"Master Han, there are actually many kinds of private salt."

"What do you say?"

"One is the ship smuggling, that is, the shipowner who transports goods to Anfeng, Fu'an, Zhangcha, Jiaoxi, and Rugao, and buys salt with those stoves in the salt field on the return journey to bring it back; One is smuggling, and the military ships transporting grain carry smuggled salt. Although the boats will not pass through Hai'an, the private salt they buy will definitely pass through Hai'an, and they can't buy it in Yangzhou. ”

Su Jueming paused, and then said: "One is the private examination, every time the examination comes, some candidates who live in and near the salt field will load a boatload of salt and sell it along the way under the guise of going to Jiangning to take the exam; One is official and private, those salt officials in the transportation department colluded with the transportation merchants, obviously they could only transport 100,000 catties, they transported 200,000 catties, and no one could take them. ”

"What else?" Han Xiufeng asked in a low voice.

"Then there are the smugglers, all of them are outlaws, many smugglers not only sell smuggled salt, but also kill people and steal goods, and rob houses. In these places in Hai'an and Taizhou, the yamen do not embarrass them, and they generally do not cause trouble. Because once the government is alarmed, they will be surrounded and suppressed, and it is difficult for them to run in the inland river. When the ship entered the Yangtze River, they were really bold, and not only dared to rob the salt ships of the merchants, but even the officers and soldiers of the liberation transport dared to kill them. ”

Yu Youfu asked puzzledly: "Whether it is a ship smuggler or a smuggler, they must first have salt to sell illicit salt, and the salt factory has a salt division yamen, and it is said that some salt factories not only have patrol inspections but also flood soldiers, and those salt officials and flood soldiers who investigate and arrest smuggled salt don't care about the salt sold to them?" ”

"Yu Bantou, you haven't been to the salt farm, you don't know how big the salt farm is!"

"How big?"

Su Jueming said with a smile: "In the past, there was a student from Fu'an in Fengshan Academy, his family's ancestral home was Anhui, and his father was a businessman in Fu'an. Once, on his father's birthday, he invited my father and me to have a drink, and my father and I followed him from Hai'an early in the morning and took a day's boat ride to arrive at his house. The further east you go, the more you go to the beach, and the more you can't see people along the way. The land is vast and sparsely populated, and it is all grass, and the ambassador of the Salt Division and he can control those servants. ”

Han Xiufeng had heard about these situations as early as in the capital, and he didn't feel strange, but asked, "What does the merchant do?" ”

"The merchants are also salt merchants, they buy the salt cooked by the stove households, and after the salt division is approved by the yamen, it is transported into the public wall of the salt field, and then sold to the merchants who go to the salt field to buy salt. Looking at Han Xiufeng and Yu Youfu as if they didn't understand, Su Jueming said again: "The merchants are rich, most of them are from Anhui, and they usually live in Yangzhou City. However, there are more wealthy ones, and there are general merchants above the merchants, and only the general merchants can buy salt from the Yamen of the transportation department. ”

Pan Er was just a little jealous just now, and felt that the sloppy man surnamed Su seemed to be robbing him of his job, and when he overheard this, he suddenly realized that it was really not good to have no one who was familiar with Hai'an, so he couldn't help but move to Han Xiufeng and the three of them and asked: "Young master, so after you take office, we can only investigate ship smuggling and some smuggling salt dealers, and we can't check the official and private goods, let alone the private ones." ”

"Official and private affairs will definitely not be investigated." Without waiting for Han Xiufeng to speak, Su Jueming blurted out: "After the transporter buys the salt from the salt field, the field official will send the officials to escort the salt boat all the way to Qintong, Hejiazhuang, Sixi or Tianzi Temple Sitang. On the way from the salt field to the Taidam, there were originally two patrol halls and two patrol commissioners, one in Qintong and the other in Hai'an. Now that Hai'an's patrol department has been abolished, they naturally have to rush all the way to Taidam. ”

"I'm a magistrate, not a salt official from the Yunsi Yamen." Han Xiufeng looked up and smiled at Pan Er.

"We don't have the right to investigate official and private affairs, and we can't deal with private smugglers, so can we investigate those petty smuggling salt dealers?" Pan Er asked with a bitter face.

