In addition to rescuing Aunt Jin, Li You's purpose is certainly not to arrest Gao Jun and Jin Huiniang, the young couple, with great fanfare. First, the root of this matter is Mrs. Xie, those two people are just being used, and second, with the protection of the Salt Transportation Division, he can't break in and arrest people.

His drunkard intention went around a few times, and it had to fall on the golden million.

Jin Million is the most special one among the big salt merchants in Yangzhou City, this is the conclusion that Li You summed up all aspects of the news and dug up some clues from the Du family.

The peculiarity is not that Golden Million sells 70,000 official salt every year, although this amount is huge, it is essentially no different from other salt merchants. But he actually has a huge private salt marketing system, and the official salt is also sold, and the private salt is also sold, and it is not contradictory.

Although other salt merchants hate the disruption of the market by illicit salt, and sometimes even take the initiative to pay people to crack down on illegal salt, it is not uncommon for salt merchants to secretly carry scattered smuggled salt when transporting salt. But it is not an organized and large-scale trafficking of illicit salt like the Golden Million.

It is said that this kind of thing attracts the hatred of his peers in the salt industry, but Li You did not find any dissatisfaction from other salt merchants, as if they were all acquiesced attitudes. And a famous figure like Jin Million, the Salt Transportation Division actually didn't care about it.

How to explain it? Li You felt that the private salt business of the golden million could do this, not only his own business, but also the shadow of the salt transportation department. At least his in-laws Gao Yuntong can't run, maybe Jin Million is the agent of the Salt Transportation Division. If that were the case, none of the above oddities would be strange.

The Salt Transportation Division and the Gang Shang partner to sell private salt? It sounds ridiculous, but private salt and private salt are easy to become private property even if you bring a private one.

Before leaving, Mrs. Yu talked to Li You about some news about the salt farm. According to him, his family of five was allocated by the government to cook 200,000 catties of salt every year, but in fact, the output often reached 200,000 catties, and every household in the salt farm.

The 200,000 catties of this family's output is official salt, where are the remaining 70,000 or 80,000 catties? Apparently, it has all become private salt. The planned output of Huaiyan reported in a year is 500 million catties, and if calculated according to that ratio, the output of private salt that is not in the plan is at least 200 million catties. It's not that I don't know, it's shocking, what a shocking number... Now Li You has gradually outlined in his mind how to assist the eldest princess (the Son of Heaven) to control the salt industry. If we fundamentally shake the current business system, which is said to be Zhongtian, it is absolutely unrealistic in the two Huai.

There is not so much capital in the use of economic means, who can compare to the two salt merchants in the world compared to silver? Even the Jin merchants, who had not carried forward the ticket number in this era, could not.

With political means, first, it looks ugly, and second, the salt industry is the main source of revenue for the imperial treasury, which causes shock and chaos for no reason, and no one can afford to be responsible if it becomes a mess out of control.

So Lord Li, who was entrusted by the eldest princess, once again shot his deep gaze at the old man Jin, and this was where he started.

Illicit salt is illegal, but if His Royal Highness Chitose can collect the golden million, he will naturally be able to make it legal in the name of the royal family. In fact, private salt has an internal name in the Golden Million Organization, called residual salt. As the name suggests, it is the remaining salt other than the official salt, and after legalization, it can be renamed Imperial Salt.

The biggest feature of the salt introduction system is that the production area, output, sales area, and sales volume are all planned, and it is absolutely impossible to exceed the regulations. If the gold million can be collected, the surplus salt will not necessarily have to implement the salt introduction system, and a more flexible sales system can be adopted. This is called market adjustment... It is estimated that some officials are strange, salt is an absolute rigid demand, and the implementation of the salt introduction system can be sold, and the legalization of surplus salt is at most to fill the gap of the original private salt, how can the salt industry be controlled?

The reason is simple, after the legalization of residual salt, it is equivalent to capital leverage. Which merchant does not obey the industry management of the Eldest Princess Salt Industry Guild, then he can transport the cheap surplus salt to his territory and carry out inhumane dumping, and then his expensive gang salt will still be sold? In such a few years, his whole family will go bankrupt.

In fact, the large and small salt merchants in Yangzhou are afraid of the gold million, and there is also this factor, for fear that the gold million will be unhappy one day and will transport smuggled salt to engage in dumping.

said a thousand ways and ten thousand, the golden million is the key person in Li You's overall planning, which is also very beneficial to him, how can he be an honest and honest emperor in the salt industry?

It is said that Li You received an urgent edict, and after retreating with his subordinates, Jin Yuanwai returned home from the Lianghuai Salt Transportation Department with a lot of heart. The more he thought about it, the more wrong it became, and he felt like he had been cheated by his son-in-law again.

In the office of the Salt Transportation Division, Ding Yunenvoy and Gao Yuntong continued to talk about what happened today. I saw that the envoy asked a few questions lightly, and Gao Yuntong was sweating.

"Does Li You have a strong enough backstage?"

"Yes."

"Is Li You friendly to the Salt Transport Division?"

"Not good."

"Did Li You and Yanyun Si have no grievances in the past?"

"There are no grudges."

"Then where does Li You's unfriendly attitude towards the Salt Transport Division come from?"

"It can only come from his backstage position."

"The son-in-law is closer to his in-laws?"

"Son-in-law."

"Are Li You and the people behind him worthy of a million dollars?"

"It's worth it."

"Will the golden million move their minds to join them?"

"It's hard to say."

"Is the Golden Million still worthy of your trust now?"

"There should be no problem... It's hard to say. ”

"Involved in a dispute over the monk's property, as well as an inexplicable poisoning incident, will Jin Million still trust you completely?"

