Zheng Lang thought of what happened some time ago, the salt seller.

Apart from this, there is no reason whatsoever.

He went to the court and brought the prisoners to trial one by one.

The ingredients are a bit complicated, the main salt dealers that Han Jiang and Lu Gongbi jointly arrested are from various states, and the salt sellers are all people who dare to put their heads on their trouser belts, and they were all local ruffians and hooligans in the past. There are such people everywhere.

After all, there are only a few people who dare to sell salt on a large scale, and the laws of the country are very strict, and they are often beheaded.

When interrogated one by one, the salt dealers were also honest and confessed everything they had done before, including their family property.

recorded a confession, which is similar to the confession of the previous interrogation, so I mentioned it again, mentioning the pavilion households, a few large pavilion households, and a few small pavilion households, and the small pavilion households did not have this ability, but they could be forced to be helpless, or attached to the inflammation trend, and were used by the big pavilion households as lackeys.

These pavilions are not native to Hangzhou, most of them are from Mingyan Prefecture, and the case has not been concluded, and once the case is closed, it will be reissued to the state for judgment.

The re-examination is still similar to the original confession.

Next, the officials involved in the interrogation were not regular officials, but small officials who were recruited for service, and they also came from various large households, some of them were officials in Hangzhou's first government and two counties, and some were serving as officials in the salt supervisor, and the salt supervisor was still nominally under the control of the Hangzhou government, but the right to collect salt tea and wine alum was the general leader of Yangzhou Rong Goods Bank.

It was these little officials who made Zheng Lang feel a headache.

At the time of the conference, many people inquired and pleaded for mercy. Zheng Lang asked rhetorically, the matter is broken, and he will let these little officials over, okay?

The pleading person was speechless.

Zheng Lang said again that he would not give a lenient sentence, nor would he deliberately give a heavy sentence, let alone be implicated. People come in, don't fish, it's useless to fish, I just let them out, prepare a case record, and once Yanchen is impeached, he will be sentenced again, and my black gauze hat will not be saved.

This is the economic lifeblood of the country, a salt and a wine, how much income does it bring to the imperial court in a year? There is, but it is impossible not to deal with it once it is revealed. Unless you're a relative of the Imperial Family.

But I said a word that I was not implicated, and I reminisced about it. I'll just look here, and I'm not going to look any further.

In fact, Zheng Lang really wants to say, don't think about it, I didn't ask you before, you can smuggle salt or smuggle at sea later, brew wine privately, and confiscate the deed shares. But isn't it time to say that the money and land have not yet been taken out. At most, let them keep a secret.

Some of the families involved are also helpless.

In fact, Zheng Lang has not been interrogated, and all the files are from Han Jiang and Lu Gongbi.

When I asked again, I didn't ask anything.

It seems that there is no problem, from the pavilion to the salt dealer, and then to the sheltering officials, it has constituted a complete salt selling procedure. But this is not right, this time the number is a bit large, there are three salt ships alone, and ordinary salt dealers are not so bold. There are still people on it.

And it is impossible to read, the matter of selling salt is very serious, and the two Zhejiang provinces are also not good, and the Grand Canal is tightly checked, and it can be smuggled from the sea, once it is taken by sea, there is no way to check it at all. Most of these salt dealers know each other, and they don't ask, but if they want to ask, they will ask many accomplices.

But why didn't anything come out?

Zheng Lang had no choice but to be executed, and it was useless to use torture, he was reading Confucian books after all, and he didn't like torture, so he thought about it and said to the officials: "Separate these people and shut them up overnight." ”

Separate them one by one, don't let them make a confession, and tomorrow they will be scared and coaxed to see if there are any clues.

