Han official!

Chapter 168 Private Salt
A snowfall in December fell heavily on the Chiwen Mountain at the residence of Zhao Wangsun.

When Guo Jie stepped over the threshold in his blood-stained black boots, the bronze auxiliary head was still jingling in the morning breeze.

The bloody smell from the prison last night still seemed to linger in his nose. He reached out and stroked the new gold-inlaid bronze sword at his waist.

Those were the spoils taken from the body of Zhao Wangsun.

"Brother, please look."

Wei Guang used his broken halberd to lift open the tiger-skin curtain in the main hall, and dozens of county soldiers holding pine torches filed in.

In the flickering firelight, the painting "A Galloping Horse Stepping on a Swallow" on the twelve lacquered screens glowed with a strange luster, and the horse's eyes carved from Khotan jade moved between light and darkness.

Guo Jie bent his fingers and knocked on the zelkova wood pillar, and the hollow echo startled the crows perched on the beam.

He suddenly drew his sword and thrust it into the mural. The tip of the sword penetrated the three-inch-thick earthen wall and accurately severed the mechanism of the hanging knife.

The entire west wall collapsed, revealing stone steps leading underground. A musty smell mixed with a salty smell hit me in the face.

"Raise the fire!" Wei Guang was the first to step into the secret room.

The firelight illuminated the thousands of dried meats hanging from the cellar ceiling, each wrapped in plain silk with the words "Winter tribute of the second year of Jianyuan" written in cinnabar on the silk.

The county soldiers cut the hemp rope, and the rotten meat fell to the ground and cracked, and the golden cakes mixed with the rustling rolled out from the rotten meat.

This turned out to be the secret cellar where Zhao Wangsun privately stored tribute.

Guo Jie picked up the salt-stained bamboo slips and said, "In the twelfth month of the second year of Jianyuan, Jia Xin, the governor of Hedong County, seized twenty pieces of deer."

He sneered and threw the letter to the ground, and the dagger split the corner of the lacquer box open.

Bundles of plain silk medicines fluttered like snowflakes, each roll stamped with the bronze seal of Hedong County.

These "money inflow and outflow books" that should have been kept in the palace were actually bundled together with Zhao's wooden coupons.

"Look at this!" Wei Guang took out a gilded bronze box from the secret compartment.

A detailed map of the Bashui Salt Road was painted on the cowhide inside the box, and the eighteen pavilions and barriers along the way were all marked with the surnames of the officials who received the bribes.

The most eye-catching thing is the private seal of "Jia Xin" at the end of the picture.

It turned out that Jia Xin, the governor of Hedong County, was also involved in the smuggling network.

The cellar suddenly shook, and salt crystals fell from the top.

Guo Jie suddenly pushed Wei Guang away, and three crossbow arrows brushed past his ears and hit the salt bricks.

Five warriors in red clothes broke through the wall, and with poisoned halberds in their hands they went straight for the wooden box containing the medicine.

This secret room actually has double walls!
"Protect the certificate!" Guo Jie turned around and kicked over the salt cart.

The flying salt particles blinded the assassin's eyes, and Wei Guang took the opportunity to throw out the broken halberd, which pierced through the two men and nailed them to the wall.

The remaining assassins suddenly tore off their robes, and the pottery jars tied to their chests burst into green flames.

This is a poisonous fire made from tribute salt!

Guo Jie pulled the curtain soaked in fish fat to put out the fire, but the poisonous smoke ignited when it came into contact with salt.

Several county soldiers wailed and retreated hurriedly. Wei Guang split the pottery jar with preserved meat in a hurry, and at the moment when the rotten fat extinguished the flames, the dagger had already pierced the throat of the last assassin.

"They are not guests of the Zhao family." Guo Jie lifted the assassin's collar, revealing a tattoo on his collarbone. "This is the tattoo of a prisoner in the Nei Shi prison."

The two looked at each other, and both felt a chill in their hearts.

Someone in the court wants to silence him.

At this time, cheers were heard from the county soldiers on the ground.

Guo Jie followed the sound and climbed up to the east wing corridor. Even though he was used to seeing wealth and luxury, he was shocked by the scene before him: thirty copper-wrapped camphorwood boxes were neatly arranged, and three-zhu coins were strung into the shape of a coiled snake inside the boxes. Twenty pieces of Yue cloth were hung on the wall, each embroidered with a complete copy of Jia Yi's "On the Failure of Qin". The most astonishing thing was the granary in the northeast corner, where a layer of gold flakes floated on the yellow millet grains!
"The millet is mixed with bran and gold to meet the needs of the superiors." Guo Jie grabbed the gold flakes and sneered, "When the county officials came to inspect the warehouse, they saw the golden luster when pounding the rice and thought it was fine millet."

He suddenly swung his sword and split the bottom of the warehouse, and the moldy millet mixed with sand and gravel poured out from the bottom.

