It is deeper and deeper, and the cool breeze blows from the ridges of the rows of houses. People stand under the courtyard and look at the night sky like a well.
Zhang Yan, the salt and iron envoy, was dressed in a green shirt and stood under a laurel tree, looking at the shadow of the eaves under the waning moon, with his hands behind his back and two letters in his hands.
A letter was sent by Zhang Xie's son, Zhang Xitong, the chief minister of Prince Ning today. Zhang Xitong is worried that if the Jiangdong Left Army secretly takes charge of the recruitment of bandits, it is likely that Chongzhou's power and ambition will expand beyond control. , became a harm to the imperial court, and wanted to discuss a countermeasure with Zhang Yan.
The letter was an official letter sent by Liang Wenzhan, the magistrate of Shanyang County, who was informed of Shanyang Ma's suspicion of transporting a large amount of private salt from the Baitang River for profit. The letter informed the Salt and Iron Envoy to send officials to assist in investigating the case.
The private gangs have always been under the jurisdiction of the Salt and Iron Division. Shanyang County sent an official letter, which is in compliance with the regulations. However, Ma's home has been raided by Shanyang County. At this time, the Salt and Iron Division is asked to send officials there, but It was the crime of using the sword of the Salt and Iron Division to get into the Shima family.
Shen Rong was wearing a crimson official robe and said: "Master Zhang should go to Shanyang himself..."
Zhang Yan looked up at the night moon on the patio and frowned.
He admired Lin Fu very much at first, but because Tang Haoxin died in Qingzhou, he knew that there was no room for change between him and Lin Fu.
At the beginning of the year, Lin Fu used the name of keeping filial piety to guard Chongzhou, but secretly sneaked to Jinhai, threatened by the Jinhai grain road, promoted the "salt and silver guarantee grain" matter, and directly tied the salt interests of the two Huaihe Rivers to the Jinhai grain road.
From then on, the Lianghuai Salt and Iron Division became a vassal of Jinhai Liangdao, and Zhang Yan was so angry that he vomited blood.
After Dong Yuan Tiwei Yang marched into eastern Zhejiang and served as the envoy to the two Zhejiang provinces, Shen Rong got the help of Yue Lengqiu and became aware of Weiyang Mansion affairs, and finally became a powerful figure with independent power in Jiangdong County.
Shen Rong almost died at the hands of thieves at Luoyang Lake, but it was Lin Fu who was secretly causing trouble. Shen Rong knew it, but he couldn't express his pain, and later in Dongyang, he was suppressed by Gu Wuchen and Lin Tingli until he couldn't lift his head. Although he has been an official in Dongyang Mansion for a long time, he is very hostile to the Dongyang clan.
Shen Rong and Zhang Yan were both in Weiyang City. Although they were giants and did not belong to each other, they had to face the rising power of Dongyang together in Jiangdong County, so they naturally became very close.
"Liu Tingzhou has gone to Xuzhou, how does Lord Shen think Governor Yue will view the recruitment and surrender?" Zhang Yan asked.
Shen Rong frowned slightly, Lin Fu was faced with a dilemma.
Although Yue Lengqiu's three secret seals were folded in Liu Tingzhou's hands, Shen Rong, as Yue Lengqiu's new direct descendant, knew about it. When Liu Tingzhou recruited the Huai army, he also secretly made a powerful move. Unexpectedly, Lin Fu would not take advantage of their trap at all.
Yue Lengqiu was besieged in Xuzhou. In order to get out of trouble, he would naturally not object to surrendering. But with thieves in the heart of the country, Huai'an had to station heavy troops for defense. When the time comes, he will drive the Jiangdong Left Army back to Chongzhou. I'm afraid it will be Huai'an. Officials and gentry will be the first to jump out and object.
Regardless of whether there is a Huaidong system or not, it will be difficult to restrict Lin Fu's tentacles from reaching Huai'an.
