Just three days after Yu Lingxuan was assassinated, something happened in Jiangyang County.

Thousands of salt workers from Qingliu County invited a white jade boulder from their hometown 50 years ago, carved it into a village god, and enshrined it in the township temple, which became the spiritual sustenance of Qingliu County salt workers to their hometown.

But on this night, the village god was overturned, and smashed the city several sections, and wrote the three big characters 'Qingliu Dog' on the white jade with cinnabar.

For more than ten years, the two sides have fought more than once in order to compete for the labor market, and each time it was only settled after the government mediated.

When the news came out that the Baiyu Township God worshiped by the Qingliu County workers was smashed and desecrated, the extreme anger finally broke out among the Qingliu County workers, and thousands of Qingliu County salt workers with iron rods and swords slaughtered the settlement of the salt workers in Liyang County.

Liyang County salt workers also urgently gathered more than 3,000 people, armed with wooden sticks, iron rods, swords and other instruments and murderous Qingliu County laborers met on the Yangtze River.

The two sides launched a tragic fight, shouting, scolding, screaming, and decades of grudges erupted at this moment.

The government of Jiangyang County was alarmed, and dozens of officials were dispatched to stop it, but they couldn't stop it at all, and the county ordered 100,000 people to rush to Jiangdu County for help.

In the afternoon of the same day, Liu Yan, the assassin of Yangzhou, and Luo Ziyu, the commander of the capital, led nearly 1,000 soldiers to the fighting place, and the soldiers forcibly separated the laborers of the two counties who were fighting, and the ground was full of laborers who were groaning in pain, and there were three or four hundred people.

"Hurry up!"

Liu Yan ordered the doctors who came with him to treat the injured laborers.

At this time, Luo Ziyu stepped forward and said in a low voice: "Envoy, the casualties are very heavy, and there will be no less than forty dead laborers. ”

Liu Yan's face was extremely ugly, a few days ago, Guo Song asked him how to let Luo Ziyu stay in office, he said at the time, unless there was a large-scale civil fight, now it really happened, needless to say, this matter must be related to Guo Song, what did this bastard do?

At this time, some soldiers brought several leaders from both sides up, and Liu Yan angrily reprimanded them: "Look at it, there are so many dead and wounded, why don't you stop them and let them go crazy and kill?" ”

A leader of Liyang County stepped forward and glared at the other party and said: "It is they who come to the door to provoke for no reason, if we don't resist, our parents, wives and children will be killed by them, so the envoy should ask them, right?" ”

Several leaders of Qingliu County sneered angrily, "Joke, if there is no situation, we will run here for no reason, who smashed our Baiyuxiang god statue and insulted us Qingliu dogs?" You do this kind of thing that people and gods are angry about, and you still say that we come to the door to provoke for no reason? ”

"Fart! Who's going to smash that broken stone statue of yours? ”

"The surname is Ma, do you still have the face to say that you didn't do it?"

"Shut up!"

Liu Yan roared angrily, and both sides fell silent.

Liu Yan said without hesitation: "Now there are two things, one is the matter of the fight, the other is the destruction of the stone statue, first solve the matter of the fight, carry the injured back, immediately treat the wounded, bury the dead, and then send representatives to follow the official to investigate the destruction of the stone statue." ”

"Liu Yuanjun, we have twenty-four dead, is that all?" The leader of Liyang County said angrily.

"We also killed nearly twenty people, who will compensate?"

"Let's talk about how to compensate later, hurry up and withdraw the people to me first, if you dare to fight again, this official will be regarded as your rebellion and directly suppressed by the army!"

Under Liu Yan's strong pressure, the laborers of the two counties withdrew to their settlements with resentment, and instead of eliminating their hatred, they deepened it.

Luo Ziyu sighed and said: "It's troublesome now, they are already hostile to each other, as long as there is a slight incident, there will be another armed fight, and we have to send people to keep an eye on them all the time." ”

Liu Yan nodded, "I ask General Luo to do more for this matter, I will go to the Ministry of War and let you continue your term for another year." ”

"But..... Yu Lingxuan will soon come to take over the humble position. ”

"The people of the Yu family all rely on power to get to power, how many of them have real skills? They will only worsen the situation, and they will not succeed enough, and I will do my best to keep you. ”

Liu Yan had already vaguely guessed that Yu Lingxuan must have had an accident, this must be Guo Song's serial plan, kill Yu Lingxuan, solve the imminent succession crisis, and then provoke a labor weapon fight to create an opportunity for Luo Ziyun to stay in office.

The method is very good, but in this way, he will completely tear his face with Yu Chaoen, Yu Chaoen will inevitably retaliate, and I don't know who he will attack?

Liu Yan also confessed to Li Jiangnan, the chief historian, and asked him to go to the township temple in Qingliu County to investigate the destruction of the stone statue, and Liu Yan rushed back to Jiangdu County with a heavy heart.

