The Prodigal Son

That night, Qin Yu and his group stayed at the county government office.

After a long and tiring journey, Qin Yu was just about to take a nap with Nan Que'er when there was a rapid knocking on the door.

"Thirteenth Young Master, get up quickly! The people from the Treasure Mirror Division have arrived, saying they have urgent news to report!"

Qi Dachui's voice rang out from outside the door.

"Okay, I'm coming right away!"

Qin Yu answered, then sat up, his head throbbing.

Damn it!

There are so many trivial things happening every day!

They don't give anyone a moment's peace!

"Go quickly!"

Nan Que'er gently nudged Qin Yu, then gave him a seductive smile. She deliberately lifted the blanket covering her naked body and said in a coquettish voice, "I've been waiting for you!"

"Once I'm done with this, I'm going to give you a good beating!"

Qin Yu glared at her fiercely, groped her, and quickly got up amidst Nan Que'er's coquettish laughter.

Soon, Qin Yu came outside and met the people from the Baojing Division.

"Lord Qin, something terrible has happened."

Upon seeing Qin Yu, Li Yan, disregarding the proper greetings, rushed forward in a panic, exclaiming, "The salt merchant Jia Dequan of Fangzhou and the prefect of Fangzhou, Sun Min, have gone to extremes and both perished at Wangjiang Terrace in Jiangning! Sun Min's son was assassinated by assassins secretly planted by the Jia family while leading a raid on the Jia household, and died on the spot..."

"What?"

Qin Yu's expression changed drastically. "When did this happen?"

The salt merchant and the governor of a prefecture fought to the death, resulting in the governor's entire family being brutally murdered!

The impact of this event is considerable; it could even trigger an earthquake in the Liangjiang region!

"The day before yesterday at noon!"

Li Yan looked at Qin Yu with a solemn expression, and continued, "Upon learning of the tragic deaths of Sun Min and his son, Lady Sun, in her grief, set herself on fire that very night with her young daughter, leaving behind a letter written in blood accusing the court and Lord Qin..."

"Accusing the imperial court and me?" Qin Yu frowned. "Shouldn't she be cursing Jia Dequan?"

"Jia Dequan's entire family is definitely doomed, so there's no point in her cursing him!" Li Yan said with a bitter smile. "In her letter written in blood, Madam Sun said that the imperial court and Lord Qin had driven these salt merchants to desperation, forcing them to take such risks..."

Grass!

This is fucking bullshit!

Now, the pressure is on him and the imperial court!

This news will surely spread quickly throughout the Liangjiang region and the Hai and Yuan prefectures.

Salt merchants, officials, and even businessmen from other industries across the country would probably be jumping up and down!

Qin Yu frowned, pondered quietly for a while, then asked with a dark expression, "Isn't this probably someone's conspiracy?"

"Based on the information we have received, there is no conspiracy."

Li Yan replied, "Judging from the current situation, it seems that Lord Qin discovered that Wang Zhaojie and his son, Jia Dequan, had been caught buying large quantities of smuggled salt to pass off as official salt. In order to save his life, Jia Dequan tried to use evidence of Sun Min's corruption to threaten Sun Min into protecting him. Fearing exposure, Sun Min arranged to meet with Jia Dequan, intending to strike first and eliminate him! Unexpectedly, Jia Dequan was prepared, and in the end, both of them died tragically at Wangjiang Terrace..."

Hearing Li Yan's words, Qin Yu's expression became even more solemn.

If it weren't for Madam Sun's blood-written letter, this matter probably wouldn't have been so serious.

However, Madam Sun's blood-written letter undoubtedly put herself and the imperial court in the eye of the storm.

A governor of a prefecture, whose entire family was brutally murdered!

It's no longer a question of whether Sun Min deserved to die!

The real question is whether I can continue the investigation!

If the investigation continues, considering the fates of Sun Min and Jia Dequan, the salt merchants and officials in this region will likely rebel!

Even knowing they are no match, these people will fight to the death when they are in dire straits!

