Do you know the long song of laughter?

Chapter 490 Accident
After listening to Gu Tingye's words, Li An finally understood what Gu Tingye meant.

Li An told Gu Tingye at the beginning that if he really wanted to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, he must carry out reforms.

Otherwise, the court would have too many accumulated problems and would have been unable to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.

"Then why did Wang Anshi refuse every time His Royal Highness Prince Huan invited him to Beijing?" Gu Tingye frowned.

Li An smiled bitterly and said, "Zhong Huai, how can reform be as simple as you say? The lesson of the failure of the New Deal is still there. Reform must be done slowly and not too hastily."

"Then how long do we have to wait?" Gu Tingye frowned.

"Zhong Huai." Li An looked at Gu Tingye and said, "You are not a reckless man who is ignorant of political affairs. Why are you so anxious now?"

Over the years, the two have also discussed a lot about reform in private.

The two also discussed a lot, including the previous new policies.

Although Gu Tingye was born into a noble family and is now a military general, he is not bad in literary talent and is not a military man who is ignorant of political affairs.

It is impossible for him not to know that reform is not that easy and requires a lot of time.

Li Ang was very puzzled by his sudden urgency.

Gu Tingye was startled and said with a wry smile: "I was too impatient."

"Zhong Huai, what happened? Can you tell me?" Li An asked.

Gu Tingye said with a sad look: "My brother said something to me before. I was so anxious to make achievements and revitalize the Gu family that I lost my composure."

Upon hearing this, Li An patted Gu Tingye on the shoulder and didn't ask any more questions.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps broke the silence.

The two turned around and saw Zhao Ceying coming up. They bowed and said, "Greetings, Your Highness!"

Zhao Ceying waved his hand, came to the two of them, looked at the scenery on both sides, and said with a smile: "You can enjoy the scenery without calling me king."

"The weather is cold now, and Your Highness is not fully recovered yet. He should rest in the cabin." Gu Tingye said worriedly.

It's only February or March now and the weather is still a bit cool.

Zhao Ceying was already in poor health due to seasickness, and it would be troublesome if he got sick again.

"It's okay. The cabin is stuffy and there's nothing to do. I came out to enjoy the fresh air and the scenery. It's refreshing and makes me feel better." Zhao Ceying waved his hand and asked, "What were you talking about just now?"

"Your Highness, let's talk about the thorough investigation of the salt business." Li An said.

Zhao Ceying sighed and said, "We will reach Yangzhou City in a few days. I don't know if this trip will be smooth."

After preparing for a long time, Zhao Ceying was full of confidence before setting off.

Now that they were almost in Yangzhou, he felt a little unsure.

"Your Highness is wise and brave. He will definitely find out the cause of the corruption in the salt business." Li An comforted.

"I hope so." Zhao Ceying shook his head and smiled, "If I remember correctly, Ziqian is from Yangzhou."

"Your Highness, I am from Yangzhou, but my family is poor, so I went to Bian Jing to study with my teacher early on, and I don't know much about the situation in Yangzhou." Li An said.

"Your teacher, Censor Liu, is a good official. If he had not retired, he would have accompanied us this time," said Zhao Ceying.

"The teacher is old and I'm afraid he can't stand the hardship." Li An said with a smile.

"Too."

Zhao Ceying nodded, looked at Gu Tingye, and said, "Zhonghuai, your grandfather's family is a salt merchant. We need your help in this salt investigation."

"Your Highness, I have little experience and the salt farm has been managed by a manager. I don't know if I can help. When I arrive in Yangzhou, I will ask the manager who manages the salt farm about it." Gu Tingye said.

"Yeah." Zhao Ceying nodded and said with a smile, "It's a bit cold. I'll go back first. You guys should go back early and rest as well. Don't get cold."

"Yes!"

The two men bowed and waited until Zhao Ceying walked away before standing up.

…………

Although they were all large ships, they still did not sail at night.

That night, the boats were moored by the river. Suddenly, there was a loud noise and the outermost boat began to shake violently.

The soldiers on night watch were dozing off, and many of them fell into the water due to the sudden shaking!
"who!"

Such a loud noise naturally alarmed the soldiers who were resting in the cabin.

The soldiers on the nearby ships were all alarmed. Soon, all the ships were brightly lit, and the soldiers, armed with weapons, rushed out in an orderly manner.

On the big ship in the middle, Li An was awakened by the noise outside.

Hearing the hurried footsteps outside, Li An was stunned.

Is there really someone so brave that he dares to rob and kill Zhao Ceying on the road?
Li An quickly gave up the idea because there was no shouting or killing outside.

Even if someone really had the courage to do so, they would not choose to do it on the canal, let alone at night.