"Not sure."

"If Jin Million is suspicious of you, then do you dare to continue to trust him?"

"Don't dare."

"If Jin Million feels that you don't trust him, will he be even more estranged?"

"Yes."

"Very good, Li You's purpose of coming to my Yunsi to show off his might today has been achieved!" Ding Yunenvoy gritted his teeth and said, "If you are suspicious of each other, how can you continue to make a business that makes a profit of five or six hundred thousand taels a year?" In the past, Jin Million had no choice, but now he has a good son-in-law! ”

Without waiting for Gao Yun to express something, Ding Yun's envoy concluded again: "See the micro and know, a leaf falls and know the autumn of the world, and the wind rises at the end of Qingping!" Looking at Li You, you can know that the wind and rain are coming. ”

Li You returned to the county government and received the edict. Although he was slightly grateful that the sudden urgent edict dragged him out of the dilemma in front of the Yunsi Yamen, he still couldn't help but say a few words.

The Huanghuai flood situation is indeed a very serious matter, but why did countless officials in the entire Jiangbei Prefecture and County dispatch him, the heaviest Jiangdu County, to fight the flood! Isn't that the price of celebrity?

It's estimated that it will take a month and a half to turn around.

The edict ordered him to leave immediately, but Master Li actually didn't have much time to sigh, so he hurriedly settled the family affairs and focused on appeasing Aunt Jin.

went to the front office again, and gathered the county minister, the master bookkeeper and the four masters to explain the affairs.

Li You handed over the big seal to Master Zhuang, who had the most experience in the struggle of the yamen, and arranged: "In the middle of the county, Guo County Cheng will draw the charge on his behalf, and Master Zhuang will be responsible for using the seal. ”

The edict only ordered Li You to listen to the dispatch of the governor Yamen, and the attached governor Yamen Xingwen ordered Li You to rush directly to Sizhou to take charge of the river affairs in the south of Hongze Lake.

At the same time, there was also a long-awaited reply from Li You, who agreed to Master Li's plan to replace the anti-smuggling patrol with battalion soldiers. However, Li You didn't have time to arrange it personally, so he had to hand over the matter to Wu Xianhan and arrange it according to the predetermined plan. A sentry was also dispatched to patrol several gates of the Salt Transportation Department in the name of chasing fugitives as a deterrent.

In addition, Master Li selected a team of soldiers with strong physical strength and good water surnames from the camp as temporary personal soldiers, and rushed to Hongze Lake in the north together.

In fact, the governor of Fengyang was very dissatisfied with the imperial court's dispatch of Assistant Li You to inspect the river affairs. The flood season is urgent, and the water situation in Huanghuai is extremely complicated, is flood prevention and disaster relief child's play?

But in desperation, the governor had no choice but to assign Li You to the southern line of Hongze Lake, which was the least dangerous and least important in the entire Huanghuai waters.

As we all know, the most critical flood situation in the Huanghuai zone is the area around the Qingjiang estuary where the Huai River and Hongze Lake flow into the Yellow River, followed by the upper and lower reaches of the Yellow River, and the northern end of Hongze Lake, which is close to the canal and Huai'an Mansion. The southern end of Hongze Lake is relatively inconsequential compared to the previous places.

Master Li and his soldiers went out of the prosperous and comfortable Yangzhou City, went north along the canal, crossed Gaoyou Prefecture, entered the boundary of Baoying, and then turned west along the Chahe River, and finally entered the waters of Hongze Lake.

Because it was a day and night journey, only five days later, Li You stood on the Gaojiayan embankment in the eastern part of Hongze Lake.

Here we want to explain the relationship between the Huai River, the Yellow River, and Hongze Lake. Since the Yellow River seized the Huai River into the sea, the original lower reaches of the Huai River have become the lowest reaches of the Yellow River.

Due to the strength of Huang and Huai, in order to avoid the Huai River that has lost its drainage channel in the north of the Yangtze River to cause trouble to the canal, and guide the Huai River water to flow into the Yellow River, Pan Jitao, a famous minister of water control in the Wanli period of Jiajing, after two constructions, built a large embankment of Gaojiayan in the southwest of Huai'an Province that is 100 miles long from north to south to block the Huai River water.

The water of the Huai River is stored under Gaojiayan to form Hongze Lake, so Hongze Lake is the only artificial lake in the great lake of the National Dynasty, and Gaojiayan has become the east embankment of Hongze Lake. With the continuous accumulation of water in the Huai River, the area of Hongze Lake has continued to expand, and it can be said that the lower reaches of the Huai River today are Hongze Lake.

After the eastward road of the Huaihe River was blocked by Gaojiayan to form Hongze Lake, the water situation naturally spread to the north and south, among which the southern end of Hongze Lake extended to the Sizhou boundary of Fengyang Prefecture, and the northern end connected with the Yellow River and flowed into the Yellow River, realizing the water control strategy of "diverting the Huai River to brush the Huangbao Canal". Of course, when the Yellow River breaks out in floods, it often backs up Hongze Lake.

Having said a lot, it can be seen that there is only one point in the most important task of flood control in Hongze Lake, in order to protect the lifeline canal of the imperial court from flooding, it is necessary to guard the Gaojiayan of the east embankment of Hongze Lake, which is the position where Lord Li is now standing.

Fortunately, Hongze Lake is inclined on the land of Jiangbei from northeast to southwest, and the northern end is almost intersected with the canal, while the southern end of Hongze Lake, which Li You is responsible for, is far away from the canal, and there are many buffer lakes in the middle, so it is relatively less critical.

(To be continued)