In the mountainous area of Nanzhang County, Xiangyang Prefecture, the prefect of Xiangyang Prefecture took 50 officials to ride horses on the rugged trails in the mountains and walked to a small alkaline noodle mine. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

One of the staff members beside You Minggui rode on a horse, shook his head and said: "In the north of Xiangyang City, there are thirty-four large and small alkali noodle mines, of different sizes. Large mines often employ dozens of miners, producing tens of thousands of catties of alkali noodles every month. There are a few miners in small mines, and they produce thousands of catties of alkali noodles every month. Most of these alkaline noodles were transported to Yangzhou through the Yangtze River by water, and then transported to Tianjin by boat through the Grand Canal and sold to Li Zhi. In recent years, as Li Zhi's orders have expanded, these minerals have been expanded repeatedly, and more miners have been hired. ”

The prefect of Xiangyang, You Minggui, rode on a horse, arched his hand in the direction of Suzhou and said: "This time, Li Thief forcibly expropriated Tian Fu from the Tianjin gentry, and the world was furious. Fortunately, Zhang Tianru of Suzhou stepped forward and ordered the world to block the Li thief in the name of the restoration society, and cut off the feed and output of the Li thief's workshop. Xiangyang produces alkaline noodles, and in recent years, almost all of these alkaline noodles have been bought by Li thieves, and we cannot let these minerals be used by Li thieves. ”

Next to You Minggui, the county magistrate of Nanzhang County arched his hand and said: "The prefect is charging into battle and contributing to the people of the world, I admire it!" ”

You Minggui Zhengse said: "If Li Thief is allowed to succeed, the rules of the world will be greatly broken, and there will be no place for the gentry such as us." At such a critical moment, we cannot sit idly by. We want to let Li Thief know that this world is a gentry! ”

The magistrate of Nanzhang County arched his hand and said: "The prefect is noble! ”

The group walked on the mountain road and gradually came to the door of a small alkali noodle mine.

It was a small mine, there was not even a gatekeeper, and the miners all went down the mine, only to see a miner pushing a trolley into the mine. Fifty officials rushed into the mining area, kicked over the miner's trolley, and shouted: "The prefect has come to seal the mine!" Call out all the mine owners and miners! ”

The miner saw the ferocity of the servant with the water and fire sticks here, and his face was terrified, and he ran into the mine. After a while, the blackened owner walked out of the mine with seven miners. These nine miners and mine owners are a family, and when they heard that the prefect had come to close the mine, their faces were full of panic.

The nine people walked up to the prefect in official robes, and all of them knelt down.

"Lord Prefect, our family lives on this alkaline noodle mine, and we will starve to death if the mine is closed!"

A middle-aged woman with a wrinkled face and a headscarf on her head knelt behind the mine owner and shouted: "Lord Prefect, we small people rely on this mine to feed our children, and after the mine is cut off for a month, I will have no money to buy food to feed the children in my family!" ”

The prefect You Minggui shouted: "You and others dig alkaline noodles to fund Li Zhi in Tianjin, scourge the gentry of the world, and deserve death for crimes, and dare to quibble?" Come on, take down the mine owner for me! ”

Several tiger-like servants rushed forward and tied up the stunned mine owner in a few strokes. The mine owner was a little anxious, and shouted loudly: "I and other small people work hard to dig the alkali noodle mine, and we honor the poor master in the county every month, what's the crime?" Why did you arrest me? ”

Several servants who operated water and fire sticks rushed up and slammed the mine owner's head, which immediately knocked the mine owner's head to the point of bleeding.

The woman rushed forward, grabbed the mine owner's hand and shouted, "No, you can't take my man." Are you going to beat him to death? ”

Several more servants rushed forward and struck the women with rods.

You Minggui snorted coldly and said loudly: "Today I will only arrest the mine owner!" Spare you miners. From now on, if this mine digs another pound of alkali noodles, I will arrest all you miners in prison! ”

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Jinan Mansion, Shandong Governor Wang Gongbi took the Jinan prefect and led the family Ding Ya to the merchant gathering area in the west of Jinan City.