In this era, it is almost impossible to completely wipe out the enemy in a naval battle.

If you can't win, just jump off the boat. It's hard to search at night.

Li An quickly put on his clothes and walked out with the stone pillar.

The soldiers on the boat looked solemn, with their bows drawn and waiting.

"what happened?"

Just then, Zhao Ceying came out under the protection of Gu Tingye.

"Your Highness, it seems that we have encountered an attack. I have already sent people to inquire about the situation. The current situation is unclear." A commander bowed.

"Quickly find out the reason."

Zhao Ceying gave an order and led everyone back to the cabin.

"Zhong Huai, do you think there is really someone so bold as to assassinate me?" Zhao Ceying asked.

"Your Highness, the situation is unclear now and it is difficult for me to judge, but I think there are not many thieves, otherwise the noise would not be so small. The possibility of assassination is not high. It is possible that the night boat hit the boat because it was dark." Gu Tingye said.

"Yes." Zhao Ceying nodded and said, "Let's wait for the news first."

After waiting for about an incense stick, the commander from before came in and bowed, saying, "Your Highness, we have found out that it was a ship carrying smuggled salt. It didn't see clearly and hit the ship in front."

Zhao Ceying was delighted when he heard this and asked, "Has the person been caught?"

"We caught a few, and the rest ran away," said the commander.

"Bring the person here quickly!" said Zhao Ceying.

Before preparing to thoroughly investigate the salt business, Zhao Ceying had proposed to take action against the salt gang first.

The salt merchants behind the salt gangs must be in collusion with the officials in charge of salt affairs. As long as we find evidence and take down the salt merchants behind them, we can naturally find evidence against those officials.

But those members of the Salt Gang only act at night, so their whereabouts are hard to find.

It would be difficult to capture him unless a large number of troops were mobilized.

By doing so, the move could not be concealed from the officials in Bian Jing.

By then, the officials in Bianliang were prepared, and it would be impossible to get them to agree to a thorough investigation of the salt business.

In order to catch the court officials off guard, Zhao Zongquan had to give up attacking the Salt Gang.

By the time the news of the thorough investigation of the salt business spread, the salt gang members had already gone into hiding, making it even more difficult to investigate. Zhao Ceying asked Gu Tingye to send some people ahead, also with the idea of ​​giving it a try.

In the end, no trace of the Salt Gang members was found.

He had originally given up, but he didn't expect that someone would come to him on their own initiative.

Li An instinctively felt that something was wrong when he heard this. Those salt merchants were extremely daring people and might dare to commit crimes against the law.

But those officials in charge of salt affairs were not stupid. Knowing that Zhao Ceying had gone south to investigate the salt affairs, how dare they sell private salt?
If the smuggled salt is not exposed, what salt will the Salt Gang transport?

However, he couldn't figure out the problem for a moment and said nothing.

After a while, several soldiers came in escorting three men.

The three men were shivering with wet clothes.

I don’t know if it was because of the cold or the fear.

"Your Majesty!"

The soldiers forced the three men to kneel down.

"I would like to ask you, who are you transporting the smuggled salt for?" Zhao Ceying asked.

The three of them lowered their heads and said nothing after hearing this.

"It is enough to question one person. If anyone tells the truth, I can spare his life and only send him to exile. If he refuses to tell the truth, he will die." Zhao Ceying said coldly.

"I said it, I said it!"

The man on the left said anxiously: "We are from the Bai family in Yangzhou, and we transport salt for the Bai family."

"Yangzhou Bai Family?" Zhao Ceying frowned and asked, "Which Yangzhou Bai Family?"

"It's the Bai family in Yangzhou. The Bai family has been running the salt business in Yangzhou for decades. Many salt factories in Yangzhou and its surrounding areas belong to the Bai family," said the man.

"Nonsense!" Gu Tingye shouted, "The Bai Family Salt House is mine. My grandfather never sold private salt when he was alive, and I have never sold it since I took over!"

These people didn't know Gu Tingye either, and when they saw Gu Tingye glaring at them, they were a little afraid.

"It's really the Bai family. I dare not lie."

"Yes, the Bai family is the richest family in Yangzhou. If they didn't run private salt business, how could they have made such a huge fortune?"

When the other two saw that their accomplices had said everything, they also started talking at the same time in order to save their lives.

Gu Tingye's face turned pale when he heard this. When his mother married into the Gu family, she brought with her a dowry of one million taels of silver, and his grandfather left him so much property when he died.

If they only rely on legitimate business, even a salt merchant cannot make so much money.

After all, for businessmen to make money, all kinds of arrangements are necessary.

Even with the relationship with the Gu family, it still needs to be managed.

