After hearing Li Hao's words, everyone was completely stunned by this pie falling from the sky.
Seizing 200,000 shi of private salt, he was able to use this to manage the salt affairs in Lianghuai from top to bottom.
What a great achievement this thing is, once this thing is completed, promotion and wealth will not be just around the corner.
Just when everyone was still enjoying this wonderful future, Li Hao began to assign tasks to them, interrupting their imagination.
Li Hao left Sheng Hong and two others in Yangzhou to assist Jin Chaozhong in stabilizing the situation in Yangzhou.
He ordered eight more people to Ye Sheng and asked him to take them to Tongzhou and Taizhou to handle government affairs.
The rest of the people rushed directly to Chuzhou with Li Hao.
As for Yang Wenyuan, they are waiting for Li Hao to stabilize the situation in Chuzhou before sending support.
After arranging all the affairs, Li Hao asked everyone to pack up immediately and set off as soon as possible.
Although news has been blocked on the canal, it is impossible to keep such a large-scale troop mobilization completely confidential.
Among them, Taizhou and Tongzhou are close to Yangzhou, so they can ensure that people are arrested before the news reaches them.
However, the Chuzhou, Haizhou, and Lianshui armies were all too close to Suqian. In order to try not to give Wang Yougan and the others time to react, Li Hao had to ensure that he rushed to Chuzhou as quickly as possible.
So after packing up, Li Hao and his party went out of the city to lead the troops. By chance, Jin Chaozhong was already preparing to lead people into the city.
After Li Hao handed Sheng Hong and the others over to Jin Chaozhong, he separated from Ye Sheng and led his troops to Chuzhou at high speed.
In order to arrive as soon as possible, they had to travel all night at night. Fortunately, Li Hao and other people in front of the palace were well fed, otherwise ordinary people would not be able to march at night.
It was late at night when Li Hao and his men finally entered Chuzhou and were marching in a hurry.
Just on the edge of the official road of Baoying County, I saw someone sitting in a pavilion openly, holding an open fire for fear that others would not notice.
At first, Li Hao thought it was because the caravan was late and there was no caravan entering the city, so he didn't plan to pay attention to it.
He was about to walk by with his troops, but at this moment Li Hao was stopped, saying that someone wanted to ask Li Hao to speak.
Upon hearing this, Li Hao's first reaction was that someone had discovered the salt boat incident, and this was the person sent by Wang Youqian and the others.
He quickly looked around, planning to order his men to be on guard.
But this look felt wrong. The area near the official road was very open, and the pavilion was leaking air from all sides. It didn't look like there was an ambush hidden there.
So he looked at the pavilion again and saw that the person sitting in the pavilion had stood up and was walking towards Li Hao.
When the people walked in, Li Hao realized that the person who came was actually Chu Dongyang, the pacifier of Huainan East Road. This person had only appeared once since Li Hao arrived in Huainan.
At this time, Li Hao was really curious about what he wanted to do when he came to stop him, so he asked loudly: "It turns out to be Mr. Chu, why are you here at this time?"
Chu Dongyang said: "I'm waiting here for Mr. Li to come over. We have something important to discuss."
Li Hao replied: "But I also have big things to do now. I think you have seen it now. How about we talk about it next time."
As he said that, he pointed to the soldiers and horses behind him and asked Chu Dongyang to weigh it himself.
….
But after Chu Dongyang read it, he still said: "What I want to tell Mr. Li is to tell you.
I can help you with what Mr. Li wants to do. "
After hearing this, Li Hao really became interested. If Chu Dongyang knew about the salt ship, Li Hao believed it, otherwise he would not have come out to block him in the middle of the night.
But Lianghuai has missed so much salt tax. As the second-in-command of Huainan East Road, he is now unable to protect himself.
Now he suddenly said that he wanted to help him, which was a bit funny.
But since he said so, Li Hao really didn't mind spending some time.
Chu Dongyang knew it anyway, and if Wang Youqian and the others wanted to know, they would have known it already.
