The Sui Dynasty's chess game

Chapter 851 Follow the clues
Shi Xiaozhen arrived at Longshan Restaurant with several of his generals. They went into a private room, ordered a table of dishes, and asked for several jugs of wine. Although some people might brew private wine, wine tax is local revenue, and local governments are very strict about it. In rural areas, it is okay to brew some fruit wine privately and drink it behind closed doors, but if you sell it or gather people to drink privately brewed wine at weddings or funerals, you will be arrested.

A highly skilled henchman quietly sneaked into the kitchen. Soon after, he arrived at the private room and handed Shi Xiaozhen a small box, which contained the salt he had stolen while the kitchen was not paying attention.

When Shi Xiaozhen compared the smuggled salt he had obtained from Zhao Tieshan, it was indeed identical. This restaurant was still using smuggled salt. However, Shi Xiaozhen remained calm and sent someone to keep an eye on the manager.

As night fell, when the shopkeeper was closing up shop to go home, someone covered his mouth from behind, stuffed him into a bag, lifted him onto a carriage, and disappeared.

When the shopkeeper was released from the bag, he found himself in a large tent surrounded by soldiers. A general at the head of the tent coldly said, "You still have a chance to live. Tell the truth honestly, and I'll treat you as an ordinary salt buyer and fine you according to the regulations. If you don't tell the truth, I'll treat you as one of the salt merchants, and your whole family will be executed!"

The shopkeeper's head went blank for a moment, his legs went weak, and he knelt down, saying, "I only bought some smuggled salt because I was greedy for a cheap price, I absolutely did not smuggle salt."

“I know where you bought it in January. Tell me where you bought the smuggled salt later?”

"Reporting to the general, they sell smuggled salt in designated areas. After I bought ten catties of salt, someone came to me and said that I was from a restaurant in the east of the city and was not allowed to buy salt in the south of the city. So I dared not buy salt in the south of the city and instead bought salt from a vegetable shop in the east of the city. When I need salt, I just send a waiter to tell them, and the vegetable shop will deliver the salt to my door."

"Is the owner of this vegetable shop the one who forbids you from buying salt in the south of the city?"

"No, the person who came looking for me was a tall, thin young man, who was accompanied by two thugs. The shopkeeper was a middle-aged man surnamed Yang. After that young man threatened me, he never showed up again."

Shi Xiaozhen made him give her the detailed address of the vegetable shop, and then said to him, "I'm letting you go home now. Just pretend nothing happened and cooperate with our investigation. In the end, we'll only fine you ten times the cost of the salt. If you leak the information, then you'll be a salt dealer, and your whole family will be executed. Understand?"

“I understand, and I would never dare to leak this information.”

Shi Xiaozhen immediately sent his men to take him out. According to the salt law of the Sui Dynasty, those who purchased smuggled salt for direct consumption were ordered to make up the difference and then be punished with ten times the purchase price. The lowest-level smugglers were beheaded, and their families were executed along with the salt merchants and smugglers above them. The old and the young were punished the same. The highest-level salt smugglers were punished by having their entire families implicated.

Even with such severe measures, some people still take the risk of smuggling salt regardless of the lives of their families. In such cases, an iron fist must be used to crack down on them. There will be no leniency towards salt smugglers who threaten the stability of the country, and even innocent family members will be executed.

Shi Xiaozhen knew very well that once the vegetable vendor was arrested, it would alert the high-ranking salt merchants the next day. He would either be killed or escape. He had to arrest him overnight and couldn't wait until dawn.

That evening, dozens of internal security soldiers surrounded the vegetable shop. They rushed in, seized the sleeping shop owner, and found 200 jin of smuggled salt in the shop.

The guards arrested their entire family and took them back to the military camp.

Shi Xiaozhen slapped the vegetable shop owner across the face several times. "You're dead, but if you don't confess, your wife and two sons will be executed as well. The choice is yours! Do you want to die alone, or have your whole family die together? Who is that tall, thin young man? And who is your supplier?"

The vegetable shop owner was so scared that he wet his pants. He cried and confessed, "The tall, thin young man is my nephew. He dragged me in here. His name is Yang Chun. He is in charge of this area in the east of the city. He will deliver salt to me when I run out."

