The unjust case does not require Zhu Yunwen to personally take charge of the case. Yu Xin, Xie Jin, Yang Shiqi and other veterans can handle it properly.
Some cases that had been pending for a long time, had been beaten into submission, and had been wrongfully convicted. After only three days, these people had dealt with them cleanly. Those who deserved to be beaten were beaten, those who deserved to be released, and those who deserved to be beheaded did not need to wait until September. , Zhu Yunwen checked with a red pen, and the person was gone.
In fact, Zhu Yunwen only conspired with three people, two heinous criminals, one was a Yangzhou official, and he had personally created a lot of unjust cases. It would be a death for such a person to submit it to the Three Justices Division for review.
Yangzhou fell silent, and the price of salt fell rapidly. It once fell from eighteen cents per catty to nine cents per catty, and finally stabilized at ten cents per catty, the same as the price of salt in Nanjing.
After visiting Yangzhou enough, the salt administration was dealt with, and the case was cleared. The official department was busy transferring people from the capital to fill the vacancies. Zhu Yunwen took the queen, Xian Fei, Xia Yuanji, Yang Shiqi and others to go ahead and arrived in Gaoyou along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. .
Gaoyou was originally an inconspicuous city, but because Zhang Shicheng established his capital here, called him King Cheng, established the country's name as Dazhou, and changed it to Tianyou, Gaoyou "founded a capital" for the first and only time.
Although Zhang Shicheng had resisted the Yuan Dynasty's million-strong army here and resisted Zhu Yuanzhang's five attacks in six years, he was ultimately defeated by Zhu Yuanzhang's sixth attack.
After kicking Zhang Shicheng away, Zhu Yuanzhang really set his sights on Shandong, Henan and the capital of the Yuan Dynasty.
In a sense, the end of the Battle of Gaoyou allowed Zhu Yuanzhang to end the "war between princes" and truly let go of his hands and feet to "aspire to the world."
Zhu Yunwen brought people to Gaoyou not to review the history, but to check the setting up of the Gaoyou Station.
The merger and elimination of some guard posts was one of Zhu Yunwen's military strategies, and the Gaoyou Post was newly established. The Hongwu Dynasty did not set up a guard post in Gaoyou. However, Zhu Yunwen believed that the city of Gaoyou was strong and guarded the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, connecting Yangzhou to the south and Huai'an to the north. Once there was a problem here, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was likely to be cut off.
On the other hand, if there are changes in Huai'an and Yangzhou, Gaoyou can become a fulcrum, and support from the north and the south is convenient.
Based on many considerations, Zhu Yunwen deliberately set up an office in Gaoyou.
The sergeants at the Gaoyou Station migrated from the northwest. Zhu Yunwen always needed to see in person whether his family members and his family members could live here and what their living conditions were like.
Although Gaoyou City is also located next to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, it is far less prosperous than Yangzhou. There are not many businessmen here. Fortunately, there are more than 8,000 households in the city, and there are still many people making a living on the streets, which is quite lively.
Ma Enhui and Concubine Xian had already abandoned Zhu Yunwen and went shopping accompanied by Cong Pei'er, Chu Yun and others from the Second Security Bureau. They had no choice but to follow Xia Yuanji, Yang Shiqi and others, so Ma Enhui couldn't let go and was always reserved so as not to come out in vain. It’s been a trip...
Everywhere Zhu Yunwen went, he always liked to sit in a restaurant, listen to stories, and chat with someone. As soon as a few people stopped and were about to enter a restaurant, they heard a commotion in the distance, mixed with shouts. : "Arrest people, catch Fuzao, don't run away!"
"Eternal God Emperor"
Escape?
Zhu Yunwen frowned slightly and turned his head to look.
Liu Changge and Tang Buping stood to the left and right of Zhu Yunwen, looking ahead warily. Around Zhu Yunwen, some people dressed as ordinary people also stopped and stretched out their hands to the secret place.
Two people ran up the street, one big and one small, both in ragged clothes, barefoot and with disheveled heads. They ran forward desperately with empty steps, but their hungry and thin bodies were unable to provide more strength.
"Give in, give in quickly."
The adult pulled the thin child and ran over, shouting loudly.
The people on the road avoided each other one after another, but some people behaved somewhat strangely. Although they avoided the two beggars, they invariably crowded onto the road they were passing by, blocking the government officials behind them.
It seemed like, no, they were really buying these two people time to escape.
Zhu Yunwen stared at the two people who were getting closer and closer. Suddenly, the child's feet became unsteady and fell to the ground. The adults quickly pulled him up, only to find that his feet were bleeding and he could not walk. He couldn't help but pulled and shouted: "Cui Cui, dad is running with you on his back, get up quickly."
The child cried sadly and pushed the adult away: "Dad, run away. I can't run anymore. Hurry up and leave me alone."
The adult did not listen to the advice and turned around to see the Yamen officer approaching. He didn't know where he got the strength to pick up the child and ran forward.
The two government officials saw this and roared: "Tian Laosi, you can't run away!"
A government official aimed the water and fire stick at Tian Laosi and threw it like a javelin.
Tian Laosi was not on guard and received a heavy blow on his lower back. He threw himself forward and the child in his arms flew out. Tian Laosi exclaimed: "Cui Cui!"
puff!
The yamen servant stretched out his foot and stepped heavily on Tian Laosi. Tian Laosi looked forward with wide eyes. He saw a man hugging the child without falling. He couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief, and then pressed his face against the cold On the ground, his eyes were full of despair.