So Li Hao asked other people to
The man stopped to repair for a while, then dismounted and entered the pavilion with Chu Dongyang.
When there were only two people left, Li Hao asked, "Master Chu, you just said you wanted to help me, but I don't know how you want to help me."
Chu Dongyang said: "Master Li speaks quickly, since I have said this, I will not beat around the bush.
Since Mr. Li has already brought people here, he must have already dealt with it when he came to Yangzhou.
There are a total of five battalions under your command this time. I just took a look and found that only two battalions followed you here. I think the rest should have gone to Tongzhou and Taizhou. Am I right? "
Li Hao replied: "Master Chu has a clever plan and everything he said is right, but what does this mean?"
Chu Dongyang explained: "There are a total of twelve command battalions on Huainan East Road, and there are also two battalions of forbidden troops.
They may not rebel, but if there is any change, it will still be inconvenient for you to pay the salt tax this time. "
Li Hao said: "I can understand that Lord Chu is warning me."
Chu Dongyang said: "I never meant this. What I want to say is that I can come forward to help Mr. Li stabilize the situation.
And I also have criminal evidence about Wang Youqian and others, which can be handed over directly to Mr. Li. "
At this point, it was obvious that Chu Dongyang planned to sell everyone else directly.
If Chu Dongyang helps, it will definitely be beneficial to the subsequent investigation, but is it worth it to keep Chu Dongyang for this?
Just as Li Hao was thinking about this issue, Chu Dongyang's next words made Li Hao make a decision.
Chu Dongyang said: "Master Li must have thought that I was exonerating myself again, but I have never participated in selling illegal salt.
Even Wang Youqian and the others spared no expense in bribing me for this. This was their gift list.
But I never agreed, otherwise I wouldn't be just a pacifier with no other duties. "
With that said, he took out a list of accounts and handed it to Li Hao.
Taking this list, Li Hao couldn't help but admire this old fox.
At this moment, Chu Dongyang added another weight: "The Lianghuai salt tax matter will definitely involve a wide range of things once it is investigated.
In addition to the current Lianghuai officials, will any of the past officials be involved in problems?
Many of them are already in important positions. Once the matter expands, it will be troublesome to deal with it. "
Hearing this, Li Hao immediately understood what he meant and asked, "What Master Chu means is that you can solve this matter."
….
Chu Dongyang said: "I know that Mr. Li has the support of the great ministers in the court, but there are some things that it is difficult for the great ministers to come forward.
And I also have some connections in Bianjing, so I can help limit this matter to Huainan and solve Mr. Li's worries. "
At this point, Li Hao has decided to bring Chu Dongyang on board. This will ensure that the situation is stable, and secondly, Li Hao will not have to worry about the Yan family's affairs.
So he said: "Master Chu has helped me so much, I don't know how I can repay him."
Hearing this, Chu Dongyang knew that the matter was done, and said directly: "I just want you to write the memorial truthfully in the report, and I will never make it difficult for you."
Li Hao smiled and said, "Master Chu's request is really simple. I see no reason not to agree."
After talking about this matter, Li Hao said: "In that case, let's hurry up to avoid any accidents."
Chu Dongyang said: "You don't have to worry, I have sealed the news about Yan Ship and I will ensure that it will not reach their ears in a short time.
In addition, I have already asked close people to keep an eye on the salt fields in Chuzhou, Lianshui Army, and Haizhou. I can only change defenses when Lord Li's men arrive. "
After hearing this, Li Hao was completely convinced. His reaction speed was ridiculously fast.
In this way, Chu Dongyang joined the team and embarked on the road to Chuzhou with Li Hao.
In order to show his sincerity on the way, Li Hao was also asked to send people to take over the command camp along the road.
When they arrived outside Chuzhou City, it was already noon. Chu Dongyang dismissed the city defenders first and let Li Hao's people take over.
Then a group of people hurried into the city, first assigned manpower, went to the Inspection Department to take over the military power, and then went from house to house to seal the doors and arrest people.
