Instead of giving away the two thousand taels of silver, Li Shaoyuan took himself in. He was immediately detained by the county magistrate Jiang Yinong.
With the help of the internal guards, the county magistrate Jiang Yinong handled the case vigorously and resolutely. Under the testimony of the supervisor Huang Qianshan, Li Shaoyuan was arrested. An oath was found from his home, and three restaurants and five wine shops formed a rivalry.
The Liquor Alliance also found two thousand imitation Meishou wine bottles in the cellar of Ma Shaoyuan's home.
It can be said that there are all witnesses and material evidence. Jiang Yinong followed the clues and eliminated all the participants on the swear list. Except for the owner of Hanbi Wine Shop, Zhang Jianwu, the owner of Meishou Wine Shop, Guo Ping, personally guaranteed him, exempting him from prosecution.
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This was a serious case of unfair commercial competition. The county magistrate Jiang Yinong immediately made a verdict. The principal culprit Li Shaoyuan was sentenced to ten years in prison, exiled to Anxi, and given a hundred sticks. The Lanling Restaurant under his name was confiscated.
The rest are all accomplices and are sentenced to prison terms ranging from one year to several months, as well as heavy fines.
This case was immediately reported in detail by "Chang'an Express" and caused a sensation in Chang'an the next day.
In the Jin Palace, Xue Tao put down the newspaper and said to her husband with some worry: "Husband, is this Li Shaoyuan's sentence too harsh?"
Guo Song took a sip of tea and said with a smile: "Are you implying that I exerted influence on this case?"
Dugu Youlan next to her pursed her lips and smiled and said: "Because Meishou Wine Shop is related to you, people can't help but dream about it."
Guo Song chuckled, "There are two of us, who else? Does Min Qiu have the same idea? Where's Caichun?"
Liu Caichun quickly raised his hands and said with a smile: "First of all, let me state that it has nothing to do with me. I don't even know what's going on?"
Min Qiu curled her lips and whispered: "Pretend! My eldest sister has already told you."
Liu Caichun blushed and quickly explained: "Although the eldest sister told me about this matter, I am still confused."
"Let me explain it to you!"
Guo Song smiled and said: "This case is not big at all, but it is not small at all. It is a test of the county magistrate's ability to solve the case. It can be seen that the county magistrate's case was divided into two because the conspiracy did not succeed.
No losses were caused, so several accomplices were given light sentences, with a minimum of three months and a maximum of one year. However, this was the first commercial malicious frame-up case in Jin State, and it was necessary to set a benchmark to warn other businessmen, so
The main culprit was sentenced to a very severe sentence, with ten years in prison and exile in Anxi. I believe that after this case, businessmen in Jin will be more restrained and will not dare to easily use despicable means to deal with their colleagues."
Xue Tao nodded, "I understand, this Li Shaoyuan is an unlucky guy. Who let him encounter the Meishou Liquor Shop, so I used him to kill him as a warning to others."
"It can be said that in fact, I am not very concerned about this case. I have been paying more attention to Lucheng County in Hebei Province in the past two days. Yang Jun sent me an eagle letter saying that the new county magistrate has not arrived at the county government yet, and is on the way.
He was surrounded by three thousand salt farmers and asked him to immediately pay the money he had owed for drying salt for two years. Interestingly, Zhu Tao asked us to repay the labor fees he owed."
"Then what?" several wives asked with concern.
"The new county magistrate is very courageous and agreed immediately, but asked for a one-month delay."
"He wants to ask the imperial court for help?"
Guo Song shook his head, "Probably not. I'm also waiting to see how he breaks the situation in Lucheng County?"
...........
Lucheng County is a medium-sized county with a population of 4,000 households and nearly 20,000 people. The county seat occupies a large area, with a circumference of more than 30 miles, and the houses in the city appear to be sparse.
Generally speaking, most of the cities in coal-producing areas are black, while in salt-producing areas, the cities are white. Lucheng County is a famous salt-producing area. The land here is saline-alkali land, and crops cannot be grown, and food is all gone.
It was brought here through external transfer. In addition, the place was rich in marine fish, and the air throughout the city was filled with a fishy smell.
However, Lucheng County has not produced salt for half a year. The root cause is the property rights of the salt fields. Lucheng County has more than 200,000 acres of salt fields. Ten years ago, every household had a salt field, but Zhu Tao purchased it at a very low price.
All ordinary people's salt fields were turned into government fields. Except for the three major families, the Fei family, the Miao family and the Gao family, no other family was spared.
After Zhu Tao's fall, the State of Jin took over the property of the State of Yan, and of course it also took over the 200,000 acres of official land in Lucheng County. However, the people of Lucheng County gave up and demanded to take back their salt fields. However, the Jin State's salt fields
The Railway Supervisor believed it was a legal sale and did not recognize the demands of the people in Lucheng County, so conflicts arose.
