Seeing the hustle and bustle in the manor, and the red faces of many village elders, Yancheng County Ling came to the head of Yancheng Supervisor and said in a low voice:

"My lord, not long after the Marquis of Zhongjing arrived in Yancheng, we received the news that the Marquis of Yangzhou was detained."

"Now the Marquis of Zhongjing disregards the official body, crosses us, and directly invites the people and businessmen, is there a trap among them?"

Before going to the banquet, they received the news of the arrest of Yangzhou Hou and almost died of fright.

Even these officials were selected by the Court of Inquisitors to Yancheng, which was the result of Yangzhou Hou's operation, and if Yangzhou Hou fell, none of them would be able to escape.

The head of the Yancheng Prison glanced at him and reprimanded in a low voice:

"What are you afraid of? The official still said that as long as the salt farm cannot be built, Cao Bin, Han Jiang and others will have scruples. ”

"Yangzhou Hou is not stupid, he has strong power, and he has Danshu iron coupons to protect his life, how can he easily comply?"

"What we have to do now is to delay, some adults in the court are more afraid of something happening to the Marquis of Yangzhou than we do, as long as they make a move, the Marquis of Yangzhou will not be able to fall."

As he spoke, he looked at the people attending the banquet and said disdainfully:

"Win over the people's cooperation? Cao Bin is from a rich background in the end, and he doesn't know the suffering of the world. ”

"Those little people know the benefits and losses better than you and me, and they understand the suffering of the salt people, how can they be willing to sacrifice their lives for him because of a banquet?"

"Besides, what does this world have to do with the officials, the gentry, and the small people?"

As the saying goes, the three major hardships in life are boiling salt, striking iron, and grinding tofu.

The current situation of the salt people in the Great Song Dynasty is that they are doing the hardest labor, contributing the most taxes, and living the poorest life.

The more the imperial court attached importance to the salt farm, the more severe the exploitation of the salt people became, so after the Marquis of Yangzhou instigated the original salt people to defect, no other people were willing to become salt people.

Now in the entire salt-producing area of Huaidong, officials, salt merchants, and ordinary people, all of whom resist the work of the imperial court to rebuild the salt works, are like iron buckets, and water cannot be poured in.

If the imperial court wanted to reorganize the salt business, it would either completely reshuffle Huaidong by force, or compromise with the local gentry and salt merchants.

Moreover, he believed that the imperial court did not dare to choose force, and the huge financial losses were on the one hand, and once a popular uprising broke out, the situation in the court would become more difficult to manage.

This is also one of the reasons why Han Jiang had many scruples before.

Speaking of this, the head of the Yancheng Supervisor looked left and right, and his voice was even more subtle:

"Although we can't disobey Cao Bin on the surface, in private, he is just a dragon crossing the river."

"But just in case, this official has already notified the green forest master sent by Yangzhou Hou and others, and if there is anything wrong, he will immediately disturb his banquet."

"Now that so many people are participating, he can't prevent it."

Seeing that he was full of confidence, the Yancheng County Commander suddenly felt a lot more relaxed, and said with a smile:

"It's still the adults who arrange it carefully, so the lower officials will be relieved......

While they were talking in a low voice, Cao Bin walked out of the backyard with a folding fan and a group of entourage, and everyone bowed and saluted when they saw this:

"I'll wait to see Master Hou!"

Cao Bin closed the folding fan in his hand, raised his hands falsely, and said with a smile:

"Fathers and elders, please get up, today's Mid-Autumn Festival, Benhou treats him with a family banquet, there is no need to be polite, the key is to eat and drink well, sit down."

When everyone saw that he was not seated, how could he dare to sit down? I could only stare at his figure.

Seeing this, Cao Bin said with a smile:

"It seems that you all know that eating people is short-mouthed, and you want Ben Hou to make a request, so Ben Hou is not welcome."

When everyone heard this, they couldn't help but roll their eyes, are we not at the table because of this?

Especially some village elders, they wanted to enjoy a big meal at the powerful family, but when they heard this, they immediately smiled, it seems that this Marquis Cao's meal is not so easy to eat.

The director of Yancheng and the others breathed a long sigh of relief, they didn't expect Cao Bin to be so aggressive, if you coerce and lure, what can you do?