"I can't guess how the Governor Yue will make a decision, but at this time we need to stop Lin Fu from stretching too deep and too long in Huai'an," Shen Rong said. "After Mr. Zhang goes to Shanyang, he must find a way to let Liu Tingzhou go first." I’m really anxious to come back to Huai’an…”
Zhang Yan nodded. Liu Tingzhou and Lin Fu fought fiercely in Huai'an. Liu Tingzhou is a trustworthy person. At present, it seems that Liu Tingzhou can only be used to restrict Lin Fu in Huai'an.
All the salt produced in the Lianghuai salt area needs to be transported to the Weiyang salt warehouse. The Salt and Iron Department collects the salt for ten yuan per bucket, and then resells it to salt merchants in various places for an additional two hundred yuan. This is the main form of official operation of Huaiyan salt.
In order to ensure that the Salt and Iron Division can make huge profits from the salt industry every year, the Salt and Iron Division maintains a team of salt soldiers of up to 20,000 people to ensure the production and transshipment of salt areas and combat illegal salt trafficking.
Since salt profits were so huge, private lords were naturally constantly attacked, so there was a saying that official salt came out of Weiyang, and private salt came out of Huai'an.
Zhang Yan has been in charge of the Lianghuai Salt and Iron Division for thirteen years. How can he not be clear about the tricks involved?
Conservatively speaking, the salt produced in the Lianghuai Salt Region is divided equally between official and private, but if we really conduct a thorough investigation, Zhang Yan would not be too surprised if the ratio is one official and two private, or even three official and one private.
The Huai'an Prefecture's huge profits from private salt alone are enough to make people salivate.
It is definitely not a coincidence that Lin Fu tried out the sword in a horse suit in Huai'an.
*************
In Shanyang County, there is a courtyard at the east end of the county government office, called Wenqing Garden. It was originally the Ma family's private garden in the city, but now it has become Lin Fu's residence in Shanyang County.
The garden is not big, with four or five acres of land, but it has water towers, pavilions, courtyards, mountains and ponds, and is very exquisite and quiet.
The east wing is a waterside pavilion with a circular corridor. In the middle is a pond with pavilions and lotus flowers in full bloom. There is a rockery made of lake rocks standing in the water. It is surrounded by an exquisitely carved circular corridor. On the corridor is a wooden building. People live upstairs on hot summer nights.
, and I don’t feel hot either.
In the pavilion at the corner of the courtyard, Lin Fu and Shanyang Magistrate Liang Wenzhan were sitting across the table, drinking tea and talking. The county magistrate Liu Tao stood in front of the pavilion and reported the inspection in detail.
Liu Tao led a team to inspect Ma's property and property in Shanyang. After three consecutive days of inventory, he came up with a roughly accurate figure. Of course, many incidents occurred during this period.
During the raid on Ma's house, twelve people from the clerk's office, subordinate staff and government officials secretly hid gold and silver treasures and found them. They all had eighty sticks and were imprisoned.
Among the twelve people, two were killed with a cane on the spot, and three died of serious injuries in prison. However, the matter was not over yet. Liang Wenzhan also found out that these twelve people had been corrupt and perverted the law, opened the gate of the county government, and accepted the county people.
Complaint.
Now four people have been proven guilty of corruption, and they were all implicated in the serious crime of liaising with salt lords. Naturally, their family properties were confiscated. What is shocking is that each of these four ordinary people has thousands of dollars in their families.
A private collection of tens of thousands of taels of silver ingots.
As an official in this world, how many people are innocent?
When Liu Tao led a team to search other people's property, he also felt the cool breeze on his neck.
Lin Fu looked through the detailed accounts, treasures and other items. He didn't know much about the goods and didn't care much about them.
The so-called gold in troubled times is collected in prosperous times. In troubled times, these treasures depreciate greatly. You can wait for Zhang Yan to come and use them to deal with him. The jurisdiction over the major private gang cases lies with Yantieguan, who rushes to start here. Zhang Yan comes and also
We can't ignore some of his benefits.
In addition to rare treasures, the three silver cellars unearthed by the Ma family also contained more than 300 cast silver balls with one thousand taels each, as well as 780,000 to 80,000 taels of loose silver, more than 10,000 taels of gold ingots, and about 40,000 taels of silver.
