Do you know the long song of laughter?

Chapter 488 Departure
After the morning court session ended, news quickly spread that the government was going to conduct a thorough investigation into the salt administration.

No matter what others think, this matter has become a foregone conclusion.

It was naturally impossible for Zhao Ceying to complete the thorough investigation of the salt affairs alone. Before that, Zhao Zongquan had already selected some assistants.

What Li An didn't expect was that he was also among them.

In addition to him, Sheng Changbai was also selected from the Hanlin Academy.

Li An really wanted to refuse this assignment, firstly because Minglan was about to give birth, and secondly because it was somewhat dangerous.

However, he had no way of refusing. If he refused at this time, not only would those selected people follow suit, but Zhao Zongquan and Zhao Ceying would also have opinions about him.

On this day, all the selected officials received a notice asking them to go to Prince Huan's palace for discussions.

When Li An arrived at Prince Huan's mansion, many people had already arrived.

In the hall of Prince Huan's mansion, seven or eight officials were sitting separately in silence.

Li An saw that Sheng Changbai had also arrived and there was no one on his left, so he sat down next to him.

When Sheng Changbai saw Li An, he just nodded slightly. Now was not the time to talk.

After waiting for a while, a few more people came, and including Li An, there were a total of twelve people.

Most of these people looked unfamiliar to Li An. The only one he knew was Xia Shaohua, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice.

This person was promoted after Zhao Zongquan came to power.

This is normal. Zhao Zongquan must be aware that a thorough investigation of the salt affairs will affect the interests of many people, and most of the people selected are not valued and hold low official positions.

People like this don't have any background, so they will naturally seize the opportunity to show themselves.

After everyone arrived, Zhao Ceying arrived soon after.

"Your Highness Prince Huan, we pay our respects to you!" Everyone stood up and saluted.

"No gift!"

Zhao Ceying waved his hand with a smile, bowed to everyone, and said: "This time, I will thoroughly investigate the salt affairs, and I still need you to assist me wholeheartedly!"

"Your Highness, you are too polite. This is our duty!" Everyone hurriedly responded.

After Zhao Ceying sat down, he asked everyone to sit down and said, "I called you all here today to discuss how to investigate the salt affairs and where to start!"

"Your Highness, if you want to thoroughly investigate the salt business, you must first thoroughly investigate the salt fields. The salt fields of the Song Dynasty are scattered all over the country, but the Lianghuai Salt Field produces the most salt. I think we should investigate the Lianghuai Salt Field first. And we must do it quickly without any delay. Otherwise, even if there is a problem, it will have been destroyed by the time we arrive."

As Xia Shaohua holds the highest official position among all officials and works in the Ministry of Justice, he naturally has the most say.

"Minister Xia's words make sense. Do you have any different opinions?" Zhao Ceying asked.

No one spoke, Xia Shaohua was right.

A thorough investigation of the salt business must start from the source.

And the longer you delay, the more trouble you will have.

It was no secret that the imperial court wanted to conduct a thorough investigation of the salt business, and some nearby salt fields were probably already destroying evidence.

Even those who are far away can receive the message before they arrive.

It takes too long, and when they arrive, it will be very difficult to investigate.

There is no way around this.

The salt administration was corrupt, and countless people in the court were involved.

Even if some people are not directly involved, they still gain a lot of benefits secretly.

Unless you don't go through the court, just send someone to investigate directly.

However, this is simply not realistic.

Therefore, we must hurry to investigate the salt affairs.

The Lianghuai Salt Fields that Xia Shaohua mentioned were not one, but two.

Lianghuai refers to Huainan and Huaibei.

The salt producing areas of the Song Dynasty include not only coastal areas but also inland areas.

The Lianghuai Salt Field is the largest salt producing area, among which the Huainan Salt Field is located in the south of the Yangtze River. More than a dozen surrounding states rely on the Huainan Salt Field for supply.

These include prosperous areas in the south of the Yangtze River such as Jinling, Su, and Yang.

These places are also the hardest hit areas due to corruption in the salt administration and rampant smuggling of salt.

It is impossible to say that there are no problems with the Huainan Salt Field.

"Since everyone has no objection, let's check the Lianghuai Salt Field first and set off in three days. Everyone go back and prepare." Zhao Ceying said.

It’s not that he didn’t think about concealing his destination first, but ever since he took on the job of thoroughly investigating the salt business, countless eyes have been staring at him.

Moreover, many people can guess that the first choice should be the Lianghuai Salt Field, and there is no point in concealing it.

"Ziqian, please stay for a moment." Zhao Ceying said.

Li An, who was about to leave after bowing, stopped when he heard the words.

"Ziqian, sit down and talk."

After everyone left, Zhao Ceying waved to Li An and said, "The rest of the people were selected by our father. You were the one I specifically requested."

