The Prodigal Son

After listening to Ding Che's report, Qin Yu couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

They're all bastards!

Fine!

The next target for execution has been chosen; all that's left is for the salt merchants and officials to arrive!

Qin Yu thought for a moment, then asked, "Does the Shi family know about this rock salt mine?"

"Based on the information I have, the historians should not know this."

Ding Che replied, "If Shi Yi, as the Salt Commissioner of Liangjiang, knew about this and didn't report it, he would be courting death!"

Even if Shi Yi benefits from this, it probably won't be much!

But if Shi Yi reported this matter to the imperial court, or led his men to destroy Ge Songtao's rock salt mine, wouldn't his merit be even greater?

This is tantamount to disregarding human life and raising a private army!

Hmm, that makes some sense!

However, Shi Yi's assassination attempt in Jiangning Prefecture felt somewhat strange.

He himself was attacked in the street just two days ago, and today it's Shi Yi's turn.

It would be perfectly reasonable for Zhou Jishan to assassinate him.

But why did those people want to assassinate Shi Yi?

Is someone trying to muddy the waters?

Or perhaps Shi Yi possesses something extraordinary?

Ok?

As he pondered, Qin Yu suddenly had a thought.

That's not right!

According to what Ding Che said earlier, the guards who went to chase the assassin didn't seem to be very strong!

It's probably only around the sixth realm.

If you're going to chase an assassin, shouldn't you send your strongest person to do it?

The Shi family is incredibly wealthy; surely they could afford to be unable to provide even a top-tier guard at the ninth or eighth realm?

It was precisely because he felt that a family like the Shi family must have carefully trained experts that he included the Shi family as one of his suspects when he was assassinated in the street.

Am I overthinking things, or is something really wrong?

Shi Yi had come all the way from Yunhuai. There were so many places along the way where he could have made his move, so why did the assassin choose to strike in Jiangning Prefecture?

Surely the person behind the assassin wouldn't do it to make Shi Yi suspect that he sent someone to assassinate him?

In an instant, countless questions flooded Qin Yu's mind.

Qin Yu pondered silently for a moment, then asked, "Besides these, have you found anything involving the Shi family?"

"No!"

Ding Che shook his head and said, "I suspect that given the Shi family's wealth, they have many ways to make money from the salt trade, so they shouldn't be involved in large-scale smuggling of salt! If we want to investigate the Shi family, we'll probably have to go to Ningzhou!"

Yes, that's true!

Shi Yi was the Salt Commissioner of Liangjiang, wielding the greatest power in salt transportation.

Selling smuggled salt directly is indeed a rather despicable method.

The profits from directly selling smuggled salt are estimated to be far less than the profits they made from salt-related businesses through other means.

"Okay, you rest for a bit, I'll go see Shi Yi and Shi Wang!"

After giving Ding Che a brief instruction, Qin Yu left the room.

Throughout the journey, Qin Yu kept pondering.

Almost none of the people found so far are clean.

Of the ten salt merchants, Liu Donglai has been arrested and Jia Dequan is dead.

The next one is Ge Songtao!

If things really get serious, I doubt any of these salt merchants and officials will survive!

But neither he nor the imperial court could eliminate all of these people at once.

We still need to ensure the smooth flow of salt transportation channels!

We need to find replacements for these salt merchants as soon as possible.

Currently, Jiang Ci is considered a potential salt merchant.

We need to find other salt merchants!

At that moment, Shi Yi had just finished bandaging his wound.

He also learned from the people in the governor's mansion that Qin Yu had been assassinated again last night and had captured the assassin.

Qin Yu was assassinated one after another, and he himself was also assassinated.

Qin Yu should be able to see that someone is trying to muddy the waters right now, right?

As Shi Yi was pondering, Shi Wang led Qin Yu in.

Upon seeing this, Shi Yi quickly stood up and said, "This humble official, Shi Yi, greets you..."

"Don't be so polite if you're injured."

Qin Yu raised his hand to stop Shi Yi, then waved to Shi Wang, "You can go out now. I need to talk to your brother!"

"yes!"

Shi Wang bowed and left the room.

He had originally wanted to listen to what Qin Yu and Shi Yi were going to talk about outside the door, but when he saw Qi Dachui standing guard at the door like a door god, he could only give up the idea and leave with some worry.

Inside, Qin Yu sat down at Shi Yi's invitation and casually asked, "How are your injuries?"

"Thank you for your concern, sir. It's just a scratch, nothing serious."

Shi Yi forced a smile, then said with a look of relief, "Luckily, there were iron plates sandwiched between the walls of our carriage, otherwise my brother and I would probably be dead here in Jiangning Prefecture today..."

"I see!"

Qin Yu smiled casually and sat down at Shi Yi's invitation, saying with a hint of teasing, "You know, the Shi family is the wealthiest in the world. It wouldn't be difficult to spend a little more money to hire a few top experts as bodyguards. Why are you being so stingy?"

"this……"

Shi Yi gave an awkward smile, but inwardly he knew something was wrong.

Got it!

Even the best-laid plans can have flaws!

I hadn't discussed the answer to this question with Shi Wang at all.

If Qin Yu turns around and asks Shi Wang the same question, he might expose his secret!

Damn!

Will this scoundrel have any doubts about this assassination attempt?

Shi Yi maintained an awkward smile, but his mind was racing.

What should I do?

How can I get away with this?

But there's no way to brush this off!

The Shi family is incredibly wealthy; even the Shi family itself wouldn't believe that it doesn't have a few top experts in charge!

If they deliberately avoid this question, Qin Yu will have to start to suspect it even if he doesn't already!

After a brief silence, Shi Yi forced himself to answer, "This is really not a matter of me being rude. The Shi family does indeed have several experts with considerable strength."

"But the situation in the Liangjiang region is too complicated right now, and my eldest daughter-in-law just gave birth recently."

"I have arranged for two people to be stationed at the residence, and another two people to guard the salt transshipment warehouse in Ningzhou."

"This humble official never imagined that these villains would be so utterly depraved..."

As Shi Yi spoke, he silently prayed in his heart.

Hopefully, Shi Wang remembers his previous instructions and won't say anything reckless!

Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to cover this up!

Qin Yu, that scoundrel, is truly cunning; he threw himself into such a huge problem right away.

"Then you'll need to be more careful in the future!"

Qin Yu smiled casually, then quickly regained his composure: "Right now, there are far too many problems with salt administration in various places! I could figure it out with my toes; your Shi family is certainly not clean either! I'm too lazy to investigate your Shi family. Whatever the problems are, just confess!"

coming!

I knew I couldn't avoid this hurdle.

Shi Yi sighed inwardly, stood up with a face full of shame, and said, "This humble official is guilty! This humble official has failed His Majesty and the court..."

"Stop!"

Qin Yu raised his hand to stop Shi Yi, "Just get to the point! If His Majesty intends to severely punish you and the Shi family, I wouldn't be here talking to you right now!"

"I am so ashamed that I cannot speak of it!"

With a heavy heart, Shi Yi took out a memorial from his sleeve and respectfully presented it to Qin Yu: "This is my letter of apology; please take a look, Your Excellency!"