"What! Deacon Chen was rescued by Xiaowu Army? Yangzhou City, the back house of the Chen Mansion, Chen Wenren looked at Chen Guangzong standing in front of him in surprise, and his expression became very ugly.

"Dad, Deacon Chen had a premonition that something was going to happen so he separated from his family, and our subordinates finally found him, but who knew that they met the Xiaowu army who came from Longjiang Shipyard." Chen Guangzong nodded expressionlessly, he was also extremely shocked when he learned the news, Deacon Chen was very likely to turn against the water through this incident, and then expose the illegal salt business of the Salt Merchants Association.

"This is a problem." Chen Wenren's face was cloudy for a while, and he put down the teacup in his hand and paced back and forth in the room.

"Dad, there is a chance that Deacon Chen will tell about private salt this time, how should we deal with it?" Looking at Chen Wenren, who was frowning, Chen Guangzong asked nervously, once Deacon Chen exposed the illegal salt matter, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Chen Wenren's brows furrowed and he didn't answer, still pacing there, he didn't expect that Deacon Chen was not dead, which made his situation invisibly much more serious.

"Dad, it's really not good, let's just tell Zhenwu Hou Ming, the two Huai salt affairs are very widely implicated, presumably Zhenwu Hou will not be lightly involved, it's a big deal, let's give him a big profit every year." Seeing this, Chen Guangzong hesitated for a moment, and finally said that as long as he could win Li Yuntian over, then everything would be fine.

In Chen Guangzong's opinion, Li Yuntian is by no means a saint, as long as he offers the right price, Li Yuntian will reach this happy deal with him.

"Confused, Zhenwu Hou is now in the limelight in his official career, how can he leave any handle on the salt affairs of Lianghuai?" Chen Wenren stopped when he heard this, glared at Chen Guangzong and said, "If Zhenwu Hou wanted to profit from this, he would have hinted at you a long time ago, so why wait until now?" ”

"Dad, we can't sit still!" Chen Guangzong smiled bitterly and said helplessly, he had nothing to do about the current situation now.

"Since the surname Chen has fallen into the hands of Zhenwu Hou, then let's make him a scapegoat." Chen Wenren sneered when he heard this, and said to Chen Guangzong gloomily, "You go to make some evidence to prove that the person surnamed Chen and Zhao Wenju have colluded in private, so that you can explain why he wanted to kill Zhao Wenju, and it can be regarded as giving Zhenwuhou an explanation." ”

The "surname Chen" in Chen Wenren's mouth is naturally Deacon Chen, and he now hates his own family to death, but he is already beyond the reach of Deacon Chen, and he can't do anything, so he can only find a way to frame him.

"Dad, what if Zhenwu Hou doesn't believe in the evidence and continues to pursue it?" Chen Guangzong always felt unsteady in his heart, and asked worriedly.

"Hmph, do you think that the Marquis of Zhenwu doesn't know what is going on in the Lianghuai Salt Road? He didn't want to get involved in it, otherwise the two Huai Salt Road would have been in chaos a long time ago. Chen Wenren snorted coldly, looked at Chen Guangzong with dissatisfaction and said, "We are now giving Zhenwuhou a step, do you think Zhenwuhou really cares about those evidence?" ”

"What Dad said is very true, and the child is in a hurry for a while." Chen Guangzong's face suddenly showed a look of shame, to be honest, he was flustered now, after all, he had never encountered such a thrilling situation before.

"You sue Yang Muen and ask him to go to Zhenwuhou immediately, indicating that the Salt Merchants Association is willing to donate two million taels of silver to the Yamen, the governor of Jiaozhi, and is willing to donate one million taels of silver every year in the future."

After a deep sigh, Chen Wenren solemnly instructed Chen Guangzong that he didn't want to curry favor with Li Yuntian in such a hurry, but he had to do so when the situation was urgent.

"One million taels!" Chen Guangzong was taken aback when he heard this, this is not a small amount, it means that other people's profits in salt affairs will be diluted, and I don't know if those people are willing to take out this money.

