At night, a carriage stopped in front of an official mansion in Jiangdu City, Huangfu Wen got out of the carriage, walked into the gate with a gloomy face, and as soon as he entered the door, he ordered: "Let Zhang Dian come to see me!" ”

He walked into the inner hall, and in a moment a man in black hurriedly walked in, bowed and saluted: "See the Emperor's Order!" ”

The man in black is called Zhang Dian, and he is the leader of the warriors sent by Tianyuan Pavilion to protect Huangfu Wen, and like the Hidden Sword Pavilion, Tianyuan Pavilion also sent ten masters to protect Huangfu Wen's safety.

'Dangchang! ’

Huangfu Wen put a bunch of bronze medals in front of Zhang Dian, "Take a look for yourself!" It's all your Tianyuan Pavilion brand, you sent someone to assassinate Liu Yan last night? ”

Zhang Dian was stunned, he hurriedly shook his head, "Last night, the ten of us were in Jiangdu, and we didn't go to assassinate Liu Yan." ”

"Then look at the sign!"

Zhang Dian picked up the bronze medal and immediately said: "Emperor Qifu ordered that this bronze medal is a fake Tianyuan Pavilion waist card!" ”

"How so?"

"Just look at two places, first, the Tianyuan Pavilion waist plates are cast in bronze, not brass; Second, Tianyuan Pavilion does not write names, only ranking, and the lowly position is Zhang Qi, a first-class warrior, not Zhang Dian. ”

After speaking, he took off his waist card and handed it to Huangfu Wen, Huangfu Wen looked at it, and sure enough, it was cast in bronze, with three seal characters of 'Tianyuan Pavilion' on the front, and Zhang Qi, a first-class warrior on the back, and it was also Yangwen, and the sign on the ground was carved in Yinwen.

"Who did this?"

Huangfu was annoyed for a while, it was obvious that someone was planting a blame for himself?

........

Liu Yan's official residence has not yet been repaired, he temporarily lives in the Yangzhou Post House, he lives in a courtyard, the outside is a large courtyard, and the inside is a small courtyard, this courtyard structure is to protect important people.

Guo Song hurried back from Gaoyou County, and showed his silverfish card at the door of the post house, and a warrior from the Hidden Sword Pavilion went to report to Liu Yan, and came back after a while: "Guo Gongzi, please come in!" ”

Guo Song walked into the inner courtyard, only to see Liu Yan pacing back and forth in the courtyard with his hands in his hands, Guo Song asked with a smile: "What happened to Liu Yuanjun today?" ”

Liu Yan sighed and said, "Just now Huangfu Wen came to me, dropped a sentence and left, he said that Tianyuan Pavilion definitely did not assassinate me. ”

"He's right, it's true that it wasn't Tianyuan Pavilion's doing, although Tianyuan Pavilion has a thousand reasons to want to assassinate the envoy, but this time it really wasn't them."

"Do you have proof?" Liu Yan turned around and asked.

Guo Song handed him the two plaques, "This is the waist plaque left by the assassin in the water, carved only a few days ago." ”

Liu Yan looked at the sign, nodded and asked, "If it's not Tianyuan Pavilion, then who will it be?" ”

"There are many suspects, such as Cheng Zhenyuan's Tianqing Pavilion, and for example, the various forces that want to muddy the waters, it is difficult to say who did it, it can only show that this mission will become very complicated."

Liu Yan took two steps and asked, "How do you think Guo Gongzi should break through?" ”

Guo Song groaned and said: "Knowing oneself and knowing the other, winning all battles, I think now we must first find out the situation before we know what we should do next?" ”

"It seems that we want to go together, we go in two lines, I go to the officialdom line to investigate, and Gongzi understands the situation in the people, and then the two sides exchange information they know, I think the situation can be figured out."

Guo Song said happily: "I live in the Shanshui Inn in the east of the city, if there is anything, you can send someone to the inn to find me." ”

.........

This time, Liu Yan came to Jianghuai to compete with Huangfu Wen for the control of the salt tax, and the control of the salt tax involves two parts, one is to whom the salt tax is distributed, and the other is in whose hands the salt tax is in his hands.

Huangfu Wen also served as the head of the household department, and the head of the household department itself had a certain right of financial distribution, and he could directly allocate the salt tax to the Shence army as military expenses, and Liu Yan also served as the envoy of the Tang Dynasty, which was equivalent to the head of the account office, and he also had the right to dispose of the salt tax.

In fact, as the annual budget of Datang, the military expenditure of the Shence Army must be there, but the key is that the military expenditure of the Tang Dynasty is too large, and the military expenditure of each army is insufficient.

Of course, mastering the military expenditure of the Shence army is only one aspect, and the more important thing is that the annual salt tax revenue of the Tang Dynasty alone in the Jianghuai region alone has reached 6 million guan, which has become the largest income of the imperial court, and it is of great significance to Yu Chaoen to be able to control the financial resources of the imperial court in his own hands.

Therefore, controlling the salt tax is the top priority of Liu Yan and Huangfu Wen's contention, Huangfu Wen controls the salt tax, and the imperial court has to look at Yu Chaoen's face to live, and Liu Yan controls the salt tax, and the imperial court completely controls the financial resources.

The salt tax in the Tang Dynasty implements a sales commission system, and generally sends salt and iron judges to sit in various salt selling sites, allowing the salt farm owners and salt merchants to trade, and the salt officials increase the price by 110 wen per bucket.

