Shanxi Pingyang Mansion, Siyancheng.

When Wang Helun led the caravan to Siyan City, he found that there was a commotion at the city gate, as if someone was arguing over what was going on, and there were several mule and horse carts that had been pushed down on the side of the road.

"Let's see what's going on." Wang Helun lifted the curtain of the carriage and looked at it, then shouted outside.

"Yes."

A steward rode away.

Wang Helun lowered the curtain and moved his sore buttocks, which had been hurrying for days.

After all, the land route is not more comfortable than the water route.

After waiting for a while, the steward came back and said respectfully in front of the carriage: "Sir, there is a small salt merchant in front of him who is arguing with the officers and soldiers of the city. ”

"And this?"

Wang Helun frowned.

"Master, we still have to hurry, let's leave this matter alone."

"Well, go and make a little bit of a difference, and let the officers and soldiers in front make room for us to enter the city."

"Huh."

The steward took out a silver bag and turned to go, while Wang Helun leaned back in the carriage and waited quietly.

After a long time, the steward rode back with a pale face, and shouted in a panic: "Master, those officers and soldiers received the silver, which was originally fine, but as soon as they heard that we were from the Wang family, they immediately turned their faces and said that they would not let us enter the city. ”

"What?"

Wang Helun's face changed.

"Master, they said that from now on, our Wang family's salt gang will be invalidated, and they will not give us even a single salt."

"What's going on? Why is this happening? ”

Wang Helun's face turned blue and he hurriedly jumped out of the car.

At this time, several officers and soldiers suddenly swaggered over from the direction of the city gate, obviously coming towards them.

Wang Helun hurriedly greeted him, looked at the general who was born at the head of the company, and then arched his hand: "Contemptible Wang Helun, may I ask my lord, why don't you let my Wang family enter the city?" ”

The general squinted his eyes and looked Wang Helun up and down a few times, casually clenched his fists and arched his hand, and said: "Master Wang, please go back, you will come in the future, from now on, there will be no Lord Wang's salt gang in Siyan City." ”

Wang Helun frowned: "My lord, why is this?" ”

"Huh."

The general sneered: "Master Wang, the above did not punish your nine clans for the crime of collaborating with the enemy, it can be regarded as burning high incense, don't you understand what is going on?" ”

Wang Helun's face changed greatly, and his whole body trembled.

"Huh."

The general sneered at him again: "This place is an important place for the salt division to be transferred, and the idle people will leave immediately, and if they don't leave after a quarter of an hour, they will not blame the official for being polite." ”

Wang Helun gritted his teeth: "I want to see Master Tao, the transfer envoy of the capital." ”

"Lord Tao has been arrested and brought back to Beijing for questioning because of his greed for ink and salt, and he has been arrested and brought back to Beijing for questioning.

"Master Wang, you only have a quarter of an hour, but if you don't leave, don't blame me for being polite!"

The general said coldly, then flicked his sleeves, turned around and left.

Wang Helun froze in place, staring blankly at the group of Ming soldiers at the city gate and a few small salt merchants who were blasted out of the door.

He probably knew what was going on.

"Master Wang?"

At this time, a salt merchant who had been driven out of the city came over, and when he saw Wang Helun, who was stunned, he gave up his hand and asked politely.

Wang Helun came back to his senses, subconsciously returned the salute, and asked again: "This brother, do you know what happened in Si Yancheng?" ”

The salt merchant sighed lonely: "Master Wang, I have asked one by one in the next one, and all the salt merchants who cannot enter the city have business dealings with General Lou Fu Qin, or sell iron and pots, or cotton cloth. ”

"I also have business dealings with General Qin, and every two months I will bring some cotton cloth and silk to take a trip to Lou Fu, and transport some iron materials and iron pots out, but I didn't expect ......"

"Alas, although the officers and soldiers of Si Yancheng did not say it explicitly, nine times out of ten, this matter is related to General Qin, the imperial court is suppressing General Qin, and anyone who does business with him will inevitably be squeezed."

After hearing these words, Wang Helun's face was as earthy as earth, and he only thanked the other party blankly.

This matter is really related to Lou annoying Qin Chuan.

