"What, one hundred thousand stones, isn't this only one-fifth of the output at its peak?" Wang Junlin frowned tightly.
Qian Zhengkuo said: "That's right, so the income of the salt industry has also dropped sharply. Looking for the reasons, one is that the salt field has always been government-run, and the salt workers have lost their enthusiasm over time and are just getting by. The other is that there are serious pirates along the coast.
Pirates often come ashore to rob the saltworks, which affects the operation of the saltworks. Thirdly, there are still many rich and powerful salt traders on the long coastline of Fanyang County who are engaged in cooking and selling salt for private purposes!"
After Qian Zhengkuo finished speaking, Wang Junlin suddenly stared at him but did not speak.
Qian Zhengkuo felt a little uneasy under Wang Junlin's knife-like gaze, and couldn't help but said: "I wonder if there is anything else you would like to tell me?"
Wang Junlin took out a letter from his sleeve and said with a smile: "Qian Zhengkuo, as soon as I entered the county government office this morning, I found a letter on the table. The content was that someone reported you, saying that you Qian Zhengkuo
Is it possible that a rich man accepted bribes, connived at and colluded with private salt traders, and even colluded with pirates to enrich his own pockets?"
Qian Zhengkuo had a guilty conscience to begin with. After hearing Wang Junlin's words, his face turned pale with fright. He no longer had the calm demeanor he had just before. He immediately knelt on the ground, sweating like rain.
He knows the attitude of the prefect in front of him towards corrupt officials. The death of four officials in Changxiang County is a lesson learned from the past. The prefect even killed Lu Jiandong, a direct descendant of the Lu family, let alone someone from an ordinary noble family like him.
officials.
Qian Zhengkuo raised his head and looked at the fatal real-name report letter in Wang Junlin's hand. The only person who could place the letter in the prefect's room was an official in the county government.
It's just that almost every county official knows about the salt business, but those who know are more or less involved. They are all grasshoppers on a rope, so they should not report him.
"Could it be that a certain petty official happened to know about this and was jealous, so he reported it to the prefect? As long as you give me some time, I will be able to track it down!" Qian Zhengkuo secretly felt cruel in his heart.
But at this time, Wang Junlin's voice sounded again: "Qian Zhengkuo, according to what is said in this letter, what you have done is not an exaggeration for me to chop your head off ten times. What explanation do you want to give?"
"Xiaguan...Xiaguan..."
Just when Qian Zhengkuo was sweating profusely, his mind was running rapidly, thinking about what to say, and thinking about getting over the hurdle in front of him first, Wang Junlin did something that surprised and shocked him!
Under the witness of Qian Zhengkuo, Wang Junlin rubbed the letter with both hands. The letter turned into very small crumbs and fell to the ground. No one could know the content of the letter.
Qian Zhengkuo was stunned for a moment and said, "Sir, this..."
Wang Junlin smiled slightly and said: "I am new here, how can I arbitrarily accuse him of being an official just because of a letter? Besides, this person does things secretly, and he dare not report it to you openly. I am afraid he has ulterior motives and is trying to sow discord between you and me.
The relationship between them disrupts the normal operation of our county government."
Apparently Wang Junlin crushed a letter with nothing written on it into scraps of paper to scare and deceive Qian Zhengkuo, and it is easy to kill a small character like Qian Zhengkuo, but it is useless if the problem of the salt field cannot be solved, and to solve the problem of the salt field
The problem needs to be solved by the Lu family...
Although there was already a Yushitai in the Sui Dynasty, and three provinces and six ministries were initially established, the supervision system for officials, especially the supervision of local officials, was almost non-existent. Now it seems that the blue-clad guards and the private spy organization around the emperor can be regarded as
There are some supervisory forces, but with so many counties and officials in the Sui Dynasty, who can supervise them? In this way, no matter whether the officials are from the family, ordinary nobles, or confidants sent by the emperor, there is not much restraint.
You can only rely on self-awareness and self-discipline.
Perhaps when these officials first became officials, they thought about being a good official, doing their job well, and being honest and upright. In the first one or two years, they still adhered to their bottom line and refused all bribes of money, silk, and jewelry. But people always have mistakes.
Those with weak points include those who are lustful, those who are good at wine, those who are good at jade, and even those who are good men. As long as people have hobbies and shortcomings, they are considered to have loopholes. This line of defense will soon be replaced by local elites.
Nobles, colleagues, tyrants, and merchants sent beautiful women, wine and meat, gold and silver, jade, and treasures to conquer the city, and it fell deeper and deeper.
Slowly, some of the first good officials also forgot their original intentions and lost their bottom line in being an official and a human being. At the same time, they also developed their own preferences and tasted the beauty of money, the beauty of beautiful women, and the enjoyment of material things.
Turning a blind eye to illegal activities within the jurisdiction, and even colluding with them in exchange for money and beauty, they only focus on material enjoyment all day long, and their spirits are completely ruined.
Of course Wang Junlin knew that the salt tax salt field was very deep, and there were probably many officials involved. If it was revealed, it might cause the entire officialdom of Fanyang County to collapse from top to bottom. He suspected that Ying Yanglang, the confidant sent by Yang Guang,
General Xue Li may have been dragged into the water.
In fact, if Wang Junlin looked at neighboring counties, or even looked at the entire officialdom of the Sui Dynasty, it would not be difficult to find that although the Sui Dynasty was founded less than thirty years ago, corruption was rampant among all officials from top to bottom.
This kind of behavior has long been commonplace, and those who are not corrupt may be outliers.
As for officials, they only want to make money and enjoy themselves. The people below them will have worse consciousness than them. They will naturally follow their example. Then the common people in the world, including all officials and nobles, will be the unlucky ones in the end.
It is actually wrong to say that they are drinking the blood of the common people and eating the flesh of the common people.
Since the founding of the Sui Dynasty, there has been no official in the world who can strictly discipline himself and not accept a single bribe or embezzle a single penny!
Except maybe one person, that is Wang Junlin...
If you think about it carefully, Wang Junlin has never been involved in corruption or bribery, and on the other hand, he spent an unknown amount of his own money on official matters.
As for the others? The education that the officials of the Sui Dynasty received from aristocrats and the examples of their elders had already determined what kind of officials they would be. As for the aristocratic clans themselves, not to mention, they were originally born in the Sui Dynasty or the great officials of the Sui Dynasty.
The blood-sucking bugs on the Sui people were the kind that would never fall off and suck blood all the time.
But if what these people are drinking is the money that was originally handed over to the treasury, and the amount is not small, then one of them will be unhappy and will not hesitate to kill for it.
This person is naturally His Majesty the Emperor, but the problem is that Yang Guang only thinks that these damn people dare to embezzle my money, so they deserve to die, and does not think about anything else.