The imperial decree came out on the third day after Su Xiaolou was released from prison. Calculating the time, the reward for the Tuen Mun naval battle should also come out. Mr. Wang also promised that he would take credit for him. Why should this person not bother to take credit from Su Xiaolou? , based on his friendship with Zhu Houcong, he should not hesitate to reward him. Su Xiaolou happily knelt down to receive the edict, but he did not expect that the imperial edict would actually punish him.
The imperial edict stated that although Su Xiaolou was framed, Liu Kangyuan died because of Su Xiaolou. Su Xiaolou acted recklessly and could not escape the death penalty. Su Xiaolou was ordered to perform meritorious service for his crime. Why escort the imperial envoy to Yangzhou for inspection? If there are any mistakes in salt affairs, you will be punished for several crimes.
This imperial edict sounded like punishment, but the eunuch who came to announce the edict pulled Su Xiaolou to a deserted place and whispered to Su Xiaolou that the emperor was originally going to give him another level this time, but something like this happened. , had no choice but to give up. Su Xiaolou felt a little sad. If he upgraded to another level, he would be the youngest member of the Hundred Households. The duck he had obtained would just fly away, and the battle would be in vain.
But the young eunuch also said that salt affairs are the lifeblood of the country, and this salt patrol is of great importance. The emperor has high hopes for Su Xiaolou, so he sent Su Xiaolou to patrol the salt. If this errand is done well, there will be a heavy reward. .
Zhu Houcong was isolated and helpless in the court, and the power of the Queen Mother's Party had indeed been established for a long time, with deep roots and a strong influence on the young Jiajing. Zhu Houcong now urgently needed people around him who could stand up to the Queen Mother's Party, or even force them. To suppress the Queen Mother's party and completely control the situation of the government, it is natural to cultivate a talent like Su Xiaolou with great difficulty.
Su Xiaolou naturally understood Zhu Houcong's good intentions and secretly gave the young eunuch a bag of silver and asked the young eunuch to go back and convey his gratitude to the emperor.
Yangzhou City is where the Lianghuai Salt Transportation Department is located, accounting for a quarter of the country's salt operations. It has the largest salt transportation field in the country. The sea salt produced by the Lianghuai Salt Field is stored here and sold to various provinces and governments. It can be seen that Because of its importance, Jiangnan also relied on salt transportation to be so prosperous.
The three richest people in the south of the Yangtze River, Zhou, Shen, and Liu, all made their fortunes through the salt business and became the richest people in the world. Su Xiaolou touched his chin. It seemed that he was going to run into an old acquaintance this time. The old man Shen Wanpeng When the guy forced him to marry into his wife, he was so arrogant that his eyes grew to the top of his head, but he expected that one day he would fall into his hands, hehehe...
Su Xiaolou was so happy when he thought about Shen Wanpeng kneeling at his feet and crying with regret. He wished he could go to Yangzhou immediately. Su Xiaolou was immersed in his own world and was very proud of himself when he heard a "plop" , Lu Datong knelt in front of him and kowtowed. Su Xiaolou was so frightened that he quickly took a step back. This husky was so crazy.
"Please take me with you to patrol the salt! I am a cow and a horse. I can risk my life to protect the Lord. As long as you take me to patrol the salt, I will listen to you. You tell me to go east." I will never go west, and I beg Mr. Su to grant you permission." Lu Datong's voice was trembling, his eyes were red, as if a person in hell had seen a beam of light, and he was desperately trying to catch it.
I almost forgot that the price of salt in Jiangnan, which owns a quarter of the country's salt fields, has skyrocketed. The salt field branch came out because Mr. Lu was using public affairs for personal gain, making false accounts, and colluding with salt merchants to sell private salt. If he hadn't discovered the stolen goods hidden by Mr. Lu Yin, I'm afraid he has been convicted long ago. No wonder the rebellious Lu Datong was willing to kneel down and beg him. It was because of this matter that the court paid attention to the salt affairs. Su Xiaolou looked directly into Lu Datong's tearful eyes and asked to the point:
"Do you want to protect me or do you want to take this opportunity to clear your father's name?"
Lu Datong's eyes flickered and he lowered his head in silence. Su Xiaolou's face turned cold: "If you want to secretly do something in the name of the imperial envoy or me to clear your father's name, then you should stay in Nanjing." Come on, I don’t dare to take you there.”
It’s really a joke. Su Xiaolou still weighs the importance very clearly. Why should I be friends with Su Xiaolou because of the sake of justice? I feel that Su Xiaolou has a bottom line in life, is measured in doing things, and is smart and capable. , once Su Xiaolou allowed his subordinates to tamper with people's livelihood issues such as salt affairs, and exonerate corrupt officials, why would such a person who even the emperor dared to scold him would definitely cut off his ties with Su Xiaolou after knowing it? He sent Su Xiaolou to prison mercilessly and showed no mercy at all. Even the emperor would be completely disappointed in Su Xiaolou.
"My father did not collude with the salt dealers to sell illegal salt. There were actually other people selling illegal salt. They just pushed my father out to take the blame. I admit that I went here for my father's business, but I also I sincerely help you, General Banner, on your salt patrol to repay your kindness during this period of protection. I will definitely obey your orders during this trip. I will never dare to act rashly and cause you trouble. I beg you, sir! I beg you, sir! I beg you. Please do it!" Lu Datong begged and kowtowed, his head turned red. This was probably the only way he could think of to save the Lu family. He knew he couldn't lose this opportunity, and Su Xiaolou became a little soft-hearted when he kowtowed. .
Su Xiaolou asked again: "Let me ask you: your father's position as Deputy Salt Transport Envoy is such a big job. He doesn't want to be greedy but there are countless people pushing him to be greedy. Why do you dare to say so?" Are you sure that your father did not collude with salt merchants and sell illegal salt?"
"My father is timid, has no ambitions, and is content with the status quo. He may bribe officials to buy me an official position, but he will never do anything like colluding with salt merchants to sell illegal salt and destroy the family. Lei Zhen once visited The Lu government proposed that he had channels and wanted to cooperate with my father in selling illegal salt, but my father refused, so Lei Zhen joined others to try to bring my father down. Lei Zhen was the one selling illegal salt." Mentioning Lei Zhen, Lu Datong's eyes were filled with resentment. This old man had attacked Su Xiaolou over and over again, and he was still hiding his secrets. Maybe he could defeat him this time.
Su Xiaolou also heard that Dr. Lu seemed to be such a person, but how did he raise a rebellious person like Lu Datong?
There are many things involved in the salt affairs, like a spider web, one twitch affects the whole body. As the ancients said, cutting off a person's wealth is like killing his parents. Why should he be so ungrateful that he may be able to dismiss a lot of officials? , this trip must be dangerous, so we still need to bring some people with us.
In the end, Su Xiaolou compromised: "Then you go back and prepare! We will set off tomorrow. Let's make an agreement first. If you do something behind my back to cause me trouble, I will throw you out as a scapegoat first."
"Thank you, Lord General Banner!"
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