When Lin Haoran heard the good news brought by Meng Zhao, he immediately felt a burst of joy in his heart, and looked up seriously and asked, "What have you confessed?" ”

"The teacher's expectation is not bad, Zhu Jiu is not a killer in the rivers and lakes, but a salt lord in Yangzhou Mansion, he has already admitted that he was instructed by Fan Qianshan to go to Mingchun Tower to forcibly kidnap Qilan!" Meng Zhao said very seriously.

Lin Haoran nodded lightly, and then asked seriously: "Fan Qianshan is just a small character, don't startle the snake for the time being, do you know where their salt comes from?" ”

In addition to the "double low" price and quantity of salt on the surface, there are also various forces to grab salt profits, and there is a smuggling network hidden in the shadows.

Daming implements a system of regional salt sales, such as Fujian salt can only be sold in Fujian, and Guangdong salt can only be sold in Guangdong and some parts of Guangxi. It's just that there is an overcapacity of salt in these areas, and the price of salt is generally low.

People's greed is often endless, even if the Ming Dynasty adopts a low-salt tax policy, it will still inevitably make some people take risks and want to maximize their profits.

If it is transported by sea from Fujian, it is undoubtedly a good business to sell these cheap salts to the rich Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, and it is even more profitable to sell them to Yangzhou.

The fertile land in the southeast has created countless wealth, so that the purchasing power of the local people is very strong, making it the largest salt consumer market in the Ming Dynasty.

After observation and investigation, Lin Haoran discovered a well-established smuggling network, with people transporting salt from other regions to the southeast, and then distributing the salt through local forces.

The smuggling here is different from the smuggling of Huang Dafu and Liang Yi, but it is a large-scale, organized smuggling activity, from which hundreds of thousands or even millions of taels can be made every year.

The most important thing is that the salt introduction of Huaiyan has always been relatively expensive, and this kind of smuggling has enabled them to completely get rid of the constraints of Huaiyan and salt introduction, and to extract salt profits from the southeast to a greater extent.

It was precisely when Lin Haoran discovered this smuggling network that he knew that in order to better solve the problem of Huaiyan, the crux was not only the salt merchants, but also the smuggling network.

Fan Qianshan is just a salt merchant, so naturally he can't plan such a large smuggling network, and the people involved in the back must involve people with more status, or even a big man who has a lot of influence in Daming.

Now, he needs to investigate where the source of this illicit salt is, who is involved, and who is behind the scenes to operate this vast smuggling network.

"Teacher, Zhu Jiu only knows that the illicit salt comes from the sea, but he doesn't know where the illicit salt is shipped from!" Meng Zhao shook his head lightly and replied helplessly.

Lin Haoran was not too surprised by this result, knowing that the salt lords in these places acted as porters, and it was difficult to get in touch with the core things, so he asked seriously: "Where did Zhujiu get the private salt?" ”

"Teacher, this is a coincidence, we have passed by there before!" Meng Zhao looked at Lin Haoran with a smile, and said seriously: "Every time it is the day of the appointment, Zhu Jiu will lead his people to the Taixing wharf, and someone will use a small boat to transport the salt to the wharf, and they will distribute the salt through Taixing!" ”

Things are indeed a bit coincidental, they came to Yangzhou and chose to pay a private visit to Weifu, and the group chose to land from Taixing Wharf. It's just that I didn't expect that it would be a handover point of private salt.

Lin Haoran remembered this incident and said thoughtfully: "In this way, the caravan we met in Shiqiao Village that day was actually a group of smuggling and smuggling salt dealers!" ”

"That's how it should be! I think Zhu Jiu is a little kind, maybe we saw it at the time! Meng Zhao nodded seriously, and said with some hindsight.

Lin Haoran reached out and picked up the teacup on the table, faintly feeling that this might be a breakthrough. Following this clue to trace it, it seems that it is not an unthinkable thing to find out the source of the illicit salt.

As if he suddenly remembered something, Meng Zhao reached out and took out a letter from his arms, stepped forward respectfully and said, "Teacher, this is the letter that Shizhi County just sent today!" ”

In order to avoid people's eyes, Meng Zhao became the contact person with Shizhi County, and the letter was directly sent to Meng Zhao.

Lin Haoran stretched out his hand to take the letter, tore it open seriously, and looked at the contents of the letter by the light. Just read the contents of the letter, and his face looked very solemn.

Meng Zhao looked at the teacher's expression, and asked cautiously, "Teacher, but what bad happened?" ”

"No, I asked him to investigate the salt matter and have some eyebrows!" Lin Haoran put down the letter, then looked up at Meng Zhao and said seriously: "This matter is very important, you take a few people to Taixing for a trip and find a way to verify the origin of the private salt!" After a pause, he earnestly admonished: "Remember, don't startle the snake in this matter!" ”

If we want to crack down on this smuggling network, we must not only grasp the fact that they are selling illicit salt in the southeast, but more importantly, find the source of the smuggled salt, and then collect sufficient evidence.

"Yes!" Meng Zhao knew that this was a major test for him by the teacher, and he also gave it up very solemnly.

After these days of training, especially seeing the teacher's purge of Yangzhou officialdom through Chen Xiaoxiao's case, he was greatly eye-opened. Now that he has the opportunity to take on this burden, he cherishes this opportunity.

Seeing Meng Zhao leave in a hurry, Lin Haoran stretched his waist, put down the official business in his hand, and left here directly, walking towards the main house of the back house.

After this rainstorm, although there is still some stagnant water in the courtyard, the green brick floor looks very clean, and the air is exceptionally fresh, even the crescent moon in the night sky is dazzling.

Lin Haoran didn't have the intention of admiring the night scene after the rain, but walked leisurely through a corridor, but his mind was still thinking about how to crack down on illegal salt next.

In this era of co-rule between the Son of Heaven and scholars, in addition to the imperial power, there are actually local forces that should not be underestimated.

This smuggling network can generate hundreds of thousands or even millions of taels of profits every year, which is enough to pull many people into the water, and even a certain bigwig in the imperial court will go into the water because of this.

There are two paths in front of him: one is to choose not to make a move, and turn a blind eye to the smuggling network like Yan Maoqing or Dong Fen; One is to sort out the context of the smuggling network, and then kill their leaders with one blow, so that they cannot have a chance to fight back.