Tang Buping put the thin child down, and the child hurriedly ran towards Tian Laosi. As soon as he got close, he was kicked to the ground by the Yamen servant. Just as he was about to hit him with a stick of water and fire, he heard a thunder: "Stop!" "
Seeing this, the yamen servant stopped, looked at Zhu Yunwen following the sound, looked him over, and said sternly: "The yamen is running errands, I advise you not to get involved, be careful not to involve your property or your life!"
Zhu Yunwen looked at the child who fell on the ground and struggled to crawl towards the adult. He watched the adult stretch out his hand to grab the child. The two hands were a foot apart, but they could only move inch by inch.
"What crime did they commit?"
Zhu Yunwen asked.
The yamen servant sighed: "What crime did you commit have anything to do with you?"
Liu Changge couldn't help but looked fiercely: "It's best to speak honestly. What do you answer when I ask you?"
The yamen servant ignored Liu Changge at all and said to Zhu Yunwen and others: "How can we allow outsiders to inquire about yamen affairs?"
After saying that, the yamen servant bent down and wanted to lift the girl up, but before his hand could reach it, he felt a gust of wind, followed by a crisp "click" sound. The yamen servant looked down at the unnaturally waving hand, and then let out a sharp scream. screams.
Upon seeing this, another yamen officer immediately picked up the water and fire stick, pointed at Liu Changge who made the move and shouted: "How dare you beat an officer? You can't rebel if you want to!"
Liu Changge looked at the other party coldly: "If you don't want to break your bones, just stand there and answer."
Zhu Yunwen walked towards the little girl, bent down and helped her up. Seeing that the girl's dark face had seven or eight scars and small pits everywhere, he couldn't help feeling a little distressed. The girl stood up and ran to Tian Laosi, crying. : "Dad, get up quickly, get up."
Tian Laosi turned over and took two deep breaths before he could catch his breath. He looked at the yamen servant with broken bones and sweating profusely, and another yamen servant who was too afraid to move forward and was ready to run away at any time. He shook his head and said to Zhu Yunwen and others: "You guys should go quickly, don't cause any disaster for us."
This is a good man, at least he has a conscience. Zhu Yunwen judged this and asked: "Who are you and why did they arrest the department?"
Tian Laosi said sadly: "We are Zaohu households in Fanchuan. We had no way to survive. We ran out while it was dark. We finally reached Gaoyou and were ready to find a boat to go north. Unfortunately, we didn't run out and were caught by the government officials."
Kitchen door!
Zhu Yunwen knew that this was a small category of household registration in the Ming Dynasty. People like them had only one job:
Making salt.
There were kitchen households in the Yuan Dynasty, and the majority of the kitchen households in the Ming Dynasty were still Yuan Zao people. However, considering that many people died and escaped, it was not enough to use only the kitchen households in the Yuan Dynasty, so Zhu Yuanzhang ordered that the people be expropriated on the spot. There are common people near the Lianghuai Salt Fields, who are directly classified as kitchen households. There are also some criminals who do not need to be exiled, and are sent to serve as kitchen households.
Household servants are permanently employed and cannot leave the country.
This is the rule of the Hongwu Dynasty, that is to say, if you are a kitchen household, your descendants will be kitchen households endlessly, unlike military households, craftsmen households, etc. Although your descendants are also required to take over, if you can find someone to take over, You, then you can escape the sea of suffering and change your household registration. It is impossible to find an outsider to take over the Zaohu position. Even if this line of people dies, the court will recruit more people.
The servants of the kitchen households were responsible for frying salt. In other words, the kitchen households were exempted from other corvee duties and could only do the salt work. The court issued tools such as brine land, grass ponds, and work capital notes.
The salt production in Zhu Yunwen's imagination is to dig a pit, introduce seawater, dry the salt, shovel it with a shovel another day, and then smash the large particles into small ones and sell them. It should be an easy job, but these two people don't look like it. Zaohu, looks like a beggar?
Even a beggar has a pair of tattered shoes with exposed toes, but these two people don't even have tattered shoes, and they are worse than beggars.
Xia Yuanji walked to Zhu Yunwen and whispered: "Fanchuan is the junction of the four counties of Gaoyou, Taixian, Xinghua and Ganquan. There is a river flowing from north to south called Dongyingou. On both sides of Dongyingou are Dingxi Saltworks.”
After Zhu Yunwen heard this, he nodded slightly and asked Tian Laosi: "A good Zaohu, why do you want to escape?"
Tian Laosi smiled bitterly: "A good kitchen owner? Are you a merchant? You look very well dressed, but do you know how hard it is to be a saltman? If you don't escape, you will die there!"
Zhu Yunwen was shocked, and his eyes became gloomy: "But there are officials who bully kitchen households and abuse punishments?"
Tian Laosi waved his hand and gritted his teeth and said: "Just doing daily work can cost people's lives, so what do those few whips from the official officials mean? If I didn't escape today, I would be beaten to death if I was caught back. It's a pity for me. My child, she is only eight years old this year!”
Cuicui whimpered.
Zhu Yun narrowed his eyes and looked at Xia Yuanji: "Do you know how life is like in a kitchen household?"
Xia Yuanji shook his head. He was in charge of the household department and the national finance. He only paid attention to the salt tax on salt affairs. He really didn't pay attention to how the kitchen households made salt and how they lived.
Yang Shiqi saw Zhu Yunqi's thoughts from the side and took a step forward: "We might as well send these two people back to Dingxi Salt Farm..."