The granary was actually filled with moldy corn.

Wei Guang was counting the silks in the west warm room when he suddenly felt something strange on the bricks under his feet.

He knocked on the floor tiles and found the hanging knife under the seventh tile.

The moment the double wall opened, the scene behind the jade screen made everyone hold their breath: nine jade statues of the same height as their bodies stood tall, each with a bright moon pearl embedded in it as eyes.

The "Donations from the Forbidden City" account book on the desk clearly records the expenses of Changxin Palace!
"This is a grave crime punishable by the extermination of three clans." Guo Jie stroked the inscription on the jade pendant, "Hedong Commandery Engineers' Zhuanwen, privately crafting imperial chariots and funeral objects, and withholding the imperial wine money."

He suddenly fell silent, and the tip of his sword lifted up the lacquer basket behind the curtain.

The twelve turtle-shaped seals in the basket actually correspond to the salt and iron officials in each county!
The snow in the courtyard had been reflected in the money box and turned it into a dark color. Guo Jie sat alone in the curved corridor of the pavilion, staring at the blood-stained map of the Bashui Salt Road in a trance.

There are faint traces of wet blood fingerprints in the corner of the picture. It seems that Zhao Wangsun wanted to destroy the hostage before rushing to the prison.

"A total of 3,000 hu of millet, 600 bolts of silk, and 4,000,000 three-zhu coins were obtained."

Wei Guang came over with the wooden tablet, but before he could finish his words, Guo Jie grabbed his wrist.

Guo Jie took his gold-inlaid sword and carved deep furrows in the snow: "Melt the gold cakes into gold cakes and sell them together with the millet for the market price."

A hawk-like glint flashed in his eyes. "According to this number, count it."

Wei Guang looked at the number in the ravine in shock, and it was half of what he had actually found.

He suddenly caught a glimpse of the half piece of white silk sticking out from Guo Jie's sleeve, on which the three characters "Hedong County" were still freshly stained with blood, and he immediately understood.

This is to be saved for catching bigger fish.

As dusk fell, the county soldiers set up a torch in the courtyard.

Guo Jie personally filled the gilded bronze cup with Linglu wine, and Wei Guang cut up the roasted lamb.

As the fat exploded in the fire, this cold winter, which was once full of famine, seemed to gradually warm up with the fire in the courtyard of the Zhao family's mansion.

Wei Guang suddenly picked up a piece of coke with his dagger and wrote the words "Salt and Iron" on the snow.

Guo Jie nodded in understanding, and added "Jun Shu" next to the two characters with the tip of his sword.

This bloody battle only revealed a corner of the dark side of salt and iron smuggling.

Amid the sound of evening drums from the distant Changxin Palace, ox carts loaded with stolen goods were rolling across the icy Zhangtai Street. The salt water seeping from the ruts condensed into tiny silver rays in the moonlight.

A total of five million yuan was brought back to the official temple of the Right Secretary of the Interior.

The dripping sound of the copper kettle in the Right Internal History Office suddenly became thicker.

When Zhao Yu miscounted the number of money boxes for the third time, he finally threw the iron abacus hard onto the blue brick floor.

Five million three-zhu coins were piled up like a mountain in the courtyard. The afternoon sun penetrated the branches of the locust tree, casting flowing gold spots on the surface of the pile of coins.

This was three times more than the total amount of atonement money he had handled in the past three years.

"Captain Zhang, please look at this string of cloth." Zhao Yu picked up ten gold cakes strung together with red strings. His long, slender fingers, typical of a cruel official, trembled slightly. "Ten gold pieces per cake, that's a hundred gold pieces in total, a million coins!"

The salt crystals remaining on the edge of the gold cake fell down. That was the evidence of crime that Guo Jie brought out from Zhao's cellar last night.

Zhang Tang tapped the cash box with a ruler. "According to the Nine Chapters of Law, the ransom for murder is 500,000 coins." The ruler suddenly poked into the compartment of the cash box. "But Guo Jie has this money."

He picked up half a blood-stained bamboo slip, which turned out to be a salt sales certificate with the seal of the Hedong prefect. "But it's laced with a poison that can kill your heart."

There was a sudden commotion in the courtyard.

When Guo Jie stepped into the Moon Gate with his sword drawn, he saw Zhao Yu holding the account book and laughing loudly towards the sky.

This cruel official, who was always known for his sinister nature, staggered like a drunk in a tavern at this moment: "Last year, my official account ranked last among the counties in Guanzhong. This year..."

He slapped the money box with his shaking beard, "The redemption money alone is equivalent to the annual head tax of several counties under the Right Secretary of the Interior!"

"I, the official, report back." Guo Jie took down the golden sword and placed it on the table.

The newly carved "卅" character on the sword guard was stained with blood and had a dark red hue.

