As the New Year approaches, the weather gets colder and colder in the twelfth lunar month of winter, and even it snows in Yangzhou.

The cold north wind enveloped the entire city of Yangzhou. The stove was burning in the house, and a dozen oil lamps were burning on the lamp stands. The dim yellow lights complemented each other, dispersing the darkness in the house.

There was a brazier in the middle of the room, burning fine charcoal without any smoke. Wang Zhong was wearing a brown jacket, sitting on a couch not far from the stove, holding in his hand a letter just sent from Tokyo.

A letter from home.

Wang Qier was sitting next to the brazier, holding pliers and pulling chestnuts on the iron shelf. Brother Xu next to her was holding an orange in his hand, half of which had been peeled.

The letter was written by Minglan, and it mostly talked about the recent situation of the two sons, as well as some family issues.

"Third uncle, what did aunt say in the letter?" Wang Qier turned to Wang Zhong curiously and asked.

"Take it!" Wang Zhong didn't say anything, he just handed the letter out. Wang Qier didn't hesitate at all. She immediately stood up, took the letter, sat back by the brazier and read it.

Wang Xu, who had just peeled an orange next to him, also curiously moved his head over.

"Lord!"

The two siblings were watching enthusiastically when Yu Chuer suddenly opened the door and walked in quickly.

"What's the matter?" Wang Zhong asked.

Yu Chuer said: "The news from Quanzhou has been arranged according to the predetermined plan!"

In front of Wang Qier and Wang Xu, Yu Chuer naturally did not dare to speak too clearly.

Wang Zhong looked at Yu Chuer and said, "You should keep an eye on this matter yourself!"

"I understand!" Yu Chuer said with cupped hands.

"Liu Zhenfeng has already made a move, and He Rongchang is already a turtle in the urn. Those who are involved with him cannot escape. The time will come soon."

"My subordinate understands!"

"Then my subordinate will resign first!"

"Go for it!"

Yu Chuer handed over his hands and walked away. Wang Xucai asked curiously: "Third uncle, I see that He Rongchang is quite honest. Could it be that the salt affairs matter has something to do with him?"

"Knowing people, knowing faces, but not knowing the heart!" Wang Zhong said: "He Rongchang has been serving as the transfer envoy of the Lianghuai Salt Capital for five or six years. He is in charge of the salt affairs of the Lianghuai Land. Do you think he will do these corrupt things?

Don’t you know anything at all?”

"this·····"

"Are you stupid?" Wang Qier next to her looked at Wang Xu's coquettish look and said angrily: "The world is as dark as crows, and the salt affairs are corrupt. Every year, nearly a million taels of silver disappear without a trace.

In Lianghuai Salt Division, from top to bottom, it is a miracle to find anyone with clean hands and feet."

"As the saying goes, the law does not punish the public, can the imperial court liquidate the Lianghuai Salt Division from top to bottom?"

Wang Qier said: "Why not? It's hard to find a three-legged toad, but it's also hard to find a two-legged person? There are so many Jinshi waiting to fill the vacancies every year, even if the Lianghuai Salt Division is replaced from top to bottom.

It’s more than enough!”

Wang Xu said, "I'm afraid this matter will involve not only the Lianghuai Salt Division, the Transportation Envoy Division, the Du Division, the Marshal Division, but also officials from various states and counties. I'm afraid they are all involved."

"That's not easy. If you find one, grab one. If you find two, grab a pair."

Wang Xu looked at his somewhat innocent sister and said helplessly: "If only things were so simple!"

When it comes to martial arts, marksmanship and archery, Wang Xu is far inferior to Wang Qian'er, but his mind is much more meticulous and his mind is more flexible than the carefree Wang Qian'er.

But this does not mean that Wang Qier is stupid, it is just that she is too lazy to think about many things and is straightforward.

"Punch away with one punch to avoid hundreds of punches!" Wang Qian'er said: "We are following the official's order. We will directly crush them with great force. We are not afraid of what those rats in the gutter will do."

"Sister! Things are not that simple. There are so many ways here!" Wang Xu sighed and said: "It is not the result of three or five years that the salt affairs have deteriorated to this point. In the past, I was the leader of the Lianghuai Salt Division. Those who are too bad are as old as eighty if not a hundred. Pulling out the carrots and bringing out the mud, no one has brothers and sisters, and the in-laws are old, how can this be so easy?"

Wang Qian'er snorted coldly and said: "So what? If you ask me, as long as you stretch out your hand, you should pay the price. It doesn't matter what princes, nobles, nobles and nobles are. If the emperor breaks the law, he is the same as the common people."

Wang Xu said: "It would be great if it could really be like this."

"Okay, okay!" Seeing that the smell of gunpowder between the siblings was getting stronger and stronger, and that they were about to start a quarrel, Wang Zhong hurriedly tried to persuade them.

"Let's talk, let's fight, don't get angry!"

Wang Qier turned to look at Wang Zhong: "Third uncle! Why are there so many corrupt officials in the world?"

"This is human nature!" Wang Zhong said.

"Okay, it's getting late. Eat those chestnuts and take a rest immediately. There are still important things to do tomorrow!"

In the next ten days, first He Rongchang was imprisoned, followed by the Deputy Yandu Transport Envoy, and a dozen officials. In the entire Lianghuai Salt Division, only two or three kittens were left.

"Your Majesty, this is the list given by He Rongchang, as well as the account book that He Rongchang submitted on his own initiative, which records all his account transactions!"

Zhao Ceying took the account book from his subordinates, flipped through it and handed it to Wang Zhong next to him: "Zi Hou, take a look at it too!"

