Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 151 Leading the troops into Nanjing

Lin Ruhai said in a deep voice: "Zou Huaiyi, the captain of the Jinling Water Conservancy Bureau, actually colluded with the Japanese wanderers and is the culprit of the Longtan Port bloodbath!"

"This person actually committed such a heinous crime. Brother Cong, do you know the truth?"

Jia Cong said: "We arrested a man who helped the Japanese wanderers hide their tracks. His name is Huang Youan. Three years ago, he was a squad leader in the Yingtian government office. He was dismissed by the former Yingtian prefect because of a crime.

Because he was familiar with the internal affairs of the Jinling government, and was also somewhat courageous and shrewd, and he had nowhere else to go after being dismissed from the government, and he had some family relationship with Zou Huaiyi, he was recruited by Zou Huaiyi.

He was put in charge of the liaison with the Japanese ronin. Zou Huaiyi was the chief officer of the Water Supervision Bureau and was well aware of the cargo, personnel, and voyages of foreign merchant ships.

He selected suitable merchant shipping information and passed it to the group of Japanese ronin through Huang Youan, instructing them to plunder merchant ships in the open sea, kill all the crew members, and rob the cargo and materials.

Then he asked the ronin to sell the looted foreign goods in Ningbo, Jinling and other places in the name of Ouchi's merchant ships and make huge profits.

According to Huang Youan's confession, in recent years Zou Huaiyi colluded with Japanese ronin and committed more than 20 major crimes offshore, acquiring countless foreign goods and assets.

Because Zou Huaiyi had run the Water Monitoring Bureau for many years and was very familiar with all aspects of maritime transportation, he chose merchant ships that were carrying huge amounts of money but had no major connections behind them.

Every time they committed a crime at sea, after killing and robbing people, they would sink the ship to destroy all traces. Therefore, for many years, their actions had never been discovered.

Two months ago, based on the information provided by Zou Huaiyi, these Japanese ronin looted another 100,000 strings of foreign goods from the open sea. As usual, they returned to Nanjing to sell them for profit in the name of Ouchi clan merchant ships.

However, they encountered another Japanese merchant ship, the Asakawa clan, entering the port at the same time. Because the eunuch Wang En, who was in charge of the Maritime Customs, accepted bribes from the Asakawa clan merchant ship, the two ships engaged in a gunfight in the port, causing a disaster.

Zou Huaiyi saw that the matter had become a big deal and the court would definitely investigate it strictly. He was worried that someone would find clues on the Ouchi merchant ship and implicate himself.

He took advantage of the chaos in Longtan Port and ordered his accomplices to load two ships full of foreign goods worth 200,000 strings of cash and ship them out of Longtan Port to avoid leaving any trouble.

He is the chief officer of the Water Monitoring Bureau and has been running the Bureau for many years. The Bureau is like his private army, and the deployment of defense, patrols, searches and personnel deployment of various waterways are all decided by him.

For others, smuggling 200,000 strings of foreign goods in this way would be as difficult as climbing to the sky, but in his eyes it was as easy as pie.

Afterwards, in order to shield and hide those murderous Japanese ronin, he asked Huang Youan to use his previous connections in the Yingtian government office to find out the news that the government office was escorting the prisoners to the Da Ci'en Temple to perform labor.

He actually ordered Japanese wanderers to kill 61 Yingtianfu officials and prisoners, and used a substitute to sneak into the construction site of Da Ci'en Temple and escape. These evil deeds are truly unforgivable. "

Lin Ruhai was shocked after hearing what Jia Cong said. He had been an official for many years and had heard a lot of cases of corruption and lawlessness among officials, but it was extremely rare to see someone as bold and presumptuous as Zou Huaiyi.

Your Majesty has opened three customs offices to promote overseas trade, bring wealth to the people, and foreign wealth and goods are imported into the Great Zhou like mountains filling the sea. The profits are immeasurable.

Since ancient times, money has been a motivating force for people. I have heard that many people in the officialdom of Nanjing made a fortune by leveraging their official connections and foreign goods from maritime trade.

Most people are always cautious about making money, but it is inevitable that there will be a few people like Zou Huaiyi who are insatiable and do things that are against the law in order to accumulate endless wealth.

Take the Lianghuai salt incident for example. Looking at our dynasty in recent times and dating back to previous dynasties, there have been countless cases of selling private salt, pursuing huge profits, and even killing officials and rebelling.

Because of these unexpected dangers, the emperor specially authorized the Lianghuai Salt Inspection Office to recruit and train 3,000 brave soldiers and civilians to serve as a barrier for the Lianghuai salt administration.

In prosperous places, gold and silver flow frequently, the market is prosperous, and the people have less worries about hunger. However, under the extravagance of money and luxury, people's hearts are more easily corrupted, giving rise to many evil and unspeakable things.

Jia Cong continued, "Zou Huaiyi's Water Supervision Division camp was built to the west of Longtan Port, close to the water and backed by the mountains. The terrain is convenient. There are a thousand soldiers of the Water Supervision Division in the camp, and more than fifty ships of various types.

His power cannot be underestimated. Once the order to capture him is issued, he will be desperate and incite the Water Conservancy Bureau to cause chaos. That would be a catastrophic disaster and the city of Jinling would be in danger! I am afraid that the two Huai regions will be harmed by him.

