Team Leader Qiu asked: "Last year, after the robbery of official salt, the emperor issued a secret decree ordering Xu Zhixian County of Jianjiang County to strictly handle the case, but two months later, the whole family of the county magistrate was wiped out, and even the head of the arresting house was killed, what is going on?" ”

The liaison officer hurriedly said: "The villain knows about this matter, and it was also the King of Lingnan who instructed Ma Zhifei to send members of the secret organization to do it!" ”

Xu Zhixian is the most clean and honest court official in Duanzhou Mansion, he is upright, his sleeves are clean, he never sleeps with corrupt officials and corrupt officials, clean and self-loving, the county officials of the eight counties under the jurisdiction of Duanzhou Mansion, only he and Qingshan County, Quzhi County, Qingping County, Zhang Zhi County, were not intimidated by the obscenity of the King of Lingnan, and still went their own way, doing things according to the rules, and seeking benefits for the people.

Quzhi County once mentioned to Fang Lei that the king of Lingnan colluded with river bandits, robbed the official salt, and sold it at a price ten times higher, causing the poor people to not even be able to buy salt, and many people were swollen due to the lack of salt, and could not work in the fields.

Fang Lei pulled out a large part of the mineral salt mined from the West Mountain of the Immortal Medicine Valley to Qingshan County, solving the urgent needs of the people in the county.

Xu Zhixian suddenly received a secret order, and he was anxious, the robbery happened on the land under his jurisdiction, can he still shirk responsibility?

He immediately found Zhu Zhutou from the county arrest room and said, "Zhu Zhutou! The official salt was robbed, as the parent official of Jianjiang County, you should know the mood of the county at the moment, and the emperor also issued a secret decree, no matter who is found on the head, you should investigate it to the end, report it truthfully, and do not hide anything, you should also take the arresters to investigate the case secretly, try not to leak the news, so that the thieves are alert! ”

Zhu Zhutou is not a general person, not only is his martial arts strong and light skills are also first-class, but he is also decisive and thoughtful, and he is deeply respected by Xu Zhixian, he knows that the official salt was robbed in Jianjiang County, and the rumors are tighter, and the profiteers who resell the official salt are also highly vigilant, and their tone is more dense, and it is difficult to find out the inside information.

He thought about it for a long time, and then said: "My lord has a deep friendship with Zhang Zhixian of Qingping County, why don't you write a secret letter to your subordinates and bring it to him, ask him to lend a hand and assist us in investigating the case, and tomorrow I will lead five subordinates with strong martial arts to investigate this case!" ”

Xu Zhixian said with a smile: "The official salt was robbed, this is the first scene of the crime, you are not investigating the case in this county, why do you want to go to Qingping County, two hundred miles away, to start a new stove?" ”

"My lord doesn't know, according to the estimation of his subordinates, this big case must have been done by river bandits not far from Wulipo, but they robbed five ships of official salt, how to make a move? Sell to whom? It must be the most powerful person in the Duanzhou area to support them, collude with each other, and benefit each other, we are here to investigate the case, it is under the secret surveillance of others, there are many difficulties, and there are also worries about life, if it is out of a hundred miles away, no one knows, and the vigilance of the salt merchants is relaxed, you can follow the vine to find out the big man, and then report to the emperor, bring him to justice, even the river bandits are also served in a pot, this is a top policy to draw wages from the bottom of the kettle! Zhu Zhutou analyzed.

In fact, the smart and wise Xu Zhixian also thought of this layer, just to test the wisdom of Zhu Zhutou, so he praised: "As the saying goes, stealing food is not better than an old dog, and solving a case is not better than a veteran. ”

Zhu Zhutou said modestly: "This is all taught by adults, and subordinates can learn one or two!" ”

Xu Zhixian said with a smile: "Not only have you gained knowledge, but you have also learned to pat on the back!" ”

The two looked at each other and smiled, agreed to the plan, and went back to rest.

Early the next morning, Zhu Zhutou and the five catchers changed into the clothes of merchants, sneaked out of the county seat, hired a big carriage, and rushed straight to Qingping County.

Because of the use of the carriage as a foot force, it is much faster than walking on two legs, and when it was dark, the six people arrived in Qingping County, Zhu Zhutou decided not to disturb Zhang Zhixian first, and then asked for help when the case had a certain eyebrow and needed to be arrested.

The next morning, Zhu Zhutou took five catchers, strolling through the streets and alleys of the county, where there are many shops that operate kitchen food, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, only salt is amazingly expensive, and it has to be sold with oil sauce and vinegar to buy one or two salts, which is really deadly!

Zhu Zhutou asked, "Boss!" Are there any larger quantities of salt for sale? ”

Seeing that several people were dressed as businessmen, and they spoke with foreign accents, there was a feeling of cherishing orangutans, and the boss asked, "Several guest officers are all from other places, right?" ”

"Yes! We all came from the Zhongzhou area, and the price of salt over there has risen, and we want to buy some goods and sell them to make money, but who knows that it is several times more expensive than our side! Zhu Zhutou said.

The boss said: "The guest officials don't know, half a month ago, the river bandits robbed the imperial court to sell the five major ships of official salt to the Duanzhou area, the salt here is suddenly in short supply, and the Duanzhou government also issued an official document, set up cards everywhere, and did not allow private salt from other places to enter, the old man suspected that it was the collusion between corrupt officials and salt merchants, monopolizing the salt market, taking the opportunity to sell the private salt they transported from other places, and making huge profits from it, maybe these salts, or thieves? ”

"Then where did you get the salt sold in your shop?" Zhu Zhutou asked.

The boss said: "The entire Qingping County is purchased from the salt wholesale department in the north of the street, but the price is much more expensive than before, and I can't make a few copper coins at all, but there is no salt to match, and no one cares about those oil, sauce and vinegar!" ”

"Thank you boss! Then let's test it, is the price negotiable for large quantities of goods? ”

Zhu Zhutou waved his hand to a few catchers, walked straight to the north of the street, and came to the salt wholesale department, Zhu Zhutou directly found the boss and whispered: "We are salt merchants from Zhongzhou, we need a large number of goods, but the price must be right, we have no money to make such expensive goods, can you get private goods?" ”

The boss saw that several people were dressed as businessmen, and knew that he had expected it, so he hurriedly said: "It is a very dangerous thing to do private goods, I have to discuss with the upline before I can promise you, come back tomorrow morning, right?" ”

Zhu Zhutou knew that the big fish had been hooked, so he asked: "I heard that the government has set up cards everywhere recently to check for smuggled salt, can it be transported out?" ”

"They don't have a card, it's to collect taxes, and private salt is not allowed to go out, and it is shipped in our carriage, there is absolutely no problem!"

The boss saw Zhu Zhutou and asked about the transportation, which confirmed that several people were merchants, and there was no doubt that the profiteers were all masters who forgot their righteousness, could he contact a large amount of salt?