In the thirteenth year of the Tianbao era: I became Yang Guozhong's eldest son.

"The county magistrate has given an order," Han Jitong raised his voice and shouted to the overseers and salt workers around him.

"From today onwards, all work at Qing'ao Well will continue as usual. The county government will pay all salt workers their rations and wages in full, according to regulations! However..."

Han Jitong's tone shifted abruptly, his gaze becoming sharp.

"All accountants and warehouse managers, immediately hand over your account books, salt ticket stubs, shipping records, and worker registers! Anyone who dares to keep a single piece of paper or conceal a single word will suffer the same fate as Liu Shenxing and Mo San!"

Under the intimidation of Pei Zhao and others' force and the psychological blow of "Liu Shenxing and Mo San being captured," the accountants who originally wanted to put up a fight completely collapsed.

In less than an hour, several heavy camphor wood chests were carried to the center of the courtyard.

It was filled with all the account books, salt ticket stubs, warehouse entry and exit records, and personnel rosters of Qing'ao Well over the past three years.

"Seal the box! Take it away!"

Pei Zhao waved his hand, and the servants hurriedly carried the camphor wood chest onto the carriage they had brought.

There was no killing, no work stoppage, and no complete purge.

Yang Xuan's first move was exceptionally precise and fatal.

He didn't touch the complicated production process, nor did he anger the salt workers and supervisors at the bottom. Instead, he directly seized control of the "brain" of Qing'ao Well—the account books and salt tickets.

……

Night fell, in the main hall of the county government office.

Several lanterns illuminated the hall as brightly as day.

Cui Shen and Han Jitong sat behind their desks, with a mountain of account books piled up in front of them, which they had brought back from Qing'ao Well during the day.

Yang Xuan leaned back in his chair. Although the pain in his back was still agonizing, his eyes were unusually clear.

"My lord, this is utterly a muddled account, and it's deliberately made muddled!"

Cui Shen held an abacus in his hand, his fingers moving rapidly across the beads, making a crisp "clattering" sound. The more he calculated, the uglier his face became.

"Judging from the total accounts over the past three years, the actual annual salt production of Qing'ao Well was at least 20,000 shi (a unit of dry measure)! However, the amount actually paid into the official granary as salt tax was less than 5,000 shi!"

"Less than 30%," Yang Xuan replied coldly.

"It's more than less than 30%!" Han Jitong said angrily, flipping through a roster.

"My lord, look here. There are over eight hundred salt-making households and salt workers registered here. But in reality, the county government's household register only has less than three hundred officially registered salt households! The remaining five hundred-plus are all displaced people and unregistered residents that the Tian and Hu families have privately brought in from other places. They are not registered with the government and do not pay taxes. It's as if these powerful families are using the salt wells of the Tang Dynasty to support their own private army and laborers for nothing!"

Cui Shen handed Yang Xuan a salt ticket.

"And this too. Young master, look at these salt coupons. The salt coupons issued by the county government before were all blank coupons. After the Tian and Hu families got these blank coupons, they could fill in as many numbers as they wanted. Even if a cartload of salt was transported out, the coupon would only show ten loads. As long as they bribed the city gates and checkpoints along the way, the extra ninety loads would become their free smuggled salt!"

Yang Xuan took the salt coupons, casually flipped through a few, and the coldness in his eyes grew stronger.

The amount of salt produced was concealed.

Labor force is hidden.

Salt coupons were counterfeited.

These three measures combined were tantamount to digging a huge blood hole in the Tang Dynasty's national treasury.

"No wonder they dared to cut off my food supply, no wonder they dared to be so arrogant in front of the county government."

Yang Xuan threw the salt coupons on the table, "Because they control a never-ending river of gold."

"My lord, now that we have these real accounts, shouldn't we immediately report to the prefectural government and have Tian Boyong and Hu Rong arrested?" Han Jitong asked.

Yang Xuan shook his head.

"Report it to the prefectural government? Do you really think those people in the prefecture are completely unaware of the deficit at Qing'ao Well?"

