The whole spring was spent in Fang Fengsheng's school taught by Fan Jinchuan, and the days were peaceful and peaceful.
At the same time, this year's first batch of salt can also be shipped.
In the past, Feng Sheng only heard that salt smuggling was a common practice. As for how to smuggle it, it was only on paper. This time, she took the opportunity to take a special trip.
Now Uncle Yu is in charge of outside affairs, probably because he was born in the rivers and lakes before, and he is very familiar with these under-the-table affairs. He didn't know where to find a group of people, and they didn't look like ordinary people, but Feng Sheng didn't believe it if they said they were wandering rivers and lakes, because these people had experienced many hardships. She used to read a lot of romance novels. Not so down and out.
Later, after asking Uncle Yu, Feng Sheng realized that these people were really people from the rivers and lakes in the ordinary population.
Either as a bodyguard, or as a follower, or driven by a big family, or become a bandit. These people from the rivers and lakes are really not as glamorous as described in market novels. Most of them are doing some shady activities, licking blood on the knife edge. All in all, it may have been beautiful once, but it was only for a while, and most of the evening scenes were bleak.
The people that Uncle Yu hired are not too young, they are all in their thirties, around forties. There are men and women, old and young, and some are disabled and take care of their families.
The first time they met Feng Sheng, they said they would treat her as the master, but Feng Sheng still couldn't react. Later, after being instructed by Uncle Yu, I found out that this is the rule of the rivers and lakes. If the boss gives you food, you have to work hard for it. Judging from the appearance, these people are not elegant, even ugly, old, and disabled, but they are all old Jianghu, one is worth ten, and Uncle Yu also used his previous contacts to gather these people.
Feng Sheng's plan this time is very big. On the surface, there are flowers blooming like brocades, but in reality, there are dangers everywhere.
Because she is not only challenging the imperial power, but also the entire Taizhou, and even the Lianghuai Salt Administration. It seems that there is only one place in Taizhou, but in fact it is intricate and complicated, and the forces are intertwined. So she has to help, and these people are the original team.
To this, Feng Sheng did not refuse.
In fact, Uncle Yu's arrangements were not wrong, these people were unexpectedly useful, during this period there were many people secretly provoking, including Feng Sheng who was attacked twice when he went out, but luckily they were blocked.
Now by Feng Sheng's side, if Uncle Yu is there, he will accompany him. If Uncle Yu is not, at least two or more people will accompany him either secretly or overtly.
The person who often follows Feng Sheng is Dao Qi, a middle-aged man who is blind in one eye. It is said that he is very good at swordsmanship. He used to be a swordsman and a horse gang member. There is also Hu Siniang, the mother-in-law of Dao Qi. It is said that her family used to work in a bodyguard agency.
Dao Qi and Hu Siniang are considered brothers and sisters to Uncle Yu, and it was through this encounter that Feng Sheng learned a little about Uncle Yu's past.
In the past, she only knew that Uncle Yu's background was not simple. He walked through the rivers and lakes and followed her father for some reason. Only now did she know that Uncle Yu had been involved in caravans before.
Not to mention these things, this is the first shipment, Feng Sheng attaches great importance to it, and brought five or six people to meet Uncle Yu.
The place of delivery is near Hai'an Town. This place is close to Yunyan River and Chuanchang River, and the surrounding area is deserted. It is really a good place.
They first arrived at Hai'an Town, contacted Uncle Yu, and rode out the next morning.
When they arrived at the place, Uncle Yu had already led the people to deliver the goods to the other party. The people in charge of loading and unloading looked like ordinary laborers, but their hands and feet were fast, and it seemed that this was not the first time they had done it.
If it wasn't for the white lantern hanging on the tree, and Uncle Yu standing under the lantern, she really thought she had found the wrong place.
Feng Sheng quietly walked to Uncle Yu's side, and Uncle Yu saw her coming, but did not speak.
The shipment was still going on, until the east turned pale, and the sky gradually began to light up, and it was also coming to an end. As the last bag of salt was loaded onto the boat, a man in short black and brown with a red belt came out of the boat. The man shook his hand at the place, and the five salt boats sank into the morning mist without making a sound. middle.
"Uncle Yu, how are you doing?"
"These people are members of the Salt Gang. I didn't expect that inspector surnamed Gou to be involved with the Salt Gang."
Feng Sheng didn't understand, so Uncle Yu explained the origin of the Salt Gang to her.
In fact, the so-called Salt Gang is a group of private salt dealers, but only when they grow bigger will they be called "gangs". They used to roam around the Lianghuai area selling smuggled salt, and they still do this kind of work now, but the former head of the Salt Gang is a very talented person.
He was very resourceful and contacted several salt merchants, who were responsible for helping the salt merchants transport the salt to places designated by the government for sale.
Speaking of this, we have to talk about the outline system.
Only those who own salt can sell salt. And the word "yin" not only refers to Yanyin, but also refers to shore. The so-called diversion means that salt merchants purchase salt, pay the salt tax to the salt transportation department, and transport the salt to designated areas for sale according to government regulations, without crossing the border.
For example, the salt produced in the Lianghuai salt area can only be transported to the six provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, and Henan for sale. Except for Henan, Jiangsu, and Anhui, which are slightly closer to the production areas, the rest of the provinces are far away.