As soon as Liu Yan arrived at the state office, a scribe greeted him and said: "I received an urgent report from Sizhou, it seems that Yu Gongzi, who is about to serve as the governor of Yangzhou, has an accident." ”

Liu Yan was like stepping on the air, his heart sank rapidly, although he guessed that Yu Lingxuan would have an accident, but the news of Yu Lingxuan's accident still made him very nervous.

He tried to calm himself down, and then asked, "Is there a written letter?" ”

"It's a pigeon letter, in the king's office!"

Liu Yan hurriedly rushed to his official room, only to see his staff Jiang Yun sorting out the documents, Jiang Yun is his real staff, about thirty years old, proficient in paperwork, quiet personality, has been following Liu Yan for ten years.

He entered Liu Yan and entered the house, and hurriedly got up and saluted, "The envoy is back!" ”

Liu Yan nodded, and asked again: "I heard that there is a pigeon letter from Sizhou?" ”

Jiang Yun took a copy on the table and handed it to Liu Yan, "This is a copy, Yu Lingxuan was assassinated in Sizhou." ”

Liu Yan looked at the copy, and was a little relieved in his heart, the pigeon letter did not say who did it, that is to say, Guo Song did it neatly, did not leave any handle, and it was in Sizhou, there are many suspects, at least officially, it has nothing to do with Yangzhou.

He pondered for a moment and said, "I also want to write a pigeon letter and send it to the capital immediately!" ”

Liu Yan sat down and wrote two letters, one pigeon letter was urgently sent to Yuan Zai, and Yu Lingxuan was assassinated in Sizhou.

In addition, he wrote an excerpt to the Ministry of War, explaining that there was a large-scale labor fighting incident in Jiangyang County, and the situation in the salt works in Yangzhou was unstable, and he asked the Ministry of War to extend the term of office of Luo Ziyu, the governor of Yangzhou, for one year.

.........

Chang'an, in the imperial study of Daming Palace, Yuan Zai was carefully explaining Liu Yan's book to Li Yu, the son of heaven.

"Your Majesty, according to local practice, if there is a large-scale civil unrest, it is possible to appropriately extend the term of office of the local governor, generally about a year, and Wechen has also seen the original Fifth Qi twists and turns, there are indeed often large-scale fights between the salt workers in Yangzhou's salt fields, but like this time, more than 200 people were injured and 44 people died, which is rare for decades, and it is very likely that conflicts will break out, in order to maintain order, Weichen believes that Luo Ziyu can extend his term of office for one year."

Li Yu was silent for a long time and said: "Yu Xiangguo also made a setback, hoping to transfer Du Wen, the governor of Jingzhou, to take over as the governor of Yangzhou, but I did not approve it, and the reason I gave him was that I hoped to find out the cause of Yu Lingxuan's death, and then consider a new candidate for the governor, otherwise it would be disrespectful to the deceased." ”

"Your Majesty's reply is very powerful, but the position of Yangzhou Governor is very important, and it can be said that it is the key to the control of the Jianghuai salt tax, I hope that Your Majesty can extend the period of investigation into the cause of Yu Lingxuan's death a little longer, such as one year, so that the control of the salt tax can be firmly in our hands."

Li Yu took a few steps with his hand in his hand, and said slowly: "I understand Aiqing's thoughts, but as the Son of Heaven, I must first consider legal rationality and rationality, and in order to investigate the death of Yu Lingxuan, I will not make adjustments to the Yangzhou Governor for the time being, which can only be said to be more reasonable. ”

"Wei Chen understands what Your Majesty means, Your Majesty means that you need to establish an army that specializes in protecting the salt works?"

Li Yu nodded, "I've actually been thinking about this question for a long time, and I've been thinking about it five years ago, but do you know why I've been delaying this matter?" ”

Yuan Zai pondered for a moment and said, "Your Majesty is worried that the newly formed salt protection army will be controlled by people with evil intentions? ”

Li Yu didn't answer, he stood at the window and stared into the distance, and said for a while: "Only a month ago, I couldn't see who was appointed as the commander, Yu Lingxuan took over as the governor of Yangzhou, it was not approved by me, and it was directly issued after the approval of the Ministry of War, unless it was the appointment of a general or a general, I could make a decision, but now, the appointment of the commander was also approved by me, does Aiqing know what the reason is?" ”

"I'm afraid it's the effect of Li Fuguo's execution!"

"Xiangguo is right, Li Fuguo's death has brought a lot of unexpected effects, like this kind of appointment of who is the captain, there is really no need for me to intervene, the Ministry of War can directly appoint it, but now the Ministry of War has also sent the appointment letter to my imperial case, which shows that the people's hearts are back!"

Li Yuchang sighed, turned back to Yuan Zai and said: "According to Xiangguo's opinion, a criminal investigation team will be formed by the Ministry of War, the Criminal Department and the Yushitai to thoroughly investigate the mastermind of Yu Lingxuan's assassination, and the investigation period is one year!" ”