Chapter 252: Lake Salt
The meeting was very successful, and everyone was smiling and ready to leave. Inspector Jiang Ligang stood up and asked everyone to wait a little longer. He asked what would be done with those who had committed crimes?
The former transport envoy Liu Qingyin committed heinous crimes and should be beheaded.
Mr. Ding definitely doesn't want to get involved in the murder, and the old man is looking at him and Lao Cao.
Zhao Yulin said that General Cao was responsible for supervision, so he asked the general to supervise the execution and the Chief Justice to be in charge. All the death row prisoners should be beheaded at Caishikou tomorrow. The Shenwei Army does not have extra food to feed the evil people who are harming the country and the people.
When the gentlemen heard this, it was like a bolt of thunder. They finally realized that Zhao Yulin would never show mercy to his enemies.
Because the Song government usually executed people in the autumn. But Zhao Yulin killed people at any time, and he even called it not wasting food.
Lao Cao felt responsible and agreed immediately. He glanced at the Censor and told Jiang Ligang to be careful with all matters and to take the prisoner to Caishikou for execution at three quarters after noon tomorrow.
When Ding Gong saw that everything was settled, he asked Yu Dayi to arrange dinner. The government office had already prepared wine and food in the restaurant, and everyone went in and sat down to eat.
After Zhao Yulin politely toasted everyone, he went back with Lao Cao to rest.
The small court in Lin'an had already received a quick message from the Imperial City Bureau, and it could forget about paying taxes. Not only that, the Sichuan Administration Bureau also published a story in the newspaper saying that Shi's son had been captured by the Mongolian army, and the small court's status as the legitimate successor to the royal family was uncertain.
This is questioning the authenticity of the Lin'an court, which is unacceptable.
After the commotion in Sichuan and Shu, all places realized that the small court was a fake one and they could all ignore his orders and do as they pleased. As a result, the small court's orders did not leave the city of Lin'an.
Shi's son was furious and immediately ordered sanctions against Sichuan and Shu, abolished the Sichuan-Shaanxi Administration Office, and ordered all prefectures, states, and counties in Sichuan and Shaanxi to accept the command of his small court.
At the same time, the small court issued an official document to the salt merchants in Liangzhe, prohibiting the export of salt to Sichuan and Shu, in order to use this trick to trap Zhao Qi'er to death.
However, if the salt merchants stopped working and stopped selling salt, how could they make a lot of money?
They collectively complained to Shi's son and asked him to open the checkpoints to sell salt, because this business was their livelihood.
Shi's son had another idea. He asked the Ministry of Revenue to seal the deal and use colorful pieces of paper to exchange for the salt merchants' salt inventory, and then do business with the merchants from Sichuan and Shu through the official-merchant channels.
He wanted to take back all the taxes that Sichuan and Shu did not send to him at ten or a hundred times the price.
However, he still did not solve the problem of silver shortage .
The Lin'an Imperial City Office reported to him that Zhao Qi'er was extremely dishonest. Not only did he not give us money, but he actually gave Meng Gong and Meng Heizi five million strings of cash, which were all last year's taxes.
In the past, Shi's son and Meng Gong had a superior-subordinate relationship, so he immediately thought of asking Meng Gong for money for the emergency, and immediately sent someone to Huangzhou to ask for money.
The news was soon learned by the secret intelligence station in Shunfeng and flew to Chengdu.
Cao Youwen and Zhao Yulin returned home, and Old Cao asked them to have another cup of tea.
Zhao Yulin knew that he still had something to say, so he followed him to Lao Cao's study. After the maid brought tea, Lao Cao asked if it was not a good idea to give all the garrisons of Sichuan and Shu to him.
Zhao Yulin said that not only the garrison had to be led by the general, but the training of new recruits also had to be led by the general. The use of troops in Renhuai and the defense in the direction of Dali Kingdom also had to be taken care of by the general.
Zhao Yulin told Lao Cao that he would have to go to the north in a few days. The Mongolian army's westward expeditionary force was coming eastward in large numbers, and they were definitely targeting us. Only the general could stabilize Chengdu.