As for Li Hao himself, he, together with Chu Dongyang, took Cai Xiang and the others straight to the Yamen of the Transportation Department.
This time he caught the evidence, and Li Hao also wanted to see what Wang Youqian's expression would be.
As for Wang Youqian, he did not get the news in advance because of Chu Dongyang's betrayal.
It wasn't until Li Hao and his troops arrived outside Chuzhou City that Wang Youqian realized that something was wrong, so he quickly planned to leave first.
But as soon as he left the house, he was blocked by people arranged by Chu Dongyang until Li Hao arrived.
At this time, Wang Youqian discovered that Chu Dongyang was following Li Hao, and he didn't know about the looting of the salt boat.
He just thought it was Chu Dongyang who reported him. I didn't know how much I hated this guy, but I was somewhat relieved.
As long as there is no direct evidence on Li Hao's side and it is just what Chu Dongyang provided, he can always find a way to deal with it by using party strife and frame-up methods.
So when Li Hao and the others approached, Wang Youqian said directly to Chu Dongyang: "How dare you slander me? Do you think you can escape by throwing corruption and perversion of the law at me?
I still have evidence here of your corruption and perversion of the law over the years. "
After speaking, he said to Li Hao: "Master Li, don't be deceived by him and become his accomplice."
Hearing this, Li Haozhen was confused and didn't understand why Wang Youqian was so crazy.
But since he was facing off against Chu Dongyang, Li Hao was happy to watch the excitement, so he simply gave in and let Chu Dongyang face Wang Youqian to see if the two of them could tear out anything useful.
….
But obviously, Chu Dongyang did not panic at all and replied directly: "Master Wang, you may not know yet, but just yesterday, all of your 220,000 stones of private salt were seized by Master Li.
Everyone has been captured and no one has escaped. "
At this time, Wang Youqian suddenly panicked, but he still said firmly: "That is obviously the secret you want to transport, so don't frame it on me.
You must know that you take bribes from salt merchants every year. I have records here. "
Hearing Wang You's lack of skills, Li Hao said: "If you are talking about the more than one million taels of silver received by Master Chu, then there is no need to say more.
Mr. Chu has registered all those things and handed them over to me last night.
Apart from this, is there anything else you can correct me on? "
But obviously Wang Youqian was gone, so his feet went weak and he fell to the ground.
Seeing his useless look, Li Hao ordered someone to imprison him in the cell of the Transportation Department.
Then I walked around the transfer department's house and felt that the feng shui of this yamen was very good, so I decided to work here temporarily.
Li Hao first passed on the order and asked all the prisoners to be brought here for detention.
At the same time, the warehouse was cleaned out and the confiscated dirty silver was placed. The first wave to arrive was the more than one million taels from Chu Dongyang's family.
With the arrest of Wang Youqian, the prelude to a large-scale investigation of the entire Huainan West Road was slowly kicked off.
For a time, officials from all over Huainan West Road were constantly being arrested and thrown into prison.
However, with the help of Chu Dongyang, the command battalions in various places have basically maintained stability, and several corrupt commanders have also surrendered.
Of course, Li Hao has no control over whether this is what they want.
With the arrests of officials, the amount of dirty silver seized was also extremely objective. Without any inspection, Li Hao had accumulated nearly 10 million taels here.
The room where the money was kept was used more and more, seriously squeezing Li Hao's office space.
For this reason, Li Hao could only send people to clean up the Yamen of Chuzhou Zhizhou.
A place to store subsequent dirty silver.
Now that the matter has been investigated here, Li Hao should also send a memorial to the Central Committee to explain the situation.
But at this time, Wang Youqian was interrogated, and as expected, other people were implicated. Basically, everyone who had been an official in Huainan in the past was named, and naturally the Yan family could not escape among them.
Naturally, Li Hao couldn't hide this deliberately, so he wrote everything in the memorial and sent it directly to the palace.
At the same time, he found Chu Dongyang. After all, he promised to deal with the matter, so Li Hao naturally had to take advantage of him.
