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Through this business war, Hejiazhen's cotton yarn and cotton cloth products completely opened up sales channels in Shandong, and through Liujia, cotton yarn was sold to the Jiangnan region. The Liu family successfully obtained the sales agency right and cotton supplier of cotton yarn in Hejia Town, and became the largest cotton merchant in Zhoucun. The Zou family made a profit in these business wars, but the relationship with the Liu family formed a rift, and they never had the ambition to compete with the Liu family again.

Just when the Liu family of the He family and the He family were fighting a cotton yarn war in Zhou Village, the Lu family of Yangzhou and Yue Bingqian of the Huai'an branch of the Lianghuai Salt Division were plotting a murder against Zhou Fulai, the imperial history of the salt patrol.

Last time, the Lu family planned to use the Juzhou grain ship to carry private salt, which directly turned the secret inspection of the salt merchants and the salt division of the salt patrol imperial history into a bright fight. In a sense, Zhou Fulai's plan this time was a failure, after all, his purpose was to secretly investigate.

The Lu family failed in smuggling this time and lost 5,000 catties of illicit salt, which was not a big loss, but it scared Lu Jie's father and son and Yue Bingqian half to death. Although he didn't let Lord Zhou catch the handle, he didn't successfully transfer the private salt, and the days with the Lu family were even more sad. Since then, the Lu family has also been more careful, and they dare not have any more deviant behavior.

But this also brought inconvenience to Zhou Fulai to investigate the case, after changing from secret investigation to open fighting, it was even more difficult for Zhou Fulai to grasp the handle of the Lu family.

After Zhou Fulai failed to arrest him, at the suggestion of Xu Detian, he left a general flag for the soldiers of the Thousand Households in Ma Yashan, and the other general flag for them to return to the Juzhou garrison to stand by. Then he hurried back to Yangzhou Salt Courtyard with these soldiers. Now that the intent has been revealed, there is no need to hide it.

Zhou Fuzi thought that this plan of action was thorough and would definitely be foolproof, but it still failed. He thought about the mysterious disappearance of table salt from the ship for a long time without coming up with a clue. After returning to the salt courtyard, he immediately gathered relevant personnel to participate in the operation for a meeting to discuss.

At the meeting, Zhou Fulai first said, "Let's think about the reason for the failure of this operation, what went wrong, otherwise so much salt would not have disappeared out of thin air." ”

Jiang Yuanqing and Liu Jiaji glanced at each other, and then Jiang Yuanqing said, "Lord Zhou, since those salt were moved to the grain ship, those two ships have never left our surveillance, I swear that no other foreign ship has ever approached those two ships, You Qi and Ruan Daxiong and none of the other shipwrights on the ship got off the ship, eating, drinking, and sleeping on the ship. ”

Zhou Fulai nodded with a smile and said, "Jiang Baihu doesn't need to explain, they are all transferred from other places, and they have nothing to do with Ben's salt merchants." I don't believe who else can you believe? Our loyalty is unquestionable. ”

Ma Wu was in charge of Duan Xiushan's surveillance, and he went on to say, "Duan Xiushan has been under house arrest since the beginning of the operation, and he has never been out of the compound, and he will not leak the news." ”

Zhou Fulai's long-term follower Lin Hongcun has been silent, bowing his head and thinking about something. After listening to Ma Wu's words, he raised his head and asked, "Ma Baihu, every time Duan Xiushan goes to connect with the housekeeper of the Lu Mansion, can our people hear their conversation?" ”

"We all heard them in the dark, and we heard Duan Xiushan and Liu Cai talking very clearly, and we didn't find any accidents." Ma Wu replied in the affirmative.

Hearing this, Lin Hongcun said guessingly, "Lord Zhou, according to the analysis of these situations, I think there must be an undercover agent of the Lu family in our salt courtyard, otherwise this matter cannot be explained." ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone present was shocked. At this time, Zhou Fulai did not immediately pick up Lin Hongcun's words, and after thinking for a while, he said, "I think it is unlikely, if there is really another undercover agent, and the Lu family knows our plan in advance, it is unlikely that they will take any more risks to bring private salt, but choose to stay put." In fact, they took the bait, and I still think they must have moved away on the way. ”

Zhou Fulai said this, and everyone felt that it made sense, so they discussed and discussed, and returned to the original point. It was discussed for an hour, and no final outcome was reached until the meeting ended.

After the meeting, Zhou Fulai returned to his study tiredly, Xiangmei seemed that the master was coming, hurriedly served tea, saw the old man's tired face, and asked with concern, "It looks like the master is very tired, the slave and maid press it, rest for a while." ”

Zhou Fulai waved his hand weakly and said, "No, I'll just sit for a while." ”

Xiangmei has been deliberately approaching Zhou Fulai since she thought about it that night. And what she has learned since she was a child is how to please men and how to serve men. She used a little trick, and Zhou Fulai immediately increased her good impression of her, so the relationship between the two has become a lot closer recently, Xiangmei has now become Zhou Fulai's personal maid, and Zhou Fulai is also unwary of her.