This was the number of assassins he had beheaded in Zhao's private prison, and each of their cuts was soaked in the fishy smell of brine.

Zhang Tang suddenly lifted up the sword tassel with his iron ruler and asked, "I heard you used the dagger in the cellar?"

He traced the seven cracks on the sword with his fingertips. "This is how Huaili County killed the powerful in the first year of Jianyuan."

Zhang Tang pointed the ruler precisely at the third notch. "The force here is off by three zhu. It seems the salt has corroded the sword's spine."

Guo Jie's pupils suddenly contracted.

On that rainy night fifteen years ago, he did use seven daggers to pierce the throats of the powerful people in Huaili at the same time.

At that time, Zhang Tang was still a prison official in Chang'an, and he could even calculate the deviation in the power of his opponent to the exact minute.

"The prefect is wise." Guo Jie pulled out a piece of white silk from his bosom. "The clerk has copied the 'pledges' exchanged between Jia Xin and the salt officials of various counties."

He deliberately unfolded the silk book to a certain place, so that the cinnabar annotation "Hedong craftsmen privately cast the imperial carriage" happened to fall in front of Zhao Yu.

Zhao Yu's Xiezhi crown trembled violently.

As a cruel official who came from a grammar clerk background, he knew only too well how serious a crime it was to privately cast imperial utensils.

In the past, King Liu Wu of Chu was stripped of two counties for privately making a gold-thread jade burial suit, let alone Jia Xin, who was just a county magistrate.

"Good! Good! Good!" Zhao Yu said three good words in a row, and the red ribbon and silver seal jingled on the desk. "With this thing, don't talk about the first plan."

He suddenly lowered his voice and leaned closer, "Those are the eight salt ponds in Hedong County."

Zhang Tang suddenly thrust his iron ruler between the two men and asked, "How many powerful men did Guo Shangji kill before he was appointed as the Right Internal History?"

He flipped through the atonement book nonchalantly. "Ten? According to the law, he should be executed." He slammed the ruler against Jia Xin's business card. "But now there are five million and one hundred thousand coins."

This number made Guo Jie smile bitterly.

He has bought the title to atone for the sins of ten people.

The progress of buying a title to atone for sins has reached 70%.

Zhang Tang suddenly mentioned the powerful people in Huaili, who seemed to be frequently buying titles to atone for their sins. He asked him to investigate Guo Jie carefully and find some clues.

Now there is another life of a powerful person in Huaili.

He just wanted Guo Jie to conduct an in-depth investigation into the case of smuggling salt in Hedong County.

Guo Jie knelt on one knee, the chill of the bronze tiles penetrating into his bones. "I, your humble servant, am willing to investigate the Hedong salt case again."

"Jia Xin is a high-ranking official." Zhang Tang put the iron ruler back into his waist. "Do you know the Dou family, the relatives of the emperor?"

Before he could finish his words, Zhao Yu suddenly slammed the table and stood up. The ring-handled sword on the table was unsheathed half an inch. "With me here, why should I be afraid of the Dou family!"

This usually cautious and cruel official now had a gambler's glint in his eyes. "Tomorrow I will report to the Chief Censor and the Right Internal Affairs Commissioner for this year's budget."

"The prefect is drunk," Zhang Tang suddenly interrupted, throwing Guo Jie a bunch of blood-stained keys. "You should go visit your old friend in prison."

The clashing of keys startled the sparrows under the eaves, and the last ray of sunset was shining in the direction of the cell.

When Guo Jie disappeared into the twilight, Zhao Yu suddenly grabbed Zhang Tang's leader and said, "The original scroll in his sleeve..."

The words got stuck in his throat.

Zhang Tang's iron ruler was pressing against the silver seal on his waist.

"Does the prefect know why Guo Jie was able to pay the ransom?" Zhang Tang's fingertips brushed against the salt that seeped through the cracks in the cash box. "He sprinkled salt on the wounds of each of his assassins." The iron ruler suddenly lifted up a piece of blood-stained linen. "The assassin sent by Jia Xin to silence us has become our pawn."

Zhao Yu looked in the direction of the iron ruler, and his blood almost froze: the bottoms of those piled-up money boxes were all marked with tadpole-shaped marks with salt.

It is the secret symbol used by the Supreme Court to mark death row prisoners.

Zhao Yu was still pacing back and forth in the office.

He stroked the gold-inlaid sword brought back by Guo Jie, and suddenly found half a jade pendant hidden in the secret compartment of the scabbard.

This is a ceremonial vessel that only princes are qualified to enjoy.

Cold sweat instantly soaked through his shirt, and Zhao Yu finally understood the profound meaning of Zhang Tang's words "poisonous to the heart".

"Killing three birds with one stone." Zhao Yu raised the jade pendant to the moonlight. "It not only pays the ransom, but also provides evidence of the crime."