However, if the investigation is not carried out, it would be tantamount to the imperial court compromising with the salt merchants and those corrupt officials.

This will only embolden them and make them believe that the imperial court cannot touch them!

If this is someone's conspiracy, it has to be said that this move is very vicious!

This is really troublesome!

Qin Yu lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then asked Li Yan, "Have you caught that Ma Laoqi?"

Li Yan shook his head and said, "When I came to deliver the message to you, sir, we hadn't caught him yet, so I don't know now! However, I think that with such a big incident in Fangzhou, that Ma Laoqi should not dare to show his face again."

"Okay, I understand. You can go and rest now!"

Qin Yu waved his hand, rubbed his head with a headache, and then sent someone to call Ruan Zhi and Yang Jichun over.

The incident in Fangzhou really caught him off guard.

Right now, we need to carefully consider what the next step should be!

Li Yan looked at Qin Yu with a complicated expression and advised, "Lord Qin, I'm afraid the rectification of the salt administration can no longer continue! If this continues, there will be trouble everywhere! Once that happens, you will likely be pushed out to take the blame..."

"I understand, thank you for reminding me. Go and get some rest!"

Qin Yu waved his hand, his heart burning with anger, but he didn't know where to vent it.

His intuition told him that someone was plotting something behind the scenes in Fangzhou.

His purpose, of course, was to put pressure on himself and the imperial court, forcing the court to order him to stop reforming the salt administration.

However, the fact that Jia Dequan and Sun Min went to extremes can be completely explained!

Now, both of them are dead, and even Sun Min's governor's mansion has been burned to the ground!

Even if someone is secretly plotting this, all the evidence and witnesses have probably disappeared!

Moreover, this situation unfortunately came about right after he had eliminated Gan Dacheng.

Once the news of what happened in Jiankou spreads, it won't be that I was assassinated by Gan Dacheng, but rather that I used strong methods to leave no way out for these salt merchants and corrupt officials!

This will only further spread the panic!

Once that string snaps, then it will truly be like fires breaking out everywhere, just as Li Yan said!

Soon, Yang Jichun and his group rushed over.

"Lord Qin, what's wrong? What happened?"

Yang Jichun hurriedly inquired about Qin Yu's strange expression.

Qin Yu raised his head and told them the news he had just received.

"What?"

"How could this happen?"

Yang Jichun and Ruan Zhi were also stunned by this sudden news.

Almost instantly, the two realized the seriousness of the matter.

Only Lü Si, his voice low and furious, roared, "A conspiracy! This must be a conspiracy by the Shi family! The Shi family must have done something shameful, using the pretext of mutual destruction to eliminate Jia Dequan and Sun Min in one fell swoop!"

"Oh dear, my young master Lü! Don't make things worse at a time like this!"

Yang Jichun stamped his feet in frustration. "The issue now isn't how this happened, but whether the salt administration reform can even continue at all!"

Ruan Zhishen nodded in agreement, then suggested, "Physician Qin, such a serious matter has occurred; we must pause here and not add fuel to the fire! You'd better quickly submit a memorial to His Majesty and see what his opinion is!"

"Yes, we must report this to His Majesty!"

Qin Yu nodded slightly, a sudden flash of cold light appearing in his eyes: "I must suggest to His Majesty that we continue to reorganize the salt administration!"

"What?"

Ruan Zhi and Yang Jichun both cried out in surprise.

"Yes, that's how it should be! How can the imperial court compromise with these bastards?"

Lu Si stood firmly on Qin Yu's side.

"You're not the one taking responsibility, so of course you're saying that!"

Yang Jichun retorted to Lü Si in an annoyed tone, then quickly and earnestly advised Qin Yu: "My lord, please don't act rashly! If this matter escalates beyond control, you will be the first to bear the consequences!"

"Bearing the brunt?"

A fierce glint appeared on Qin Yu's face. "They probably don't know that the one thing I care about least is my official position! At worst, I'll be stripped of all my posts!"

"I'll trade my official position for the lives of their entire family. I want to see if they dare to do the same!"