Seeing Cai Xiang agree, Li Hao was still relieved, after all, an old fox like Cai Xiang was well-informed, and he was not so easy to deceive.

So he ordered someone to call An Lingxu in and introduced him to Cai Xiang.

Then he said to An Lingxu: "This is Judge Cai, who originally served in Kaifeng Mansion, and this time he made a special trip with me to check the salt tax and try the prisoners.

What you just said, I will hand over Judge Cai to contact you, he can't rub sand in his eyes, I hope you don't make mistakes."

After hearing this, An Lingxu replied, "Don't worry, my lord, the villain will definitely cooperate with Lord Cai."

Li Hao then motioned for Cai Xiang to speak to see if he had anything to order.

With Li Hao's permission, Cai Xiang said, "Just now Master Li said that your family was also involved in the sale of illicit salt, so let's talk about the routes you usually take and which officials you contact."

Hearing this, An Lingxu looked at Li Hao.

But Li Hao ignored him and said directly: "I said, you will contact Master Cai next, and you will answer whatever he asks."

At this time, An Lingxu said: "The private salt here in Huainan is basically more or less available in other places except for the southwest area.

My family's business is not very big, basically only tens of thousands of stones a year, all of which are the business of Jiangnan East Road and Jiangnan West Road.

As for the officials I have direct contact with, most of them are the cargo supervisors and the magistrates in Yangzhou and Jiangnan."

After hearing this, Cai Xiang asked again, "Then how did you get your salt, go directly to the salt field to pick it up?"

An Lingxu replied, "No, the salt works will not contact us directly, and usually we take salt locally."

As soon as they heard this, Li Hao and the others suddenly came to their senses, and Cai Xiang immediately reacted: "You mean that in Yangzhou City, there is a warehouse with a large amount of private salt, where is this place?"

An Lingxu said, "This warehouse is not in the city, but on the side of Yangzi Town outside the city, next to the dock.

However, the salt in that place is all official salt with salt introduction, and I am not afraid of searching."

Cai Xiang said, "You said those are all official salt?"

An Lingxu explained: "Yes, those are official salts, as long as they don't go out of Huainan, those salts will have salt leads.

Only after we leave Huainan, those salts can be regarded as private salt, as for the quantity is very well controlled, there are accounts in and out of itself, and the corresponding salt is directly replenished, and the accounts are flat.

Moreover, the news of the salt works and the cargo services in various places is clear, unless all the storage yards are found and all the accounts are sealed, and the problems may be found by counting them one by one."

At this point, everyone immediately understood the difficulty, because even Li Hao couldn't do it.

First, there are not so many people, and second, if the problem is not found in a short period of time, Li Hao will not be able to bear the consequences.

After that, Cai Xiang asked many questions, and some of them even buried traps.

But An Lingxu could answer them one by one, which made everyone believe that he was sincerely taking refuge.

So after agreeing on the contact information, Li Hao asked An Lingxu to leave.

After the others left, Li Hao said, "Originally, I still underestimated these two Huai, I thought that Huaiyan would account for four achievements at most.

But now it seems that Huai salt accounts for at least 60 percent, and even in Hebei alone, they are squeezing the sales of salt, these people are very powerful."

Yang Wenyuan said: "This is not a good thing, it means that as long as we can successfully defeat these corrupt officials and female businessmen, the task will be basically completed."

Li Hao thought about it and felt that this was right, and suddenly felt that the motivation came.

So Li Hao inspired Cai Xiang, asked him to keep in touch with An Lingxu, look for suitable opportunities, and asked Yang Wenyuan to help at any time.

As for Li Hao himself, he continued to live a leisurely life.

Of course, in Li Hao's words, this is to confuse a group of Huainan officials and make them scratch their heads.

As for the others, Li Hao naturally couldn't let them be idle.

So Sheng Hong

He was also sent out, constantly interviewing officials and salt merchants from all over the country, trying to muddy the waters in Huainan.

However, Li Hao didn't have a long time to spare, and the results were sent back to the previous handover to Beijing.

First of all, it praised Li Hao and others, acted decisively, achieved remarkable results, and at the same time encouraged everyone to make persistent efforts, and explained that after sorting out the chaos of the salt tax in Huainan, the rewards would be uniformly awarded.

The next step was to order Li Hao to hand over all the prisoners who had been imprisoned, along with the verified evidence, to Beijing and hand them over to the Criminal Department and Dali Temple for retrial.

Of course, at the end of the will, we should not forget the officials of the Forwarding Department and the Cargo Department.

For example, Wang Youqian was demoted, temporarily retained as a transfer envoy, and when this term of office expired, it was not surprising that he was transferred to a poor and remote place.

For this result, Wang Youqian also came to thank Li Hao for not falling into the ground.

Of course, it was Cai Xiang who came to Li Hao first, and as soon as he heard this will, he came over and said, "My lord, you can't send these prisoners away, they are important witnesses to pay the salt tax.

Once we let them go, we lose the opportunity to get the truth from them."

