"Zhenwuhou, as long as the salt ridge is lowered, then the salt will be sold within a year, which is better than them rotting in the warehouses of the major salt farms, right?" Chen Wenren had long known that Li Yuntian would ask about the accumulation of salt, so he had already had a countermeasure in his heart, and asked Li Yuntian with a sneer.

"If things are as Lord Chen said, then this official admires Lord Chen's personality very much, Lord Chen took the risk of ruining his career to restore the loss of salt affairs to Daming, and it will not lose a good talk in my Daming officialdom!" The corners of Li Yuntian's mouth showed a sneer of disdain, and his tone was full of ridicule.

"This official is worthy of his heart!" Chen Wenren's face was already thicker than the city wall, and he didn't feel ashamed at all when he heard the words, he raised his head and said righteously.

"A good one is worthy of his heart, and this official also hopes that the evidence in his possession is wrong, and Lord Chen will be fair." Li Yuntian saw Chen Wenren's sanctimonious appearance, and nodded quietly, Chen Wenren has been up and down in the sea for decades, how can he give in so easily?

"This official also wants to see how Master Hou ends this farce!" How could Chen Wenren not hear the meaning of Li Yuntian's words, and replied-for-tat.

"Let Master Chen sign his confession." The so-called words are not speculative for more than half a sentence, Li Yuntian knew that he couldn't get any useful information from Chen Wenren, so he waved his hand to the note-taking clerk on the side, ending the first confrontation between the two.

Chen Wenren took the confession and looked at it, and after confirming that the confession was fine, he wrote his name on it and put his handprint on it, and then walked away.

Pan Xingmin, Zhang Tao and Qin Ke couldn't help but glance at each other, it seems that Chen Wenren has decided to resist to the end, which also represents the attitude of the other criminals involved, after all, everyone knows that if they admit to trafficking in illicit salt, they will definitely die, so it is not easy for Li Yuntian to win the two Huai Salt Road.

"Someone comes, the salt merchant will always be a suspect." To the surprise of Pan Xingmin and the others, Li Yuntian did not interrogate the people of the Lianghuai Salt Dao Yamen next, but asked Jinyi Wei to bring Yang Muen and other salt merchants at the level of deacon or above of the Salt Merchants Association.

After Yang Muen and the others came to the lobby, Pan Xingmin, Zhang Tao and Qin Ke were surprised to find that although they looked haggard and had messy hair, they were all safe and sound and had not received any punishment, which was really unexpected by the three of them.

In the opinion of Pan Xingmin and the others, if Li Yuntian wants to win the case of Lianghuai Yandao, he will definitely try his best to find evidence, and it is natural to punish those salt merchants, but who would have thought that Li Yuntian did not touch the people of the Salt Merchants Association, it seems that the rumors are true, Li Yuntian does not like to use torture to extract confessions in the trial.

"Xiaguan greets Lord Hou and your lords."

"The villain knocks on the Hou Ye and the adults."

As not long ago, after Yang Muen and others came to the lobby, some people bowed and saluted, while others knelt, but Wei Deguang, vice president of the Salt Merchants Association, was missing.

"I know why this official hasn't interrogated you in the past few days?" Li Yuntian glanced at Yang Muen and the others, who were nervous, and asked quietly.

"Please make it clear?" Yang Muen turned his head and glanced at the salt merchant who followed behind him, and saw that everyone was at a loss, so he bowed to Li Yuntian and asked.

"The case of the two Huai Yan Dao's private salt is a matter of great importance, which can be described as the only shocking corruption case since the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, when the official left Beijing, the emperor had instructed the official that no matter who was involved in the two Huai Yan Dao corruption cases, they would be severely punished."

Li Yuntian pondered for a moment and said solemnly, "Presumably you already know that those private salts have been controlled by this official, and according to the official records of the Lianghuai Salt Road, those private salts are sold by your salt merchants to the local people. ”

"The matter of illegal salt is a foregone conclusion, before this official opens his mouth to inquire about your case, this official will give you a chance, if someone can truthfully confess their crimes, then this official will reduce the crime by one degree." As he spoke, Li Yuntian glanced around at Yang Muen and the others who were flustered, and his tone gradually became stern, "Otherwise, don't blame this official for being ruthless at that time." ”

Hearing this, the salt merchants in the hall suddenly became in a commotion, and their faces turned pale, they knew that the crime they had committed would not only lose their heads but also implicate their families, so they decided to resist to the end and wait for those high-ranking officials and magnates in the court who were closely related to the two Huai Salt Roads to come to the rescue.

Obviously, in the face of the catastrophe of the Lianghuai Salt Road, the officials of the imperial court who have benefited will not turn a blind eye, and will definitely try to exonerate those illegal salts, whether it is illegal salt or accumulated salt is still unknown.

However, Li Yuntian's painstaking persuasion caused a lot of ripples in everyone's hearts, if Li Yuntian really withstood the pressure and detained those private salts, then next year Daming will definitely break out of the salt shortage, then the consequences can be unimaginable.

In the eyes of those salt merchants, the case of the Lianghuai Salt Road is no longer a question of whether they confess or not, but who can overwhelm the other party in the contest between Li Yuntian and the behind-the-scenes officials of the Lianghuai Salt Road, to be precise, it is a wrestling between the cabinet behind Li Yuntian and the six departments of the Jingshi behind the Lianghuai Salt Road.

If you talk about the power alone, the Sixth Ministry undoubtedly has the advantage, but the cabinet is not easy to mess with, and Li Yuntian firmly controls those private salts, which makes the situation confusing.

Therefore, at this time, the salt merchants are cautious, walking on thin ice, for fear that they will make a mistake if they are not careful, and once they stand on the wrong line, what awaits them is absolutely doomed.