Fu Bi came over when he heard the news, and he didn't want anything to happen at this time. Everything is waiting, waiting for the news in a few months, if it is not Hangzhou's annual income as Zheng Lang said, it is related to the operation of the entire country's economy, and it may even be true that thousands of households are no longer poor and hungry. Dare to say all kinds of benefits.

asked, "Governor Zheng, what can you ask?" ”

Zheng Langwei was almost inactive for the news a few months later, even if he did something, he was also doing good governance, and there was no other reason than this case. Zheng Lang can think of it, and Fu Bi can also think of it.

Zheng Lang shook his head.

"This group of annihilators is really bold."

"I'm afraid it's not boldness, it's the big thing."

Then I asked the artist, but I didn't ask anything. But Zheng Lang continued to keep him in a cell just in case. Then when she returned home, Cui Xian was crying, she was her own flesh and blood, how could she not worry.

The nurse knelt at the door, Zheng Lang helped her up and said, "You get up, it has nothing to do with you." ”

Si'er said weakly: "The slave is wrong. ”

"What's wrong, find a way if something goes wrong, it's not about who is right and who is wrong, like the victims of that year, that's a big thing, the big one is for the country, this is a family matter, and the small one is the family." Sit back and look at the map of Hangzhou on the wall in contemplation.

Suddenly, Wang Yuan was called in and whispered a few words to him. Wang Yuan went out.

Cui Xian listened on the side, her eyes lit up.

But Zheng Lang was pondering, who is this? If it is a real big household, you can buy it by various means, which is a righteous and bright way to grab money, and you don't need to take the risk of cutting off your head. And kidnapped his own daughter, the matter is not big and big.

is a bad example, try to ask that official who has no wife and children, even the Sheng family in Yuhang Shengdu, may not have the courage.

I can't do it.

One night the family did not sleep well, when the day was just dawn, Lu Gongbi sent a letter to the servant, the content of the letter is very simple, Qi Hangzhou Mansion Yin, Qiantang Zhi County, Zheng Xiaoniang buckled in the hands of the grass people, the grass people had the courage to exchange it for eight people's ears, at noon will be in Changguo Sugang, overdue is not there, you should regret it. Then there is a list of eight people, none of them are pavilion households, two of them are smugglers of salt in Hangzhou, and the remaining six are all small officials.

But it's time.

Changguo was later known as Zhoushan, and Sugang was a small town that developed on the larger Jintang Island in the west of the Changguo Islands.

It is now the end of the month, the Qiantang River is beginning to fall, if you want to rush to Sugang at noon, you must take people on the boat now, follow the tide to the east, otherwise it is too late.

Not necessarily all eight of these people know the news, but if they want to be arraigned, they don't have time. Unless you fight for your daughter, you don't want it.

In terms of location, the Qiantang River has changed a lot, but the Zhoushan Islands have not changed much, and this area once became the base camp of the Japanese in the Ming Dynasty. As long as you change people back, you can quickly escape.

This person is a local, the tide must be familiar, and the terrain will also be familiar, otherwise how can he smuggle smuggled salt?

"Let's go," Zheng Lang said after reading the letter.

When he came to the Qiantang County Ya, he glanced at Lu Gongbi inquiringly, and Lu Gongbi nodded. Zheng Lang settled down slightly, and then asked, "Where did this letter come from?" ”

"It was found by the officials this morning." Lu Gongbi replied, he was also very annoyed, this group of annihilators was really lawless.

Zheng Lang didn't say much, if he didn't stuff it into the county ya, could he stuff it into his own door, if he didn't do it, he could stuff it, if this happened, how could the family not be vigilant. He ordered the officials to bring the eight men on the list and put them on the boat.

Just when the tide was falling, Zheng Lang took the officials to escort the prisoners onto the boat and ordered the boat to be opened.

After coming to Hangzhou for so long, it was the first time to take a boat in the Qiantang River, the further east, the larger the Qiantang River estuary, the two sides of the strait gradually became a faint straight line, the water was empty, Zheng Lang didn't have the heart to look, sitting on the boat thinking about the follow-up impact of this case.

