Facing Deacon Chen, who was glaring at him viciously, Chen Wenren's heart couldn't help but tremble, and he suddenly realized that he seemed to have made a mistake, he shouldn't have let people kill Deacon Chen's whole family, maybe it would be better to imprison him, so that Deacon Chen is now playing with him like a desperate bar.

However, at this point, Chen Wenren had no chance to choose again, and then looked away from looking at Deacon Chen, who was looking at him angrily, the final decision on this matter was in the hands of Li Yuntian, and Deacon Chen was just a small loach with a soft voice.

"Chen Youcai, did you suffer the twenty boards just now? If you don't have evidence, don't talk about it! Li Yuntian saw that the situation at the scene was a little tense, so he warned Deacon Chen in a deep voice, which could be regarded as relieving Chen Wenren.

"Master Hou, the villain's account books are evidence, which records in detail the private salt handled by the villain in recent years." Deacon Chen calmed his mind for a moment when he heard this, gritted his teeth and said to Li Yuntian, "The ships transporting those illegal salt are all arranged by the Salt Merchants Association, which shows that the Salt Merchants Association is well aware of the private salt business. ”

"Master Hou, this person is cunning and cunning, nine times out of ten he will forge account books to frame Zhongliang, please find out about Lord Hou." The corners of Zhang Sheng's eyebrows twitched, and then he said to Li Yuntian in a loud voice, as the transshipment envoy of the Lianghuai Salt Road, if there was an illegal salt trafficking, he would first be held responsible.

"Lord Zhang, don't be impatient, all the adults present will definitely give you two Huaiyan a fair deal." Li Yuntian opened his mouth to comfort Zhang Sheng when he heard this, and the development of the situation gradually shifted from Zhao Wenju's killing to those private salts who were extorted by Caoyun's yamen according to his predetermined trajectory.

Zhang Sheng bowed slightly to Li Yuntian, and then looked at Deacon Chen coldly, he didn't believe that Deacon Chen could turn over this piece of heaven in the Lianghuai Salt Road.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to wait for the account book, several subordinates brought fragrant hot tea to Li Yuntian, Chen Wenren and others, and naturally they wanted to drink the best tea in Daming in Yangzhou.

Pan Xingmin, Zhang Tao and Qin Ke slowly tasted the fragrant tea in the cup, while Chen Wenren and Zhang Sheng were not in that mood and seemed a little absent-minded when drinking tea.

Li Yuntian secretly noticed the reactions of Pan Xingmin, Chen Wenren and others, and a subtle smile flashed on the corner of his mouth, and when he revealed the hole cards, I am afraid that Pan Xinmin and the three of them would not look so leisurely and comfortable.

Chen Wenren was quite worried at this time, Deacon Chen's reaction had exceeded his expectations, and now Deacon Chen could be said to have completely lost his mind and was bent on revenge.

Chen Wenren was not worried about the evidence that Deacon Chen had in his possession, it was not easy to verify the evidence, and it would take a lot of time, but Li Yuntian obviously did not have much time to spend in Yangzhou.

Besides, as long as the salt merchants will insist that the evidence of Deacon Chen is false, how can Deacon Chen alone explain it clearly?

After a cup of tea, Deacon Chen's hidden account books were retrieved, and no one could have imagined that he had put them in the home of a subordinate who was illiterate and did not know what was recorded on them.

Li Yuntian looked through the account book, which recorded in detail the process of the illegal salt handled by Deacon Chen in the past few years from the Lianghuai Salt Road Salt Farm to the place of sale, including the time, place, person and payment involved, etc., which was a complete freight record.

What particularly surprised Li Yuntian was that the profits of the private salt handled by Deacon Chen over the years had exceeded 10 million taels, and it could be inferred that the private salt profits of the entire Salt Merchants Association had reached 100 million taels of silver, which was a very astonishing amount.

Not only Li Yuntian, but also Pan Xingmin, Zhang Tao and Qin Ke were also shocked by the profits involved above, although they knew that the salt affairs of the Lianghuai Salt Road had huge profits, but no one would have thought that the profits would be so huge, it was far beyond their imagination.

