"Mr. Mei, I heard you say during my last visit that the green saltpeter needed to refine salt in the blind mountain salt field is no longer in stock and cannot be found anywhere. This time when the escort team was transporting the salt to Suzhou, I just heard someone say Later, there was an abandoned green saltpeter mine in Leiyang, which is adjacent to Suzhou. I asked someone to take it to have a look, and sure enough I saw the mine. I hired someone to mine some, ground it into sand and brought it to Jinzhou. Please also invite Mei Your Majesty, you can tell me something." Yi Buyi is a straightforward Jianghu person, and he bluntly stated what he meant today.
"Oh? Where is the saltpeter?" Mei Siyuan was overjoyed and asked with a smile.
"The saltpeter is still in the escort car at the Chengdong Posthouse, but I brought some of the stones today." Yi Buyi said with a smile, taking out a small bag of sand from his waist pocket and passing it to Mei Siyuan. In fact, he had already had someone test it, and there was no doubt that it was green saltpeter used in refining refined salt. Therefore, he looked relaxed and smiled at the moment.
Mei Siyuan opened the bag, took out the sand and placed it on the table. He rubbed it gently and then put it in his mouth to lick it. The smile on his face gradually grew, and finally he burst into laughter: "Yes, this sand is indeed green." Saltpeter. I will send the government soldiers to pick it up with you in a moment! After checking the quality and weight, the Salt Administration Department will calculate the money for the Escort Bureau according to the current price." Yesterday, Mei Siyuan still felt that he was at the end of his rope and everything was difficult to do. Only a few hours had passed, and happy events came one after another, which gave him a feeling of reincarnation.
"Haha, Mr. Mei, I'm afraid you don't have enough government soldiers! We'd better go straight to the blind mountain salt field and inspect the color and weight on the spot, which will save us a lot of trouble." Yi Buyi said with a smile. He did not refuse the money calculated by the Salt Administration Secretary. First of all, the escort team had a long and arduous journey. The escort fees, meals, accommodation expenses, escort carriage repairs, horse riding, quarrying and polishing, etc. It takes a lot of money to deal with everything; secondly, and the most important point, is to avoid suspicion. Mei Siyuan and Yufeng Escort Bureau are both unusual. If someone makes a judgment about this, the harm will be unpredictable. People's words are scary and must be guarded against.
"Oh, Third Young Master, how much did you bring?" Mei Siyuan then remembered that he seemed to have never asked this question before.
"We took the salt to Suzhou in twenty-eight escort trucks. On the way back, we filled these twenty-eight escort trucks with green saltpeter sand. Roughly, it was about fifty stones." Yi Buyi replied. road.
"Fifty stones? This" Mei Siyuan was ecstatic at first, and then looked embarrassed. Green saltpeter is extremely difficult to mine, so it is quite expensive. The current price of one stone is about 430 taels of silver, which is almost the same as the price of pink salt. Fifty stones of green saltpeter equals more than 20,000 taels. Although the Blind Mountain Salt Farm made tens of thousands of dollars a day, all of it was turned over to the state treasury. The expenses of the salt transportation government were calculated by three bachelors of Shangshuge, and only after the emperor approved them were the official department allocated monthly. At this time, there was not enough money available in the Yan Government's account, so it was difficult to teach Mei Siyuan a good life.
"Master Mei, please be at ease!" Yi Buyi had already expected this and said with a smile, "It's not the same day that the Yufeng Escort Bureau and the Salt Government Bureau are in contact. This fee will be owed to the account first and will be paid after the court allocates money. It’s okay!”
Mei Siyuan was overjoyed and couldn't help but be grateful. Yi Qingxin, who was standing by, saw all this and couldn't help but think in her heart, "It turns out that both father and son have the same etiquette and courtesy. It is indeed a family tradition."
After sending away the Yi brothers and sisters, the Mei family father and son finally had time to get close to each other. It was already midnight when Mei Yuanchen came back last night, and the lights were flickering and she couldn't see clearly. At this time, Mei Yuanchen was only two feet away from her father, and she felt very sad when she saw that his temples were slightly white and his eyes were sunken in. It was obvious that he had worked too hard and injured his internal organs and meridians.
"Chen'er, how did you get to know the Yi family brothers and sisters?" Mei Siyuan asked curiously. Mei Yuanchen is studying in the capital, while Yi Buyi travels all over the world. The two are so unrelated that it is difficult to connect them.
"Dad, this is the first time I have met Mr. Yi and the others. The day before yesterday, the child and his party met Mr. Yi's escort team on the post road in Danzhou. It was raining heavily and the impeller of the escort car was stuck in the mud and could not get out. The child and the others The senior brother and nephew helped them push the car out of the mud, and then stopped at the same inn to rest. That's how the child and he got to know each other." Mei Yuanchen briefly reported what happened that day.
Mei Siyuan stroked his beard and laughed: "Haha, you are good at forming good relationships! If you help them in Danzhou, you are not helping father and the court!"
"Yes. At that time, the child was still thinking, what kind of things are loaded in this escort car, and why is it so heavy? It turns out to be the green saltpeter that dad could not find." Mei Yuanchen recalled the reasons for that day and said happily, "Maybe, this It’s just fate arranged by God!”
