"Say, Where is the silver hidden?"

In the prison of the Zhenfu Division, a smuggler was hanged up, and several brocade guards were whipping the smuggler's body.

This person was Fan Yongdou, the leader of the eight imperial merchants of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and his business at this time was also the largest, and the materials smuggled to Jiannu were also the largest.

"It's all recruited, it's all recruited, and there's no silver left to hide." Fan Yongdou was beaten and cried, shouting with a handful of snot and tears.

"Not honest yet." The captain of the Jinyi Guard, who was holding a leather whip, slapped Fan Yongdou with another whip, and suddenly a blood stain was pulled out.

"Ah~!" Fan Yongdou suddenly let out a scream like killing a pig, which was extremely miserable. This leather whip on people, the painful rush of the foot, absolutely ecstatic. While Fan Yongdou screamed, his whole body writhed wildly.

But Fan Yongdou still refused to confide in the slightest bit of hidden silver, and the Jinyi Guard Captain whipped more than a dozen whips in succession, and the huge pain had exceeded the critical point, causing the human body to activate the 'protection mechanism', making Fan Yongdou unconscious. But Jin Yiwei didn't want to let him go so easily. A basin of cold water was poured on Fan Yongdou's face, and then Fan Yongdou came to his senses.

"Get him some salt water to taste." The Jinyi Wei Baihu, who was sitting there on the side, instructed the captain who was executing. Soon, a basin of salt water poured on Fan Yongdou.

"Ah~!!" There was another howl, and after a long time, the wound was still in pain.

"How does it taste?" Jinyi Wei Baihu laughed and asked Fan Yongdou, who was panting from the toss, that smile was in Fan Yongdou's eyes. It's a devilish smile.

"Move. I recruit. Fan Yongdou knows. If you don't recruit any more, you will suffer more sins. Fan Yongdou is a businessman, usually living a wealthy life, where does he have such strong willpower, Jin Yiwei is only a preliminary torture of him, he can't hold on. If Fan Yongdou continues to grit his teeth, there will be all kinds of torture to greet him.

After entering the Zhenfu Division, the skin is peeled off if you don't die.

"Where is the silver?"

"Hidden in the cellar in the mountain behind my house."

"How many?"

"One million two hundred thousand taels."

"When did you help Jiannu smuggle supplies?"

"Forty-four years of Wanli."

"How do you usually help Jiannu spy on intelligence?"

"Bribing courtiers. And send spies ......"

Fan Yongdou was completely tortured and scared, and said the question of Jinyiwei like pouring beans.

In the Department of Suppression, Fan Yongdou's family is also being interrogated to verify Fan Yongdou's confession. In addition to Fan Yongdou's family, there were seven other businessmen and their families who participated in the collaboration with Jiannu. Jinyiwei tortured them all, and they were tortured one by one. A group of family members, crying and crying, the good days have completely left them.

In contrast, other businessmen who are involved in border smuggling. I was much luckier. Because he did not cooperate with Jiannu, he only made border transactions with the Mongols and the Yarkand Khanate. So he was not imprisoned in the Department of Suppression, but in the Labor Reform Bureau.

Of course, all the family property was confiscated, but they were not punished, and these businessmen and their families were only sentenced to half a year's labor camp in the end.

Some merchants still hid some silver in the cellars, and they did not have nothing after the labor camp.

However, the eight Jin merchants who traded with Jiannu couldn't save them when they really came to the king of heaven this time. After some torture, they took out the last penny they had hidden in the cellar.

However, they will be faced with even more severe torture.

Jiannu's intelligence system in the customs was set up by Fan Yongdou and eight others, helping Jiannu's intelligence personnel to enter and exit the customs and providing them with financial resources, and also personally sending people to spy on Jiannu's intelligence.

Most of the spies sent by Jiannu were concentrated in Jingshi.

Jin Yiwei immediately launched a thorough sweeping operation in Beijing, and after a night of arrest, hundreds of people were arrested. Three days later, more than 130 people were caught, and Jiannu's intelligence network in Daming was basically wiped out.

After more than half a month of investigation and statistics, the preliminary list was submitted to Zhu Youxiao's case. Wei Zhongxian looked like a 'smiling' face, and said to Zhu Youxiao excitedly: "Your Majesty, this time you really caught a group of fat pigs. Of the 43 firms seized this time, a total of 9.63 million taels of cash were seized, equivalent to 11.6 million yuan. In addition, there are too many shops, workshops, land, houses, IOUs, etc., and the value has not been counted yet. ”

"So much cash!" Zhu Youxiao was a little surprised, these merchants had silver, which was generally used to annex a large amount of land and buy various assets. The wealth of so much silver is staggering.

"In addition to this cash, the usury that these businessmen have lent out has more than three million yuan. And the value of the grain and goods in their warehouses is still being counted. There are probably more than a million stone of grain. ”

These merchants also did the grain business of the border army, and they generally bought land on the border land and then found people to cultivate it. Grain is supplied to the officials and soldiers in the border towns nearby, which greatly saves costs. It is the same as the one-stop production and marketing of tea, which starts from the source to maximize the benefits.

"How much land?" Zhu Youxiao asked.

"Judging from the land deed, there are about more than 6 million mu of land, and the specific number of acres will continue to be measured in the future."

"Haha! This time I got rich. Zhu Youxiao looked at the list in his hand carefully, and then laughed, not at all as steady as usual.

Steady is often pretended, and he was just an ordinary person before he crossed over.

This time he really made a fortune, these smugglers are simply fat, so Zhu Youxiao made a fortune in an instant.

'Sure enough, it's cool to raid the house! Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but think in his heart, although there are many side effects of raiding his home, that is, it will make a class hostile to him, but as long as he grasps the military power and improves the people's livelihood, he is not afraid of those guys making trouble.

With 11.6 million yuan in cash, plus a large amount of silver will be recorded in the next asset sale, the loss of the tea and horse trade of the imperial court over the years will be earned back in an instant.

On top of that, trade between the Ming and the Mongols, as well as with the Yarkand Khanate, would then be monopolized by royal capital.

"Your Majesty, what about those merchants?" Wei Zhongxian asked at this time. Zhu Youxiao thought for a while and said: "Those merchants who smuggled into Mongolia and the Yarkand Khanate, it is almost enough to confiscate their family property, and the symbolic labor reform will be half a year!" The eight merchants who smuggled materials to Jiannu and collected intelligence for Jiannu were all sentenced to death by men. What kind of car cracking, Ling Chi, peeling, let them draw lots by themselves, and they can die whatever they get. The women of the whole family are official prostitutes, and I want to avenge the people of Liaodong! ”

"Your Majesty, there are still a lot of domestic slaves and maids in those merchants' families, how to deal with these people. There are also shopkeepers and men under these eight merchants, who are also involved in these activities. Wei Zhongxian continued.

"Those maids, there is no need for labor reform, let the front-line meritorious soldiers have a blind date, and they will be married to them when they see it. Those house slaves will be released after half a year of labor reform! The shopkeepers and men who participated in the smuggling with Jiannu, depending on whether the circumstances of their participation were serious or not, should be asked to be beheaded, and those who should be reformed through labor should be reformed through labor. Zhu Youxiao decided. (To be continued......)

PS: The second update is here! Two shifts today.