"It's not easy to catch small smuggler salt dealers, didn't you just say, Hai'an is so big, there are so many rivers, how do I know which river they take, how do I know which port they will hide in." Su Jueming said helplessly.

What is the head of small fish and shrimp, even if you try your best to catch a few, you can't find much illegal salt. However, Han Xiufeng would not say these words, but said with a smile: "Su San, the more we talk about it, let's talk about what those inspection masters do you know usually." ”

Su Jueming reacted and hurriedly returned to the original topic: "Master Han, what I just said is the most powerful inspection master, most of the inspection masters usually don't take care of things, and those villagers in Hai'an are more honest than the other, and the inspection master has nothing to manage." Some like to go to the academy to chant poems, and some stay in Taizhou for a longer time than in Hai'an. There are also some inspectors who like to stay in Baimi, and Baimi is also more lively than Hai'an. ”

"Where's the money anyway?" Pan Er couldn't help but ask.

"To hold a birthday, no matter which inspector takes office, he has to hold three or four birthdays a year. Send invitations to the township, Baozheng and several large households in towns and towns, people can not dare not go, they have to go with a gift, and they can earn two or three hundred taels on a birthday. Su Jueming thought about it for a while, and said with a smile: "In the past, those smuggler salt dealers knew the rules and would ask someone to send some silver for filial piety. Later, there were more and more smuggled salts, and when they saw that others didn't send them, they gradually stopped sending them at all, and they were not so easy to get caught anyway. ”

"How many birthdays are held, at most a thousand taels of silver a year, what does this official mean?"

"It's interesting for someone to file a lawsuit, whether it's a farm house or a split family, as long as they get into trouble with the yamen, they have to make money."

"What if no one goes to court?" Pan Er asked.

"Then it depends on whether there is a robbery in the countryside, even if a cow is lost, there is oil and water. Brother Pan, I am very familiar with Hai'an, as long as Master Han believes in me Su Jueming, Master Han's inspection will never be done in vain, if I can't earn three or four thousand taels a year, I will write the word Su upside down! The more Su Jueming spoke, the more excited he became, he actually took off the fan from his neck and shook it away, and shook his head and fanned it.

Zhang Dejian's son Zhang Shiheng had never seen this, and he was stunned when he heard it.

Of course, Han Xiufeng wanted to make money, but he felt that it would be too ugly to do what Su San said. I thought that it was not easy to become an official, but I couldn't make people angry.

Pan Er didn't think there was anything wrong with doing what Su San said, so he grinned and said: "Young master, it's okay to earn three or four thousand taels a year, if this official can do it for three or four years, won't he be able to earn ten thousand taels of silver!" ”

"We'll talk about that later." Han Xiufeng touched the corners of his mouth, raised his head and said, "Let's get down to business first, I, Han Xiufeng, am an inspector, so I naturally want to keep one party safe." Seeing that the Chinese New Year is coming, the towns and villages under the jurisdiction of our Haian Inspection Department must be safe and sound. ”

"Master Han, what are you going to do, I don't quite understand." Su Jueming was confused.

"Listen to me." Han Xiufeng's face was straight, and he stared at him and said: "When I get to Yangzhou, I will go to find the 'Rishengchang' branch to send a letter to my family, and when I arrive in Taizhou, I will first go to the state government to meet the eldest master, and it will take a lot of time along the way." So after arriving in Yangzhou, our soldiers will be divided into two routes, and you and Yu Bantou will hire a boat to go to Hai'an first. ”

"Master Han, you didn't go to work, it's useless for me and Yu Bantou to go first!"

"It's useful! When you arrive in Hai'an, don't rush to inspect the Yamen, and don't tell anyone that you are now my family. Don't you have relatives in Hai'an, go to relatives first, visit relatives and friends first, and find out what kind of criminals are in those towns and villages under the jurisdiction of the official, what is the name of the surname, where does the family live, what have you done, who is the sufferer, why you didn't sue the official, the more carefully you investigate, the better. ”

"It's not difficult, it's just to find out what's the use of these, those splashes are all hob meat, and they don't have much money!"

"You don't care about this, just do what the official says."