"Stop!"

The prefect's yamen is located in the center of Yangzhou City, and the salt envoy yamen is located in the north of Yangzhou, the distance between the two is not too far, but it is separated by three streets, about the road of Molixu, even if a group of salt merchants are not walking fast, it is just a little more than a stick of incense to the avenue less than a hundred zhang away from the yamen, and at this time, the people who followed the salt merchants to watch the excitement have gathered nearly 10,000 people, such a mixed situation, Li Minxing, who is in charge of vigilance, can not help but be a little nervous, Before the crowd arrived, he had already drawn out the long sword hanging from his waist, swung it forward, and broke his throat with a loud voice.

"Qiang Qiang ......"

Under Li Minxing's shout, the more than 100 palace guards who had already lined up at the yamen drew their swords and unsheathed, although they didn't say much, but the murderous aura rose violently in the loud noise, and rushed straight out of the clouds.

The people are always afraid of officials, don't look at the huge momentum of the salt merchants, but when the palace guards pulled out their swords, everyone waited, whether it was the salt merchants or the people who watched the excitement, they were all shocked and hurriedly stopped, and no one dared to talk nonsense for a while.

"General Li is invited, I am only here to ask for an explanation, and I have no intention of colliding with the Qin Mission, if there is anything wrong, I also ask the general to forgive me."

Seeing that the situation was not right, after the four chief businessmen standing at the front pushed each other a few times, the nominal host Wang Panshou was forced to be helpless, so he could only stand out from the crowd, took a few steps forward with a pale face, arched his hand towards Li Minxing, and reported in a trembling voice.

"My little prince has an order, all the salt merchants have listened to it, you can directly put forward any requirements, my little prince will negotiate with you, and the rest of the people dare to cross this line, and they will be punished for rebellion, and there will be no forgiveness!"

Li Minxing glanced at Wang Panshou coldly, and he didn't talk to him at all, his arm sank, and when his wrist trembled, he had already drawn a sword mark on the mud ground in front of him, and then he carried the long sword, carried his full qi, and announced Hongqing's order loudly.

"General Li, please wait, let me discuss with everyone."

Although he had been confessed by Hongqing in advance, it was worth such a murderous scene, Wang Panshou was still shocked like a blank sheet of paper, reluctantly confessed a sentence, and returned to the queue with a little staggering, and discussed with a group of salt merchants in a low voice, and failed to reach a unified opinion for a long time - almost half of those who advocated advance and those who advocated temporary retreat, and no one could convince anyone for a while.

"General Li, please also speak on your behalf, and we are willing to go to the court to listen to the instructions of Lord Qincha."

Now that the consensus has been reached, Wang Panshou, the leader who was elected, had to stand up again, bowed respectfully, and explained the results of everyone's deliberations.

"Wait!"

Li Minxing didn't give Wang Panshou any good look, just spit out two words coldly, and then beckoned, called a guard to the front, whispered a few words, and then saw the guard hurriedly run into the yamen and went straight to the back hall.

"Ascension!"

Not long after the guard went, there was a shout from the yamen, but the voice was crisp and urgent, and the air was obviously insufficient, there was no doubt that the person who was shouting was just a teenager, and everyone was stunned when he heard it, and the sharp-eyed person looked inside, and saw that it was the little follower Guan Yu beside Hongqing who was shouting at the top of his throat, and his red face and red ears couldn't help but be a little funny, but the salt merchants who were standing at the forefront couldn't laugh, not for anything else, just because Hongqing's ascension to the hall only meant one thing- This Chin Chabel had no intention of playing a reciprocal trick with the salt merchants, and this was a naked/naked/naked posture of overpowering others.

"Wei ...... Wu ......"

The cry of watching the rain did not stop, and I saw that the prefect yamen officials who had already lined up on both sides of the lobby were already knocking on the ground with the water and fire sticks in their hands, and they were shouting in unison.

"Go, bring all the salt merchants to Ben Baylor!"

Over the years, Hongqing has seen a lot of big scenes, and he will not be frightened by the crowds of people outside the yamen, but seeing that he looked around at the neatly arranged servants on both sides expressionlessly, his eyes finally fell on the body of the squad leader, grabbed an iron stick in the lottery holder, threw it in front of the squad leader, and ordered in a cold voice.

"Wow!"

As soon as he heard Hongqing's order, the team leader didn't dare to slack off a little, so he hurriedly responded, picked up the iron stick on the ground, and ran down the lobby quickly, and went straight to the outside of the cordon, and shouted with enough air: "Lord Qincha has an order, and all salt merchants will enter in one!" ”

Hongqing first sent troops to suppress it, and then it was a case of going to the court, and the salt merchants were a little difficult to ride a tiger, if they didn't enter, the huge momentum that was carefully made out was bound to come to naught, and then they had no chance to bargain with Hongqing, besides, if they really wanted to go like this, in case Hongqing came to settle accounts after the autumn, the consequences were not something that everyone could afford, but if they really wanted to enter, the shelf inside was obviously the Longtan Tiger's Den, in case Hongqing deliberately made it difficult, everyone was afraid that they would inevitably be imprisoned, The big guys are rich and noble, how can they endure such suffering, such an embarrassing situation of neither left nor right, all the salt merchants all showed bitter faces, crowded together next to each other, and it was a good discussion, until Liu Ba Nu slapped the board, everyone lined up, led by the four major merchants, and went to the yamen tremblingly.

