Qiming 1158

Chapter 847 This is not a rebellion, what is a rebellion?

The first problem that Kong faced was the problem of private salt.

The Ming law stipulated that the official camp of salt and iron was still the official camp, but the Ming state had greatly optimized the price and quality of the official camp. Ordinary people could definitely afford salt, and they would not be as frowning as the people of the Southern Song Dynasty.

It can be said that there is no market for smuggling salt in the Ming Dynasty. If someone must sell smuggled salt, even if the cost is higher than the profit, once the government finds out, they will be severely punished, so it does not make much sense.

So the only way to make money is to smuggle smuggled salt to the Southern Song Dynasty.

The price of salt in the Southern Song Dynasty was very high, and many people were craving for the low-priced salt of the Ming Dynasty. The salt of the Ming Dynasty was transferred to the Southern Song Dynasty for sale. The profits were extremely high. Every month, he can grab high profits from the Southern Song Dynasty and assist the court's finances.

Su Yonglin long ago relied on selling Ming Guo salt to the Southern Song Dynasty to subsidize military expenditures and finances, and made a lot of profits.

The court can earn so much, and the people will not lack such discerning people, so the private business of smuggling and smuggling salt to the Southern Song Dynasty was quietly born, quietly operating, and competing with the court for this part at a slightly lower price than the court. profit.

However, because the Ming court has stricter inspections in this area, this industry is difficult to develop and expand, and only a few families with strong wealth and strong relationships can try to enter.

Previously, Ming Ting had vaguely heard about some similar news, but he never found any clues, but he did not expect to find out directly this time.

This is good, the crime of selling private salt was a capital crime in the Southern Song Dynasty, and it was similar in the Ming Dynasty. It was necessary to exile the family to remote areas to do hard labor, just like the family of corrupt officials.

This was a major crime and basically set Kong's death sentence.

The result was even more explosive. They even kept armor and crossbows privately.

Generally speaking, feudal dynasties rarely forbid civilians to own weapons, and things like swords and swords are not to mention the proliferation of civilians, at least they are common.

Don't talk about bandits or anything, even some normal entertainers can have swords. If they really want to fight, kitchen knives can cut people, so the government doesn't care.

But the armor and the crossbow are different, and the meaning is completely different.

Armor can enhance defense, and bow and crossbow have long-range killing ability. Once there are these two, all dynasties will immediately define it as a rebellion, deal with it immediately, and absolutely cannot tolerate it.

So when Su Yonglin found out, he was not angry but happy.

This time, Mr. Kong took the initiative to put the knife into my hand, and turned around coquettishly to expose your butt to provoke me, saying that I would not dare to scratch your butt with a knife.

Then you can see if I dare to open your eyes to you.

Su Yonglin directly ordered the Kong family to be defined as a family of rebels, and the investigation was changed to an inquisition and a liquidation.

Comprehensively arrest important personnel of the Kong family, fully control the Kongfu and Qufu County, and quickly interrogate and torture the relevant people, and be sure to ask them about their [rebellion plan].

Su Yonglin was serious, tortured Kong Zhi's family, and quickly interrogated some relationships that helped them sell smuggled salt.

Following the relationship, he took down some officials and their families in Dengzhou and Ninghai prefectures along the coast, confiscated more than 30 smuggling ships, destroyed six smuggled salt factories, and destroyed seven big families involved in this matter. Confiscated more than 2 million smuggled proceeds.

It can be said that it has been very rewarding.

And through this nest case, judicial officers also have clues about another private salt group, which is said to be larger and is now under investigation.

As for the ordnance that Kong's private collection, it is the legacy of the original melee period.

After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Su Yonglin issued a ban on important armaments such as armor and crossbows, and ordered the family to hand over all the ordnance within a time limit to prove his innocence.

Once the time limit is exceeded, once it is discovered, it will be punished according to the crime of rebellion and will not be tolerated.

In the past, there were several powerful families in Shandong who owned ordnance and private soldiers, all of which were killed by the soldiers under Chai Yang's command, and the three clans were annihilated.

And now, the Kong family actually has a branch that does this kind of thing.

This is not a rebellion, what is a rebellion?

This is not only the matter of Kong Zhi and the Kong family, but also the matter of the entire Kong family. It is a big matter, and Su Yonglin personally participated in the trial.

At the trial meeting, Kong Yan firmly denied that the Kong clan rebelled, but when Su Yonglin placed in front of him the salt-making tools and armaments found from Kong Zhi's house, he had nothing to say.

"I earn money with private salt, and I also hide armor and crossbows. Tell me, this is not military ordnance, what is it?"

Su Yonglin is pretending to be confused by pretending to understand.

Kong Zhi probably just wanted to make his operation of selling smuggled salt smoother, so that he could escape the pursuit of officers and soldiers at critical moments, so he did this, and did not mean to rebel.

If you really want to rebel, these dozens of armors and crossbows are really useless.

But according to the law, no matter what the original intention of this matter is, it only depends on whether it exists or not. As long as there is, it will be regarded as a rebellion, and there is nothing to say.

Such a well-deserved opportunity, can it be missed?

Su Yonglin decisively sentenced Kong Zhi to death, dragged the entire Kong family into the water, and charged the entire Kong family with rebellion.

Afterwards, according to the results of the inventory, Su Yonglin learned that the Kong family had more than [-] houses. The Kong residence in Qufu was large in scale, with all kinds of buildings complete. There were no shortage of exotic flowers, plants, birds and animals in the house, and the regulations were comparable to the palaces of the Song Dynasty.

His entire family owns 31 mu of land, spread all over Shandong, making him the No. [-] landowner in Shandong.

The whole family copied 17 taels of gold and 68 taels of silver. The amount of copper coins was not counted until Su Yonglin left Shandong and returned to Zhongdu.

Other books, famous paintings, famous calligraphy, pearls and jade, exotic gems, as well as valuable antiques such as bronzes, gold and silver utensils, and precious out-of-print coins of the previous generation can be sold for sky-high prices in the Southern Song Dynasty.

There are five branches of the family engaged in business, with more than 15 shops, covering various industries including food, cloth, silk, porcelain, wine, catering, accommodation, transportation, etc. The initial valuation of the total business assets exceeds [-] billion yuan.

The servants who directly served the Kong family in Yanzhou and the tenants who cultivated the land for the Kong family have exceeded [-]. Counting the servants and tenants owned by the other branches, the total number has exceeded [-].

The number of commercial employees also exceeds 2000. The family also has more than 1000 horses, more than [-] cattle, countless donkeys and mules, and more than [-] vehicles and boats.

With such a huge family business, I am not satisfied, I want more, I need to get more, continue to expand the family business, and even stretch out my hands where it shouldn't be.

Obviously, Kong's good days are over.

"Participate in corruption cases, sell smuggled salt in private, compete with the country for profit, not only that, but also hide armor, bows and crossbows, Kong Zheng, you Kong family are really blooming, I don't know, you actually did that Lots of things."

Su Yonglin's yin and yang's strange words shocked the entire conference hall, and most of the officials at the meeting looked at Kong Zheng in shock.

They couldn't digest this heavy news for a while, even Kong Zheng himself.

Seeing his appearance, Su Yonglin didn't intend to delay, and ordered directly.

"Kong's family received the country's favor and did not want to return it. Instead, he violated the law and discipline. He assisted corrupt officials to transfer stolen money and stolen goods, and even illegally sold illicit salt, and concealed armor and crossbows. According to the law of the Ming Dynasty, the post of Minister of Rites of Kong Zheng and the title of Duke Yansheng will be removed, and he will be sentenced to death in prison!"

(End of this chapter)