Now Li Yuntian's tough attitude, coupled with the exchange condition of "crime reduced by one", means that the salt merchants can leave a life, which is undoubtedly a huge temptation for them.

In fact, the position of the salt merchants in this case of the Lianghuai Salt Road is the most embarrassing, although they are unstoppable on weekdays, but after all, they are just a chess piece placed by the Lianghuai Salt Road in the private salt business, and they may become the scapegoats for this incident, and the blame is put on them by the Lianghuai Salt Road, so as to calm the situation.

Therefore, for the olive branch thrown by Li Yuntian, the salt merchants will naturally be tempted, and they can leave a life no matter what.

"Hou Ye, Xia Guan doesn't know what the private salt in Hou Ye's mouth means, please make it clear to Hou Ye!" Just when the salt merchants were in turmoil, Yang Muen's brows furrowed, and he arched his hand at Li Yuntian and said loudly.

Hearing this, the salt merchants immediately looked at Li Yuntian, Yang Muen's words just now obviously denied that it was related to illegal salt, and they wanted to see how Li Yuntian would respond.

"President Yang, what this official said is clear enough, as for whether you understand it or not, it depends on your personal creation!" Li Yuntian had long expected that Yang Muen would resist stubbornly, looked at him and said lightly, "If you let this official point out the source of those private salts, what qualifications do you have to let this official tolerate your guilt?" ”

"Master Hou, Xia Guan has been in the Salt Merchants Association for more than 30 years, and he has only heard of salt barons transporting and selling smuggled salt, and he has never heard of the Salt Merchants Association being involved in illegal salt."

Yang Muen, as the president of the Salt Merchants Association, is the key figure in the case of the two Huai Salt Road private salt, and at this time he is the backbone of the salt merchants, so he naturally cannot admit his guilt, and said seriously, "Although the Salt Merchants Association does not dare to say that it is worried about the country and the people, but since Emperor Taizu, the property donated to the Ming Dynasty ranks first in the country, so Emperor Taizong has given the inferior people a meritorious name, and the inferior people are loyal to the Ming Dynasty, how can they have an affair with private salt?" ”

"President Yang, since we have talked about donations over the years, then this official has to talk about it well." Li Yuntian saw Yang Muen showing off the past exploits of the Salt Merchants Association in public, and the corners of his mouth suddenly showed a sneer, and he looked at him with a stern expression, "President Yang, this official asked you, are the salt merchants the richest among all walks of life in the Ming Dynasty?" ”

"Thanks to the emperor's grace, let the salt merchants run the salt affairs in various places, and the life is indeed slightly better than other industries." Yang Muen felt that Li Yuntian was not good, so he didn't dare to slack off, and replied cautiously after pondering for a while.

"Slightly better? President Yang is too modest, if the official is not mistaken, the salt merchants' general association of donations to Daming accounted for ninety percent of the total amount of donations received by Daming, far leaving merchants in other industries behind. Li Yuntian's eyes flashed with a cold glint when he heard this, and he said coldly, "This official has raided the homes of many people in your Salt Merchants Association this time, and the vastness and luxury of their mansions have opened the eyes of this official, so it is not an exaggeration to call your salt merchants the number one merchant in the world. ”

"Master Hou, although the salt merchants have a small amount of money, they are all family businesses accumulated through hard work, and every penny is innocent." Yang Muen's face changed slightly when he heard this, and he defended himself unto be outdone.

"Innocent?" The corners of Li Yuntian's mouth showed a sneer of contempt, this word was really ridiculous when it came out of Yang Muen's mouth, and then he looked at him with a cold expression, "President Yang, according to the account books provided by your family's account office, the property recorded on it seems to be far from the property seized by this official, how can you explain this?" ”

Not only salt merchants, but also merchants in the world usually have two books to record the assets of their families, one is a clear account for the government to check and handed over to the account room for safekeeping, and the other is a dark account that records the real income and expenditure, which is personally controlled by the businessman.

Li Yuntian has only seized the property of those salt merchants, and has not searched their homes on a large scale, the purpose is to give those salt merchants a chance, he now has all the clear accounts of those salt merchants in his hands, if those salt merchants do not know what to do, he will go to search the hidden tents, it is certain that those secret tents are hidden in the homes of those salt merchants.

"Master Hou, some items in Xiaguan's house were sent by relatives and friends during the New Year's holidays, and Xiaguan was not registered in the account books." Yang Muen's face became a little ugly, and then he found a reason to prevaricate.

"Joke, even if such a valuable item is not recorded in the account book, then it must be written down for future viewing, and no matter how bad it is, you must return the gift with this gift, but Ben Hou has already asked your account office and housekeeper, and those items are not recorded at all, and they can't tell the source."

Li Yuntian immediately sneered when he heard this, raised his voice and asked in a loud voice, "President Yang, you won't sue the official that you didn't write down the source of the gift there, right?" ”

"Master Hou, the official is busy with official business, and these trivial matters are all handled by the housekeeper, I don't know if he is registered!" Yang Muen didn't expect Li Yuntian to be so difficult, and just a few words put him in an embarrassment, and after his face changed a few times, he replied stubbornly, and put the responsibility on the housekeeper.

Li Yuntian sneered when he heard this, Yang Muen was obviously playing a scoundrel at this time, and the salt merchants who were standing behind Yang Muen also looked at each other, thinking that Yang Muen was defeated so quickly in the fight with Li Yuntian, forcing Yang Muen to throw the housekeeper out to protect himself.

At this time, a brocade-clothed guard suddenly strode into the lobby, which immediately attracted the attention of everyone at the scene, Li Yuntian's eyes couldn't help but light up when he saw this, and a subtle smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.