The enemy was defeated, but the enemy was defeated.

Li Yichen nodded and said no more. Ji Gang's methods were too cruel and violent. He could just say a few words at the right time.

Li Yichen looked at the list compiled by Ji Gang in his hand, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

The rich spoils of the attack on Anshan City this time made Li Yichen a little unbelievable.

The list stated that after the cleansing and confiscation of the house last night, 80 million taels of silver were seized, which was converted into 8 million summoning points.

You know, the Qin army dug three feet deep to search the three counties, but only obtained more than 10 million taels of silver. Just in the prefecture city, 80 million taels were recorded.

Among them, the prefect Hong Tianzhong had 30 million taels of silver, which puzzled Li Yichen. Even if he sold official positions and titles and was extremely corrupt, how could Hong Tianzhong have so much silver after only seven years in office?

In addition to 80 million taels of silver, the Qin army also obtained 10 million kilograms of food and grass, ancient books and paintings, gold and stone jade, jewelry and antiques, etc., as well as more than 40,000 acres of land in Anshan Prefecture and hundreds of mansions and estates.

The landlords and gentry class in the entire Anshan City were almost wiped out by the Qin army.

After reading the list, Li Yichen called Xu Jin over: "Mr. Xu, the cash hidden in the prefecture of Hong Tianzhong alone is 30 million taels. I want to know, how can he, a mere fourth-rank prefect, who has been in office for less than ten years, have so much wealth."

As far as Li Yichen knows, it is normal for a prefect in a wealthy place to have such silver, but there are not many people in the Northwest Mozhou, and the oil and water are relatively much less than in the Central Plains and the south. Hong Tianzhong can have so much silver, I am afraid there is some special way to make money.

As Hong Tianzhong's chief staff for many years, Xu Jin must know the strangeness of this.

Xu Jin praised Li Yichen for his meticulousness and said calmly, "My Lord, you are right. If Hong Tianzhong only relied on the position of the prefect to collect money, it would be impossible for him to have so much money. But what if he sold private salt?"

Li Yichen's mind moved. Selling private salt, you must know that in the Beiting Dynasty, salt is controlled by the court. Those who sell private salt in the private sector are all beheaded, and in serious cases, even the whole family will be punished.

Of course, some ministers in the court would secretly sell private salt to fill their pockets.

"The Hong family is one of the prominent families in Beiting. The current head of the Hong family, Hong Tianzhong's cousin Hong Tiansheng, is a second-rank official in the current dynasty. He is the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and is backed by the Grand Tutor. How could such an aristocratic family let Hong Tianzhong, a direct descendant, come to this barren land to serve as a prefect? ​​My lord, do you know the hidden story?"

"Oh? If so, tell me quickly."

Li Yichen was curious. According to what Xu Jin said, with the status of the Hong family, Hong Tianzhong could find a rich place, a land of fish and rice, to serve as a prefect, which is much better than staying in this barren land.

"My lord, you may not know that there is a town under the jurisdiction of Anshan Prefecture, named Yuanshan Town, named after the adjacent Yuanshan. This town is more than 80 miles away from Anshan City. Eight years ago, a salt stone mine was discovered in Yuanshan. After the Hong family learned about this, Hong Tianzhong was transferred here to serve as the prefect."

"In fact, they secretly mined salt stone, built a salt workshop, and blocked the news. Now the salt workshop in Yuanshan Town has a considerable scale, and Hong Tianzhong is here. First, cooperate with the Hong family to transport the produced salt to various places, and second, some salt is sold directly in Mozhou and nearby prefectures. After receiving the salt money, Hong Tianzhong temporarily stores it in the prefecture. , transported back to the capital every six months."

"Of the thirty million taels of silver, I'm afraid that 60% is the silver that Hong Tianzhong earned from selling salt in the past six months. He was originally going to transport it back to the capital when he returned to Beijing to report on his work, but it was a bargain for the lord."

Li Yichen nodded in sudden realization, and continued to ask with interest: "Now that it has been mined for eight consecutive years, I'm afraid there is not much left in the salt mine."

In ancient times, salt was generally made by purifying lake salt or sea salt and drying it. There were also some salt stone mines, also called rock salt, whose crystals were cubic and transparent. Therefore, the ancients called it Guangming Salt, Crystal Salt, Yuhua Salt, and White Salt.

