"This! Use a fire gun! This person's martial arts is too strong, we are no match for him!"
Seeing that the leader was killed, the rest of the men in black were shocked.
Lin Fan had an indifferent look on his face, without any hesitation, and punched out again, cracking one person's skull, and the remaining people turned around and ran away.
Lin Fan would not give them a chance to escape, so he wanted to chase them out. However, on both sides of the dark street, more than a dozen firecrackers suddenly poked out.
boom!
The fire cannon was launched, and Lin Fan hurriedly dodged to avoid it. Although reloading the fire cannon was very troublesome, it was not something that humans could handle easily.
He had to escape from here quickly. Lin Fan stopped chasing those people and ran quickly towards the side streets. The man in black did not catch up.
Lin Fan returned to the Baihu Division Yamen and asked everyone in the Yamen to move, hoping to catch those men in black.
After calming down, Lin Fan realized the seriousness of this matter. You must know that fire guns were strictly controlled during the Ming Dynasty. If ordinary people dared to hold fire guns, it would be a major crime to kill the nine tribes!
How did these people get the firecrackers?
Could it be someone from the Ministry of War?
When thinking about Fayuan Temple, Lin Fan felt more and more that this matter was not simple.
After a night of searching, the Jin Yiwei captured all the men in black. However, before Lin Fan could interrogate them, the men in black committed suicide by taking poison.
"Damn! Why does this method sound like a bandit?"
Lin Fan couldn't help but cursed.
The next day, Emperor Chongzhen was shocked when he learned about Lin Fan's attack. He summoned Lin Fan to the palace to inquire about the matter, but Lin Fan dealt with it lightly.
Although Emperor Chongzhen was the head of the Ming Dynasty, his control over the Ming Dynasty was not as good as his own. There were many things to investigate, and he had the right.
Zhu Cijiong found Lin Fan and said, "Sir, I heard about what happened yesterday. Although those people committed suicide by taking poison, I think there are still people from them in this city!"
"I will ask the people from the Suzaku Division to investigate this matter carefully, and they will definitely be caught one by one."
Lin Fan looked at Zhu Cijiong, this kid was good at everything, but he thought things were too simple. Those people dared to assassinate him, and if caught, they would commit suicide by taking poison.
The rest of them didn't show up at all, so would they be so easy to catch?
However, it is very good that this kid has this kind of heart. Lin replied: "Brother, if you have this kind of heart, I will be very satisfied. You can just check this matter casually. Don't take it too seriously."
Forehead……
Zhu Cijiong was speechless. This was the first time that Lin Fan called him brother and called himself brother. How could this title make him feel obedient?
"Ahem! Sir, we still have to pay attention to our status."
Zhu Cijiong coughed twice and said.
Lin Fan said in a deep voice: "From now on, in front of outsiders, you call me Sir. When no one is around, you should call me Big Brother. From now on, we will treat each other as brothers."
Lin Fan thought to himself that he was also this boy's brother, so he had to let him get used to this identity in advance.
Zhu Cijiong was a little excited at this time. This Lin Fan wanted to be worthy of his brother. This was a very good sign!
In the future, my younger brother will ascend the throne. As an older brother, can he still help me?
Whoever dares to shake his position in the Ming Dynasty must be the first to help him.
"Since the Lord has this request, I have no choice but to obey."
Zhu Cijiong said in a deep voice.
When Lin Fan saw that Zhu Cijiong agreed, he said: "In the past few days, I need to pay more attention to everything in the city. Don't care about the big or small. The smaller the matter, the more likely it is that problems will arise."
"You also heard what happened at Fayuan Temple yesterday. These people are going to cause trouble in the capital. As expected, my assassination yesterday was also related to them."
When Zhu Cijiong heard this, he said coldly: "Brother, since it is related to the people from Fayuan Temple, I will go and arrest them all now!"
"If you arrest them now and the people behind them stop, won't we be able to find nothing?
It’s better for us to investigate secretly.”
Lin Fan said in a deep voice.
After that, Lin Fan went to the Baihu Division's Yamen. The Zhuque Division led by Zhu Cijiong was still not as good as the Baihu Division in terms of ability to handle affairs. The important things had to be done by the Baihu Division.
"Has anything unusual happened in the city recently?"
Lin Fan asked.
"Sir, there's nothing unusual about it. It's just that the price of salt in the city has risen so much recently, it's tripled at least!"
Reports from hundreds of households in Baihu Division.
"Three times?
How come there are so many!”
Lin Fan said in shock.
You should know that the current price of salt is about 310 Wen per catty for clear salt, while the price of coarse salt is about 150 Wen per catty.
Although in the late Ming Dynasty, the control over salt was not so strict. After salt merchants obtained the salt quota, some secretly mined the salt themselves.
However, the price of salt was controlled by the imperial court, and no one dared to raise the price of salt without permission.
"According to what the villain knows, it seems that a few days ago, there was a problem in the salt fields in Hebei, Tianjin, and the coastal areas. The salt-making equipment was inexplicably damaged. Moreover, most of the salt-producing wells and mines no longer produce salt."
Baihu said in a deep voice.
"How could such a thing happen!"
Lin Fan said in shock.
Lin Fan would definitely not be surprised if there was only one salt farm like this, but there is something wrong with all the salt farms, that is, someone is doing something secretly.
They dared to attack salt, and were able to destroy the main salt fields of the Ming Dynasty so quickly. These salt merchants were able to respond so quickly and raise the price of salt.
If you say they were not involved in this matter, you won’t believe it!
Since these salt merchants dare to cause trouble, don't blame yourself for being responsible for them all.
"Sir, do you want our Jin Yiwei to investigate this matter strictly?
Those salt merchants don’t dare to openly raise prices now, and all the salt is sold privately.”
Baihu said in a deep voice.
"Let them go. If Jinyiwei's inspection is too strict and the people can't even eat salt, you should immediately send someone to check to see if the price of salt elsewhere has also skyrocketed."
Lin Fan said.
"Yes! Sir!"
The Jinyiwei Baihu Division dispatched more than half of the Jinyiwei that day to investigate the matter throughout the Ming Dynasty, and found that the price of salt elsewhere had risen even more outrageously, with coarse salt selling for one tael of silver per pound.
After Lin Fan learned about this, he clenched his fists. This group of boundless businessmen actually dared to touch his bottom line.
Since they are so ruthless, there will be no more salt merchants in the Ming Dynasty!
In the early morning session of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, Emperor Chongzhen sat on the dragon throne worriedly, with murderous intent flashing in his eyes. He had also heard about the soaring price of salt in the past few days. This matter was imminent and must be resolved quickly.
The officials standing below also sensed Emperor Chongzhen's murderous intention and knew that it was because of the soaring price of salt. This kind of thing was a matter that was transferred to the Salt Envoy. Naturally, they would not take a trip into this muddy water.