Cao Bin ignored their thoughts and continued:

"Ben Hou came to Yancheng to do only three things, fairness, fairness, or special fairness."

"Therefore, Ben Hou now gives three orders!"

"First, the salt works were rebuilt under the military system, and all the people who boiled salt were paid according to their military salaries. 500 wen a month, more work and more rewards. ”

"Second, the officials of the salt field are all selected and promoted from the salt people, and the highest can be the ninth official rank."

"Third, the county is divided into a franchise, and Benhou designates salt merchants to sell salt, and the rest of the merchants are not allowed to intervene."

As he spoke, he pointed to the head of the Wu family and said:

"Yangzhou salt goods are in charge of the Wu family, and the rest of the merchants dare to buy and sell privately, and they will be severely punished!"

As the head of the third division, his power is much greater than that of Han Jiang, and he can be the master of the regional restructuring temporarily.

It is said that the people have no united front value, but for him, officials have no united front value, officials will not rebel, but Yanmin is the hardest hit area of rebellion.

In fact, since the implementation of the salt official camp in the Great Song Dynasty, there have been huge hidden dangers, because it is not for nothing that the salt people's rebellion led to the collapse of the dynasty, and Zhang Shicheng at the end of the Yuan Dynasty is a typical example.

Therefore, if you want to make the salt affairs stable for a long time, you can't treat the salt people too badly, and ask the salt officials and salt merchants to get all the money.

As for the state and county franchises, it is just a strategy for him to divide the salt merchants, and many restrictions will be added in the future.

After speaking, he walked directly to the main seat and sat down, and said with a smile:

"Ben Hou finished speaking, eat, the head of the Wu family came and sat next to Ben Hou!"

It was only then that everyone reacted and were in an uproar.

In the Great Song Dynasty, the treatment of sergeants is notoriously good, as long as the salary is paid in full, 500 wen money is enough for a family of three in Bianliang City for a month, let alone Huaidong?

Otherwise, there would not be so many bandits who put "murder, arson, and recruitment" on their lips.

The director of Yancheng didn't expect that Cao Bin's methods would be so rude, and he didn't care about the influence of the imperial court, and directly reformed the salt administration, so as to win over the salt people and even salt merchants with interests.

He looked at the head of the Wu family in disbelief, wondering if this person could be trusted.

The head of the Wu family saw that many salt merchants and gentry looked at him with angry eyes, shrunk their fat heads, and their hearts were shocked and frightened, mixed with ignorant joy.

He was just the one who everyone pushed out to test Cao Bin, but he didn't expect Cao Bin to give himself such a big benefit, Yangzhou's salt monopoly, can there be fewer opportunities to make money in the future?

Just when he hesitated, he heard Cao Bin say:

"What, the head of the Wu family is unwilling to dine with Ben Hou?"

The head of the Wu family looked at the head of the Yancheng supervisor who had a gloomy face and full of sword light, looked at Cao Bin again, gritted his teeth, took out a pile of salt money from his arms, bowed down and held it in front of Cao Bin and said:

"Master Hou, Wu deeply feels the kindness of the imperial court, and is willing to give the 35,000 stone salt banknotes to the imperial court."

More than 30,000 stone salt banknotes are worth about 200,000 yuan according to the paper value, and he gave it up directly, and his heart hurt terribly, but now, he has no way out, and continued:

"Master Hou, the villain still has to report, someone deliberately created a murder and destroyed the salt farm to rebuild ......"

As he spoke, he heard three faint sounds of breaking through the air, shooting straight at his back.

At the same time, a shrill laugh rang out from the crowd:

"Those who disobey the salt god and become the eagle dog of the court will die!"

Seeing this, a slight smile suddenly appeared in the eyes of the supervisor of Yancheng, he had seen the methods of those heroes in the rivers and lakes, although Cao Bin was able to suppress people, could he still control them?

As a local force, their power is intertwined, and the last thing they lack is covert means.

They didn't dare to kill Cao Bin, otherwise they would be greeted by the encirclement and suppression of the imperial court's army, but they could kill the traitor surnamed Wu, and they could also destroy the reconstruction of the salt works from all sides.

was thinking about it, but saw a person suddenly jump out behind Cao Bin, and shouted angrily:

"Which sect of disciples dares to pretend to be a ghost in front of Xia Suiliang on my Penglai Island, looking for death!"