After the salt stone is mined, it can be crushed and purified through a series of purifications to remove toxic substances, forming refined salt that is indispensable for the people on a daily basis.

You must know that in ancient times, all large-scale salt merchants were wealthy and rich enough to rival a country.

Li Yichen seemed to see a golden road.

"My Lord, the Yuanshan Salt Mine has extremely rich reserves. In the past eight years, it has only been mined for

It's just the fur, the profit is so rich that it's enough to make the wealthy Hong family crazy! "

Hearing this, Li Yichen's heart moved. If this salt mine falls into his hands, the money will roll in in the future, and the Qin army will flourish in the near future!

"What is the situation of the Yuanshan Salt Mine now?"

"A few months ago, I went there with Hong Tianzhong. Now there are two thousand private soldiers raised by the Hong family. The whole Yuanshan Town has been under military control. The residents in the town are strictly prohibited from going out. Hong Tianzhong also forced the young and strong in the town to mine the salt mine and purify the refined salt. "

Li Yichen's eyes flashed, and he ordered Wu Song: "Erlang, you get ready, gather three thousand soldiers and horses, I will go personally, and seize the Yuanshan Salt Mine today! "

By the afternoon, Li Yichen had personally led Wu Song, Lin Chong, Xu Jin, and three thousand volunteer soldiers to Yuanshan Town.

A group of people hid in the forest not far from the town and observed carefully.

At the entrance of Yuanshan Town, hundreds of soldiers in armor and holding long swords were guarding here.

At the archway at the entrance of the town, there were two rows of chevaux de frise and two simple wooden sentry houses.

There were not many people guarding the town entrance, and these soldiers were used to comfort, one by one They looked very lazy and had no vigilance. The news of the fall of Anshan City had not yet spread.

Li Yichen immediately ordered Wu Song to lead a thousand soldiers to the front and rushed to the town entrance.

The private soldiers of the Hong family guarding the town entrance saw more than a thousand people rushing over with fierce eyes, and they hurriedly picked up their weapons and stared at the enemy.

The leader of the private soldiers, Liu Tianzhao, shouted loudly: "Who are you? This is a military fortress and a confidential town. No outsiders are allowed to enter."

Seeing that Wu Song and his soldiers were well-equipped, Liu Tianzhao thought that the people coming were soldiers from Anshan City, so he opened his mouth to test them.

Wu Song sneered and said, "I am the one who wants you to die! Kill!"

Wu Song took the lead and rushed to Liu Tianzhao. Liu Tianzhao roared: "This is the place of the Hong family. If you dare to come here to cause trouble, the prefect will definitely investigate! "

Wu Song ignored him, his hands kept moving, his two swords flashed with cold light, and went straight to the vital points.

However, Hong Tianzhao, who was in the late stage of martial arts, was no match for Wu Song. In a panic, he was beheaded by Wu Song in less than two rounds. His huge head flew three feet high, and a cavity of hot blood spurted out.

In less than half a quarter of an hour, the two hundred people guarding the town entrance were slaughtered. Li Yichen's order was to leave no survivors, and Wu Song was merciless.

After clearing the sentinels, Wu Song led his men to move away the barricades. Li Yichen took the lead and rushed into the town with Lin Chong and a group of cavalry.

As soon as he arrived in the town, he saw a group of soldiers and horses with a hurried look, rushing towards the outside of the town along the main road in the town. Other private soldiers of the Hong family heard the fighting at the town entrance and rushed to support.

Li Yichen took out the Xuanyuan Sword and shouted: "Kill! Don't leave any alive. "

He rushed forward first, holding the extremely sharp Xuanyuan Sword in his hand. In the blink of an eye, he had killed dozens of Hong family's private soldiers.

Lin Chong was afraid that Li Yichen would be in danger, so he took 200 cavalrymen to protect him.

It was the first time for Li Yichen to go to the battlefield in person. His adrenaline surged and he was very excited. In addition, his strength was comparable to that of a martial arts master. Although he had not learned swordsmanship, the Xuanyuan Sword in his hand was a magical weapon. Often, with one strike of the sword, the opponent's armor and weapons were cut into two pieces, along with the person.

In a short while, Li Yichen had been in and out of the enemy camp three times, and even killed two leaders with his own hands.

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