Kowloon wins

Chapter 278 Uneven Hearts (Part [-])
"Stop comers!"

The magistrate's yamen is located in the center of Yangzhou City, while the salt transport yamen is located in the north of Yangzhou. The distance between the two is not too far, but it is only about three streets apart, which is about Moli Xu's road. Even if a group of salt merchants walk It was not too fast, and it took only a little more than a stick of incense to reach the road less than a hundred feet away from the Yamen. At this time, there were nearly ten thousand people who followed the salt merchants to watch the excitement. , as soon as the situation of mixed fish and dragons came out, Li Minxing, who was in charge of security, inevitably became a little nervous. Before the crowd arrived, he had already drawn out the long sword hanging from his waist, swung it forward, and stopped drinking loudly. With a voice.

"Qiangqiang..."

After Li Minxing shouted so loudly, the more than a hundred palace guards who had already lined up at the yamen all drew their swords out of their sheaths. Although they didn't say much, their murderous aura erupted amidst loud clanging noises. Straight to the sky.

The people are always afraid of officials, don't look at a group of salt merchants coming in a big way, but when the guards of the palace draw their swords out of their sheaths, everyone waits, whether it is the salt merchants or the common people watching the fun. They were all shocked and hurriedly stopped, and no one dared to talk or move.

"General Li invited me. I'm here just to ask for an explanation. I don't intend to offend the imperial envoy. If there is anything wrong, I ask the general to forgive me."

Seeing that the situation was not right, after the four chief executives standing in the front pushed each other a few times, the nominal host Wang Panshou was forced to stand out from the crowd, walked forward with a pale face, and walked towards Li. Min Xing arched his hands, and reported a sentence with trembling voice.

"My little prince has an order. All the salt merchants are listening carefully. If you have any requests, you can directly come to the hall to make them. My little prince will discuss with you. Anyone who dares to cross this line will be punished as treason. Kill without mercy!"

Li Minxing glanced at Wang Panshou coldly, and he was just like him, his arm sank, his wrist trembled, and a sword mark was drawn on the mud in front of him, and then he lifted the long sword, With enough energy, he loudly announced Hongqing's order.

"General Li, please wait a moment, I will discuss with everyone here."

Even though Hong Qing had given an explanation in advance, it was worth it under such a murderous scene. Wang Panshou was so shocked that his face was as white as a sheet of paper. A group of salt merchants discussed in a low voice, but failed to reach a unified opinion for a long time - almost half of those who advocated advancing and those who advocated temporarily retreating. On the surface, the group of salt merchants barely reached a consensus.

"General Li, please inform me on your behalf. I am willing to go to court to listen to the instructions of the imperial envoy."

Now that the consensus was reached, the elected leader Wang Panshou had no choice but to stand up again, saluted respectfully, and expressed the results of everyone's discussions.

"Wait!"

Li Minxing didn't give Wang Panshou any good looks, he just uttered two words coldly, and then waved his hand, calling a guard in front of him, ordered a few words in a low voice, and soon saw the guard rushing into the yamen , went straight to the back hall all the way.

"Ascension!"

Not long after the guard left, a shout came from the yamen, but the voice was crisp and urgent, and his breath was obviously lacking. There is no doubt that the person who shouted was only a young man, and everyone was exhausted. Everyone was stunned, and those with sharp eyes looked inside, and they saw that the one who was shouting loudly was Guan Yu, the little follower beside Hong Qing. The salt merchants in the city couldn’t laugh, not because of anything else, but because Hong Qing’s promotion meant only one thing—the imperial envoy Baylor had no intention of playing parity with the salt merchants at all. The trick of negotiating, this is a naked/naked/naked posture of overwhelming others.

"mighty……"

Watching the rain did not stop, and saw the magistrate's yamen guards who had already lined up on both sides of the lobby, knocking on the ground with water and fire sticks in their hands, and shouting in unison. Turned out from the back hall, walked slowly to the back of the first copy, flicked the hem of the court clothes, and sat down.

"Go, give all the salt merchants to Ben Belle and invite them to the court!"

Over the years, Hongqing has seen a lot of big scenes, and he will not be intimidated by the crowds of people outside the yamen, but seeing him blankly looking around at the neatly lined up guards on both sides, his eyes finally Landing on the squad leader, he casually grabbed an iron stick in the stick, threw it in front of the squad leader, and gave the order in a cold voice.

"twitter!"

Hearing Hong Qing's order, the team leader didn't dare to be negligent, and hurriedly responded, picked up the iron sign on the ground, and ran down the lobby quickly, and came straight to the outside of the cordon, feeling full of energy. Shouted: "The imperial envoy has an order to announce that all salt merchants will enter together!"

As soon as Hong Qing sent troops to suppress them first, and then raised the hall to ask questions, all the salt merchants were a little bit hard to get off. If they didn't enter, the grand sound that they had carefully created would definitely come to naught. Hong Qing has no chance to bargain, and besides, if she really wants to leave like this, if Hong Qing comes to settle accounts after the fall, the consequences will not be affordable by everyone, but if she really wants to enter, the inner posture is obviously that Longtan Tiger's Den, if Hongqing intentionally makes things difficult, everyone will inevitably be imprisoned. The big guys are all rich and noble, so how can they bear such suffering? This is an embarrassing situation where neither the left nor the right As soon as they came out, all the salt merchants showed bitter faces, crowded together, and had a good discussion, until Liu Banu made a decision, and then everyone lined up, led by the four major merchants , Walked tremblingly into the Yamen.