The inscription of the character "Dou" on the edge of the jade made him laugh until tears came out of his eyes. "He even found a reason for me to suppress the Dou family, my in-laws!"

In the evening, the last cinnabar stroke in the account book was finally completed.

Zhao Yu pressed the county governor's bronze seal heavily on the "atonement money" column, and suddenly remembered Guo Jie's eyes when he knelt to receive the silver seal and green ribbon.

That was clearly the dim light of a wild beast staring at its larger prey.

The deepest cell in the Neishi Prison was filled with the smell of rotten salt, and the salt water seeping from the cracks in the blue bricks squeaked under Guo Jie's black boots.

He stopped in front of the seventh iron bar. In the halo of the torch, the curled up prisoner suddenly let out a hissing sound like a venomous snake spitting out its tongue.

That was the ranger Yu Ping who disappeared after the Huaili case three years ago.

At this moment, his right leg was empty from the knee down. The linen at the broken end was soaked with brine, and there were maggots struggling in the salt crystals among the rotten flesh.

"Brother Guo" Yu Ping's one eye shed muddy tears mixed with salt grains, and his left cheek, tattooed with "Chengdan Chong", was twisted by the festering wound. "That year, the mountains were closed due to heavy snow, and you and your brothers robbed the official salt cart."

His fingerless right hand suddenly grasped the iron bars, his knuckles exposed in the salt corrosion, and he said, "You said you wanted to give it to the refugees who were freezing to death!"

Guo Jie threw the clay bowl into the prison, and the turbid wine spilled out to form the word "Gao".

As the wine seeped into the cracks in the bricks, Yu Ping suddenly jumped up, his broken leg dragging bloody marks on the salt bricks: "Do you think Jia Xin is just greedy for money?"

He tore open his robes, and the salt pond mark on his chest had merged with the festering flesh. "He is hiding under the Hedong Salt Pond. Underneath..."

There was a sudden noise from the tiles on the roof.

Three crossbow arrows came flying through the air. Guo Jie turned around and swung his sword to block them. The arrows brushed past Yu Ping's ear and pierced into the salt wall.

When the black shadow fell, the poisoned Huaili Hero Seal was already stuck in Yu Ping's throat.

It was the token of the group that Guo Jie had been chasing after.

"The Gao family's dog came so quickly." Guo Jie stepped on the assassin's wrist and used his dagger to pry open his collar.

The trident-shaped tattoo is wrapped around a poisonous snake, and the two dots of cinnabar at the snake's eyes are exactly the same as the marks on Zhao Wangsun's cellar account book.

The assassin suddenly bit open the poison sac in his mouth, and black blood splattered on the salt bricks.

"Changling." Guo Jie pried open the assassin's stiff fingers. The two words "Changling" were tattooed on his face, and black salt grains were embedded between the palm lines.

He took a sniff and found that it was the nitrate salt unique to the Hedong Salt Pond, mixed with the smell of rust.

Only those who have been in contact with iron smelting for a long time will have iron salts seep into their palm lines.

Yu Ping suddenly twitched in the pile of rotten grass, his one eye fixed on Guo Jie. "Master Gao is in the water dungeon west of the salt pond."

His mutilated right hand dipped in black blood, he drew a twisted path on the salt bricks. "On the first day of every month, Gao Bushi will personally escort them."

The blood line suddenly broke at a fork in the road, and Yu Ping gasped like a broken bellows from his throat, "The iron they are melting"

Guo Jie suddenly tore open Yu Ping's clothes, and saw a piece of oilcloth sewn on his festering abdomen.

When unfolded, it was a half-map of the salt road, with a dark line marking "Changling-Bashui tributary" and eighteen pavilions along the way all with trident marks painted on them.

There was a string of strange symbols on the edge of the picture, like a count made of salt grains.

"Twelve, twenty-seven, forty-three".

"On the twelfth day of the twelfth lunar month last year, twenty carts of iron ingots were shipped out of Changling. On the twenty-seventh day of the first lunar month this year, four hundred boxes of arrowheads were found hidden between salt bags."

Guo Jie's pupils suddenly contracted.

These figures completely match the number of missing weapons on Zhao Yu's desk! Yu Ping suddenly jumped up, holding half a rat bone thorn in his one arm: "You can't beat them!"

Guo Jie dodged sideways, and the rat bone brushed against the sword edge, sparks flying.

This is clearly a weapon tempered with salt and iron juice!

"The salt poison has long since penetrated your bones." Guo Jie pressed the tip of his sword against Yu Ping's throat and discovered a strange blue-green hue beneath his festering skin.

This is a symptom of long-term exposure to toxic salt.

In those days, prisoners who were forced to do hard labor in the Hedong Salt Lake often did not survive more than three years.

Flames suddenly burst out from the pile of rotten grass. Yu Ping laughed crazily in the flames: "Under the salt pond, there is what you want."

