As a person, it is a good habit to keep a low profile, because it can avoid a lot of trouble.

But it would be nice to be a high-profile person.

It is a state of being a human being to not cause trouble and not be afraid of trouble.

But it’s great to be able to stir up trouble and not be afraid of it.

Of course, Xu Bao is not a person who likes to be high-profile, nor does he want to cause trouble. It can be said that being low-key and not causing trouble is a habit that has been engraved in his bones for many years, but this does not mean that he cannot be high-profile or cause trouble.

See the pros and cons.

Although Fang Qingzhi and Wan Zhili were prisoners, they were also figures in the imperial court. Abuse of lynching them would be troublesome in the future, especially since Fang Qingzhi has Li Dongyang behind him.

, no one in the world knows better than Xu Bao that Li Dongyang is not to be messed with.

But Guo Biao is different.

In the Ming Dynasty, scholars, farmers, and merchants were considered lower-class people in terms of status. No matter how rich they were, no matter how many interests were involved behind them, and no matter how much they had two ministers of six departments covering their heads, so what?

Dongchang tortured a businessman in order to track down the whereabouts of the White Lotus Sect rebels. Who can say anything?

Not to mention torture, even if he was really killed, who would dare to say anything?

Will Dongchang be afraid?

Do you need to be afraid of Dongchang?

Torture, torture to death, interrogation to death, this is Xu Bao's method to deal with Guo Biao.

If you are really Li Yuanxi, and if you are smart enough, you should know that your identity as a Yangzhou salt merchant is not worth mentioning in front of Dongchang.

Faced with the all-too-real threat of death, the smarter people are, the more likely they are to make mistakes.

"Who are you! Who are you?"

"Who sent you! Do you know who I am?!"

"You dare to kill me?!"

"Hurry up and let me go, you little jailer, I'm careful not to let you eat and walk around!"

Xu Bao stretched out his hand to test the water temperature. It was warm and suitable for washing his face, but not enough for taking a bath. This water temperature was exactly what he needed.

Xu Bao casually threw the tied-up Guo Biao into the water tank.

I have to say that Jin Daya is very reliable in doing things, and the height of this tank is just right. After it is filled with water, Guo Biao can just point his toes to expose his nose, and he has to jump a few times if he wants to talk.

Watching Guo Biao jumping up and down in the water, cursing and splashing a lot of water on the ground, he finally managed to talk without choking on the water. But he still had to stand on tiptoe.

A series of curses, some in Mandarin, mostly mixed with the dialect of his hometown in Yangzhou. Xu Bao could understand most of them, but there were some that he couldn't understand. It didn't matter, since Xu Bao had no desire to communicate with him for the time being.

Boil a frog in warm water. In fact, the frog does not stay in the water until it is boiled into toad soup as people rumored, but jumps out immediately when the water temperature reaches an unbearable critical point.

This is especially true for people. After confirming the indifference in Xu Bao's eyes, Guo Biao finally confirmed that this reckless jailer really wanted to cook himself to death!

Then Guo Biao finally stopped his meaningless yelling and started saying something useful.

First came the threat, the more practical threat: "Do you know who my backers are! Li Butang from the Ministry of Household Affairs, Jia Butang from the Ministry of Works, they all..."

"Oh, I'm not a jailer, I'm from Dongchang." Xu Bao replied coldly, took out Dongchang's waist badge and showed it: "Continue."

"You, you, you, you are from Dongchang?" Guo Biao was stunned for a moment, and then the gradually rising water temperature forced him to speak again and try to save his life: "You are from Dongchang, why do you want to kill me? I,

Me, who asked you to kill me!"

"Is it Eunuch Li! Is it Eunuch Li?! There is a misunderstanding here, there is a misunderstanding! You speak!"

"I understand. Does Eunuch Li want to check the money?"

"That sum of money had nothing to do with me! I was the one who came in to take the blame! That sum of money was not taken by me! It was taken by them! It was taken by them!"

Unexpectedly, there was an unexpected gain. The amount of money Guo Biao mentioned seems to be quite large?

Xu Bao's heart moved, but his face showed disdain: "Of course you didn't take it, otherwise you would be here? Tell me, who took it?"

"I don't know! I don't know either! I just know that Wei Guogong took 400,000 taels, and the Zheng family took 200,000 taels! I don't know the rest either! They didn't tell me either!"

Four hundred thousand, two hundred thousand, that's six hundred thousand taels, and it sounds like there's even more money that's missing...

Salt merchant...

Is it salt tax money?

This is not surprising. The smuggling of salt in Yangzhou is not a big secret in the court, or even in the world. If anyone in the world doesn't know about it, it may only be the emperor in the palace.

Um...

I don’t know if Dongchang is involved here.

"Ah! I, I know, let me out! I know what's going on!" Guo Biao continued to howl. At this time, the water temperature had begun to become a little unbearable, but Xu Bao remained unmoved.

This made him even more desperate: "Eunuch Li was fooled! Your governor was fooled!

You want to open the sea, we also have business on the sea, they want to drag your governor into the water and take him down at the same time!

Please let me go!

If you kill me, they will definitely expose this matter, and then your governor will be finished! He will be dead!"

The steaming heat made it difficult for Guo Biao to open his eyes, and the skin on his neck began to turn red: "You, you, you, I have money! I have money, don't kill me! I'll give you a lot of money!"

Don’t kill me, tell your governor what I say and he will reward you! He will reward you!”

Finally, the boiling water temperature and the pressure began to make Guo Biao's spirit collapse, and his threats and inducements turned into crazy and hoarse curses, but the target was not Xu Bao or Li Xuan opposite him, but a person.

Exact name: "Zhao Jingyu! You, surnamed Zhao, will die a good death! Even if I am a ghost, I will never let you go! You loser! You loser son of a bitch!"

The voice gradually became quieter, and Guo Biao's consciousness began to blur. Until now, his cursing and begging for mercy did not stop, and Xu Bao finally took action.

With a casual strike of his palm, the water tank exploded with a bang. The hot water in the tank doused the fire below, and Guo Biao fell to the ground.

Killing him wouldn't be a big deal, but Xu Bao felt that keeping him might be more useful. Apart from anything else, Dongchang couldn't ignore the huge convenience of the Yangzhou salt merchants, and there was also the matter of opening up the sea, well...

We need to let Zhuzi give this guy a good trial later.

After eliminating three out of four, the only one left is Zhao Jingchen who loves painting.

This guy...

How to make him admit that he is Li Yuanxi?

A hint of fish belly white appeared on the horizon, and a new day was about to begin.
Chapter completed!