"Where does Yang Chun live? And give us your client list."

Soon the vegetable shop owner gave the address of the tall, thin man, and the guards found a list of more than two hundred households in his house.

Shi Xiaozhen sent Peng Yongming with men to arrest Yang Chun and his family. Another deputy general, Luo Chao, brought him news of the chief clerk.

“That clerk’s family member is indeed suspicious. He is the clerk’s brother and comes to cause trouble every five days. He doesn’t want money, he just wants the Anti-Smuggling Bureau to hand over people. I have already sent people to monitor him secretly, and we can arrest him at any time if necessary.” Shi Xiaozhen didn’t know how smuggled salt was operated, and he didn’t dare to arrest anyone rashly, for fear of alerting the enemy. He guessed that Yang Chun would know something about it.

Before long, Peng Yongming led his men to arrest Yang Chun and his entire family.

According to criminal law, Yang Chun is a salt smuggler, and his entire family must be executed. There's no way to negotiate with him; the only option is severe torture.

After being tortured for half an hour, Yang Chun could no longer endure the torture and finally confessed that the smuggled salt was only sold in the county town, not in the countryside. There were four salt merchants in large counties and only one in small counties.

There are four salt merchants in Jiangdu County. The one who was killed last time and whose house was burned to the ground was the salt merchant in the south of the city. Now, the sale of smuggled salt in the south of the city has been temporarily suspended to avoid the limelight. His supplier is a salt merchant from Jiangdu Prefecture, but he does not know the name of the other party and has never had any contact with him. He also does not know the salt merchants in the west and north of the city.

"What if Yang Chun needs salt?"

"He said he was going to Xiaoming Trading Company to buy salt from a fat monk. He had to pay in cash, and then a ship would deliver the salt to his designated warehouse the next day. He rented warehouse number 57 from the Chen family. He said he had never met the supplier before. He could get a profit of five copper coins per pound of salt. The regulations stipulated that each pound of salt was worth fifty copper coins, and he had to sell it at that price. If he didn't sell it at that price, he would be killed. And coincidentally, he just ordered three thousand pounds of salt this afternoon, and someone would deliver the salt to his warehouse tomorrow."

Shi Xiaozhen nodded. "The organization is quite tight. This salt smuggler is no ordinary person. Take Yang Chun to collect the goods tomorrow and make him cooperate honestly. We can spare his youngest son's life."

"I understand!"

Shi Xiaozhen then said to Luo Chao, "Keep an eye on that clerk's brother. Don't alert him. I suspect that clerk has been bribed by the salt smugglers at the next higher level."

The Chen Family Warehouse was originally the property of the Chen family of Jiangdu. They have completely declined, squandered all their businesses, and can only make a living by collecting rent from the land they left behind. The Chen Family Warehouse is one of their assets.

The Chen family warehouse is located in the east of the city, next to a small river in the city. The warehouse has a total of sixty warehouses, each about fifty square meters. Yang Chun rented the innermost warehouse, number fifty-seven.

Around noon, the small delivery boat stopped in front of the warehouse dock, and several boatmen used wheelbarrows to deliver sacks of salt to warehouse number 57.

The small boat quickly turned around and left, but a passenger ship silently watched the delivery boat.

Meanwhile, Fat Monk from Xiaoming Trading Company was also being watched. Fat Monk was just a nickname; he was actually an accountant who was very fat, and everyone jokingly called him Fat Monk.

Peng Yongming hurriedly returned to the military camp and reported to Shi Xiaozhen: "This subordinate has found out that Xiaoming Trading Company is backed by the Chen family. It was only established at the end of last year. Also, that small boat went to another Chen family warehouse. It is a Chen family ship."

Salt merchants from the prefecture are beginning to emerge, and all indications suggest that the salt merchants of Jiangdu Prefecture are very likely the Chen family.

Shi Xiaozhen pondered for a moment and said, "Tonight, arrest a few boatmen and interrogate them about which warehouse they transported the salt from. Once we find the salt warehouse, the Chen family will not be able to escape."

Shi Xiaozhen paused for a moment and then said, "Arrest Fat Monk as well. He must know something. We must make him confess everything he knows!"

(End of this chapter)