No matter how he thought about it, he was very angry in his heart, and even he vaguely felt that the mastermind had also attended his conference, and he had said that he would not deliberately implicate him, so why did he have to make a big deal about it?

Gradually, the ship reached Haikou at a rapid pace.

I can see the blue sea, and when I came to the Song Dynasty, it was the first time I saw the sea. But the officials on the ship clenched the weapons in their hands one by one, and when they arrived here, the real three didn't care. Although the imperial court set up a county on the island and also set up a salt supervisor, its jurisdiction was very limited.

Zheng Lang said: "Everyone, don't worry, this person is from our state capital, and he is afraid that I will get a confession, so he intimidates this official to hand over the prisoner to them." Even if there are manpower, there will not be much. ”

Unless he wants to rebel.

What can be used is nothing more than some cronies, and there are some salt dealers who don't want to die, and salt dealers also need cronies, otherwise things will leak out sooner or later, and you can't think about it more. Zheng Lang said the reason, and everyone was determined.

At noon, he came to Sugang on time, but Zheng Lang did not stop the boat to the side. He is the prefect of Hangzhou, this is the boundary of Mingzhou, if you don't dock, you won't cross the border, and you can't tell it on the sea. It is also a practice of covering one's ears and stealing the bell, but it can block the mouth of a speaker. In order to let the other party confirm, Zheng Lang took out a flag that Jiang Xing'er and Si'er had embroidered overnight last night, with two big characters on it, one Hang and one Zheng. Ask the officials to raise it to the mast, then drop anchor and wait for the other party to appear.

Zheng Lang looked to the shore again, and there were also some boats parked on the shore, most of them were fishing boats, and a few were merchant ships, and some fishermen looked at them curiously. Then there is the shore of the island, which forms a small inner arc and has a significant steep slope, so that the people have changed it into a small port. There are about 200 families on it, and it is about the town of Sugang.

Near the port there is a tea shed, and a small wine shop with a few diners and tea drinkers, but not many of them. In the distance is a large green hill covered with trees.

Yang Jiujin asked worriedly, "Da Lang, will they come?" ”

"It will definitely come, see no, in order to reassure them, the ship I picked up is not fast."

After a while, Yang Jiujin asked worriedly: "Let the person go...... Will the court pursue it? ”

As a humble guest of the Zheng family, this is a very normal state of mind, worried about the accident of his little lady, and worried about the future of his master.

"They all have household registration, they have families in Hangzhou, what are they worried about?" Zheng Lang said lightly. After speaking, he ordered the officials to have lunch, and ate them hastily with dry food and pickles. Suddenly, a small boat came in the distance, and the fisherman on the boat rocked the boat over and asked, "Are you officials from Hangzhou?" ”

"Exactly so-and-so."

"Someone asked me to bring a letter to you, asking you to go to the herring reef."

"Where is the man with the letter?"

"At sea."

"How old?"

"It's two, in their forties," replied the fisherman carefully, for he had received a few taels of silver for bringing the letter, but it might not be a good thing to see this posture.

However, Zheng Lang let him go and said, "Thank you." ”

I asked about the direction of the herring reef, sailed the boat over, and went more than a mile south. The further south you go, the more islands there will be, and the terrain will be more complex. And the channel gradually narrowed, and in addition to the large islands, there were some rocky reefs, some of which floated on the surface of the water, and some of which lurked at the bottom of the water. The latter is the most terrifying, once it hits, the ship will run aground. Therefore, most of the offshore boats in the Song Dynasty were small square-headed fishing boats, but according to the needs of the owners, there were different models, some were fast, and some were slow.

The herring reef arrived, a small fish-shaped rocky reef, like a herring floating on the surface of the sea, the area was not large, less than half an acre, the edge was bare stones, only the central part of the growth of some sparse trees. But there are also some boats, mostly fishermen who go out to sea to make a living.

