about Li Yi's It’s safe, and I wrote a letter to him specially, I didn’t expect him to be assassinated so soon.”

"Aside from attacking the salt owl, is there no other way?"

Zhao Kai smiled wryly, "Sichuan's financial and tax benefits are a piece of cake, only one big piece, the government takes the big one, and the local gentry can only take the small one. There is no way to reconcile it, unless the two families work together to deceive the common people."

"So the two sides can only face each other head-on!"

"This is unavoidable. Please forgive me, the king of the county. Even the civil servants know that you will die or I will live. Therefore, Li Yi was assassinated, but the king of the county is so hesitant. It shouldn't be!"

Chen Qing said lightly: "I'm actually thinking about whether to take advantage of this matter and eradicate it together with the royalists."

Zhao Kai thought for a while and said: "If this is the case, the commotion is too big. I suggest that we can clean it up together, but the final result is different. If there is no harm to the people, just move them out of Sichuan."

Chen Qing nodded, "He needs to get accurate information from Bashu before he can do it."

After Zhong Huan was threatened, he asked Zheng Ping for help, and sent his parents to Hanzhong overnight to avoid disaster. Zheng Ping gave him another [-] elite soldiers, plus [-] of his own men. Continue to investigate the case of Li Yi's murder.

In fact, there are still many clues in Li Yi's investigation of the case. First of all, it is related to his attack on Yan Xiao. All over Bashu are attacking Yan Xiao, but basically it is thunderous and rainy. Several salt lords have effectively curbed the rampant phenomenon of private salt in Chengdu.

But Yan Xiao is actually a running dog of the Chuanli faction. In the final analysis, the root cause lies in the Chuanli faction. He needs to understand the specific situation of the Chuanli faction.

On this day in the government office, Zhong Huan got an important piece of information. Li Yi's aide, Lu Chuan, disappeared immediately after Li Yi was assassinated. This Lu Chuan has a lot of important information. He may be bribed by the other party, but he may also be afraid of absconding. .

At night, Zhong Huan summed up the investigation of the past two days in his room. This is a good habit of his. Every two days, he has to record all the big and small things, so as not to forget, and every time he sums up, he will have a new report. discovery.

No, he suddenly discovered the problem of the poisonous arrow. The poisonous arrow that shot Li Yi was exactly the same as the poisonous arrow that warned him. This means that after the assassination of Li Yi, the other party did not completely evacuate Chengdu, but continued to monitor. How do you know you're coming?

Chong Huan tried his best to recall the situation at that time. After they entered the city, they immediately went to find Zheng Ping, and then stayed at the inn.

"Station!"

The idea flashed across Zhong Huan like lightning, there must be the other party's eyeliner in the station.

There are not many people in the post station, one steward, two deputy stewards, and then several clerks, grooms, chefs, the bottom has little to do with him, Zhong Huan's target is on the deputy steward who is in charge of receiving them, this person is called Li Jin.

Do you want to catch him directly?
Zhong Huan thought about it, and decided not to startle the snake, but to observe for a while before speaking.
Zhong Huan immediately arranged for two highly skilled men to monitor Li Jin.

In the early morning of the next day, just as Chong Huan was leaving the house, just as he was getting on his horse, a little beggar sneaked over, smiled, handed him a note, and ran away quickly.

Zhong Huan opened the note, and there was only one sentence on it, "Meet you at Wangsi Teahouse as soon as possible." '

Chong Huan had lived in Chengdu for ten years, so of course he knew where Wang's Teahouse was, so he urged his horse and a few of his men to walk in the direction of Shuixian Bridge in a calm manner.

Wangsi Teahouse is under the Narcissus Bridge, where Li Yi was stabbed, very close.

In the morning, the teahouse was already open for business, but there were not many customers. As soon as he entered the gate of the teahouse, a waiter came up to him and said, "Is that Mr. Zhong?"

Zhong Huan nodded, "Is anyone waiting for me?"

"Exactly, please follow the villain."

Zhong Huan asked his men to drink tea in the lobby, and he followed the staff to the second floor, opened the door and entered an elegant room, only to see a very elegant middle-aged man sitting inside.

"You are Mr. Lu!" Zhong Huan said with a slight smile.

The middle-aged man gave a thumbs up and praised: "As expected of an inner guard, I'm in Luchuan!"

"I'm thinking, if Mr. Lu is not from the other party, then it's time to show up these two days."

Lu Chuan sighed, "How could I belong to them, they hunted me down everywhere."

"why?"

"Because I know too much. To be precise, Prefect Li knows too much."

The two sat down and poured a cup of tea each.

Lu Chuan sighed and said, "Prefect Li actually died because of his balance. For so many years, he has been trying to balance the interests of several parties. He wants to ensure the wealth and taxes of the Western Army, and he doesn't want to over-exploit the interests of the local tyrants. He has repeatedly warned the local gentry that enough is enough, otherwise he will attack. His warnings have always been effective, but the warnings have been ineffective since last year. Last year, they were crazy about illegal salt sales. The salt tax in Chengdu Prefecture alone was reduced by [-]%. The same is true in other places, so this year, Li Zhifu started to crack down on Yanxiao, which can be regarded as a complete turnaround.

Just five days ago, he received a warning letter. Someone warned him not to execute the salt lord Wang Jian, otherwise his life would be exchanged for his life, but Li Zhifu was unmoved and hanged Wang Jian publicly the next day . "

"Who is this Wang Jian?"

"He is the nephew of Guozhou scholar Cao Wang Dongyuan."

"Who is this Wang Dongyuan?" Zhong Huan asked.

"He is one of the three leaders of the Chuanli faction."

Chong Huan was overjoyed, "Who is in the Chuanli faction that you actually know?"

Lu Chuan smiled wryly and said, "How could I not know that Li Zhifu has been dealing with them all the time, and they all sent me to negotiate with them, Wang Dongyuan of Guozhou, Li Jinxiao of Hezhou, and Zhang Jian of Chongqing Prefecture."

"What is the relationship between Wu Miao, the governor of Hezhou, and He Qiangong, the governor of Changzhou, and them?"

"Wu Miao, the governor of Hezhou, is Li Jinxiao's son-in-law, and He Qiangong, the governor of Changzhou, is funded by the Zhang family in Chongqing."

Lu Chuan took out a thick piece of information and handed it to Zhong Huan, "This is the information I have collected from dealing with them over the years, and it will definitely be useful to you, but I remind you that it is best to leave Chengdu Mansion first, or hide in the military camp. "

Zhong Huan took the information and asked in puzzlement, "Why?"

"Because they deployed at least a few thousand people in Chengdu, I guess they are going to rebel. They have set up a net in Chengdu, including the station where you live. Hey! It's all connived by Governor Li's balancing strategy. Assassinated, I will flee."

"Why don't Mr. Lu go to the barracks with me! Maybe the king of the county wants to see you."

Lu Chuan's eyes lit up, "The king of the county is coming?"

"I'm not sure, but I heard from General Zheng that it's possible."

Lu Chuan pondered for a moment, then nodded resolutely, "Okay! I'll go with you."

(End of this chapter)