When Zhang Chengye saw Steward Wang again, he was already in the prison of the county government.

"Father-in-law, father-in-law save me!"

Seeing Zhang Chengye, Steward Wang seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw and shouted for help.

However, seeing that the Wang steward who had become a prisoner under the order, Zhang Chengye's face was indifferent, and he sneered, "Save you? Our family really didn't expect you to be such a person, to be honest, our family treats you well, how do you report our family?

If you want to live, tell you where the smuggled salt has gone, and who else is your accomplice! ”

"What private salt? Father-in-law, is this suspicious of me? I'll admit that I hid the armor in my possession, but I definitely didn't sell illicit salt. Hearing the private salt, Steward Wang's face changed slightly, but he thought of something, and he didn't intend to admit that it had something to do with the private salt.

"Unrepentant!"

Zhang Chengye's face is not very good-looking, after all, the audit is not something that can be found out in a while, if someone speaks, it will obviously be much faster.

Just as he was asking Steward Wang, Li Zhen was talking about something with the county magistrate.

At this time, the Xie County Prison was overcrowded.

After all, it is a county town, and there are so many prisoners in normal times, so the prison is not big, and now that hundreds of people have been arrested at once, this prison is not enough.

"Wang County Order, you have to think of a way, Jinyiwei will arrest a lot of people later, and your cell is not enough."

Looking at the forty-year-old Xie County Commander in front of him, Li Zhen made a suggestion.

This county order is also surnamed Wang, and he and Wang Ke are not relatives, but they are both surnamed Wang.

In Hedong and Hezhong, the surname Wang is a big surname, after all, the Taiyuan Wang family is one of the five surnames and seven wangs, and after so many generations, its family is naturally very large.

"Commander Li can rest assured that the subordinate will definitely find a way." Wang Xianling readily agreed.

This made Li Zhen a little surprised, looked at the county order, and thought that the other party was transferred from Guanzhong after the imperial court took control of Hezhong, and he was a little hesitant.

After Wang Xian Ling left, Zhang Chengye's voice sounded in his ears, "Commander Li is suspicious of Wang Xian Ling." ”

"Does my father-in-law know anything about him?" Li Zhen didn't look back, looked at Wang Xianling, who had disappeared into the prison, and said with a faint smile.

"There is a certain understanding, this person went to Xie County with our family. He was a man of considerable literary talent, and his family background was average when he first arrived. Although he still lives in the county government, our family heard that he has a property in Hezhong Mansion, and the wrench he wore on his hand just now is a good thing, and there must be dozens of dollars. Zhang Chengye pointed out.

Li Zhen nodded, "It seems that there is indeed some problem with this Wang County Order, Dong Lang, send someone to find Hezhong Jinyiwei to find out about the situation of this Wang County Order." ”

Xie County is a middle county, but due to the salt pond, the county order here is treated as the county order above, which means that the annual income of the Wang County order is about 30 yuan. Even if you add grain and jobs, it is impossible to reach 100 times before they are converted.

How can an ordinary county magistrate buy a property in the river in a year, and wear a wrench worth dozens of yuan, this is not how the money is used.

"Now that Commander Li has made a decision, our family will not disturb Commander Li. I think the results are about to come out on the account book, and I will definitely be able to check the situation clearly! Zhang Chengye was about to leave, thinking of the Wang steward inside, he couldn't help but remind Li Zhen, "Commander Li, this Wang steward does not admit that it has anything to do with illegal salt." ”

Li Zhen smiled, "Father-in-law, don't worry, this ability, Jinyiwei began to have." ”

Zhang Chengye nodded, didn't say anything, and left directly.

In fact, the two have worked together before, at that time, Zhang Chengye was the inspector of the Zuo Tiance Army, and Li Zhen was the inspector of the Right Tian Ce Army, so they could be regarded as understanding each other.

After seeing Zhang Chengye leave, looking at Steward Wang and his subordinates and family members in the prison, Li Zhen finally showed his fangs, "Take out your skills and pry open their mouths!" ”

"Yes!"

The surrounding Jinyi guards replied neatly, and the hearts of these people who were arrested trembled violently.

"What are you going to do? You're lynching! ”

"Ahh

A miserable cry rang out from the prison, and the guards were terrified when they heard it.

。。。。。。

I was bold and leaned over to take a look, but I almost couldn't help but vomit after seeing it, compared to the methods inside, the way they usually treat prisoners is simply to tickle the prisoners.

The arrest of the king's steward frightened many people, and they all understood the truth of cold lips and teeth.

It's just that what I did before was relatively hidden, so no one noticed it, but as long as someone is caught, it is possible to spit out the whole insider. After all, they are not tightly organized and cannot withstand scrutiny.

"Wang County Order, this Wang Steward is locked up in the prison of the county government, don't you have a little expression? You must know that Wang Xianren is not a strict person, if he can't stand the forced confession, we will all be doomed. ”

Xie County, Li Mansion.

The owner of the Li Mansion is called Li Dechun, strictly speaking, he is from the Li clan of Zhao County, but he is just a collateral lineage, and he broke away from the Li clan of Zhao County two hundred years ago.

Li Dechun is now one of the two deputy envoys of Yanchi in Hezhong, and the Li family of Xie County is a local clan that has settled here for almost two hundred years and has deep roots, and the family's industry is very closely related to Yanchi.

During Wang Chongrong's tenure as the envoy of Jiedu, Li Dechun served in the salt pond in the river, and was engaged in the business of selling salt, to be precise, private salt.

When the imperial court was strong, it was naturally a severe crackdown on illegal salt, but after the Huangchao Rebellion, the imperial court had lost control of the place, and Huangchao itself was a private salt dealer, so illegal salt became more and more rampant.

Even during the reign of Wang Chongrong, it was not possible to strictly control the output of the salt ponds in the river.

Therefore, the appearance of private salt in the salt pond in the river did not start in the last two years, but has always existed.

Li Dechun's family's business is mainly to sell illicit salt.

However, after the imperial court occupied the river, officials were reassigned to manage the salt ponds. The crackdown on illegal salt in Hezhong, Guannai, Shannan Xidao and other places was very severe, and in addition to the salt transportation department of the imperial court, there were only two imperial merchants who could sell salt.

Of course, the production of salt is not all the responsibility of the imperial court, and the people also have salt ponds, but the scale is small, and the official salt ponds of the imperial court are large. The people's own salt ponds are not allowed to be sold to others, and must be purchased by the government, and then sold by the government to the two imperial merchants and the salt transportation departments in various places.

This was undoubtedly a catastrophe for the other salt merchants, and although they resisted, they were soon ruthlessly suppressed.

However, the profits of illegal salt are too large, so there are still many people who are willing to take risks.

It's just that it is too dangerous to sell in areas actually controlled by the imperial court, so many people aim at the surrounding areas that the imperial court cannot actually control.

Because the salt produced by the private salt ponds is sold to the government, it is necessary to collect taxes, although it is not high, only a few percent, but the larger the output of the private salt ponds, the more taxes are paid.

As a result, some private salt pond owners sold as little as possible to the government, but sold to merchants themselves, so that they paid less tax and the price was much higher.

Illegal salt dealers do not need to pay taxes to the government, and they can buy illegal salt at a lower price than the government.

In the words of later generations, the government that managed the salt industry represented by the Yan Yan envoy at this time was actually a middleman.

I want to talk about "Rebirth of Tang Zhongxing" with more like-minded people, and pay attention to "excellent reading literature" on WeChat, talk about life, and find confidants~