Jinyi Town Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 78 Master Wu is dead?
Yu Wang's people are helping Li Dana, and Nanjing Jinyiwei's people are also helping Li Dana.

He Liu thought to himself: There are really all kinds of officials involved in this salt smuggling case.Fatty Feng told him that Li Dana also ran errands for his boss.Who is Li Dana's boss, the one who can drive Yu Wang, Yan Dang, and Nanjing Jinyiwei?Perhaps that "owner" is a person like Ding Wang?
After a while, He Liu figured it out: Maybe the people from Sanfang helped Sifang Teahouse just because they could get money from Sifang Teahouse.Money can turn ghosts around.

Old Hu asked He Liu: "What should we do next?"

He Liu smiled: "Let's go to the Salt Transport Yamen and meet that Deputy Wang."

He Liu and Lao Hu entered the Salt Transport Yamen and handed over their badges.

When Deputy Wang saw Jin Yiwei coming to the yamen, he didn't dare to neglect: "The lower officials have seen the two superiors."

He Liu smiled at Deputy Envoy Wang: "Vice Envoy Wang is a student of the Gaobu Hall of the Household Department. He is an unusual official. I am on business in the south of the Yangtze River, and I want to get to know Deputy Envoy Wang."

Deputy Wang clasped his hands and said, "The superior has promoted the inferior officer."

He Liu suddenly asked Deputy Envoy Wang: "How long have you been serving as Deputy Envoy of Lianghuai Salt Transport?"

Deputy Wang replied truthfully, "It's been three years."

He Liu laughed lightly: "People say that Lianghuai Salt Affairs is a fat job. Presumably the position of Deputy Envoy Wang must be very comfortable."

Deputy Wang said: "I don't know about the mission. My son, I will return to Anyi. I am fat and oily, but I can't talk about it. My lord holds an important position in Jinyiwei, don't you know? The Lianghuai salt transport is a fat and oily job. The deputy envoy has no real power. In this salt transport yamen, I don’t have any real power for sixth-rank salt transport judges or seventh-rank salt transport referees.”

He Liudao: "I don't know one thing. The imperial court makes the Lianghuai Salt Transport Yamen distribute 300 million dan of salt every year. Last year, the salt transport yamen reported to the household department and only sold 100 million dan. The remaining 200 million dan of salt transport Where did you go?"

Deputy Wang replied: "You are an official of Jinyiwei. I dare not hide some things from you, and I don't have to hide them from you. I have served as salt transport envoys, and I will report to the court for verification. But in fact... it is in the account book of the Ministry of Households. The fact that it has been written off on the Internet does not mean that Yanyin is invalid in Jiangnan. As long as the Yanyun Yamen does not post an invalidation notice, private salt dealers buy the Yanyin promissory notes written off by the Ministry of Households through various channels, and the private salt in their hands can still be used. Wearing the coat of official salt, you can travel unimpeded in the two capitals and the thirteen provinces."

He Liu asked again: "It is said that the Deputy Envoy of Salt Transport has no power. I don't understand. Is the dignified fourth-rank official of the imperial court just a decoration?"

Deputy Wang said with a smile: "The deputy envoy of Yan Yun is in charge of officials and dispatching, not Yan Yin. The only person in charge of Yan Yin is the Yan Yun envoy. Yan Yin is the gate of Yan Yun's yamen. If you can't control Yan Yin, you have no power. "

He Liu got up: "By the way, I just saw a notice of invalidation of salt quotations at the gate of the yamen. There are more than 50 dan. I don't know what's going on?"

Deputy Wang said: "You know, Lord Yan Maoqing just took office, and my predecessor, Wu Liangyong, the salt transport envoy, was arrested, so I can only handle the handover with Lord Yan. When I checked the accounts, I found 53 tans of bad debts. I can't leave bad debts to the new Lord Yan. I will be his deputy in the future, right? So I have to cancel this batch of salt."

He Liu suddenly said to Lao Hu, "Go back to the imperial envoy's office, fetch the things, and give them to Deputy Wang."

Old Hu nodded and left.

