Prime Minister

Chapter 164, Page 163: [Drawing a Circle on the Ground as a Prison]

Deep inside the Jiazi warehouse, near the area where miscellaneous items were originally piled up against the back wall, a team of salt soldiers cleared away the miscellaneous items and the mud used for covering. Together, they lifted twelve heavy wooden planks, revealing a square cellar underneath.

The moment the pit was exposed, a strong, pungent, salty smell mixed with the earthy odor suddenly wafted out, causing the surrounding salt soldiers to wrinkle their noses and cover their eyes.

As time went on, one heavy sack after another was dragged out of the cellar and carried by the salt soldiers to the courtyard outside.

The whole process was smooth and effortless, but the atmosphere was suffocating, especially for the managers and crew of the Guangtai, who were all pale-faced and filled with disbelief.

Yang Jichuan stared blankly at the sacks that were gradually piling up in the yard, his expression dazed.

He didn't understand why there was a cellar deep inside the warehouse he was in charge of, and he couldn't understand why there was so much smuggled salt in the cellar, which was a capital offense!

So-called private salt is essentially no different from official salt; both are salts painstakingly boiled by saltworkers in the salt fields.

Taking the salt producers in Dingxi Saltworks in Yangzhou as an example, they had to hand over a fixed amount of their salt production to the Salt Transport Office. The surplus salt would then be purchased by the Salt Transport Office at an extremely low price. This was obviously unacceptable to the salt producers, as the silver they received from the surplus salt was simply not enough to cover their living expenses.

On the other hand, the profits of the salt merchants were also very thin due to the exploitation by the Salt Transport Bureau.

According to the normal procedure, salt merchants spend a lot of money to win the bid for the salt permit, then use the permit to apply for salt permits from the Salt Transport Bureau, and finally use the salt permits to buy salt from designated salt fields and sell it in designated areas.

Going through this process, many salt merchants would even operate at a loss.

Based on this, the salt merchants and salt producers hit it off immediately. The salt merchants purchased surplus salt from the salt producers in cash, and since they offered a higher price than the salt transport company, the salt producers were naturally willing to accept it.

The price that salt merchants paid for smuggled salt was only 30% of the cost of official salt.

In short, smuggled salt was a transaction in which salt merchants and salt producers bypassed the salt transport commissioner and made direct deals, thus evading salt taxes.

For this reason, the imperial court strictly prohibited the existence of private salt, as this would seriously damage the interests of the Salt Transport Bureau and even the national treasury.

Generally speaking, salt merchants would spend large sums of money to buy salt permits to satisfy the appetite of the Salt Transport Bureau. Their main way of making a profit was by smuggling salt. The Salt Transport Bureau was well aware of this, and as long as the salt merchants were sensible enough and did it discreetly, they would not pursue the matter to the end.

However, the discovery of so much smuggled salt in the Shen family's warehouse today truly surprised the onlookers, because the Shen family has always had a good reputation, and the head of the family, Shen Bingwen, was even praised as a righteous merchant by Dou Xian, the provincial governor.

"My God, you can never judge a book by its cover. The Shen family is so wealthy, how could they do such a thing?"

"Wealth has always been a powerful motivator; who would complain about having too much silver..."

"I'm afraid the Shen family is finished this time. With so much smuggled salt, they'll probably be sentenced to immediate execution."

The prevailing opinion in the arena was undoubtedly in favor of the Salt Transport Company.

In the carriage not far away, Xu Guanlan's expression was cold and stern, his eyes filled with murderous intent.

In his view, the Shen family had been a benchmark for salt merchants over the years. Not only did they pay their salt taxes on time, but they also rarely made any mistakes. They also showed him a lot of respect and, in many ways, even surpassed powerful families like the Liu family.

If all the salt merchants of Lianghuai could reach the standard of the Shen family, Xu Guanlan would naturally be extremely pleased.

If Xue Huai hadn't pressed on relentlessly, even arresting Liu Fu's two sons and adopting a stance of relentless pursuit, Xu Guanlan wouldn't have wanted to take action against the Shen family.

"Blame it on yourself for being in the wrong position."

Xu Guanlan muttered to himself.

About half an hour later, the salt soldiers finally stopped, and the sacks in the courtyard were piled up into a small mountain.