"Caomin wait to see the imperial envoy!"

The imperial envoy represents the imperial power, no matter what people think about Hong Qing personally, no one dares to miss the big gift that should be done, otherwise, it is a felony of contempt for the court. Dare not go against it.

"After all, what are you doing to make such a big scene, huh?"

Facing the big greetings from the crowd, Hong Qing never called out at all, let alone exchanged polite greetings, as soon as she came up, she was in the posture of asking questions, and asked a question without politeness.

The menacing attitude of the salt merchants before they set off has long since disappeared, and hearing Hong Qing's tone is so unkind, no one dares to be the first bird at this time, so they can only cast their eyes on When it came to Wang Panshou, it was hoped that Wang Panshou, the nominal host of the overall situation, would stand up bravely. This kind of intention is undoubtedly beautiful, but the reality is cruel——Since Wang Panshou knelt down, his head was lowered Yes, there was no intention of lifting it up at all, let alone getting ahead at this time, so the lobby was so strangely quiet.

"What? They're all dumb. Since there's nothing wrong with you, if you make such a big commotion, you should be dealt with as an illegal gathering of people according to the law. If the consequences are like this, there's no need for Ben Baylor to talk about it."

Everyone didn't open their mouths, but Hong Qing didn't intend to let it go so easily, smiled coldly, and unceremoniously put a big crime on the heads of all the salt merchants.

"I would like to report to the imperial envoy, it is not because we want to act like this, but we really have a last resort. Please also ask the imperial envoy to look into it."

What Hong Qing said was very serious. Once this crime is really going to be done, ransacking the house and beheading is a common thing. How can the salt merchants bear the consequences? There were a lot of whispers, but no one dared to argue with Hong Qing face to face, even Chen Biao, who had made the most trouble earlier, didn't have the slightest courage at this moment. Holding his breath, he knelt up straight and replied in a loud voice.

"A last resort? Well, Ben Baylor really wants to hear what you Liu Banu have to say, let's go ahead."

Seeing that it was Liu Ba Nv who came out, Hong Qing couldn't help being happy, not for anything else, because the person Hong Qing really wanted to perform the surgery was this Liu Ba Nv, but it was a pity that she was hiding it very deeply. He was also slippery, and Hong Qing still couldn't get hold of him until now. Being able to force him out of the water at this moment is a situation that Hong Qing would like to see. But it wouldn't show on his face, he just glanced at him calmly, and spoke in a bureaucratic tone.

"In order to let the imperial envoy know that the consumption of salt in various places has increased greatly this summer, and the original quota of quotations is not enough. We have repeatedly asked the salt transport envoy to make slight adjustments, thinking that in case of emergency, one can relieve the burden on various places. In case of salt shortage, secondly, we can contribute more salt tax to the imperial court, which is a good thing for both parties. The grassroots don’t know why the imperial envoy refuses to allow it, so I ask the imperial envoy to help us explain one or two doubts.”

Liu Ba-nu looks rough and bold, but her words are very clear and coherent, with a sour smell of writing, obviously she has read a few books, which is quite different from the rough temperament she reveals.

"According to your Excellency, it's all because of Ben Baylor?"

Hong Qing looked at Liu Ba Nv with great interest, then smiled coldly, and asked a question in a joking tone.

"The grassroots don't dare, it's just the truth. It's not the grassroots lying to deceive the imperial envoy. If you don't believe it, you can send letters to the provinces to clarify the truth."

Liu Ba Nv has always been a bold and reckless master, even though she knew that Hong Qing's tone was extremely unkind, but she still refused to give in, and she still replied neither overbearing nor humble.

"The truth? Hey, what a fact! Anyway, Ben Baylor will tell the truth. Let's take the summer salt in Hubei as an example. In the 38th year of Kangxi, 63 catties of salt were used in Hubei; 39 catties; 62 years, 40 catties of salt; 64 years, 41 catties of salt; 67 years, 42 catties of salt; 61 years, 43 catties of salt. After six years, the average is no more than 79 It's just over [-] jin. This year is neither a disaster year nor any special celebrations. How can we use the theory of a large increase in salt? If there is, where will the salt that was lacking in the previous six years be made up for, eh? Liu Banu, How about you just give Ben Baylor an explanation, huh?"

Hong Qing's memory is already excellent, and she spent a lot of time looking through those old accounts. Now she just opened her mouth to calculate the general account with her fingers, and she was about to throw out two important questions. This made the salt merchants below tremble uncontrollably, nothing else, the reason why there is a tense situation in the use of salt in various places is entirely because the private salt was strangled to death by Hong Qing, but such explanations are not Can't bring it up on the table and say it. As for finding a reason randomly, it is obviously impossible to deceive a shrewd person like Hong Qing.

When such a situation happened, all the people unconsciously broke into a cold sweat for Liu Ba Nv. If there was a slight mistake in answering, not only Liu Ba Nv would be unlucky, but the big guys would definitely escape this catastrophe , Thinking of the many guards of the palace outside, everyone's vests couldn't help but feel chills.

(End of this chapter)