Li Hao replied, "This is the meaning of the officials and the ministers, we can't always disobey it, and they haven't opened their mouths all the time."

Cai Xiang said, "They are not speaking now, but as long as people are in our hands, there is always hope.

But if they are handed over, there is really no hope at all.

The ministers should understand this, so why don't they stop it."

Hearing Cai Xiang's complaints, Li Hao explained: "This matter is not to blame on them, the matter of salt tax is quite sensitive.

I don't know how many people in the DPRK are watching this matter openly and secretly, and the prime ministers are also under pressure.

Instead, he escorted them to Bianjing, and it was not that he didn't care, the current Dali Temple Secretary Huang was promoted to an official and upright, and these prisoners would not be easily let go of him when they came to him.

And this is also an opportunity, I will send the people of the front division of the palace to escort me.

During this period, if someone sends a private message to them, they may be able to find clues along the way."

However, Cai Xiang obviously didn't give up so easily, and wanted to argue.

Li Hao simply said, "This matter has been decided, and it is not for us to change it."

Then he ended the topic and asked, "Okay, how are you communicating with An Lingxu these days, and has he provided any valuable information?"

Hearing this, Cai Xiang knew that Li Hao would not change his mind, so he didn't continue.

Instead, he replied, "There is news from his side that there was a large amount of illicit salt that was supposed to be shipped to Hebei last month, totaling as much as 150,000 stones.

It was only then that we stopped because of our arrival."

When Li Hao heard this, he opened the map he was carrying from the side and said, "If you want to transport it to Hebei from here, it will be through Caoyun, so you must go from Surabaya."

After speaking, he pointed out the location of Suqian, and said, "But my men and horses happen to be stationed in Suqian, and they don't think they have the courage to transport smuggled salt from under my nose."

Cai Xiang said, "Yes, it should be because of this, but it's a pity.

An Lingxu said that he didn't know the location of this batch of illegal salt, otherwise with such a large amount of private salt, their account would not be so easy to settle."

Speaking of this, Li Hao asked, "You have also been in contact with An Lingxu for a while, do you think this person has taken refuge in us?"

Hearing this question, Cai Xiang thought for a while and said, "Among them, I found an opportunity to test him, and he told the truth several times, and for this reason, we did really get people.

But I always felt that there was something wrong with him, but there was no evidence, and maybe I was too careful."

This made Li Hao puzzled, doesn't this mean that although I have no evidence, I intuitively feel that there is something wrong with him.

Li Hao didn't expect Cai Xiang to have this side, but since there is no evidence that An Lingxu has a problem.

Li Hao was still inclined to believe him, so he said, "Then, according to Judge Cai, if I move the men and horses of the palace front division from the palace and make way out, will they transport this illicit salt out?"

Cai Xiang thought for a while and replied, "The way to lure the snake out of the hole is also possible.

I heard An Lingxu say that they will receive silver for this kind of large order, which is generally about 20%.

If they don't complete the transaction on time, they will have to pay double the deposit and offend the old customer.

So it's just to convince them that our people didn't deliberately turn away, and that they will take the risk."

After making sure that this idea could work, Li Hao said, "Since this is the case, then we have to help An Lingxu show his face, and you ask him to offer to smuggle a batch of illicit salt to Jiangnan West Road.

Then this news was naturally heard by us, so it was natural for us to send someone down to intercept it."

Cai Xiang replied: "This method is feasible, not only can we transfer the people from Suqian openly, but also use this incident to help him clear his suspicion of colluding with us.

Maybe he can use this to make him able to inquire about useful things at this time.

Then I will leave this matter to Yang Wenyuan to discuss and see how to make this thing realistic."

Li Hao had no opinion on this, so he asked Cai Xiang to find Yang Wenyuan.

Of course, in the future, Li Hao can't be idle, and he has to handle the matter of handing over personnel.

In order to escort all the prisoners into Beijing together, Li Hao requisitioned more than a dozen prisoner cars in Yangzhou and loaded all the people into them.

Then to escort the team, Li Hao also assigned people from both capitals, and recruited a part of the local command battalion to assist in the escort.

After everything was arranged, Li Hao personally led people to send the escort team out of Yangzhou before returning to the mansion.

After returning home, Zhang Fu, who quietly blended into Li Hao's entourage on the road, found Li Hao to speak.

I only heard Zhang Fu say: "I have walked around the command camp here in Huaixi, and I can be sure that they are basically involved in the matter of illegal salt."

Hearing this, Li Hao couldn't help but say, "It seems that Huaixi is really a monolith here, and the rain and dew are evenly wet."

But after sighing, he still has to ask the right thing: "This trip is hard for you, with the situation you have come down this time, is there any of these command camps that can be co-opted and used by us?"

Zhang Fu said: "I'm afraid this won't work, although I didn't directly ask the leaders of the command camp this time, but you can see it from the people below.

Over the years, they have been greedy too much from the salt tax, and not only they are greedy, but the people under them are also greedy.