"The grass people and others knock to see Lord Qincha!"

Qin Cha represents the imperial power, regardless of what everyone has about Hongqing personally, no one dares to miss the great gift of the line, otherwise, it is a felony of contempt for the imperial court, this article, everyone and others dare not disobey.

"Anyway, why did you make such a big scene, huh?"

In the face of everyone's great gifts, Hongqing never called out at all, let alone had a very polite greeting, and as soon as he came up, he was in a position to ask about the case, and he asked unceremoniously.

The raging momentum before the departure of the salt merchants has long been reduced to nothing at this time, and then when they heard Hongqing's tone was so unkind, no one dared to be the first bird at this time, so they could only set their eyes on Wang Panshou, counting on Wang Panshou, the nominal host of the overall situation, to be able to stand up heroically, such intentions are undoubtedly beautiful, but unfortunately the reality is cruel - Wang Panshou has buried his head low since he knelt down, and he didn't have the slightest intention of raising his head at all, let alone coming out at this time. So, there was an eerily quiet in the lobby.

"What? They are all dumb, and since there is nothing to do, they should make such a big disturbance, and according to the law, they should be dealt with as illegal gatherings, and the consequences are so that there is no need for Ben Baylor to talk about it. ”

Everyone didn't speak, but Hongqing didn't intend to let it go so easily, smiled coldly, and unceremoniously put a big sin on the heads of the salt merchants.

"Lord Qiqi, if we don't want to act like this, we really have to have a last resort, and I ask Lord Qincha to be aware of it."

Hongqing's words are extremely serious, once you really want to do it according to this crime, it is common to raid your home and kill your head, how can the salt merchants afford such consequences, they were all shocked for a while, and whispered a lot in private, but no one dared to confess to Hongqing in person, that is, even Chen Biao, who had made the most trouble earlier, did not have the courage at all, seeing that the situation was in danger, Liu Ba Nu couldn't hold her breath, so she knelt up straight and answered in a loud voice.

"The last resort? Okay, Ben Baylor really wants to hear what you Liu Ba Nu has to say, let's talk about it. ”

Seeing that Liu Ba Nu came out of his head, Hongqing couldn't help but be happy in his heart, not for anything else, just because the person who Hongqing really wanted to operate was this Liu Ba Nu, but it was a pity that this guy was very deeply hidden, and he didn't leave his hand, Hongqing still hasn't been able to hold its handle so far, and it can be forced out of the water at this time, which is the situation that Hongqing is happy to see, and then he is happy, with the depth of Hongqing's city, but it will not be shown on his face, just glanced at it quietly, and played an official tone in a procrastinating tone.

"So that Lord Qincha will know that the salt consumption in various places has increased greatly this summer, and the original quota is no longer enough, and we have repeatedly begged the salt transportation envoy Yamen to make a slight adjustment, thinking that it is an emergency, one can alleviate the risk of salt shortage in various places, and the other can also contribute more salt taxes to the imperial court, which is a good thing for both sides.

Liu Ba Nu looks rough and arrogant, but her words are very coherent, with a sour air of literary crepe, it is obvious that she has read a few books, which is very different from the rough temperament she shows.

"According to Your Excellency, it's all Ben Baylor's, isn't it?"

Hongqing looked at Liu Ba Nu with interest, and then smiled coldly, and asked in a playful tone.

"The grass people don't dare, but the truth is like this, if it's not the grass people lying to coax Lord Qincha, if you don't believe it, you can send letters to the provinces to find out the truth."

Liu Ba Nu has always been a bold master, although she knew that Hongqing's tone was not good to the extreme, but she refused to give in, and still replied without being arrogant or humble.

"The truth? Hey, what a fact! Let's just tell the truth, let's take Hubei's summer salt as an example, in the 38th year of Kangxi, the whole Hubei used 630,000 catties of salt; Thirty-nine years, 620,000 catties of salt; 40 years, 640,000 catties of salt; Forty-one years, 670,000 catties of salt, forty-two years, 615,000 catties of salt; Forty-three years, with 790,000 catties of salt, six years, the average is only more than 600,000 catties, this year is neither a disaster year, and there is no special celebration, how to use salt to say that there is a big increase, if there is, then the first six years of lack of salt are made up from, huh? Liu Ba Nu, how about you give Ben Baylor an explanation, huh? ”

Hongqing's memory is already outstanding, and it takes a lot of time to look through those old accounts, at this time he raised his fingers to calculate the general ledger, since he opened his mouth, and threw out two heavy questions in a row, and then made the salt merchants under him shudder, no side, the reason why there is a tense situation with salt in various places is completely because the private salt was strangled to death by Hongqing, but this kind of explanation can't be brought to the table, as for finding a reason for it, it is obvious that it is impossible to blind such a shrewd person as Hongqing.

As soon as this situation came out, everyone unconsciously pinched a cold sweat for Liu Ba Nu, if there was a slight mistake in the answer, not only Liu Ba Nu himself would be unlucky, but the big guy was afraid that he would definitely escape the current catastrophe, and then thinking of the many palace guards outside, everyone's vests couldn't help but chill.