One hundred and seventy thousand taels...
What a big fat pig.
Lin Fu planned in his mind that by killing all the gangsters and salt merchants in the three prefectures of Huaidong, it would not be a problem to raise 100,000 elites.
"All the treasures and treasures are sealed in the warehouse until the Salt and Iron Department sends personnel to check." Lin Fu placed the inspection details on the cool stone table. "The war was wasted, and the gold and silver ingots were all borrowed as military supplies. Waiting for the Salt and Iron Department to check
The department will send officials over and explain the accounts clearly to them. After the war is over, how much military supplies will be used here, and then the remainder will be returned after discounts... Do you think this is a good deal?"
"It all depends on the system and the envoys," Liang Wenzhan said.
"It all depends on the system and the envoys." Liu Tao could only follow suit.
The meat buns beat the dogs, and 470,000 taels of gold and silver went into the pockets of the Jiangdong Zuojun. Who has the instinct to make the Jiangdong Zuojun spit out even a centimeter of silver? Lin Fu can give a detailed account, which is already considered considerable.
You're polite, otherwise he changed the 470,000 taels of silver into 47,000 taels of silver with a stroke of his pen, and the court would have to admit it.
Zhang Yan, as the Salt and Iron Department, had jurisdiction over the private gangster case, but Lin Fu took action first. How could he still lead his troops to snatch back the gold and silver?
If the Salt and Iron Division had this capability, there would be no need for the Jiangdong Left Army to forcefully seize the Hecheng Grassland.
It’s not surprising to say that the Jiangdong Left Army’s troops in Huai’an include Gu Siyuan’s tribe and the remnants of the Huaihe Army. There are thirty-three battalions of naval infantry and cavalry, with a total of more than 22,000 people. In addition, there are also workers and supplies battalions.
More than 4,000 soldiers——Liu Tao understood how huge the waste of military resources was.
Shanyang has long maintained four battalions of county soldiers according to the standards of the town army. The money and food have come from donations from the Ma family and other wealthy merchants in Shanyang. Liu Tao had an idea of how much money it would cost to raise the soldiers.
The food and grass supplies for the Jiangdong Left Army fighting in Huaisi were shared among the counties in the three prefectures of Huaidong. The regular soldiers drew six dou of japonica rice and three coins of silver per head per month, while the auxiliary and handymen took five dou of miscellaneous grain and two coins of silver.
Damage to armor, arrows, ordnance, ships, and supplies required for building camps will be accounted for separately.
Previously, General Liu Tingzhou was in charge of the affairs, but now General Zhang Yubo was in charge.
Of course, with this standard in Huaihe, it is simply not enough to maintain the Jiangdong Left Army's operational needs in the Huaisi area.
Lin Fu had previously plundered 300,000 taels of silver from the Ma family. In addition to the expansion of the guard battalion and the reorganization of the Huai'an army, the rest of the money was just enough to make up for the deficit in the past two months.
If the war continues, this new 470,000 taels of silver can at most cover the deficit for two to three months.
But for Lin Fu, the biggest advantage is that the troops are divided between the two sides. The troops and horses on the Sisheng defense line are subsidized by Haiyu County and Pingjiang Prefecture for food and grass supplies. The pressure on Chongzhou during this period is greatly reduced. The remaining money can be used for
Carry out reserves of grain, ordnance, cloth, wood, coal, iron and other materials.
“What to do with the seized property,” Liang Wenzhan asked, “until the Salt and Iron Department sends officials to take over?
After Ma Fu's death, the Ma family was leaderless, and Shanyang County acted very quickly. No one from the Ma family who was in charge of affairs outside could rush back in time. The Ma family's property in Shanyang was not transferred out in time, and was copied.
Upright.
In addition to Tibetan silver, land deeds and house deeds are even more valuable.
