My Lord, your wife is spreading rumors about you again.

Chapter 56: War of words in Kyoto Prefecture (3)

Sui Zheng sighed heavily: "Young Master Zhang!"

"Sir Sui, stop calling me!"

Zhang Zhi waved his sleeves, "Today, I am standing here. I want to see how despicable the Imperial Salt Inspector of the Great Qi can be! With your character, you are still in charge of salt transportation? The price of salt has soared to such a high level, and you don't seem to think of a way to make it go. Do I have reason to suspect that all this money has gone into your pocket, Mo? Go out and take a look yourself, which ordinary family can afford salt now?"

Zhang Zhi became more and more excited as he spoke, and turned his head and said, "Sir Sui! You are the interrogator of the salt case appointed by His Majesty. Tell me, the price of salt is comparable to that of gold nowadays. Is Mo Zhao, the salt inspector, responsible?"

Hearing this, Sui Zheng's heart was shaken, and he was filled with joy. He had come here for Mo Zhao and the salt case.

He was just worrying about how to link the Mo family's mess to the salt case, but he didn't expect that although the eldest son of the Zhenbei Marquis family was a playboy, he could solve his urgent problem with just a few words.

Mo Zhao seemed to have been caught in a trap. He widened his eyes and said, "Master Sui, we are discussing the truth about Mingli's castration of my son, but this bastard is talking about something else."

"His business?"

Sui Zheng interrupted Mo Zhao and said sternly, "In Lord Mo's mind, is the salt transport his business? After all, Mo Zhengfeng's castration is a family matter, but what Young Master Zhang said is a national matter! Even if it was done by the Second Miss Ming, so what? Can the crime of castration overshadow the major case of the salt transport? Lord Mo has been an official for decades. When faced with family and national affairs, doesn't he understand which is more important?"

Mo Zhao knew he was in the wrong and said no more.

Didn't Xi Mo say that he could use the truth about Feng'er's castration to kill Ming Li, thereby slandering Ming Boyuan and damaging the foundation of the Ming family? Why did he not only lose his son, but also bring up the salt transport case?
Mingli took out a document from her sleeve and handed it to Sui Zheng. The girl was thin, but her back was straight, like a proud pine tree, neither bent nor broken.

She said, "Since we have come to this point, I will make another complaint to Mo Zhengfeng. Lord Sui, do you know that there is a kind of toy popular among the nobles in Kyoto, called water slaves?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Mo Zhao’s face turned pale.

"Water slave? I have never heard of it. Let me take a look at the documents first."

He looked down, and the more he looked down, the tighter his brows frowned. After a moment, Sui Zheng slowly raised his eyes, with shock in his eyes.

"Miss Ming, what you mean is that the reason why the price of salt remains high is because Mo Zhao turned a large amount of official salt into private salt, and then sold it at a high price to various shops that raise water slaves? When the official salt is turned into private salt, there is less official salt, so it is necessary to make false accounts, but the salt transportation is controlled by the court, the account book is here, and the salt tax must be paid. In order to make up for the salt tax that needs to be paid, Mo Zhao sent people to maliciously compete and drive up the price of salt. In addition, there is too much private salt. Apart from the salt needed by the water slaves, the rest can be sold on the black market, and then people with ulterior motives will raise the price, so that now, whether it is official salt or private salt, its price is comparable to gold. Even if the people sell their children, they can't afford to buy a pound of salt to eat!"

After hearing these words, Mo Zhao suddenly looked up at Mingli.

She, how could she know!

"Snapped--"

The gavel slammed, and although Mo Zhao's face remained calm, a cold sweat broke out on his back. Sui Zheng stood up and walked down with the document in his hand.

"Miss Ming Er, your document is very well written. The cause, process, details and results are all included, but do you know that something is missing?" Sui Zheng asked.

Mingli smiled faintly: "Evidence."

Sui Zheng asked, "Do you have any?" "Since we are in the Kyoto government office and have written the document, I am not interested in making up stories for you. Evidence is the most important thing when trying a case." Mingli glanced at Mo Zhao and Mo Zhengfeng and said, "I am familiar with the law. I will never be like some people who just talk nonsense without any evidence."

"Okay!" Sui Zheng looked at Ming Li approvingly and said, "As long as the evidence is complete, don't worry. Even if a royal relative is guilty, I will not protect him!"

Mingli and Zhang Zhi looked at each other. Zhang Zhi nodded and shouted outside: "Shancha, bring the people up!"

After saying that, Shan Cha came forward with five girls who were only eleven or twelve years old.

They knelt in two rows in the hall. Sui Zheng was stunned, "Second Miss Ming, aren't we talking about the salt transport case? Why did you invite so many girls to the court for questioning?"

"Don't worry, sir." Mingli replied, "The case must be told one by one. After sorting it out, the truth will come out. Sir Sui, do you still remember that I sued Mo Zhengfeng for raping a young girl?"

Sui Zheng nodded.

"They are the women who were lucky enough to survive Mo Zhengfeng." Mingli winked at one of them, and the woman immediately burst into tears.

"Please, sir, help me! I am originally from Nanzhen. A few months ago, Mo Zhengfeng passed by my village on an outing. He then sent a servant to take me to Kyoto to enjoy wealth and glory. I didn't want to leave my hometown, so they...these bastards beat my parents to death and then kidnapped me!"

"It's the same with us women! If we disobey him in the slightest, he will order his men to kill and burn people, forcing us to obey!"

"Yes, sir, please make the decision. He first abused and played with us all, and then sold us to some shops as water slaves at a high price."

"How can we survive after becoming water slaves? We are lucky to have met the Second Miss Ming and Young Master Zhang. Otherwise, we might not even be able to find where our bodies are buried now!"

"Your Excellency, please be wise! We don't know how many sisters have died around us."

Mo Zhao was stunned after hearing this. He originally thought that Mo Zhengfeng had only raped and abducted these women, but he didn't expect that the water slaves of each family were actually taken from him? !
Although the father and son of the Mo family did not know each other's business, they had similar ideas.

Mo Zhengfeng captured young girls at will, raped them and then sold them, turning them into water slaves. However, if the water slaves wanted to survive, they had to live in salt water, so the shop owners had to buy salt from Mo Zhao.

With all this money coming in and out, the Mo family's father and son's pockets were filled with money.

Mo Zhao immediately realized the seriousness of the matter. He hurriedly said, "Sir Sui, you and I are officials in the same court. You know me well! Even if I am a little greedy, I would never do such a thing! My son has always been well-behaved and obedient, so it is even more impossible for him to do such a thing!"

He was now a cornered rabbit, biting people randomly. He pointed at Mingli and Zhang Zhi, "Or else, it was these two who gathered this bunch of little bitches to slander my Mo family!"

"Lord Mo's dog mouth really can't produce any ivory."

Zhang Zhi had been standing between Ming Li and Mo Zhao. He glanced at Mo Zhao and said, "I think you are the only upright person in the world, right? Lord Zang and his wife are slandering, the testimony of the midwife and the imperial physician is also slandering, and now the five girls and the words said by me and the second Miss Ming are also slandering? Lord Mo, people say that a person with an upright character is not afraid of his own shadow being crooked. Now your shadow is crooked to the point of being out of control. It seems that you are not a good person either."

(End of this chapter)