Before he could finish his words, salt water was poured from a secret compartment on the beam, extinguishing the flames while also soaking the salt road map.

Guo Jie hurried to grab the fragments of the map, but saw small cinnabar characters that appeared when it hit the water: "Changling Jiazi Haocang, sealed in the first year of Jianyuan."

When the copper clock in the Right Internal History Office reached the hour of Shen, Zhao Yu touched the inlaid golden sword on the desk for the thirteenth time.

When Guo Jie came in with the blood-stained evidence, this usually gloomy and cruel official actually knocked over the ring-handled sword on Lan Qi.

"Gao Bushi is the son of Gao Sui, a powerful figure in Changling." Guo Jie pressed half of the iron token onto the map. "Jia Xin's smuggled salt entered Changling through his hands."

The incomplete character "Salt" on the iron token is stuck at the confluence of the Ba River and the Wei River.

"Last month he melted down a thousand farm tools and obtained 120,000 kilograms of iron."

Zhang Tang held up the salt permit with an iron ruler. "The Salt and Iron Law states that anyone who privately casts ironware will be branded and forced to work as a city clerk." He pointed the ruler at a spot on the sand table. The cover of "The Iron Smelting Works at the Former Site of Changling" was lifted, revealing a model of an underground river leading directly to the Hedong Salt Pond. "Each cartload of salt can hold 300 kilograms of iron ingots in the interlayer."

Zhao Yu's withered hands clenched the inlaid golden sword, his eyes gleaming fiercely from beneath the Xiezhi crown: "Salt and iron are transported together, what a deception!"

He suddenly coughed violently, and the handkerchief was stained with salt grains from his cough.

These days he was checking evidence day and night, and even his breath carried the salty smell of the cellar.

Guo Jie presented Yu Ping's blood letter: "The crossbow used by the assassin is engraved with the seal of the Hedong Engineering Official in the third year of Yuanguang."

The wine stain at the end of the silk scroll vaguely resembles a map of the Gao family's salt team's routes. "In the salt cart we intercepted last night, there were twelve ring-handled swords hidden between the salt bricks."

Zhang Tang suddenly struck a bronze clock. "Before Guo Shangji was appointed Right Internal History, he had killed many people." He pressed his iron ruler against a page in the atonement book. "I blocked all of this for you. Yu Ping defected to Jia Xin and testified against you, so I was the one who found the opportunity to capture Yu Ping."

"According to the Law on Repaying Stolen Goods, this should be converted."

"I, an official, am willing to investigate the whereabouts of the ironware in Changling." Guo Jie knelt on one knee, the chill of the bronze bricks penetrating into his bones.

Half a blood-stained salt brick slipped out of his sleeve. The "Gao" mark on the brick made Zhao Yu's pupils shrink suddenly.

"No!" Zhang Tang said in a deep voice, "Changling is the former military site designated by Emperor Gaozu. It would be dangerous to investigate without authorization..."

"Prepare your horses!" Zhao Yu kicked over the table, and the red ribbon and silver seal danced wildly in the sunset. "I want to personally interrogate Gao Bushi!"

This grammar official, who was once ridiculed for his inability to govern the people, was like a wolf smelling blood. "This year, I will submit a plan. I, the Right Secretary of the Interior, must...

Zhang Tang, however, held the county governor's seal and said, "The county governor should take a look at this first."

He threw a piece of white silk to Guo Jie, "This is the pass from the Gao family salt team, stamped with the bronze seal of Hedong County."

The two characters "Jia Xin" written in red on the corner of the silk cloth dimmed the candlelight in the room.

Guo Jie quietly sheathed his sword.

Beneath the newly engraved "Jia Xin" pattern on the sword guard, half of the unpresented iron contract is hidden.

In addition to the character "Gao", there are also characters specific to the Hedong Salt Lake.

On the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, unmelted salt snow accumulated in front of the gate of the Changling Ordnance Site.

When Guo Jie pulled the reins, the copper seal of the official in his palm had become hot due to his body temperature.

This important arsenal designated by Emperor Gaozu is now covered with cobwebs on the lacquer plaque "First Warehouse of Jia" on the lintel, and the sheen of brocade can be faintly seen under the leather armor of the old gatekeeper.

"Mr. Guo, you've come a long way, thank you for your hard work." Gao Bushi lifted the fox fur curtain. The salt-carved coiled dragon on the jade belt hook at his waist shone coldly in the winter sun. "I have prepared the old accounts for the past ten years. Please come into the main hall to inspect them."

As he raised his hand, twenty servants came out one after another carrying camphorwood account boxes. The copper edging on the corners of the boxes left golden marks on the snow.

Guo Jie tapped the copper nails on the gate with his fingers, and the hollow echo startled a crow from its perch. "I, under the order of the Right Secretary of the Interior, must first verify the full contents of the granaries."