Li An smiled bitterly and said, "Your Highness, I really know nothing about salt affairs."

"Didn't you suggest to the prime minister before that if we want to reform, we can do it step by step. Investigating the salt administration is a good starting point. Why are you being so humble now?" Zhao Ceying said with a smile.

"Your Highness, I am occasionally quick-witted and can give advice, but not much else. To put it bluntly, I am only good at talking about military matters on paper," said Li An.

"That's enough. I actually don't know much about salt affairs. I have learned a lot during this period, but it is very one-sided. The reason I chose you, in addition to the recommendation of the prime minister, is also to let you stay by my side and give me some advice." Zhao Ceying said.

"Since Your Highness values ​​me so much, I will naturally assist Your Highness with all my heart!" Li An said.

"I know your wife is about to give birth, but you can't help with this matter if you stay in Bian Jing. If everything goes well, I will give you a vacation and let you go home to see her." Zhao Ceying comforted.

"Thank you, Your Highness." Li An said.

He had no choice at this point and could only do this.

As the two were talking, a eunuch hurried in.

"Your Highness!" the eunuch saluted with an anxious look on his face.

"Go ahead, Ziqian is not an outsider." Zhao Ceying waved his hand.

"Your Highness, many people have written to impeach the King's uncle for lending money at high interest rates and forcing civilians to death. The Emperor has ordered the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple to investigate the matter thoroughly," said the eunuch.

"what?"

Zhao Ceying was shocked, and it took him a while to calm down. He asked the eunuch who reported the news to retreat.

"Ziqian, what do you think about this?"

"Your Highness, even if this is true, it will not have much impact on Uncle Shen. Obviously someone wants to delay your Highness's departure time." Li An said.

With his reminder, Zhao Ceying had already discovered this matter and told Shen Congxing.

Shen Congxing was furious. Not only did he ignore Xiao Zou, he also dealt with the Zou brothers.

Usury lending was also stopped.

Now that several months have passed, someone has impeached Shen Congxing for this matter. Whether it is true or not is actually not important, the purpose is just to delay Zhao Ceying's departure time.

When a prince breaks the law, he shall be punished just as severely as a commoner. This is just what you need to listen to.

Even if someone is really forced to death, what can we do?
There was a high probability that Shen Congxing was just reprimanded and fined some salary.

If the situation is serious, we can just confine him to his home. We can't let him pay with his own life.

Shen Congxing was in charge of leading the troops for protection, and now that he was caught in a storm, he definitely couldn't leave Beijing. Either they had to replace him, or wait until Shen Congxing's problem was resolved.

No matter which one it is, it will take some time.

"That's right, I think so too. Now that the salt affairs have not been investigated yet, these people are anxious. I want to see how many problems are hidden in this." Zhao Ceying sneered.

"Your Highness, the matter of Uncle Shen cannot be resolved in three or five days. The best way now is to replace people. I think His Majesty thinks so too. But since those people can impeach Uncle Shen, they probably have ways to deal with the others. After all, the emperor doesn't have many people available." Li An reminded.

It’s not that Zhao Zongquan has no one to use, but this matter involves too many things, and someone is bound to take risks, so he has to send someone he trusts very much to accompany and protect him.

The only military generals Zhao Zongquan could trust were those he was close to in the palace.

Even if it was from the Zhongjing Marquis' Mansion, Zhao Zongquan might not dare to believe it completely.

This way, there are so many people to choose from.

"You're right!" Zhao Ceying's face changed and he said, "I have to go to the palace to remind my father."

"Your Highness, the net has been spread now, and reminders may not be useful. I have a very good candidate." Li An said.

"Who?"

"Gu Tingye!"

Li An said: "Gu Tingye had been at home in mourning. I'm afraid the people in the dark ignored him and must have been unprepared. Letting Gu Tingye lead the troops will definitely catch them off guard."

Li An suggested that Gu Tingye accompany him as a guard, also for the sake of his own life.

In fact, the officials are not the ones who pose the greatest threat to the thorough investigation of the salt administration.

Although officials will try every possible means to stop it, they will not do it with all their might.

After all, civil servants are equivalent to having a golden medal of immunity from death. The most serious punishment is exile, but they will not die.

The lighter punishment is just demotion or dismissal from office.

This is the most serious case.

However, if the salt affairs were to be thoroughly investigated, there would be too many people implicated. As the saying goes, the law does not punish everyone, so Zhao Zongquan might not impose too harsh a punishment.

The probability is that their financial resources have been cut off, but the people themselves are safe.

It is also possible that some officials are severely punished to serve as a warning to others.

As a result, many people will take a chance and think that they will not be the one to be punished.

Under such circumstances, they would prevent a thorough investigation of the salt business and it would be impossible to assassinate Zhao Ceying.

