On the wide and gentle water of the canal, a group of about ten large ships formed a long snake formation, heading north in a mighty way.
There were three official ships in front, followed by nearly ten large commercial ships.
Such a formation was quite impressive on the water of the canal, attracting countless curious looks from the ships passing by on the water, but no one dared to approach easily.
This fleet is a joint fleet composed of large ships hired by the investigation team, the Lin family and Xue Pan. It has already set off from Jinling to the capital.
Lin Ruhai was still "ill" at this time, so he simply refused the invitation from the right servant of the Criminal Department, the chief official of the investigation team, on this reason, and stayed leisurely on the big boat hired by the Lin family with his nephew Jia Cong.
"You're so cruel, you dare to write this into a novel, and you're not afraid of getting burned?"
In the cabin, Lin Ruhai held a stack of drafts covered with handwriting, and reminded him with a look of surprise on his pale, sickly face.
The draft he held in his hand was his nephew Jia Cong's new book. The content was all about salt merchants, and some of the plots were quite exciting.
Even with Lin Ruhai's courage, she couldn't help but feel frightened when she saw these plots. This kid really dared to write.
If spread, not to mention the popularity of the story of the Three Kingdoms, as long as one-third is enough to cause an uproar, and may even trigger the imperial court to severely rectify the Yangzhou salt merchants. It is not a joke at all.
"Uncle, since my nephew said in front of the Yangzhou salt merchants that he would teach them a lesson, he must do it!"
The brush in his hand waved like the wind, filling a piece of manuscript paper in the blink of an eye. After hearing this, he stopped and continued writing. Jia Cong had a smile on his face, but what he said was quite domineering: "This novel is the best gift for them.
!”
"Something here is too sensitive and too dark..."
Lin Ruhai smiled bitterly and shook his head. He was very angry at his nephew's audacity, but he couldn't say much. He could only insinuate and remind: "Once it is publicized, be careful of those salt merchants jumping over the wall!"
"Haha, uncle is worrying too much!"
Jia Cong didn't take it seriously, and said calmly and confidently: "In Yangzhou, my nephew may have been worried that the salt merchants would be mad and mad, but when they arrived in the capital, although their power was still not small, they had lost the ability to act randomly!"
Just kidding, the Hachigong family has been operating in the capital for a hundred years, and it goes without saying that they have great energy. If they want to use drastic measures in the capital, they are simply asking for death.
Daqing's Xungui Group is powerful and powerful, unlike the Ming Dynasty Xungui whose backbone was completely broken after the Tumubao Incident. The four kings with different surnames even have extremely powerful troops in their hands. Even the royal family does not dare to easily target the top Xungui.
your group.
It is certain that the supporters behind the Yangzhou salt merchants are definitely not the Xungui Group. Otherwise, the four major families of Jia Shi, Wang Xue and others, as the most powerful local snakes in Jinling, would not be able to get their hands on the benefits of the salt policy.
Even the royal family is unlikely to be the big boss behind the Yangzhou salt merchants.
The emperor's absolute confidant, the most powerful person in Jinling, the Zhen family, has been forcibly isolated from the salt administration. Naturally, it is impossible to bypass the Zhen family and directly support the salt merchants. We cannot afford to lose this person.
Nowadays, the Spring and Autumn Period is at its peak, and the princes below him are not very old, nor are they ready to compete for the throne, so naturally they will not have any major interests entangled with the Yangzhou salt merchants.
Besides, he is now the emperor. Although he is restrained by the emperor, he has never been able to completely control the court, and he will not lower his status and contact the salt merchants directly.
If we really want to support trustworthy salt merchants with white gloves, there are so many imperial merchants in the world to choose from. At least these imperial merchants are more trustworthy and easier to use than salt merchants.
It is also impossible for the military bosses. Due to their current situation, they take military bosses seriously and will not give these military bosses an opportunity to take advantage of them.
Once a military leader controls considerable financial resources, the consequences will be quite dire. Just like a king with a different surname who still controls military power, it is very likely that a new vassal town will be formed. Neither the current emperor nor the emperor will allow it.
The supporters behind the salt merchants were most likely court bosses who relied on the imperial examinations to get their jobs. They belonged to the top civil servant circles, just like the Xue family's position among the four major families in Jinling.
To be honest, Jia Cong was born in a noble family and was naturally opposed to the civil servant group. Even if he offended the civil servant clique, there was no need to worry.
Do you really think the Xungui Group is easy to mess with?
"As long as you know what's going on, kid!"
Lin Ruhai sighed and said helplessly: "I was dragged into the water by your kid this time. I will be in trouble in the future!"
He never expected that his nephew Jia Cong would be so bold as to expose the Yangzhou salt merchants' background in the novel. It would be terrible if it spread out.
It's just that now it's hard for him to get away. When he was sailing and staying temporarily in Jinling, Jia Cong kept asking him about the details of the Yangzhou salt merchants, including the specific steps of selling official salt, and various secrets of selling private salt.
means, etc.
He didn't intend to talk about these situations, but he couldn't resist Jia Cong's insistence. He didn't know that this boy had such courage, so he finally told them all. Of course, they didn't involve the Yanzheng Yamen and the Magistrate's Yamen.
Nothing was said.
Unfortunately, by the time he saw some of the novel manuscripts written by Jia Cong, it was already too late when he realized something was wrong. The novel had basically taken shape, and he was unwilling to take the risk of completely offending Jia Cong by publishing this novel.
The wonderful novel was ruined.
In his heart, he was actually a little wary of Jia Cong's nephew's methods.
Ask yourself, if it were not for the help of his nephew Jia Cong and attracting the attention of the Yangzhou Salt Merchants Association, it would not be so easy for him to escape easily.
The most terrifying thing is Jia Cong's powerful and weird martial arts. Just thinking about it makes my heart go cold. Who would have expected that this kid has the ability to control when to vomit blood? It's amazing.
It is conceivable that once Jia Cong's new novel spreads and causes a sensation, those salt merchants will definitely vent some of their anger on someone in Talin.
All fools understand that the material in Jia Cong's novels must have been provided by his former Salt Patrol Censor, so how could he get away with it?
Of course, it is impossible to say how scared he is.
Just as Jia Cong said, in Yangzhou and even Jiangnan, the strength of the salt merchants was amazing, but when they arrived in the capital, they were just like that.
As for the possibility of being evil to the civil service group, Lin Ruhai was confident that he could handle it. He was just a little unhappy because he was dragged into the situation by Jia Cong.
"Haha, uncle, there's no need to worry!"
Jia Cong, however, did not take it seriously and said leisurely: "When the novel is fully publicized and causes a certain sensation, those salt merchants will have no time to pay attention to us!"
"Then what is the name of your new novel?"
"How about "The Richest Man in the World"? It will make those salt merchants look good!"