"Chen Youcai, according to the above records, you have earned a huge amount of money from the private salt business, but seventy percent of it has been withdrawn, where did it go?"

After Li Yuntian closed the account book in his hand, he asked Deacon Chen quietly, which involved the distribution of those private salt interests.

"Lord Hou, half of the money was given to the salt merchants who ran errands under the villain, and the other half was handed over to the Salt Merchants Association, and the Salt Merchants Association took care of the people from the Lianghuai Salt Road Yamen and the Nanjing Household Yamen." Deacon Chen did not hesitate at all, and told the hidden truth in one go.

"It's nonsense, when did this official accept money from the Salt Merchants Association." As soon as Deacon Chen's words fell, Zhang Sheng scolded loudly with a grim face, "You have framed this official three times and twice, what is your intention? ”

"Lord Zhang, although the villain doesn't know how much benefit you can get from the Salt Merchants Association every year, the money you have received in the past two years is enough for you to steal the door twice!" Seeing that Zhang Sheng actually reprimanded him in a dignified manner, the corners of Deacon Chen's mouth suddenly showed a smile of disdain.

"You ......" was hit by Deacon Chen like this, Zhang Sheng suddenly turned red with anger, pointed at Deacon Chen and couldn't speak, I have to say that Deacon Chen's words just now were a little vicious.

"Chen Youcai, pay attention to your words, how can you be allowed to speak arbitrarily in the court!" Li Yuntian saw that Zhang Sheng was so angry that he couldn't speak, so he couldn't hold back a smile, slapped the startled wood hard, and warned him in a deep voice.

"Master Hou, the reason why Zhao Wenju is harmed is because he has the account books of trafficking in illicit salt, and if he is engaged in the illicit salt business, if he does not open the joints of the two Huai salt roads, he will be seized by the salt road yamen on the way."

Deacon Chen hurriedly touched the ground with his head and said loudly to Li Yuntian, "Take 10,000 steps back, if the villain and Zhao Wenju collude together to engage in the sale of illicit salt, then it is bound to buy off the two Huai Salt Road Yamen, and Lord Zhang will not be able to escape the blame!" ”

"Chen Youcai, although these account books are incredible, they are just accounts recorded by you, and Ben Hou needs to verify its authenticity, but it obviously takes a lot of time."

Li Yuntian pondered for a moment, and looked at Deacon Chen with a stern expression, "As Lord Chen said, the accumulated salt that was seized by the Caoyun Governor's Yamen should not be left on the water for a long time. ”

Hearing this, Chen Wenren and Zhang Sheng immediately breathed a sigh of relief, and the look on their faces became relaxed in an instant, as long as those illicit salts were transported away in time, then they were not afraid of Li Yuntian's verification, and it was obvious that those salt merchants involved in this case would flatly deny that they had anything to do with Deacon Chen.

"Master Hou, those private salts are important evidence of crimes, and they can't be let go, otherwise the black curtain of the Lianghuai Salt Road will never be solved, and the villain can't be blinded even if he dies!" Deacon Chen was shocked when he heard this, and hurriedly said to Li Yuntian.

"Benhou needs facts, not one-sided words."

Li Yuntian pondered for a moment, and said solemnly, "The current evidence cannot prove that the salt merchants will always engage in the sale of illegal salt, so how can Ben Hou drag those accumulated salts, and the evidence related to Zhao Wenju's case of illegal salt also needs to be verified by Ben Hou, and Ben Hou will give you an explanation." ”

"Come, take him down." As he spoke, Li Yuntian waved his hand at Deacon Chen and said to the Jinyi guard in the lobby.

"Master Hou, the villain is not convinced, the villain is not convinced!" Deacon Chen's face suddenly showed a look of despair, once those illegal salts were released, it would be even more difficult to investigate the shady scenes of the Lianghuai Salt Road, so he shouted loudly at the top of his voice.

"Knock knock......" Just when several brocade guards wanted to set up Deacon Chen, a dull drum beat suddenly came from the gate outside the hall.