Wang Zhong took the account book and scanned it at a glance: "He Rongchang is really interesting. He even remembers every gift he received so clearly. It seems that he has already expected that the imperial court will liquidate it sooner or later."

"Hmph!" Zhao Ceying snorted coldly: "Then he is still so bold and bold, reselling salt, harming the public and enriching himself?"

Wang Zhong didn't answer. Zhao Ceying slammed the table several times angrily and angrily said: "Check it for me. Don't let go of anyone whose name is on this account book."

"I obey my orders!"

King Huan gave an order, and the people below almost broke their legs as soon as their lips touched each other.

In just ten or twenty days two years ago, eight salt merchants were raided one after another, and nearly three million taels of silver, nearly one hundred thousand gold, one million copper coins, gold, silver, jewelry, and countless agate antiques were confiscated. , nearly a hundred salt villages, dozens of mansions, and hundreds of hectares of fields were inspected.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! There were also twelve salt merchants. Because they were not deeply involved, the heads of each family were also imprisoned, and fines ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars were confiscated.

, and then redeemed the person.

In these short ten or twenty days, King Huan was assassinated no less than ten times. On average, there was almost one assassination every two days. If King Huan hadn't brought elites trained by Gu Er, he would have been assassinated.

They were afraid that they would have been killed by those all-pervasive assassins, but even so, nearly a hundred of the elite guards brought from Tokyo were seriously injured and dead, which shows how insane and fearless these assassins are.

Even Wang Zhong was assassinated several times. Thanks to Wang Zhong's strong martial arts, he was able to break out of the siege with his bodyguards.

When Wang Qian'er was protecting Zhao Ceying, she was accidentally hit by an arrow in the shoulder. Fortunately, Wang Qian'er was wearing inner armor at the time and was able to avoid the critical point.

When King Huan saw that Wang Qian'er was injured while guarding him, he couldn't help feeling sorry. Yangzhou happened to be the hometown of Wang Zhong's family, so King Huan simply let Wang Qian'er go home to recuperate.

Wang Xu was also sent back to Baishui Village by Wang Zhong, asking him to take care of Wang Qier.

Recently, Wang Zhong followed King Huan to thoroughly investigate the salt affairs and raid the salt merchants, which offended countless people. Under this situation, Baishui Village is much safer than in Yangzhou City.

This year is destined to be unstable.

On New Year's Eve and New Year's Eve, everyone who had been busy for more than a month finally had a chance to breathe.

Zhao Ceying also knew that everyone had worked hard, so he specially ordered the kitchen to kill pigs and sheep to reward everyone.

After finally resting for a day, Wang Zhong had agreed with Zhao Ceying in advance yesterday that he would return to Baishui Village to worship his ancestors in the past two days. Zhao Ceying also knew that everyone had worked hard during this period. Now the Lianghuai Salt Division has done the same thing.

So I gave Wang Zhong a few more days off.

"Xiao Duan, thank you for your hard work during this time!" Zhao Ceying picked up the wine glass and pulled Xiao Duan sitting next to her to drink.

"What are you talking about, Your Majesty? You can eat the emperor's salary and worry about the emperor. These are what we ministers should do." Xiao Duan's full name is Duan Chengjin. Before eating meat, he really couldn't say these words, but

After losing an arm, in order to keep up with the pace of Zhao Zongquan and his son, this kid not only practiced martial arts hard, but also started reading with perseverance. Compared with before, he became more mature.

Tian Duo.

"Your Majesty, I will give you a toast!" Xiao Duan said respectfully, holding the wine glass in one hand.

"We are all brothers, why are we seeing others like this?" As he spoke, King Huan suddenly sighed and said with emotion: "It's a pity that Old Geng is no longer here!"

Speaking of Lao Geng, Xiao Duan couldn't help showing a bit of sadness on his face: "It would be great if Lao Geng was still here..."

Thinking of Lao Geng, even King Huan couldn't help but feel a little sad. As he pushed the cup to change the cup, the drunkenness gradually hit his forehead.

The two of them drank until they were drunk and finally gave up.

As time passed, the night became darker and darker, and the entire Yangzhou city became quiet.

I don’t know how long it took, but Zhao Ceying was awakened by the rapid sound of a gong.

"There's an assassin!"

"There's an assassin!"

I don't know if it was a watchman or a guard, but he shouted loudly along with the piercing sound of the gong.

"What's going on?" Zhao Ceying's face instantly turned ugly.

As he spoke, the shouts of killing soared into the sky and echoed all around. Along with countless wailing sounds, the sound of gold and iron intertwined by the collision of swords was heard.

Seven or eight heavily armored guards pushed in the door with swords. They immediately closed the door and made a defensive posture. They were distributed around the house. The leader walked up to Zhao Ceying and clasped his fists and said: "Prince Qi, there are a large number of assassins to kill."

I’ve come here, but I don’t know the exact number of people yet.”

Zhao Ceying's face was as gloomy as water, and there was a faint fire flickering in his eyes, and he said in a cold voice: "Change clothes! Put on armor!"

Zhao Ceying had just put on his armor, and Xiao Duan was also wearing armor and rushed over with a nervous look on his face, holding a saber. Seeing that Zhao Ceying was safe and sound, he was relieved.

Zhao Ceying and others moved into a house arranged by the Yandu Transfer Envoy, with four entrances and two spans. Zhao Ceying was located in the main room of the second entrance courtyard in the middle of the central axis, and Xiao Duan lived in the side room.

To the east is the garden, and there is a back garden behind, which is where the guards live.
To be continued...