Detective Di Renjie's legend of Wu Dynasty

Chapter 624
Di Renjie waved his hands and said, "Di Chun, don't be rude."

Di Chun snorted and sat down on the stool.

Di Renjie said: "Boss, you said that the people in Xuyi County haven't had salt for two years?"

The shop owner gave a wry smile and said, "I didn't eat at all, that's nonsense. After two years, if I don't eat a little salt, the common people will not be able to live, right?"

Di Renjie stretched out his hand and said, "Come on, sit down, and speak slowly."

The shop owner nodded and sat beside Di Renjie: "Just now you kept asking me why this place is so depressed, right?"

Di Renjie nodded.

The owner of the store said: "I saw that you are an old man who often runs out. You may also know that Xuyi is located at the confluence of two rivers. It is a big market and it is very lively. But since the year before last, there has been no salt here."

Di Renjie asked, "Why?"

The shop owner sighed and said: "Old man, don't think that this salt is not a good thing, but it is not allowed to buy or sell casually."

Di Renjie nodded: "I know that. According to the Salt Law, table salt must be sold by merchants designated by the government."

The shop owner said: "Yes, there are four big salt shops in Xuyi County, one named He, one named Chen, one named Wang, and one named Fang.

In a normal year, when the salt ship of the Jianghuai Salt and Iron Transshipment Envoy arrived at Xuyi Pier, several salt merchants waited there early to buy the table salt distributed by the imperial court, and transported it back to the Salt Ship to sell in the city.

The price of salt is twenty cents a bucket, which is called Changping salt. "

Di Renjie nodded.

The shop owner continued: "But since the year before last, the salt ship has never been to Xuyi. I heard that Hangou is haunted. As long as the salt ship passes there, the ship will be destroyed and the salt on the ship will be gone. trace."

Di Renjie was secretly startled when he heard the words, he exchanged a glance with Zeng Tai and Lu Jiying and said, "I heard that the shipwreck in Hangou caused a shortage of salt in Huaibei, but I didn't expect it to be so serious."

The two nodded slowly.

The shop owner said, "Isn't that right? We haven't eaten official salt since we got there."

Di Renjie said: "That's not right, the waterway is impassable, and there is still a land route. Xuyi is governed by Yangzhou. Since this happened, the state should transport the official salt to Xuyi by land."

The store owner said, "Hey, you don't know something.

Although Xuyi is governed by Yangzhou, the land transportation is very inconvenient. First of all, the roads are rugged, and the carts transporting salt cannot walk at all.

Moreover, when the land route arrived in Shanyang County, it was blocked by Hongze Lake, and it was necessary to take a ferry across the lake to connect to the dry road.

But there is a group of water bandits in Hongze Lake who are very powerful. They usually rob boats and kill them for money. The government has nothing to do with them.

I heard that when the salt was cut off in the county, Yangzhou did transport salt several times, but they were all robbed by water bandits in Hongze Lake, and the officers and troops were sent to suppress them, but there was no trace of the water bandits.

Just like that, the canal was blocked and the land route was impassable, so we had no salt to eat. "

Di Renjie snorted heavily and said, "How unreasonable! Is it because of this reason that the government no longer sends salt to Xuyi?"

The shop owner said with a wry smile: "Not only Xuyi, but also all places west and north of here."

"Then where did the salt you eat now come from?"

"The official salt is gone, so the salt merchants have to find ways to obtain illegal salt. In the spring of the year before last, the He Family Salt Shop got a dozen rock salt from somewhere, and put it on the market for [-] yuan a bucket."

Di Renjie was taken aback: "It's twenty times that of the Changping salt in the government?"

The store owner sighed and said, "Who says it's not? We all call it Bawang Salt, but it's so expensive that it was sold out within half a day.

Just think about it, four hundred renminbi a dou is okay for one purchase, how can the common people afford it in the long run!

But salt is nothing else, and it’s impossible not to buy it.

There is no way, each family can only spend money to buy a little bit, eat less when you are busy, and not eat when you are free, this is called light food.

Generally speaking, winter is the season of light food, and the common people here can't eat a little salt for a whole month, and their bodies are swollen and weak.

I can't eat salt, so I don't have the energy to work. Seeing that the bustling Xuyi is so deserted. "

Di Renjie asked: "Boss, do you know where these salt merchants get their overlord salt?"

The owner of the store said: "I don't know, it's not official salt anyway. The government also turns a blind eye, and they can't let the common people have no salt to eat, right?
Since then, there have been more salt lords here, and the salt they sell is cheaper than the salt merchants, at two hundred cash a bucket, so the common people no longer buy salt from the salt merchants.

Now the salt merchant quit and urged the government to severely punish the salt lord.

No, you saw it just now, those two boys are unlucky. "

Di Renjie snorted heavily and said, "The sky is high, the emperor is far away, and the people are few and the people are the best. They are all selling private salt, and they are fighting each other. It's just suffering for the common people!"

The shop owner nodded and said: "You are right. I really don't know when the ordinary people in Xuyi will be able to eat cheap salt. That's all right, just make do with it and eat slowly!"

With that said, he got up and walked towards the kitchen.

There was silence on the table, and everyone put down their chopsticks.

Di Renjie said solemnly: "See, the shipwreck in Hangou and the loss of a large amount of salt have caused such a catastrophe in the Yangzhou area!
The moths in the Yangzhou Water Transport Yamen embezzled the huge sum of money allocated by the imperial court to protect the canal, causing the canal to fall into disrepair and frequent shipwrecks.

But they are extravagant and licentious, eating, drinking and enjoying themselves, and a meal can easily cost tens of thousands of dollars!

But the common people here even eat salt has become a luxury!
The emperor was worried that the lack of salt transportation would cause the treasury to be empty, but Shengshang never imagined that under the kingship of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the people here would live such a miserable life!
The Holy Majesty did not expect that the local officials in Yangzhou did not care about people's livelihood, neglected their duties, were mediocre and incompetent, and even a small water bandit in Hongze Lake could stop the major salt transportation, so that salt smuggling was rampant and rampant!

This is really a disaster for the court, a disaster for the world! "

Zeng Tai slammed his fist on the table: "Master, this matter must be brought to light!"

Di Renjie sighed and said, "I really didn't expect that as soon as I got off the boat, I experienced the misery of the people, even the affluent Xuyi is like this. I don't know what it will be like in the impoverished areas near the Huai River!"

Zeng Tai let out a long sigh.

Di Renjie said: "Forget it, Zeng Tai, our investigation starts here.

First find an inn to stay there, and then everyone will split up and visit the folks.

First of all, it is necessary to find out from what channel the salt merchants in the city got the overlord salt. "

……

Crouching Tiger Village.

In the large empty field in front of the main hall, with a radius of several tens of feet, the owner of the village, Ge Tianba, sat on a chair in the center of the empty field, and the big and small bosses sat in rows on both sides.

Sitting in the front seats were the brothers of the owner Ge Tianba, but there were two empty chairs under these seats.

Sitting behind these two empty chairs, Deng Tong had a dark face, not knowing what he was thinking.

At this time, there was a sound of footsteps in front of the gate.

Everyone looked outside the door, it was Wang Mang and Li Yuanfang.

　Thanks for the reward from the heart, the heart, the heart, and the start, and the support of the brothers!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)