The officer approached Chen Lun's mount and announced loudly, "Reporting to Your Excellency, my subordinates and I discovered a large quantity of smuggled salt in the cellar of Guangtai Company's Class A warehouse. After counting, there were a total of ninety-two bags, each weighing more than one shi (a unit of dry measure), totaling nearly ten thousand jin (a unit of weight)!"

This terrifying number caused a collective gasp from the audience.

Ten thousand catties of smuggled salt...

According to the imperial law, anyone who sells smuggled salt weighing more than 100 jin would be punished with 100 strokes of the cane and three years of penal servitude. With this amount of 10,000 jin, it's likely that someone in the Shen family will lose their head.

Yang Jichuan's vision went black, and he collapsed to the ground.

Chen Lun snorted coldly and looked at Yang Jichuan, saying, "Manager Yang, your Guangtai Company has some nerve! You actually dare to harbor ten thousand catties of smuggled salt! You're really courting death!"

Yang Jichuan struggled to his knees and cried, "Lord Chen, I swear to heaven, I have never seen these smuggled salts. This has nothing to do with the Guangtai Company!"

"joke!"

Chen Lun said sternly, "In broad daylight, in full view of everyone, my subordinates found ninety-two bags of smuggled salt in your warehouse, and you still dare to lie? Gentlemen, do you believe that this smuggled salt has nothing to do with the Shen family?"

The surrounding crowd immediately shouted, "We don't believe it!"

Whether it's genuine disbelief or deliberate opportunism, the fate of the Shenjia Guangtai seems to be sealed.

Just then, more than twenty riders hurriedly arrived.

Chen Lun turned his head and, unsurprisingly, saw Shen Bingwen, the head of the Shen family. However, the person accompanying him was not Xue Huai, but Tan Mingguang, the prefect of Yangzhou. The two of them brought some attendants with them.

"It is the Prefect!"

"Greetings, Your Excellency!"

The greetings rose and fell in waves, and Tan Mingguang, with a solemn expression, nodded in response.

Shen Bingwen first glanced at the small mountain of sacks piled up in the courtyard in the distance, then his gaze swept over Chen Lun and the salt soldiers, and finally looked at the carriage on the outer perimeter.

He dismounted and strode towards the carriage, bowing respectfully and saying, "This humble subject, Shen Bingwen, greets Your Excellency!"

Transporter?

Only then did everyone notice the seemingly ordinary carriage behind them, and the more than twenty imposing guards beside it. A moment later, a middle-aged official in a scarlet robe stepped down from the carriage.

He seemed not to see Shen Bingwen bowing beside the carriage, and walked straight ahead, smiling slightly as he said, "Lord Tan."

Tan Mingguang looked surprised, then cupped his hands and said, "This humble official greets Yuntai."

"Lord Tan, there's no need for such formalities."

Xu Guanlan was extremely polite to Tan Mingguang, then asked with a hint of curiosity, "What brings Lord Tan here?"

"What a coincidence."

Tan Mingguang respectfully said, "I summoned Master Shen to the government office for a detailed discussion over a few minor matters. Shortly afterward, the manager of Guangtai Company hurriedly came to find me, saying that the Salt Commission's army had surrounded the warehouse here and was going to investigate Guangtai Company for harboring smuggled salt. I was worried that there might be some misunderstanding, so I came here specifically to check. I hope the Transport Commissioner will forgive me."

Xu Guanlan laughed and said, "What are you saying, Lord Tan? In fact, I have overstepped my bounds. After all, investigating and punishing illegal activities by merchants is the prefectural government's prefectural authority."

Tan Mingguang quickly replied, "Not at all, not at all. How could I, your humble servant, dare to interfere in the salt administration?"

Xu Guanlan smiled outwardly, but inwardly, doubts began to grow.

He asked Chen Lun to give the Guangtai crew a chance to deliver a message, naturally hoping that Xue Huai and Shen Bingwen would come together, so that he could take advantage of the Shen family's safety to control Xue Huai on the spot. However, Xue Huai was nowhere to be found, and the person who came was the old mudfish Tan Mingguang.

At this moment, he seemed to notice Shen Bingwen, who had been left out in the cold, and said indifferently, "Master Shen, you have to give me and the salt merchants of Lianghuai an explanation for what happened today."

