The housekeeper of the Wei Mansion brought the teacup, and then led the maid to retreat quietly, and instructed a few guards to guard the place, and no one was allowed to approach.

Xu Pengju, as the only prince in Nanjing, after so many years of tempering, the whole person looks very stable, and he picks up the tea cup without saying a word for a careful tasting.

Linhuai Marquis Li Yi is over forty years old, with the posture of a rich family, with a beautiful mustache on his fair and round face, but he secretly observes the surroundings when he picks up the teacup, and his small eyes resolutely reveal a shrewdness.

Deng Jikun, Marquis of Dingyuan, is only in his early thirties, his figure looks tall and thin, with a sparse beard on his chin.

The three of them were important participants in the salt smuggling network, and after learning the news that 10,000 stone of illicit salt had been seized, Li Yi, Marquis of Linhuai, and Deng Jikun, Marquis of Dingyuan, came to the Mansion of Wei State as soon as possible.

"How did he come to Chongming Island? Why did we seize the timing so well to intercept our smuggling fleet? After Deng Jikun, the Marquis of Dingyuan, put down the teacup, he broke the silence and asked in a loud voice.

Before he had even drunk half of the tea, Deng Jikun was already so impatient, and Li Yi next to him glanced at Deng Jikun with disdain.

Xu Pengju had already figured out Deng Jikun's urgency, but he took a sip of tea slowly, and then met Deng Jikun's impatient gaze and said, "We all underestimated Lin Haoran before!" He has the financial support of the United Business Group behind him, plus the help of the Hua family, and he doesn't know what means he used to win over Cao Meng and others, so it is not difficult to inquire about our smuggling network. Li Mu, who was originally in Guangdong, happened to be transferred to the Tianjin Left Guard as the commander of the guard, and he was also able to find out the whereabouts of our smuggling fleet. It's just that we neglected to take precautions, and gave him our nest in one fell swoop, and also intercepted the batch of salt."

This is true of many things, and the authorities are always an afterthought. If they were really extremely careful to take precautions at that time, then it would be difficult for Lin Haoran to "get the stolen goods at the same time", but it is impossible for the world to start again.

"Wei Guogong, can we still come back with this batch of salt?" Deng Jikun knew that his side was indeed too contemptuous of Lin Haoran, but he still asked with hope.

Linhuai Marquis Li Yi was slightly stunned, raised his head and glanced at Deng Jikun, and found that this Dingyuan Marquis was indeed too naïve. At this point, he didn't even think about how to get out, but was still thinking about that batch of private salt.

Xu Pengju pinched the teacup and splashed the tea lightly, and when he heard the words, he looked up at Deng Jikun and asked, "How do you want it?" Even if Lin Haoran is willing to give it back, do we dare to move? ”

Now that this batch of illicit salt has been reported to the imperial court, the imperial court will definitely track down the people behind the scenes. They are now taking the initiative to jump out and ask for salt, which is simply self-defeating, and it is typical to ask for money rather than death.

It can only be said that this Dingyuan Marquis is used to being arrogant in Nanjing City on weekdays, and he does not realize the seriousness of this matter at all.

"If we really don't come back, then our losses this time are a bit big!" Deng Jikun slowly realized that his idea was indeed a little unrealistic, and said distressedly.

A full 10,000 stone of private salt, if all of it is successfully put into the southeast market, then at least 400,000 taels of silver can be realized. It's just that after Lin Haoran did this, this silver is gone, which is really painful.

Li Yi thought of the 10,000 stone private salt hitting the pool, and his heart was quite uncomfortable, so he took a sip of tea gently.

Wei Guogong has a deep background, Xu Pengju did not take this loss too seriously, and said seriously: "The salt will definitely not come back, and the imperial court may conduct an investigation next, everyone must be mentally prepared for this!" ”

"We are the princes of Daming, who of them dares to investigate us!" Deng Jikun immediately snorted coldly and said loudly arrogantly.

Xu Pengju took a sip of tea, but a wry smile appeared on his face.

It is true that they are princes, but they live far away in Nanjing, and it is rare to even meet the emperor, and they do not have substantial military power in their hands, in fact, they are just the second ancestors who are waiting for death for the founding merits.

Not to mention Li Yi and Deng Jikun, the two marquis who were restored in the Jiajing Dynasty, even if he, the Duke of Wei, who has been continuing, has no influence in the imperial court, it is impossible to make the investigation of the case jealous.

For example, he wanted his youngest son to inherit the title, but the result could only be to tie up with Yan Shifan and other officials, which made his concubine the Duchess of Wei. If he really has such a big face, how can he use it to slap those court officials like this?

Once they are investigated and convicted of smuggling, he may still have a chance to escape the Duke of Wei, and the Marquis of Linhuai and the Marquis of Dingyuan will definitely be deposed by the emperor again.

"Marquis Dingyuan, ordinary local officials naturally don't dare to mess with us, but the officials who came down from the imperial court won't take us seriously! In particular, the emperor must be angry because of this matter, and we must not break the flaw! Li Yi patiently analyzed the current situation, and asked Xu Pengju extremely seriously: "Wei Guogong, do you have a way to deal with it?" ”

Deng Jikun savored these words, and looked at Xu Pengju with a solemn face.

"After all, we are the princes of the Ming Dynasty, and they don't have any substantive evidence in their hands, so we can just wait and see what happens!" Xu Peng raised his gaze to meet the eyes of the two and responded arrogantly.

At this point, he didn't intend to reveal the loss of his books. First, I don't want to cause panic among these two people, and second, it's useless to say it.

"Yes, we pretend that we don't know anything, and it's useless for the Qincha investigating the case to suspect us!" Deng Jikun took the teacup with deep understanding, and echoed with a big grin.

Li Yi silently took a sip of tea and finally did not raise any objections.

Xu Pengju watched the emotions of the two people being appeased, and asked the housekeeper to send the two Hou Ye away.

"Steward Liu, Ben Hou just left something in the study, please take Ben Hou back!" Li Yi watched Deng Jikun get on the sedan chair and leave, but he said gently to Steward Liu.

Steward Liu glanced at Li Yi deeply, and immediately Li Yi took him back to the study.

Xu Pengju was not too surprised to see Li Yi who had gone and returned. Things have developed to this point, only people like Deng Jikun are so optimistic, and Li Yi is undoubtedly a smart person.

This involves a major smuggling case of 10,000 stones, and it is definitely impossible to take a Tianjin general alone, and there must be a person with sufficient weight as a victim on the side of Nanzhili.