Han Yu spent four days inspecting the port area of Hekou Town this time, and most of the time was spent on the road. When they returned to the county town, they felt a special atmosphere. Han Yu felt strange. He arranged for the two stewards to
After leaving the county post office, he went directly to the county government office.
As soon as he entered the official room, Xu Jian, an aide, came up to him and said: "County Lord, something big has happened!"
"What happened?"
Xu Jian glanced outside and saw several county officials standing outside, peeking their heads in this direction. He pulled Han Yu into the room, closed the door and said: "Yesterday morning, there was a large-scale armed fight in the salt fields outside Dongcheng. Deaths occurred.
Killed more than a dozen people and injured dozens more."
Han Yu was startled and asked quickly: "What exactly happened?"
"I heard that the Gao family and the Miao family reached a compromise two days ago. The two families went to the Fei family to negotiate the distribution of salt fields. However, the Fei family had a tough attitude and refused to give in. They insisted on dividing the salt fields according to the ratio of 6 to 2. The negotiation between the three families failed.
Yesterday morning, the Gaomiao family went to demarcate the land boundary themselves, which triggered strong resistance from the Fei family, and a fight broke out."
Han Yu knew the root cause of this. In order to sow discord between the three families, Li Bin, the former governor of Cangzhou, rewarded the three families with 20,000 acres of salt fields, but refused to clearly divide the salt fields. He just let them negotiate the distribution among themselves.
The Fei family believed that this was a benefit they had fought for, and the Fei family should take the lion's share. The Fei family insisted on dividing the money in a ratio of 6,22, while the other two families demanded an equal share. The most they could compromise was a ratio of 4,33, which led to many conflicts among the three families.
The previous county magistrates had to suppress them vigorously when they arrived, causing the three families to temporarily put aside their grudges and unite with the outside world. However, Han Yu's arrival was very low-key, especially throwing out a big gift package. The Salt and Iron Company intended to buy the salt fields in everyone's hands at twice the market price.
In the face of real interests, the three companies began to compete fiercely.
"Who are all the dead?" Han Yu asked again.
"Basically they are from the Gao Miao family. They have no weapons, and the other side came with force and preparedness. This time it was more serious. Gao Changxin, the youngest son of Gao Song, the head of the Gao family, was hacked to death on the spot. Gao Song's other nephew was also killed.
He died, and a member of the Miao family also died. Miao Dazhi, Zhang Tao’s brother-in-law, who took the lead in besieging the county king last time, was seriously injured and died."
Han Yu looked solemn. This time the situation was really serious. In the past, fighting only hurt people, and even if someone was killed, it was a servant or a salt worker. But this time, the legitimate son of the family was killed, and the feud was serious.
"That Miao Dazhi is also his legitimate son!"
Xu Jian nodded, "I heard that he is the son of the head of the Miao family, but some say he is a nephew. The details are not clear, but he must be the legitimate son."
"What about the Fei family's attitude?"
"Last night in the afternoon, the Gao and Miao families carried the body to Fei's house to ask for an explanation. The door of Fei's house was closed and they ignored him."
"What will be the result next?" Han Yu asked.
Xu Jian shook his head, "No one knows what the outcome will be next, but one thing is for sure, the Gao and Miao families will never give up!"
At this time, the voice of County Lieutenant Zhang Tao came from outside the door, "Is County Magistrate Han back?"
Han Yu quickly stepped forward to open the door and said with a smile: "I just came back!"
"I saw Magistrate Han's horse outside. I guess the magistrate is back."
"Is there something wrong with Lieutenant Zhang?"
Zhang Tao nodded, glanced at Xu Jian, but hesitated to speak.
Xu Jian immediately understood and said with a smile: "I happen to have something to do, you guys can chat!"
He hurried away. Zhang Tao walked into the house, closed the door, and said solemnly: "There is something I want to discuss with County Magistrate Han."
"Lieutenant Zhang, please take a seat!"
The two sat down, Zhang Tao was silent for a moment and said: "The Fei family has actually been colluding with Zhu Tao."
Han Yu was startled and said, "Lieutenant Zhang, this is not something you say casually."
"Of course I know what I'm talking about!"
Zhang Tao sneered and said: "The Miao family knows this, and the Gao family also knows that the Fei family has a daughter who is Zhu Tao's concubine, that's why he is so powerful, and the family will swallow up more than half of the 20,000 acres of salt fields.