I didn't know where the other party was, Zheng Lang stood at the bow of the boat and watched, and suddenly two big men drove a small boat and shouted at them: "Is Governor Zheng here?" ”

"I'm here."

"Please follow me," said the two big men, and the boat continued southward.

The daughter was in the hands of the other party, and Zheng Lang had no choice but to direct the boat to follow around behind the boat.

It was getting dark, and after going around for hours, if it wasn't for bringing a servant who was familiar with this area, Zheng Lang wouldn't know where to take them. But the other party's intention is very simple, send two strangers, this is not difficult, from Mingzhou or Yuezhou, or even from Xiuzhou on the other side of the river to find two people over, the sea of people, how to check yourself?

After turning around for so long, I saw if I had brought other boats over, and secondly, I waited for it to get a little dark, so that it was easy to escape.

The mind is still very cautious.

Finally to the ground.

The small boat finally stopped in front of a long, pointed fishing boat, which was not very large, but the slender shape of the boat, and the delicate main and auxiliary sails of the two masts, were enough to make it twice as fast as Zheng Lang's boat. But the people on the boat are very strange, there are not many people, only a dozen people, all wearing Luoluo, which is a nice saying, that is, Luo curtains, the veils worn by the ladies when they went out in the Tang Dynasty or before the Tang Dynasty, some thick and some thin, so that these dozen people changed it, just like a mask.

Zheng Lang was not in a hurry, watching the two of them drive the boat to the side of the boat and whispered a few words to one of the masked men, the two came back and said to Zheng Lang: "Governor Zheng, where are the people we want?" ”

"What about my daughter?"

Zheng Lang's voice was loud, and the people on the fishing boat opposite also heard it, one of them whispered a few times to the people around him, the two went down, and hugged Zheng Ping out after a while, the child was small, only a little more than two weeks, and saw Zheng Lang crying and shouted loudly: "Daddy." ”

In the Zheng family, Zheng Lang valued his daughter the most, even surpassing Cui Xian, and seeing his daughter struggling in the arms of the big man, his heart was twisted. But the more he was at this time, the more he calmed down, and calmly ordered the servant: "Drag the prisoner up." ”

The prisoners were brought to the deck.

Zheng Lang asked again: "How do we change people?" ”

One of the two big men made a gesture, and a small raft was lowered on the boat, and said, "The small boat will bring people back, and you will send someone over to drive the small raft and bring people over, and change people in the middle." ”

"It's up to you."

The two big men divided the points, one drove the boat and the other dragged the raft over.

The sky was getting darker, and there was a wind on the sea, and the waves were very strong, looking at this small raft tossing and turning, Zheng Lang frowned. However, there was no way, so he sent Wang Zhi and another official with a good surname of Shui and the surname of the boat to drive the small raft, dragged the small raft to the side of the boat, and let a few prisoners down, so that you could see who the other party's accomplices were. The three servants and the two salt sellers all had smiles on their faces. Zheng Lang said unhappily: "Don't forget that you still have family. ”

One of the officials said: "Governor Zheng is a good official, and he will not embarrass our family because of this." ”

Zheng Lang was speechless, watching Wang Zhi and Zhang Yashi carefully control the small raft and sail towards the middle of the two boats. The other party saw that Zheng Lang was very "keeping", so he also put Zheng Ping down and handed it to one of the big men.

The two small ships met together in the middle, and they also generously handed Zheng Ping into Wang Zhi's hands. At this time, no matter how good Wang Zhi's martial arts are, it is useless, it is not easy for this small raft to be made, there will be a possibility of capsizing at any time, if there is an accident, it will definitely affect Zheng Ping.

The talent on the other side of the boat shouted loudly: "Governor Zheng, we are also forced to be helpless, and if we offend, we will be one." In the future, as long as Governor Zheng is in Hangzhou for a day, we will no longer sell illicit salt. ”

Zheng Lang looked at the sea with concern, he didn't care what the other party said.

is to make a statement, the people do not fight with the officials, even if this person has some background, and he is not willing to openly make enemies of the court. But things have come to this point, and it will be too late for you to change your ways.

