Xue Luping, who had just finished talking about how to deal with the illicit salt case, was about to send these people away, and then he could go to dinner after resting himself.

Just as he was about to take off his official hat, a servant came in to report that the owner of an inn in the city had sent two merchants who were eating the overlord's meal.

Xue Luping said unhappily: "Isn't it just to eat the overlord's meal, just hit a few sticks and you will be rich, tell the official what to do so much, you don't need to ask me about these little things in the future, just hit it directly!" ”

The official said with a frightened face: "My lord, those two can't fight!" ”

After hearing this, Xue Luping was furious, and directly smashed the official hat in his hand on the official officer's body, and said: "You just beat me, those two are the imperial relatives of Jingguo, or the adults in high positions in the court, how can one of them not fight!" ”

The official presented the official hat smashed on his body with both hands, and then said cautiously: "You better go to the lobby and have a look!" ”

Xue Luping saw that he seemed to be like this, and thought to himself: Could it be that he really can't fight?

He snorted twice, put on his official hat, and then opened the door and walked from the second hall to the main hall.

......

......

Zhou Wenbin, who was escorted to kneel on the ground, felt that he had never been so angry in his life, and was actually cleaned up by a small innkeeper.

He felt that this boss was too brainy, and it was impossible for him to run away if he was pressed there, and he was already in his forties, where could he run.

He explained all the way, but the boss was even tougher than the oxen plowing the fields, not only did he not listen, but he also tied up the two of them stiffly, and kicked and beat them all the way to the yamen!

"Oh, who did this without opening your eyes, how did you tie up Lord Qincha, quickly untie it!"

As soon as Xue Luping entered the lobby, he saw Zhou Wenbin kneeling below, tied like a crab, and his heart was secretly refreshed, but he couldn't show it.

Holding back a smile, he said this, and deliberately raised his voice, for fear that someone would notice his joy.

The boss was also dumbfounded for a while, he didn't expect that he was tying up such a big person, and he couldn't help but be a little worried, afraid that this Lord Qincha would arrest him.

After letting the two men under him untie them, they didn't even dare to ask for the money for the wine and food on that table, and the four of them ran out of the yamen without daring to turn back!

"I don't know..."Xue Luping deliberately hesitated and said, "I don't know why you are dressed like this, and you still go to eat that overlord meal?" Could it be that Guangxinglou is not well entertained, come here, go and find the boss of Guangxinglou for me, I have to ask him well, how did he receive Lord Qincha! ”

Zhou Wenbin had already gotten up, patted the dust on his pants because he was kneeling on the ground, and said to Xue Luping with an embarrassed expression: "No need, this official is going to investigate the case, and it has nothing to do with Guangxing Building!" ”

The expression on Xue Luping's face was a little unnatural, but he quickly covered it up, and asked cautiously, "I don't know what case you are going to do there, my lord?" ”

Zhou Wenbin said expressionlessly: "Lord Xue still called those adults yesterday to the second hall of your yamen first, let's talk about it in detail!" ”

......

......

After about an hour, the parents who were drinking and enjoying themselves in the restaurant were finally called back.

Zhou Wenbin sat on the main seat, and when he saw that the people were almost all together, he began to tell what he had seen and heard, and what he had gained!

It turned out that Zhou Wenbin and the others seemed to be wandering around the city, but in fact, Zhou Wenbin was also carefully observing everything around them.

If he really wandered around here like a headless fly, then His Majesty the Emperor would definitely not let him come.

The two of them walked all the way from Guangxing Tower, which was located in the center, to the west of the city, and then turned from the west of the city to the south of the city, which was not prosperous.

During this period, he found that in Yangzhou City, the west and north of the city, where there are many businessmen, those bosses who open restaurants, set up noodle stalls, and make snacks should have seen so many people come to eat here, and they should be happy or not in a hurry, but these people show a very ordinary appearance on their faces, and they don't seem to feel anything!

As long as there are guests to eat in the south of the city, those bosses seem to be making a lot of money, which makes him a little unclear at first.

To make a dish well, you need to put just the right amount of salt, otherwise the taste will be very bland, and it will taste tasteless, even if you are skillful in cooking, but the diners will eat it like chewing wax.

Because of the high price of salt that year, coupled with the illegal salt case a few days ago, the price of salt controlled in Yangzhou is now higher than that of other places.

Even the coarse salt, which has not been carefully sharpened, is a few points more expensive than elsewhere!

And what is more affected is the price of other food, now a pound of salt can be exchanged for 30 pounds of grain, if you resist a sack of salt, you can bring home the freshest vegetables of several acres of land.

Don't look at these restaurants in the west and north of the city, on the stalls, people come and go, but how much money can be made, but if you add a little less, it affects the taste, and the consequences are naturally imaginable.