In addition, Li Bin, the governor of Cangzhou, gave nearly 20,000 acres of salt fields to the Fei, Miao and Gao families in order to sow conflicts among them, but did not specify how to allocate them, leaving them to negotiate on their own. Li Bin had already changed his position.
The governor of Shenzhou, but the seeds of conflict he sown back then have grown into towering trees. Until now, Fei, Miao, and Gao have not reached a conclusion through negotiation, even if they are divided equally, which has led to deep conflicts among the three families.
The three county magistrates of the Jin Dynasty failed to resolve the conflicts in Lucheng County, and the fourth county magistrate, Han Yu, took office amidst the turmoil.
Han Yu hadn't taken office yet. As soon as he arrived outside Beicheng, he encountered an intimidating attack. Three thousand salt workers surrounded him and aggressively demanded from him the salt money they had owed for two and a half years, including the money that Yan State had not paid for two and a half years.
The salary is the same as the salary of the Jin State for half a year of work without any effort.
Han Yu agreed to all the other party's requests and promised to pay in one month, and he was able to escape.
Five days passed without any movement from Han Yu. He received visits from county officials and gentry every day.
Two aides of the King of Jin who came with Han Yu joined the army. One was named Xu Jian and the other was named Ma Qingchuan. Both of them were in their thirties. If they were sent abroad, they would be at least sixth-rank officials, either as Sima or as Chief Secretary.
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In front of Han Yu, both of them were seniors, but the King of Jin had ordered them to assist Han Yu in handling the situation in Lucheng. They knew very well that if Han Yu succeeded, his credit would be recorded, and if Han Yu failed, it would mean their failure.
Their interests are actually closely related, so the two of them are fully committed to helping Han.
"After all these days, has Mr. Han discovered any clues?" Xu Jian asked with a smile that afternoon.
Han Yu smiled slightly and said: "I always thought that it was the county magistrate Fei Yang who arranged for the salt workers to surround me, because he was the only one who knew that I came to take office. But the county magistrate Fei Yang told me that it was actually the county captain Zhang who arranged for the salt workers to besiege me.
At Tao's instigation, the young man with a savage face and the loudest shouts was Miao Dazhi, Zhang Tao's brother-in-law and the youngest son of Miao Qing, the head of the Miao family. County captain Zhang Tao actually represented the interests of the Miao family.
"
"What about County Magistrate Fei Yang?" Ma Qingchuan asked.
"Zhang Tao told me that Fei Yang's original surname was not Fei, but Jia. He was the eldest grandson of the Jia family. Fei Yang wanted to be the county magistrate. The death of the first county magistrate was related to him. It was not an accident."
Xu Jian gave a thumbs up and asked with a smile: "There is also Gao Qiao, the chief secretary, who should be from the Gao family!"
Han Yu nodded, "The Lucheng Gao family is actually just a branch of the Bohai Gao family. It is the Luchenfang that ranks the lowest among the eight families of the Gao family. It is not a direct heir, but a concubine, so the Luchenfang is not taken seriously by the Gao family.
Among the three major families in Lucheng County, they are the weakest, but because Gao Qiao's uncle married the Fei family's daughter, the Fei family still takes good care of the Gao family and seems to be joining forces to deal with the Miao family."
"What else can Magistrate Han gain?"
Han Yu added: "I found that the first three county magistrates all had a common characteristic. They were relatively strong. When they took office, they wanted to reorganize the county's order vigorously and vigorously, which led to the three companies joining forces. So I thought it was best to act weaker. On the one hand,
I am young, and the Jinshi last year requires experience but not experience, and courage but not courage. I can feel that everyone looks down on me in their bones..."
Before Han Yu could finish speaking, Yang Jun, who had remained silent, clapped his hands and praised: "What a show of strength with weakness, so clever. I thought the county king was afraid of causing trouble to the salt workers, so he agreed to their conditions. It turns out that the county king had already
I didn’t know any countermeasures and made me worry in vain.”
Xu Jian nodded, "Showing weakness is indeed a good way. Without the other party's pressure, the conflicts between the three families will arise. That's why they will take turns to expose it in front of Mr. Han. What is Mr. Han going to do next?"
Han Yu said calmly: "I plan to purchase their salt fields at twice the market price. In this way, there will be no private salt fields in Lucheng County, but official salt fields. If anyone dares to make trouble again, we will directly send troops to suppress it."
"Can the Salt and Iron Company agree to the purchase at twice the price?" Ma Qingchuan asked.
"It doesn't matter whether the Salt and Iron Company agrees or not. What matters is that if this bone is thrown out, the three families will turn against each other."
Xu Jian and Ma Qingchuan looked at each other, unable to tell that although the county magistrate was young, he was very skilled!