Wang looked directly at Zheng Ping, hesitated for a moment, but looked at the surging waves, and shook his head again.

His move also made the other party see it, and said: "There is no wind and waves here, it is a location we deliberately chose. ”

Then bring someone back, seeing that the last prisoner was pulled onto the small boat, Wang Zhi had no choice but to hold Zheng Ping with the servants, carefully sail the raft back, and climb onto the boat. The other party also returned to the side of the big boat, but the great change was steep, and the two strangers on the boat climbed onto the big boat first, and the prisoners behind did not untie the ropes, and still shouted loudly for them to untie the ropes.

Zheng Lang said: "It's not good, rush over." ”

But a dozen people on the opposite boat took out a dozen bows at the same time, set up arrows, and shot at the boat. The big man in the middle said: "Governor Zheng, I hope to forgive." We have changed people, but you can't explain it to the court, we will solve it for you. ”

It's not about changing people, it's about killing people.

After finishing speaking, the ship quickly headed east, which area is more complicated, Zheng Lang covered Zheng Ping's eyes and said, "Carry the body up." ”

The murderer is inhumane, he can't be inhumane, although they are also death row prisoners, but they may not be executed before a few fresh lives.

sighed again and said, "More people are ruined......

This trouble, the case cannot be small.

The more people who are rolled, the more people will be executed, and each person will be executed, or killed, which means the breakdown of a family. And the reason is precisely because of an unintentional move by himself...... All he likes is to give more poor people a way to live, and if this kind of money comes at the cost of a living human life, he will not like it in the end, even though the other party is a smuggler of salt.

The others didn't know his psychology, and Qiantang Cha Zhubo asked worriedly, "What now?" ”

You can't really lie to the court.

Zheng Lang hesitated for a while, sighed again, and said, "Put the flag down." ”

"Oh," the two officials took down the Hangzheng flag, but they still didn't think of anything else, they were all replaced, what was the use of hanging the flag.

Zheng Lang said again: "Keep chasing." ”

Saying that, he carried Zheng Ping into the ship, coaxed Zheng Pingle, and frightened Zheng Ping in the past two days, but she was finally small and ignorant, and when she saw her familiar father, she coaxed her again, and the laughter of the silver bell boat came out for a while.

Puzzled, Mr. Cha Bo followed in and said, "We can't catch up with ......."

If you can't chase it anymore, it's futile and the sky will soon get dark, and chasing around on this complicated sea is more likely to cause accidents.

Zheng Lang said: "It's okay, I also arranged a boat ......."

"When?" Zha Zhubo looked at the sea from the door of the boat in amazement, there were still boats on the sea, just a few small fishing boats, and there was no other movement.

"Don't look at it, I'll come over soon," Zheng Lang's voice just fell, four fishing boats pounced up from a distance, the boat was a fishing boat, but there were many soldiers standing on it, and the boat was temporarily renovated, and several more lugs were set up on the side of the boat.

Seeing that Zhu Cha was puzzled, Zheng Lang said lightly: "Yesterday I was very annoyed when I learned that my daughter was taken away. But when the case was being tried, he slowly sobered up. Han Zhixian and Lu Zhixian arrested people very suddenly, but repeated interrogations were fruitless, and severe torture was also used, but why didn't some key people be mentioned in the confession? ”

If this incident is not out of this incident, this case seems to be able to be closed, there is the source of salt, the people who sell salt, and the officials who shelter it, but the occurrence of this incident proves that there are people behind the scenes. This non-confession is a little weird.

There are several people, not everyone is not afraid of death, seeing the last appearance just now, a few people saw that they were saved, and they actually ignored their own families, and all of them showed happy smiles on their faces. It shows that they are also afraid of death and cherish life.