Just as the two of them exchanged a few words, the inspector Jiang Ligang arrived. Lao Cao invited him in, and the three of them sat down together to have tea.
As soon as Jiang Ligang came in, he said that he had come all the way to thank the general and the third young master.
Cao Youwen said that he should thank Commander Zhao, as it was his brother who dealt with the previous inspector, and today he specially took care of the inspectors and constables, so the inspection bureau had to handle its business properly.
Jiang Ligang nodded in agreement repeatedly and solemnly assured the two gentlemen that he would go down to supervise the situation personally, strictly enforce Chengdu's public security, and complete a number of cases within a time limit.
Zhao Yulin first expressed his approval, but stressed that cases cannot be closed through torture, as that would lead to countless false and wrongful convictions.
Jiang Ligang once again said, “Yes, yes, yes.”
Zhao Yulin said that there was an urgent matter at the moment. It was estimated that Jiangdong would soon cut off our salt routes. In this case, illegal merchants would hoard the goods and ordinary people would panic buy them. Once the supply was out of stock, the merchants would raise the price and make huge profits by ten or a hundred times.
Lao Cao said to Jiang Ligang: Once the news comes , the Inspection Bureau will strictly investigate merchants who are hoarding goods and not selling them, and severely punish those who rush to buy and cause a stir.
Zhao Yulin was very sure that there would be a shortage of salt in the short term, so he posted a notice to reassure the people not to panic and asked each merchant to only sell half a pound of salt. After a month, there would be an inexhaustible supply of salt in Sichuan and Shu.
Lao Cao thought it was okay, half a pound of salt per household, enough for a month. After a month, our salt arrived, not only was the supply sufficient, but the price was also super low, and Jiangdong could not be blocked at all.
Jiang Ligang looked at them in amazement and said that he came here just for the salt. People in the city were already talking about it, and some people were running towards the shops and lining up to buy salt.
The officials from Lin'an and their friends were drinking and having fun in the tavern, talking about how the Third Young Master was ignorant and how he angered Prime Minister Shi by not transporting taxes to Jiangdong. The consequences of having the salt road cut off were disastrous, and it wouldn't be long before everyone, including cattle and sheep, would lie on the ground exhausted.
Lao Cao and Zhao Yulin both laughed and told Jiang Ligang to go back to work without worry. They told him that the salt was on the way and would arrive in Chengdu within a month.
Jiang Ligang said goodbye and left in surprise.
Not long after this man left, Xu Zhiyuan, the general manager of the Chengdu Imperial City Administration, came to visit. He apologized for disturbing him so late at night and asked the two adults to forgive him.
Zhao Yulin and Lao Cao smiled knowingly and asked him if it was because the inspector had taken the lead and it was inconvenient for him to come in and talk about the matter?
Xu Zhiyuan smiled awkwardly and nodded.
Zhao Yulin said that since they were working together now, it was okay to talk about things.
Xu Zhiyuan immediately reported that the Imperial City Office had quickly received a secret letter from the Imperial City Office in Lin'an, stating that Prime Minister Shi had ordered salt merchants to prohibit the sale of salt to Shu, and that the checkpoints must strictly inspect salt ships transporting salt to Shu.
Lao Cao said it came really quickly, the small court is efficient.
Xu Zhiyuan told them that these messages were secretly sent by people with lofty ideals in the Lin'an Imperial City Administration who were loyal to our Shenwei Army. Lin'an Prime Minister Shi also sent people to Huangzhou to ask General Meng for the taxes on our transportation. This shows that Prime Minister Shi had spies in Chengdu, otherwise he would not have known it so quickly.
Lao Cao nodded and reminded him that the Imperial City Division had been merged with the Shunfeng Division, and that in the future Chief Steward Xu would have to learn more and report more to Chief Steward Dongmei.
Xu Zhiyuan immediately said, "Yes, sir." He and Manager Dongmei had a division of labor. He was on duty today and came to report as soon as he received the intelligence.
