When Han Xiufeng first arrived in Jiangning, he didn't know if he could go to Taizhou to take office, so he was in a hurry. Now that he can go to Taizhou to take office at any time, Han Xiufeng is no longer in a hurry.

I stayed in Yizhen for two days, waiting for Zhang Dejian's daughter and son-in-law to help Zhang Dejian's son Zhang Shiheng pack his luggage and send Zhang Shiheng to the county town. Waiting for a junior student from Yangzhou Prefecture School, he was hired by a Haian squire to work at Fengshan Academy in Haian for fifteen years.

The dean, Su Jinping, sent his third son Su Jueming to the inn together with Wu Xiucai. After eating the Su family's reception and farewell banquets, he went to the county government office to say goodbye to the magistrate, and then hired a boat to rush to Yangzhou.

Pan Er was sitting on the bow of the boat feeling both happy and a little unhappy.

Fortunately, it was different for Han Si to be a Shangguan. In the morning, he went to say goodbye to the Yizhen County Grand Master. The Yizhen County Grand Master not only gave Han Si ten taels of silver to Cheng Yi, but also asked his family to give him, Yu Youfu and others hundreds of dollars.

Wen Qian. What's unpleasant is that the four of them don't have much money anymore. After taking office, if they can't make any money for a while, they don't even know if they have food to eat. Han Si actually accepted another one who can't do anything.

A half-year-old boy who can't do anything and a greasy-tongued brat!

What made him even more unhappy was that Han Si seemed to value the rogue named Su very much. As soon as he got on the boat, he started chatting with the rogue named Su and continued until now.

Su Jueming was twenty-six years old. Although he had studied for several years, he was not even a boy student. He pretended to be a scholar, wearing a Confucian shirt and a short satin jacket. It was so cold.

De Tian was actually holding a folding fan. Sometimes he threw it out with a clatter to fan it, and sometimes he folded it and stuck it in his neck. He was shaking his head, talking eloquently, and spitting in a manner that even his big head couldn't bear to look at.

Yu Youfu didn't seem to dislike people named Su. He sat on the edge and listened, interjecting a few words from time to time and asking about people and things in Hai'an.

"When it comes to the inspection masters and the inspection hall masters, I don't know how many I have met in Hai'an for more than ten years. Especially the inspection department masters, some are the governors of Yunsi Yamen, and some are the transportation magistrates of Yunsi Yamen.

There are also quite a few candidates who have been commissioned by the Yunsi Yamen. The Patrol Department is different from the Inspection Department Yamen. The masters of the Patrol Department can only work in Hai'an for half a year, and they are changed every six months. They change them like a revolving door. Anyway, they are in charge.

It doesn’t matter what the local affairs are, the big business owners in the town don’t need to fawn over them, and I don’t need to talk to them, so I can’t remember even one of their names.”

Su Jueming took a sip of wine to warm up, and then said: "As for the inspection master, I know a lot. Hai'an Town is not big, there is only a stone street less than two miles long. Although the academy is not in the town, it is

No matter what happens in the city, the inspector must discuss it with the local gentry. Although my father is not a local, most of the schoolchildren and supervisors in the town are my father's students. The inspector must also be invited and treated with courtesy.

treat."

"That's natural," Han Xiufeng smiled and asked, "What were those inspection masters usually busy with in the past?"

Su Jueming thought for a while, put down his cup and said, "It depends on the person. There are a few inspectors who are very powerful and can dispatch agents from Taizhou City to investigate smuggled salt. I have seen one of the most powerful inspectors, not only from Taizhou."

Fifty or sixty young men were transferred, as well as twenty or thirty green soldiers from Taizhou, more than thirty illegal salt dealers were arrested, and more than a dozen ships of illegal salt were seized."

"What happened next?" Han Xiufeng asked subconsciously.

"I have made a fortune. The seized illegal salt is called Gong salt. It is sold directly to several salt shops in Hai'an, Huji, and Baimi. I don't have to pay taxes to the transportation department, and the money I earn doesn't need to be handed over to the state government. I can give some rewards to those salt shops.

The police officers and green camp soldiers will give some more to honor the governor, and the rest will go into the pocket of the inspection master."

Yu Youfu thought to himself that everyone said that Yangzhou was rich, but the people on both sides of the river were not only not rich but also very poor. There were not many tile-roofed houses in sight, and most of them were thatched houses. He thought that after Han Si took office, he only wanted to make money.

Being able to make a fuss about private salt, I couldn't help but ask: "Su San, how did the inspection master you mentioned catch the private salt dealer?"

"I don't know about that, but he must have some spies. Mr. Han, Team Leader Yu, you don't know until you've never been to Hai'an. Once you get there, you'll know how many river branches there are in Hai'an. There are rivers everywhere, and there are not many bridges.

The only way to go is by boat. Those private salt dealers are not fools. Their boats either go on wild rivers where there are no people for miles around, or they hide in a branch port during the day and only come out at night. How can we catch them without a spy?"

The reason why Su Jueming was willing to go to Hai'an with Han Xiufeng was just to make a living. After thinking about it, he said: "Even if you have an informant, you may not be able to catch them. After all, it doesn't matter where the Hai'an Inspection Department is.

It's not too small, and there aren't many easy roads. By the time the informant goes to the Yamen to report the news, those private salt dealers will have already disappeared without a trace."

"Those big rivers and small rivers extend in all directions, so the boats of private salt dealers don't necessarily have to transport salt rivers?"

"Yes, it is really connected in all directions, and the wild rivers and harbors are full of reeds. Who can find it if you hide in the reeds?"

Yu Youfu muttered: "So the inspection master does not have an informant, but an insider."

"Eighty percent yes." Su Jueming looked up at the boatman standing at the stern of the boat, and suddenly whispered in Han Xiufeng's ear: "Mr. Han, I don't know what's going on in the Inspection Department's Yamen now, but those archers who served in the Yamen in the past have not been reduced.

Even some farmers living by the river have received the benefits from private salt dealers."

"What's the point of accepting benefits from private salt dealers even for the common people?" Han Xiufeng was doubtful.

"It's not really a benefit, it's just a small advantage. Private salt dealers are worried about them reporting to the authorities, so some will throw them a small bag of salt, and some will give them a few feet of cloth or some worthless pots and jars.

"

"Pots and pans?"

"Those private salt dealers will not leave their boats empty when they go to the salt field to buy private salt. Some of them sell rice under the guise of selling rice, some sell pots and jars, some sell groceries, and some say they come from Xinghua.

They came and said that Xinghua was hit by a flood. Anyway, there are people doing everything." Su Jueming thought for a while and then said: "But these are all small private salt dealers. They work in a small way and they don't sell much private salt each time.

.The one I just talked about is a serious salt lord, with more than a dozen boats and dozens of people, smuggling hundreds of thousands of kilograms of salt at least once. They not only have swords but also shotguns, and they are not afraid of patrolling the yamen.
Chapter completed!