In a deep house, Li Xuexi was pacing back and forth.
"Elder Li, our people have surrounded the Anxian Salt Transport Government Office. Do you really want to take action?" A short, fat old man in his fifties reported to Li Xuici.
"Alas" the arrow was already on the string, and Li Xueci suddenly became a little unsure again. Mei Siyuan was a high-ranking official in the current dynasty. Li Xuechi would never kill him easily unless it was absolutely necessary. And although Mei Siyuan has not changed from the past, his actions are truly admirable. Li Xueci considered himself not a good man or woman, but he was sincerely convinced of Mei Siyuan, but his stance was different. However, the basic business of the Salt Gang is the sale of private salt, and Mei Siyuan cut off the supply of dark salt less than two months after taking office, which is equivalent to cutting off the Salt Gang's financial and livelihood opportunities. The gang leader Zhuguang sent Li Xuechi to Jinzhou to resolve the matter. Li Xueci asked Mei Siyuan several times for accommodation, and the price he offered became higher and higher, but Mei Siyuan remained unmoved and refused to agree.
"Damn it, if I don't kill him, I'm afraid the gang leader will kill me. No matter how many things there are, let the brothers take action!" Li Xueci thought about it and finally made up his mind.
The short and fat old man got Li Xuechi's correct words and quickly walked out.
"Dad, what's the noise outside?" Mei Yuanchen heard a noise and asked Mei Siyuan hurriedly.
Mei Siyuan didn't hear anything strange, but as soon as Mei Yuanchen asked, he already knew what happened. He put his hand on Mei Yuanchen's shoulder and said with a forced smile: "Chen'er, don't worry about it. No matter what happens outside, Whatever happens, there are government soldiers and you, Grandpa Yun, and the others, so just stay here and take care of yourself!"
Mei Yuanchen couldn't hear clearly at first, but now he heard several cries clearly. He didn't understand what they were saying, so he hurriedly rushed out. Following the sound to the outer courtyard, what he saw in front of him made him extremely frightened and angry: a dark group of criminals holding weapons in hand were besieging the soldiers, Yun Yuan, Yun Yao, Fu Pun and others. The enemy was outnumbered, and the mansion was obviously in trouble. Support is lacking.
"Hoo~" Mei Yuanchen used the "Twenty-Three Dou Zhuan Diagonal Steps" to rush into the battle circle. He reached out and pressed and clasped the shoulders of a black-clothed gangster, crushing his shoulder blades to pieces. The excruciating pain made the man in black drop the handle of his knife and start howling like a ghost. This was the first time in Mei Yuanchen's life that he used martial arts to hurt someone, but he soon had the second and third time.
Mei Yuanchen's feet were very fast, and the shoulders of all the men in black were crushed wherever he went. They could no longer fight. In the blink of an eye, thirty or forty people were restrained by Mei Yuanchen. At this time, the Taoist priests from Zhenwu Temple also heard the commotion and rushed in with swords.
"Ah~~my eyes!"
"Ah~~~Ah!"
"I can't hold it anymore, retreat quickly! retreat quickly!"
Hearing that the gangsters said they wanted to retreat, Mei Yuanchen felt happy, but unexpectedly heard Yunyuan shouting: "Block their way, don't let them escape!"
Obviously, the Taoist priests of Zhenwu Temple were more skilled in martial arts than the soldiers and Mei Siyuan's personal guards. Wherever they held their swords, blood spattered into the sky, which was unstoppable. Seeing dozens of people fleeing out of the courtyard, Yun Yuan hurriedly flew to follow them. Zhan Tong, Zhan Jue, Gu Yiqing, and Zhi Cang also followed closely behind and rushed out.
When the five people turned around and returned, there was no movement in the courtyard. There were only corpses lying everywhere and blood flowing everywhere.
Mei Yuanchen looked at the broken body and bright red blood in front of him, and stood there blankly, having lost his soul. He had just taken action to restrain sixty-seven people, but he did not make a killing move. However, the sixty-seven people who were restrained were all killed by the soldiers, and no one was spared.
At this time, Mei Siyuan had already walked over, looked at the corpses on the ground, sighed heavily, and asked the guard captain beside him: "He Jing, is there any damage in the mansion?"
"My lord, Xu Haisheng and Zhang Xiaoxian are gone, and there are seven or eight more seriously injured." He Jing, the guard captain, replied with a sad look on his face. He paused and continued reporting, "This time, more than two hundred people came. If it weren't for the With all the Taoist priests and young masters here, we will definitely not be able to hold on any longer."
Mei Siyuan looked at the dumbfounded Mei Yuanchen beside him, patted his arm gently, and said to him in a low voice: "Chen'er, the world is so dangerous. Others want to kill you. No matter how much you can't bear it, you can never do it. Be soft-handed, otherwise, you will definitely harm yourself and those close to you. If we fail to kill them today, you and I, as well as your mother, Grandpa Yun and the others, none of us will survive, do you understand?"
Mei Yuanchen raised his head and looked at his father, nodding slightly. Two lines of tears fell, falling to the ground and dripping on the blood that turned dark red.