He suddenly drew his sword and thrust it into the crack of the door, the tip of the sword breaking the three-strand twisted copper chain.

This is a special lock made by the Shaofu Gongguan to guard the warehouse. Only the armory clerk is allowed to open it.

Gao Buzhi's smile froze slightly, and the salt crystal beads in his hand suddenly broke: "Mr. Guo, you don't know that the Jiazi Warehouse has been damp for many years."

Before he finished speaking, Guo Jie had kicked open the iron-clad wooden door.

The musty smell mixed with the fishy smell hit me in the face. In the huge granary, there were only thirty hollow wooden boxes. Among the remaining salt grains at the bottom of the boxes were scattered a few rusty plows.

The record in the account book that "3,000 ring-handled swords were sealed in the first year of Jianyuan" turned out to be a lie.

"Gao Gong has a knack." Guo Jie poked the rust out of the wormhole with the tip of his sword. "He's using salt water to corrode the warehouse planks, imitating ten years of rust."

He suddenly split open the interlayer of the wooden box. The freshly planed wood stubble exuded the fragrance of pine resin. "I'm afraid this wood was cut from Zhongnan Mountain last month."

Gao Buzhi's forehead was covered with cold sweat: "Please understand the plan. I will call the chief clerk right away."

"No need." Guo Jie turned and walked towards the salt cart on the west side. "I'd like to see this 'disaster relief salt' that's being shipped to Hedong."

He thrust his dagger forward, and the salt bag burst open. The yellow salt grains poured out, but the interlayer was exposed the moment it touched the ground.

Twelve unsharpened ring-handled swords were stuck between the splints!
"The Salt and Iron Law prohibits the private casting of weapons, but allows the making of farm tools." Guo Jie split the handle of a knife, revealing the wrought iron inside. "Mr. Gao used the iron from farm tools to make weapon blanks. What a brilliant idea."

He grabbed a handful of salt and sprinkled it onto the blade. When it met the iron, saltpeter crystals formed spiderweb patterns on the blade. "Using saltpeter from the Hedong Salt Pond as a quenching agent, it's no wonder the blade is so brittle and easily broken."

Gao Buzhi suddenly clapped his hands, and three clerks came out from behind the salt cart and said, "This is the improved agricultural tool specially approved by the Minister of Agriculture!"

They unfolded the plain silk document, and the cinnabar seal was indeed from the Prime Minister's Office. "If you don't believe it, you can go to Taicang to check it out."

"Snapped!"

Guo Jie suddenly smashed the copper seal of his plan on the pile of salt.

The seal character "右内史" on the bottom of the copper seal was printed in reverse between the salt grains, and the thickness of the strokes was exactly the same as that of the seal for approving documents.

Gao Buzhi's face suddenly changed.

"Last month, there were heavy rainstorms in Hedong. The seal used by the Prime Minister's Office for approving documents should be a water-patterned cinnabar." Guo Jie's sword tip pierced the silk surface, revealing the hidden pattern of the character "Jia" on the inner layer. "Mr. Gao and Envoy Jia are willing to spend a lot of money, even using the special silk provided by the Ministry of the Interior to forge it."

The west wind blew the salt snow into the gate.

Gao Buzhi suddenly shouted, and the servants behind him tore off their cotton robes.

The lining is actually covered with poisoned caltrops!

Guo Jie turned around and kicked over the salt cart. In the salt mist, Wei Guang led the county soldiers to break through the wall and enter.

"I also brought a sample of salt from the granary in the first year of the Jianyuan period." Guo Jie took out a glazed pottery jar from his bosom. The black salt in the jar ignited when it came into contact with the wind, leaving a mark of "甲字七４三" on the snow.

This is exactly the secret sign of the military weapons that were sealed back then!

Gao Bushi knelt dejectedly on the ground, and the salt dragon on the jade belt hook broke into powder.

Guo Jie stepped on his right palm, the salt grains from the sole of his boot grinding into his fingers. "Tell me, how many illegal salt plywood plates were made from the melted iron of the ordnance?"

Snow fell at the gate, and the iron smell from the salt cart's lining finally overwhelmed the musty smell of ten years of stale accounts.

The salt snow fell on Gao Bushi's cracked jade belt hook, and the salt sculpture of a coiled dragon broke into seven petals, revealing the copper key hidden inside.

Guo Jie picked up the key with the tip of his sword. The pattern on it looked like interlaced ice spikes, exactly the same as the keyhole pattern on the iron box in Zhao Wangsun's cellar.

This is the core token that runs through the Hedong salt and iron network.

"There are three ice cellars under the Jia-type warehouse!" Wei Guang escorted the warehouse clerk to kick open the secret door on the west wall.

Beneath the warehouse clerk's brown robe was a silk undershirt specially supplied by the Shaofu, the corners of which were embroidered with the unique stitching of the Hedong salt workers.