Moreover, there are high mountains and long roads along the way, and the waterways in many places are not smooth, so they can only take the dry road, which is prone to too many accidents. If the salt merchants are required to travel long distances, it will consume a lot of manpower and material resources. The gang leader took advantage of this excuse to take over the responsibility for the transportation, and he and the salt merchant hit it off, a win-win situation.
In this way, the so-called Salt Gang is actually only responsible for the task of transporting porters, but this is not the only case.
As I said before, the predecessor of the Salt Gang was a group of smuggled salt dealers. They were born in smuggled salt. Now such a good opportunity, how could they let it go, so while helping the salt merchants to deliver the goods, they will also entrain , to obtain huge benefits.
Because salt merchants have the qualifications to carry out shipping, in order to avoid accidents during the transportation and sales, the salt gang can also have a certain amount of force to protect themselves. In this way, the salt gang turned from black to white, from dark to bright, and even In the imperial court, they all passed the Ming Road.
And the reason why Uncle Yu knew this was because the caravan he was with used to sell tea from horses and private salt at the same time. It can be regarded as the same industry, but the caravan and the salt gang take two different salt roads, one is in the coastal and inland areas, and the other is in the southwest and plateau.
After listening to Uncle Yu's explanation, Feng Sheng was very surprised, but there was joy in the surprise.
"I didn't expect that there was such a way for the inspection. I just thought he was taking advantage of his function to entrain. No, I should have thought that if he just took advantage of his function and entrusted others to carry out the entrainment, how could he boast? Say how much you want."
"In this way, our plan will be easier to carry out." Uncle Yu said.
"How many days will it take for this batch of goods to be delivered?"
"It will probably take another three or four days. After all, in this kind of place, there are so many eyes and ears. Even the Salt Gang has to cover people's eyes and ears."
Feng Sheng nodded, and said: "Then this matter will trouble Uncle Yu, I can't stay outside for long, I have to go back to the county government."
Feng Sheng brought people back to Taizhou City.
As soon as he entered the county government office, he heard that King Wei sent someone to deliver things.
After I went in and asked carefully, I found out that King Wei came to Yangzhou again, brought some things from the capital, and specially ordered someone to deliver them.
The ones for Fan Jinchuan were two books. It is said that they were the only copies that Fan Jinchuan had been looking for for a long time, and there was one other thing for Feng Sheng, which was packed in a box.
Just looking at the outside of the box, the appearance is unremarkable, and when you open the box to see, it is not a precious thing, it is a bamboo pot.
Fan Jinchuan was surprised and said, "How could His Highness King Wei send a pot to Brother Fang Xian?"
The little eunuch who brought the things said: "Eunuch De gave the things to the slaves, so the slaves must deliver them. As for what to send and what the meaning is, the slaves don't know."
"Thank you His Royal Highness King Wei for me." Feng Sheng said.
The little eunuch nodded: "The slave will take his leave, and he has to go back to report."
"My father-in-law came from a long way, so it's better to take a rest. I'll let someone take you down to rest."
The eunuch didn't refuse either, so Feng Sheng asked someone to take him down.
After the people left, Feng Sheng said to Fan Jinchuan: "Brother Zijin also likes to get to the bottom of things. His Royal Highness Wei Wang sent you books, probably because the people below think that it is not good to just send you, so they sent me as well." By the way, I guess this pot was picked randomly, why bother to be serious."
"I'm not being serious, I just find it a little strange."
"What's so strange."
Having said that, after Feng Sheng went back with the pot, his expression was not very good.
She sat down at the table and took the pot out of the box.
This bamboo-jointed teapot has a purple-red color as a whole, with a fine texture and a round and soft luster, imitating the shape of bamboo. The pot belly is divided into two sections, thick and short, shaped like a thick bamboo split from the middle, covered with bamboo reliefs, simple yet elegant.
Feng Sheng opened the lid of the pot, but there was nothing inside, it seemed like an ordinary pot.
She rubbed it in her hand twice, and put it on the table.
She has already figured out the key points, I am afraid that the gift from the king of Wei is fake, and the warning to her with the borrowed thing is the truth. Bamboo pots probably correspond to the word "section".
Festival, temperance.
He knew what she was doing
Thinking of King Wei saying to himself several times, don't set yourself on fire, does he know the secret behind it, or who is the culprit behind it, and this person is something she can't afford
After all, all this is just Feng Sheng's guess, she didn't hesitate much on this matter, let alone listen to it.
Everything came naturally and went very smoothly.
This is just from Feng Sheng's point of view. In fact, due to the unsalable official salt in recent years, the salt tax has been greatly reduced, which has already attracted the attention of the court.
However, starting from this year, the official salt transported and sold by gang merchants is only three to four out of ten. The quantity transported and sold is not enough, and the natural salt tax has been greatly reduced.
When the news spread, the whole court was silent, and Emperor Jianping lost his temper in Qianqing Palace, which was even more taboo.
Two days later, Emperor Jianping ordered the Lianghuai Salt Administration and the Salt Transportation Department to write a statement to see what caused the salt class, which could reach tens of millions of taels in previous years, to drop to three or four million taels, or even more. There is a downward trend, so don't the people of Dazhou eat salt now
This reprimand was so severe that all the officials dared not argue with him.
However, Gu Bichang, the inspector of salt, and He Lun, the newly appointed salt transport envoy, spent dozens of days dawdling before the memorials of their self-reports arrived in Beijing one after another.
For a moment, all eyes were on these two memorials.