During the months when the Yellow River was not frozen, he had ships to and from Guanzhong Plain and Xingxian almost every month, and each time he had more than a dozen ships, carrying thousands of stones of grain, carrying 120,000 catties of iron and iron pots.

The quality of Lou Fu iron materials and iron pots is even better than that of Guangtie Guangguo, and it can indeed make a lot of money, but in comparison, the iron sellers are far less profitable than the salt sellers.

Now, because Lou is annoyed with iron materials and iron pots, the imperial court has actually cut off his salt gang.

Prior to this, he had just handed over a large amount of grain to the Yansui border army, exchanged three thousand quotations, and then took these quotations to Siyancheng to prepare to exchange for salt quotations.

"Master, how is this good?"

When Wang Helun's face was as earthy as color, the steward on the side was already as anxious as ants on a hot pot.

Wang Helun came back to his senses and thought for a while: "First go back to Jiezhou to stay for a few days, and immediately send a fast horse to Lou Fu to tell General Qin the truth." ”

"If you can't do anything, then the three thousand talismans will be sold as soon as possible and sold to others."

"Okay."

……

Linfen City, Hexing business.

Chow Tai Fook, who had been busy for a long time, picked up the teacup, poured the already cold tea into his throat, and then leaned comfortably on the back of the chair.

Ever since he entered Lou Fu Iron and Iron Pot, his small blacksmith shop has been booming.

Those Lou Fu iron pots are so easy to sell, last month came back a batch of 800 pots, only less than a month to sell out, more than 30,000 catties of iron materials are also mostly beaten into other objects, sold for seventy-seven eighty-eight.

It seems that I have to run again in the past two days.

Thinking of this, Chow Tai Fook picked up the teacup again and drank the little tea left in it.

At this moment, a rush of footsteps suddenly sounded outside the door, and immediately after, a group of officers and soldiers poured into the blacksmith shop.

"What do you want?"

Chow Tai Fook hurriedly got up and greeted him with a smiling face.

Who knows, the officer and soldier at the head said coldly: "Zhou Taifu, this official suspects that you are buying and selling salt without permission, collaborating with the enemy and trafficking the country, and plotting against the enemy. ”

Hearing this, Zhou Dafu's face changed greatly: "Military master, military master, the little one has always been impartial and law-abiding, but he doesn't dare to collaborate with the enemy and betray the country." ”

"Humph! Whether there is a collaborator or not, you will know at a glance. ”

The general no longer paid attention to Chow Tai Fook, but waved his hand, and dozens of officers and soldiers immediately rushed up in a swarm, copying things when they saw them.

Chow Tai Fook was so anxious that he stomped his feet, and suddenly saw a familiar figure standing at the door out of the corner of his eye.

Looking at it closely, it turned out to be Jin Liangyu's eldest son, Jin Dezhong, who was shaking a paper fan with a flower in his hand and looking at him with a sneer.

"Jin Dezhong, are you the ghost?"

As soon as he saw this person, Chow Tai Fook was furious.

"So what?" Jin Dezhong raised his eyebrows and sneered.

"You ......" Chow Tai Fook pointed at the other party angrily, "You wait for me, I, Chow Tai Fook and your Jin family, are not finished." ”

"Hehe, just your little catty, you still want to fight with my Jin family?"

Chow Tai Fook was furious, but because of the officers and soldiers around, he didn't dare to attack.

The Jin family has been peeping at the Lou Fu iron pot for a long time, but they don't dare to buy Lou Fu, so they only found Chow Tai Fook, saying that they want to cooperate with him, accept the Lou Fu iron materials and iron pots in his hand, and also advance the silver to him, so that he can go to Lou Fu to buy a large number of iron materials and iron pots, and they will want as much as they can transport out.

Chow Tai Fook didn't cooperate with the Jin family, that would only ruin his own job, because General Qin said that Lou Fu iron materials and iron pots were not allowed to be sold to businesses that had shops on the side wall of Xuanda, and also pointed out the eight families, and the Jin family was one of them.

Since then, Jin Dezhong of the Jin family has come to the store twice in three days, at first he pretended to be polite, and then he directly threatened and intimidated, trying to force him to comply.