"Use one million taels of silver to buy the peace of the two Huai Yan Dao, this money is worth it, otherwise they will not only not be able to get a copper plate, but they will also be involved in the affairs of the two Huai Yan Dao, and they will be able to distinguish which is more important and which is lighter." Chen Wenren knew Chen Guangzong's thoughts and said coldly.

"Son, let's do it." Chen Guangzong nodded when he heard this, he knew that Chen Wenren was forced to break the fortune and eliminate the disaster, and then left quickly, to do those perjuries before Deacon Chen came to Yangzhou.

Chen Wenren and Chen Guangzong couldn't have imagined that the reason why they could learn the news that Deacon Chen was rescued was deliberately done by Li Yuntian, the purpose was to make them mess up, and the more they do now, the more flaws they will expose, and it is also to show that Lei Lie's rescue of Deacon Chen was unintentional, otherwise with the strength of the Xiaowu Army, how could those robbers escape?

According to Chen Wenren's instructions, Yang Muen immediately went to the Yangzhou Department of Jiangwutang to ask to see Li Yuntian, expressing the willingness of the Salt Merchants Association to donate silver taels to the Yamen, the governor of Jiaozhi.

Li Yuntian did not accept Yang Muen's intention, but lightly said that he was now investigating the Lianghuai Salt Affairs and it was inconvenient to accept the donation from the Salt Merchants Association.

However, Li Yuntian did not say anything to death, and expressed his appreciation for the righteous deeds of the Salt Merchants Association, and told Yang Muen and others that after the affairs of the two Huai Salt Roads were completed, they could go to the Jiaozhi Governor's Mansion to find relevant officials to discuss the donation.

Yang Muen was very satisfied with Li Yuntian's reaction, to be honest, he didn't expect Li Yuntian to collect money at all, he just wanted to show Li Yuntian an attitude.

"Xianggong, it seems that Lord Chen can't sit still anymore, and he even thinks of using money to buy you." After Yang Muen left, Lei Ting said to Li Yuntian with a smile.

"He underestimated Xianggong too much, how could Xianggong use the silver taels he earned from those private salts?" Li Yuntian smiled and said meaningfully, "When Deacon Chen enters Yangzhou City, there will be a good show." ”

At noon the next day, Lei Lie led the Xiaowu army into Yangzhou City, which immediately attracted many people in the city to watch, and everyone wanted to meet this heroic army that had achieved a great victory in Jiaozhi.

According to Li Yuntian's arrangement, the Xiaowu army set up camp on a vacant land in the north of Yangzhou City, and the expenses in Yangzhou City were responsible for the Yangzhou Affairs Office of Jiangwutang.

Although the people were very happy to see the arrival of the Xiaowu army, the tense atmosphere that hung over Yangzhou City also became more suppressed, and this kind of behavior of transferring troops from the outside meant that Li Yuntian was quite dissatisfied with what happened in Yangzhou.

After Lei Lie entered Yangzhou City, the people of the Cao Gang in Yangzhou Branch immediately came to visit, he was not only the general of the Xiaowu Army but also the young master of the Cao Gang, and the people of the Cao Gang naturally did not dare to slack off.

The people of the Yangzhou branch of the Cao Gang would not have thought that the eldest lady of the Cao Gang had already come to Yangzhou City and had become the wife of the Marquis of Zhenwu.

In addition to assisting Li Yuntian in investigating the case, Lei Lie also had another task when he came to Yangzhou this time, that is, to tell the people of the Yangzhou branch of the Cao Gang to draw a clear line with the Salt Merchants Association, and not to get involved in the affairs of the Lianghuai Salt Road.

Although the salt merchants want to transport the smuggled salt away, the Cao Gang ships are indispensable, although those illegal salt are transported out in the name of official salt, but how can the people of the Cao Gang not know that they are transporting illicit salt?

Lei Lie is here to make the people of the Yangzhou branch insist that the goods they transport to the salt merchant association are official salt, anyway, the Cao Gang has not gained any benefits from it, plus those private salts have salt leads, so as long as the people of the Yangzhou branch of the Cao Gang do not talk nonsense, they will not be involved in the matter of private salt.

The people of the Yangzhou branch of the Cao Gang naturally know the power of it, in fact, even if Lei Lie doesn't say that they will keep a distance from the Salt Merchants Association, since Zhao Wenju was killed, the Yangzhou business community has isolated the salt merchants of the Salt Merchants Association, and they are afraid of the salt merchants for fear of being involved.