Resolutely refuse to give in."
"This...can only prove his past! Now that Zhu Tao has gone to Liaodong, the Fei family should have severed ties with Zhu Tao."
Zhang Tao shook his head, "When I talk about the collusion between the two, I not only mean that the Fei family was strong in the past, I also mean that now, the Fei family still colludes with Zhu Tao."
"Do you have any evidence?"
"Of course there is. There is a man in the Fei family called Fei Lu. His real name is Peng Lu. He came from Liaodong last month. He is Zhu Tao's personal guard. He brought a personal letter from Zhu Tao."
After Zhang Tao left, Han Yu immediately summoned Xu Jian and three others and told them what Zhang Tao had said.
Xu Jian frowned and said, "It seems that the Gaomiao family wants us to take action, but how credible is what Zhang Tao said?"
"I think this is very credible!"
Ma Qingchuan smiled and said: "Even the names have been mentioned. Besides, isn't this what we expected? If we seize the Fei family's handle and deal with him, the people in the county will have nothing to say. The Gaomiao family even supports us.
We can give it a try."
Yang Jun also made it clear: "As long as the county master makes up his mind, we will be responsible for arresting people and searching letters!"
Han Yu walked a few steps with his hands behind his back: "We can't do this alone. We must ask the garrison for support. Can General Yang send an eagle message to His Highness the King of Jin?"
Yang Jun took out a gold medal from his arms and said with a smile: "His Royal Highness the King of Jin has expected that you will ask for troops to be stationed, so he specially gave me this gold medal. As long as he is in Cangzhou, he can mobilize 500 troops."
Han Yu was overjoyed and asked quickly: "Are you leaving now?"
"I will rush to the Zhongyan Fields now and ask the garrison to come to support me. Before I come back, please try not to disturb the Fei family."
The Jin army currently has 3,000 troops stationed in Cangzhou, mainly guarding major salt fields and ports. The Zhong Salt Field where Yang Jun went is only a hundred miles away from the county seat and can be reached in one day. Yang Jun led a few followers and set off immediately.
Han Yu fell ill at this critical moment. He didn't see anyone and was recovering at home.
Although the Fei family maintained an indifferent attitude, it did not mean that they did not pay attention to the serious consequences of this armed fight.
In the middle hall of the Fei Mansion, the head of the family, Fei Cheng, had a gloomy face and listened to the report of his eldest son Fei Yang without saying a word.
Fei Cheng is about sixty years old, has a hot temper, but is not in good health. A few years ago, he got angry and suffered a cerebral infarction and collapsed. He has been paralyzed ever since.
"Father, we did go too far this time. We killed two legitimate sons of the Gao family and a legitimate son of the Miao family. This has never happened before. How can the Gao and Miao families be willing to let it go? Father, we should apologize and compensate.
It's one thing not to forgive, but we can't let the situation escalate and the three families will become enemies from now on, which will make life difficult for our Fei family in the future."
Although Fei Cheng had the word "sincerity" in his name, he didn't have any sincerity in his heart. He snorted coldly, "Who did it first? If Miao Dazhi hadn't beaten Manager Liu to death with an iron rod first, his head would have been opened.
Are we going to kill him? Also, your brother Fei Xing’s legs were broken into seven or eight pieces and he may not be able to stand up for the rest of his life. Why don’t they come to apologize?”
"Father, there have been countless armed fights before, but they have never been as tragic as this one. The more I think about it, the more wrong it becomes. I always feel that it is a bit strange."
"What do you think is wrong?"
"Father, after the new county magistrate came, a lot of things happened. On the surface, the reason for this fight was over the distribution of salt fields, but the root cause was that the Salt and Iron Division was willing to purchase the salt fields at twice the market price. This is what the new county magistrate said
, but we don’t know whether the news is true or false,”
"You mean to say that the new county magistrate deliberately provoked a fight between our three families by taking retreat as a means of advancing?"
"My child is indeed so suspicious."
Fei Cheng thought for a while and said: "Let's do this! Send someone to the Zhanghekou Salt and Iron Bureau to inquire and see if there is any news about it, but I guess they may not know about it. We have to ask Chang'an about it."
"If the news is true, Magistrate Han cannot take it lightly."
Fei Cheng snorted heavily and gritted his teeth: "If this news is false, I will definitely break this dog official's legs!"