Chow Tai Fook was born in iron, but he is not a soft bone, so he naturally doesn't eat his set, and he has been beaten away several times.

I didn't expect that the guy would recruit officers and soldiers to come over and charge him with collaborating with the enemy.

"Is this a boring iron pot?"

An officer and soldier walked up to Chow Tai Fook with an iron pot and asked in a cold voice.

Chow Tai Fook nodded calmly: "That's right, this is the Lou Fu Iron Pot." ”

"That's right, the evidence of collaborating with the enemy is conclusive, come on, tie him up."

Zhou Taifu's face changed greatly: "Master Jun, I just sell a few pots, how can I become a collaborator?" ”

"Hehe, Lou annoys Qin Chuan is a thief, you do business with him, isn't it a collaborator?"

"This ......"

……

West of Taiyuan Mansion, Shouyang City.

Although they have been on the road for several days, Yang Yexing and Shen Zhitang are still excited, and they keep discussing the shipyard all the way.

General Qin gave them 100,000 taels of silver as funds for the construction of a shipyard.

There were 200 Guan Dijun in disguise, as well as a few officials from the financial department, who went to help them keep accounts.

Yang Yexing and Shen Zhitang both knew that this was Qin Chuan's henchman, and Qin Chuan wanted to hold the financial power in his hands.

But they don't mind, it's not their own money anyway, they can get their share of the benefits when the time comes.

In addition to the 100,000 taels of silver, there were 80,000 catties of iron and 3,000 iron pots in the caravan, and hundreds of mule and horse-drawn carts were mighty and endless.

However, when passing through Shouyang City, a group of soldiers and horses, about 3,000 people, suddenly came out of the city, and quickly surrounded the caravan.

Yang Yexing and Shen Zhitang were frowning, and when they were puzzled, an official in a cyan official robe suddenly rode out and shouted at them:

"I am Zhang Yixiang, the magistrate of Shouyang, and I was ordered to arrest the traitors of the enemy, everyone must obediently dismount and accept the interrogation, otherwise there will be no mercy!"

"Huh?"

Yang Yexing and Shen Zhitang's faces changed greatly at the same time.

Before they could speak, those officers and soldiers had already forced over, and some even brandished knives and guns to drive away the Yang family's guards and grooms, and then opened the lid of the wooden box on the car, revealing boxes of white silver ingots.

That was the money that Qin Chuan used to build a shipyard for them.

"My lord, the enemy silver has been found."

"All of them will be confiscated and transported back to Shouyang City."

"Yes."

Yang Yexing and Shen Zhitang's faces turned white.

At this time, a little old man with two big yellow teeth came over and said with a smile: "Two masters, if you don't resist, the 100,000 silver and hundreds of carts of iron and iron pots will become the pockets of those dog officials." ”

"If the two masters want to fight back, Xiao Lao'er is willing to lead the two hundred Guan Emperor troops to take the lead, even if they can't win, they will definitely be able to tear off a few pieces of meat on the opponent's thighs and not let them have a good time."

Yang Yexing and Shen Zhitang glanced at each other, and finally shook their heads: "Thank you Huang Ye for your kindness, but the families of the two of us are all in Shandong, if you resist the officers and soldiers here, I am afraid that you will be charged with conspiracy and murder." ”

"Hmmm......"

The little old man with buckteeth was none other than Lao Huang, who was ordered to lead two hundred Guan Imperial troops to protect several officials of the Finance Department and control the shipyard.

Seeing Yang Yexing and Shen Zhitang say this, Lao Huang didn't insist anymore, and only summoned his subordinates to start assigning tasks.

The 100,000 taels of silver are bound to be eaten by officers and soldiers, and there are so many iron materials and iron pots, which are also destined to be left behind, falling into the arsenal of the Ming army, or being directly equipped and used by the Ming army.

Lao Huang only has 200 people, and Yang Yexing and Shen Zhitang don't dare to work hard, so Lao Huang doesn't plan to fight each other head-on.

As long as the horse returns to Lou to report to the general, and keeps an eye on the whereabouts of the silver, the general will naturally come to retrieve the silver.