Zhao Yulin asked him to go back and discuss with Dongmei that the Sichuan-Shaanxi Administration Office would eventually raise the banner of the Song Dynasty's resistance against the Mongols and defeat the Mongolian army, reviving the Han and Tang dynasties. In the future, the tasks of the Shunfeng Office will become increasingly heavy, which requires the integration of the power of the Imperial City Offices in various places.
Chief Steward Xu used to be in charge of Chengdu and is familiar with the situation in the Imperial City Administration. He is the best person to do this and we should put more thought into this aspect.
Xu Zhiyuan was excited and immediately said that he would do his best.
Lao Cao smiled and called out, "Have some tea, have some tea."
The girl knew it was time to go, so she took a sip and got up to leave.
Zhao Yulin called Feihu in and told him to report to Lord Ding immediately and to convene all the staff of the government office to discuss the matter early the next morning.
Feihu went there immediately.
Lao Cao asked if it was necessary to make it public, but it would affect people's hearts.
Zhao Yulin said that the enemy has been spreading rumors, and the people are most afraid of this. They are fighting a psychological war with us, and we must go ahead.
He told Lao Cao that he had to go back and write something, then stood up and walked towards his room.
When he got back, Xiao Yan was still waiting for him.
Zhao Yulin said why don’t you take a rest, there are a lot of things to do tomorrow.
Xiao Yan said that Mrs. Cao was not resting either, just watching them busy.
Zhao Yulin thought that Xiao Yan had good writing skills, so he told Xiao Yan about Lin'an cutting off the salt road and wanting to fight a salt sniper war with Sichuan and Shu. He asked Xiao Yan to write an article to refute Jiangdong and tell the people not to be afraid because they have plenty of salt.
Xiao Yan immediately sat down at the table and started thinking.
He knew that writing was very brain-burning, so he asked the maid to bring her a cup of hot water and went out to walk around the yard. He wanted to think carefully about how to deal with the salt war in Jiangdong.
When Mrs. Cao learned that Zhao Yulin was still walking in the yard, she sighed to Old Cao and said, "It's been a long journey, Brother Yulin must be tired."
Lao Cao said, "That's right. If you ask him, how can you expect Miao Gui to find the salt?" This time, Shi Xiang of Lin'an is going to fall into the pit he dug.
Mrs. Cao asked him how to explain it?
Lao Cao said that Miao Gui had found a superior salt lake in Xining Prefecture, and the people only needed to shovel the salt into their bags and transport it here. My brother has already instructed Miao Gui to transport the salt back when he returns to Guanzhong, and to send 100,000 kilograms to Sichuan first.
Mrs. Cao was stunned when she heard this. There was such a good thing. The high-quality salt could be directly dug up, packed and transported away?
Lao Cao said happily, "Let's go to sleep. When it comes to competing with Shi Xiang, only Yulin can do it."
Xiao Yan found Zhao Yulin, took his hand and called him back, her mission was accomplished.
Zhao Yulin entered the room and saw that the little girl had written several long articles in one breath, totaling more than a thousand words. He smiled and said thank you for your hard work, sat down and read it carefully, and then praised her for writing so well, and he added a title.
Zhao Yulin wrote down the words "Salt is plentiful in Sichuan and Shu", and Xiao Yan immediately said, "Great! That's really encouraging."
Zhao Yulin said he would write another report: saying that the Shenwei Army had discovered a huge salt lake in Xining Prefecture, and they wanted to experiment with spreading salt on the fields to increase soil fertility.
As he spoke and wrote, he asked Geng Feihu to find Xu Zhiyuan and bring all the newspaper owners in Chengdu.
Zhao Yulin had just polished the article twice when Xu Zhiyuan arrived with the newspaper's manager.
He gave these shopkeepers a serious lesson, requiring them to accept government supervision in the future and that articles without government approval should not be printed and distributed to the public.
Then he took out the two manuscripts and told the shopkeeper to go back and typeset and print them immediately. They must be distributed by dawn, and he would ask the government for money if there was any loss.