The Ma family owns land of up to 230,000 acres in Huai'an, Hailing, Weiyang, Jiangning and other places; in addition, there are more than ten houses in Shanyang, Huai'an, Weiyang, Jiangning and other places, and Ma's salt shop is even distributed
Jiangdong, Hunan, Jingbei, Zhongzhou, Shandong, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and other counties.
These are the real accumulations of generations of salt lords from the Ma family.
Outside the two counties of Shanyang and Huai'an, Lin Fu's whip is beyond his reach, so he will naturally leave it to the Salt and Iron Division. It depends on what ability the Salt and Iron Division has to share the wealth with these local officials. But in Shanyang and Huai'an counties, the Ma family has
The farm covers an area of 160,000 acres, and there are seven houses and restaurants. Lin Fu will not let it go.
"More than 14,000 soldiers of the Huaihe River Army went north because of the Ma family, but less than 4,000 people survived," Lin Fu frowned slightly and said, "Searching the land, I think it can be used to compensate for the casualties, so that we can atone for the Ma family's sins."
It is difficult to count the number of casualties. Pensions began with the wounded soldiers, and each person was given ten acres of land. In addition, the Huaihe Army was able to hold on until reinforcements arrived. It was only because of the general's work that the Ma family's other two houses in Shanyang County were separated.
As soon as a person enters the house, he will be given twenty acres of land. Other generals who have made meritorious deeds will be rewarded three to five acres or ten acres of land, but their merits will be calculated after the Huaihe army returns to Shanyang... All the remaining fields will be confiscated.
To make up for the shortage of resources, I think the salt and iron envoy Mr. Zhang and the prefect Liu will not have any objections to this disposal."
It's like hell if you don't have any opinions. If you have the ability, wait for Zhang Yan to come over and Liu Tingzhou to come back and discuss how to deal with this matter? Liu Tao slandered.
No matter how much he had objections, Liu Tao could only act as a yes man. He also understood that Liang Wenzhan had completely surrendered to the Dongyang Party.
The Shanyang County soldiers have been able to achieve such a scale and strength over the years because of the support of Ma and other salt merchants. The remnants of the Huaihe crossing army are also mainly composed of Shanyang County soldiers. Lin Fu did this to make these remaining generals follow
The Ma family profited from the corpses and completely severed ties with their previous benefactors.
Lin Fu then discussed with Liang Wenzhan and Liu Tao about rebuilding the Shanyang County Army.
Shanyang County and Feixiaji are mutually exclusive and are the first strategic location in eastern Huai'an. Lin Fu does not need to station troops in other places in Huai'an, but Lin Fu must directly control Shanyang and Feixiaji on the north bank.
in hand.
Although the Shanyang County Army was established by the Huai'an Prefecture Army, Lin Fu was not polite and directly intervened in the reconstruction of the Shanyang County Army.
Nowadays, Zhou Pu leads more than 400 armored light cavalry to take charge of the city defense of Shanyang County; the previous three squads of yamen officers have also been disbanded, and the wounded soldiers who returned from the south selected 20 or 30 recovered generals to be incorporated into the third squadron of yamen servants to maintain the city defense.
Basic public security in urban and rural areas.
Not counting the wounded soldiers of the Jiangdong Left Army, after withdrawing from Siyang, the Huaihe River Crossing Army had more than 1,100 wounded soldiers entering the sick camp.
In the past few days, there have not been many people who have been cured. Nearly 200 people have died of serious injuries in the injury camp. However, there are still more than 800 people who are lucky to survive and their injuries are becoming increasingly stable.
Excluding those who are disabled, almost 700 people can return to the team after recovering from their injuries. Recruit some Ding Yong and select some people who can lead the team from the wounded soldiers of Jiangdong Left Army. Two battalions of elite soldiers can be formed. Combat strength
They will not be any worse than the previous Shanyang County soldiers, and can basically guarantee the city defense needs of Shanyang County.
Liu Tao stood on the side, listening to Lin Fu and Liang Wenzhan discussing the matter of rebuilding the county army, and he understood more and more why Lin Fu insisted on paying for the casualties first, starting with the wounded soldiers.