On the afternoon of Lei Lie's entry into Yangzhou City, Li Yuntian summoned Chen Wenren, Pan Xingmin, and others to the Lianghuai Yandao Yamen to interrogate the injured Deacon Chen, who was now an important suspect behind the murder of Zhao Wenju.

Due to the arrival of the Xiaowu Army, the defense in the Yamen of Lianghuai Yandao was taken over by the Xiaowu Army, and there were sturdy soldiers wearing black military uniforms and carrying crossbows everywhere, standing there one by one expressionlessly, making the atmosphere of the scene a little bit spoofy.

The Xiaowu army that came to the Yamen of Lianghuai Yandao this time was an elite unit stationed at the Longjiang Shipyard, and not only participated in the counterinsurgency in Jiaozhi, but also was well-equipped, everyone was equipped with crossbows, and their combat effectiveness was extremely strong.

"The villain Chen Youcai knocked to see the Hou Ye and the adults." After Deacon Chen was brought into the hall, he knelt in front of the hall and saluted Li Yuntian and everyone present.

"Chen Youcai, Ben Hou asked you, can Zhao Wenju's killing be related to you?" Li Yuntian looked at Deacon Chen quietly and asked.

"Lord Hou, the villain has no grievances and no enmity with Zhao Wenju, how can he harm him, the three dogs who assassinated Zhao Wenju are Hua Wu's subordinates, Wei Deguang, vice president of the Salt Merchants Association, and Hua Wu are friends, and the reason why the three dogs assassinated Zhao Wenju must have been instigated by Wei Deguang."

Deacon Chen hurriedly shook his head, flatly denied that it had anything to do with this matter, and then said solemnly, "Master Hou, Wei Deguang didn't dare to act in private, it must have been the eldest prince who asked him to do this, in order to cover up the illegal salt business that was seized by the Caoyun Yamen. ”

"The eldest prince?" Li Yuntian knew that the eldest prince in Deacon Chen's mouth was Chen Guangzong, so he repeated it in confusion.

"Master Hou, the eldest prince is the eldest son of Lord Chen, the squire of the household department in Nanjing, and he arranges the affairs of the General Association of Salt Merchants and the private salt affairs on weekdays."

Deacon Chen thought that Li Yuntian didn't know the inside story, so he hurriedly explained, "Master Hou, if the eldest prince didn't nod his head, Wei Deguang wouldn't dare to do it at all. ”

"Ridiculous, the dog is not a member of the Salt Merchants Association, why is it involved in the affairs of the Salt Merchants Association?" Hearing this, Chen Wenren immediately sneered and opened his mouth to reprimand Deacon Chen.

"Master Hou, it's not a secret that the eldest prince is in charge of the Salt Merchants Association, as long as Master Hou checks it out." Deacon Chen glared at Chen Wenren, and said to Li Yuntian unwillingly, "Zhao Wenju's guilt was set by the eldest prince, and the illegal salt he sold was to be able to pay to the Hou Ye, and the eldest prince ensured that his family could return to Jiangnan from the exile in the future and be properly settled." ”

"Master Hou, this person is talking nonsense, the evidence found from his home shows that he and Zhao Wenju colluded with each other to traffic in illicit salt, and after Zhao Wenju was arrested, he was worried that he would confess, so he killed the killer and bought the three dogs to kill Zhao Wenju."

Chen Wenren had long expected that Deacon Chen would shake out everything he knew, and the corners of his mouth showed a sneer of disdain, and he said to Li Yuntian quietly.

"Chen Youcai, these are the letters you exchanged with Zhao Wenju dug up from the backyard of your house, which clearly record that you conspired with Zhao Wenju to sell illicit salt, Ben Hou has already read it, it is indeed the handwriting of you and Zhao Wenju, what else do you have to say?"

Li Yuntian waved his hand to the guards on the side, and said to Deacon Chen in a deep voice.

A guard immediately came to Deacon Chen with a tray containing more than a dozen letters, which were the evidence that Chen Guangzong had forged to frame Deacon Chen and Zhao Wenju.