As the iron ladder winds its way down to the ground, a cold air mixed with a salty smell hits one's face. Fifty copper-clad pottery jars are lined up in a solemn formation. The seals with the words "The First Year of Jianyuan" written on the mud seals on the jars have been corroded by the brine into ghost faces.

Guo Jie's short sword broke the mud seal on the first jar, and the clanging sound of the iron colliding with the salt crystals startled the crows on the top of the cave.

The upper layer of official salt is snow-white and crystal clear, while the lower layer of arrowheads emits a strange green glow.

This is the mark left by quenching with brine.

He picked up the arrow shaft and tapped it lightly, and black salt grains fell from the hollow arrow cavity.

"The arrow shaft was filled with lead and salt grains added weight." Wei Guang cut open the feathers, revealing the inner incisions: "On Bingwu day of the third month of the first year of Jianyuan, the Hedong engineer, Shi Chenhe, supervised the construction."

It was the batch of border military equipment that the imperial court was tracking down that had gone missing!
The pottery jar at the deepest part suddenly shook, and a tattooed prisoner jumped out of the jar, stabbing Guo Jie's throat with an iron chisel in his hand.

The man's left ear was missing, and the broken part was covered with salt scab and new flesh.

It is the mark of the escaped slaves from Hedong Salt Pond.

Guo Jie dodged to the side and tore open the prisoner's clothes. Several bamboo slips fell out, and the ink on the slips was blurred by salt and turned into black shadows.

"The envoy's order!" the fugitive screamed, spitting out salty blood. "Salt in lieu of taxes, and ironware as donations."

Before he could finish his words, his throat was pierced by the salt crystal thrown by Gao Buzhi.

Guo Jie carefully examined the fragments of bamboo slips under the light of a wall lamp. The edge of the red seal on the first part of the slip, which read "Jia", clearly showed wavy patterns from the braided rope corroded by salt.

This is a mark formed by long-term immersion in brine.

Gao Buzhi suddenly laughed crazily, black blood mixed with salt crystals oozing from the corners of his mouth: "The envoy had anticipated this disaster!"

The poison sac in his back teeth burst with his bite. "Do you know this ice cellar beam?"

Before he could finish his words, the sound of wood cracking came from above his head.

Salt frost is spreading on the thousand-year-old cypress beams at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Gao Buzhi had buried salt-absorbing wood in the load-bearing part of the cellar, which would swell when the tide came!

"Retreat!" Guo Jie dragged Wei Guang out of the cellar.

There was a roar like thunder behind him, and the ice cellar collapsed under the erosion of salt, burying all the thirty jars of evidence.

Only half a sheepskin scroll was seen floating down in the smoke and dust. The map of the salt road painted in cinnabar on it was a mirror image of the one hidden in Zhao Wangsun's secret room.

Gao Buzhi clung to the ruins with one arm, the jade belt hook completely broken into pieces: "Do you think you can..."

He suddenly froze.

Guo Jie didn't know when a bronze tiger talisman appeared in his palm, which he had taken out from the bottom of the collapsed jar.

The two characters "Changling" on the talisman fit perfectly with the key pattern. When the hidden mechanism was unscrewed, a pill coated with salt fell out from the core.

"No wonder they wanted to kill the salt workers." Guo Jie crushed the pill, and the red powder ignited when it came into contact with the wind. "Cinnabar mixed with saltpeter was used as an ignition agent. I'm afraid Gao Gong's private collection is not just ironware, right?"

"kill!"

The north wind, carrying salt grains, swept over the ruins of the gate. Gao Gongzi's father, County Lieutenant Gao, stood on a four-horse chariot in black armor and a black robe. The red flags hanging from the tips of his bronze axe halberds rustled in the cold wind.

Three hundred county soldiers advanced slowly in the cone formation described in Sun Bin's Art of War: Ten Formations.

The fifty sword and shield soldiers in the front line held up iron-clad wooden shields, the shield covers soaked in salt water and frozen like iron plates.

In the second formation, a hundred soldiers armed with long spears placed their two-meter-long copper spears in the gaps between their shields, with the spear heads wrapped in salted linen to prevent rust.

The crossbowman in the rear formation stepped on the crossbow arm, and the three-edged arrowhead glowed with a dark blue poisonous light in the twilight.

"Wind!" County Magistrate Gao pointed his halberd and axe forward, and hundreds of crossbows were fired at the same time.

The rain of arrows penetrated the salt mist and turned the broken gate into a hedgehog.

These crossbow arrows were actually coated with Hedong saltpeter, and would explode into poisonous mist when encountering a shield.

The two county soldiers covered their faces and wailed. The blood seeping from between their fingers mixed with salt crystals and condensed into red beads. These were the salt-poisoned arrows that were clearly prohibited by the "Arsenal Order".