There are more than 100 salt farms in the world, including 42 in the Jianghuai area, and there are seven in the Jianghuai region of the top ten salt farms in the world, some of these salt farms are on the seaside, but due to the inconvenience of seaside transportation, most of the salt farms are distributed along the river and the important cities on both sides of the Cao River.

Yangzhou is the largest salt and iron distribution center in Datang, there are five large-scale salt stores, and the annual sales volume accounts for fifty percent of the annual sales volume of Datang, in addition, the salt stores in the Jiangnan region are also under the jurisdiction of the Jianghuai Salt and Iron Division, and dozens of salt and iron judges are sitting in various places.

Early the next morning, Guo Song went to the Yangtze River Wharf in Jiangyang County, where there is a Jiangyang salt factory, which is the largest salt store in Datang, and the salt sold from here is as high as 800,000 stone every year.

At noon, Guo Song took a carriage to the Jiangyue Restaurant, which was the closest to the salt farm, the carriage was rented by him for three hundred yuan a day, he was now a typical scribe dress, wearing a flat scarf, wearing a light cyan fine linen robe, a leather belt around his waist, a long sword around his waist, the scabbard was a little old, if his sword was not pulled out, it was an ordinary sword worn by scholars.

He wanted to disguise himself as a businessman, but the coachman identified him as a clerk of the great businessman.

"You go and see those big salt merchants, which one is not wearing silk and satin, with a round belly and a thick neck, if it weren't for the son wearing a civil uniform, I would definitely think that the son is a guard." This was what the coachman said, and Guo Song had to acquiesce.

The carriage stopped, Guo Song entered the restaurant, and found a seat by the window on the second floor to sit down, there were many guests in the lobby, but it seemed that most of them were followers and the like, and it was estimated that the salt merchants were sitting in the private room.

"What do you want to eat?"

"Bring me three meat and two vegetables, ask for your store's signature dish, a pot of sake, what is the staple food?"

"The staple food is generally rice, and if the guest officer wants to eat noodles, the small shop can also cook a bowl of noodles and put more meat foam."

"Then a bowl of rice!"

"Great! Childe sat down for a while, and the wine and food came immediately. ”

The bartender hurriedly went, and at this time, a man about thirty years old with a pair of extremely thick lips walked up to Guo Song and sat down and said with a smile: "Childe seems to have come alone!" ”

Guo Song put the sword on the table and said coldly: "Is there anything wrong with coming alone?" ”

"Childe misunderstood, I have no malicious intentions, let me introduce myself first, my surname is Li, people in Jiangyang County call me Li Dazui, I don't have any other skills, that is, I know a lot of people, black and white, generally there are any inconvenient or tricky things, I can help solve them, and the charges are fair and reasonable."

The other party's introduction made Guo Song's eyes light up, and he was still worried about not knowing where to start investigating! Isn't this just delivered to your door?

Guo Song put away the sword, smiled slightly and asked, "And the underworld?" ”

"How can there be no underworld? From ancient times to the present, there are good and bad. ”

Li Dazui lowered his voice and said: "This is the jargon of the salt farm, the white road refers to the official road, the black road refers to the illegal salt dealers, and there is a gray road, which refers to the salt gang." ”

Guo Song nodded, "What does the Salt Gang mean?" ”

"The salt gang refers to the salt workers, they are basically from the seven counties of Jianghuai: Gaoyou, Dantu, Xuyi, Qingliu, Liyang, Dangtu, Yongyang, each county has its own territory, has its own leader, often fights for business, and gradually formed seven salt gangs."

"Brother Li, is there a lot of people in this business?"

"There are three or four around! But I am the oldest, or the son inherits the father's business, and the relationship is the widest, if even I can't solve it, let alone others. ”

Guo Song said happily: "I'll invite you to dinner!" Let's talk. ”

"Childe is going to take care of my business?" Li Dazui suddenly asked happily.

"I mainly want to know some information and write a detailed report to the owner."

"May I ask who Childe is doing things for, if it's inconvenient, you can not say."

Guo Song smiled, "It's okay, Chang'an Niu Jin, have you heard of it?" ”

Li Dazui nodded, "I've heard of it, but I heard that he is a famous cloth merchant, could it be that he is also planning to do salt business?" ”

"If you can make money, why not do it?"

"That's just as well!"

Li Dazui said again: "I have to make it clear to the son, our line of work to explore the intelligence also pays attention to the market, divided into upper, middle and lower three, the superior intelligence involves officialdom secrets, I also have to spend money to invite people to drink and set the news, the asking price is relatively high, thirty times, generally do not bargain, medium intelligence is the news of the smuggler of salt, or the recent market situation, twenty dollars, inferior intelligence is some basic news, if the son buys the best information, I will answer all the questions within three days, and I will ask after three days, I will charge half the price, and ask again after ten days, That's the money to pay again, that's the rule, and I promise that the information I'm giving is true. ”

Guo Song thought for a while and said, "What if I want to know the situation in the entire Jianghuai? ”

Li Dazui smiled: "This situation is more special, but I have also encountered it, I can let my father come forward in Yangzhou, and he will come forward, there is no news that I can't inquire, but I have to find peers in the Jiangnan area, but my father also has connections, and I can find someone to ask, but the price is a little more expensive, so let's do it!" One price, one hundred yuan, I will help you ask for any news you want to know within three months. ”

Guo Song nodded, "Then we'll make up our minds!" ”

Li Dazui was overjoyed in his heart, and said with a smile on his face: "Then I'll have a drink with my son first." ”