Hearing the sound of drums, everyone present was stunned, and looked outside the hall with a brush, and it was not clear who had struck the drum in front of the yamen of the Lianghuai Salt Road at this time.

Like the local yamen of the Ming Dynasty, there is also a drum for people to report on the affairs of the salt road in front of the yamen of the two Huai Salt Road, and according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, as long as the officials of the yamen sound the drum of grievances, they will be promoted to the court to ask questions.

The soldiers of the Lianghuai Salt Road will never allow anyone to beat the drum at this time, but it is the Xiaowu Army who is guarding the gate now, so naturally they will not prevent someone from beating the drum and shouting the grievance.

"Li Qianhu, hurry up and check what happened?" The sudden scene made the hall silent, no one knew what was going on, Li Yuntian's eyes lit up first, and then Li Manshan, who was standing in front of the hall, shouted.

Li Manshan arched his hand to Li Yuntian, walked quickly to the outside of the gate to check, taking advantage of this opportunity, Chen Wenren, Pan Xingmin and others laughed and discussed in private, no one would have thought that someone would choose this keen time to sue.

After a while, Li Manshan led a plain woman into the lobby, holding a stack of account books in her hands with a sad face.

Seeing this, the people in the lobby immediately turned their eyes to the woman, and felt very strange about her filial piety.

"The people's woman Zhao Li knocked to see the Hou Ye and the adults." Under the gaze of everyone, the woman knelt in front of the hall and saluted Li Yuntian.

"Zhao Li, why are you drumming?" Li Yuntian looked at Zhao Li quietly and asked in a deep voice.

"Master Hou, the woman is the daughter-in-law of Zhao Wenju, the deacon of the Salt Merchants Association, and this time I came to avenge the father-in-law of the woman, he was killed on the street, and the woman wanted to bring the mastermind behind the scenes to justice." Zhao Li raised his head and said to Li Yuntian with a sad and angry expression.

"You are Zhao Dengyu's wife?" Li Yuntian was stunned for a moment, and asked with a surprised expression.

Everyone present was taken aback, no one would have thought that Zhao Wenju's daughter-in-law would appear here, and then their eyes fell on the stack of account books that Zhao Li put in front of them, if they were not mistaken, those were the private salt accounts that Zhao Wenju hid.

"Master Hou, the reason why the father-in-law of the woman sold illicit salt after Master Hou came to Yangzhou was to allow the Lianghuai Salt Road to seize it, and then perfunctory Lord Hou."

Zhao Li nodded affirmatively when he heard this, and then picked up the stack of account books in front of him, "However, the father-in-law of the folk women is not trusted by the people of the Salt Merchants Association, and he is worried that they will cross the river and tear down the bridge, so he let the women and his wife hide in advance, and secretly hand over the account books to the women for safekeeping. ”

"Master Hou, these account books list in detail the private salt trading matters handled by the father-in-law of the women in recent years, and he also died because of these accounts, please let the Hou Ye be the master of the women!" As he spoke, Zhao Li held the account books high above his head, and said in a sad voice.

Chen Wenren's face became ugly in an instant, and it was obvious that Zhao Wenju's account books and Deacon Chen's account books would be corroborated by each other if they were put together, because under the arrangement of the Salt Merchants Association, their shipment time was exactly the same, but the location was different, and the process was completely similar Zhao Wenju also had to hand over seventy percent of the private salt profits.

Pan Xingmin, Zhang Tao and Qin Ke couldn't help but glance at each other, there was a hint of excitement in their eyes, the history of the development of things is becoming more and more interesting, it seems that Chen Wenren is indeed in trouble this time, which also means that they can make a lot of money out of it.

Because Li Yuntian obviously will not take on the case of the two Huai Yandao alone, he will definitely seek the opinions of the three on the current situation, which makes the attitude of the three of them very important.

At this moment, the three of them still felt that Li Yuntian would not lift the lid on the shady curtain of the two Huai Salt Roads, after all, this matter involved a wide range of things, and Li Yuntian was a smart person, and he would definitely not ask for trouble and cause such a big trouble.