Xiangmei said at this time, "My lord is out on business these days, and he looks like he is not in good spirits, he must have encountered something unpleasant, right?" ”

Zhou Fulai didn't answer her question, but asked Xiangmei, "Xiangmei, will the salt disappear out of thin air?" ”

Xiangmei didn't know why he asked such a nonsensical question, but she still thought about it seriously, and then replied, "Yes, put the salt in the water, and you won't be able to see it after a while?" ”

A word woke up the people in the game, Zhou Fulai got up from the chair and said loudly, "Understood, understood!" So that's it! ”

Then Zhou Fulai walked out of the study quickly, leaving Xiangmei alone in the study......

Although Zhou Fulai solved the mystery of the disappearance of salt from thin air on the grain ship, there was still no evidence to prove that the Lu family smuggled salt.

Now that the mystery has been solved, it is now time to arrest You Qi and Ruan Daxiong for interrogation. However, after You Qi and Ruan Daxiong were released on the spot, the two of them still went north to Juzhou with the fleet, and if they wanted to arrest them, one was to send people to Juzhou, and the second was to hold their troops now, and wait for them to come back to arrest them. After thinking about it again, Zhou Fulai chose the latter.

Therefore, in order to confuse the other party, Zhou Fulai did not move during this time, and just handled government affairs as usual in the salt courtyard.

Half a month later, You Qi and Ruan Daxiong returned from Juzhou, and the two came to Lu's house triumphantly, and after seeing the owner, the two told Lu Jie what had happened. Lu Jie twisted his beard and thought for a long time before he said, "The two of us have performed well this time, and they are worthy of being old shipwrights for many years." After receiving the silver reward, I went to Nanjing to take refuge. ”

"Master, Lord Zhou didn't find any evidence, what can they do to me, I don't think there is any need to avoid it!" Ruan Daxiong said with a big grin.

Lu Jie shook his head and said, "No, he didn't expect our trick at that time, and he may not have thought of it after a long time." It's better to avoid it. ”

You Qi replied, "Big Bear, let's listen to the master, let's go to Nanjing to avoid it." ”

"Okay, I'll go home and have a look, and I'll leave tomorrow." Ruan Daxiong saw that You Qi also agreed with the master's arrangement, so he immediately changed his words.

"No, let's go. After going out from here, take your boat and go to Nanjing by water! Lu Jie said resolutely with a serious face.

Seeing Lu Jie's serious appearance, the two knew that the matter was serious, and then said, "According to the master's orders, let's leave immediately!" ”

After the two left, Lu Jie fell into a deep uneasiness in the study. He has been thinking, hesitating, and contradictory these days, although this time there is no danger, he passed the test smoothly. However, judging from Zhou Fulai's transfer of troops from other places, the court no longer trusts anyone in the area, and gives the right to patrol the salt and imperial history to transfer troops, which is enough to see the determination of the court. As a local wealthy merchant who went against the imperial court, it was simply self-defeating. But it has come to this, he is irreparable, and there has been no letter from the Beijing side recently, and he knows that this is deliberately alienating himself. At this time, he felt that an invisible net had been opened, and he would catch himself at any time.

At this time, he already had a family fortune of several million, enough to cover the expenses of three generations. He had long had the idea of washing his hands and quitting the rivers and lakes, but the trees wanted to be quiet and the wind did not stop, but the brothers who followed him did not agree, and now there were thousands of people in his smuggling chain, from small salt sellers with hundreds of thousands of family assets to impoverished stove households, all of whom depended on him for food. It has only been two months since there has been no smuggling and selling salt, and it is difficult for the brothers below to suppress it. Especially Jing Laosi in Suqian has sent people to ask four or five times, and he even has to turn his face. His brothers are all bitter, and many of them can't eat without selling salt for such a long time. In order to appease Jing Laosi, he had to take out a few thousand taels of silver to appease him temporarily.

But this method is not a long-term solution, and now he must think of a way out of this state. But since embarking on the road of selling illicit salt, what is the best way to keep a family safe? By this time, he had already regretted his choice. Isn't it good to be a small grain merchant in peace and stability, and live a well-behaved life? I have to make a fortune and make a lot of money, but now I have made a fortune and earned money, but I don't have a stable life. I live in fear all day long, and I have nightmares when I sleep. When you wake up from sleep, you're not thinking about how to calculate others, or you're thinking about how not to be calculated by others. He was tired of this life, but he had to go on.

While he was thinking nonsense, the housekeeper Liu Cai hurriedly ran to report, "Master, it's not good!" ”

When Lu Jie heard this, he was full of excitement, got up from the chair and asked urgently, "What's wrong?" ”

"You Qi and Ruan Daxiong have been caught!" The butler said in alarm.

"Caught? Who caught it? ”

"It was the people of the Salt Courtyard who took it. Their personal boat was also detained. ”

Hearing this, Lu Jie's blood surged up and he was dizzy and almost fell to the ground. He steadied himself and said to the butler, "Don't rush, speak slowly." ”

Only then did the butler stabilize his mind, and then said slowly, "After the two of them came out of here, the two went straight to the dock, and before they could get on the boat, they chased a group of soldiers from behind, and arrested them without saying a word." ”

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