Shen Bingwen said calmly, "Your Excellency, Guangtai Company has always been law-abiding and honest. The smuggled salt that has been discovered today was definitely not the work of my employees."

Xu Guanlan narrowed his eyes and said, "You won't admit it?"

"I did not do it, so naturally I cannot admit it."

Shen Bingwen, abandoning his usual modesty, revealed a hint of arrogance: "Even if it is smuggled salt, there should be detailed accounts, such as when, where and at what price this batch of smuggled salt was purchased, who the seller was, and who the buyer was. These traces will not disappear into thin air."

Xu Guanlan was not surprised by his tough attitude, after all, these smuggled salts were indeed unrelated to him, but were the work of a three-way alliance between the mole of Guangtai Ship, powerful families such as Liu Zheng, and the Salt Transport Bureau.

Shen Bingwen should be well aware of this, but he didn't rashly speak out and cause unnecessary trouble.

Xu Guanlan sneered and slowly said, "So, according to you, these smuggled salts grew in your own warehouse?"

"This humble citizen had no such intention."

Shen Bingwen remained remarkably calm. He raised his voice and said, "Your Excellency, Your Excellency, the Shen family has upheld the law for decades and has never embezzled public funds for personal gain. Now, a large quantity of smuggled salt has mysteriously appeared in the Shen family's warehouse. For the sake of my own innocence and the reputation of Guangtai Company, I implore the Salt Transport Bureau to seal off the Jia-class warehouse, detain me and all relevant managers and employees, and thoroughly investigate this matter!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the surroundings fell silent.

If Shen Bingwen were to go to great lengths to defend himself, it would only make things worse in the eyes of onlookers. However, his resolute decision to entrust his life and fortune to the Salt Transport Bureau has instead prompted deep reflection among the onlookers.

Given the Shen family's current substantial assets, is it really necessary to take such a huge risk for tens of thousands of kilograms of smuggled salt?

In fact, upon closer examination, the profit from these 10,000 catties of smuggled salt was at most 300 taels, which was not even a drop in the ocean for the Shen family.

Xu Guanlan stared coldly at Shen Bingwen, his right hand unconsciously clenching in his sleeve.

He suddenly realized that things were not going as he had expected.

Xue Huai did not appear, and Shen Bingwen once again adopted an unusually bachelor-like demeanor.

There's no turning back now that the arrow has been released; if he shows even the slightest hesitation or doubt, it will obviously make people think he has something to hide.

"Chen Lun, seal off the Guangtai Trading Company's Class A warehouse, and bring back to the Salt Bureau a number of people involved in the case and physical evidence!"

"I accept my order from my humble position!"

Xu Guanlan stopped looking at Shen Bingwen. As long as this man entered the Salt Transport Bureau, the Shen family would be leaderless, and thus the goal would be achieved.

"Transportation platform".

Tan Mingguang reappeared with a smiling face.

Xu Guanlan looked at the old mudfish with displeasure and asked, "What is it, Lord Tan?"

Tan Mingguang said humbly, “Your Excellency, please forgive me. The Shen family is a well-known family of philanthropists, and Master Shen is a righteous merchant praised by Governor Dou himself. I dare not comment on the truth of this case. However, the investigation and interrogation are ultimately related to the government. If I do not care, I am afraid I will not be able to explain to my superiors. I beg Your Excellency to do me a favor.”

Xu Guanlan frowned and asked, "What's convenient?"

Tan Mingguang slowly said, "The transport commissioner wants to take them back to the salt office for a thorough investigation. I dare not object. I only ask that the transport commissioner allow me to send a few of my subordinates to the salt office to assist. That would be enough."

Xu Guanlan almost laughed in anger.

However, the other party's suggestion was reasonable. In fact, this case should have been investigated by the Yangzhou Prefecture, with the Salt Transport Office playing the role of supervision.

Tan Mingguang dared to make this request face-to-face because he was in the right.

"it is good."

Xu Guanlan said no more and left in a huff.

Tan Mingguang watched his retreating figure, then exchanged a glance with Shen Bingwen before turning and leaving with a leisurely air.

Xu Guanlan walked toward the carriage, and for some reason, he felt his steps become very heavy.

It felt as if a huge rock was pressing on my heart.

(End of this chapter)