In this case, even if they can really persuade the commander to repeat it, the people under their command will force him to continue to be greedy with knives and guns."

After hearing this, Li Hao said, "Then it seems that you can't count on them, so then you can rest in my mansion for the time being."

I'll come back to you for help when I have something to do next."

Zhang Fu naturally had no opinion on this, and he just wanted to see Li Hao's personality up close.

After chatting about business, Li Hao was ready to talk about personal matters and see how to please his father-in-law when he went back.

So he asked Zhang Fu about the affairs of the British government, of course, Li Hao had to find an insertion point first, so he first asked about the old department, which was also the reason why Zhang Fu came this time: "As far as I know, my father-in-law has been leading the army in the border area, how come there are many old departments in the south?"

This question, Zhang Fu said proudly: "Grandpa Guo led troops at the border, so he brought a lot of people.

And the guards on the border are wheel-based, and there are naturally Huaixi people among them.

Of course, not all of them are ready-made, like the ones I came to find this time, most of them are all heads and so on."

Hearing this, Li Hao smiled and said, "Then there are not many of these instruments!"

As a result, Zhang Fu was not happy, and said: "Who said that among the people promoted by Grandpa Guo, there are many people in high positions, and the commanders of the forbidden armies in Yizhou and Yanzhou near Huaixi are promoted by Grandpa Guo.

And on the Northwest Frontier

Most of the generals in it have been promoted by Grandpa Guo."

Seeing that this situation was not right, Li Hao hurriedly reassured: "I just made a joke, is my father-in-law's ability still questionable!"

After Zhang Fu's attitude eased, Li Hao talked about other things.

finally got a general understanding of this father-in-law's preferences, and Li Hao asked Zhang Fu to go to the guest room to rest.

Next, Li Hao was not idle, and found another opportunity to find the people of the Cao Gang.

After all, it was Caoyun who transported salt, and the people on the Cao Gang side should know the specific situation.

And from the Cao Gang, Li Hao's answer was indeed the same as An Lingxu said, there was indeed a huge amount of salt to go north last month, but in the end it did not set off.

At this point, Li Hao can be regarded as quite relieved about An Lingxu, at least he did not deceive himself in this matter.

Then the next thing is to wait for Cai Xiang and An Lingxu's plan to unfold step by step, and soon Cai Xiang came to inform Li Hao and gave Li Hao what he wanted to do.

According to the plan, when An Lingxu's batch of illicit salt was about to be transported out of Taizhou, Li Hao had already asked Suqian's men and horses to go straight to Zhenzhou through Suzhou, Haozhou, and Zhuzhou, and finally blocked the ship transporting illicit salt on the river.

Of course, the final result was that all the illegal salt was stopped, but because it was almost dusk when it was stopped.

Most of the smugglers who accompanied them jumped into the river and fled, so they didn't catch a few useful people.

For this reason, An Lingxu also ran to complain, saying why the army of the front division of the palace was dispatched, but no one informed him, whether he was bullying his family and no one.

Of course, the Yandao officials were also wronged, in fact, they knew that the people in front of the palace were dispatched, but they ran directly to Suzhou.

After making a big turn, it was another rapid march down, so everyone didn't react for a while.

For this reason, the people of Yandao didn't have much to say, and for the sake of his brother, he could only be appeased, and promised to compensate, and An Lingxu gave up.

And Li Hao's side, after confirming that he has seized the private salt, of course he has to be held accountable.

According to the itinerary that could be found out from the upstream and downstream, Li Hao directly gathered all the relevant officials in Zhenzhou, Yangzhou and Taizhou to reprimand them, and asked Sheng Hong to go to strictly investigate the source.

Of course, this salt is always unbearable, after all, it is worth more than 10,000 taels of silver, so it naturally has to be pulled back.

Therefore, after Li Hao left, Jin Chaozhong was ordered to take the people of the palace to escort the salt ship to Yangzhou.

But in fact, only some of the people who came back with the salt boat, and the rest of the people were the people arranged by Li Hao in advance when he passed through Jiangning Mansion.

Of course, the ship could not return to Yangzhou smoothly, so as not to expose the stuffing, so it was arranged to have an accident and stayed in Dantu temporarily.

As for the rest of the palace front division, they were mixed in the caravan heading north, and continued to return to the Huaiyang army, preparing to ambush in Suqian.

And when it was confirmed that the people in front of the palace, except for the guards beside Li Hao, everyone else was on the river.

Through An Lingxu's news, I knew that the batch of private salt shipped to Hebei had been ready to be shipped, and this time there were a total of 150,000 stone of private salt, worth nearly one million taels of silver, of course, this was the official price, not the cost.

But this amount of private salt, as long as Li Hao is caught, the officials of the two Huai Salt Dao can be rubbed by Li Hao at will.

It's a pity that Li Hao has to stay in Yangzhou City to attract everyone's attention, otherwise Li Hao really wants to catch it himself.

Just when Li Hao felt that the matter was about to end, a news from the Cao Gang made a new change in this matter.