But Zheng Lang also said the same thing yesterday, if you report it, you can be guaranteed not to die. Living sin is inevitable, but how credible are Zheng Lang's words?

Zhu Bo already understood what Zheng Lang meant, and said, "Governor Zheng, you mean that the messenger with a cell sent a message in. ”

"Yes, just say a few words, I will take care of your family, if it is recruited, the government may not catch me, or dare to arrest me, at that time, your family, including you, did not want to die well, and even said to them, I will find a way to rescue you." At this point, he smiled sarcastically.

In Hangzhou at this time, I am afraid that Empress Cao's family will come over, and if she does something wrong, she will also be disgraced. These petty officials and salt dealers did not know that no matter who the other party was, they still had some skills, and continued: "Therefore, they do not confess, we are all uncool officials, and we will not use torture. In fact, why bother, I wanted to deal with this case lightly, and delayed it to weaken the interest of the two magistrates. Turning big cases into small cases, small cases into nothing, trying to reduce the number of deaths, and a few families are broken......"

sighed: "Even the private salt, I don't want to ask about the private salt before...... I didn't expect it to turn out like this...... But it has come out, and I have to keep thinking about it. This is tantamount to an open confrontation with the government, how many people have the guts? ”

In the past, there were also heroes and strong people who confronted the government, but everyone knew in their hearts that it was enough to kidnap the official's family. Let's take a look at how many people Fan Zhongyan has offended, and whether anyone dares to touch Fan Zhongyan's family. This case is far more serious than illegal salt. If someone protects and pleads with the emperor, he can spare his life, but who dares to ask for help?

He didn't know the consequences, and continued to listen to Zheng Lang: "He doesn't want me to know his identity, and he doesn't want my daughter to have any accidents. ”

Stroking Zheng Ping's hair, he said, "Therefore, he must be replaced." But whether that artist is their comrade or not, I can't say, it is possible, it may be that he sent someone to pay attention, it happened to be a coincidence, so he snatched my daughter from the nurse. Where can I change it? On the shore, no matter where he was, he could not guarantee that he would be very safe. In the Qiantang River, safety is also not guaranteed. ”

Undoubtedly, there are only Zhoushan Islands. And I just know, looking for a dozen people in these more than 1,000 islands, where to find them?

"Last night, I made some arrangements, and asked Lu Zhixian to transfer four ships and a hundred forbidden soldiers, and after getting on the boat, while driving the boat, I made some changes to the ship and added lugs, but arc wood was added to the outside of the lugs to cover up the lugs. Then they came to the sea, where the soldiers were lying in the boat, and the soldiers outside were disguised as fishermen. Today my ship came with a flag, and that was for them to recognize. And I deliberately chose a boat that was not fast, not to reassure the other party, but to have enough time for the four of us to keep up with the fishing boat. ”

"And can't follow too closely, otherwise the other party will find out, but can't be left behind, must always be out of our sight, at this time the flag on our ship is a recognizing sign? But in Hangzhou City, it is not easy to hang, and the person in charge will see that his mind is more meticulous, and when he arrives at the sea, he is mostly subordinates or ghosts for the dead, and he only hangs when he arrives in Sugang," Zha Zhubo suddenly realized and asked.

"Exactly, otherwise it would have been turned down in the past half a day, even if it was disguised, our ship would have let them find out." As soon as Zheng Lang finished speaking, the four ships were already under the leadership of Wang Yuan, rushing over and tightly surrounding the ship.

When the night came, the waves were bigger, and Zheng Lang felt that his nearly 100-ton ship was like a willow leaf, which was hoisted up and down in the waves.

Zha Zhubo stood on the bow of the boat, staring ahead, and sighed in his heart, sighing for the person hidden behind, why did such a prefect come to Hangzhou and behave like before?

The night wind was stronger, hitting the reefs on both sides, rolling up thousands of piles of snow, ten thousand piles of snow.