Guo Jie swung his sword and cut the ropes hanging from the gate tower, and thousand-pound salt bricks fell down, forming a temporary barrier in front of the formation.

Wei Guang led twenty death warriors forward, and the hooks in his hands with barbs stuck the hinges of the shield formation.

This is a weapon specially made by the engineering officials of Henan County to break the formation.

Guo Jie took the opportunity to split the three long spears in half. The copper spear heads fell to the ground, revealing the brittle iron inside. It was obvious that they were inferior materials privately cast before the salt and iron official operation.

County Captain Gao's angry shout shook off the icicles on the eaves, and a four-horse chariot roared out from behind the salt hill.

The iron part of the axle is covered with salt frost, which is exactly the method of "quenching wheels in salt water" recorded in "Kaogong Ji".

Guo Jie dodged the shaft of the chariot and stabbed his right horse's eye socket with his inlaid gold sword.

The mad horse dragged the chariot into the salt pile, and bundles of arrows with the inscription "The Fourth Year of Yuanguang" rolled out of the chariot. The mark of "Hedong Gongguan" on the body was clearly visible in the firelight.

County Lieutenant Gao abandoned his chariot and swung his halberd. The crescent blade split Guo Jie's leather hairband, but sparks flew when it touched the bronze neck guard.

Guo Jie cut off the halberd's shaft with his backhand, and inserted the broken halberd into the salt brick, revealing the rusty cast iron core inside.

This is inferior iron obtained by illegal salt dealers by melting down farm tools.

Ten battering rams covered with raw cowhide suddenly appeared in the salt fog. The iron-clad front of the rams had sharp blades quenched with salt water. They were exactly the "salt-fronted battering rams" mentioned in Wu Qi's "Six Strategies of Chariot Warfare".

Guo Jie hurriedly ordered the county soldiers to overturn the salt carts to form a barrier, and the saltpeter mixed with rotten meat poured out to form a barrier.

The moment the battering rams hit the salt fort, Wei Guang threw out the flint stored in the armory, and the saltpeter exploded when it came into contact with fire, and the five battering rams turned into the image of "saltpeter fire" recorded in "Huainanzi Wanbi Shu".

Suddenly, a muffled sound was heard from deep in the cellar. The load-bearing pillars collapsed due to salt erosion. County Lieutenant Gao personally led the soldiers to dig through the cellar roof, and salt bricks fell like rain.

This is the "salt attack" tactic in Chao Cuo's "Strategies for Guarding the Border".

Guo Jie seized the enemy's crossbow and fired seven arrows in rapid succession, each of which pierced the leather under the armpits of the black armor.

This is what is said in "Six Strategies: Military Use": "The gap in armor is at the armpit."

The soldier who was shot by the arrow stumbled and fell into the river, and the salt water instantly corroded the wound.

County Magistrate Gao's ring-handled sword came slashing at the wind, and the inscription "卅湅" on the blade was eerie in the firelight.

It is exactly the same shape as the Han Dynasty tombs in Cangshan, Shandong.

The roof of the salt cellar collapsed, and County Magistrate Gao picked up the white axe of Guo Jizi of the Western Zhou Dynasty stored in the armory.

Guo Jie swung his sword to block, and the inlaid gold sword collided with the thousand-year-old axe, and bronze fragments mixed with salt crystals fell to the ground.

County Captain Gao turned and swept across, the axe blade chopped off the salt pillar, and Guo Jie retreated quickly and pierced his shin strap with his sword.

The shape of this strap is exactly the same as that of the pottery figurines in the Yangjiawan Han Tomb. The iron shin guard fell to the ground, revealing festering salt-eroded scars.

The wooden teeth of County Lieutenant Gao's boots dug into the cracks between the bricks, and the handle of his axe slammed into the water, stirring up salt mist.

Guo Jie threw his sword back into its sheath, picked up the hook-studded thorn from his armory, and stabbed the barb into the gap in the neck guard of the black armor.

The two men rolled into the brine and fought, and the bronze armor pieces peeled off layer by layer under the erosion of the salt, revealing the red writing "Changling Arsenal" lining.

When the setting sun dyed the salt dunes red like blood, the remaining troops of Gao County Magistrate retreated to the river and formed the "Queyue Formation".

The crossbowmen guarded the salt pile and pressed the last hundred iron arrows with the inscription "The Second Year of Jianyuan" into the large rhubarb crossbows.

Guo Jie reorganized the county soldiers and connected the captured salt carts end to end to form a "car city", imitating Wu Qi's chariot formation to advance.

The sound of taut crossbow strings intertwined with the sound of the river waves, and suddenly several whistling arrows wrapped in white silk flew by in the salt mist.

This is the Han army's method of communication, foreshadowing the beginning of a new round of crossbow duels.
(End of this chapter)