In order to retain guests, you can only make the same taste as the original, and do not remember the cost, so you may not be able to make much money after a busy day!

But in contrast, these shops in the south of the city are completely different, as long as someone goes, the owners of these shops are happy, and when someone goes, they are happy, which can only show that they are not buying official salt in these stores.

Maybe that's why you don't eat minced meat!

Because Zhou Wenbin is no longer the wood-chopping doll in a small mountain village, more than 20 years have passed, even if he takes off his official uniform, he will feel inferior in his heart.

But everything he actually enjoyed in Chang'an was no different from those other officials.

has been an official for many years, how can he be like ordinary people!

And Zhou Wenbin also decided to go to the inn to inquire after carefully comparing these three places, especially after the fatty and tender fish meat entered his mouth, he was even more sure.

The north and west of the city are not only crowded with people, but also too close to the Yangzhou Mansion, so it is inconvenient for the Salt Gang to act in private.

And because the south side of the city is originally a downtown area, the supervision is not strict, and even the officers and soldiers guarding the south gate of Yangzhou do not like to patrol this area, so in this case, these people can do this dark business under the risk of arrest.

The other officials who were called back, after roughly understanding this, were a little weak-hearted, because they had just finished talking about how to let this Lord Qincha return in the second hall, and they didn't expect that Wenbin would be in such a hurry to deal with the case this week.

Everyone standing in the hall invariably scolded the junior who received Zhou Wenbin's silver in their hearts.

"Don't you think you should do something about it now?"

Zhou Wenbin rubbed his hands back and forth on the armrests of the chair, looking at these pillars of the country with their own ghosts.

The matter has already been laid out on the surface, and Xue Luping can't deliberately obstruct it as he said with the other officials at the beginning just now, otherwise he will definitely be detected by this Lord Qincha.

He looked at Zhou Wenbin and said, "Xiaguan will send someone to the inn to escort the boss and the little second child back, so as not to cause trouble!" ”

As soon as he finished saying this, a servant hurriedly ran in, and was about to speak, when he saw Zhou Wenbin there, so he opened his mouth and didn't make a sound.

Xue Luping looked at his subordinate unhappily, and said coldly: "What do you look like in a panic, if you have something to say, haven't you seen this official and Lord Qincha talking about things?" ”

The official hesitated again and again, and said: "Just now, no, the people who sent Lord Zhou to the yamen were burned to death in their own inn!" ”

Zhou Wenbin asked again and again, and another official came to report, and accepted a fact with an incredible expression.

It was probably when the owner of the inn had just returned, and the nearby residents only saw thick black smoke rising at first, and thought that there was something wrong with the kitchen of the inn, and ignored it.

But after a while, the whole inn seemed to be caught by a brazier, and the entire roof and wall instantly burst into flames, and the people who came to help nearby could only watch the fire ignite and extinguish, and there were more than a dozen corpses lying in it that had been killed by the flames or smoke.

This fire looks like a brutal and dazzling fireworks display!

It is also to burn away the clues that Zhou Wenbin knew so easily and preciously.

And those officials secretly applauded on the side, and this sudden fire made their hearts fall into their stomachs peacefully.

Xue Luping didn't pay attention to what those people were thinking, he hurriedly organized people to clean up the mess, and asked his subordinates to dispose of the charred corpses that had been carried out first.

Zhou Wenbin also got up and went with the assembled officials.

No matter how well others describe it, it is not more shocking than what I have seen with my own eyes.

All that remains of the inn is now a fairly intact earthen wall, and the rest is black and a pile of charcoal!

Zhou Wenbin recognized one of the corpses at a glance, it was the owner of this inn, and the jade wrench in the boss's hand had been glued to his corpse, but he could still recognize it.

With a handkerchief in his hand, he briefly looked through the body to confirm that he had indeed died from being burned by the fire at the inn.

However, what made him strange was that according to common sense, if you can burn people, it proves that they have been roasted for a long time, but according to the residents of the neighborhood, and this inn is not too big, there is no reason why it will be burned like this.

Because even if there is a fire in the kitchen, these people can escape, and this inn is not big at all, even if they walk, they can get out.

After Zhou Wenbin told him about these suspicious situations, and several local magistrates who came later, these people gave him the same explanation, and these people may have committed suicide in fear of crime.

Zhou Wenbin looked at these magistrates who had been looking at him with a smile, and felt that he should ask something else, so he said: What is the difference between the areas under your jurisdiction these days, such as a fire case like today? ”

However, he got the same answer as before, with a unified voice, nothing happened at all, and there was no trace of the Salt Gang's actions.

Zhou Wenbin couldn't do anything about these magistrates at this time, so he scolded these people angrily, and then squatted on the ground to continue studying these carbon-like corpses