Deputy Wang looked at He Liu suspiciously.The dignified Sixth Master of Jinyiwei, what reason do you have to give yourself a gift for a petty official who has no power?

Deputy Wang said: "The mission is too polite."

He Liudao: "Aren't people in the officialdom the most courteous and reciprocal? When we meet for the first time, I should naturally give something to Vice Envoy Wang."

He Liu and Wang Fushi chatted about Jiangnan anecdotes for half an hour.Half an hour later, Lao Hu returned to the lobby of Yanyun Yamen with a big burden on his back.

He Liuming said: "Old Hu, unpack the bag."

When Lao Hu opened the bag, Deputy Envoy Wang broke out in a cold sweat—in the bag, there were piles of bright salt promissory notes!
He Liu pointed to those salt quotations: "This is [-] salt quotations. It is the batch that Deputy Envoy Wang invalidated."

Deputy Wang asked tremblingly: "How did this batch of Yanyin arrive...in the hands of the envoy?"

He Liu said with a smile: "Because the liar who cheated to buy Yanyin from Sifang Teahouse is here!"

Deputy Wang was silent for a moment.

He Liudao: "Vice Envoy Wang, you must have heard of our Jinyiwei's various methods of handling cases. Tell me the truth, maybe we can become friends in the future."

Deputy Envoy Wang fell to his knees with a thud: "My boss. This batch of Yanyin was privately resold by the former Master Wu to Sifang Tea House! I just voided it! I only took Sifang Tea House... just 5000 taels of silver! "

A bribe of 5000 taels is not considered a large amount of money in today's Ming Dynasty officialdom.It's just an innocuous little benefit.Even the group of Qingliu censors in the Metropolitan Procuratorate didn't bother to go to the book to impeach the person who took the silver because of a few thousand taels of silver.

But if you really follow the "Law of the Ming Dynasty" carefully, 5000 taels of silver is enough for officials to lose their heads several times.

After all, during Emperor Hongwu's reign, if he bribed 60 taels, he would have to peel day lilies.

He Liudao: "Vice Envoy Wang. I just arrived in Jiangnan, so I don't know much about Sifang Tea House. Can you, Deputy Envoy of Salt Transport, explain it to me?"

Deputy Envoy Wang is a timid literati at heart, and he is now like a bamboo tube pouring beans: "My predecessor, Wu Liangyong, sold 200 million dans of salt to Sifang Teahouse every year. Private salt dealers in the south of the Yangtze River all follow his lead. Once Wu Liangyong drank too much wine and told me: The owner of the Sifang Tea House is an official in the capital."

He Liudao: "An official in the capital? Did Wu Liangyong say what kind of official position he is?"

Deputy Wang shook his head: "I don't know. This person is quite mysterious. I once calculated an account, and the Yanyin trade in Sifang Teahouse can earn him 200 million taels of silver a year. The money earned by the mysterious owner , more than Yan Yunshi himself!"

Deputy Wang pointed to a large stall of salt notes on the ground: "As for this batch of salt notes, they were bought because they were tricked into buying them. No, after being obtained by the superior, Li Dana from Sifang Tea House bribed me to cancel them. As long as the Yanyun Yamen puts up notices, this batch of Yanyin will become waste paper."

He Liu asked: "The Sifang Tea House bought these salts privately from your Yanyun Yamen with money. Wouldn't it mean that if they are invalidated, they will lose their money?"

Deputy Wang confessed: "It's not difficult. They can be reissued if they are voided. The Sifang Teahouse has all hands and eyes. I think Lord Yan Maoqing will be able to reissue them after he takes office."

He Liudao: "So, if you want to find out the behind-the-scenes owner of Sifang Teahouse, the only way is to ask Wu Liangyong, who is locked up in the capital, to confess?"

As He Liu was talking, a warrior under his command ran in from outside the door: "My lord, there is a flying pigeon from the capital to send a letter."

Lishi handed a note to He Liu.

He Liu's expression changed after seeing it.Old Hu asked: "What's wrong?"

He Liudao: "The former salt transport envoy Wu Liangyong...died in prison!"

(End of this chapter)