Fucheng liquor store

There are dozens of people sitting downstairs, in groups of three or five, the screens on the second and third floors are separated by each other, especially on the third floor, the floor is polished with tung oil, and it is noon at the moment, and a woman is singing carefully.

"So, Governor Qi came back from the provincial capital in the morning and brought back the silver?" On the corner seat, Su Ziji sat at the table, pushed a glass of wine over, and asked at the same time.

"Thank you, Lord reward!" said Shi Chang, after drinking all the wine, "it is that in the early hours of the morning, he rode into the province with several county soldiers on horseback, and went to the governor to cry silver. ”

"What is the situation in the Governor's Palace, a few of us can't follow up, so we don't know, but when the Qi Governor's Mansion went out of the Governor's Mansion for the first time, he cried while walking, and then he was called back by the people from the Governor's Palace, and when he came out again, he had already brought out two boxes of silver. ”

Su Ziji's mind flashed Qi Hongxin's black, thin and straight appearance, and he really couldn't think of it, in the eyes of many people, he was a stinky and hard stone person, crying while walking.

Just thinking about it, he subconsciously had a cold war, which shows how inconsistent this move is with his impression, and it is no wonder that even Governor Zhao, who has a bad relationship with Qi Hongxin, was shocked by tears, and in the end he allocated silver.

"I thought that Qi Hongxin would make a decision, but I didn't expect that he would be able to bend and bend. ”

But seeing that he has been working in the prefect's mansion for more than ten years, although there is a reason for his background, it may also be related to his personality that he does not know or does not want to camp. ”

"What is this person's behavior for?"

Su Ziji sighed, and couldn't help but be speechless for having complicated feelings for this person several times in the past few days.

"Wait. Su Ziji said to himself.

"Childe!" At this time, Cen Rubai came in from outside the wine shop, looked around, saw Su Ziji, walked over, nodded and smiled at Shi Chang who was wearing civilian clothes.

The ten armor soldiers who followed Su Zizhi to Fucheng were doing things for Su Zizhi almost during this time, but some could only be used for ordinary things, and some could be sent to keep an eye on them.

The one in front of him, when Su Ziji communicated with the Yedao people, let the Yedao people control the caravan to help solve the family's livelihood problems, and they could use it more confidently.

"You continue to stare at the prefect's yamen, what action to report me. After letting Shi Chang leave, Su Ziji looked at Cen Rubai.

"Mr. Cen, sit. A finger, Su Ziji said.

Cen Rubai was a little polite, sat down, only took a sip of tea, moistened his throat, lowered his voice, and reported to Su Ziji that he got an information from his friends in the rivers and lakes.

"Childe, the minerals in Shun'an Mansion are generally small and scattered, of course, the bulk is an official mine, and the small mines are not cost-effective for the official government to mine, so most of them are turned into private mines, but I found that there are at least dozens of private mines, which are not private mines licensed by the imperial court, this is a black mine, and there is a gold mine among them. ”

"Although the output of gold mines is not high, only 500 taels of gold a year, it is a big deal. ”

It turned out that the thing Cen Rubai and the others found out was actually a black mine.

This is a very important thing, in the territory of Shun'an Province, there are many black mines in private, and this is not only that, there are gold mines in the black mines.

When this kind of thing is exposed, it will definitely make the entire prefecture and city shake, and even the province may be shocked.

But why hasn't it been exposed until now, and it still needs to be secretly investigated before it can be known? It can be seen that the water in it must be very deep.

The first time Su Ziji heard this, he was discolored.

"I never expected that there were so many black mines and gold mines in a small Shun'an Mansion that seemed to be ordinary. ”

"This matter is really beyond my expectations, to hide this matter so far, this cannot be a private handiwork, there must be the shadow of the government. ”

"Qi Hongxin has just taken office, and he has to go to the province to cry and beg in order to allocate money, and he must not know about this. ”

"And before he arrives, he must carefully check the accounts and the minerals in the prefecture, and if he can hide this old official who has been the prefect for more than ten years, this matter must not be involved in one or two officials. ”

Thinking of the fact that Shun'an Mansion was short of 700,000 taels, and was arrested along with several officials, including the former prefect, Su Ziji was thoughtful.

"These black mines, the former prefect will not be able to get rid of the relationship, no, just the former prefect, I am afraid that he may not be able to cover the sky with one hand, I am afraid that there are other ways. ”

Even if he couldn't guess, Su Ziji still couldn't help but admire the boldness of these people who died for money.

"Private mining is allowed in this dynasty, but gold and silver are not among them, it is a monopoly of the imperial court, and private gold mining is carried out, but there is a very heavy punishment, and the responsibility is no less than rebellion. ”

"After all, private individuals, especially magistrates, control the gold mines, and it is easy for them to raise troops privately and support their own troops, which is something that the dynasty that has just founded the country for more than 30 years cannot tolerate. ”

"However, the nature of the gold mine is special, just talking about this 500 taels of gold per year, in fact, it is only 5,000 taels of silver, to achieve the position of the prefect, if there is no other idea, where do you need to take such a risk?"

"Unless ......" Su Ziji's eyelids jumped slightly, and he thought of a possibility.

When he looked up at Cen Rubai, the other party also looked at him at the same time, the two looked at each other, Cen Rubai lowered his voice and said: "However, the ownership of the mine owner is not concentrated, except for a small number of gentry, which is monopolized by the three major gangs. ”

"They are the Dragon and Tiger Gang, the Xinyi Gang, and the River Gang. ”

Cen Rubai said: "But after I investigated, I found that these three gangs seem to be controlled by someone. ”

"King Qi, or King Shu?" asked Su Ziji his answer.

Cen Rubai looked at Su Ziji's eyes with surprise, and shook his head again: "It may be the King of Qi, but the people of the King of Qi should use the gentry, not the three gangs directly." ”

The gang is in fact the lowest level of society, and it is unlikely that the king of Qi and the king of Shu will be able to do so.

"However, there should be a deep connection with the government, and the arrested prefect and several officials should also be implicated, but they should only play a cover-up role in this matter, in fact, it is the gangs that directly control the gold mines and mines. ”

"Therefore, even if a few officials are arrested, except for the chaos that may have occurred at the beginning, it will soon calm down, and it will not have a substantial impact, and even because the mining is already on the right track, it will be more able to enter the shadows, and it will be more hidden in the future. ”

If it weren't for the fact that they happened to arrive at Shun'an Mansion at this juncture, and Gongzi specially ordered the Jianghu people to investigate carefully, it would have been impossible to find out about this matter.

Cen Rubai lowered his eyes and couldn't help but think, could it be that this is the so-called providence?

"That's right!" Cen Rubai said with a solemn expression: "I also went to the gold mine myself, and although I had the help of my friends, I was almost discovered. I suspect that among these three major gangs, there are demon clans hiding among them. ”

"Demon clan?" Su Zi shook his hand and wrinkled his eyebrows slightly.

Cen Rubai nodded: "Yes, I was almost discovered, the friend who brought me over that day was very strong, it wasn't for his help, or I couldn't get out smoothly." ”

"Demon Clan?" Su Ziji had a flash of inspiration, stood up, paced again and again, and suddenly stopped, thoughtfully, this made sense.