Yang Xuan's words were like a bucket of cold water poured over Han Jitong's head.

"Liu Shenxing and Mo San's testimonies clearly state that at least 20% of the profits from this messy account were converted into real money and sent to the prefecture. If we expose the account books now, the prefecture's first reaction will definitely not be to arrest the Tian family, but to find a way to cover us up and completely erase this messy account!"

Cui Shen stopped using his abacus and nodded solemnly.

"My lord is right. The knife we ​​have now is not sharp enough. If we force our way in, it will only provoke a greater backlash. So what should we do next?"

Yang Xuan stood up and walked to the pile of account books.

"Don't rush to move everyone."

"We'll settle this score with the Tian family, Hu Rong, and those corrupt officials in the prefecture later."

Yang Xuan held up three fingers, his tone calm and resolute.

"What we need to do now is to block three vital points."

"First, salt production. Production at Qing'ao Well should not stop, but starting tomorrow, Pei Zhao will lead his men to take over the outlets of all brine wells and salt-boiling stoves. For every pound of salt produced, the county officials must personally weigh and register it, and absolutely no ounce of smuggled salt will be allowed to leave the well site."

"Second, keep the accounts. These several large boxes of tattered accounts will be sealed and stored in the county government office. From today onwards, Qing'ao Well will open new accounts. All inflows and outflows will be personally overseen by you, Cui Shen. I will not pursue past deficits for the time being, but every single account from now on must be clearly recorded on my desk."

"Third, release the goods. This is also the most crucial step."

Yang Xuan picked up the old salt coupon on the table, tore it in half with both hands.

"All old salt coupons are hereby invalidated! Starting tomorrow, the county government will use new anti-counterfeiting salt coupons. These coupons must bear both my personal seal and the county government's official seal for double anti-counterfeiting measures. Any caravan or salt merchant daring to haul a cartload of salt from Yanjing County without these new coupons will be treated as smugglers!"

Cui Shen and Han Jitong were thrilled.

These three moves struck right at the heart of the powerful figures.

By not killing anyone or sealing the well, they effectively locked the hen that could lay golden eggs, Qing'ao Well, in the cage of the county government.

Salt merchants and caravans who were used to making a fortune by using fake salt coupons and smuggling salt would find their channels and businesses paralyzed the moment they discovered that the old salt coupons had become worthless and that the salt outlets were heavily guarded by the county government.

This is even more deadly than directly leading troops to raid the Tian family's house!

……

The next morning, new notices from the county government were once again posted all over the streets and alleys of Yanjing County.

The news of invalidating the old salt coupons and issuing new ones spread like wildfire throughout the city, reaching even the ears of caravans and salt merchants from other regions who were preparing to haul goods outside the city.

The large inns in the West Market were instantly thrown into chaos.

"What?! The old salt coupons are invalid?! I have five thousand taels of silver worth of salt coupons tied up in my hands! Manager Hu just gave them to me the day before yesterday!"

A wealthy salt merchant, speaking with a Sichuan accent, was so angry he jumped up and down.

"It's no use! This morning, the guards at Qing'ao Well were replaced by county government guards, all of them looking fierce. When we went to collect our goods with the old tickets, they turned us and our carts away, saying that without the new county government tickets, we wouldn't be able to take even a single grain of salt!"

Another caravan leader ran in, sweating profusely, and said.

"Where are the Tian family and Hu Rong? What are they doing?! We've already given them our deposit!"

"The Tian family's gates are tightly shut; I heard Tian Boyong is so angry he's bedridden. Hu Rong's salt shop didn't even dare open its doors today!"

Panic and anger spread among the businessmen.

They originally thought the new magistrate was just joking around or just wanted more benefits, but who would have thought that this living devil would actually overturn the table and even smash the rice pot!

Without salt, the merchants' cash flow would break down, and the caravan members would go hungry.

Faced with enormous profits, the prestige of the Tian and Hu families began to crack.