Chu Dongyang did not shirk and immediately sent a letter to Beijing. As for who he sent it to, Li Hao didn't know.
As for Li Hao, in addition to the memorial, he also sent two separate letters to Bianjing. One was given to Ouyang Xiu, in which he detailed the affairs of Chu Dongyang and the Yan family and asked for his opinions.
The other letter was given directly to Yan Fu, explaining the situation and asking them to make plans.
After finishing all this, Li Hao fell into the joy of counting money.
Although it is not easy to inspect the properties of the officials, after all, this time is not like last time, and the scope of involvement is not large.
….
Nowadays, most of the officials on Huainan West Road are involved, and many of them are of high rank. It is still difficult for Li Hao to directly inspect it before the imperial decree is issued.
But Li Hao was not so polite to all the salt merchants, as long as there was evidence.
Everything should be inspected first, and after one round of inspection, Li Hao couldn't help but feel how rich they were.
Because the current silver tael has exceeded 20 million taels, more than double Li Hao's expectation, and this does not include the income from the officials' inspection.
You must know that the annual tax revenue of the Song Dynasty last year was only more than 80 million taels, and Li Hao copied a quarter of it in one go.
At the same time, there was an unexpected gain in this inspection, that is, Li Hao also copied An Lingxu.
It turns out that this kid has been hiding in a salt merchant in Chuzhou during this time, waiting for Li Hao to leave before coming out.
This time he was caught by Li Hao, who was directly handed over to Cai Xiang.
Cai Xiang felt guilty for a lot of time because of An Lingxu last time, but now he has had some good days.
And because the results were now obvious, Li Hao wrote a second memorial, explaining the current results. By the way, Li Hao mentioned An Lingxu's brother who was an official, completely cutting off the roots of the An family.
Later, in order to make up for the lack of salt merchants and ensure the timely and smooth flow of salt transportation, Li Hao helped Cheng Shi up and asked him to get the job done.
Of course, it was not just Li Hao who was dedicated to serving the country. Chu Dongyang also arranged for people to take over a lot of salt merchant shares to serve the country.
Li Hao and Cheng Shi couldn't help but inspire each other due to their daring loyalty.
In this way, the salt transportation was accessible, and it did not cause too much commotion.
The news from the imperial court did not reach Chuzhou until early November.
It was this news that made Li Hao look at Chu Dongyang with admiration.
Because not only was he not implicated by Wang Youqian, but he took this opportunity to become a transfer envoy. Although he did not improve his rank, his real power was much greater.
In addition, Cai Xiang was appointed as the magistrate of Yangzhou and supervised the affairs of the Huainan East Road appeasement company.
This appointment means that Li Hao has a nail in Huaiyan, and the relocation of the pacification envoy from Chuzhou to Yangzhou also means that the court intends to decentralize power, so that Li Hao does not have to worry about Chu Dongyang covering the sky with one hand.
Otherwise, after all these changes, Li Hao really didn't think that Cai Xiang could outplay Chu Dongyang.
Of course, many of the chief officials on Huainan West Road need to be replaced this time. This time, the officials came with the order.
Tong Tong came to Chuzhou and had a good meeting with Li Hao and Chu Dongyang before taking office respectively.
But the only thing that puzzled Li Hao was that the chief officer responsible for cargo affairs was missing, and his duties were temporarily taken over by Chu Dongyang.
However, Li Hao doesn't need to think about these things for the time being, because Li Hao's top priority now is to check the criminal's family background.
After the search was completed, the prisoner and the dirty bank were escorted back to Beijing, thus returning them to the capital.
Fortunately, this time, the front office of the palace was sent to three more troops. Otherwise, Li Hao's men alone would not dare to go on the road with so much money.
So after another ten days, Li Hao finished handling his official duties and went to Yangzhou to say goodbye to Master Qin.
Then he embarked on the road back to the capital. Li Hao was still a little excited when he thought that when he returned to the capital, he could wait for the imperial court's reward and prepare to get married.
Learn from knowledge to power