At present, both the Jinling Guard and the Jinyiwei have doubts about this matter. It is difficult to determine whether they have colluded with Zou Huaiyi, and the troops under their command cannot be used lightly.

Therefore, the emperor issued an urgent decree, granting Prince Ning the power to make decisions in an emergency, and to mobilize troops from Yangzhou and Suzhou. Now the situation is critical, and I also ask Uncle Lin to mobilize the salt soldiers to help Prince Ning eliminate the traitors. "Since there was the emperor's decree and Prince Ning's golden seal letter, Lin Ruhai naturally had no reason to refuse.

The two men negotiated the details of the deployment of the salt soldiers for another hour. Lin Ruhai then asked someone to summon Zheng Yong, the commander of the salt soldier camp, to take stock of the distribution of the salt soldiers in various places.

Due to the busy salt affairs in Lianghuai, the collection of salt taxes and the crackdown on private salt trafficking in various places required salt soldiers to be stationed or encircled.

Moreover, the salt industry was highly profitable, attracting merchants from all directions, and it was bustling with people. It also attracted the coveted Japanese pirates along the coast, who often launched small-scale attacks along the river, necessitating the need for salt soldiers to be on guard and defend.

After some calculations and planning, they decided to mobilize 800 salt soldiers, who would be divided into eight groups, each with 100 men, led by a group leader.

After the important matters were settled, Jia Cong finally breathed a sigh of relief. The total number of soldiers in the Lianghuai Salt Barracks was 3,000, and they were also responsible for the Lianghuai Salt Affairs. Lin Ruhai had done his best to be able to borrow 800 of them at once.

Together with the personal guards of Prince Ning, the available personnel of the Yingtian Prefecture Yamen, and the more than one hundred soldiers guarding the Da Ci'en Temple by Liu Hai, the number of people exceeded a thousand.

Even if they were to face the powerful Water Supervision Division camp, they had enough support, and the two armies did not really have to fight against each other.

After all, there are only a very few people who really dare to rebel. As long as Zou Huaiyi and other main culprits can be captured, the situation can be settled. Inviting salt soldiers into the city is more for the purpose of suppressing various forces in Jinling City.

Seeing that Jia Cong looked exhausted, Lin Ruhai thought that it was because the situation was critical and he had been traveling all day and did not dare to stop, so he asked his family to take him to bathe and rest. Anyway, it would take some time to mobilize the salt soldiers.

After Jia Cong had taken a nap for two hours, the mobilization of troops in the Salt Barracks had been completed.

The situation in Jinling is unpredictable. Jia Cong doesn't know how long the news from the Yingtian Prefecture Prison can be blocked. In short, any delay will lead to changes.

He did not dare to delay even a moment, so he said goodbye to Lin Ruhai and promised that after he finished his business in Nanjing, he would come to thank Uncle Lin again.

At this time, Yangzhou City was still shrouded in the silence of the early morning. Only a few vendors on both sides of the street had just opened for business, and most people were still soundly asleep. The first morning bell had just been rung at the Iron Buddha Temple in the north of the city.

Jia Cong, Zheng Yong, the commander of the Yangzhou Salt Transport Bureau, and eight sergeants, along with eight hundred salt soldiers, left Yangzhou City and headed straight for Nanjing, heading towards the rising red light in the east.

Jia Cong saw that these 800 salt soldiers were in neat order, in high spirits, equipped with swords, spears and leather armor. They were all young and strong men in their twenties, and were better than the garrison officers and soldiers he had seen in Jinling.

However, he did not know that the Lianghuai Salt Soldiers were specially established to protect the salt business. Although the imperial court also allocated food and wages, the number was small and only for occasional use.

Most of the salt soldiers' food and wages were raised by the Lianghuai salt merchants according to their shares, because the main role of the salt soldiers was to crack down on private salt trafficking and protect the salt tax of the country.

This concerns the vital interests of the Lianghuai salt merchants. Only when the private salt sales are severely suppressed and the common people can only buy official salt, can these salt merchants make a fortune by relying on salt permits issued by the court.

Therefore, the salt merchants spared no effort in raising food and wages for the salt soldiers. The swords, guns and armor equipped by the salt soldiers were all of the best quality. For these salt merchants, raising salt soldiers was almost equivalent to raising private soldiers.

It was extremely common for officers and soldiers in the garrisons in various places to eat empty salaries and exploit the blood of other soldiers. In addition, due to the long period of peace, the training became rigid and relaxed, which greatly weakened the combat effectiveness of the soldiers in the garrisons.

Every year, these Lianghuai salt soldiers had to confront the desperate private salt dealers, which was the most rigorous combat training, so their fighting power and bravery were extraordinary.

Moreover, the Lianghuai salt soldiers were semi-official and semi-civilian with a unique structure. All the soldiers were strong and capable civilians with sufficient food and wages. Since the salt merchants provided money and food, they should have the intention of supervision, so there was no problem of eating up the empty pay.

The poor young and strong people in Lianghuai were even eager to join the salt soldiers.

Joining the Salt Corps is not only an excellent way to make a living, but also a meritorious service in catching salt smugglers. Salt merchants will give you bonuses, the government will reward you, and you will also be respected among the villagers.

In comparison, the salt soldiers' manpower, training, and food and wages were all superior.

The morale and appearance of the soldiers reflected in this made Jia Cong feel that the salt soldiers were more sophisticated than the officers and soldiers of the Jinling Guard.

(End of this chapter)