This would not only fail to prevent a thorough investigation of the salt business, but would instead provoke Zhao Zongquan's wrath, which would be of no benefit to them.

However, the salt administration was corrupt, and the cause included not only local officials but also salt merchants.

The Salt Gang is no joke.

In order to protect their own interests, these salt merchants kept many extremely vicious criminals.

The imperial court will not kill civil servants, but will not show mercy when killing these people.

Moreover, salt merchants are synonymous with wealth. If all the salt merchants who sell private salt are caught in one fell swoop, a large amount of money can be obtained immediately.

The salt merchants knew very well that once they found evidence, the imperial court would never let them go.

Ang Lee remembered that the original drama mentioned that there were many assassination attempts when the salt administration was under investigation.

To be honest, Li An doesn't believe in the abilities of people like Shen Congxing, and he thinks Gu Tingye is more reliable.

He is an entourage, and may be fine under Zhao Ceying's heavy protection, but it is hard to say for himself.

Therefore, Li An naturally hoped that the person leading the troops would be capable, so that he would be safer.

"I almost forgot about Zhong Huai." Zhao Ceying nodded when he heard this.

If it was difficult to use Gu Tingye before, but now Gu Tingye has obtained his father's suicide note and summoned the elders of the Gu family to read the suicide note.

For the sake of her son, Xiao Qin had no choice but to accept it.

Although many people still think that Gu Yankai’s death was related to Gu Tingye, if he hadn’t been angry at Gu Tingye, his old illness wouldn’t have relapsed.

But no matter what, Gu Yankai's suicide note was approved by the elders of the Gu family. Gu Yankai also said in the suicide note that it was a relapse of his old illness and it had nothing to do with Gu Tingye.

If Gu Tingye is hired, no one can use these as excuses.

"Zi Qian, you go back and prepare first. I'll go to the palace." Zhao Ceying said.

"I'm leaving now!" Li An bowed and left.

…………

When she returned home, Minglan was still talking to Li An about the Shen family.

Shen Congxing was impeached, and the government ordered him to be confined to his home, awaiting the results of the investigation.

The two families are neighbors, so naturally they can get the news.

"It's been several months since the incident happened, so it's impossible that Uncle Shen hasn't dealt with the aftermath. Could it be because of the thorough investigation of the salt administration?" Minglan asked curiously.

"My wife is really smart." Li An said with a smile: "It doesn't matter whether the story is true or not. Those people also know that these tricks can only delay time, which is also their purpose."

"These people dare to attack Uncle Shen in order to delay time. Wouldn't it be even more dangerous to thoroughly investigate the salt business?" Minglan looked at Li An worriedly.

"Don't worry." Li An held Minglan in his arms, his hands on her bulging belly, as if he could feel the baby in her belly, and comforted her softly: "Those people dared to stop it, but they didn't have the courage to assassinate King Huan. I am even more of a nobody, and there is no point in assassinating me."

Li An apologized, "I couldn't be with my wife when she gave birth. I couldn't see the child the first time he was born."

"Sir, you are neither a doctor nor a midwife, so you can't help much if you stay at home. Don't worry, I will be fine." Minglan comforted.

She also wanted Li Ang to be by her side when she gave birth.

As her due date approached, she felt an inexplicable tension in her heart.

However, in order not to worry Li An, she could not show it. Instead, she had to comfort Li An and reassure him.

Ang Lee could actually guess some of it, but he didn't say it out loud.

Saying it out now won't change anything, it's meaningless.

Zhao Ceying said they would set off in three days, but Li An didn't go anywhere and stayed at home to accompany his parents and Minglan.

Two days passed in a flash, and Li An did not receive any notice to postpone his departure.

This means that the date will not be rescheduled.

…………

At dawn that day, Li An took Shizhu out.

Gu Tingye was worried about Xiao Qin, so he took the stone back.

Li An originally did not plan to bring guards, but Minglan refused and sent a letter to Shi Lin without telling Li An.

Shizhu came to Li's house yesterday afternoon and said he would help protect Li An.

Li An tried to persuade him for a while but to no avail, so he had to take him with him.

It does feel safe to have the stone pillars around.

Even if the salt merchants were desperate, they could not do it while they were on the move.

After all, there were 5,000 imperial guards accompanying them. Those vicious criminals supported by the salt merchants might not be afraid of the imperial guards in a one-on-one fight, but they did not have the courage to attack the entire imperial guards.

There was a high probability that the action would be taken while they were inside the city. After all, it was impossible for all 5,000 imperial guards to be stationed where Zhao Ceying lived. In addition, the city was full of streets and houses, making it easy to block reinforcements.

I have martial arts skills and I have a stone with me, so even if someone really wants to assassinate me, I will be safe.

(End of this chapter)