What's more, after his mother died, the Bai family severed ties with the Gu family.

It was only a few years from the time his mother married into the Gu family to the time she passed away.

If the latter can be said to be due to the Gu family, then what about the former?
In fact, Gu Tingye also knew that his grandfather was most likely running a private salt business.

But after his death, nothing related to the smuggled salt was handed over to him.

After all, he is the son of a marquis, and his elder brother is frail and sickly, so he will inherit the title in the future.

No matter how much money the salt merchants make, if the title can be bought with money, most of them are willing to spend all their money to buy a title.

Money is very important to some people, but to some people, it is not that important.

They value the improvement of class and status more.

But all this is just Gu Tingye's guess.

Gu Tingye was not afraid that if this matter was confirmed, Zhao Zongquan and Zhao Ceying would ask him to hand over the money.

What he was afraid of was that the Bai family would be held accountable.

Although he has no feelings for the Bai family, the Bai family is his maternal family after all.

Zhao Ceying glanced at Gu Tingye, signaled him not to speak, comforted the three of them with a few words, and continued to ask questions.

There were more than just these three people responsible for transporting the smuggled salt. They were just small figures and only knew that the boss behind the scenes was the Bai family, and they knew nothing else.

There was also a manager on the boat who jumped into the water and escaped without being caught.

Zhao Ceying had the three taken away for further interrogation and asked, "What do you think?"

"Your Highness, I think that after we arrive in Yangzhou, we should first arrest the Bai family. We will definitely be able to find some evidence related to the officials of the Lianghuai Salt Transport Commissioner's Office. Then we can arrest them for investigation. In this way, we can find out the problems of the Lianghuai Salt Transport Commissioner's Office in a short period of time." Xia Shaohua said.

As the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, he is quite keen on investigating cases.

Now that we have witnesses, we can take action against the salt merchants.

Zhao Ceying glanced at Gu Tingye after hearing this, and was silent for a while before saying, "We'll discuss this matter tomorrow. Since there's nothing else to do, let's all go back and have a rest."

"Yes! We will take our leave!" everyone saluted.

"Ziqian, what's the matter?"

After Xia Shaohua and others went out, Li An and Gu Tingye did not move.

"Your Highness, I know something about Zhong Huai's grandfather's family. I was in Yangzhou back then. The Bai family those people were talking about should be the second and third branches of the Bai family." Li An said.

The private salt business should be run by Old Master Bai himself, and it is unlikely that the second and third wives would interfere.

The fewer people who know about this kind of thing, the better. If they really get involved in it, Old Master Bai might hand over the smuggling salt business to them.

There would also be no assassination attempt on Gu Tingye in order to fight for the family property.

However, the Bai brothers must have known something about the private salt business. After being kicked out of the Bai family by Gu Tingye, they somehow got in touch with others and started a private salt business.

"Of course I believe in Zhong Huai." Zhao Ceying said with a smile.

He thought that Li An said all this to help Gu Tingye exonerate himself. This sentence was both a response to Li An and also meant for Gu Tingye.

"Your Highness, that's not what I meant." Li An shook his head and said, "As far as I know, the Bai brothers are short-sighted. After the news that Your Highness went south to investigate the salt business spread, they dared to transport private salt. They really could do it."

"But with their capabilities, they cannot take over the private salt market in Yangzhou. There must be someone behind them. If you want to use them as a breakthrough, you have to find out who is behind them. And I can understand that someone is taking a risk at this time, but how did these private salts come out? Those officials should not be so bold, right?"

After the death of Old Master Bai, the private salt market in Yangzhou became vacant.

There must be a lot of people eyeing this piece of fat meat, although Li An has not had any contact with the Bai brothers.

But judging from the performance of the two, they should not be able to hold on to this piece of fat meat.

At most, someone ate the meat. Seeing that they were members of the Bai family and had some value that could be utilized, some soup was given to the two of them.

Li An felt that directly arresting the Bai brothers might not necessarily yield any useful information, but would instead alert the enemy.

"What you said makes sense." Zhao Ceying nodded and said, "I will consider this matter carefully. Ziqian, go back and rest first."

"Yes!" Li An saluted.

"Zhong Huai." Zhao Ceying looked at Gu Tingye and said, "I want you to rush to Yangzhou first and contact the Bai family to see if you can get some useful information. If I go to Yangzhou, everyone will be cautious and it will be difficult to find out anything."

"To be honest with Your Highness, my relationship with the Bai family is not very good. My grandfather left all the property to me, and the Bai family is deeply resentful of this. Moreover, my duty is to protect Your Highness, so how can I leave easily?" Gu Tingye said.

(End of this chapter)