Walking to the door of a large courtyard, the officials looked left and right, turned around and arched their hands to the governor Wang Gongbi and said, "Lord Governor, this is this courtyard!" ”

Wang Gongbi said lightly: "Open the door!" ”

A few of the officials were ordered, but they did not knock on the door, but kicked the thin side door open with a few kicks. The official kicked open the side door and went in to open the gate, allowing the governor and the prefect to enter through the gate.

When the cotton merchant family in the courtyard saw that the courtyard door was kicked open, they didn't know what was going on, and they all ran to the main courtyard. I saw the governor in a big red official robe with so many family members and servants into his courtyard. The cotton merchant was so frightened that his legs trembled, and he knelt in the courtyard with his family.

Dozens of officials and servants rushed into the courtyard and searched it.

Governor Wang Gongbi looked at the head of the family kneeling in the front row, and asked coldly: "Of the eleven traders who sold cotton to Li Thief in Tianjin, you are one of them?" ”

The cotton merchant fell to the ground and kowtowed, and shouted: "The little people have been convicted! Xiaomin no longer dares to do a penny business with Li Thief! The governor is a clear guide, and Xiaomin will take back all the manpower in Tianjin tomorrow! ”

Wang Gongbi snorted and said: "Your family was originally from the gentry, and you knew that Li Thief was collecting business taxes in Tianjin and poisoning the gentry, but he still traded with Li Zhi without conscience and sold cotton to him. This kind of behavior of yours is tantamount to betrayal, and even more evil to the enemy. If there are no rat-like businessmen in the world, then why should Li Zhi harm the gentry? ”

"Fortunately, Zhang Pu of Suzhou stepped forward and called on the people of the world to ban Li Zhi's raw materials and goods, otherwise he would really let the rats get away with it!"

As Wang Gongbi was talking, a housekeeper who searched the yard ran over from behind, and said to the governor: "My lord, there are 30,000 catties of cotton in the yard, and I am afraid they are all going to be sent to Tianjin." ”

Wang Gongbi snorted coldly and said, "Burn!" ”

The housekeeper shouted orders and rushed into the backyard. After a while, a fire broke out in the backyard warehouse.

The kneeling cotton merchant gritted his teeth in distress when he saw that the goods had been burned. He knelt on the ground and sweated profusely, but he didn't dare to speak.

Wang Gongbi thought about it for a while, and said coldly: "Arrest all the men, women, and children of the head of the family and put them in prison!" ”

When the cotton merchant heard this, his face turned pale, he prostrated himself on the ground, and shouted, "My lord, I will know that I am wrong, spare my life!" ”

"Spare a little life! I'll stop doing business with Li Thief! ”

"Your Excellency..."

Wang Gongbi no longer paid attention to the cotton merchants on the ground, and said coldly: "Go to the next one!" ”

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In the Tianjin General Military Mansion, Han Jinxin, the ambassador of the secret guard, knelt on the ground and reported to Li Zhi about the information from other places.

Under the call of Zhang Pu, the leader of the Restoration Society, a campaign to smash goods was set off in various places. Merchants selling soap, Li Jiajing cloth, Li Jiajing steel, glass wine utensils and glass mirrors were rushed into the shop by the gentry and smashed the goods. The local government ignored such hooliganism, and allowed the gentry to wreak havoc on Li Zhi's goods.

For a time, no one dared to sell Li Zhi's goods.

Not only that, Xiangyang's alkali noodles, Shandong's cotton, and Li Zhi's two bulk commodities, on which Li Zhi's industry relied the most, were also cut off by local officials.

Han Jinxin said: "Zhang Pu, Zhang Cai, Chen Zilong and others are the initiators of this movement. Shandong Governor Wang Gongbi and Xiangyang Prefect are particularly noble, and they are the vanguard of this movement! ”

Li Xing looked at Li Zhi worriedly and said, "Big brother, without alkaline noodles and cotton, most of our industries will be suspended. Without income, we have to rely on our savings. At present, the cost of clearing land in Taiwan is so great that we can only last for seven months at most. ”

Li Zhi closed his eyes and did not speak.

After a long time, he opened his eyes and said lightly: "This Zhang Pu and I are fighting, I don't know how thick the sky is." ”